Chapter 5

The Island

He stood there, watching as his plane flew over the island of Lian Yu. He was dropping in with a team of four, all spec-ops soldiers, long-time, career military, vets. They had been with A.S.I.S. for years, veterans of hundreds of ops. They were being sent in to reinforce two of their own, who'd gone dark weeks ago and not reestablished contact at the desired time.

Looking down, he and his team spotted a small camp in the clearing, where Fyers was suspected to be. The hanger door was down, and his second-in-command stood next to him. The other two were suiting up, preparing for their drop. As he watched, he saw the camp light up in the dark as a flash of light went off.

Much too late, he spotted the rocket streaking towards him. As he turned back to warn his men, the rocket collided with the front of the plane. In the massive blast of light and heat, he and the man next to him were thrown completely out of the slow-flying plane. As he flew over backwards, he flipped head over feet back and forth until he managed to level out. His second had been heading in, to check on the other two. Despite them all being seasoned veterans, this had been those two's first jump. They were dead now, killed in a flash of light, there one instant and gone the next. He looked around wildly, before locking eyes with the man flying down across from him. They took each other's hands, locking together as they tried to steady their descent. Their plan was falling down around them, flaming pieces falling to the ground. The old propeller-powered plane was broken into three large pieces, with dozens of smaller pieces falling around them. Counting down on his fingers, he signaled his second for the drop. Once he had closed all his fingers into a fist, he let go before angling himself straight downwards. As he got closer to the ground, he quickly spread his arms and glided on the wind, much like some weird, giant squirrel. They were experimental suits, developed for covert stealth operations. He looked back, just in time to see his second glide in next to him. They smiled at each other, before turning and gliding towards the ground. Just as they were getting too close to the ground, he pulled his chute, the black fabric swirling out on silky cords. He pulled to a halts, gently falling to the ground. His second came in next to him, landing safely on the ground. As they landed, they spotted a small life raft. Detaching the chute, he let it fall to the ground and swung around his jet-black MP5. His partner did the same, and the two of them crept up on the raft. He lunged up suddenly, quickly sweeping the weapon across the raft. He spotted nothing, except for a bloodstain. Behind him, he heard the click of pistol hammer being drawn back. He cocked his head to the side, spotting a young boy with a girl by his side. Suddenly, he flipped around and kicked the pistol out of his hand, turning and leaning his weapon up with the boy's head.

"Oliver Queen?" He said, quick and decisive. When the boy nodded shakily, he lowered his gun and signaled for his second. "A.S.I.S. Agent 3-01, at your service, sir. 3-02 is over there." The man emerged from the bushes, dropping his modified L86A1 to his side. It was an older gun, over two decades, but 3-02 had always liked the L8 series guns, more than most, even if they were British from across the world. "We were sent to retrieve you and Mr. Fei. Any idea on his location?"

"Um . . . at our camp, up in the woods." Oliver said, surprised. He had no clue that someone knew he had gone down, nevermind arrived here, on the island. "If you are A.S.I.S. like Slade and Wintergreen, then . . ."

"Take me to your leader." 3-01 said, grinning to himself. He had always wanted to say that line.

The irregular group made their way through the woods, 3-02 taking point as 01 walked in the back. The walk was boring, and little happened other than the occasional bird or animal going by, watching them. As the reached the camp, which they discovered to be a downed plane, they heard the sounds of a fight. Pushing Oliver and the girl with him to the ground, 3-01 lead they way into the plane. Inside, Slade stood there, blades in hand, fighting off two enemies. Billy was behind him, throwing, and taking, punches. Leveling off his weapon, 3-01 gently squeezed the trigger, dropping both of Slade's foes to the ground with the quiet sound of several, rapid-fire silenced gunshots. They slammed into each foe's head, three rounds to each of them. As they fell to the ground, Slade turned to face 3-01 and threw his sword, sailing it over his shoulder and into the chest of the man running into the plane behind 3-01. 3-02 came in from the other side, taking down Billy's enemies with clean, silenced shots.

"Slade," 3-01 said, nodding at him. "Any location on the primary target?"

"No," Slade said, walking over and pulling the sword from his dead foe's corpse, using his foot to stabilize himself. Wiping the blood off of the sword on his chest, he looked up at 3-01 and smiled, chuckling to himself. "It's good to see ya', mate. Where's the rest of your backup? We heard 3 had four members, not two."

"They're dead, taken out by a surface-to-air. 02 and I were the only two that survived." He looked around, checking out the area. He made note of the many holes in the side, where someone could make their way through the side. It wasn't the most defendable position, yet it was camouflaged. There were vines and bushes covering the sides, hiding it from prying eyes. "We have the signal flares, but no way to know if anyone is watching. Queen is here, but who is the girl?"

"Sara Lance, his girlfriend," The girl said, stepping forward and crossing her arms. She stared him down, and 03 made note of the 9mm on hip. "What are these signal flares you talk of?"

"Flares, to signal for evac. But with the plane shot down, there's no way to know if anyone is up there watching for them. Any idea of where T1 is?"

"They have a small camp, so we think that they are there. But there's a small complication. Fei's daughter is here."

"Not too much. Plan is still the same. Get the targets, get to a clearing, signal for evac. Where is this camp of theirs?"

Oliver watched as the man, whose face was covered by a black scarf over the lower half of his face. He could only see the man's eyes, which were a sea-green type color, and his hair, which was dark brown. He looked at Sara who was a step in front of him. She turned her head to look at him, smiling and resting her head cutely on her shoulder. She took a step back, leaning against him and resting her head against his shoulder. He reached down, intertwining his fingers with hers. They stood there, watching the four men. They were all battle-hardened vets, who could kill a hundred men and not break a sweat. Oliver and Sara, this was not their element. His was the clubs, drinking and hooking up with the closest, hottest, girl. Yet that had changed for a while, and he fooled himself into thinking he had changed. But the girl at his side was evidence that he had not changed, that he was the same person he was a year ago.

An hour had passed, and the four warriors had finished with their battle plans. Three would move in from the front, while the fourth would make his way from the south, opposite the others. Slade would sneak in, freeing Fei and Shado, and preferably killing Fyers.

Reaching their position, 02 looked down his scope, picking a target. With a small, rapid-fire burst, he put two bullets in the head of first one, then two, then three. As they fell to the ground, 01 watched as the few enemies close to the dead ran towards the bodies, looking around panickley. He aimed at them, gentle squeezing a few rounds off at each. He dropped the first three, but missed two of his shots on the fourth. Instead, he took out the man's knee, sending him to the ground. The man dragged himself to cover before calling out the new threats.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Oliver said, crouched low behind the large downed tree 01 was using as cover. Sara was next to him, pistol in hand. "You had the shot!"

"We're the distraction, not the assassins. We need to let one of them call for reinforcements to properly distract them." Aiming back up, he looked down his scope at the dozens of enemies coming towards them. He locked onto one group, running single-file down a small alleyway through the tent city. Pulling down on the trigger, he unloaded the rest of his clip into them. The first man took seven bullets before falling down, and the rest didn't even know what hit them. They fell, one after another, until all eight of them were dead. He smiled, looking at gun in his hands. The silencer he had had commissioned for this op was perfect eliminating next to all noise from the weapon. Suddenly, heard the loud crack of a rifle as it ran through the valley, and everything went black.