Issue 1: "From All Sides"

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[Admin]

Green Arrow
Issue #1: “From All Sides”
Written by Brian Burchette
Cover by Ramon Villalobos
Edited by Mark Bowers

[Admin]

They sat in the small kitchenette of Ollie’s efficiency apartment. Eddie Fyers was drinking a beer, Ollie was drinking coffee.

“What the hell is this place, anyway?” Eddie asked, looking around in disgust at the rundown living conditions. “What happened to your deluxe apartment in the sky?”

Ollie sipped his coffee. “I traded it for some good times. Let’s get back on subject here, okay?”

“Yeah, okay, but man, you’ve either really let yourself go, or you’ve taken this Robin Hood thing to a whole new level.”

“Focus, pal; you’ve got a daughter?”

Eddie sat the empty beer bottle down and helped himself to another one, leaning against the sink. “Hard to believe, ain’t it? I honestly didn’t know myself until a few months ago. Got a letter from her mother, a letter she had sent me over a year ago. She filled me in on the whole thing. Seems she really didn’t want me to know, but after Mia went missing and the police couldn’t find her, she turned to me. Took her a while too; I’m not the most stationary guy.”

“How old?”

“Fifteen,” Eddie said. “There’s more, too. She’s been on the street for at least the last seven months. That’s how long it took the letter to get to me. She was living in Opal City, with her mother, but I guess they had a huge fight and she just up and left. I’ve been tracking her, and finally got some kids to open up. She headed west, Coast City, first, and now here in Star.”

“Any idea where, in the city, she might be?”

“One of the kids that I talked to in Coast City said that she hooked up with some other loners, three other young girls who were heading here because they had heard of an organization that helped young women on their own. He said it was called The Sanctuary for the Young.”

“Fair enough. Well, there are a few places we can start looking. A couple of years ago, Roy asked for my help searching for a lost girl; some of the kids in Vegas told us the areas that these kids hang out in, here in Star City. We can start there, but I have to warn you, it’s not for the squeamish.”

“When have I ever been squeamish about anything,” Eddie snorted as he downed his second beer.

“So now you want to tell me why an international terrorist organization is after you?”

“You mean Kobra? No idea. They started chasing me in Coast City as well. I had a run in with them several years ago, in Madrid, but that was ancient history.”

“Alright, and the CIA, you want to tell me why they want you?”

“Nope.”

“Dammit Eddie, you know I’ll help you, but you gotta let me in, tell me what’s going on. We’re talking about the CIA!”

“I can’t, Ollie… I just can’t. You’re gonna have to trust me on this one.”

“Like you told me to trust you with those two call girls in Tijuana?”

“Hey, we had a great time!” Eddie said in his own defense.

“Yeah, and then I spent the next six weeks getting shots and scratching places I didn’t want to be scratching.”

“So is this palace of yours a one bedroom or a two bedroom?”

Ollie rolled his eyes, used to Eddie’s sudden changes of direction in conversation. “One bedroom… mine. You can have the guest couch. Might as well get a little shut eye, it’ll be dark in a few hours, and then we can head out; try and find this place of yours.

Twenty minutes later, Ollie lay in his bed, listening to his old friend already snoring. Eddie Fyers had a kid! A fifteen year old kid! Just the idea of that made him shudder. He fell asleep with that thought on his mind.

[Admin]

High up in the mountains of Tibet, one of the oldest and most renowned monasteries stood, as it had for nearly a thousand years. A young man, his slightly light brown skin gleaming in the early morning sun, stood ready in his brown outfit.

An older man of Asian decent walked up to him, no words spoken, but they bowed to each other with respect, and then took their defensive positions. The air was cool and crisp, their breaths visible in the chilly morning air.

The older man struck out first, a quick blow towards the young man’s head. The other blocked it easily enough and came back with his own lightning quick strike. The Asian man’s moves were fluid as he blocked the punch, swinging his body around in a circle and lifting his entire body into the air as both legs swung around, both striking the young man squarely in the chest and head. The young man fell back with a grunt, but never fell; instead, balancing himself quickly and leaping forward, his own legs coming out in front of him with three quick kicks. All of them were blocked by the elder.

The younger one came down quietly on the balls of his feet, ducking as his opponent fired three rapid punches towards his head. The young man, still crouched down, struck out with his right leg and was able to lock it behind the older man’s left leg. He pulled hard and the elder fell to the ground with a small gasp. The young man took the opportunity to jump up and grab the other man’s left leg, pulling it up hard as his own foot came down to rest on the back of the older man’s neck.

“Very good, Brother Hawke,” the older man said after a second of silence. “This day you have finally done what you have desired… to best your master.”

Brother Hawke released his mentor and brought out his arm, which the older gentleman clasped and allowed himself to be pulled up by.

“It is an accomplishment, nothing more, Master Jansen,” the young man replied, bowing again; this time out of reverence.

“It is no small feat, what you did. It is an even greater victory since your mind and your body was not as one.”

“It is that obvious?” Brother Hawke asked, ashamed.

“It has been quite obvious for some time now,” Master Jansen replied as he began to walk back towards the sanctuary of the monastery. “You are the best I have ever trained, and your numerous years here have been a blessing for both yourself and for all us, I believe; however, I am sensing in you restlessness.”

The young man known as Connor Hawke said nothing, afraid to speak. It was not unusual for his Master to be so accurate with his perceptions, but this time it was a bit more awkward. This was a conversation that he had been dreading, but knew was fast approaching.

“Your silence is your admission,” Master Jansen stated.

“Yes,” Brother Hawke replied quietly. He now wished he was somewhere else, anywhere else, but preferably high in the hills with his bow. It was where he found that he was always at his most peaceful.

“Would you like to share with me the why?”

“I am unsure, Master.” This was not a lie. He didn’t know the reason for his uneasiness, but it was true that he had been feeling it for quite some time now.

Master Jansen nodded in understanding, “Then you should meditate on this. Search your innermost feelings. The reasons are there, you are just not in tune with them, as of yet.”

As they entered the monastery, Brother Hawke bowed a last time, “I shall, Master. I thank you for guidance.”

“Connor,” the older man said with a slight smile on his face. “You came to us when you were still quite young. Your mother’s passing put you in a very lost place, but you have come far since that day. It may be that your life’s journey is ready to proceed on a new road. If you find this to be true, do not fear it, embrace it.”

“That seems easier to say than to do,” Brother Hawke mused.

“The roads not yet traveled are always tenuous at first, but if you have learned nothing else with us, surely you know that every choice, every decision, that comes from being truthful to yourself, is the path that must be taken.”

Brother Hawke nodded somberly. “It is a truism that I have learned, and always keep at the forefront of my mind.”

Master Jansen said nothing else, but nodded, and uncharacteristically patted him on the arm before turning down a small brick corridor.

Connor Hawke walked slowly and quietly back to his room. After he had shut the door, he sat on the floor with his legs crossed underneath him and closed his eyes, letting the sounds of the birds outside drift away. After more than an hour of meditation, he opened his eyes and the first thing he saw were the newspaper clippings that he had placed on the wall of his room. They were pictures of the American hero who called himself Green Arrow. In his mind, he let out a heavy sigh. He knew which road he was meant to take.

[Admin]

“You going to sleep all night, too,” Eddie Fyers asked as he kicked the side of the bed. “Sun’s down. Time for us to go to work, if you think you can swing it.”

Ollie had jumped up startled at the sudden voice in his room, but then collapsed down on the bed again when he remembered his house guest.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming. Just give me a second to get changed.”

Fifteen minutes later, Ollie was ready to go and walked out of the bedroom, bow slung over his shoulder, arrows in his quiver, and into the kitchen just in time to see Eddie loading a new clip into his automatic.

“You know my rule, no guns!” Ollie barked, his anger rising quickly.

Eddie glared at him, “Fine, got a rule of my own, no arrows.”

“Arrows don’t necessarily kill,” Ollie snapped back.

“Neither do guns,” Eddie replied quickly.

They stood there staring at each other. Finally, Ollie broke the stare down. “Fine, but no killing.”

“Can’t promise you that a hundred percent, pal, but I’ll see what I can do,” Eddie said as he walked out onto the fire escape.

“Same old Eddie, still pissing me off,” Ollie mumbled as he followed out the window.

[Admin]

The three Kobra agents walked into the dimly lit room; the girl they had just claimed was unconscious but alive. They approached a high back chair with the shadowed form of a man sitting on it. His hood was drawn up around his face.

One of the agents spoke as they all knelt before the makeshift throne. “Your Majesty, we have brought you tonight’s sacrifice.”

The leader of Kobra, the self proclaimed King Kobra, stood up from his chair, walked down the three steps to the main floor, and pushed his cloak back. He walked with a golden cane that had a boa constrictor’s head on top of it.

“She will do well. You have done well, my Lanceheads. Take her to the altar and prepare her for this evening’s ceremony.”

They nodded and dragged her back out. King Kobra turned, went back to his throne, and raised his staff, banging it down on the marble floor three times. It echoed in the great chamber and then from beside him, he heard the whisper of his First Naga.

“Yes, my Lord,” the cloaked servant said in a low whisper.

“Have they found the one called Eddie Fyers, yet?”

“No, your Majesty. We have every available Lancehead out looking for him, but we must be careful, Sir. The city is now crawling with CIA agents, all looking for him as well. We have also learned that he has aligned himself with the hero known as Green Arrow.”

“Green Arrow? The bowman? He is of no concern to us. We must capture Fyers soon. He has the knowledge that we need to find the staff of Shesha. Only then can Kobra truly begin the age of the Kali Yuga.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Send several of the Lanceheads to St. Augustine Hospital in the West End. Tell them to set off several bombs in the lower lobby. This should draw the attention of both the local authorities as well as any CIA agents that are in the city. It may well bring out Green Arrow and Fyers, himself. In fact,” King Kobra said, his mind racing, “take a dozen or so of my Black Adders with you. Set them up around the blocks, just in case.”

“Me, your Majesty?”

“Yes, I want you in charge of this operation. You are my number one, and it’s time to show me that I was not wrong in my choice… Don’t prove me wrong. Are we understood?”

“Y…yes… my Lord,” he replied, bowing low as he seemed to slide out of the room.

The leader of Kobra smiled to himself. It would soon be the dawning of a brand new day.

[Admin]

Green Arrow and Eddie walked the streets that Ollie hadn’t seen in nearly two years. The memory of that case came flooding back into his mind, and his stomach rolled as he thought of the outcome of it. Kids were being taken off the streets of cities like Vegas, Gotham, and his city, for child pornography. They had found the culprit, a very wealthy man, but before they could bring him in, he had been killed by his own personal bodyguard, a villain known as Skorpio.

They began to question some of the kids, the ones who were willing to talk, but the description and picture that they had shown of Mia was getting them nowhere; that was, until they heard a shout from behind them.

“Green Arrow! Hey, Green Arrow, is that you?”

They both turned to see a young man of about eighteen running towards them. As he drew closer, Ollie couldn’t help but think that he had seen this kid somewhere before.

“I thought that was you. You don’t recognize me, do you,” the kid said with a grin.

“Kind of. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, in Vegas. I was living on the streets and you and your friends were searching for that girl. I was being forced into a car and you stopped the guys, saved my life. I asked you for money in return for information on the girl.”

Ollie snapped his fingers. “Yeah, I remember you now! What are you doing here in Star City?”

The young man smiled. “Working, actually. Helping kids like me to try and get off the streets. I took the card you gave me and went to the address. They were really helpful there; it turned my life around. I even finished high school and I’ve started college here in town while working for Queen Enterprises. Well, it used to be Queen Enterprises, before LexCorp bought them out. I never thought I’d ever see you again, but I’m glad I did. I’ve always wanted to thank you… for saving my life.”

Green Arrow couldn’t help but beam. These were moments that were very rare and way too far between the tragedies and the losses. He nodded to the young man, afraid to speak at the moment. They had lost the girl they had been looking for on that case; they had found her dead of a drug overdose. Now, though, knowing that the dirty teenage kid with the torn jeans and filthy t-shirt, was now standing before him in a dress down shirt and khaki pants, it seemed to make the loss of that case just a little easier to handle. Ollie made a mental note to make sure he told Roy this story.

“Well,” the young man said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “that’s all I really wanted to say. I’ll never forget what you did for me… thanks.”

He turned to walk away, but Eddie called him back. He handed the young man a picture of his daughter. “You seen her around here, by any chance?”

He examined the picture for a minute and then shook his head. “Sorry, she’s not one of my kids, and I haven’t seen her on the streets, but I’ll be happy to keep a look out for her.”

“What about a place called ‘The Sanctuary of the Young’?” Green Arrow asked, finally able to speak again.

The young man turned up his nose. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that place. If she’s there, she’s not in a good place at all.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie asked impatiently.

“Well, nothing has ever been proven, but I’ve heard that the place is a front. It’s a scam to lure young kids in so they can use them for child labor, child porn, or selling on the black market. The Feds have raided the place several times on anonymous tips, but they haven’t been able to find any proof. The guy who runs it now is a pretty shifty character, but then again, so was his brother, the one who started it.”

“You know his name?” Arrow asked.

“Yeah, everybody knows his name around here: Tai Lee.”

Green Arrow’s face turned red and his eyes blazed. “His brother was Jong Lee?”

The young man nodded. “Yep, the guy you and your friends busted. He inherited all of his brother’s legal businesses and probably the illegal ones as well.”

“Thanks,” Ollie said, extending his hand.

The guy grabbed it and squeezed it as he shook it vigorously, “No, thank you, sir! I will always be in your debt. I hope you find this girl, and that she’s alright,” he said soberly and then turned and headed back down the street.

“You want to fill me in?” Eddie asked, or demanded by the tone of his voice.

“Yeah, but you’re not going to like it,” Ollie sighed and told his friend the entire story that led up to the death of the girl that Jong Lee had first gotten addicted to drugs, and then forced to make porn movies.

“So his brother has picked up where he left off,” Eddie growled as he began to pace. “Damn!”

“Calm down, Eddie, we don’t know anything, yet. First thing we need to do is go check this place…”

Before he had time to finish the sentence, they both heard the explosion. It had come from several blocks to the east of them.

“What the hell was that?” Eddie said, drawing his gun, instinctively.

Green Arrow grabbed a shaft and nocked it against his bow, firing up and over the side of the building, watching the rope follow along its path. A grapple hook came out as it went over the edge and secured itself into the brick. Green Arrow tugged on it a couple of times.

“Let’s find out,” he said as he began to climb quickly up the side of the building.

Eddie followed close behind, and soon they were on the roof. They ran to the other side to see black smoke billowing from several blocks away.

“What’s over there that’s important?”

Ollie thought about it for a moment and then his eyes widened. “The hospital, come on!” he shouted as he leapt on to the next rooftop, Eddie leaping right after him.

[Admin]

A few minutes earlier, two men in dark suits and a dark car were driving around the city. Each held a cup of coffee in their hands, each was perfectly quiet.

The passenger’s cell phone rang and he flipped it open, “Agent Turner.” He listened for a moment and replied, “No, sir, we haven’t seen Fyers since the accident yesterday. I’ve got several of my best men checking all the hotels and motels in the city.” Another pause. “Yes, sir, we’re also checking that as well. If he does have any friends in this city, we’ll be investigating those leads as well. Understood.” He turned off the phone.

The one called Turner took a sip of his coffee. “If we don’t find this guy soon, we can kiss our careers goodbye.”

The driver said nothing, but stopped the car suddenly as the sight from his rear-view mirror showed the explosion in the hospital they had just passed.

Agent Turner looked behind him. “Holy $#%@! I’m getting on the horn to call this in. Turn around; they’re going to need our help. We’re going to bring every available agent in on this.”

[Admin]

Green Arrow considered himself and Eddie lucky that they were in the part of town where all the buildings seemed to run together. It made getting to the hospital much quicker. The last building he had to jump was the longest stretch, and the drop was seven stories. He did it without even thinking, flying through the air and landing on his feet. He turned to look and watched as his buddy did the same thing, but came up a tad short.

Eddie grabbed the side of the last building with the tips of his fingers. “Son of a bitch! A little help here!”

Ollie ran up to him and pulled him up and over. They both sat there panting for a second.

“You’re getting old,” Ollie finally said when he caught his breath.

“Hello, pot, my name is kettle,” Eddie said.

“Yeah, but hanging around with you always makes me feel younger.”

“Up yours,” Eddie shot back and stood up. “Now what the hell is going on?”

They ran to the other side of the building and looked down to see that the bottom three floors of the hospital were on fire, the windows had all been shattered, and bodies were already strewn through the street. They could hear sirens in the distance.

“You stay here,” Ollie said. “You’re wanted, and this would not be a good time for you to play hero.”

“The hell with that,” Eddie scoffed. “Wanted or not, those people need my help.”

“Neither one of you are going anywhere,” a voice from behind them said.
They both whirled around, Eddie drawing his gun and Green Arrow his bow and arrow. They found themselves facing over a dozen Kobra agents.

“Holy crap! You did this, didn’t you?” Ollie said, the anger rising up in him. “You set those bombs in hope that it would draw us out.”

“Not you so much as Mr. Fyers here,” the Naga in charge said. “Now lower your weapon, we don’t want you hurt.”

“I ain’t lowering nothing,” Arrow snapped. “Guess you’re going to have to try and hurt me.”

“I wasn’t talking to you; I was talking to Mr. Fyers. We need him alive, you see. You, on the other hand, we plan on killing.”

Green Arrow smirked. “Hate to break this to you, but the odds are still in our favor from where I’m standing.”

The Naga snapped his fingers and suddenly another dozen men seemed to appear from nowhere. They were all dressed in black, a small symbol of a black adder on each of their skintight costumes. Many of them were carrying nunchucks and throwing stars. They stood poised.

“I don’t think we’re standing in the same spot anymore,” Eddie mumbled.

[Admin]

To Be Continued!

[mockingbird]

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