Chapter 17: Bete Noir

~o.O.o~

An Epilogue

A Few Months Later

~o.O.o~

“Are you nervous?” Felicity asked Bella as she saw her stroll into the area wearing her new outfit. Over the last few months the guys had been training with her and get her up to speed with some weapons and their rules and regulations. Well, Ollie’s rules and regulations. And today was finally the day where Oliver allowed Bella to come with; they were going to take down another friendly Glades’ arms dealer. Whenever Oliver picked one up, another one popped up its head to take the former dealer’s place. Together with the drug dealers, they were the cockroaches of Starling City.

Oliver had made sure that Felicity knew all the facts before telling him about it, he was nervous, Felicity could tell. He didn’t want to have any surprises today because it was Bella’s first trip out. The target was an abandoned warehouse at the edge of the Glades; interestingly enough the same warehouse where Oliver had taken Peter Warren for questioning six months ago and satellite imagery showed that there were at least twenty people inside that warehouse. Quite possibly all wearing weapons, but what else was new? It would be a simple in and out job, restraining the criminals, calling Captain Lance – oh yes, he got promoted – and disappear into the night.

Bella adjusted her breasts in the leather of her suit before fluffing out her hair dramatically. She knew it was needless but she was doing it ease the anxiety in the room. “I feel fine Robin,” she smiled as she looked up at her through the reddish violet bangs of her wig and mask. Grinning as she held her arms out and spun in place, modeling her full new look for her. “I look hot. Don’t I?”

“Absolutely,” Felicity grinned. “If you don’t slay those people with your staff, your looks will do it.”

“Can we go?” Roy asked, getting a bit antsy from the waiting around. He was more than ready to bash in some skulls, it had been a while and he needed to get rid of his anger that had building up since that text message from Thea, about her being on a completely different continent with her father.

“So, Diggle will drive us to the warehouse in the van, where he then waits for us at a safe distance,” Oliver said as he grabbed his bow.

“What?”

“Your family needs you in one piece. You’re a father now.”

“You can’t bench me.”

“We’ve already discussed this, Dig, and you agreed.” Oliver looked at his friend who reluctantly gave in. He then looked over to Bella – who looked incredibly hot but he didn’t allow it to be a distraction. “Are you done flaunting?”

Bella smirked as she rested her hands on her hips and eyed him. “That depends. What do you have planned after this mission is completed?” she asked curiously, egging him on before she moved to get her weapon.

“Hopefully not planning a funeral,” Oliver deadpanned as he walked towards the rear exit of the basement that’d bring them to the back of the nightclub.

“In that case, I should bring something else,” she murmured as she went over to one of her cases that she added to their collection and pulled out her favorite long distance rifle and ammunition, sliding it into a carry bag. It would be easy to piece together if she had to use it from the rooftop that she was assigned to standby on and smiled as she brushed past her boyfriend.

Oliver was about to balk against her getting the rifle out but Diggle pushed him towards the exit. “She knows not to kill people and it has a silencer, let it go.” He knew Oliver wasn’t happy with guns as they generally made a lot of noise, but over the last months, Diggle had taken her to a shooting range and saw how she handled those guns – quite adequately. They had been talking to Oliver about allowing it, and he said ‘no’ most of the times. But since he’d put Bella on the roof while he and Roy would go in, it wouldn’t be much of a problem as they wouldn’t have to run around like headless chickens.

Roy pushed past everyone and sat in the van before they had even made it out of the exit. Even though Roy had gotten his anger under control, Oliver was still very aware of his issues and as long as they didn’t get in the way of rational thought, it would be alright but the current reason of Roy being angry was a personal one; one that could make him a liability.

It was only a short drive going to the warehouse and they gathered on the roof, with Oliver pulling Bella along as he used his bow as a pulley. According to Felicity, there was a skylight above the warehouse where they could oversee the situation and make last minute tweaks to their plan if needed.

“I’ll take the back and distract them so that Roy can sneak in through the front and surprise them. Bella, you make sure nobody leaves.” There were a lot of bodies in there, usually it wasn’t a problem for Oliver but since it was a huge space and a lot of places to hide behind. It wasn’t going to be an easy one. “Break the glass if you have to, but only once the fighting has started downstairs so they won’t really notice you’re up here.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll come in and save your asses,” Bella murmured as she peered into the window before backing away to set up her sniper rifle. “Don’t worry your pretty face. I got your back.”

“Good,” Oliver said before he abseiled off the building and found a way to sneak inside. He could easily take out the first few people he encountered as they weren’t aware of him being there yet but that all changed when someone walked in on him choking someone out. He flung a dart at that person, knocking him out. Unfortunately for Oliver, the guy crashed into a pile of boxes when he dropped to the floor.

Oliver rolled away for shelter when guys came running at him before deciding that he needed to get to higher ground. He scrambled to his feet and pushed the first guy away with his bow for space before blasting a few arrows in the people following him up. They were idiots – never follow a guy with a bow in his hand even if you carried a gun.

After he took off, she finished putting together the rifle, loading it and carried it over to the skylight, eyeing it carefully as she walked around to take in all of its features. Grinning triumphantly at an opening in the side for an air duct, she set it down beside it as she got down on her knees to look in to see the angles the opening offered. Satisfied by the location, she moved the rifle into place then went to continue setting up a bungee rope to drop her down into the warehouse in case she might need to make a personal appearance.

As Roy had entered through the front and taken out his fair share of people, only the main players were gathered in the middle of the warehouse. Oliver jumped down from the ledge he was on and steadied his bow on the main arms dealer.

“Hey man, what are you doing that for?” Joseph Minnardi cackled as he playfully raised his hands above his head. “Taking out my people?”

“This was your last day of freedom,” Oliver spoke but had to jump away when one of Minnardi’s cohorts became trigger happy. Roy managed to shoot the guy in the leg but it was getting a little bit messy. Oliver ran around and went up only to jump down on one of the guys and hit him in the head with his bow. He was about to throw a dart at the next one but was surprised by his face and hesitated long enough for the guy to whack Oliver on the head with his gun.

Bella had been watching with an eagle’s eye and her finger pulled back on her trigger, striking Minnardi’s man in the elbow. She pulled back on the lever to load the next round as she searched for her next target. Her shots kept beginning to shoot at the knees and elbows of whomever approached Oliver’s or Roy’s blind spots while they were distracted with someone else. “I can’t keep you both covered for much longer,” she called over the radio. “Pick one of you or stay close.”

Not missing a beat, Oliver launched himself at the boy and pinned him down to the ground. “Get Minnardi, secure him!” Oliver called out to Roy as the blonde boy was putting his feet underneath Oliver and pushed him off of him. Oliver landed on his feet with a flip and then strung an arrow up his bow, not releasing it but pointed at the boy.

“Minnardi is secure, the rest is down!” Roy called back and Oliver quickly glanced over to see Minnardi out cold but with his hands tied behind his back.

Oliver then looked at the boy he was keeping his arrow on. “Barbara, I need a positive ID on this guy,” he spoke softly in the radio. “Don’t freak out.” Oliver was so angry that he wouldn’t even mind killing this guy as their standoff involved him now holding a gun at Ollie, but didn’t pull the trigger. Oliver was wondering why the guy hadn’t let off a bullet yet. “Now, please, before he decides to shoot me?”

Bella blinked as she saw the face, hesitating herself. “It’s Jasper,” she muttered. “Edward’s brother. I don’t want him dead, but at the same time…Do what you have to. I can take out his shooting arm from here,” she responded, her voice firming up as she filled herself with resolve.

Oliver sighed, he’d rather have killed the guy. Instead, he quickly lunged forward, took Jasper’s arm and twisted it, making Jasper drop the gun and cry out in pain. Oliver then kneed him in the stomach and put zip ties around his wrists, binding Jasper’s hands together. He then knocked him out with his bow. “Let’s go,” Oliver growled as he walked towards the rear exit where he had come in the warehouse with and dialed Captain Lance’s number. “Got you a gift at exit 30 in the Glades,” he said into the phone and then hung up. “Do you want me to get you or are you coming off that roof on your own?” Oliver asked Bella.

“On my way down,” she said as she threw the rope over the window opening in the emergency hatch and slid down. Her eyes searched Oliver out, quickly finding him as she passed by the unconscious bodies and out the door, hoisting her sniper bag over her shoulder. “How the fuck did Jasper get caught up with Minnardi’s group?” she asked as her cell phone let out a familiar meowing tone, sparking her curiosity to check her message as they left the area before the police arrived.

“Next time, put that phone on silent incase someone calls you or messages you when we’re busy,” Oliver put an arm around her as they walked towards the van. “Well, with his record, maybe he just escalated because he couldn’t find the thrills anymore…” He replied and took a deep breath. “I really hope that he’s the only Cullen in town.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bella placated him as she read the message, slowing in her step as she turned her eyes up to him as they grew large with anxiety.

“What is it?” Oliver asked concerned. “Is Charlie okay?”

She shrugged as she handed him her phone. “I’m sure he is but it’s not that. I don’t think you’ll get your wish though.”

Oliver took the phone and blinked at the message. There was no way that this was real, all he knew was that Bella, and now his, nightmares were far from over.

Bella, Esmé told me they were going to move to Starling City ‘to help the poor’. Stay safe, please! Rose.

 

2 Comments:

  1. way interesting and fun story to read

  2. Oh hell no…Great update hon, and I am enjoying this story very much and am dying to read more of it…thanks for sharing, until next time…bigg huggs

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