"Stay hidden, don't come out." Just as Thea was lamenting the lack of heroes in Star City, Laurel whispered the warning to her.
Then, ignoring her negligible fighting skills, Laurel fearlessly stood up and shouted, "Stop!"
For a moment, Laurel, her face full of righteous fury, became the center of attention. Thea nearly fainted. Looks like I'm not the purely righteous hero type, Thea thought. The one standing tall and proud beside me is.
Thea looked at Laurel with exasperation. Can those few self-defense moves your dad taught you handle these three gangsters? Did you even think before jumping out? So reckless! No wonder villains' plans against heroes always succeed; they get dragged down by impulsive, justice-obsessed people like you.
I definitely can't just watch Laurel get shot full of holes. She was a friend, after all. Since Thea had the ability, she guessed she had to cover for her. Didn't expect to get the 'leading man' treatment today.
Cursing inwardly, she gripped the dinner fork in her hand, preparing to strike first and take out the bearded leader.
When the bearded man saw it was Laurel, a beautiful blonde, who had stood up, he turned back to his two henchmen with a lewd grin. He lowered the gun aimed at the waiter and pointed it menacingly at Laurel.
"Beauty, are you talking to me? Maybe you can shout a little louder!" After speaking, he made a few crude hip thrusting motions, laughing loudly amidst his subordinates' jeers.
That scumbag! Thea shifted her aim from his eyes to his mouth. In a moment, I'll teach him how to speak properly with this fork.
Laurel wasn't the future Black Canary yet. At this point, having just graduated from college and started working, she was still very green. Facing armed thugs, her legs trembled slightly despite herself. But she forced herself to stand firm, meeting the bearded man's gaze defiantly.
The lack of the panicked reaction he expected annoyed the bearded man. He growled in frustration and prepared to fire at Laurel.
Now! Thea was about to act, but just as the fork was about to leave her hand, her heightened perception detected something unusual, and she instinctively pulled back.
Just then, a deep black fletched arrow whizzed through the air and struck the bearded man's shoulder. The shot aimed at Laurel went wide, as expected.
Who was that? Besides me, who still uses a bow and arrow these days? Thea quickly focused her gaze in the direction the arrow came from, and what she saw almost made her bite her tongue.
The newcomer was of medium height, dressed in black clothes and a hood that obscured most of his face, perched on a wall like some secluded master. He held a black recurve bow that looked incredibly familiar to Thea. Malcolm? Why would he come to save Laurel?
But looking closely, she noticed slight differences in his attire compared to Malcolm's. It wasn't the traditional black combat suit of the League of Assassins, but rather seemed like a deliberately crafted black leather outfit.
The black clad figure seemed nervous. After briefly meeting Thea's eyes, he quickly looked away and shouted to the two women, "Run!"
The bearded man, hit by an arrow, panicked and ordered his men to fire. His subordinates now saw the figure in the black hood and unleashed a hail of bullets from their automatic rifles towards him.
Then, to Thea's horror, the supposedly graceful figure was hit by a stray bullet and tumbled headfirst off the wall. Ouch. This guy is definitely not Malcolm. The distance was nearly a hundred meters; anyone with even a little evasion experience wouldn't have been hit.
But regardless of who he was, Thea couldn't just watch him get killed.
She threw the fork, hitting the bar's main light. Using a gun would be too revealing, with ballistics, residue, and trajectory potentially leading back to her. A fork was safer; even if fingerprints were left, it wouldn't matter. Amidst the ensuing chaos, she grabbed the slightly slow-to-react Laurel and ran outside.
Passing a corner, she quickly scanned for surveillance cameras. Seeing none, under the cover of night, she sent out a duplicate to rescue the shot archer.
The duplicate possessed all her skills. Shrouding its face in shadow, it moved through the scattered onlookers and grabbed the black clad man, running off to the side.
Reaching a deserted spot, the duplicate first pulled back the archer's hood. Despite having braced herself, Thea's duplicate still chuckled when she saw his face. Wasn't this her own brother, Tommy? It looked like his training with Malcolm was showing some results. Judging by his outfit, was he aiming to be Black Archer the Second?
Her eyes darted around as she pieced things together. He was most likely secretly protecting Laurel every day. He probably hadn't intended to reveal himself, only doing so because Laurel was in immediate danger. What a lovestruck fool...
Checking his injury, the bullet wound was in his lower abdomen. There were no facilities for surgery nearby. Thea had no choice but to take him back to her secret base. Luckily, Felicity wasn't around, which would save a lot of explanations.
What followed was a familiar routine: disinfect, anesthetize, remove the bullet, suture. All in one go.
Looking at her brother, this rookie hero whose fighting skills were still mediocre, jumping out to save the damsel in distress, Thea didn't know what to say. If she hadn't been there tonight, this total newbie could have been killed by a few thugs. Wouldn't Malcolm go crazy if he knew the truth?
Sighing, she put his jacket back on him. He'd lost a lot of his baby fat after a few months of training, gaining a bit more of a rugged look. Though still far from Oliver's level of making salmon ladders a daily routine, he had gained some presence.
"Who are you?" Tommy, weak from blood loss and his consciousness fading, still had enough alertness to try and grab the duplicate's arm.
Thea was practically one of the world's top martial artists; she could have easily avoided him. But afraid of aggravating his wound, she didn't resist.
Regarding his question, she hesitated. It was probably best to keep her identity hidden. Worried he'd ask too much, she mumbled something unintelligible in a disguised voice.
To Tommy, it sounded like garbled nonsense. What the hell? Undeterred, he tried to probe further, asking more questions. The "conversation," a confusing exchange of nonsense, finally ended when Tommy lost consciousness completely.
Thea's duplicate wiped imaginary sweat from her brow. Tricking people isn't easy.
She picked up Tommy's bow and examined it. Same model as Malcolm's, but with a lower draw weight. Malcolm really favors his son. My own 'graduation' didn't come with such nice gifts. She conveniently ignored the fact that she'd stabbed her father in the side back then, and conveniently forgot about the necklace and other things.
While Tommy was unconscious, she carefully sensed his bloodline. Apart from confirming their familial connection, she felt nothing else – none of the potent surge, the feeling of boiling blood, she had experienced herself.
It seems not everyone can awaken the bloodline's potential. Thea wasn't sure if she felt relieved or sad about that.
Since the Merlyn bloodline has given me a place in the changes to come, she thought, I have a duty to protect this father and son.