It's time. I'm standing on the road next to the crossing of the railroad and river. In the distance, I can see the bus arrive. I'm wearing my old jacket with the Lotus flower on the back. Inside my clothes, I've hidden all sorts of weapons.
Once the bus is close enough, I throw a shuriken in its wheel. The driver loses control and the bus spins around for a while. It eventually stops, thankfully without falling into the river.
I go inside, just in time to see Warner kill the last of the guards. She uses the chain of her handcuffs to do so. Chien sees me and gives me a quick hug. "Kate, you came."
"I always do."
In the meantime, Warner opens the door and throws the guards out. Cutter turns to the other prisoners. "This is your stop, ladies."
They all look confused at what just happened. Chien speeds things along. She points a gun from the guards at them. "Come on, ladies. Go!"
They now all quickly do as they were told and get out of the bus. Then I turn to Warner. "Next phase?"
"Star city." She replies. "Time to return home."
It isn't my home, but it doesn't really matter. She sits down in the drivers seat and drives us to Star City.
I still think the name is stupid though. Starling City sounds much better, Haircut.
"We are paying a little visit to the Triad." Chien tells me.
I turn my head a little. "What kind of visit?"
"We're going to friendly ask them where the money is."
"And what if they don't tell us?"
I already know what then, but I need to hear her say it. And she does so. "Then we stop being friendly."
I nod. I haven't been working for the Triad since Chien went to jail. And before that, I was mostly just helping her. We first make a few stops so Chien and her friends can get ready. They were wearing orange jumpsuits after all.
We eventually arrive at a closed Chinese restaurant. Chien and I know how to get in. We do it by using a door at the back of the building. It has a number lock, but we know the code. It's kinda stupid of them not to change it.
We make our way into the basement and walk right into a meeting. I recognise some of the men. One of them recognises us too. "Kate Rory, Chien Na Wei."
We both give them a kind smile, while the two women next to us are on edge. One of the men turns to my sister. "Chien, aren't you supposed to be in jail?"
She smirks. "You should know by now that no jailcell can hold me."
I go straight to the point. "We are looking for something, and we were told you know where it is."
"The depository." Chien clarifies.
They seem to know what we're talking about, but they aren't willing to tell us. "We don't know what you are talking about."
The two ladies behind us are getting impatient. I try the nice way again. "We are willing to do an exchange."
They seem to consider it for a moment, but they're still not up for it. "Like I said, we don't know what you're talking about."
Warner and Cutter give us a questioning look. "They don't want to tell us." Chien translates.
Warner already has enough of it. She takes her gun and shoots one of them. "Tobias Church's money! Where is it!?"
She doesn't get an answer, instead one of them throws a knife at her, which she dodges. Cutter takes her bow and starts shooting them, Chien and I grab our knives and join the fight too.
They are in the majority, but we still gain the upperhand. Every time before I kill someone, I ask him where the depository is. I never get an answer though. So we and up killing everyone in that basement.
I don't want to think about the fact that I'm killing for no good reason again. Or about how disappointed Sara would be in me. Instead I turn to Warner. "I hope you got a backup plan."
---
We're in some sort of old factory. "What is this place?" I ask.
"Los Halcones money laundering facility. Someone here might know where the money is." Warner replies.
We are met by a few men, not as impressive as the men from the Triad, but still armed. "Stay back." One of them says, aiming his gun at us.
We share an unimpressed look. "We are looking for Tobias Church's money."
Now it's their turn to share looks. Confused ones. "Where is it?" Cutter asks.
They stutter out all sorts of varients of 'we don't know'. I actually believe these ones. But again, a fight breaks loose. Every time before I kill one of them, I ask them the same question again. But they don't know.
Once we're done, Cutter takes a necklace off a dead guy. "We don't have time for that, Cutter." Warner says.
"Are you kidding me? These things are expensive." She replies.
"We find the money, you won't have to worry about that." Chien points out.
I speak up too. "About that, when's that gonna happen? Not one of these idiots knew a thing."
"No, but they gave me the name of someone who does." Warner tells us. "Don't worry. Everything is going down as planned."
"Think again!" Robin hood shouts from above us. "You have failed this city!"
This is just fantastic...
Next to him is a woman in black and on his other side Sara's dad.
I think the universe hates me.
"You're under arrest!" Mr. Lance shouts. "Get on the floor with your hands behind you head."
"On the ground!" Robin Hood repeats. So much for a fresh start... I should've known this was gonna happen. Why couldn't the money be in Ivy Town?
"I'm good." Warner replies. Then she turns to Mr. Lance. "Besides, I owe this son of a bitch some payback."
She shoots him, but Robin Hood thankfully stops the bullet before it hits the man. Then they start shoot at each other, but they both keep missing. I want to help Warner out, but I don't. I couldn't accidentally hurt Sara's dad. She has gone through enough.
Instead I focus on the woman in black. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"The one that'll put you in jail." She replies.
I smirk. "Good luck with that."
She takes a shot at me. It doesn't take me long to work her to the ground, but then she screams and I end up on the floor. She has this sonic scream, like the one Sara and her sister had. Hers didn't come from a device though. I'm pretty sure she's a meta.
Good thing I am too. I'm about to turn invisible, when Warner and Sara's dad come out of a door. Fighting. I'm taking my time to get up, until Warner pushes the dad off the balcony we're standing on. It's pretty high.
I quickly run to him and grab his hand. He just looks confused. The woman in black is probably a little confused too, but she shakes it off and grabs his other hand.
We quickly pull hip up. Warner gives me a 'what the hell?' look. Luckily, the police barges in, so I don't have to explain. Instead we get out of there as fast as we can.
---
I told them why I saved Mr. Lance. They didn't like it, but accepted it. Now we're paying a visit to the Bertinelli's. Three guys are making their way to a car. Cutter shoots the driver with her bow to catch their attention.
The three other guys don't seem too bothered by their dead driver. "Hey, what's this, now? Looks like four hot chicks." One of them says.
Another one turns to Cutter. "Especially this one."
He comes closer to her, but Chien slices his throat open before he can get too close. "Thanks for that." Cutter says.
"Anything for a friend." She replies.
Warner and Cutter fight the two remaining guys. One of them sees me and Chien twist our knives. He runs away in response, but Cutter shoots an arrow in his back.
In the meantime, Warner has pinned the last one to the ground. "We're looking for Tobias Church's rainy day account."
She grabs him and throws him to Chien and I. We catch him and hold him in place. "The Amertek money? I tell you where it is, you let me go?" He suggests.
Warner has another idea though. "No. You're gonna show us where it is."
"What about Robin Hood?" I ask.
"The ACU is all over his ass." She replies. "We've got nothing to worry about. Let's go!"
Cutter throws the dead driver on the floor, while Chien and I put the guy in the backseat.
---
He told us the money is in the cemetary, which isn't creepy at all. I'm just relieved this is almost over. Then I can finally go back to the Waverider.
A few of the graves are made of stone so you can easily open them. Warner goes straight for the last one. "How do you know it's this one?" My sister asks.
"It's got the least amount of dust." She replies. "Help me move it."
We help her open the grave. There are bags in it. I quickly open them to reveal lots of money.
Cutter smiles. "Ho, ho. We have got the money honey."
"Take what you can carry. We'll come back for the rest." Warner orders. I'm not sure when exacly she became in charge, but I don't really care. The important part is that it's over. They can come back for the rest by themselves.
We walk out carrying bags with money, but a sonic scream pushes us to the ground. We get up and turn around. It's that lady in black. We turn to our left where Robin Hood is. Sara's dad is standing in front of us.
Cutter makes a run for it to her right, but she's stopped by some teammates of Robin Hood. "You did all this for money?" Mr. Lance asks Warner. "So what, you could go to the Caymans?"
"You think this is about taking a vacation? We're taking over. We're taking back this city." She says. I knew this, but I already told them that I'm not helping.
"Yeah? You and what army?" The bodyguard asks.
"This one." She replies. The guys we hired ride in and aim their guns at team Arrow. "It's amazing the loyalty money can buy. Take them down!"
A fight breaks loose, which I use to take the money and leave. I'm stopped by Sara though. "Kate! What the hell are you doing!?"
I turn to her. She's running over to me. I sigh. "You know what I'm doing."
She eventually comes to a stop in front of me. "Yeah... Bu- but why?"
I shrug, trying not to show her how much the disappointment in her eyes hurts me. "Chien asked me for help, I helped."
"And now what?"
"Now I'm gonna make sure we win." I reply, taking my knife and going back.
Sara quickly stops me. "No, stop! You- You can still do the right thing."
I scoff. "The right thing? What is the right thing? Please... enlighten me! Going with you and leaving my sister at the hands of the Arrow? Fighting with them and taking this city back? Turning myself into the cops?"
Then I realise: "I can turn myself into the cops..."
I can't believe I'm actually considering this. It would probably be the right thing to do... but I don't want to leave the team behind.
She takes my hands. "No, you're not turning yourself into the cops. You are a good person, I know you are... You just have to start acting like one."
The way she looks at me seems to make me incapable of lying to her. So instead I take a deep breath and tell her the truth."I'm trying... I've been trying since I came back from the Vanishing Point. But no matter how hard I try, I'm always gonna be one of the bad guys."
"You're always gonna have people that try to make you one of the bad guys. Believe me, I'm talking from experience. But you can't give in. You always have to reach for the light."
She brushes her hand along my cheek. "Let me help you reach for the light."
I study her face, looking for any sign of anger or betrayal, but there's nothing. She's giving me the sweetest and most loving look I've ever seen. A look that actually makes me want to be a better person and reach for the light.
I hesitantly lean in to kiss her, waiting for her to pull back. When she doesn't, I connect our lips. I completely melt into the kiss, forgetting that there is a fight going on around us.
After we pull back, I take in the beautiful sight of her and smile. "You are the light."