A forearm the thickness of a two-liter bottle wrapped around him, applying pressure to his throat in a crush choke. The vertebrae in his neck popped as the thickness of the arm lifted his chin and squeezed. It took only a second to go from a chiropractic maneuver to a homicidal one.
Green Arrow couldn’t breathe.
He flailed, driving his fingers into pressure points on the man’s arms, using his feet to kick. The merc held him tight, squeezing harder.
A voice came from behind them.
“Apologies. Won’t be but a minute.”
Faust.
The wiry maniac circled around them, moving to the launcher. He stood in front of the console and began pushing buttons and turning dials. The launcher groaned to a start and began pivoting slowly. Then it tilted.
Aiming.
Faust picked up a tablet and climbed down the ladder. He looked up at Green Arrow, and raised a finger. “If you have the opportunity, please advise the mayor the next time someone threatens to launch a ballistic missile at his city, he really should pay up.” With that he jabbed down, hitting a button.
The launcher began to vibrate as the ballistic missile inside ignited. Slowly the nose cone slid forward, creeping just an inch.
Then another.
It paused there, smoke leaking out of the tube in which it nestled.
With a loud noise like rolling thunder and a plume of spent rocket fuel it lurched forward. Moments later it tore into the sky in a gently curving trajectory. Even through eyes going greasy from lack of oxygen, Oliver could see it right itself and begin flying toward Star City.
Breathing hard in his ear, the merc applied more pressure. Green Arrow clenched his body, using the power in his chest and shoulders to pull himself forward.
The merc held him tightly.
Snapping his body around, the archer flipped the merc, slamming him to the deck. He felt the snap of his assailant’s nasal bone. The impact vibrated all the way into the man’s teeth as his skull smashed his nose nearly flat. The merc’s arms came loose as he gave a choked, muffled howl.
Green Arrow slipped to the ground, pushed off, and flung his body around in an acrobatic spinning kick that snapped the man’s head back. The mercenary’s body followed in the next second.
Pulling air in, Green Arrow turned to face Faust.
The bomb maker pulled a face.
“Disappointing,” he said.
Green Arrow swooped up his bow, drew and fired. Twin shafts struck Faust in the chest, driving him back, pinning him to the freighter wall.
Faust’s voice was smug, nearly condescending. “That’s an MGM-one-forty AT-ack-MS SSM. It’s fire-and-forget. You can’t stop it. You can’t disarm it.”
“No, but I’ve got a very smart friend who can.”
* * *
Mister Terrific ran, legs churning, breathing deep in rhythm with each footfall. He ran like an Olympian. The tar of the rooftop was solid as concrete under his feet, hardened with the cooler weather. He slid to a stop at the edge, eyes out on the night sky.
There was the oncoming missile, a slowly growing bright spot in the dark, close enough now to see the shape of it. Reaching under his jacket he pulled out a T-Sphere. Taking a deep, centering breath he hurled it into the air.
The T-Sphere arced up, looped, then flew straight at the missile.
The shiny metal sphere crossed the missile’s path and arced hard to the left.
Then the T-Sphere was in front of the projectile, and the effect was immediate. The missile bobbled, then turned, curving back on its trajectory. It began chasing the sphere, identifying it now as the primary target.
Mister Terrific keyed up his comms.
“My T-Sphere’s spoofed the missile’s guidance system,” he said, allowing a hint of triumph into his voice. “I’m drawing it back to the water.”
* * *
The missile came into sight, following a target that was too small to see from so far away. He watched as the projectile curved and fell toward the water. It exploded in a shower of flaming fragments that were thrown into the water.
By the time it reached him, it was simply a mist.
Faust grinned at him. “You look troubled. As if detonations stir unpleasant memories.”
Green Arrow let his words—and the memories they brought—slip over him. Lian Yu was the past. It was water. He was the rock. Turning on his heel, he left Faust to hang until the SCPD could arrive.
It was time to put everything right again.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is written from the inspiration of so many people. I will miss someone and for that I am sorry, my aim is not perfect.
Firstly to Marc Guggenheim, you rocked out a story I could run with, thank you. To Steve Saffel for making all the gears mesh. You kick all the ass. To the Arrow team and all the folks who make so many awesome hours of entertainment with these characters, you have given so much. The writers, the actors, the production team, all of you, thank you for letting me play in your toy box.
Same to the Titan team, including Nick Landau, Vivian Cheung, Laura Price, Cat Camacho, Joanna Harwood, Natasha MacKenzie, Steve Gove, and all the rest. Y’all keep it all happening on the book end and it’s appreciated so much.
Thank you Mort and George for the original character.
Thank you DC Comics and the CW.
Thank you to the Dr. No’s Dinner Crew, y’all keep me in the comic book way.
Thank you to each and every person who loves this stuff as much as me. Fan boys and geek girls and all the ones who just love the capes or masks or powers or metas, you are all heroes.
James R. Tuck
Atlanta, Georgia
November 2017
There are many people to thank. The largest portion of my gratitude goes to James Tuck because without his efforts, this book would literally not exist.
Back when I was in college, I interned for Steve Saffel in Marvel Comics’ promotions department. I learned much from him and am privileged to still be working with him—lo, these many years later—on this project.
My assistant, Liz Kim, Arrow’s Script Coordinator, Jeanne Wong, and Arrow’s Writers’ PA, Becky Rosenberg provided mission critical reads of the manuscript, assuring fidelity to Arrow’s continuity. Carl Ogawa of Berlanti Productions was another key pair of eyes and clearly missed his calling as a book editor.
Speaking of Berlanti Productions, none of the CW superhero shows would be possible without Greg Berlanti.
I don’t know why you’d read these acknowledgments first, but in the unlikely event that you are, skip this paragraph: This novel ends with a recapitulation of the opening of Arrow’s Sixth Season Premiere, which I co-wrote with my fellow showrunner and partner in crime, Wendy Mericle.
Finally, thanks to Arrow’s cast, crew, writers and post-production team. Their tireless efforts are the reason there’s an audience that makes a book like this a viable proposition.
Marc Guggenheim
Encino, California
November 2017
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
James R. Tuck lives and writes in Atlanta. He is the author of the Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter series, and co-author of the Robin Hood: Demon’s Bane trilogy (with Debbie Viguié). James is an accomplished tattoo artist, loves dark fantasy novels, Golden Age comics, and the blues, and used to throw people out of bars for money.
Marc Guggenheim is a recovering attorney who has written for television, film, animation, comics, motion comics, and videogames. He is currently writing X-Men Gold for Marvel Comics and executive producing Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Trollhunters. His first novel, Overwatch, was published in 2014 by Mulholland Books.
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