Green Arrow #21: "The Happiest Place on Earth"

[starlord]

Green Arrow
Issue #21: “The Happiest Place on Earth”
Written by: Brian Burchette
Cover by: Steven Howard
Edited by: Don Walsh

What started out as a cross country trip to confront the increasingly shady United States Secretary of Defense, has led Green Arrow to stumble upon the body of a young man whose connection to the ever-growing world of drug trafficking, forcing Ollie to pause and take notice. Now he has taken a detour as he chases down the assassin who killed the boy, but his interference has not gone unnoticed...

*******

He calls himself the Dart and he’s a mercenary; a hired assassin. He can count on one hand how many times he wasn’t able to do his job; the last time having been when he was in Star City.*

*Green Arrow #10

Now he has being asked to take out another of the Star City “Hero Squad”, as he has come to call them. This time, the granddaddy of them all: Green Arrow. His eyes gleamed at the chance to eliminate such a high profile celebrity. This will put him on the map, he thought to himself.

“I’m on the first plane to Star City,” he told him new employer with a wink.

“No, the Arrow is not there. He is following one of my men. They have crossed the border between Mississippi and Florida.”

“Where they headed?”

“My man has a job to do in Orlando.”

“Then Orlando, here I come,” The Dart said with nod before he turned and walked confidently out of the room. He was halfway down the hall of the apartment when he realized his job would be much easier with a picture of this guy Green Arrow was following..

As he returned to the room, his ears picked up on a conversation. The older Mexican fellow who had just hired him was on the phone. He hesitated, then leaned back. It couldn’t hurt to hear what the conversation was all about – the more he knew the better his odds.

“Do not worry, Mr. Secretary, I have hired one of the best; he comes highly recommended. Shall I phone you when the job is finished? Will you be in Washington? Graçias, I shall phone you immediately.”

“What’d he say?” asked one of his captains.

“Phone him when the job is finished. He is worried about this Green Arrow. He says this is the second time he’s interfered with his work to better America.”

The Dart slipped quietly back down the hall. Perhaps he did not need the picture after all. An idea began to form in his mind. The job to eliminate Green Arrow may put him on the map, but he could become richer than Steve Dayton with what this new information could be worth.

He whistled as he strolled across the yard to his 1969 Ford Mustang. Things were looking up for him – way up.

********

Detective LaBeau’s corpse seemed to be waiting for Ollie about every thirty miles or so. He’d see him standing at the edge of the road, dried blood covering his white shirt, a look of anguish on his face.

He knew it was only in his mind; some sort of mental manifestation coming from the guilt he was feeling for asking the cop to help him find the killer. But every time he saw the imaginary corpse, he nearly lost control of his bike.

Ollie had been allowed onto the crime scene, thanks to his Justice League credentials, and with the help of both Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson, they had been able to assist the police department in not only finding some valuable clues, but also the DNA evidence it would take to take the killer down. The question was where he had disappeared too. This time it was the help of Roy Harper that had him heading to Orlando, Florida.

It was not the most pleasant of conversations and it took Ollie everything he had not to hang up on his ward when Roy threw it in his face that Ollie had come to him for help. They had been on the outs ever since Roy had joined Checkmate.

“So I’m the bad guy because I’m working for ‘the Man’, but I’m still good enough to call when you need help. Is that it?” he has asked angrily.

“Yeah, 'cause the deeper I get into this the more I’m convinced that our government knows a hell of a lot more about this crap than what they want to admit too,” Ollie retorted.

“Of course, I should have known.”

“So are you going to help me or have you been fully assimilated?” Ollie asked, regretting it as soon as it came spilling out of his mouth.

“Oh yeah, I’m going to help you, Oliver. I’ll get you the information you need, and then I want you to do something for me.”

“What?”

“Don’t ever call me again.”

The line went dead.

He had got the information he needed, but Roy had sent it to Connor to be passed along. First Dinah, now Roy, he was beginning to wonder if maybe it was him after all, and not them. When this whole mess was over, he decided he was going to have a long talk with Roy. The kid had been a part of his life for way too long to have it end like that – especially since he knew it was exactly what the big wigs in Checkmate wanted.

Juan Sanchez was headed to a safe house in Orlando. Word had it that he was to hole up there for two weeks before making his way down to Miami. It was more than enough time to catch up to him and put him away for at least two murders.

Two thoughts kept going through his mind as he traveled down the highway. First, he was becoming side-tracked from his primary agenda, and he wasn’t very happy about it; second, what he had told Roy was the truth. The more he thought about the drug running that he had stumbled upon, the more he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a lot more to it than was apparent. Was he just being his usual paranoid self in thinking that the United States government was well aware what was going on, or were there actually people in Washington that could be part of this?

Either way, he was bound and determined to get the truth out of Sanchez, and then he would head to Washington.

He had just crossed the border into Florida when his phone beeped. When he saw Dinah’s name appear, his stomach instantly knotted up. He tried to answer it as nonchalantly as possible.

“Ollie, I’m... I’m just checking in. Haven’t heard from you in a while.”

There was something in her voice. She sounded out of character, uneasy, and that made him more than curious. Still, her comment grated on him.

“Haven’t heard from me in a while? Maybe that’s because we broke up? I didn’t think calling your ex to chat was something that people did, or is that too old fashioned of a concept?”

“Connor says your on a case. Anything that I can help you with?”

If his comment had stung her, Ollie didn’t hear it in her voice. “Are you kidding me? You dump me and then ask me if I need help? You’ve got a lot of nerve, lady.”

“Ollie, I thought we were still friends?”

Oliver Queen was hot-headed, a person who usually spoke (or reacted) first and regretted later. Still, he was not a stupid man and even he knew when he was reaching a boiling point. Her voice alone was making him see red, her weird behavior was not helping, but what was making him the angriest was the fact that beyond all of that, her voice was making his very soul ache for her.

“We are friends,” he stated shortly. “So be a friend and leave me alone until I’m ready to talk to you.” He cut the connection before she could respond.

There seemed to be a lot of that going around. He took a deep breath and then dialed Connor’s number. There was no answer. Probably out patrolling, he thought to himself.

*******

The car was going at least sixty miles an hour as it careened through midday traffic down the busy streets of Star City. The three men inside were sweating as the two police cars kept on their tail.

At the same time, the young blond man on top of the car, holding on for his life, seemed perfectly calm; his appearance was that of one taking a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive.

Connor Hawk, known at the moment as Golden Arrow, was considering his options as he continued to maintain his balance on the roof of the car. The bank robbers inside seemed unaware that he was above them yet. The street had emptied from the noonday jams, but the sidewalks were busy with crowds of people going from one destination to the other.

Which was the safest way to take down the three men and stop the car without causing any casualties? Or perhaps he should just wait until they lost the police and slowed down; hopefully to get away from the busy downtown and a more secluded area. The decision was ultimately taken out of his hands.

He didn’t see the arrow strike the tire, but he heard it. Less than a second later he heard the tire blow. He felt the car veer to the left, right into on coming traffic. Golden Arrow lost his balance, nearly rolling off the side, but stopped himself before he did.

The driver of the car struggled to steer away from the traffic, but the loss of the tire and the sudden pull on the car was too much and he lost control.

As the car suddenly swung to the right, it also began to flip over. Connor had very little time to react as he propelled himself off the top of the vehicle, landed hard on the cement and rolled with the fall. He watched in horror as the car landed on its roof on the sidewalk. People screamed in horror as they dove out of the way. The car then began to both slide and spin, crashing into a large store front, glass and brick flying everywhere. The car then came to a sudden stop.

One of the men crawled out, his face covered in blood. He staggered to his feet, pulling out his gun as the police cars came barreling towards the scene of the accident. The man looked around for anyone close by. He needed a hostage. Then he saw exactly what he was looking for – an older lady stumbling out of the store, visibly shaken.

As the squad cars came to a screeching halt, he lunged for the old lady, gun in hand, but was tackled before he could reach her. He felt himself get lifted from the ground by a young punk in a green and gold costume.

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” he asked in shock.

“I am Golden Arrow, and you are finished,” Connor said simply as he punched him once in the jaw. The man collapsed on the ground.

“Are you alright, Miss?” he asked the old woman who was now shaking.

“I...I think so. Thank you so much for saving me. My nephew Peter is never going to believe this.”

“Make sure you give the officers a full report,” he said with a solemn face before he took off as the police shouted for him to stop. He ducked into a nearby alley, pulled out an arrow and shot it up towards the roof. The grapple held and soon he found himself on top of the store that had been the scene of the accident.

He was not surprised to see Mia Dearden waiting for him, her own bow in her hands, her face apologetic.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to help. I know you told me not to follow you, but I couldn’t just stay home. I figured you might need some help.”

For a moment, Connor did not speak. In the short amount of time that they had met and become friends, Mia had never seen him angry. He was always in control of his emotions. Now, she realized as she watched the veins in his neck appear, she was about to see what happened when Connor did get angry.

“You could have hurt someone, or worse.” His voice kept its even tone.

“I realized that as soon as I shot the arrow. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.”

“No, you were not thinking,” he stated in agreement, actively keeping his voice calm. “You were reckless. I have not been training you with the bow so that you can join me. I was doing it so that you had a way to protect yourself, if need be.”

“You mean are training me, right?”

Connor shook his head. “No, I said what I meant. If you cannot listen to me, than training you is over. If your father were alive he would not have approved of this at all.”

Mia realized how mad he was, even if he wasn’t raising his voice. To bring up Eddie like that was not in his nature, she knew that. “I said I was sorry, it won’t happen again – I swear!” She pleaded.

He stood there for a moment. “Alright, my master always said that second chances should always be given to those whose hearts are in the right place, and I know that yours is, Mia. But you must give me your word that you will not do anything this foolish again.”

“I swear!” she exclaimed with relief. “I’ll stick to information gathering from here on out.”

“That would be nice, thank you. And speaking of information gathering, have you learned anything about the mob boss named Brickwell?”

“You bet I have. Wait until you hear about this guy. He’s big time, that’s for sure.”

“Let’s head back to the apartment and you can fill me in.” Golden Arrow said as he turned around and headed home with Mia in tow.

*******



The hotel was located in Azalea Park, just east of the Orlando Executive Airport. Green Arrow pulled up next to a rented car that was parked in front of Room 124. It was early afternoon and Ollie hoped that a man in his business would be resting. Most hit men seemed to enjoy the night life more than the sunny days.

He looked around, noting several other cars parked along the row of motel rooms, but there was no movement of people. At least he had that going for him.

Green Arrow brought his bow to bear, nocking an arrow as he made his way to the door. He didn’t even hesitate as he marched up to it, slammed the bottom of his boot into the handle and forced the door to fly inward.

Juan Sanchez leapt up from his sleep. Although he had been startled awake, like many other assassins, he was a light sleeper. He also slept with the one friend he knew he could always trust, his Smith and Wesson.

He came up with the gun in his hand, but his hand was pierced by an arrow before he could get off a shot. He cried out in pain as he rolled out of the bed, away from the sudden intruder.

“Don’t run away buddy, I’ve come a long way to chat with you,” Green Arrow said as he nocked another arrow and pointed it at the man who now lay on the floor between the wall and the bed, his hand bleeding, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” Sanchez begged.

“Wow, is that rich coming from the guy who has no problem blowing teenage boys' heads off, or killing cops for that matter.”

“What do you want? Please, I tell you anything if you let me go,” the killer begged.

“Oh you're going to tell me everything and then your going to prison for the rest of your life. Now get up!” Green Arrow barked.

As Sanchez stood up, still clutching the hand with the arrow through it, he seemed to regain some of his senses. “You do know that you are into something that you cannot possibly fathom. There is no way for you to stop it.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that by your boss already. Sorry I missed you in Mexico.* It would have saved me a lot of time if you’d just stayed still so I could haul your ass back here to the States.”

*Green Arrow #19

“If you do not let me go, I tell you nothing,” Sanchez stated defiantly.

“Who’s your boss got in his back pocket?” Arrow asked, ignoring his statement. “It’s somebody with some pretty major clout, that’s for certain. A Congressman? Or maybe a Senator, perhaps?”

Sanchez laughed, “You are a small-minded man.”

“Okay, let’s say you tell me and I let you go. Do I have your word that you’d leave the country and never return? Keep your filthy work south of the border?”

The man eyed him suspiciously. “You lie.”

Green Arrow shrugged. “You know I’m not going to kill you, but I have no problem messing you up for good. Two arrows and I sever the nerves in your fingers; that would kill any chance of you finding working anywhere again. See, the way I figure it, you're going to get out even if the police haul you in. Like you said yourself, this is much bigger than I realize. So the only option I have is to make sure you never use that trigger finger of yours again.”

Looking at the arrow in the palm of his hand for a second, he nodded. “I have your word that you will let me go?”

“Yep, and I have your word that you’ll keep your killing out of my country?’

“Yes. Very well than, you are correct. There are people in your government who are well aware of my boss’s activities. In fact, they purposely turn a blind eye to it. In exchange they are given all information on high level international terrorist activity that comes through my country.”

“Who? I want a name.”

“Secretary of Defense... Donaldson I believe is his name.”

Green Arrow swore. “That piece of slime. Alright, now you just sit there and wait for the police to show up, and don’t try anything stupid.”

Sanchez turned angry. “You said you would let me go! You gave me your word!”

“I lied. You’re a killer. I don’t really feel bad about breaking my word.”

“You are a dead man.” Sanchez spat.

“So are you once they find out who it was that ratted them out,” Green Arrow replied with a wink.

There was a small shattering of glass from the window to their right. Ollie instinctively ducked. When he looked to his left he saw Sanchez still standing in front of him, but his face was now drained of color. He let out a guttural sound before he collapsed back onto the bed that he had just been sleeping on, peacefully. Sticking out of his temple was a dart.

For the second time in less than five minutes, Green Arrow swore. “I don’t think we’ve met.” He called out, still crouched on the floor, his arrow still nocked. “But I’ve heard about you – the Dart, right?”

Another dart went flying through the window and Ollie was just able to roll out of the way. He heard it hit the carpeted floor next to him.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

The Dart smashed through the rest of the window, his arms crossed out in front of him. He landed on the floor in front of Ollie, coming up and seemingly drawing a dart out of thing air. He flung it at the Outsider, but Ollie was ready, firing his arrow and knocking the dart away.

“You are good,” Dart mused as he leapt toward Green Arrow before he could pull another shaft out of his quiver.

Green Arrow grabbed the villain and used the man’s momentum against him, throwing him over his shoulder and into the wall behind him. “You don’t know the half of it,” He snapped.

The Dart slammed into the wall, but came back with a kick from behind that caught Ollie in the thigh, causing him to stumble backward, though he kept his balance.

That was all the time the Dart needed, though, to reach into the air and pull out another one of his trademark weapons. He threw it at his foe, but Green Arrow was quick enough to knock it aside with his bow.

“Donaldson send you to get rid of me?” Ollie demanded to know as he leapt forward and tackled The Dart.

“Sorry, that’s on a need to know basis, and since you're going to be dead soon, you don’t really need to know,” he replied, grabbing Ollie’s fist with one hand and striking him in the gut with the other.

Arrow doubled over, but came back up quickly, with an upper-cut that sent the assassin flying. “When I die, pal, it ain’t gonna be by some loser like you.”

The Dart crashed into the wall behind him and Green Arrow moved in quickly, with two more fast jabs in the face. The Dart tried to swing a punch, but Ollie blocked it before punching his face again, breaking two teeth in the process.

“You’re not very good at this,” Ollie mocked. He watched Dart waver on his feet. “Say goodnight, Gracie,” Star City's hero said as he drew back with his arm, and then threw a final punch which could be heard in the next room.

The Dart went flying back across the bed and landed in a heap on the floor. Ollie walked over to him and examined his outfit. His costume was lined with darts, yet he hadn’t used any of them. Connor hadn’t been wrong when he said that the way he brought his weapons out was unnatural.

“I guess I hit the bullseye first,” He quipped. “Call me when you get out of prison, I’d love to talk to you about that nifty trick you have.”

After he tied Dart up and called the police, Ollie left the motel room and got back on his bike. It was time to finish it. He had all he needed to know. It was time to bring Secretary of Defense Donaldson down.

“Last stop, Washington D.C,” he said to no one there.

Epilogue

Two hours later, in the sound proof office of The Secretary of Defense, the man with the title slammed down the phone in anger.

“He’s still alive,” he shouted in frustration. “And my men say that he is on his way here.”

“Just as I figured,” a voice with a heavy southern drawl said from the other side of the office.

Donaldson waved his finger at him. “You promised me you could take care of this guy. You said you knew him like the back of your hand. If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me. What I do, I do for my country, but this little enterprise of yours is not going to cost me my reputation and everything I’ve worked for.”

“Ah suppose yer right,” the other man said. “Your reputation shouldn’t be tarnished 'cause of my supportin’ you. Even if I did fund your last few campaigns and helped you get this position, you should go out with the country thinkin’ yer a man of honor.”

Donaldson’s face turned pale. “What do you mean, go out?”

Blaster fire came from the other man and a large hole suddenly appeared in Donaldson’s chest. He fell to the floor, his death instantaneous.

“Out, boy, like it’s time to put out the trash,” Terra Man said. “Yer usefulness was over a long time ago. I got what I wanted, and now I get to finally finish off Green Arrow to boot. Ah’d say this has been a very productive endeavor.”

To Be Concluded!

[mockingbird]

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