UGA Arc 3 Chapter 2: Closing Ranks

[adrini]

UGA Arc 3 

Chapter 2: Closing Ranks

"So you stopped with the messengers." Oliver said as he cross his arms, looking at the woman. Di was already just behind him as the rest of the house filled in. “Answer isn’t changing.”

“It has to. For the good of us all, it has to.” The heavy set woman signaled and the two agents nodded and stepped out. “If you’re the ever so good people you claim to be.”

The group looked at the two people standing at the center, some curious. Kate and a few of the others were barely holding back rage.

“She’s the one who wants the metas, right?” Roy asked looking over. He was standing next to his wife and standing almost as defensively as his friend. “Shut down the contracts, targeted the outreach?”

“She’s the one.” Dinah said, she was standing near to her husband, who she knew was close to going off. “South East Asia thanks you, for making us take so long to get there after the tsunami. Very helpful. Collecting the dead was amazing.”
The woman had the courtesy of looking uncomfortable but her focus didn’t break.

“Condolences.” She said dryly before going back on topic. She pulled out a file from her bag and offered it. Glaring, Oliver moved toward her but his wife quickly grabbed the file instead. The move didn’t escape the woman’s notice, who noted that there was more to the CEO then she thought. She had assumed he was the calm one. He was not.

“Get out.” The man growled, malice clear in his tone. “Do not come near my family again.”

The woman took the hint, not defeated but reading the man she now knew to watch. No less confident she left. Oliver watched her leave and wordlessly walked up the stairs, leaving the others behind. He only stopped long enough to glance at his wife who ignored the others as she hurried to see what was bothering her son’s father.

>--)->

Roy watched the two hurry up stairs, knowing the sounds of the door well enough to know Oliver had grabbed his son before leading his own small family into his room, and couldn’t help but worry.

“Not the type I would see for you, Jade. Far too soft.” He heard the woman’s voice say, the one that ‘borrowed’ the kids earlier. “Though he is good with sweet Tommy, and hansom. In the settle down kind of way. Does he treat you well? You have an issue with that, you know.”

“What the hell are you doing here, Mother?” Jade moved quickly to move between her husband and the ‘havenite. “I was claimed into this house.”

“Is that what this is about?” Roy said before pulling Jade behind him. “She stays. How it is. Try to pull something and you’ll see exactly how much I care.”

The woman smirked, not exactly convinced of his ability to show her anything, but nodded after a time.
“I like him. He can stay.” She said lightly, smiling ever so slightly. “Good job on this one. I’d tie him down with another baby, though. Just a thought.”

Jade tried not to let her face betray her, but she couldn’t hide the blush completely. Roy couldn’t either. If the little smiles were any clue the secret of their newest project was out. Her mother was walking to the combo room and looked curiously when she got there. Jade hurried off to rein her in while Roy went to talk to Adrien, she tended to know what was going on.

“Oliver.” He said. She got serious and understood.

“The men who took him to the island are back.” She said, making sure the newest guest didn’t hear. “We don’t know what they want.”

>--)->

Oliver watched as Di assured Mia for a moment and picked up Robby, while he waited by the door. His wife hurried to secure the infant before walking back to him. She guessed they were going to their room and stood in the room as he closed the door behind him and locked it securely.

Trying to control the storm in his head he looked, just looked. Dinah was scared, worried, about him. She was almost back to her normal strength, both her leg healed and the strain of the pregnancy over. In this form she was said to be a legend. Robby was fussing, and he did feel some relief in how protective he saw she was. If the slavers came she would happily fight will all her skill, all her power as a meta and pull on all her connections to see their son remained free. If he was taken they would find a way to be safe.

“The island.” She had already guessed. “Tell me.”

She walked the short distance, placing the infant in his arms, and the three took a moment to just be close. Feeling the soft baby’s breath on his cheek and her arms holding tight he was able to catch his breath to some degree. The darkness began to fade a little.

“You aren’t alone in this, it’s not like last time. Tell me.” She said again, her eyes steeled. “We will rain unholy hell on their entire world. They deserve no less for what they did to you. You know we can.”

“I believe it.” He said, she knew the long healed scars that covered him better than anyone, having her own she had guessed several of them early on. Between them this was something they could do. “We will rain unholy hell, will you fight with me, my Canary?”

There was an odd light, he had seldom seen her darkness before. He had seldom had his own come to surface either. But faced with not one, but three separate threats to their family the kid gloves were off.

“I will always fight with you.”

>--)->

“What’s the mission?” Kate was at the newly rebuilt administration wing where most of the family was settling in. Di was going to be filled in, she and Oliver were off dealing with something else.

“It’s a rescue, pull and run. On paper it seems easy enough.” Adrien was looking over the details. “A few agents that got caught under the guise of their covers. She wants us because we do aid work in the area. It’s a perfect cover.”

“Because we’ve made a point of not using it as one.” Roy added, looking at his own copy. “We have no idea who these agents even are. This woman does not strike me as a heroic person. These agents might be monsters. And abusing the trust we’ve built will cost us later.”

“So your little hero act has borders now?” Shiva had somehow found her way in and claimed the sofa for herself. “Very generous of you.”

“And you leave ‘Haven how often?” Kate quipped back before joining in. “There’s a second option. We find a way to do this but we keep a record of it. Save it for later.”

“Insurance, I like it.” Renee had mostly been listening. “What about the powers? If you do this it marks you as the people she wants to find.”

“Subtle as a brick wall on that one.” Kate agreed with her mate. “If we do this we need to avoid her finding out a thing. “

“Canary is easy, the canister.” Jade said and Kate nodded.

“What is the point of those?” Roy asked, he remembered them from the city battle. “When you have the real thing?”

“We didn’t.” Kate actually said quietly. “As far as we knew she was gone for good. It was a pale imitation to who she was, but somehow just hearing the cry again-“

“It helped.” Jade finished. “It was something. The canister would cover her. What does she think my power is?”

“It’s pegged.” Renee said, looking up. She looked like she was banishing a bad memory. “She has you down flat. I don’t know how to fake teleportation.”

“I may know a way or two.” Shiva elegantly got up and walked over. “It can be done.”

“So Lady Shiva, us and our good name on the line for what, exactly?” Adrien asked, confused. “Do we have a reason to even think about this?”

“Guys, page thirteen.” Roy said and sighed. “Kids.”

The group looked and one by one they wordlessly agreed.

“Well, now we know what happened to those stolen kids.” Renee sighed. Whoever this woman was she was good. They really couldn’t say no.

>--)->

“You kept it all?” Oliver heard his wife ask as he pulled out the battered box. “I still try to forget.”

“It didn’t make sense, sometimes looking at things cleared the fog a little.” Oliver opened the box, the smell of the island rose out of the box. “It took months to remember what each scar from was from.”

“I wasn’t awake for most of mine.” Di said and sat on the floor as he started looking through the box. “Or I was in this dream state. It was hard to tell what was real or not.”

“Did they just torture you or-“ He left the question hanging.

“No, I was raped. They had fun with that part, guess everyone has a creative side.” He flinched, she said it so casually, like it was nothing. “They kept me awake for that most of the time. But I guess I’m easier to stab and slice when I’m out. I always had a few more decorations when I woke up."

Oliver tried not to think too hard about what his wife had been through, she was safe now. In another life he could have saved her, but sadly not this one.

“I made a sketch of the island just after I got back. It was still fresh in my mind. It should be fairly correct. It has the camp locations and slave pens.” He pointed to several locations. “The problem is they always have more men.”

“Can’t beat the pay.” Di wasn’t surprised. “We can freeze accounts, hack online profiles and mess them up that way. Once we have the intel we can contact the countries people have been taken from and make life miserable for them that way.”

“Barbra, right?” She nodded, it was a good idea. “And while that happens we hit them personally. Get everyone out and burn it to the ground. What?”

“Just a thought, mother’s paranoia.” Di said, she looked worried. Something had occurred to her. “Probably nothing.”

“What is it?” He asked, also a little worried. She nodded.

“They’re going after you, trying to hurt you. We’re safe here, of course. But I’d rather have everyone home till this blows over.” Di wasn’t blunt, but she didn’t have to be. She had a point.

“Thea.” He said and she nodded again. “Good call, she’ll hate me but you’re right. We’ll get someone to get her back now.”

>--)->

“Diggle!” He heard his name hissed from around the corner. “Over here!” Turning he saw Mia around the corner of the formal dining room. Once she saw she had been spotted she dunked back behind the wall.

“Mia?” He looked over, she was by the breakfront. For some reasons she was hiding. “What’s wrong?”

She rushed out of her hiding spot and grabbed a hug, clearly upset. She was overloaded, with everything going on he was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. It took a few moments but she caught her breath.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” He said and she rolled her eyes before screaming a little in frustration.

“That woman is reorganizing Jade and Roy’s room! She just ignored me! I had to move the babies into Robby’s room.” She was pacing. “I mean I locked the door, but she just kept knocking like they wanted her anywhere near them! They aren’t her kids! The birds are planning something, but Ollie is completely off the map.”

“I know, I saw.” The man was not healthy right now.

“DI’s on it, though how she’s going to balance the birds and Ollie-“ Mia sighed, still pacing. “No, it’s too much. Even for her. Shado and her father want something, so that’s another mystery we don’t need.”

“We’ll figure it out. There are just a lot of moving parts right now.” She seemed to have gotten it out of her system. This time her hug was more exhausted.

Adrien appeared and saw the two, stopping her rush to smile at the sight. Mia noticed after a few minutes and winced, stepping away.

“Okay.” She said, looking at the woman. “Let me have it.”

“If you say so.” Adrien smirked. “Digs, everyone wants to know if your family would mind helping out with the kids for a bit. It’s gotten rather crazy. And you Miss Mia are going on a trip.”

Mia looked at Diggle and then her, confused. Diggle only nodded in agreement.

“Thea needs to be picked up, go pack a bag.” Adrien said, leading her to the stairs. “Have you ever been to London, Mia?”

>--)->

Adrien walked into the bed room, looking for her long time charge. The room was happily messy again, the now three making quick work of the neatness after the attack. Di was on the computer talking to a friend with Robby on her lap. They were working on something and cooing at the baby, as was the new norm. Di looked up and paused the conversation as Adrien was spotted. She guess her reason for showing up.

“No idea.” She said. “He just said he had to see to something. He’s a little better now, we have a plan at least.”

“I’ll have him fill me in, good luck.” She said as Di nodded and went back to her conversation. She was talking to Barbra, a good first step. It usually meant things were about to get started.

Nearby she stopped by Mia’s room where the teen was filling her suitcase and talking into her phone, though speaker. Thea was on the other side.

“All I know is that we’re dealing with a bunch of things at once.” Mia said as she threw items and toiletries onto the bed. “Everyone is working on something.”

“Three months without a major event, I was beginning to wonder what was going on.” Thea didn’t sound surprised. “What did the meeting say?”

Adrien smiled as watched the two talked and began a support strategy. They weren’t front liners but the house wouldn’t run without them. Taking a moment she motioned for a moment.

“Adrien is here.” Mia said and pulled her into the room. “I’d rather tell you in person, and I’ll gather more intel as well.”

“She’ll be touching down in about seven hours, you’ll have till first thing tomorrow. I want both of you on the plane first thing. We don’t know what we’re facing right now.” She said, Mia was still packing. “Stay safe.”

“We’ll stay safe, see you soon. And tell Ollie to stop freaking out.” Thea said and Adrien hid a laugh. Mia didn’t bother. “We’ll be fine.”

The two kept talking but Adrien went to the stairs, she had an idea where Oliver might be. She was at the bottom of the stairs when Diggle rushed to the door to let his mother and sister inside. They did need babysitters.

Ann, along with Natalie and her daughter were walked to the combo room where Diggle was filling them in. The others in the house knew what they we doing, even if they didn’t know the full story. Neither did she.

Oliver wasn’t in the gym, but when she walked into the quiver he was on the platform, looking at the security feeds. He wasn’t upset, but he was focused.

“Anything to be concerned about?” She asked as she walked over. “Barbra didn’t seem to see anything.”

”She got through?” He asked, nodding. “Good, we weren’t sure if she would be free. It’s begun.”

He didn’t offer more, but instead looked through the database, while still checking the feeds. He was also looking at a satellite image of the island, marking locations. His mission was to gather intelligence, Dinah’s was to pull Babs to attack the slaver’s base. It was a good plan.

“The file leads to the same place.” She said and pointed. “A few of Waller’s people got stuck behind lines and she wants us to get them out, not that she knows it’s us.”

“Nor will she. We can get the people but no costumes this time, and powers go tech.” He had already thought this through. “We need to keep doors open at the company and Shiva is up to something. She has to be.”

“Lady Shiva in this house.” Adrien said and shook her head. “Growing up you didn’t want her in your side of town.”

“The birds are taking that one, follow their lead. They know her best. One thing, and I mean this.” He looked over, she nodded. “If this goes south, get the kids out. They will not pay for this. The girls and Robby, Gage and Tommy. This is not their fight.”

“No it isn't, I’ll figure it out.” She agreed.