Green Arrow - 2.3 - Hero Rising, Part Three: Complications

Inside, is Hypnos 2.0. It's some sort of spy technology that Cyberwear created. It can hypnotize its target, forcing them to follow whatever the user commands. At least, that's what Helix, the tech expert of our ragtag crew, told us. They also mentioned it has a protection identity implant. Which would prove quite handy in committing the perfect crime. Which is why I assume Brick wants it, to sell it to the highest bidder. But there's no way in hell I'm letting him get his hands on it. Once we find it, and Brick comes to collect, he'll get what's coming to him.

 

The building itself has seven floors, and three sub-basement levels, with the Hypnos tech being on the third sub-basement level.

 

Right now, me, Helix, and Cheshire are in the back of a delivery van. Something straight out of a heist movie, I know. Our job is to take down their security system. As for Rasmus, Dregz and Pesticyde, they're several floors up, looking for access codes. The van drives for a few minutes, before suddenly stopping.

 

"Looks like we're in." Helix whispers, to which me and Cheshire nod.

 

Rolling the back door of the van open slightly, I peak my head out. The door's open just enough for the three of us to get out. Doesn't look like there's anyone coming. Once I give the okay, we exit the vehicle.

 

Cheshire's eyes shift over to me as we're making our way through the loading dock, heading towards the control room.

 

"What? Is there a problem?" I ask, to which Cheshire gives a coy smile.

 

"A problem? What makes you think that, Red?"

 

"Red? What is that, some sort of pet name?" I ask, avoiding the question, while vaulting over the parked forklift in front of me. I do my best to avoid eye contact, but I just can't help myself. She's gonna get me in trouble, in more ways than one..

 

"In a way, I suppose," she says, moving closer to me. "Figured you'd grown tired of being called Junior all this time."

 

"You don't seem like the type to really care about that sort of thing."

 

"Making assumptions, are we? I'm full of surprises Red. Who knows, maybe if we survive this, you'll find out." She says playfully, running her finger lightly across my chest, causing me to blush.

 

"Can the two of you please shut up and focus on the job? Someone's going to hear us." Helix grunts, causing me to back away from Cheshire, as we reach the next room.

 

"Way to ruin the mood, Helix! Relax, we'll be fine." Cheshire pipes up, trying to reassure the hacker.

 

Sure enough, a security guard notices the three of us and starts walking towards us.

 

"You were saying?" Helix remarks.

 

"Don't worry, I got this." Cheshire says with a smirk.

 

"Wait, what are you gonna do?" I ask, my voice trailing off.

 

Cheshire walks over to the guard.

 

"What are you doing? You're not supposed to be here!" The guard states, but Cheshire doesn't let that deter her.

 

"Oh, I'm so sorry... You see, I'm kind of lost. I was trying to find the bathroom, but ended up here... Could you please help me?" She begs, almost as if she's done this hundreds of times beforehand.

 

For a couple of seconds, it feels like it may in fact work. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

 

"The bathroom? Yeah right... Nice try. You really take me for a shmuck, huh?" He says, drawing his pistol, training it on her.

 

"This isn't good." Helix whispers, and I just nod. I should probably get over there, right? But I'm unsure if I'll get there in time.

 

Suddenly, I feel different. Like whatever it is that Sin gave me, is finally taking effect. My senses are heightened. There's a Rush sticker, on a coffee mug at the far side of the room. I wouldn't have been able to see that before, but now I can... What else can I do? It doesn't take long to figure it out. Running towards them, my feet are moving way faster than they've ever gone before. Almost like I'm one of those metahumans... Like Rasmus, but instead of teleportation, it's speed.

 

For the first time in my life, I have power... And it feels so good.

 

It's too late however, as within seconds, Cheshire has drawn her sai and stabs the guard in the side. He falls to the ground, a pool of blood forming underneath him.

 

"Seriously? You don't have to kill him!"

 

"Oh please, like you're so innocent! What did you expect me to do? He saw us. It was either him or me. And I'd prefer staying alive. Besides, now we have what we came for." She replies, pulling the guard's security badge out of his jacket pocket.

 

"Hmm, I don't know... Maybe not kill the guy? There are other ways for gaining access... I could've swiped it from him no problem." I say, grabbing the badge from Cheshire, before entering the next hallway.

 

"By then, I'd be dead." She jokes.

 

"Yee of little faith... Why am I even here then?"

 

"Eye candy, perhaps?" She remarks, winking, to which Helix sighs. The hallway splits into two, with one leading us left, and the other, right.

 

"Everyone has their role to play." Helix says, as we go down the left hallway. It takes a couple of minutes, before we reach the server room. I scan the badge on the right-hand side of the door. Seconds later, the light flashes green, and the door opens.

 

Inside, is pretty much anything and everything you'd expect in a control room. There are monitors everywhere, displaying security feeds. Lining the back wall of the room are several computer mainframes. In the center of the room, are three employees, keeping an eye on the security feeds. One is quick to notice us entering and grabs a pen that's sitting on the desk. After grabbing it, he chucks it at me, hoping to, I guess, try and scare me or something? However, I'm able to avoid the improvised weapon rather easily. This alerts the other two employees.

 

"Please don't hurt us." One of the other employees begs, as Cheshire runs up to them. Looking around the room, I notice a stapler sitting on the nearby desk. Cheshire stabs the employee who chucked the pen at me, in the neck with her nail. He starts convulsing and foaming at the mouth almost immediately. After violently convulsing, his body stops suddenly. It's safe to assume that at this point, he's dead.

 

Grabbing the stapler, I throw it at one of the two remaining employees. It hits them square in the head, with them dropping to the floor moments later.

 

The last, seemingly the smartest of the bunch, starts running. Unfortunately for her, Cheshire notices. With the flick of her wrist, Cheshire throws her sai. The sai embeds itself in the woman's spine, causing her to collapse to the ground. Thankfully, none of them noticed Helix inspecting the mainframe. Cheshire pulls her sai out of the woman, just letting her bleed out, as she desperately crawls to try and hit the alarm. After a few seconds, Cheshire decides to finish her off then and there, once again stabbing the woman in the throat with one of her nails. The poison once again takes effect. After violently convulsing, screaming in pain, she stops. Another one, dead. Thankfully, the one I hit in the head with a stapler, is still alive, for now. Surprisingly, Cheshire doesn't go after him.

 

"Little cold, don't you think?"

 

"Ever the boy scout, Red." Cheshire sighs. "Killing people is what I do."

 

"You know, for someone claiming to be the third smartest person in the world, his security system could use some work. Panopticon, seriously? Child's play. This won't take long." Helix says, interrupting us, after inspecting the security systems mainframe. They pull a USB drive out of their pocket, and insert it into the main terminal.

 

After a couple of minutes of waiting in silence, the feed on every camera goes down.

 

"That's all?" I ask bemusedly.

 

"Yeah, that's all. Panopticon's a joke at best." Helix laughs.

 

Seconds later, the other three members of our crew appear in front of us, looking a little worse for wear.

 

"Everything went okay?" Helix asks

 

"Just peachy." Dregz responds. Dregz, the man of few words.

 

"They didn't stand a chance against the might of Pesticyde!" Pesticyde cheers, as he blows on his compression gun. Still talking about himself in the third person. Great.

 

"Right... That's what it was. The might of Pesticyde." Rasmus replies sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, here's the sub basement access badge. Let's get a move on, shall we?" He waves a golden badge in the air, for all to see.

 

With that, we make our way to the subbasement.

 

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"Lasers... It just had to be lasers." The bulky bruiser, Dregz groans, as a laser grid stands between us, and the vault. I think that's the longest sentence I've ever heard him say.

 

"Rasmus, you're up." Helix announces.

 

"Sorry, my powers don't work down here. Damn power dampeners! " He replies, grunting.

 

"That wasn't... Of course they would... I should've known." Helix mutters to themselves, as they think of a plan b.

 

Meanwhile, from the corner of my eye, I notice Brick walking down the right hallway. What's he doing here? Wait, why does that matter? It's time he pays for all the pain he's caused.

 

"Red, where are you going?" Cheshire asks, but it falls on deaf ears, as I'm focused on the task at hand. Sprinting down the right hallway, following Brick.

 

I easily catch up to Brick and tackle him moments later.

 

"I'll never forgive you, for the hell you've put us through! What you've done! You deserve nothing short of death." I yell, but Brick only laughs, as I repeatedly punch his face. My fists and his face get bloodier by the second. But strangely enough, he doesn't even fight back. He just laughs, as he sputters blood, almost as if he's taunting me.

 

" Finish it, Junior! " His voice plays in my head.

 

I continue pummeling his face with my fists. Seconds later, it's over. The unstoppable wall that is Brick, has finally been broken. He got what he deserved, after all this time. Me and my father are now safe, from his clutches. No longer watching over our shoulders in fear of him. I'm unable to fully celebrate my victory, as I'm interrupted by an ear piercing scream, coming from behind me. As my ears bleed, I try looking over my shoulder. Standing there in all her glory, is the Black Canary.

 

"What have you done?" She asks. I look back over, and my jaw drops.

 

"What? No... That was Brick. He was right there..." My voice chokes in disbelief, pointing at the body. But looking back at the corpse, it wasn't Brick. Lying there, bloodied, and broken, is a security guard. He has short black hair, with green eyes, his face, now unrecognizable. A look of sadness written across his face. I'm overcome with emotion, as I clutch his broken body in my hands. I can't stop myself from crying. His blood on my hands. There was nothing I could do, that would make this okay. For the first time in my life, I killed someone, and they were innocent...

Done