Location: Warehouse Rooftop, Star City - NightQueen's Heir #1.03: Splitting the Arrow
"The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise.”
"Uh, I dunno about this, Overwatch. These guys have like...big guns. Really big."The voice in the young archer's earpiece sounded almost annoyed through the modulator
"If you want to start hitting Brick where it hurts, causing a big enough disturbance at one of the warehouses where he's 'secretly' stockpiling and shipping out drugs to justify me giving the police a tipoff and leaving it all wrapped up in a bow for them is a good start. Besides, it took me days of searching to figure out just how to hit this place!""Like, longer than my whole arm. Just, ridiculously big guns. And...is that a bazooka?!"Hey, relax...remember, 'fear is the mind-killer, the little death that brings total obliteration.' Let it pass over and through you, then turn inward and focus. Once it's gone, only you will remain." She- Connor was convinced after several conversations that 'she' was appropriate -said it in a mockup of his teachers' solemnity, but he nodded anyways and took a breath to calm down and center.
"I...don't know what sutra or canon that's from, but it's really good stuff." "Seriously? We have got to introduce you to some culture, GA. Shift change should've just hit the midway point, Time to get going."From his vantage point on the roof, Connor confirmed that a bunch of guards were heading out in cars yawning and worn out while there was still no sign of any cars rolling in. They'd been over the plan probably a dozen times in the last day or two.
It was simple. Just slip in and cause a scene between shifts when there was only a skeleton crew's worth of guards on duty. Use the disturbance and some audio recordings to have Overwatch play concerned nightshift worker and call things in to the police. Then Star City's finest would swoop in and put the place on lockdown right after Connor made a hasty exit. Even if they didn't catch a ton of Brick's people, there was no way they could move the merchandise off-site in time, so it should hit him right in the wallet.
Simple, except for the part where he deliberately drew fire from heavily armed professional criminals. Still, he secured a grappling hook anchor to a sturdy looking point and prepared to slide down. Overwatch knew a lot about online shopping, and according to her anyone could just order military-grade grappling hooks, cords and climbing kit online for weirdly cheap. Of course, he'd had to explain to the monks that he'd taken up rock-climbing, but it was worth it to lessen the chance of breaking all his bones 'on the job'.
The actual skylight was Connor's next obstacle to entry. According to Overwatch, since it was a much older building from back before Star City's building codes were updated, the skylight was made completely of tempered glass. She'd gone into some big physics-y explanation, but basically he should be able to break it with an arrow and climb through without cutting himself.
Okay...breathe...nock, draw...breathe...and loose!*twang!*The big windowpane exploded in a shower of glass beads, oddly mesmerizing. Connor turned, tossed the rope down, tugged on his anchor point hard to test and then flung himself down through the air after his arrow.
The seconds between making that little leap and sliding down the taught rope stretched for an eternity and he was sure he would hit the ground and shatter harder than the glass. The grappling hook jolted him as it held and for a second he thought he'd hit the ground and braced for pain, but when he didn't feel any he remembered to squeeze on the descender clipped to a harness on his chest that started his real slide down.
He breathed a sigh of relief as his feet touched down ontop of a big metal container, releasing the harness and-
"What the fuck!?"-remembering he was here to get shot at with big guns.
He lifted his hands in the air and turned around, faking an almost embarrassed grin as he stared down at a tattooed guy with what was definitely an assault rifle hanging off his shoulder-strap while still staring openmouthed.
"You wouldn't buy it if I told you this was just an accident, right? That I was just doing some nighttime parkour and uhh...fell through your skylight? In...a Green Arrow Costume? With...with a bow and arrows and a grappling hook?"The poor guard's face went from shocked to slowly angrier, the rifle pointed up at his perch on the shipping containers, though Connor still kept the uneasy grin with his hands in the air...
"Guess not, huh? In that case uhm...how about a chance to surrender? Trust me you're not gonna like how this goes down, we can all just wait for the police and-"Connor saw the man's trigger finger slip into the guard. Without stopping to think he launched himself from the big metal box, ears ringing from the barely evaded burst of gunfire as he spun through the air in the highest flying Kyokushin Wheel Kick he'd ever attempted. As he twisted, his foot cracked down on the gunman's skull and they both crashed down to the warehouse floor together.
Sorry...also oww...No time to catch his breath or examine his pain, Connor kipped up with his bow in one hand, reaching back and fumbling the catches on his quiver's side draw as another guard came around the corner of a pile of crates to investigate the noise, gun already raised and readied.
Crap! Nock, Draw, Aim, Loose!*twang!**shnk!*Connor plugged the barrel before the newcomer could get a shot off, but as he nocked another arrow he saw the assault rifle drop and a hand pulling a gleaming pistol from a waistband.
No time for a barrel-trick, Connor aimed fast and let fly.
*Twang!**Bang!*His arrow struck the pistol right before it fired, the bullet missed and weirdly enough it threw off the shooter's grip enough that Connor was pretty sure he saw the man hit himself in the face with his own pistol. He'd never be sure. Connor was already sprinting at his assailant full tilt, throwing himself legs-first into a low flying scissor leg lock around the waist and twisting. The stunned thug face-planted into the hard cement flooring.
Connor scrambled away from him and nocked another arrow from there on the floor. He heard shouting from somewhere in the labyrinth of metal and wooden boxes, not sure where. Blocking out the pain already spreading through his whole body he got up, jumping and scrambling up loosely piled crates to try and get a better view and catch his breath.
"GA, I picked up on the shots, you okay?""haah~...I already got shot at twice and I'm pretty sure I've had to give at least two guys concussions so yeah I'm doing great!"Connor spotted another assault rifle-wielding guard rushing toward the scene, though he was tucked out of sight ontop of the crates. Might as well thin out the numbers...
*twang!*He pinned the poor man to some crates on the other side by his loose...carrying...sling...thingy- he really had to learn more about guns if he was gonna keep getting shot at by them.
"Sarcasm doesn't seem very Zen even if it does sound kinda cute on you-""-You're picking now to flirt?""-What?! I...eugh no nevermind, the police are on their way. You should get out of there before they show up or the rest of Brick's guys-"Connor spotted something out of the corner of his eye and cut her off.
"So hey Overwatch uhh, remember that RPG?!""Oh no... "Yuuup!While they'd been distracted talking, a fourth guard had spotted him, taken up a position with a clear line of fire to the crates from the other end of the warehouse and had the launcher aimed right at him
Okay okay don't panic don't panic just-*FWOOOSH!~*Connor's brain shut down.
No thought, no conscious aim.
He just leaped off his pile of crates and shot an arrow at the oncoming explosive in midair.
Light. silence. pain.
His sight came back first. He was lying on the ground, hurting like crazy with the sight of his arrow and the warhead about to meet and the light of the explosion burned into the backs of his eyes. He blinked tears away checked to make sure he wasn't dead.
No missing limbs, no shrapnel wounds, no burns...
The pain was just from landing on the warehouse floor.
"I never...never wanna try that again."He couldn't actually hear himself, but it was reassuring to at least feel himself speak. He pushed himself up off the floor and rushed back over to his original landing spot. The pain from jumping and climbing back up the shipping container made him tear up. Hauling himself up the rope was even worse and made him a clear target but he didn't even care if he got shot at that point. It would've felt like a mercy to his screaming body.
Somehow, he was still alive by the time he pulled himself over the top and saw the SWAT vehicles pulling in.
He didn't care if he hadn't taken on every hired gun on Brick's warehouse crew. If they didn't have enough evidence before, the mess from the explosion would have to do it, right?
"Overwatch, I dunno if you can hear me, but I'm going home. I need to sleep. Forever."How the hell did Oliver do this
every night?
