Chapter 26: Unlikely Allies
POV: Roy
Desperate times demanded strange alliances—the Hood recruiting street kids while the Glowing Man called in favors from a vengeance-driven vigilante.
Roy Harper stood on a Glades rooftop at midnight, still processing the conversation that had fundamentally changed his understanding of what was possible in Starling City. The Hood—Oliver Queen, though Roy wasn't supposed to know that—had approached him after watching Roy and Sin protect younger kids from gang recruitment for the third time in two weeks.
"You're good," the hooded vigilante had said, emerging from shadows like something out of a nightmare or a dream. "Untrained, but good. You fight like someone who understands that sometimes violence is the only language bullies understand."
Roy had tensed, ready for confrontation or recruitment into whatever conspiracy the Hood represented. Instead, he'd received an offer that cut straight through his defenses to the core of what drove him.
"How would you like to actually make a difference? Not just protecting a few kids at a time, but stopping the people who create the conditions that put those kids in danger?"
"All my life, I've been angry at a system that treats people like me as expendable. Foster care, juvenile detention, streets where predators hunt children while adults look the other way. The Hood is offering me a chance to fight back against the people who profit from keeping the Glades desperate and dangerous."
Roy thought about Sin, about the other street kids who'd become his chosen family, about the endless cycle of violence and poverty that consumed everything good in the neighborhood before it could take root.
"What's the catch?"
"Training. Discipline. Following orders even when you disagree with them. And understanding that this work will change you in ways you can't predict or control."
"And if I say no?"
"Then you keep protecting people one fight at a time while the larger problems that create those fights remain unsolved."
Roy had accepted immediately, drawn by the promise of purpose beyond survival and the possibility of actually fixing problems instead of just reacting to them.
Now he stood on the rooftop where the Hood had told him to wait for his first team briefing, trying to process the reality that he was about to become part of something larger than his own anger and desperation.
"You must be Roy."
Roy turned to find a dark-haired man approaching with the casual competence of someone comfortable with violence. This had to be Ben Hale, the gym teacher who glowed blue during fights and somehow always managed to protect Sin when she got in over her head.
"The glowing guy," Roy said by way of greeting.
"Among other things. Oliver tells me you're joining the team."
"Apparently. Sin speaks highly of your training methods."
Ben's expression softened slightly. "Sin's special. She's got more courage and moral clarity than most adults I've met. Taking care of her is a privilege, not a burden."
"He means it. There's genuine affection in his voice when he talks about Sin, not the performative concern adults usually show when they want something from street kids. Maybe this team actually does care about protecting people instead of just using them."
"What exactly are we preparing for?" Roy asked.
"Someone's planning to destroy the Glades. Not economically or politically—physically. Thousands of innocent people are going to die unless we stop it." Ben's voice carried the weight of someone who'd seen the consequences of failure firsthand. "This isn't about gang violence or petty crime anymore. This is about preventing mass murder disguised as natural disaster."
Roy felt his anger crystallize into something sharper, more focused. "When?"
"Soon. Two weeks, maybe less."
"Then let's get started."
POV: Ben/Helena
Ben found Helena at her father's grave three hours after the emergency briefing, standing among weathered headstones while Starling City's lights painted the cemetery in harsh angles and deep shadows. She'd come here often since becoming the Huntress, he knew, seeking some kind of closure that violence couldn't provide.
"Helena."
She turned without surprise, crossbow hanging loose at her side. "Ben. Let me guess—you need the psychotic vigilante for some impossible mission."
"I need someone with your skills to help stop a man who's planning to murder thousands of innocent people. Including children who had nothing to do with your father's death or the Triad's business."
Helena's expression remained carefully neutral. "And why should I care? This city failed my family when it mattered. The police, the politicians, the justice system—all of them looked the other way while my father built his empire and his enemies planned their revenge."
"She's not wrong. The same corruption that protected Frank Bertinelli's criminal activities also enabled the Triad's rise to power. Helena has every reason to believe that Starling City's institutions are fundamentally broken and not worth saving."
"Because becoming the monster won't bring your father back," Ben said, stepping closer. "But saving people might make his death mean something."
"You think I'm a monster?"
"I think you're someone who's been hurt so badly that vengeance feels like the only option. But it's not. You could choose to protect people instead of punishing them. You could be the kind of person your father wanted to raise, instead of the weapon his enemies forced you to become."
Helena was quiet for a long moment, staring at the headstone that bore her father's name and dates that bracketed a life of violence and love in equal measure.
"What exactly are you asking me to do?"
"One operation. Help us stop Malcolm Merlyn from using earthquake machines to level the Glades. After that, you're free to make whatever choices feel right to you."
"Earthquake machines?"
Ben explained the scope of Malcolm's plan while Helena processed information that made her vendetta against the Triad seem small and personal by comparison. When he finished, she was staring at him with new understanding of the stakes involved.
"You're serious. Someone's actually planning to commit genocide and blame it on natural disaster."
"Completely serious."
"And you think I'll help because...?"
"Because despite everything you've been through, you're still someone who cares about innocent people. Because your father, for all his crimes, raised a daughter who understands the difference between justice and murder. And because you're curious whether my idealism can survive contact with reality."
Helena smiled for the first time since her father's death—not the cold expression she wore as the Huntress, but something that might have been genuine amusement.
"Your idealism is going to get you killed someday."
"Probably. But not today, if you help us."
"She's considering it. The offer gives her a chance to do something that matters beyond her personal pain, to use her skills for protection instead of revenge. But she's also testing whether I'll maintain my principles when facing someone as ruthless as Malcolm Merlyn."
"One operation," Helena said finally. "I help you stop the earthquake machines, and then we're even. No judgments about my methods, no lectures about redemption."
"Deal."
"And if your team's methods prove as ineffective as I expect, I reserve the right to solve the Malcolm Merlyn problem permanently."
Ben nodded, understanding that Helena's participation came with conditions he couldn't entirely control. "Fair enough."
POV: Oliver
An hour later, Oliver surveyed his expanded team in the Foundry and tried to reconcile what he'd wanted with what he'd actually assembled. Diggle and Felicity represented the core of professional competence that had made their operations successful. Ben brought impossible abilities and tactical insights that improved their effectiveness exponentially.
But Roy Harper was an angry teenager with street fighting skills and no formal training. Helena Bertinelli was a skilled killer whose definition of justice involved permanent solutions to temporary problems. Together, they represented more complications than Oliver had wanted to manage during a mission this critical.
"This isn't the army I would have chosen. It's a collection of damaged people united by circumstances rather than doctrine, held together by shared purpose rather than mutual trust. Roy's angry, Helena's dangerous, Ben's secretive, and all of them have personal stakes that could compromise operational objectives."
But they were also what he had, and what he had would have to be enough.
"Two weeks," Oliver said, calling the room to attention. "That's our timeline for locating and disabling seventeen earthquake machines placed throughout the Glades while stopping Malcolm Merlyn from activating them remotely."
He pulled up holographic displays showing the target area and estimated device locations. "Each machine represents a potential epicenter for seismic events that could kill hundreds of people immediately and thousands more through secondary effects. We can't afford to miss even one."
"How do we find them?" Roy asked.
"Ground-penetrating radar, seismic sensors, financial analysis, and old-fashioned detective work," Felicity replied. "Plus whatever insights Ben's pattern recognition can provide about Malcolm's strategic thinking."
Oliver noted the way Ben's expression tightened at that reference, filing it away for future investigation. "Operational structure: we work in pairs for safety, maintain constant communication, and prioritize civilian evacuation if we can't prevent activation."
"Rules of engagement?" Helena asked with the casual interest of someone who'd learned that killing was usually the most efficient solution to complex problems.
"Non-lethal force preferred, lethal force authorized if necessary to protect civilian lives," Oliver replied, watching Helena's reaction carefully. "Our goal is to stop mass murder, not commit it ourselves."
Helena nodded with apparent acceptance, but Oliver caught the slight smile that suggested she had her own interpretation of "necessary."
"Managing this team is going to be like juggling explosives while riding a unicycle. Helena will kill if she thinks it serves the mission. Roy will take unnecessary risks to prove himself. Ben will make tactical suggestions based on intelligence sources he can't explain. And all of them will be operating under pressure that could break their judgment when we need it most."
But as Oliver looked around the room at people who'd chosen to risk everything to save a city that might not appreciate their sacrifice, he felt something unexpected: hope. They weren't the team he'd planned for, but they were the team that had emerged from shared commitment to protecting people who couldn't protect themselves.
"Roy's anger could become righteous fury when channeled properly. Helena's skills could save lives if her targets are chosen correctly. Ben's insights could prevent disasters if his information proves accurate. We're not just fighting Malcolm's plan—we're fighting the idea that some people are expendable, that some neighborhoods can be sacrificed for the greater good."
"Final briefing in six hours," Oliver announced. "Use the time to prepare mentally and physically for the hardest mission any of us have ever attempted. Questions?"
Ben raised his hand slightly. "What happens if we fail?"
The question hung in the air like a challenge, forcing everyone to confront the possibility that their efforts might not be enough.
"Then we make sure the failure costs Malcolm everything he cares about," Oliver replied. "And we hope the people who survive remember that someone tried to protect them."
The expanded Team Arrow dispersed into the Foundry's shadows, each member carrying the weight of impossible responsibility and the knowledge that two weeks was both too much time and not nearly enough.
Ben used his Prescience to track team dynamics, smoothing tensions before they could explode into conflicts that would sabotage the mission. His power showed him social consequences three seconds before they happened, allowing him to redirect conversations and manage personalities with surgical precision.
"I can see the stress fractures developing, the points where this alliance could shatter under pressure. Roy's need to prove himself, Helena's willingness to solve problems through violence, Oliver's tendency to shoulder responsibility he should share. My job is to hold them together long enough to save the city, even if it means becoming the glue that binds people who might otherwise tear each other apart."
Outside the Foundry, Starling City hummed with its usual nighttime energy, unaware that its salvation was being planned by heroes, vigilantes, and people still trying to figure out which category they belonged in. But inside the converted factory, unlikely allies prepared for a battle that would determine whether idealism could triumph over cynicism, whether hope could overcome despair, and whether love for a flawed city was stronger than one man's twisted vision of improvement through destruction.
The countdown had begun, and everything they'd built together would be tested against the question of whether saving people was
worth the cost of becoming the kind of people who could save them.