Working With Red

Divide and Conquer; or, However It's Supposed to Go

Your stomach twisted again with anxiety, eyes briefly flashing their hazardous green tint. 

Oliver furrowed his brow. "Do you really think that would work? I mean, (Y/N)--Tiger Lily--has only been granted very limited freedom by the League to be in the field. With this flanked attack from the media, the League will have her even further under the microscope. If I send Tiger Lily on a mission without clearing it with the League, I'd get into a lot of trouble. (Y/N), too." 

"But (Y/N) wouldn't be going as Tiger Lily," Dinah insisted. "I could send a message along with the two of them and claim that (Y/N) is my protegee, and I had to go off on another League mission, or I got sick, or something like that, so I'm sending her with her secondary mentor, Green Arrow. I don't see why it wouldn't work; if they can verify the message came from me, and if she's physically there with Green Arrow, I'm sure they wouldn't suspect anything." 

"But if she's not going as Tiger Lily--"

"(Y/N)," Dinah interrupted Oliver, "what do you think?" You froze as you were suddenly put on the spot, all six eyes piercing your nervous figure. If you weren't already shaking, you sure as hell were, now. 

"I-I-I mean, I was already going to go as Black Canary," you murmured, the tips of your ears burning, "so I guess going as Black Canary's protegee would be less suspicious, considering we are very obviously... two different people." Dinah chuckled at your breathy comment and turned back to Oliver, who pursed his lips in contemplation. 

"Ollie?" 

"We're supposed to leave in a couple of hours," he murmured. "There's no time to get her a new suit--" 

"We don't need to," Dinah said. "We can just... throw together something of mine, maybe add in a few things from... uh--" 

"We still have the samples from when we were designing her suit the first time, right?" Roy muttered, looking over his shoulder at one of the supply cabinets by the zeta tube access port. "We can use one of the bodysuits as a base, and then pull a few pieces from the armory here and give her one of your masks." 

"That could work," Oliver added. "Alright; now that it's been established, we need to come up with a temporary alias--" 

"Goldfinch." 

There was no hesitation in your interjection, and you immediately looked to Dinah, who seemed to have new-found pride shining in her eyes. She even had the smile to match. 

"Okay. Green Arrow and Goldfinch will be heading out to Sacramento," Oliver announced. 

"And you're fine with lying to the League about this?" Roy muttered, quickly forcing the mood to return to its previous grim nature. "Fine, Oliver, I'll bite. (Y/N) and I go to Sacramento as Green Arrow and Goldfinch. We somehow manage to survive and not blow our cover and return to Star City safe and sound, but what then? We still lied to the fucking Justice League. (Y/N) still has no control over her metagenes. You and Dinah go to Gotham to meet up with Jackson Albis. We're also leaving Star City unprotected; Tiger Lily and Red Arrow may be in Star City, but (Y/N) and I are not. What if the Council is waiting for us to abandon ship before attacking?" 

"I've already called in a favor for that." Oliver nodded reassuringly. "Flash and his sidekick are going to be staying here until we get back to make sure the Council of Wings is accounted for. Jay Garrick agreed to take over Central City for the time being." 

"You somehow managed to convince Flash--a founding key member of the League--to lie for us? And you're expecting Kid Flash, of all people, to keep his mouth shut and not ask any questions?" Roy shook his head incredulously. "Just how deep do you intend to dig this pit...?"