Post by adrini on Mar 17, 2014 11:13:27 GMT -5
Oliver woke up suddenly, pulled from his groggy state by sudden and sharp pain.
"What the-" He tried to pull his arm away but Di whimpered and held the arm closer, her fingernails digging into his skin. Her breathing was panicked. He could hear the word 'no' in her voice as she curled more tightly into a ball.
"Wake up, love." He tried gently nudging her, slowly pulling the arm away. She started thrashing and crying, tucking her face tucked into her arms with the sounds of panic.
Beginning to panic a little himself he tried to awaken his wife from her night terror. When gentle words didn't work and soft touches did nothing he tried to pull the ball apart by force, and it got worse.
"Dinah, wake up!" He had to scream somewhat to chance being heard over her now cries. It was hard to make out at first but she was pleading for her mother. She was terrified. Whatever this sudden memory was they would have to talk about it.
He grabbed the blanket and wrapped both of them inside it, making sure that at least physically, she knew he was there. She latched on again and after a time the terror ended, fading into a stiff if more peaceful sleep. The dozen or so punctures on Oliver's arm were worth it.
He took a deep breath and kissed her head before he saw Mia at the door. He waved to the girl and got up slowly to greet her.
"Is she okay?" Mia looked anxiously at the form, for now at rest. "I could hear that from my room."
"It's passed, whatever it was." He looked at Mia and nodded to the hallway, she followed. "You're in trauma therapy. Any ideas?"
Mia saw the bloody punctures on his arms and winced, but she nodded.
"It's a repressed memory, she's gotten them before. They just aren't that strong normally." The girl looked at the door. "I was afraid they could get stronger now."
"Why now?" Oliver was impressed by Mia's foresight, but annoyed this was the first he had heard of this. "How long has this been happening?"
"I should probably come clean," Mia sighed. "When I first got here I hated sleeping alone, it still caused night terrors. Di would hear that I was in one and lay down with me. She knew that if she was there I'd be a lot better."
Oliver nodded, he knew about this part.
"She started having little night terrors of her own. I thought they were sympathetic at first, but she started sleep talking about a woman named White Canary, some circle, Roulette, and some thing called the slave drug. She kept wanting to know where Jade and Kate were." Oliver nodded, he didn't like the new pieces of the puzzle. His wife hadn't told him everything after all. "She brushed them off as bad memories, said not to bother. I figured it was hers to tell, if she wanted it told."
"So when we went back to the Haven and brought Kate home with us it occurred to you they might become more pronounced?" Oliver suspected. Mia nodded.
"I don't know what happened in Haven, or what her old friends did along the way but there's a lot that went down," Mia said, once again glancing to the door. Oliver smiled and nodded to permit her to enter. She hurried inside and curled next to his now resting better half, returning the past favor.
"What happened?" Jade asked as the doorway continued to become more crowded with the rest of the awakening household.
"It's in hand, I'll explain tomorrow. Go back to sleep." Oliver forced himself to smile when he saw the other Birds walk over. Jade and Kate both winced at the blood from the cuts on his arms and that had leaked through his shirt.
"This normal?" Kate asked. Oliver brushed dried blood off his arms.
"Not remotely." He assumed the Haven veterans didn't need the mask. The others were back in their rooms again. "We'll be busy tomorrow. Adrien will take care of getting you set up Miss Kane."
"Ollie, what are you doing?" Jade had been in the house long enough to know what it meant when the mask came off.
"She's suffering. I'm getting her help, that's what a husband does." He faced his room. "See you tomorrow."
>--)->
"Tommy, it's coming." Jade was stirring oatmeal to cool it down. The little boy kept screaming. "See, it's ready."
Kate watched to make sure Tommy was eating before she walked up. Jade saw her and smiled.
"Did we wake you?" She got the rest of Tommy's food ready. "My Tommy can get very cranky when he's hungry."
"I was awake. Is Di okay?" Jade glowed as Tommy finally settled in. "I thought she was sitting pretty."
"I don't think anyone knows what she went through before she got here." Jade said, starting the coffee. "Ollie got her out of the house about an hour ago. He's claiming a personal day and getting her in Therapy."
"Good on him." Kate sat down. "You have decaf?"
"Starting now." Jade pulled a second coffee maker down. "How's the house so far?"
"Fine. Ton of people." She sat down. "Done with being huge."
"I remember." Jade chuckled. " Adrien will be at the tower with Roy, I'm taking the outreach with Di being out. The girls will be at school. Bowstring is heading to work at the paper. You'll have Diggle to get the room set up."
"In a day?" That wasn't going to happen.
"As much as we can," Jade said lightly. "There's a store that has inventory in stock. Order and when everything arrives, the manor army will set it up. You're there, Kate." She handed Kate a mug of freshly brewed Decaf. "Don't assume you have much longer."
"This place is a circus," Kate noted.
Jade agreed. "But a nice one. Stay here and you'll be fine." Tommy started fussing and Jade passed him his water. "It grows on you."
>--)- >
"There was blood?" Adrien asked with concern as she arranged the files.
"She did a number, not on purpose or anything but-" Roy hurried to explain away his first words.
"I get it. The poor girl," Adrien sighed. "I have the meetings, you cover the paperwork. Jax is on security. We'll get through this."
"I know." Roy was filling his briefcase with files to drop off in person. He put a few important cards in the front pocket and smiled. "Hey, it came in."
"It's official?" Adrien looked at him.
"We are now the Harpers, paperwork and everything." He grinned, he looked at the new forms and sat down to take it in.
Adrien smiled and left the new family man to his thoughts. She took the center elevator from the Robin Hood suite, just in time to get to the first meeting of the day. About floor seven she got a text and pulled out her phone.
All it said was 'get out of the elevator', though it was marked as from Jax. She selected the next floor and walked into the laboratory floor just in time to see the lights and nearby computers flicker.
"Jax, talk to me. What's happening?" The phone was nothing but static. She pulled out the ear piece.
"Jax. Tell me." This was the last thing she needed.
I'm blocking most of it but the hacker is back. Get to a main terminal, now!
"Got one right here." She jumped over a desk to get to the main research hub, the lab workers nearby were becoming increasingly panicked. "Tower emergency. Go home to your families. Everyone gets the day off."
The lab workers hurried to the emergency stairs and Adrien logged into the security screen. She began fighting the hacker right away, just behind Jax.
"Adrien, the electronics up here are going nuts." Roy said on the line a few moments later. "What's going on?"
"The hacker. Unplug the computers then get outside. Make sure the Outreach is okay."
"Almost have him." Jax said. "This is going to be a mess to clean."
"Done. Heading down." Roy said in a panicked voice.
"I got the elevator for you. None of our records are showing disruption at the Outreach, but get them home anyway." Adrien kept countering the cyber attacks, repairing firewalls and bulding new ones as soon as they were taken down, decompiling malicious code as it appeared.
"Don't have to tell me twice."
>--)->
"Everyone here?" Rose walked to the center of the choir room. She shook her head as three heads poked out from behind the metal stands. Her friends were cute, but silly.
"Took some doing, Mia had to tell a stinker." Thea crawled out, Mia behind her.
"We used bathroom and headaches." Cissie had been hiding behind a door.
"If anyone asks I took powerful medicine for violent cramps." Mia blushed. "I had to sell it."
"Fair enough." Rose smirked. That she would have paid to see. "What's the emergency?"
"The tower has been hacked. Ollie says to make sure we have our homework set up." Thea said. "He and Di will be here soon, but they want us to have earpieces in just to be paranoid."
"We're going home. Attacks have come in pairs." Mia was sitting on the front step. "And Cissie wants to get back to her Dad."
"He's not fully okay yet." The girl softly explained. "Still having coughing fits. I don't have an earpiece though."
"Take mine." Thea pulled her's from her pocket. "Mia and I are in the same classes for the rest of the day."
Rose heard a school guard walk in the nearby hallway, it was time to get back to class. She nodded to the others.
"Back to class, we've been missed. When we get home can we get Cissie and her dad earpieces?" She looked out the door.
"We should have before. When we get home." Thea nodded. "Ollie will be here in half an hour."
"See you then." Cissie slipped the earpiece in, excited. It beeped as it activated, she could hear Adrien talking to Mr. Queen as he drove to the school. Mrs. Queen was on the phone with the school office, informing them that they were in bound. As she was leaving she made a detour to her locker. She'd need books for her homework.
"Forget a book?"
"No, Mom." Bonnie stood at the end at the lockers. "You can't be here. They're looking for you."
"I'll be fine. I've missed you, sweetie. It's been too long since we talked." Her mother walked over. In the earpiece Ollie was telling her to stall, and stay calm. They would be right there. Mia and Thea were on the way to.
"A little longer than when you tried to roast Dad." Cissie backed up. "And when you stole Dinah's ring."
"There's so much you don't understand, my Arrowette. You're friends are not who you think they are." She tried to come close again, Cissie shook her head and took a step back again. "Come with me, there is so much I can offer you now. Your stepfather is a good man, he just wants us together. You'll be the princess of your own world."
"I'm staying here." She took a breath. "With Dad."
"No, my love." Bonnie said, suddenly serious. "You are coming with us. My dear?" It took a moment for Cissie to realize her mother was talking to the man standing directly behind her. Cissie felt herself fall back before losing consciousness and falling into the man's arms.
"She's out. Home?" Vertigo calmly asked as he gently carried the unconscious girl in his arms.
>--)->
"Adrien, where is she?" Thea dashed into the house, and grabbed the woman. Mia and Rose were close behind. Oliver was behind them helping Dinah inside. When Adrien looked at him he shook his head grimly and took his wife to their room.
"We have her location, it's in hand. She's unharmed." She walked to kitchen and showed the them the computer. "The bio signs from the piece show she's asleep. The house is being scoped out now, Thomas has been notified."
The three nodded, watching the dot on the screen labeled 'Speedy'. As they did she hurried up stairs. Oliver was walking into the hallway.
"Is she okay?" Oliver nodded to the end of the hall.
"Shaken. We were at the therapist office when we heard about the tower." He was speaking softly. "Then about Cissie. I need to get ready to get a team together, but she needs to be checked on. Just let me know if I'm needed."
"Of course." Adrien nodded. "What happened last night?"
"It's bad." Ollie was frustrated, more then that he looked powerless. "Though I understand why she didn't talk about it."
"Tell me what happened." This time she wasn't asking.
"Di was coerced into working for Roulette in Haven. I knew that but couldn't tell you. That would have been bad enough." He looked toward the room. "But they thought it might be fun to drug her up while she was there, with the slave drug." His eyes were cold.
"Oh, please tell me they didn't-" The slave drug was a favorite of flesh peddlers and sex rings.
"Remember those lost three months?" Oliver looked at her, helplessness in his eyes. "Now we know. I have to get a team going to get Cissie back. I want her checked in on every fifteen minutes, and soon as she wakes up get her to eat something. They gave her something to calm her down but we didn't have time to eat."
"Of course." Oliver took a deep breath and hurried to the front door where Roy and Diggle were waiting.
>--)->
Cissie's head pounded as she began to wake up. She felt odd, like something was wearing off, and still groggy.
The room was pitch black but she could tell she wasn't home. Her bed at the manor had soft cotton sheets, the mattress was soft from prior use, and the air smelled like the meals and treats that were always being made. This bed was hard, clearly new. The bedspread felt like new satin sheets, completely unused or unwashed and smelling of a furniture store rather than an actual bed.
The other smell came from the fresh paint on the walls. Wherever she was it was a complete unknown.
"Awake at last." Her skin crawled at the voice of her uncle, Arther Merlyn. He turned the lights on. The room was a bright girlish pink. It was terrible. "Welcome to your new home."
"What did you do to me?" She turned to look at the man and rubbed her throbbing temples. "And this isn't a home, it's a life-size dollhouse."
"It's a correct room for a privileged young lady," he corrected sternly. "You have a place to take. We just had to carry you out quietly. No harm was done. The headache will end soon."
"You meant you had to kidnap me." She scooted to the other side of the bed as he sat on the edge. "Dad got custody. I shouldn't be here."
"Your father has made unfortunate friends." Arthur King sighed. "Ones he now lives with and works for. It will not be a safe place for you. You will stay here."
"They can take care of themselves." Cissie carefully controlled her emotional responses. She wouldn't be the one to accidentally give away Mia's and Thea's other identity and extracurriculars. "They have protectors."
"Cissie, they aren't safe," Merlyn sighed. "I will not see you hurt. Your mother will want to see you. Do not give her grief."
Cissie braced herself. The only thing she could do while being held against her will was to focus on gathering as much intelligence as she could.
>--)->
"I called the school. Due to the kidnapping, you four get tomorrow off." Adrien sat down at the table where Thea, Rose and Mia were anxiously watching the screen. "The whole school is shutting down to review security."
"Cause Cissie's mom was wanted, right?" Mia asked anxiously.
"She was part of the Royal Flush Gang." Adrien nodded. "The rest of the team is getting ready for the extraction. It won't be long now."
"Vital signs are still good," Rose said, looking at the screen. "And we have a small army to get her out to boot."
"They'll be moving in soon. I need to run up stairs." Adrien hugged Thea close for a moment. "You three stay safe."
At the foot of the stairs she saw Renee in the hallway for the next check in on Dinah. Renee saw her and waved, then waited.
"Just that time. How goes the rescue?" Renee asked softly. Kate had finally fallen asleep and needed her rest.
"Any moment. How is Miss Kane? Are we due for the hospital soon?" Adrien asked.
"We might be, but I'm not sure. She's had false alarms before. Di was resting last time I checked in. Looked okay but not by much." Renee looked shaken by the memory. "What happened?"
"Worse things than I can put into words and she never got help, and now she's paying for it." They were at the door. "She will, I promised her all that was over now."
"All what?" Renee asked. The room was dark and Di appeared to be out cold.
"The dark days. We aren't perfect here but at least the worst is over." Adrien knelt next to the sleeping form and felt Dinah's pulse. Renee had been there for most of Di's days in Haven. "Renee, come here. The pulse, it's wrong."
"Blood, check for blood. The pulse is erratic." When Adrien looked lost she pulled the blankets away and felt the sheets. "Shit! It's a miscarriage!"
Adrien was frozen, terror clear in her eyes. Years of cop training kicked in.
"I need two fingers of whiskey, vodka. Something strong. The alcohol will slow the contractions. Then we get her to the hospital ASAP." Renee wrapped her friend in the sheet and pushed the frantic woman out the door. "Go. Now."
"The sitting room. We keep the bar in the sitting room. I need to call Oliver, I promised him I'd keep her safe-" Renee saw the breakdown coming. Carrying the unconscious form she raised her voice, there wasn't time.
"Booze, hospital, then call the husband. It's the only way the news you tell him is good." Adrien was hurrying down the stairs. Once there she saw Adrien fussing with the decanters. "Bourbon. Use the bourbon. Stay with me Rivers, Dinah needs us. Nice and slow."
Dinah was starting to wake up, after coughing from the drink. She looked confused.
"Is it the leg again?" She asked as she was placed in the back seat, Adrien supporting her head. Renee was driving like a daemon to get there in time.
"No sweetie, it's the baby." Adrien swallowed tears as the young woman's eyes went wide and she automatically held her growing stomach. Panicked tears came shortly after. "We're getting help, hold tight."
"I'm scared." The blonde on her lap said, straining to stay calm. "Where's Ollie? I need Ollie."
>--)->
"She's out again. Looks like drugs." Roy was looking at the small screen. "When do you want to move in, GA?"
"In a minute. Vertigo only just left the room, he might double back." Oliver was looking at his phone. "Adrien hasn't checked in for over an hour, I'm going to call real quick. That bad feeling is getting worse."
"Negative, GA." Diggle grabbed the phone. "If King is worth his salt he has phone trackers. She knows better. You'll blow our cover. The house has the birds and the mini birds. She's fine."
"Plus if anything happened Adrien would be right on that. One thing at a time, old man." Roy nodded in agreement. "Get Cissie back so Bowstring can breath again. Then hover over the wife."
"Then we move now. Shado?" Oliver said into his earpiece. He had a sinking feeling that something was wrong, very wrong. This needed to wrap up.
On my way. I'll set up the platform. I have the brace to carry the girl.
"Perfect. Bravebow, how is Bowstring holding up?" The man had been panicked then unresponsive. He had been through too much too quickly.
Get his daughter back GA. Bravebow's voice warned. He does not need this.
"That's code for near cracking. We need to get her out." Diggle looked at the two young men.
At the window, all clear. Have the earpiece ready.
"You get that?" Oliver heard a new line activate. Bowstring's soft, damaged voice joined the conversation.
Does this mean she can hear me?
"If she's able to hear right now, yes. Just talk her through this. We're almost done here."
The stories were perfect. The day Cissie had learned to walk, the pancake breakfasts they would eat while watching cartoons when her mother was out of town, just how proud he was of everything she had done and become. Over and over assuring her that she was very loved. In minutes Shado appeared carrying the girl and ran a sensor over her quickly to make sure they wouldn't be followed. She hurried to the car and closed the door.
"We have her, Bowstring. She looks fine. Returning to your position now, ten minute ETA." Oliver heard the man release a breath. "The house okay?"
Yes. Thank you Oli-GA. Bowstring quickly corrected himself. I won't forget this. We won't forget this.
"We get it. We're doing the Dad thing now too." Roy assured the man. "We would freak if something happened to the boys. You can pay us back in fatherly advice. Be nice to have that again."
"Speaking of you can- wait. Adrien calling." Diggle took the call and turned sharply. "Change of plans. Dropping GA off."
"Digs." Roy could hear the steal in Oliver's voice. "How bad?"
"It's Robby. They're trying to save him but it looks really bad." Oliver was putting the earpiece away, and dialing the hospital he now had on speed dial. "Adrien says Di is asking for you."
"Dr. Beret, this is Mr. Queen." Oliver had his wife's doctor on the phone. "My assistant informed me of the situation as soon as I turned my phone on. I'll be there in just a few minutes. Just tell Di to hold on."