Post by adrini on Aug 20, 2015 0:19:13 GMT -5
UGA arc 3
Chapter 3: Fear
“Skillfully put.” Oliver said as his son waved his teething toy and practiced the few noises he knew at four months old. “That is exactly what we have here.”
Di was tied up in meetings all day so he had taken the baby and the very large diaper bag to his office to work that day. His wife had included several bottles worth of breast milk, as well as a number of spare outfits and diapers, and the two had spent the entire time balancing books and making it unfairly hard for the day’s meetings to say no to anything he said.
The poor man, his wife giving birth alone, and that sweet little boy. It almost wasn’t fair.
It was about time they wrapped it up though. Robby was down to his last outfit and next to last diaper. All he had left to do was do a last look over the flagged logs to make sure everything was right. Robby was looking at his mother’s portrait and making noises. They were out of milk and he was getting hungry. They needed to go back to the source soon. Pretty much everyone else had left already but they wouldn’t be far behind.
Parenthood was good at sharpening one’s senses. As a “cape” and island survivor his had already been pretty good, but now having a son and heir they were better than ever. And he knew that sound. That was the elevator being blocked.
The silent alarm and bolt locks on the door were armed, and he moved quickly to fasten his son to him and put on the bag. He moved, careful not to make any noise, as he opened the false door. The bronze antique lift needed to be called, and he didn’t know how much time they had.
Robby, cuddled into him, was drifting into sleep for the moment. He slipped behind the false door and closed the slit behind him. The sound of the coming lift were still faint, it had a ways to go. Whoever were on the other side were already dealing with the bolted door and alarm. When he pulled out the ear piece he saw that the line was fuzzy, though he heard enough words to know that they were working on it.
To hurry the lift he began to use the pully and help the box arrive sooner, putting Robby in his carrier. The locks were being released, whoever this was they were professionals. But they still weren’t getting his son.
The door opened and the guests began to whisper to themselves, the sound of the lift was more audible now, but few people knew the sound of a 1907 semi-mechanic pully operated copper domestic lift.
They knew he was close, they could hear the lift and thus him. If he knew they were close they knew he was, and he could hear them searching for clues. They could hear Robby, making little noises in his sleep. But it didn’t matter.
The lift was there. It was a tight fit with the bag and carrier but the Queen men got in and Oliver closed the gate. It was in the tunnels that he felt safe enough to turn on his phone, and there was only one number he would expect after this kind of day.
“We’re out safe, Pretty Bird. Robby’s fine.” He said as he walked to the nearest exit where Digs would be waiting, along with a very relieved wife. “He’ll be hungry though, be ready.”
>--)->
They had a new pilot, she was fun, if not completely professional. Constantly radioing back with fun facts, old stories from WW2 and once the plane was in the air she had even invited Mia to the cockpit. Mia knew the basics of how to fly a plane now. In the back of the plane she would check in and look after her to make sure she was eating or sleeping enough.
“Little Miss Mia, rescue Zelda later. We’re about there.” Zee said and she grinned before buckling in. “Miss Thea called, she’s in the security room waiting for you. I’ll take you in when we get there.”
Landing without incident she watched the skyline of London out of her window, she could name most of what she saw. They were cleared into Heathrow and she unbuckled to get ready. Walking out of the front of the cockpit Zee had her bag with her, and opened the gate. She always carried two handguns, along with other things, and today was no exception. They got to the security gate without incident, but almost had an issue.
A very stern MI-5 officer was clearly demanding her weapons – all of them- but she just looked amused. Carefully reaching for her wallet she pulled out a faded and yellowed form and showed it to the man. Paling slightly his protests stopped and they were waved through. The officer was looking at the company pilot in shock.
“Just up ahead, Miss Mia.” She said, taking time to at least cover the guns. No point in starting a scene. “I know a great chip place while we’re here. Hole in the wall, but talk it out.”
Walking into the office Thea rushed to her, excited. She was more –adult- somehow. Where before she could see all parts of her friend she no longer could. She felt hurt, almost. Suddenly she just wanted to get back home.
“We got some time girls. Come with me.” Zee nodded and they both turned to look at her. “There are places in this city you wouldn’t find in a hundred years, if you didn’t have me.”
Thea was excited, but Mia had a sinking feeling in her gut. She just wanted to sit on the plane.
>--)->
“I think it’s Rash.” Kate said as Renee held the bag for her mate. “Only jack ass that makes sense. He’s been crippled, power isn’t half of what it used to be, and he needs some seriously strong muscle to get back to anything near to what he was. I’d take people and train them in his place.”
Renee, mostly focused on keeping the bag still, wasn’t entirely sure. It was possible but not her first choice.
“I think it’s worse than that.” Renee said as Kate finished the set and went to towel off. “He’s not the only person who needs to build a powerbase to get ahead again.”
Watching Renee mock the Chinese collars that Shiva always wore Kate nodded, though she wasn’t the only option either.
“What about the woman of the arena?” Kate asked, and Renee sat down. The idea too terrible to even consider. “Roulette is all about the kidnapping and torture. I’d say she’s more than likely.”
“Would have a reason to get even, that’s for sure.” Renee banished the vision of the piles of human bone and ash from her mind. Even in ‘haven her name had been mud, taking out the most popular defender and baking kids was enough to ruin a reputation anywhere. Think Babs would look it up?”
“I already did.” Adrien Rivers, who Kate was pretty sure was more then she seemed, arrived with folders in hand. –She- certainly has he own game but no luck what it is.”
“You found something, though.” Renee took the folder. Adrien would never address Shiva by name, it was one of her bigger giveaways. “Of course.”
“The good news is she can’t make a move without several organizations knowing it.” Adrien said. “But she is also very good at playing the underground, this could get to get scary.”
“Scary? We can do scary.” Kate looked at the bag. “I think it’s time to go hunting, I love hunting.”
Adrien would be disturbed, but this was Kate. It frankly didn’t surprise her.
>--)->
Babs was used to being called to help the Birds, and she never minded doing it. Normally she fielded requests to dig for information, or at most hack into comms. It was easy, helped them get the job done and otherwise. This was not what she was being asked to do today.
“So the safest amount is no more than fifty thousand in any one account. More and it rings all kinds of bells.” She was saying as she worked to open accounts. “It’s also legal for each person to open up to seven accounts, but more violates federal laws.”
“We can work with that. Open them for everyone in the house.” Di was looking over the list on her end. “If you do that every week we should have enough hidden away to survive for a time. Just in case.”
“How is Robby?” Babs asked, aware of the attempt at the office. That Oliver had protected his son so well didn’t change the fact they had gotten into the suite. “Did he notice anything?”
“He picked up that he wasn’t safe, would be hard to miss.” Babs could hear the little boy demanding his mother’s attention over the feed and Di soon picked him up and she could see him cling to her as well. Di was trying to stay calm, but knowing someone came after your family like that would shake anyone. “At least 2 million for each of the kids, no less. And an umbrella account for general costs.”
“Already on it. I moved the accounts, they should be secure.” They had tried to pull household security information and then inject their own information. “Where is Ollie?”
“He and Digs said they had a meeting.” Babs could read the inflection, this wasn’t to talk about budgets. “They’ll be back later.”
>--)->
In the street gear he didn’t think he would wear again Roy looked around the corner, where Digs was covering the west entrance. The door to the building was to the front but they knew that would watched. Oliver was taking that door. They were going through the back and covering.
The back door had an old style lock that Diggs only looked at before getting out of the way to let the young man return to old sins. The lock opened quickly and they walked in, quickly moving to reach the office. Oliver shouldn’t be far behind.
His hair temporally died black, as well as a few facial features slightly altered, Oliver stood at the door carrying a large bag and waited for the building foreman to get there. He could hear the man getting close but it was clear he wasn’t moving very quickly. So long as he was pulled away from the others.
He was on the heavy side, and in heavily worn clothing, but he looked respectable enough. Seeing another delivery boy at the door he simply gestured for the shipping notice before waving Oliver in and pointing him up stairs.
“You may need to knock a few times.” The man commented as Oliver took to the stairs. “Mrs. Belinski is getting on.”
He left the bag, assorted gourmet foods, at the woman’s door and walked quickly to the door where Digs was motioning from the inside. Roy had already scrambled any feed in the area with Bab’s gift devise.
“Not much visible, but we’ve been copying what we can. “ Digs was walking him to a few computers. Roy was copying them as quickly as he could. “Gloves.”
Oliver put the gloves on, they had no idea who they were dealing with, and looked around the room. They had to be quick, there was no telling when the agents would come back. Barbra was good, she had traced the computers, but she needed them to see what even the magic of the internet could not. They were wrapping up when the door opened slightly, and a man glanced into the space. He saw Oliver, who was looking at papers, and nodded before placing several files inside the door and leaving quickly. Roy and Digs, we had been holding their breaths, looked at him and he picked up the papers.
“A drop. Someone is looking out for us.” He said and the others could only agree. But they also heard people coming. Grabbing the file with the other information Roy and Digs hurried down the back again as Oliver put his delivery hat back on and walked out, meeting the building manager.
“Didn’t respond.” He said, altering his voice somewhat. “I just left it at the door. That alright?”
“Ya, sure. I’ll get her up.” The man said and walked the short distance. As Oliver left he could hear increasingly loud knocks, as a few locals passed him on the way inside.
>--)->
She would always remember her time away from her son, he wasn’t the baby boy she had left behind. It had taken time to get to know him again, and she had been reminded just how much every moment could mean. Which was why, when all the others were off working, she was sitting in a sea of blocks and stuffed animals reading her son his favorite books. Happy, he was dozing off. He had missed her to.
Jade put the book down as Tommy drifted off and crashed on her. He had always been uneasy around his grandmother, and with her being back he wasn’t as relaxed as normal.
Her father opened the door, nodding to call her to the hall. They were keeping Tommy away from Sandra so he would be taking the boy to his gym. Jade had been called to talk to Shado. The woman was resolved about something, where normally she drifted in the background. But she didn’t want to talk in the hallway and instead walked to the tunnels under the house.
No one knew much about the mysterious woman. She had escaped the talons, not an easy thing to do. She was on the island with Oliver and they had had a fling while there, one that ended after she did something terrible. However she and her father had stepped up and helped the family, even keeping the kids and a laboring Di safe. She didn’t say much, but there had been plenty of chances to hurt them and she never had. She was okay.
The tunnels were quiet, though things did echo. But it was just the two of them down below as they walked a good distance from the house. Shado was getting anxious.
“This is where I stop.” Jade turned and looked at her. She nodded. “Until you tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s just in here.” Shado said and led her into a door. It was one of the underground bunkers built in a frenzy when people thought the Nazis were going to bomb everywhere. Now they were pretty much forgotten.
They walked inside, where small families were settled in the alcoves. They were well stocked, not lacking supplies, with simple if plain furniture. It was whole families with young kids, all living in painfully small nine by seven feet spaces.
As she walked past they stopped and looked at her, eyes wide, before bowing and urging their offspring to do the same. They were trained and untrained, workers and academics. Laborers and widows.
Shado saw her look, and soon she saw Jansen sitting at a table at the end of the hall. He rose as they arrived.
“Heir of the Lady Shiva, head of the Talons.” The man sat down. “Please, help can you help us.”
“These are families that are tied to the court.” She guessed it, it was a system she knew but seeing them was a new thing. A family would need money, when a member got sick or another emergency came up, and they would be tied to doing odd jobs in return for the money to cover that event. That debt only got worse over time. “You’re getting them out.”
“My mother said that no one used these rooms anymore, but it’s only hiding.” Shado explained. “Can you clear them? To her we are nothing, but you are everything.”
She could hear children, pets, and the muffled voices of families.
“I’ll talk to the birds.” It was something they didn’t need just now, but that was how things seemed to work. “We’ll figure something out.”
>--)->
“Comon, Gage. Come to momma!” Not remotely elegant, Kate was holding the camera and hoping to catch her daughter’s first steps on her camera so Renee wouldn’t miss them entirely. “That’s my girl! Keep going!”
The little girl took a good three steps but then fell, and cried at the impact. Kate was calming her down as Diggle knocked and came in, carrying a storage box.
“Soon, she’s getting close.” He said and put the box on the table. “Di found this when she was looking in her storage unit. Things her mother wanted you and Renee to have.”
“Sure, Jade mentioned she got one to.” Kate peeked sadly inside the box. “You can plan like that when you know it’s coming. Thanks.”
He nodded and watched as she pulled out a faded toy and gave it to Gage to play with before looking at the rest. Digs turned to leave when he was called back.
“Hey, did one of our mission files get lost in here?” She was holding a yellowed file. “It’s labeled for us.”
Confused he walked over, looking at the file. It was labeled ‘Queens and company’. The members of the house were listed on the top page. Mrs. Lance had passed years before Oliver had even shown up.
I’m not going to be able to get this one, girls. There isn’t time. You’ll need to be settled to take this on so I sent it on ahead. I can’t tell you how. I know you wondered how I got Sandra to work with us in training you, especially after we had to fight it out with her a few times first. It wasn’t some great power or magic. It was just old fashioned blackmail, some things really don’t change. The deal was that after you were trained I wouldn’t mention it and she was free of it from me. And from me she is.
But this isn’t my call to make. I kept my promise, but that does not mean you have to make the same. This information is powerful enough to get her attention, and might help bring down another villain as well. It just comes down to how you want to play it. You’re grown now, I trust you to find the path through.
I know I’m missing a lot not being there, but I knew this was my path a long time ago. I wasn’t going to be here as long as I wanted. That’s why I pushed the three of you as hard as I did, more rides on you then you know. I’ll be watching, and loving you always. You got this.
The two shared a look, each thinking the same thing. There was more going on here than they remotely understood.
>--)->
“How much did you move?” Oliver asked as he sat down, hot coffee in his mug. Di had her own and had a pile of folders she was pretending to look over. He could tell her mind was swimming.
“Five million. It’s a start, there will be more next week.” She closed the file in front of her. “Adrien made up the paperwork for the sale, if it comes to it.”
“And what’s the total she thinks we’ll get?” She grabbed a file and handed it over.
“800 billion. On top of what we have already?” She sighed and he nodded. “We’d be out of the game, but that’s enough to hide away anywhere.”
“Kids will be safe.” Oliver said, it was a simple matter to him.
“Star City won’t be.” Di said softly in response, and saw him wince. He loved his home. It was everything to him.
“You come first.” His hand grabbed hers. “And Robby, and this whole crazy crew. I could move if I had to, but if I lost-“
“I know.” They sat for a moment, neither of them had any idea how this was going to play out. The time would come that they would have to make a call.
It was dinner time, and with the old patterns still in place the members of the house started filling in and taking their places at the table. No one brought up food, really. Though coffee was passed around. They had files with them but no one looked at them. There was new information, it had been a busy day for everyone.
Oddly it was Kate who stood up and grabbed the house phone. The others, curious, glanced to see what she was doing.
“Hey Louigi. Kate.” She said, leaning on the door frame. “We’ll need the regular, extra bread. And tiramisu, at least one full tray. Do you have that manicotti like last time? Great, we’ll take three. Oh, and that really good dark roast you were selling last time. What? Ya, it’s been that kind of day.”