'Te-Thank you for coming,' I stopped myself from giving away Ted's name in front of Helena, for I wasn't sure if she knew who he was yet.
'You can call me by my name, Aria,' Ted chuckled, taking his black mask off. 'They all know who I am, Isaac and Elliot through training and Helena through our discussions about this brilliant computer she set up.'
I could see her try to hide her face in modest embarrassment, her cheeks slightly reddened.
'Okay then, Ted,' I re-corrected myself. 'How did you find out we needed help? Or that we were even up here?'
'I connected my phone to this computer so now that whenever someone logs onto this program, I get sent a message,' Ted explained simply.
'So you can fight and hack into my computer,' Helena commented with a grin. 'That's... amazing.'
'Actually, Isaac helped me,' Ted admitted.
'You knew about this as well?' I asked Isaac. 'Unbelievable.'
'...I did too,' Elliot muttered just loud enough for me to hear.
'Was everyone in on this computer thing except from me?' I asked, rather offended.
'We didn't want to stress you out,' Helena told me. 'You've had a hard few days.'
I just nodded. I understood why they hadn't told me, but I was the one who had started this crusade. I deserved to know.
---
'We need a plan,' I decided after Helena and I showed the boys where all the attacked seemed to be coming from, the hospital. 'We can't just run in there, guns blazing. We don't have anyone to help us as it is.'
'We need to surprise them,' Ted said definitely. 'That's how I normally win my battles.'
'What about going through the back entrances of the hospital?' Isaac suggested.
'Too predictable,' Ted shook his head.
'Is there a way we could go in from above?' I suggested instead.
I could see the approval on Ted's face.
'I'm on it,' Helena said, typing away.
After a few seconds, she found cameras facing the roof of the hospital. No one was in sight, not even any SCPD officers.
'This looks good enough,' Ted said in approval.
'Now all we need is an actual plan,' I commented obviously.
I was new to this. Usually I went in without thinking about what I was doing, going with instinct rather than intuition. But this time, it was different. Ted Grant was in charge. And we were on our own against an army too big for us to possibly handle.
'Aria, you go in first,' Ted instructed. 'Then, Helena, Isaac, Elliot, you come in afterwards. I'll go in a different way to you so no one suspects I'm working with you.'
'And then what?' Isaac asked at once.
'We fight any gang member that stands in our way,' I announced. 'We'll need to get to the centre of it all. To stop the men initiating these attacks. If we can stop it from its source, then there won't be anyone the other gang members can take orders from.'
'Exactly,' Ted nodded in agreement. 'But remember, you've got to be ready for anything. Even if it means you have to... You know.'
'Splendid,' Elliot said rather sarcastically at he implication of murder.
Me too, Elliot. Me too.
---
'Why did you bring them along?' I hissed, referring to Isaac and Elliot as they left the lab. 'They've ever been on anything like this before, and this is one of the worst cases I've seen!'
'We need men,' Ted said plainly. 'It's as simple as that. And I know they're capable.'
Ted realised that I still wasn't convinced.
'I know we're throwing them in the deep end, but they're grown men,' Ted continued. 'They can handle themselves.'
Before Ted could continue any further, we both burst into laughter.
'God, we sound like their parents,' I chuckled.
'But, in all seriousness Aria, why are you bringing Helena along?' Ted whispered as she joined the boys outside. 'I don't know if she can fight at all.'
'Trust me, she can,' I remembered when she rescued me and Tommy from the gang, the thing I kept trying to remind her of. 'You just weren't there to see her.'
'I don't want her to get hurt,' Ted said, stressing his feelings on the matter. 'My instinct is to protect her, not throw her right into Armageddon.'
'You... Like her, don't you?' I grinned at the lovestruck Vigilante.
'Maybe a... little,' Ted owned up, trying to keep his tough persona but his soft side shining through. 'Okay, a lot. But you won't tell her, will you?'
'Ted Grant, the city Vigilante, scared?' I remarked rather accusingly.
But I was still right. He was scared of confessing his feelings to Helena, even though he didn't find it hard to show his feelings about criminals to them.
When Ted answered me with silence, I realised I needed to drop the topic.
'She'll be okay,' I smiled genuinely, changing back to our original topic. 'I promise.'
Ted just gave me a small smile, as though he was worried something terrible was going to happen.
But now we needed to get to the hospital, and quick. More lives would be lost whilst if we stayed in the comfort of the SCPD; we needed to take action.
'Let's join the others,' I said to Ted. 'You need to lead us into battle, Vigilante.'
'No, I think you should, Aria,' Ted refused his position as the leader of our small ensemble. 'After all, this was your idea, to lead these people to save this city.'
'But you're Starling City's Vigilante!' I exclaimed in good-intentional retaliation. 'You're the one person who steps outside the law just to make this city a better place, and I can't live up to that. You're the one everyone looks up to.'
'I'm no city vigilante,' Ted shook his head. 'That was just a name people seemed to give me. I had no intention of saving this city or whatever. I just wanted to make sure I could teach my students how to fight properly, and I used criminals to practise. But you deserve the title of Starling's Vigilante. You're the first one, the first vigilante, to actually protect this city for the good of its people. I only really beat people up in the Glades, while you train to become something more than just a fighter. A saviour. Starling's Saviour.'
I wanted to disagree with Ted and tell him he was better than me, but he was too insistent on me being the best thing since sliced bread. He seemed to think very highly of me, even though he had been the one helping me rather than the other way round.
And now we had to help the people get their district back from the Culebra Gang. It was time to save the Glades.
---
Quietly climbing up the ladders lining the walls of the hospital, Helena, Elliot, Isaac and I reached the roof of the hospital, me leading our little group.
'Where's Ted?' Helena whispered in worry as we hid around the only way into the hospital. 'Shouldn't he be here, helping us?'
'He's coming in later than us, remember,' I pointed out the obvious. 'He'll have something up his sleeve.'
'I really hope he's alright,' Helena muttered, thinking that she could only hear what she was saying.
'He's the Vigilante!' I tried to reassure her. 'He'll be fine. Honestly.'
It was obvious Helena had feelings for him too, but I had no time playing Cupid. We needed to save these people, and quick.
Facing the door that separated us from the horrors inside, I held up my hand so only my index finger was unfolded from my palm, gesturing that they waited in their positions. As I placed my hand on the cold, steel handle of the door, I pointed my finger towards the door and burst in, keeping my gun near my chest and moving my feet ever so silently.
Luckily, there was no one in sight. Yet.
I beckoned the other three in from the roof, seeing as the coast was clear. Darting around the corridors, we kept close to the walls the avoid being spotted immediately. The others seemed to be coping well, Helena seeming to be the least worried out of the three. After all, she had knocked someone unconscious with a fire extinguisher the last time I saw her in combat.
'You're doing great,' I congratulated the three in the eerie silence, giving them a thumbs up for good measure. 'Now let's keep moving.'
Before we could resume our hunt, we were surrounded by four gang members, each looking as though they were thirsty for blood.
'Maybe... Not,' Isaac gulped.
'Oh dear God,' Elliot breathed, looking at the sky in the hope that a miracle would happen.
'You're going to give up that fast?' I remarked, looking at Isaac and Elliot with raised eyebrows. 'Really, boys?'
As quickly as I could, I twisted the gun out of my nearest attacker's hand and locked his hand so he couldn't reach his fallen weapon, shooting the other man, who was aiming at me, with my gun in my other hand. Before the last two men could get to me, Helena disarming them and Isaac and Elliot knocking them out. To finish the job, I hit my disarmed opponent's head with the barrel of my gun, reducing him to unconsciousness.
'Pick up their guns before they wake up again,' I ordered, all of us gaining another firearm.
'But what about the one you... Shot?' Elliot asked, sounding as though he was scared of me. 'Didn't you... Kill him?'
'No, I shot him just so he would blackout for a few hours,' I explained quickly. 'I hate murder as much as you do, Elliot.'
---
After twenty minutes of hurrying from floor to floor, we finally found the source to all the chaos. And it was in the most unlikely of places.
'Why are we here, again?' Isaac asked impatiently.
We were in the main supplies room of the hospital, where it looked like all the departments of the building came to get their many medicines, vaccines and supplies.
'We've not found anyone to fight ever since that group near the roof, and now I'm starting to feel like we're missing something,' Isaac carried on whining.
'No, we're not,' Helena shook her head, looking at something in surprise and fear. 'Look at all the different containers in this room. They're all almost-
'Empty,' I finished her sentence, really worried now. 'Oh no.'
'What is it?' Isaac asked in confusion, whilst the rest of us already knew what they were up to.
'This room is the hospital's main source of healing implements,' Elliot explained fearfully. 'And they're attacking the place from the inside. Making sure that no one can get better once they're done with this district. They've even taken all the vaccines this hospital was given that all the other hospitals in this city have also been sent for the winter.'
'And the Glades are in need of this the most,' Helena added. 'I've been keeping an eye on
all the statistics across the city, including the health rate in each district. The Glades are suffering from the most fatalities, probably since they have the most chance of poverty here.'
'We've got to stop them!' I exclaimed at once. 'This isn't the last we'll hear from them either if we don't restore order.'
'But how are we going to stop them getting to everyone now if they've already done this?' Isaac asked in a defeatist tone.
'It's gonna to have to be a trip to their base again,' Ted's voice appeared from behind us.
'Thanks for finally turning up,' I said sarcastically.
'Sorry, I was fighting all those men you didn't bump into,' Ted answered back with just as much sarcasm.
'Are you sure that it's worth going back to that... Place?' Helena shuddered, remembering what it had been like to be there.
'Positive,' Ted nodded quickly. 'I overheard a few of them talking about storing some supplies there.'
'Then let's go!' Elliot exclaimed enthusiastically. 'We've got no time to lose!'
Time to take a trip to the land of déjà vu.