Felicity walked out of the elevator, half of a step behind Sara when they exited

the elevator. She had been drafted into this little crusade, or maybe she had just
stumbled into it. She had no reason to tell anyone about what happened there, for
two really important reasons, at least two that came behind.

'Who would believe me?' Felicity asked. 'And by helping her, I'm an accessory to
her vigilante activities..although it's the right thing to do, what she's doing.
The police try, but they can't be everywhere, and with the rich and the powerful,
their hands are kind of tied.'

Regardless, Felicity had been surprised by her new role.

"So, I guess I'm your personal assistant now?" Felicity asked. "That's really a
step up in the world."

"To be fair, you're doing a lot of the same things you were already doing," Sara
said. "In a way, you're moving up in the world. So, don't worry about it. You'll be
helping me oversee security in this company. Given there have been two break-ins in
the last couple of weeks, it's obvious there's an upgrade."

"Yeah, I can see it," Felicity said.

Her life changed for the best. After last night, she was still a bit sore, but it
was more than worth it. And she had a feeling Sara held back for her. She turned
her head back.

"And here comes Mrs. Queen," Felicity said.

Moira walked down the hallway, only paying Lyla and Felicity the most common of
courtesies with a nod. She positioned herself in front of Sara.

"So, how are you doing?" Moira asked.

Sara realized Moira couldn't have known about what happened the other night, or
could she? She couldn't be paranoid because paranoia was what ended up defeating
the greatest of warriors in the end. She regarded it as a general question about
her welfare, at least until Moira proved differently.

"I'm doing fine," Sara said. "Did you want to talk to me about something?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Moira said. "I'll try to make this brief, but there's
someone who I want you to meet."

Sara turned towards Felicity and Lyla, who both nodded.

"Show Felicity to her new office," Sara said. "And meet me outside when I'm done."

Moira raised an eyebrow. Sara decided to tell her what was going on.

"I've hired her as a personal assistant," Sara said. "With everything that's been
going on, I need a little bit help to make sure everything stays organized."

"Yes, I can see how you get overwhelmed," Moira said. "If you needed any help, I
would have found someone who would be able to help you."

"It's fine, you have more than enough to worry about," Sara said. She took a second
to close her eyes and return back to the world. "I looked into Felicity, she's more
than qualified. And she's done some really good work, and I want someone that
dedicated working for me."

"She's qualified," Moira agreed. "And a bit overexcited at times.just as long as

you keep her on a short leash, she should be fine."

Sara wondered if Moira suggested keeping Felicity on a short leash the same way she
intended to keep the younger girl on a short leash. She shook it out of her head
and followed Moira. The two of them made their way down the floor. There was a part
of the hallway roped up.

"Starling City Police Department is investigating what happened here," Moira said.
"They're going to get to the bottom of this."

Sara thought Moira's confidence slipped underneath for a second. She held her head
up and turned around the corner. The doorway opened. An attractive brunette stepped
out of the room. She dressed in a conservative business attire, although her legs
still caught Sara's eyes.

"Sara, I'd like to introduce you to Helena Bertinelli," Moira said. "Helena, this
is my daughter-in-law, Sara.."

"Hello, Helena, it's a pleasure to meet you," Sara said. "What brings you here
today?"

"Business," Helena said. "My family is working with Queen Industries, and I think
the two of us can do some business together."

Sara's interest had been grabbed very closely by the words of this woman.

"What are you working on?" Sara asked.

"We're working on support for men and women who are recovering from emotional
trauma," Helena said.

Sara thought this particular cause resounded pretty well with her. She had been a
victim of emotional trauma due to her ordeal, although she trained herself to
recover from it. Other men and women didn't have the support she did. They needed
more opportunities.

"I'd like to discuss what you're doing, over dinner if you don't mind," Sara said.

Helena responded with a smile. She thought this would be interesting. Something to
keep her mind off whatever her father was doing. Mostly because she couldn't
stomach being in the same room with Roman Sionis for more than a couple of minutes.

"I'd like that," Helena said. "It's a date."

A caged animal was a pretty good description for Roman Sionis. He had talked to
Frank Bertinelli, and while they had some common ground on a couple of things, they
were far off. Bertinelli thought because he was one of the sacred five, he had the
ability to dictate the terms.

Sionis looked up at the spreadsheet. His resources had been cut down, thanks to
being hit from both sides in Gotham City. Both from the side of the law, and the
side of his competitors, with the Clown destroying one of his Steel Works plants
and moving into another, at least until he was sent up the river to Arkham. Or
maybe he died in a fiery explosion, it was hard to keep track of the guy.
Of course, even when he died, the Clown had a nasty habit of coming back to life.

A couple of mobsters put a bounty on the worst criminal Gotham City ever seen, but
no one was foolish enough to cash in on the bounty. They knew what would happen.

"So, it didn't do well, Boss?" one of the mobsters asked.

"No, it didn't do well," Sionis answered. He peered at the goon through beady eyes.
"Bertinelli has his contacts here in Starling. I need access to them if my plan is
to go forward."

"What about.."

"Don't speak of them to me," Sionis said.

The members of his gang stepped back, shaken by their boss's words. Very few of
them would speak up to him when he was in a state like that. Sionis turned around
and moved back to the drawing board, practically foaming at the mouth. He resembled
a mad dog and was crazy enough to be one.

"Bertinelli made a huge mistake messing with my business," Sionis said. "And he
talked to me like I'm some common thug. Do you know who I am?"

Sionis walked over and lifted the very familiar mask off of the pedestal. He
slipped into onto his face. The mask gave his face the look of a sunken in skull,
and made him look extremely crazed in the process.

"Put your masks on, don't make me tell you again!" Sionis barked.

The goons scrambled to put their masks on. The moment they slipped them on, Sionis
took his time in addressing them all.

"All of us are on the same side, we have a new empire to build in Starling City,"
Sionis said. His fingers flexed together. "And the one thing I won't tolerate is
the disrespect from some punk who thinks he's better than I am."

The members of Black Mask's gang started to stir. The criminal had them in the palm
of his hand and was about to move in for the kill.

"Bertinelli wants to play games with me?" Black Mask asked. "Do any of you think he
has any right to disrespect me?"

The members of Black Mask's gang all responded with boos and they shook their fists
in response. Black Mask answered with a nod. He figured his men were finally on the
same page with each other, and that bode well for his future plans. The mobster
stood taller and scowled at the goons in front of him.

"No, it's not right to disrespect me!" Black Mask snapped. "I'm not a common thug.
I'm not one of those Arkham lunatics either. I have a vast criminal organization
which will be respected!"

The members of the gang all recoiled from his words. None of them were willing to
challenge him this time, or really any other time. They knew the last person who
mouthed off to him when he was in a mood ended up in the bottom of the river.

"We're going to hurt Bertinelli where it hurts the most," Sionis said. He took a
breath. "I think it's time to find out if his daughter is really as loyal to her
father as he thinks he is, or if she can barely stand him. If she has the contempt
for him like I did with my parents."

The story of how Sionis tortured his parents over a long night before burning them
alive was well known, although never legally proven. Sionis hated the masks his
parents wore, hated how they talked him up in public to their high society friends
before belittling him behind closed doors to their high society friends.

"Well, you want us to kidnap his daughter?"

"Yes," Black Mask said. "Don't harm her, but convince her to come with you."

"I have to say, she's a hot piece of ass," one of the goons muttered. "I wouldn't
mind having some one on one time with her."

These were the last words this particular goon spouted out when Black Mask blew his
brains out. He shot the goon next to the man. Two of them fell to the ground, and
blood splattered all over a third goon who tried not to flinch. Those goons who
flinched in the presence of Black Mask ended up being shot. Some witnessed the
gangster's trigger-happy temper up close and way too personal.

"The rest of you better watch your mouths!" Black Mask barked. "And you better have
some manners, or else you're going to pay. Is that clear?"

The members of Black Mask's gang could not nod fast enough to agree with their
boss. They looked like overgrown bobbleheads when nodding up and down. They were
lucky they did not get shot by the man.

"Good, treat the lady we're kidnapping with some respect," Black Mask said. "If you
do anything to piss her off, then we're going to have words. And you're going to be
joining those two goons on the ground."

No one dared question. They all got going because Black Mask was pretty trigger
happy when he was in a pissed off mood. Not even when clearing the door, they felt
safe about getting a bullet to the back.

It was only when they made their way halfway down the street was they felt a small
bit of a relief and even then, the relief didn't pass.

Lyla pulled the car around towards the restaurant Sara and Helena had dinner in.
Cassandra sat in the back seat of the car and she slowly slid a blade in and out of
a leather sheath. The blade glinted when Cass slid it in and out. Lyla turned
towards the front.

She glimpsed Helena and Sara having dinner, and it was going rather well. Sara's
dating life was not a high priority, the kind of trouble Helena's father would
cause, and the kind of people who would go after Helena was the problem. Lyla had
been surprised Frank Bertinelli didn't have security detail breathing down his
daughter's neck and the necks of anyone who was with her.

"Look," Cass said.

Lyla turned her head to the side. A car pulled off, really close to the front
doors. The doors opened up and four men stepped out. They had the hoods of their
shirts pulled up and walked closer towards the front entrance.

Acting like she was pulling out, Lyla backed out of the parking space and pulled
her way at the parking lot before going to a side street. She pulled off to the
side of a car parked in the front of the street and exited it.

Cass already slipped out into the shadows and slipped behind the man who moved
furthest away from the rest of the back. She ensnared the man in a choke hold and
dropped him to the ground.

Lyla caught another one of the goons around the back of the head and dropped him to
the ground. Unfortunately, this caused the other two goons to turn towards Lyla and
began to shoot towards her. She withdrew her side arm and started to fire back at
them.

Cass, slipped undetected into the shadows and grabbed the goon to the right along
the back of the head. She flipped up and drilled both of her knees into the back of
the goon, snapping him down to the ground.

A second car pulled around to the back and six more men got out of the car. They
walked into the back doors and walked up towards the table.

"Queen Industries would be glad to attend the benefit, and we'll match any donation
you're able to," Sara said.

Helena looked up, as did Sara. Six men walked over towards the table and one of
them grabbed Helena by the shoulder.

"Ms. Bertinelli, we're going for a bit of a ride...NOBODY MOVE OR WE'LL BLOW THE
LADY'S HEAD OFF!" the goon yelled, turning from tranquil to angry in a split
second.

Sara placed her hands on the table and scoped out the positioning. She saw the goon
train a weapon on Helena's head and the goons which kept their eyes on the other
patrons.

"What do you want?" Helena asked. "When my father"

"Your father, it's his fault we're going to have to take you for this ride.."

Sara kicked the goon nearest her in the ribs and jumped out of her seat. A second
goon spun around and fired a shot at her. Sara ducked underneath the table to avoid
the shot.

"The boss says to get her out of here!" a man at the back door yelled.

Helena gave a hell of a fight, as it took two of the goons to hold her arms and one
of them to grab her feet. The fourth and fifth goons held the guns on the patrons
and made sure none of them had a chance.

"Get the Tranqget the Tranq.I can't hold this bitch!"

Helena kicked the man in the face and flipped back onto her feet. She avoided one
of the attacks from the goons, however, a dart nailed her in the back of the neck.

The dart put her down for a very long and not so satisfying nap. The goons scooped
up Helena and hurled into the back seat of the car.

Sara made her way out of the back and she jumped into the air. She grabbed the goon
with the gun around the arm, and snapped it back, breaking it. The gun fell out of
the way and Sara kicked it out of the way.

"Hey, I know her!" the goon yelled. "She's the bitch who offed Oliver Queen!"
Sara didn't bother to correct him about this common misconception. She grabbed the
goon around the head and dropped him down onto the ground, spiking him head first
in the process. She held herself up and drew in a deeper breath.

The other four goons decided to gun it. Lyla and Cass rushed around from the front.

"We just took out another eight up front," Lyla said. "Are you okay?"

"They have Helena."

Sara caught the limo just before it was out of throwing range. The tracer she flung
latched onto the back tire of the limo and skidded out of range. She could not
believe this happened, on her watch.

"Call the police," Sara said. "And drive me out of here."

Lyla didn't hesitate to agree.

Laurel smiled when sitting down to face the redhead at the table across from her.
She had grown an inch or two since the last time they saw each other and hit a
growth spurt in a couple of areas. Still, it was the same Barbara she last met in
person in a couple of years.

"So, we have a lot to catch up on, don't we?" Barbara Gordon asked.

Laurel answered with a laugh, that was an understatement.

"Yeah, Sara's back, and things have gotten really interesting in other places,"
Laurel said.

"Not to mention Starling City has gotten their own resident vigilante," Barbara
responded. "But, given how the crime rate is rapidly catching up to Gotham, it's
only a matter of time."

Laurel nodded in response. She didn't really know how to proceed next. Barbara
hadn't outright said Sara was the Hood, although given how Barbara was way too
smart for her own good, having graduated college when most people were struggling
with high school, it was only more than obvious she would have figured that out.

"So, how's your work been lately?" Laurel asked.

"Oh, you mean in Gotham City," Barbara said. "You know me, I like to keep busy. I
don't my mind is completely at east unless I'm doing about a half of dozen projects
at the same time. It's a weirdly focused form of ADHD."

Laurel smiled; Barbara had always been like that. She took more than an otherwise
sensible person should have at any time.

Barbara leaned back against the chair. She had an earpiece which was hooked to a
police scanner which gave her the latest news coming in from the city.

"Hopefully you're actually remembering to have fun," Laurel said.

"Well, my employer runs me ragged a bit, but I have some time to relax if I want
to," Barbara said.
Barbara closed her eyes and heard something interesting coming in through the
earpiece. She adjusted her posture to make sure she heard it correctly when it came
in.

"Helena Bertinelli has been captured by a small army of masked men. They were last
seen going West on Allen Street."

Barbara heard rumors that Sionis had his new headquarters close to there. Her boss
insisted she check it out when she had a chance, and he was a pretty hard person to
say no to.

"I just remembered, I needed to pick up something for my boss when I was in town,"
Barbara said. "Thanks for the coffee.but I've got to go."

"Oh, sure," Laurel said.

She watched when Barbara walked off. No sooner did Barbara disappear off into the
other direction, Laurel lifted up her cell phone and received a text message. She
frowned when looking over it.

Laurel looked over her shoulder and then slung a bag over her shoulder. She put
money, along with a tip down on the table, before slipping off out the door, in the
same direction Barbara went.

Helena shook off the effects of the tranquilizer dart and found herself in an even
worse situation than she ever knew before. Her hands had been tied. She looked
around and saw a small group of thugs playing cards, smoking cigars, and drinking
booze.

"Looks like you boys have lost another round!" the man at the front of the table
said. "Go ahead, pay it up!"

The other men grumbled. Helena grumbled as well when she realized the man who spoke
was the bastard who held a gun to her head. He made her look weak, something she
vowed to never be again after her mother died. It was a moment of despair and it
would not hit her again.

"You know, if you don't let me go you're going to be fish food by the morning,"
Helena said.

The goons all turned around to face the girl. The man at the front of the table
walked forward and moved towards her. His rancid breath came a few inches away from
Helena's face.

"You really think you're holding the cards, Princess?" the man asked.

"Untie me, and throw away your gun, and we'll see how big of a man you are," Helena
said.

The man chuckled. He wasn't stupid. After three tries, he finally graduated high
school and started to work for Black Mask ever since then. He managed to stay alive
when so many of his fellow gang members died.

"Back off!"

Helena saw a man dressed in a black mask which looked like a skull walking in. Her
stomach turned a fraction of an inch when seeing him approach. His voice sounded
familiar.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience," the man said. "Your father, he decided not to
play ball."

Helena scowled. So this was because of something her father did. It wasn't the
first time he did something to fuck over her life.

"I can see it in your eyes," Sionis said. "Daddy issues?"

Helena only mustered a look of supreme loathing and hate towards this waste of
oxygen. Sionis didn't remove the mask, and to be honest, she thought it was a bit
easier to stomach than his actual face.

"What the fuck do you want?" she asked him.

"Power, wealth, and all the perks that go along with it," Sionis said. "And once
Daddy Bertinelli drops dead, the two of us can build a brand new empire all to
ourselves."

Helena didn't know she could be more revolted in her life.

"Could you please do me a favor?" Helena asked.

"Of course, darling, what do you want?" Sionis asked.

"Drop dead."

Sionis had no time for a comeback. The windows above them broke open and the Hood
dropped down to the ground. She strung together two rapid fire arrow shots to take
the goons down to the ground. They fell back without any trouble whatsoever.

"Finally, I've wanted to show everyone you're nothing but a pretender!"

Sionis broke open a box to withdraw a flamethrower. He shot flames towards the Hood
who avoided the attacks. The hooded vigilante evaded all of the attacks. She
sweated because of the flames constantly filling the room, and this psychopath was
going to burn the room down just to prove his point.

Sara took aim and fired an arrow directly at the sprinkler system. The water cooled
down the fire which Sionis created. A second arrow fired at his hand and knocked
the weapon out of his hand. The flamethrower hit the wall and busted from getting
knocked out of his hand.

More goons rushed in, all of them armed to the tee with weapons, high-level
weapons.

"These aren't your average goons on the streets of Starling City, Hoodie Girl!"
Sionis yelled. "They are born and bred on the streets of Gotham City!"

Sara readied herself for a hell of a battle. Before she could fire her first arrow,
something knocked her off balance.

The sonic attack busted more of the windows. Sara's hood protected her from most
attacks, therefore it didn't effect her just as much. Black Mask staggered back,
clutching his goons.

A figure dropped down from the darkness. The figure gripped one of the goons around
the side of the head and pulled him into the shadows. A series of strung together
punches dropped the goon.

Helena finished taking one of the dropped knives and had cut herself free. She
watched the battle continue with two of the goons flipped down onto the wall.
Another goon smashed down through the card table.

A goon staggered forward. Helena picked up a crowbar and waffled him across the
back of the head.

Sionis hurled a bomb into the air. Smoke filled the area and all the goons who were
left standing scrambled to the nearest exit. None of them were willing to give a
hand to all of their fellow goons out.

'No honor amongst thieves.'

Sara tried to squint through the smoke. It cleared and she came face to face with a
woman in a skin-tight black costume with a red bat symbol on it. A belt hung from
her hips with pouches containing gadgets upon gadgets.

"Batgirl."

The cowled crime fighter smiled, which she was pretty sure was a violation of basic
Bat Boot Camp. "Hoodie Girl."

"I'LL KILL THAT BASTARD!"

Helena swore and walked in a circle, about ready to lose her mind. She noticed the
bastard who held a gun to her head down on the ground. The fact he also shot Sara,
and she didn't know how if Sara was fine set Helena off more. She stomped his groin
hard.

The Starling City Police Department arrived, and Helena turned to see where the two
vigilantes had gone, but they disappeared into the shadows.

"It's okay, Ms. Bertinelli, everything will be okay," one of the cops said.

Helena snorted. She gave the goon one more stomp to the groin just because she
could.