Chapter Three: Learn to Trust.
Harry always found introductions to be a very awkward part of any meaning for reasons which he could not even fathom. Introductions paled to one thing and that was explanations to what Harry did and why he had to do it. One constant existed at all times and that was what many considered was insane, Harry found quite mundane indeed.
He sat in the middle of the cave in the middle of a desolate island out in the middle of nowhere. He got here by being pulled through a curtain of vague mystical origins, after a long obsession with acquiring three mystic objects which lore rumored give those the powers of mastery of Death. Death had been such a complex and varied complex, Harry didn't know what to believe.
The sorcerer's wounds mostly healed. All of those old scars which he had before he untied the Deathly Hallows never quite healed properly. Perhaps, it was the point. Harry wanted them as a constant reminder of where he came and what could happen if he made a mistake.
Harry cleaned up, shaved, and found some clothes which looked a quite bit nicer than the rags he wore. He dressed in a sleeveless black top and a pair of cargo pants. He saw several other pieces of equipment as well, although nothing which he could pinpoint what Fyers was doing.
The explanation to Rose and Sara about what he was and how he got here, well, the girls were shocked by it, to say the least. After their meeting, all of them tried to get a good night sleep. The key word was try, was because as long as they were on this island, they would be sleeping with one eye, holding their pillow tight.
Every single footstep put Harry on his guard. Any creature who stirred put Harry on guard. The cave had been out of the way, but there was still a chance Fyers could find him.
"So, you couldn't sleep either?"
Harry turned around and almost flung a dagger from one of the bags. He stopped short, his reflexes being fast from both starting and stopping as well.
Sara stood in front of him, dressed in something which was more fitting to her than the baggy clothes. She dressed in a black tank top, a form-fitting pair of jeans, and a pair of boots.
"You know sneaking up on someone isn't a good idea," Harry said.
Sara shrugged. "I figured I'd take the chance. And I'd figure you would be more reasonable than Rose in this situation. You look like you're more stable than her."
The former Chosen One pulled a face and looked towards her. He moved over on the rocks which he slowly shifted together to form a seat and allowed her to sit down.
"Thanks, I think."
Sara answered with a shrug and dropped down next to Harry. Harry already had a small fire started.
"Had to do this the Muggle way…the non-magical way."
It turned out, talking about Muggles in front of one made you look insane. Who knew? Actually, anyone with half a brain cell might think it was a stupid idea.
"I could have got it going," Sara said. "But….."
"You needed your rest," Harry said.
"So says the guy who got used as a cutting board."
Harry smiled and ruffled through the bag. He found a package of marshmallows, it would work pretty well in a pinch. He picked up a stick and stuck it through the end of the marshmallow before roasting it at the end of the fire.
"I heal easily," Harry said.
"Yeah, with the entire magic thing, I know," Sara said. "Do you mind if I have one of those?"
"Hey, help yourself," Harry said.
Sara smiled and picked a stick of her own, before putting the marshmallow on the end of it. She frowned when looking at it and putting it in front of the fire to heat up.
"Could use some crackers, and some chocolate as well. You know, to make s'mores?"
"I wouldn't know," Harry said. "Never had the pleasure of having one, are they good?"
"Oh, they're good alright," Sara said. "I remember when my sister and I….we used to make a mess with them when we used to go camping when we were kids."
Harry detected a note of sadness in Sara's voice when she spoke about her sister, maybe also some regret, maybe some guilt, for reasons which Harry couldn't figure out. He decided not to push the issue.
"It was also more innocent to smash a marshmallow in your sister's face when you were ten," Sara said. "Now, it kind of looks wrong."
He didn't really say much of anything. Harry ate a couple of marshmallows and oddly enough, having something to eat, even a light snack, made him feel really better.
"You're taking this entire magic thing in stride," Harry said.
"Oh, I know magic exists, "Sara said. "There's a girl out in Vegas, she performs one of the best stage shows you'd ever see. And many people think it's just a show, and people drive themselves up a wall trying to find out how she does it. But, she does magic, it's real."
Harry smiled and indulged himself in one more marshmallow.
"That's interesting," Harry said. "I guess there's no statute of secrecy out here than it is back home…technically, I'm not supposed to talk to you about magic."
"Hey, I won't tell," Sara said.
Harry shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Besides, I'm a very long way from home."
'And I doubt I'll ever find my way back,' Harry thought. 'But, I can't say that's the worst idea in the world. We'll see how this goes. Getting off of this island is going to help me figure out some things.'
"So, how did you get here?" Harry asked. "Rose got abducted by her father and I fell out of the sky through a veil."
Sara paused for a second, and Harry knew that look instantly. It was the look of someone who was debating exactly how much to tell Harry.
"I was going away on a trip on a yacht with my sister's ex-boyfriend over the long weekend," Sara said. "And….if something was meant to happen, it was going to happen, if you catch my drift."
Harry fixed himself a crude glass of tea. Some of the herbs he found in the bag weren't half bad. If anything else, Harry was a bit more mellow and relaxed when drinking the tea. He sipped on the tea and looked at Sara.
"Your sister's ex-boyfriend?" Harry asked. "That would have been pretty awkward over the holidays if something happened, wouldn't it?"
Sara shook her head, to be fair, she didn't think that far. She always lived in the moment, and it made life more interesting, but sometimes, it got her in trouble.
'And I can't think of a more obvious sense of being in trouble than being stranded on a desolate island out in the middle of nowhere.'
"Maybe," Sara admitted. "Do you think he's somewhere on the island?"
Harry took a second to contemplate the situation. Sara could almost see the wheels turning around in his head.
"I'd know if he died."
That wasn't really reassuring, to be honest, and Sara didn't have it in her to ask exactly why he would know if he died. Harry rose to his feet and held a glass of tea out for Sara. She took it, wishing they would have scored something a bit stronger from the goons, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
"We'll find him," Harry said.
"Thank, you, I appreciate it, "Sara said. "I know it's a one in a million shot he ended up on the same island, but, you can't blame someone for having hope."
Harry couldn't blame her, hope was the only thing which caused a person from going completely insane. A figure started to stir and made her way inside. Rose returned back into the cave.
"You left?" Harry asked. "I thought it made it clear you should stay here."
Rose rolled her eyes. "And I thought I made it clear, I was going to take your suggestion as a suggestion and not a command."
The two strong-willed people looked at each other. Sara felt she was in the middle of a very volatile situation and one which needed a spark to light the fire.
"No one saw you?"
"I've been avoiding those assholes since before both of you landed on this island," Rose said. "I'm not about to be careless just because you're here. If anything, I have to be more careful, because I'm babysitting you two."
'Oh boy,' Sara thought. 'This isn't going to end well at all.'
Harry took a deep breath, a long time ago, he would have blown his top at such an implication. He had a temper which only a couple of people could match. In time, Harry learned to more tranquil and keep himself calm.
"You should have told us….."
"Maybe," Rose said. "But, give me some credit. I know what I'm doing. Only one of us hasn't been nabbed by Fyers and his goons. Remind me again what that was?"
"You're good," Harry said. "But, you were this close to having a sword run through you by Slade, because you couldn't get over your Daddy issues. Your father is an asshole….."
"Oh, calling Slade an asshole gives a bad name to assholes everywhere," Rose said. "And I've scouted the area, while you two were sitting here making small talk and eating marshmallows."
"Well, sorry we didn't invite you because we thought you were sleeping," Sara said.
Rose turned towards the girl. She had a spark in her, Rose had to admire that.
"I don't think you have any say in this," Rose said.
Harry decide to jump in to defend Sara. "She has about as much say as both of us do. We're all in this together, if we want to survive the island. And if we're all in this together, we're going to have to learn to trust each other. If that trust gets broken, we're all going to die."
Unity was the only way to win the day as far as Harry was concerned.
"She's a liability," Rose said. "She doesn't have the same fighting skills."
"Hey, for your information, I took self-defense classes," Sara said.
"Taking a couple of ju-jitsu classes at the local YMCA isn't going to help you that much against these guys," Rose said. "They are trained soldiers."
Sara and Rose exchanged a heated stare for a moment. It was true, Sara didn't have the kind of training Rose did, or likely Harry did. Still, she wasn't completely useless. Rose did have a point, the soldiers snagged her, and she didn't fancy her chances in a fair fight.
"We aren't going to beat them in a fair fight," Harry said.
"Then, we don't fight fair," Rose curtly said.
Rose took a second to compose herself. She was angry at herself for putting herself in a position where Slade almost killed her. Then, the situation got worse when Rose had to rely on two other people. There was a reason her school reports always had the comment "does not play well with others" on it.
"Well, you've been here the longest," Sara said. "What's the plan?"
"I'll let you know when we have one," Rose said. "I've been tinkering with some of the equipment while you two were sitting down and having social hour over marshmallows."
"You know, if you really want a marshmallow, you can have one," Harry said.
Rose's look indicated she was very annoyed. She took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten.
"The system is fried, otherwise it wouldn't be abandoned," Rose said. "We need a working circuit board, likely from working equipment which Fyers has back in his camp. Which means we need to find a way to get our hands on it."
Harry responded with a nod. The next plan would have to be done soon.
Rose sat down on the rocks next to Sara and looked towards Harry.
"Well, pass me a fucking marshmallow."
"Since you asked some nicely."
Edward Fyers waited for his men to report back. His mercenary was wounded, although the wounds of his self-respect were deeper than anyone. He didn't quite approve of Slade's plan to drop his daughter on the island as some test of her abilities, and it came back to bite them in the worst possible way.
They had about two weeks to accomplish the plan. Everything would be in line. They couldn't afford to have variables which were not prepared for or surprises. Fyers stepped out and walked around the corner.
"Yao Fei."
The man in the green hood walked over towards him. He inclined his head in respect.
"You're considered a pariah to your government, AWOL," Fyers said. "But, you can be a hero which can save the world and can stop a very dangerous person. And I need your assistance."
"I've already agreed to your plan, Mr. Fyers," Yao Fei said. "You should let her go."
Fyers smiled. "Do what I say, and I'll send her home. You have my word."
Only a fool would go into this particular situation without insurance. Fyers knew Yao Fei only agreed for his role in the plan because he had no one else to turn to. He arranged for the man's daughter to be brought to the island.
"You're making a big mistake," Yao Fei said.
Fyers answered with a chuckle. He didn't make mistakes, only took calculated risks which paid off in a varying of ways. He was about ready to check in with his employer, to make sure the plan was still a go. The sound of the radio equipment coming to life made Fyers step closer.
"Yes," Fyers said.
"We're moving the timetable up by a week," the distorted voice said on the other end. "Do what you have to do to get everything in life."
The timetable being moved up, what changed? Fyers wanted to know. His men would have to work around the clock to assemble it, even though it was nearly done. They would have to double the security.
"Might I ask why?" Fyers asked.
"We may never have another opportunity like this. All will be explained when you're back, and you will be taken care of. No one will know you're a part of this. Your reputation will remain intact. Just get it done."
Fyers made himself well aware of Yao Fei listening into every moment of the conversation. He tried to keep it down.
"You haven't run into any snags?"
"There's a problem," Fyers said.
"Well, I trust you'll be able to take care of the problem. I didn't hire you to fail at this mission. Do you understand me Fyers? I don't expect you to fail."
The man brushed off the dressing down he received. He understood perfectly. The connection had gone dead a few seconds later and it left Fyers to figure out his plan. His former prisoner claimed he was a wizard, which sounded like a cover story. Fyers didn't believe in magic, there had to be a scientific explanation for his powers.
'And I will find him, and get some answers,' Fyers said. 'Someone like him could be a useful asset.'
Fyers kept his eye on Yao Fei and Slade meanwhile. They were so far sticking to the script, but they weren't his employees directly. They helped from the outside, and Fyers knew one misstep would lead them to a huge problem. He had to succeed because failure was not an option.
Yao Fei especially was a problem, as the man needed extra insurance to ensure he complied.
Night fell, and Harry moved as far away from the cave as he dared. He spotted a glimpse of Fyers and some of his men putting something together. What, he didn't know, but it certainly was something.
"They're building a weapon."
Rose stepped outside of the cave to join Harry. Harry turned around and saw Sara waiting on the outside.
"The plan is for me to get inside of the village, and get the equipment we need," Harry said. "The two of you stay here, keep an eye on each other."
He could almost hear the protests coming on and the reasons for the protests. The emerald-eyed wizard's expression softened when he looked at both Sara and Rose.
"I'm the only one who can get in there convincingly," Harry said. "I don't know if you've noticed, but his crew, it's a bit of a sausage fest in there. A woman entering in there will stick out like a sore thumb. I can slip in easily, and get out without any problems."
Neither of the girls could argue.
"I hate you, mostly because you actually have a good reason outside of stupid chivalry," Rose said. "But, are you sure you'll be able to handle because you….can't perform."
Harry raised an eyebrow, and Rose threw her hands back in frustration.
"That's not remotely what I meant," Rose said.
"I'll be fine," Harry said.
He had to be fine, the sooner he got in there, the sooner he got out of there. Fyers would not have gotten out of there.
"I get the equipment, get Sara's book, and get the other hostage out of there, and yes, I'll check for Queen," Harry answered. "If he's there, then that's another hostage we have to deal with. If not…"
"Do what you feel you have to do," Sara said.
Sara had a bad feeling about this and wished she could help more. Rose was right, even if she was a bit of a bitch when she was right. Sara couldn't take down mercenaries. It wasn't like she could get more specialized training on the island. And the one person she could ask, well Rose didn't seem like a very patient tutor.
"You better get back, because I'm not saving your ass again," Rose said.
Harry shook his head. It was more of the same. He saw Sara reach for a vine of berries.
"I wouldn't eat those," Rose said. "The blue ones cause you to have hallucinations."
"Oh, and what about the red ones?" Sara asked.
"They kill you," Rose said
Sara retracted her hand, and she moved away. This entire island was a death trap, and she wondered if there was anything on this island which couldn't kill her.
"I fish, I hunt, I steal," Rose said. "Don't eat anything on a plant on this island, because it's all dangerous."
Harry shrugged, and reached on the vine, before picking off the blueberries. Rose threw her hands in the air and sighed. Hry shook his head.
"Not for eating," Harry said.
Rose got the message loud and clear. She really hoped this mad plan of Harry's was going to work.
"Fyers told us to work around the clock. So, I want you to put your backs into it, and get it assembled. He's not in the best mood after three prisoners escaped."
The leader of the crew spoke to the men. Many of them grumbled, and they worked so hard they were beginning to develop tension on their knuckles. They had to suffer because Deathstroke couldn't hold up his end of the bargain. Not any of them were going to complain about Deathstroke's performance failure.
A figure crept in the shadows, waiting to see if he could make his move. One of the men walked off to the side, staggering.
"Yeah, I'm going to have a smoke. It's only going to be five minutes."
The man grumbled something about wishing he had some of those herbs, but he lost the bag in the escape the other day. They would have really made him mellow. The mercenary made his way into the side, and before taking a smoke decided to heed the call of nature.
Harry caught the man with his pants down, quite literally. He pressed a thumb lightly down on the side of the man's neck and dropped him to his knees. Harry dragged him into the bushes.
A second later, Harry appeared in a military uniform. He hoped the darkness would keep them from seeing he wasn't this good Thankfully, he resembled the man in question.
Harry planted the makeshift device in the dirt, which would go off in five minutes, and would release a cloud of gas. If Rose was right about the berries, and Harry trusted she was, the men would be tripping over their own feet, which would allow Harry to head into the camp without any problems, at least none he could foresee.
"Hey, Reynolds? You done there?"
"Keep your shorts on."
Harry moved away and held up a piece of the equipment.
"So remind us, what are we building again?"
"Reynolds, you've been smoking too much of that herb. It's a missile launcher. Because a bunch of stupid Commies think they're hot stuff. We're going to blow them out of the sky and make sure the Chinese economy crashes on itself. We'll prove why America is number one."
The stupidity of this Reynolds proved to be quite valuable indeed to Harry.
"So, we blow up a plane?" Harry asked. "Just because we don't like a country? Isn't that a bit extreme?"
"Come on, Reynolds, are you American or not?"
"Stop your yapping, and get back to work."
The conversation ended and all Harry could do was play along with the crowd.
Harry waited for the bomb to go up. A cloud of gas rose up into the air and several of the mercenaries turned around. They started to scream in agony when the hallucination effects kicked it. Harry shielded himself, not that he needed a shield due to his natural immunity against toxins, but why take any chances?
He dipped into the side of the entrance and saw the communication equipment. There was a radio on the desk, and Harry picked it up and slipped it into a backpack.
Harry felt around the desk as the chaos happened. He knew the gas would fade soon, and he couldn't be certain how long the effects would last.
'Okay, if I was a small notebook where I would I be?'
The sounds of screams from outside faded. Harry heard voices approaching him.
"Find the intruder, and don't let him leave."
That was Fyers, and Harry would have liked to thank him for his hospitality up close and personal, but he was a bit of a timetable. He aborted the search for the book and left with the functioning communication equipment. It weighed him down a little bit, but it couldn't be helped.
Harry really wished he had time to dismantle the contraption Fyers built as well, but he had to get away now.
Only the path leading back to the cave was blocked.
'Fantastic,' Harry thought. 'Could my night get any worse?'
Harry decided not to repeat that question. Murphy always spited Harry at the worst possible time. The good news is, he had the equipment. The bad news was, he didn't know when he would have a chance to use it.
Rose bent down, stretched, and breathed heavily. She repeated the ritual about a dozen more times. She closed her eyes and started to stab at the air. She retracted her hand and opened her eyes.
"You can go in now, I'm not going to accidentally stab you."
Sara gave the slightest pause at the emphasis on the word "accidentally." Rose sighed, put the knife down on the ground, and beckoned towards her.
"I don't like this, it's almost sunrise, he should have been back by now," Rose said.
"Yeah, I know," Sara said. "But, he's right, if we're caught anywhere in that camp, they're going to shoot first and ask questions later."
Rose thought it would be worth the risk. Sara stepped in front of her.
"I know I can't make you stay, but you should," Sara said. "It's just taking longer than Harry thought it would. Maybe he found Oliver or maybe he stumbled on what Fyers is up to?"
"Or maybe he's slowly getting himself killed again?" Rose asked.
Sara took a moment to shake her head. "Do you always think of the worst possible thing?"
"On this island, the worst possible thing isn't bad enough."
Rose decided to sit down. Only until the sun completely came out, then she was taking her chances. Whether or not Sara wanted to come with her, it was up to the girl.
"So, you went on a pleasure cruise with this Oliver guy?" Rose asked. "Your sister's boyfriend?"
"Ex-boyfriend," Sara said. "Yeah, Oliver Queen, you might have heard of him, he's from a very well to do family."
"I might have read his name in a tabloid a couple of times," Rose dismissively said. "Guess you really regret doing it."
"Well, I didn't know I was going to be shipwrecked and land on this deathtrap," Sara said.
"So, you have a sister…Laurel?" Rose asked.
Sara appreciated Rose's awkward attempts to make small talk. It pained her heart though to think of her family, and how she might not ever make it home. By now, her family would have learned the ship went down and learned what happened. Her poor mother would feel the worst of all. She was the one who relented, and gave Sara her permission to go on the ill-fated trip with Oliver.
"Do you have any siblings?" Sara asked.
"Brothers, three of them," Rose said. "Not the same mother, though….my father is very popular with the ladies, guess they didn't know him too well when they slept with him."
Rose raised a hand and ticked them off.
"My oldest brother, Grant…he left and joined the military, can't say I blame him. Even though he was the one Slade approved of the most. Then there's Joe, he's an artist and a mute. And then there's Wade."
The girl gave a shudder in response.
"We don't talk about him."
Sara and Rose sat in silence. The fire died down, and Rose looked outside. The sun was starting to come up and by her calculation; Harry had about ten more minutes.
"If you're going, maybe I should come with you?"
"Forget it," Rose said. "I'm not getting anyone killed out there."
"I didn't know you cared."
"I don't!" Rose hastily snapped. "I just don't want blood on my hands."
The two girls shifted awkwardly when they looked at each other.
"Well, if you want me to be good, then maybe you should teach me to fight," Sara said. "Teach me like…"
Sara trailed off and Rose did the slow burn simmering glare in her. The blonde realized she had said way too much and gone too far.
"Teach you, like Slade taught me? No, trust me, that's not the way you would want to learn to fight. And I don't know any other way. I'm not a good teacher."
Rose got to her feet and turned around to leave the cave. It left Sara all alone in the cave when the embers of the fire to die down.
"And here I thought we were supposed to trust each other."
'Okay, they're gone, and I'm out of here,' Harry thought. 'Bloody hell, that's the sun. I really hope Rose or Sara didn't come after me.'
Harry just had a very bad idea about this. He made his way through the cover, and to the path. If he could make it without raising the alarm, he could get there. He only got one out of the three things he was after. Fyers must have had the book. As for Queen, well Harry didn't know if he was even on the island.
'Okay, let's….'
"I know you know where he is, and you've been holding out on me, Yao Fei."
Harry stopped very short and heard Fyers and his voice. Harry saw Fyers and a small group of his men. They were leading out an attractive dark haired woman, Chinese by the looks of her. She dressed in a black top and pants and hadn't been allowed the luxury of shoes. She had been forced in by two of Fyers's goons.
A hand came on Harry's shoulder, and Harry turned around and had to barely draw back his hand. Rose staggered back.
Harry groaned, she was here, she was alone, which meant she left a civilian alone in a cave in the middle of nowhere.
"I thought you got captured," Rose whispered.
"No, I didn't," Harry fired back in a low voice. "And yes, I got the equipment…right here."
He held up the heavy backpack, his shoulder slumping underneath the heavy weight.
"And you were going to lug it all up the mountain by yourself?" Rose asked.
Harry held up a hand and silenced Rose. He extended on a single finger, pointing to the trees, and pointed towards Fyers and his captive. Rose's eyes followed, moving from the old man to his daughter, and back to the daughter.
"What are you doing?"
"Let her go, and kill me."
Rose looked up and saw the archers in the tree, ready to shoot anyone who intervened. She and Harry locked eyes, and soon, they would have to make their move.
Oliver Queen lapsed in and out of a feverish dream, and slowly, he managed to open his eyes. He found himself sitting in a tiny cell, no bigger than a utility shed, surrounded by stone walls. Someone designed these two cots on either side of the wall with a small chamber pot shoved crudely between the two beds.
He really hoped he would wake back up at the Queen Mansion, safe and sound, perhaps after having his nightmare which told him something about the consequences of having invited your girlfriend's sister away on a pleasure trip together. Perhaps, he finally stopped getting lucky, after avoiding consequences, whether it be due to his father pulling favors, or contrived luck, or his own natural charm.
'Ollie, you done fucked up this time.'
The billionaire playboy didn't have any idea whether Sara, his father or anyone else survived the wreckage. He left a younger sister beyond who would have to deal with losing her brother, and who knew what else. Oliver's delirious, feverish state made him realize how selfish he was to his friends and family, and how they may never see him again.
Hell, Oliver would even settle for seeing that son of a bitch, Lex Luthor, even if that smug asshole got him expelled from Excelsior Private Academy. It didn't matter he got into a much better school, where he could rub Lex's smug face into it, it was the principle of the matter.
Oliver felt a cool compass pressed on his forehead. He coughed and realized he was not alone in the cell. A large gentleman dressed in a black tank top which reeked of grease and stretched against his corpulent frame sat playing a harmonica. He wore a pair of black pants which had the same stench. He wore a worn fisherman hat which had been frayed in several places.
"So, you breathe," the man said in a soft voice, very pounced in its Southern accent.
"Where I am?"
Oliver turned around and saw a cell with a man who was in constant groaning agony. His face wrapped in bandages and every moment he twitched, the situation becoming very uncomfortable to watch. Every time Oliver had a sprain, he had been taken care of, and this man was in such agonizing pain, and no one appeared to be concerned. Very uncomfortable to watch, and it made Oliver feel bad, even though he couldn't do anything to help.
He had to know who, or maybe what, put that poor man in such a state.
"What happened to him?"
"He visited the basement," the gentleman curtly said.
"What's in the basement?"
The man never dropped his soft, smooth, Southern accent. "Pray to the good lord you never have the opportunity to find out."
Oliver swallowed, his throat very scratchy, and his mouth very dry.
"Where am I?"
The Southern preacher hummed underneath his breath, not inclined to answer straight away.
"Among the damned."
The question didn't answer Oliver's concerns. It just raised many more.
To Be Continued.
Here's the part where I point out things which may be obvious in the narrative. But might not be obvious to everyone. You know what they say about assumptions.
So, yes Lian Yu is an awful, desolate, disturbing place, but there was a little bit of Harry/Sara, Harry/Rose, and Sara/Rose fluff in this chapter. Have to make the most of the situation. Not exactly a pleasant place. I'm sure Harry, Rose, and Sara all would rather have landed on Themyscira. Who wouldn't?
And the question of whether or not Oliver Queen is alive or not is answered, even though it's obviously not clear where he was. Is he somewhere else in Lian Yu? Is he not on Lian Yu? Did the vortex caused by Harry going through the veil accidentally send him to Apokolips? I doubt anyone would wish that one on anyone.
So, Smallville elements are interwoven, as far it pertains to the fact that Oliver Queen and Lex Luthor kind of hate each other. To put it mildly. I've interwoven Smallville and the Arrowverse into each other, and I've got a time line.
So, one teeny little Marvel Comics element snuck in the back door about Rose's sibling which "they don't speak of." That wasn't the only Easter egg in this chapter.
We see a glimpse of Shado for the first time in this chapter.
Rose is kind of a jerk with a heart of gold, with a chip on her shoulder. And she listens about as well to authority as Harry did at that age. Which I'm sure thrills Harry about as much as you may imagine.
So until the next time, hopefully by next Sunday. Maybe sooner, but hopefully not later.
Chapter 4: Detangling StrandsChapter TextDetangling Strands
Shadows continued to fall over the room. No time to mark the night. No time to mark the day. Only occasionally did a person step inside and serve a helping of gruel for consumption. She had been so deep underground, there was no sense of whether not time passed or not.
Bones littered the corner of the cell. They looked like human bones and must have belonged to one of the many wicked men or women who once found a residency on Lian Yu. No one dared ask who they once belonged to. Anyone who was curious would not get any answers. All they would be gifted with was the sweet sounds of silence.
Shado held together her hands. The chains were very durable. The right weak link could be broken. Once the chain had been broken, there was the door, then the exit of the prison, and then all of the guards who were guarding where she was.
The beautiful woman had been stained by the dark. She wore a tank top with the dragon tattoo on her back slightly visible. The pants she wore fit fair enough to her body. She wore no shoes, no socks, and nothing else. Shado had been brought her by a government agent, who claimed her father had been compromised on a mission, and he needed assistance.
'I should have assumed it may have been a trap.'
Shado heard the sounds of footsteps. Outside of these chains, she saw herself as fierce as she was beautiful, well she didn't make a habit of thinking she was beautiful. Men often claimed she was, and Shado took their compliments as such, compliments.
Still, anyone chained and deprived of food, water, and sunlight for several days did not feel so fierce. And yet, Shado also remembered an old story about a dragon with a broken wing. The samurai who engaged him thought he had an easy enemy. The dragon was far more dangerous when he couldn't fly.
Shado really wished it translated into her real life. The door swung open. She recognized the face of a man she would kill once she got out of him. He had been crude and had told her in no uncertain terms, Fyers would give her to his crew, once they were done with her father.
"Come on, lady. The boss wants you. Seems like pops isn't playing ball like he should."
The captive prisoner had only one word to spare. It was in Chinese, and it wasn't very friendly. The rough-faced man cupped her across the back of the head, and they made sure to hold Shado. They trained her guns on the woman who had been forced to walk with her head down.
Shado had been marched out past of the trees and into the middle of nowhere. Fyers and his men were around and they were building something. She couldn't see what they were building. The man behind her kept her head down and forced her out in the middle of nowhere.
"I've tried time and again to reason with you, Yao Fei. Maybe you'd comply a little bit more if you see what my men will do to your daughter."
One nudge dropped Shado very close to landing near the mud. The chains dangled, and if she can only get to the keys on the man's belt without getting her head shot off.
"You still have a spare, so perhaps this one will remind you the duty you have to do. Your government enabled her to get out of control. Now it's your job to fix it."
Shado tried to push herself up, look defiant, not look terrified at the prospect of what might happen.
"What are you doing?" Shado asked.
Yao Fei stepped in front. Shado never saw her father look so shaken. He had always carried himself as the pinnacle of someone who was very strong and very secure. Now, he had been shaken.
"No, Edward, please," Yao Fei said. "If you had any heart, you'd kill me."
Fyers raised an eyebrow.
"Leave her be. Kill me instead."
"I could kill you, but you're needed, she's expendable," Fyers said. "You might have thought about being a good little soldier and not allowed that abomination to escape. And you let him escaped twice. You visited him right before he escaped, don't lie to me?"
Yao Fei took a second and stood proudly. He could not move because they would shoot Shado.
"You have no heart, and you have no honor."
The tension in the area had been deflated. Fyers and Yao Fei stared each other down. Neither man blinked. Neither man backed down.
Fyers snapped his fingers and his men moved in to point the gun at Shado.
'Fyers has archers, men with a gun trained on the hostage, and he might have other men who he can call over at a moment's notice if things get too dangerous. No one said it was going to be easy. In fact, if you bothered to ask anyone, they would say it's impossible.'
Harry thought "one in a million" odds might as well have been renamed, Potter odds. One of the archers on the tree had been close enough to one of the traps rigged on the island. All Harry needed to set off the ball was a simple pebble.
Rose didn't have enough time to say he was insane. She understood the moment of truth was at hand without Harry having to say anything. Both knew their place. Harry would trigger the trap, Rose would hopefully get the hostage away from them.
A simple plan and one Harry found might backfire if he wasn't careful. He twirled the pebble in his hand. The pebble struck the land mine and caused a miniature explosion which blew one of the archers out of the tree.
Rose made her way in and stopped cold in surprise.
The woman took brief advantage to use the chain to trip up one of them. She grabbed the keys and yanked them out of hand. The locks had been removed and the woman had been freed.
Harry made his quick move and saw the dark haired woman claimed the bow and the arrows from the fallen archer. The first arrow impacted directly through the chest of the man nearest to her.
Shado had thought she would die. Someone tripped a land mine and she didn't care if it was an idiot worker. She took advantage of the five-second distraction to trip up the man with the keys with the shackle chains and take the key out to free herself. A gift had fallen from the sky in the form of an arrow.
A figure dropped down right next to Shado and withdrew a knife.
"I've got to get to Fyers!"
"Damn it, Rose stick with the plan!"
The man who rescued her and the young woman didn't have their coordination quite down properly.
Shado put an arrow through the bastard who harassed her for the entire time she had been on the island.
'That felt oddly liberating.'
The warrior turned around and picked her shots wisely. A limited amount of ammunition meant you should never miss. The arrow caught the second archer who was perched in the tree in the leg. The archer lost his balance and dangled from the tree branch.
"Stop them!"
Green-eyes flared up with determination and one hand wrapped around a chain. The chain swung around and blew two of the guns out of the head.
"It's you!" Fyers yelled.
"That's right, it's the abomination," he said. "And I'm here to shut you down. Did you really think you could get away with this?"
Snap went the chain because of one of the goons shooting it. The woman jumped into the air and dropped down onto the back of the head the shooter. She picked up one of the fallen arrows covered in blood and stabbed the arrow head into the back of the neck of the goon repeatedly.
"Yep, no kill like overkill."
The girl rolled her eyes and moved over to assist.
Harry decided to pick up the second quiver full of arrows, and the bow. There was no need to let them go to waste. He didn't know the first thing about archery. Still, it was better to reclaim as much as he could so Fyers could not bite him later.
The woman stood in front of him and fired a shot at a man who had been trying to flee the scene.
"Fyers is gone, and he took my father," she said.
"Yes," Harry said.
"So, did he free you from captivity?"
Harry didn't answer the question straight away. He avoided an attack thanks to his reflects, spun around, and caught the attacker with a reverse kick to the side of the head. The man thumped down onto the ground.
"Not necessarily," Harry said. "We should find a way to get out of here, it's getting too crowded."
A nod from the bow-wielding woman and she drew back and shot one of the most skilled shooters in the knee so he wouldn't give chase.
Rose moved over with a smile. "Not bad."
One of the attackers made a move towards Rose. Rose grabbed the attacker around the back of the head and nailed him with a punch to the side of the neck.
Harry looked up and pointed out. "Just follow my lead."
"As long as it's not off a cliff," Rose retorted.
Fyers ran into the direction of the cells. He wanted to check up on the progress of the man who got the full brunt of the crude fear toxin last night.
"Sir, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just get the medical supplies, and treat my wound," Fyers said.
Deathstroke brought his daughter on this island. Fyers would have a word with him sooner enough. A bit of alcohol was needed, both for drinking and for treating his wound. These men didn't move fast enough to treat his wounds.
'If any of them know I'm weak, they're not going to let up on me. I won't let them know. Next time I get my hands on one of them, I'm not going to wait."
No Yao Fei and his leverage over Yao Fei hadn't been reclaimed. Three stumbled through the door. One of them had been dragged in. Fyers spotted the arrow pierced directly to his knee straight away.
"It was the girl. She wasn't as helpless as you would have led me to believe."
Snap went the neck of the man. Fyers looked up in time to see Deathstroke step out of the room. The mouthy man dropped down to the ground. The mercenary wrapped his face in bandages, mostly the side which had been burned in the abomination's escape.
"I lose more men because of your heavy-handed tactics."
"Take it off the bill," Slade said. "You've run into him again."
"It's not just him, it's your daughter," Fyers said. "She wasn't supposed to be part of this. You brought her to the island. I would never have agreed to it if….."
Cold hard steel found its way underneath the chin of the man. Fyers looked up to the man. The few men in the room looked back and forth between Slade and Fyers. They looked pretty nervous with each other.
"You can kill me, but you get absolutely no money," Fyers said.
"I'm aware," Slade said. "Just remember, I'm not one of your employees. You have no leverage over me unlike you did with Yao Fei."
Deathstroke moved closer towards him.
"Until your men lost that leverage."
Fyers slowly bobbed his head. Blackmail against a man who would put his own daughter on a hellish island to test her wasn't exactly plausible. The dagger twirled between the fingers of Slade and he pulled back.
"You want me to eliminate the problem," Slade said. "You can't afford to lose any more of their men. You keep angering him, they will be dead or worse."
Slade inclined his head to the next room where the victim of the crude fear toxin continued to scream. Each scream grew more unsettling. Each scream chilled anyone who dared listen to it to the bone.
Very few men who heard the screams would soon forget what they heard. And they would not soon forget what he was capable of.
"Despite our recent disagreements, we can agree one thing. Our alliance must remain intact for now. And we have to work with each other until the interlopers are off of the island."
Fyers warily eyed the hand Slade extended for him to shake. On one hand, he didn't completely trust the man and also had been angered with him. Everything would have gone without a match if the mercenary hadn't brought his daughter onto the island in some sick and sadistic test. Fyers breathed in a second later.
'No matter how much I loathe what he's done, I need him. For now, but only for now. In the future, plans can and have changed.'
The two met in the middle to shake hands. Pressure gripped Fyers by his right hand. Not nearly enough to injure his hand, but enough to make it a little sore. Enough to remind him who was in control of this dance, and Fyers was not in control, not by a long shot.
'Not now. Once he's off the island, all bets are off. But maybe, I'm approaching this from the wrong angle.'
"We work together and figure out where we stand when all of the unwanted guests are eliminated," Slade said. "I would advise you allow me to do my job and kill them, and don't leave them alive."
Fyers swallowed a pressing lump in his throat. Dare he ask the question which dogged him all this time? Fyers took the plunge and did so.
"Does this include your daughter?"
"Of course," Slade responded.
Fyers and Slade shook hands one more time. It was a formality they had to work together for now.
Time passed and Sara grew entirely more anxious by each tick of the clock. Rose stormed off in a huff and despite her lack of patience, the hot-tempered teenager had a point. Harry should have been back at least an hour or two ago at the very least if not sooner.
Sara remained alone in the cave. Fyers and his men no longer imprisoned her, she was free to go as she pleased at least in theory.
'In theory, I'm free to go, but not so much in practice. Am I still just as much of a prisoner than before?'
Grim thoughts passed over Sara's mind. She stood in the midst of the cave and eyed the nonfunctioning communication equipment. Their ability to get off of the island and back to civilization hinged on Harry's ability to get the circuit board and it being the right one.
Sara thought of a million little things which she hadn't before. Shell-shocked sounded like a pretty good word.
Footsteps approached, and Sara didn't know what to do. Should she go and hide? Should she stand up and fight them?"
Going to hide would mean she would just live a little while longer. Sara had no delusions about the fact Fyers and his men would kill her if they caught up to her. Sara pulled up the nearest rock to defend herself.
'And here it is, kid, your last stand.'
Sara relaxed a second when she realized Harry and Rose made their way in, lugging a huge piece of equipment in their hands.
"Well, it's a lot easier for me to grab the entire thing, then pull out the circuit board, and pull out the wrong one," Harry said. "And if we can get it set up somehow, and find the right frequency, we could have a chance."
A third figure stepped around the corner, following them to their hiding place. Sara recognized her in passing, she caught a glimpse of the woman through one of the cells when Fyers and his men dragged her downstairs.
"We couldn't leave her behind," Harry said.
"I thank you, but I still need to go back and rescue my father," she said. "And I don't think we've been properly introduced. My name is Shado."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Shado," Harry said. "My name is Harry Potter, and this is Rose Wilson, and this is Sara Lance, and they'll tell you how they got to be on the island."
"We have plenty of time for story time later, right now, let's figure out how to get a message out through this thing," Rose said. "You've got to be kidding me!"
Rose dropped down onto the nearest seat. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable place in the world. She looked over the piece of equipment. The side of it had been dinged in the fight.
"It's not that bad," Rose said.
She tried to turn on the equipment. It gave a loud hiss and sent a couple of sparks flying out of the side of it. Rose pushed the side of it and fiddled around with something.
Shado decided to give them a wide berth and sat down on the dirt floor. She crossed her legs in a calming position and rested.
"You stupid piece of shit!"
Sara barely stifled a round of laughter. She knew from experience yelling at technology never worked. Rose almost looked ready to start kicking it. Discretion became the better part of valor.
"You just risked your life for nothing," Rose said.
"Nice to seem I'm valued," Shado said.
"Fine, not really nothing," Rose said. "I'm just pissed!"
Harry touched Rose's shoulder. Rose steadied her stance and turned around.
"Okay, do any of you know anything about computers?" Rose asked.
"I've never been allowed near them," Harry said. "Long story, don't ask."
Rose knew better in the short time she knew Harry not to bring up about his time. She got enough about his past to know he went through some very traumatic things in his life. She respected someone who went through some trials and tribulations.
"A little bit, I guess," Sara said. "I'm not a computer nerd, but I picked up a couple of things over the years."
The sound of a hand thumping against the back of the communication equipment could be heard. Rose was trying to pry apart the back of it.
"Wish we could have the right tools to get it open," Rose said.
"You know, if you're not careful, you're going to end up frying the entire thing," Sara said.
Harry stepped away, wishing he could have been of a bit more help. A decade in a world isolated from modern convenience did not help with his understanding of the latest technology. He could see Shado disappear around the corner, going deeper inside of the cave. He knew there was an underground stream, which Harry, Sara, and Rose took turns in bathing.
He watched the entire situation around him. Until Rose and Sara got everything working, Harry had been stuck here.
Fyers obviously needed to regroup. Could he get more men on the island soon? Questions Harry would have to answer sooner rather than later.
Yao Fei stood tall and proud in the corner of the tunnel. Three mercenaries, led by none other than Deathstroke, made his way down the tunnel.
"You used to be a man of valor," Yao Fei said.
"Don't lecture me ,old man, come quietly," Slade said. "I don't want to kill your kid, so don't make me do it."
"But, yet, you don't know where she is," the old man responded. He held his arms out and followed them around the corner of the tunnel.
Time always ground by very slowly. Yao Fei understood how much his time on the island reached to a close. Fyers intended to use him as a tool and discard him when it served him necessarily. He had been a proud man and did what was right for the security of the world.
Bringing an entire plane of civilians went against Yao Fei's code of conduct. To bring it down over the country of China, would mean there would be countless more civilians brought.
"I found your man."
Yao Fei didn't allow them the opportunity to shove him alone. He walked and faced Fyers with pride.
"You're a very hard man to get ahold of," Fyers said. "But, you should know it will end soon. In a week, we're in position. You will address the world and follow your script."
Seconds passed with Fyers moving ever so closer towards Yao Fei. Yao Fei didn't blink when looking at him.
"You do it, and your daughter is free, they'll all free," Fyers said. "I will give them the same deal once you tell me where they have gone. You have my word."
Both men reached an impasse with each other. Fyers decided to strike further when the iron remained hot.
"If they act aggressively against us, I can't be held accountable for what my men do to Shado or anyone else. Do you understand me, Yao Fei?"
"I understand perfectly," Yao Fei said. "You do not want to raise his anger, though."
"Worry about your own house," Fyers said. "Are you telling me you don't know where they have gone? You saw them leave."
"I don't know."
Fyers took a half of a second and leaned towards Yao Fei. He came close as possible to the old man, without them touching nose to nose.
"I find out you're lying, and I won't be pleased," Fyers said. "Go with my men, and I'll send for you when I need to you. And remember, I'll be watching you."
Harry grew tired of waiting for everything to fall into place. He walked around and made his way down to the lower level of the cave. The cave was good to go elsewhere, but not conducive to escape. They just would hit a dead end down below.
The moment he stepped into the cave, he ran into Shado. Shado bent down in a moment, stretching in front of Harry. She turned around and rose up towards him.
"Any luck?" she asked.
"No more than normal," Harry said. "I hate to ask you this, but did you see how Fyers and his men plan to get off the island?"
Shado leaned over, stretching in a very distracting manner. Harry kept his focus elsewhere.
"They brought me to the island on a ship, but I saw the ship leave before they dragged me off," Shado said. "I'm going to guess there's someone who will pick up Fyers from the island, whatever is plan is."
"And their plan is apparently to bring down a plane over China," Harry said. "At least according to one of his men. I don't know, he didn't seem like the brightest bulb in the box."
The dark-haired woman leaned down and swung an uppercut against the wall. Her muscles were a bit strained being kept captive for all of those weeks and she wanted to get back into things. She picked up the bow and arrow. She counted the arrows which they rescued from them.
"I don't know what they intend to do, they only intend to use my father to do it," Shado said.
Shado leaned in and Harry caught a hint of the tattoo on her. He frowned when looking at her.
"That's an interesting tattoo," Harry said.
"It symbolizes a powerful dragon," Shado said. "Dangerous to his enemies, a rallying point to his allies. There have been legends passed down over the years about the dragon."
Harry found himself very pleased. He decided to not talk about the fact he once had to fight a dragon. Well, not necessarily fight a dragon, but get past it.
'Better avoid talking about those things that make you like a crazy person.'
His curiosity always got the better of him. He watched when Shado fired a series of martial arts strikes in the air. She loaded up the bow and tested how solid it was. She impacted it in the central crack of the cave wall.
"What legends are there about this dragon?"
Shado walked over and retrieved the arrow from the wall.
"Could be better," she murmured.
Shado turned towards Harry. She did not mean to ignore him, really. It just she felt very restricted and was ready for a fight.
"The dragon lived among the humans," she said. "He judged them as either worthy or not worthy. No one quite knew what he looked like."
Harry figured about as much. Shado turned around a half of a second and held the bow out straight. She moved around the full corner of the room and shot another arrow against the wall. Shado was more pleased with this shot.
"One of the stories has him with dark hair and dark green eyes," Shado said. "It's very coincidental the eyes are like yours….but surely it couldn't be?"
Shado stopped a moment and took a clear look into Harry's eyes for a few seconds.
"I'm not of this world," Harry said.
"Yes, and yet, neither was he," Shado said. "But, like I said, it was just a story. No one quite knows how it got started, although I was inspired by it when I was younger. And greatness comes regardless of what a legend says. Legends are merely words on paper, or words passed down."
Harry figured as much. He heard a few legends back in the day. The truth veered into a more insane territory than any legend.
"And now, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"You took the bow, but you didn't fire it," Shado said. "Yet, your first instinct was to take it."
"I've never taken up archery," Harry said.
Shado walked over behind Harry and put her arms around his. She put the bow in his hand and loaded it with an arrow.
"Try it."
Harry positioned himself with the bow and arrow in his hand. He tried to fire it. The bow snapped out of his hand and the arrow fired off to one side. The arrow traveled a few inches before dropping down onto the ground.
"You're not focused."
Shado didn't sound anything, other than a matter fact matter. Harry took a moment and picked up the arrow.
"You have the perfect arm strength and coordination to use a bow," Shado said. "And your reflexes are on par."
Shado swung around her hand no sooner than she finished it. Harry blocked the punch and knocked her back. He avoided a sweep which threatened to fold his legs out from underneath him. Harry dropped down and came around to see Shado nail him with a series of rapid-fire punches.
He blocked some of them and put Shado down onto the ground. She pulled herself out of the attack and stood back. Harry refused to back down.
"It's your focus which needs the work," Shado said. "Sit down."
Harry looked for a moment, debating on whether or not he wanted to do so. He never had the chance, when Sara made her way inside through the tunnel. For one fleeting second, Harry thought they finally finished getting the radio working and sent for help.
The crestfallen look on Sara's face told Harry differently.
"We have a problem."
"Guess the lesson is going to have to wait."
Rose pinned a man onto the ground. Gasps of oxygen barely came back out of him. Rose pulled him up. He dressed in the same military fatigues Fyers favored for his men.
Sara returned down the tunnel with Harry and Shado. Rose didn't retract the knife, rather she pushed it onto the man's neck. She reached in and grabbed the gun off of his belt. He started to come too, groaning in response. The gun pressed against the man's head.
"It took you long enough."
"We're going to have to move, aren't we?" Harry asked.
"Maybe, it depends on whether or not he's up here on his own accord," Rose said.
She didn't see any of them come from the paths, but it didn't mean anything. Rose pressed down on the man's neck.
"Ease up just a bit," Harry said. "We won't figure out what he's up to if you choke him to death."
Rose dropped the man on the ground. Harry motioned for Sara, Rose, and Shado to all stand back. He lifted up and pulled the man to a standing position. Feet dragged on the ground when Harry pulled his prisoner.
"Fyers sent you here," Harry said.
"Yeah, and if he did, he's been looking for you," he said. "Seems to want to know a lot about you, how you escaped? The old man is swearing up and down he didn't help you escape, and it looks like you got out on your own accord."
Harry nodded and pushed the man up against the wall.
"Fyers doesn't want a war, he wants a truce," the messenger said.
"A truce?" Harry asked, testing out the concept in his mouth. Something about it tasted so foul.
"He is willing to give you transport off of the island, and end all aggression, if you don't move against him," the messenger said. "All you need to do is say the word, and he'll help you out. Otherwise, he's sending Deathstroke up here to finish the job."
Did Fyers know they were up here the entire time? The thought chilled Harry to the bone. He already slept with one eye open.
Rose took the news about her father potentially coming for them about as well as any of them could expect.
"So, that bastard's still kicking," Rose said.
"Stay there, and let me and the others discuss it," Harry said. "If you move, she'll kill you."
The messenger gulped the second Harry pointed out to Rose. The youngest of them seemed the most dangerous to lash out.
"Yes, I will," Rose said.
Harry, Rose, Sara, and Shado moved. Shado turned towards the man and fired an arrow into the back of his knee. He screamed from the impact of solid steel passing through the back of his leg.
"I like your style, "Rose said.
"Just to make sure he doesn't run and tell his friends we're here," Shado said. "So, what are we doing?"