To Life Being Full (Book Three of The Unmatched Records)

Arrow ~ Fallout ~ Part Three

Talia narrowed her eyes as Alex walked up onto the platform while Dinah, Curtis, and J'onn ran around. Finally, Alex charged, Talia ducking her attack and using her bow like a staff, the two of them moving like blurs.

J'onn grabbed one mercenary and flung him into the wall, the merc crying out in pain when he hit. Curtis hit another in the head with one of his T-spheres, then looked down at the device in his hand. "Good news," he said. "The bomb sniffer works!"

"Bad news, it's working in the bunker," Felicity said.

"The whole place is wired," J'onn confirmed.

"If you can take the devices, I can jam the detonation signal remotely. Are the others OK?"

"I don't know," Curtis turned to find out, only to look at two mercs in his way. "But I might not be."

Two arrows hit the first merc, one green and the other black. Laurel ran around the corner and tossed a knife into the second one. "They're fine," Oliver ran around the corner, the others following him. "I have eyes on Talia!"

Kara flew past the others into the mer that tried to run, grabbing him by the neck and flinging him up onto the platform, just as Talia kicked Alex down the stairs. Kara ran to help her sister up as J'onn and Dinah came around the corner.

Talia looked around, then curled her lip and turned. "To be continued," she decided, holding up a device and pressing a button on it.

Everyone flinched when the bombs around the lair detonated, and when they looked up, Talia was gone.

***

Talia walked around the corner, heading for the exit, only to stop when Quentin stood in her way. "Don't move!" he ordered, aiming at her. "I said don't move."

"Deputy Mayor Lance," Talia chuckled. "Are you really going to try and kill me?"

"Which of us has a gun?" Quentin growled.

"Mmm," Talia tilted her head. "Two of the three of us."

Quentin blinked, then cried out when the same scream from the bridge sounded. Talia readjusted the earplugs she wore, sauntering past Quentin and giving him a kick in the side for good measure. "He never even noticed me," Evelyn said smugly from where she was hiding behind another pile of crates.

"Good work," Talia nodded at her newest student. "Now, let's go."

***

"Whoa," Quentin winced when he saw the Arrowcave. "Hell of a mess."

"Yeah," Oliver grimaced, standing up from where he was cleaning up. "What's happening with the graduation?"

"Uh, went off without a problem," Quentin nodded. "Unless you count some food poisoning from the city caterer."

"The graduation was a distraction," Dig grumbled. "They left that map for me and Dinah to find."

"So when did they pivot from targeting them to targeting us?" Felicity asked.

"Maybe she didn't," Curtis shrugged. "I mean, maybe the SCPD and the bunker were her targets all along."

"That seems pretty random, considering how much trouble they went through to make sure we wouldn't be here," Dig frowned.

"What if planting the explosives wasn't their objective?" Malcolm suggested.

"It was to cover their objective," Laurel nodded.

"Maybe they were trying to steal something?" Alex suggested.

"Like what?" Felicity frowned.

"Weapons," J'onn guessed. "From what Kara told us, both are skilled archers. They could have taken equipment from here to make arrows. Not to mention, the mercenaries they're working with need weapons as well."