Post by adrini on Aug 16, 2013 12:24:48 GMT -5
Dinah stood in front of a large world map with a box of pins next to her. Next to her Mia smiled waiting for the next question.
"For the last five points of your final-" She handed the teen a blue pin. "Formerly known as Burma this country was hit in the two thousand eight tsunami and claimed it needed no aid. It is featured in a major Rogers and Hammerstein musical. Pin this country."
Mia beamed and hurried to the Southeast Asia region of the map. "Myanmar." She said pushing the pin within the borders. She looked at the older woman eagerly.
Dinah held up her hand for a high five. "Absolutely. Well done Little Bit. That is a solid ninety-seven. We just need to work on your Central America a little."
Mia beamed and took the high five. She was taking summer classes to make up for lost time so she could attend school with her class in the fall. It had been agreed that due to Dinah's position she could take geography classes at the outreach.
She pulled out the blue pins and watched Dinah walk over to the board with her clip board and box of pins. Dinah started muttering and placing pins in groups and clusters on the map. She had only been back from the honeymoon a few weeks and already looked exhausted.
Mia looked at Dinah's mug and saw it was empty. She quietly grabbed it and walked to the office coffee machine. She was filling the mug with Dinah's favorite brew and creamer when she saw the director walk into the room.
She smiled and waved. "Hello Mrs. Helen."
Mrs. Helen, tall and thin with pale blond hair, saw her and smiled. "Miss Mia. How did your test go?"
"She knocked it out of the park, of course." Dinah said as she walked in the room. She saw that Mia had refilled the mug for her. "Thank you Little Bit." She said and Mia beamed.
"I bet she did, her teacher is attentive enough." Helen said, smiling. Mia had taken the hug Dinah offered, the best part of her week was here with her cousin.
"Nah, she's just that smart." Mia heard Dinah say from the cuddle.
Dinah pulled a candy bar and soda from the shelf and handed them over. "For a ninety-five or higher a sugar high as promised." She smiled as she handed them over. Mia grabbed both and followed her back to the work room.
She was finishing the candy bar when she heard familiar footsteps in the hallway outside the door, in fact she heard two. She looked at Dinah who had also noticed the sound.
"Do you have a meeting planned?" She asked. Dinah shook her head.
"Thursdays are all yours." Dinah said and opened the door for the two.
Oliver hurriedly walked into the room and picked up his wife when he saw her. "Thank goodness." He said and reached for Mia as well.
Mia was glad for the hug but thoroughly confused. She looked at Dinah who looked just as confused.
"I told you they were fine." Adrien said nearby. Mia looked around her guardian and saw the woman. She looked worried. It was still a few moments before Oliver let them go.
"Okay, this is the part where you tell me what is going on." Dinah said, forcing herself to be patient. Exhaustion had forced her to watch her mood more often.
Adrien walked over. "Gaynor's crew escaped, Cavanaugh was with them. I don't know how."
If Mia was less swamped in her own sudden panic she would have noticed Dinah's. Without even thinking she found the woman and held onto her tightly. "No!" She said. "They need to go away."
Dinah held her close but looked at the two. "How? They were convicted. Cavanaugh was dead."
Mia felt Oliver join in the hug again. Indirectly he had as much to fear from them as the Drake's did, they wanted to kidnap his charge and kill his wife.
"Someone from within the city arraigned it. We'll smoke them out." Adrien said.
"In the meantime they'll be looking for the superheroes that fought them, not the first family of Star City. Well just have to keep Mia hidden until we catch them again. The question is where to place them once we do. The backer is here in town and the Feds weren't able to hold them."
Oliver waved the question away. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. I just needed to make sure you two were alright."
Mia shook her head and held to the two even closer. She looked up at her family. "Can we go home?"
Above her Oliver and Dinah shared a look for a moment. Adrien behind them noticed the steeled gaze the two shared.
"Gather your things Little Bit." Dinah said gently.
>--)->
Dinah quickly dodged Ted's sharp right hook and twisted around his grab. She knew she was favoring her left leg but she wasn't sure she could depend on the right one just then. Thankfully for leaps and twists she only needed one good leg in the first place.
Ted raised an eyebrow at the tendency but if she believed she was okay to keep training he would keep letting her until he had a reason to believe otherwise. Core defense being her speciality he aimed at her limbs, though admittedly avoiding the right leg for major hits.
She was fine until he landed a side block that hit the area over the artery that had been severed. She was able to catch herself before she fell but not by much.
The man looked at her and crossed his arms. She was glad no one else had been there to see it. "Spill."
There was no use playing coy. "It's just an infection. Considering what almost happened I got off easy."
Ted thought for a moment and nodded. "You need to get it looked at."
She was already okay again and standing normally. So long as she didn't overwork the leg it was fine. "Monday. Made the appointment last week."
He nodded in approval. "The pretty boy can't be happy about this." He said and allowed her to exit the ring first, likely as a cover to make sure she was as okay as she claimed.
Dinah exited the area with a flourish just to prove it. "I'm not sure he knows." She said quietly. "I was hoping to get it taken care of before he noticed."
"Secrets don't work with a marriage. You know that Dinah." She hated his disapproving look.
"I tried to tell him, he promptly freaked out over the memory of what happened and started spiraling. He hasn't brought it up since so I think he blocked it. I figure its a minor infection. If I'm right I can knock it out and he won't need to worry about it. If I'm wrong I can let him know then."
Ted rubbed his neck and shook his head. "Tell him, Di. You know how he is about that day. Someone else can take over hero work till it gets sorted out."
He saw the look of protest on her face. "You are not fighting on that leg." He said firmly.
She didn't like it but he was right.
>--)->
"Bowstring, we are not having this discussion. Cissie likes the training." She said as he saw his wife fill in their daughter's calendar.
"She likes seeing her friends to. I'm just saying there needs to be balance." His wife had a single minded focus. "You said she could take a break after the games."
"If she got gold-" Bonnie jumped in.
"And she did!" He stood up, hands on the table. "She did everything you asked. It's time to let her breathe a little."
Bonnie sat down. "She needs to stay trained."
"She hates your trainer." He sat down as well. "How about trying a new one."
"She's gone through them all." Bonnie's eyes glowed, she thought she had him.
"Except one." He slid over a pamphlet. "Creek technique. Something she has never studied."
He looked up and saw Cissie looking at him from her bedroom doorframe. A tall, thin blonde sixteen year old, she was biting her lip. This was the trainer she had found.
"We'll try him, this Brave Bow. But he'd better be good, Bowstring." Bonnie said, unhappy to have been proven wrong.
"We'll find out." He got up and walked to the girl. "I already contacted him, he's sent his list of open slots. He gave the list to his wife, she liked making the calendar.
He entered the rooms and closed the door, his daughter quickly jumped in his arms.
"You got it!" She cheered. "I'll be training with the Queen's! Thank you so much, Daddy!"
He held the girl close. Whatever his relationship with his wife, she was his treasure. "I told him you wanted to. There is a class for teens. He said it would be the easiest."
"That means Thea will be there. She's really nice, she's shy though." He smiled. He could see the wheels turning.
"You'll find a way, my Arrowette."
>--)->
She had just walked to her bedroom to pick up her brain puzzles, something she had gotten into working intelligence in her work in Korea, when she heard the front door being forced open. Several men ran in. She had received a phone call from Ms. Rivers about this.
Thinking quickly she grabbed her address book, opened the window and climbed onto the landing, quietly closing it behind her. Going down one floor she knocked on the glass. Catherine saw her and unlocked the window.
In forty-five Catherine had flown planes for WAC but now was confined to a chair due to clotting issues. She closed the window after her friend.
"What's the fuss?" The stomping from up stairs was audible even here.
Clara tore out the page with the Star City address and grabbed a lighter from Catherine's side table. She watched it turn to ash.
" The men who went after my nieces escaped. I'm fairly certain they want their location." She washed the ash down the drain. " I need to go to a safe place. Is your sister still in Hoboken?"
Catherine, once a striking brunette, nodded and picked up her phone, grabbing a chunk of bills from under a pillow. "I'll call, you run. Take care of yourself Clara."
Clara quickly scribbled down a number. "Once things are clear call this number and ask for the Arrow. A woman will answer. Tell her what happened and where I am."
Catherine took the scrap and put it in her album of grand children. "No one will look in there, now go."
>--)->
Oliver yawned and forced himself to return to his work. When he and Di had been taken off hero work he had thought it would mean less work, little did he know the opposite would be true.
Roy and Jade had stepped in leaving the paperwork for the storm of mergers to him to fill out. Di, as liaison, was struggling to keep up with the literal storms that were causing damage all over the place. The only real time he had seen her that day was when they had lunch over face chat, and even that had been cut short.
In the nearby chair Mia was crashed. She had come with extra homework when he had told her about the late hours but still finished before him. She smiled in her sleep, warm under his jacket.
There was a soft knock on the door and Adrien entered. She saw the sleeping teen and smiled. "She's out cold." She said softly to him as she approached.
He nodded. "I need to get her home soon. What do you have?"
She put the files on his desk." Notes for tomorrow's talks. How much more do you have to go through?"
He looked over the list. "Not much. Mostly reviewing things before they get sent to the lawyers."
The woman looked at the list herself. "I have a free morning. I'll do it then. Get Mia home." She smiled.
Oliver gave her a grateful look and gathered his things, trying to rouse the young girl. She had filled out somewhat but still looked closer to ten then fourteen. When she didn't wake up he decided to just pick her up instead. She curled into him.
Adrien watched the young man and smiled. Memories of his father came flooding back. Robert would be so proud of his son. "Get her home safe." She said as he carried the kid out the door.
Oliver nodded. "I'll see to it."
She saw his computer was unlocked and went to secure it. She woke up the screen to see a download in progress. She hurried to remember the young mans passwords.
Hurriedly typing and coding she blocked the attack. Oliver had just left but he was never any good at this anyway. She commanded her phone to call Jax mid code.
"Hey Addy." He said.
"Ollie's computer is being hacked. Jump on. Now." She was barely keeping up, who ever this was was good.
A few seconds later he saw Jax's code working with her own and the transfer was canceled. She hurried to find out what files had been taken.
Jax found out before she did. "Just promotional flyers and a few old contracts." He said. "Any idea what they were after?"
She leaned back in the chair. "No clue. But I have the feeling this is just getting started."
Jax spoke a few seconds later. "They wanted the family photographs." He sounded confused. "Ones from after the wedding. What does that mean?"
Adrien thought for a moment before it hit her. Mia's formal adoption was only officially filed after the wedding. Jax seemed to have the same thought. She felt the blood drain from her face.
"Mia." They said together.
>--)->
Roy shot three arrows into the crowd, and smiled as Jade proofed in front of them and landed them on their backs with a low sweeping kick. He had to say they made a good team.
She leaped over the next crowd and landed at the computer while Roy played a game he liked to call "arrow in the knee". The thugs went down quickly.
Jade pulled the data stick from the mainframe and ran to the exit. The local gangs had been able to find out the teams mission and had started to protect their data. "In and done. Want to hit another one?" She asked as they got outside.
Roy smiled. If it was with her he was game. He was about to say so when his comm went off.
RA, this is home base. We need to meet at the center.
Adrien sounded worried. "On our way home base. What's the situation?"
Adrien took a moment. There's been an attempt to locate LB.
He looked at Jade. Even with the friction, Mia adored Dinah, Jade was just as invested in keeping her away from her former guardians as he was. They hurried home.
>--)->
Jade had never been to Mia's room but would need to know where it was now, the whole family was dividing into teams of two to make looking after the girl easier. She walked up the stairs with the teen who was still holding Dinah's hand.
She was still conflicted about her own friend. She had her own world falling apart when Dinah left, and had no one to turn to. Yet Dinah had been going through her own hell, and couldn't have helped if she had known. Even she had to admit that the woman she was walking with now wasn't the same. She had settled her roll as caretaker and executive but a lot of the girl she had grown up with was gone.
They got to the top of the stairs and walked into the young girls room. Roy had filled her in on Mia's history, her mothers death, her treatment at the camp, and her rescue to here. The room was her safe place, a place that was entirely her own. Pictures of horses covered part of the wall near the bed and school books sat on the desk. A large picture of her and Di sat on the side table. Whatever Di had done in the past, she was doing right by this girl now. Their similar experiences likely helped that.
When they arrived Mia hurried to change into pjs and get things ready for the next day, she would be spending it at the aide office with the two of them. She climbed into the large bed and Jade smiled as Di automatically walked over to tuck her in. Mia made sure her comm was turned on before she curled on her side and tried to sleep.
The two young women walked back to the hallway and looked at each other.
"So." Di said leaning against the wall.
Jade nodded. "Ya." She looked at the front door just in view downstairs. This wasn't a good place to talk. Too many curious people. "We should go somewhere..."
Di nodded. "Yep." She said and walked to the end of the hall. Jade followed.
She opened the door to a bedroom Jade had never seen before. There was soft moon light coming from the window but other then that it was dark. It was green and cream colored, though it took her a minute to realize who it was in the pictures.
"Isn't this kind of morbid?" She asked, she could feel the ghosts here.
Di smiled. "Quite morbid. But Ollie and Thea aren't ready to let go of it yet and it's the only sound proof room in the house."
Jade looked at the walls. "Why would it be-" She nodded. "Okay, got it." The noises she heard from down the hall were hereditary then. Good to know.
Di had sat down on a bench near the dark bathroom. This place had a creep factor of ten. "I honestly don't have any idea where to begin." She said. "I so much of all of it is still a haze."
Jade looked at the blond and sat down on the bed. "A nightmare. There's only one way you pay off that much money with Roulette. How did you get out?"
"Your mother." Di said, she had an ironic smile at Jade's look of surprise. "She got in somehow and snuck me to an ally way after cleaning me up a little. Gave me a slew of pills to get rid of whatever I might have caught and gave me a safe house. Last favor to my mother, paying a debt."
"So she's dark side again. Not too surprising. You get help?" Jade said as Di laughed bitterly.
"Have you?" Mrs. Queen asked, a blunt look in her eye. Jade shook her head. "Exactly, we can't. Tom as terrible as we said he'd be?"
"More so. Disabled our birth control and then blamed me for not being careful enough." Jade said, Di was scarred, to scarred to be the same. She was to.
"You keep it?" Jade was shocked at the question, this from the woman to desperately wanted a family someday.
"Ya, a son. Named after his father. I was chased off and went to find you." Jade didn't have to finish the thought, Di was nodding .
"Of course, we'll have to do some recon but I'll have Adrien look into it." She said quickly, the gears turning.
"So, married. Certainly nicer digs. This is at least better." Jade said, leading the conversation.
"A second chance." Di smiled to herself. "I know, Jade. I'm changed. You, Ted, everyone from the old days says so. But I like it here, I like who I am here. I love Oliver, I love sending supplies and being able to come home safe everyday. We can have a family here, birthday parties, we can retire here."
"It is nice for you." Jade quietly admitted, Di reached out and grabbed her hand for a moment.
"It can be for you to, for all of us. We found a refuge, Jade. After the hells we've been through it's well earned." She assured her.
"The whole gym fell apart." Jade said softly, memories haunting her. "The young kids have no idea what they are doing. Then after-" she stopped. Jason was her fathers story to tell.
"Jason. I know he got killed at the docks. That's all though. Haven is an evil, evil place." Di nodded.
In her fantasies Jade had screamed at the young woman for hours. Called her names, broken her things. Actually being able to now she found she didn't have the heart.
Jade smiled wryly, years of Oliver seeking the Canary, her and Kate thinking it was a bad idea. Then when Jade tracks Di down she's on the eve of marrying the same young man. Her mother would call it the fingers of fate. "A lot happened after you left. The whole area got darker. We all got darker. We didn't have our canary to warn us when we needed to leave the mine anymore."
She heard Dinah gasped lightly, and she walked over to her. Kneeling down she gasped and turned the light on. The blond was out cold, a pool of blood quickly growing at her feet.
She remembered that the room was sound proof, and hurried to open the door.
"Roy! Oliver!" She screamed into the hallway. "Help!"
>--)->
Diggle walked into the waiting room with a tray of drinks. Tea for Adrien and Thea, coffee for the others. He sat down next to Mia who was sipping a hot chocolate after handing them out.
The girl looked up and smiled at him a little. "Oliver was here." She said. "He said they caught it in time but she'll have to be off her feet again for a while."
He nodded and leaned back in his chair. He had hoped this part of the story was over, though this time was far better then last time. "That's good news. Any news on if we're taking her home?" He was beat and she would be better off under observance for a night.
Mia looked at him but understood. "Will she be gone long?" She asked, steeling herself. By the time Ollie and Di had gotten back from their honeymoon Mia had been about to climb the walls from impatience alone. He was beginning to suspect it was a Drake family trait.
He smiled at her. "Few days at most. Plus hospitals have visiting hours." He nudged her a little. "When she gets home she'll be better for good."
Mia smiled but mostly seemed to be focused on the words 'visiting hours'. If the two could be this devoted to their own children the family would be set. "I'll be right back." She said and hurried to the nursing station. Diggle didn't have to wonder what she was asking about.
Oliver appeared and walked over to where Jade and Roy were talking over coffee. Diggle wandered over.
"I just can't thank you enough. Catching it as soon as you did make the difference." He was telling the dark haired woman. "You really are welcome to stay as long as you like. I mean it."
Roy looked at her proudly. She looked down for a moment. "It is a really nice house." She said.
He smiled as she turned to Roy who looked thrilled at having his new other half on the premises. He got Oliver's attention.
"How is she?" He asked when they got away from the couple.
"Better." Oliver said. "The area around the artery was swollen from infection, if we had waited for the appointment there might have been blood poisoning. For some reason it burst first. Thank God Jade was there."
Diggle shook his head. There were times when being on top of things wasn't enough. "Is she staying the night?"
The young man nodded, he wasn't happy at the thought. "They need to make sure the main infection clears. They said to call around noon and see how she is then."
Mia hurried back. "Visiting hours are from one to four." She said. "It will take forty five minutes to get here from the tower and twenty-five from the house."
Oliver smiled at her. "My thoughts exactly. We may as well head home, she's going to be out for a while." He didn't look thrilled at the concept of sleeping alone.
>--)->
Rose had looked up traffic laws in Star City and found that phones had to be mounted. The mount was only a few dollars and allowed her to talk to her father as she drove.
"I don't know Dad." She said. "Too much mystery usually means there is something to hide."
"It's a job, the least I can do is hear him out. He even sounds competent."
She smirked. "Do what you have to. Just keep me in the loop. Love you Dad."
"Will do kiddo" The man said. "Have fun visiting."
She followed the map to Queen Manor and found herself at a large iron gate. She had been informed that they were well off. She stopped the car, pressed the button and waited for a response.
A voice she had never heard before rang over the line. "We are not offering interviews." It said simply.
Mia looked at the speaker and smiled. She wasn't surprised. "I'm not here for an interview, I'm here to see Mia. Dinah told me I could visit her if I was ever in town." The comm went silent.
A few moments passed before it went off again. She pulled out her phone for the wait.
"Who is this?" The voice asked, now more polite.
Rose put the phone away. "Rose Wilson. I helped get Mia out."
She shook her head as the gates opened. "Welcome to the high life." She said to herself.
>--)->
Mia carefully curled in Dinah's left side on the hospital bed. Outside the room Oliver was talking to the doctor, trying to find out when Mrs. Queen could be permitted to go home.
It had been a hard night. She had woken up several times remembering something she had wanted to tell the young woman, and she had a very vivid dream where Dinah didn't survive the injury at the camp after all. About five she had given up and gone downstairs where she found Oliver who had given up some time before. He had been awoken by the same dream, and found he was no longer able to sleep without his wife next to him.
Dinah yawned. "Who are you with today?" She asked the teen. The meds were making her tired again.
"Roy, Jade and Oliver." She played with the the silver ring her cousin wore, it matched her own.
Dinah nodded. "Good. Do you know if Mrs. Helen is holding up?"
She did in fact. She had called that morning. "She's fine. She said to take all the time you need." This was the second time Mia had been unsure about her cousins life. Once was enough.
Oliver came in shortly. He smiled at the sight of the two. "If I were less of a man I would be jealous right now." He said lightly. Mia smiled and settled in more. "They want to keep you one more night." He said. "But you're clear to go in the morning."
Dinah stuck out her tongue in protest. "I want to go home." She said.
Mia shared a look with her guardian. She was wanted at home. "One more night. I don't want to have to carry you out in a blanket again." He sat down next to her.
Mia could see that she wanted to argue but couldn't. She sighed. "More daytime television."
Oliver laughed lightly but excused himself as his phone went off. Mia wrapped an arm around the taller blond and felt herself begin to doze off. It was only half past two, she could stay till four. She was feeling the lack of sleep.
She was roused sometime later by Oliver who had joined then for a nap in the chair next to the bed. Dinah was still out cold. "Four fifteen." He said softly. "They were nice to us."
Mia unhappily got up and walked out with the man. She smiled as she saw him brush the hair from her his wife's face, taking a moment with her for himself. One more night and they had her back. She saw a family nap time in their future.
She noticed that Diggle dropped Roy and Oliver off but drove her and Jade home. "I thought I was staying at the office." She said. Part of the team of two thing.
Diggle smiled at her. "You have a guest. It's rude to keep her waiting."
Mia was lost as to who it was until she walked into the house and looked around. "I've never had a room that big." Said a familiar voice. "This house is amazing. You aren't taking applications, are you?"
Mia felt a wide grin on her face as she saw Rose walk down the stairwell. "Rose!" She cried and charged to the teen. They met at the base of the stairs.
Rose looked her over. "You look so much better." She said after the hug. "How have you been?"
Mia wasn't sure what to say. "Good, mostly." Rose motioned for her to continue.
Mia reheated some food and filled her friend in. Rose was sorry for Dinah's injury but was far more upset about the four men escaping. "You have no idea where they are?" She asked, ignoring the pasta in front if her. Mia had adopted the family custom of greeting people with a meal.
Thea responded. She had come up from the gym to see the two. "Not yet, but we're looking at a few leads. We don't think they know Mia is here just yet."
Jade was with them, since the talk with Dinah she had calmed down somewhat. "We're organized to keep her safe. I'm sure you'd be invited to help if you like. You have prior experience."
Mia looked at her friend and beamed. Rose shook her head. "Like I was going to say no." She said. "I was promised a room. Get me that and I'm in."
Thea and Mia beamed and pulled the red headed teen up-stairs.
>--)->
Charles Gaynor walked into the to room to see the stately Mr. King looking over finical reports and stock numbers. He looked less then pleased.
"More bad news Mr. King?" He sat in a chair and waited for the man to respond.
Arthur King looked at the man and sighed.
"Nothing to concern you, the mission remains unaffected. Have you heard back from your campions?" He got up and joined the man on the sofa.
"Start planning your expansion now." He grinned. "Team Arrow doesn't have a prayer."