The Arrow & The Huntsman [The 1st Installment of DC HEROES: CHAMPIONS OF EARTH]

[83] Confrontation

The autumn air was brisk and biting as it blew through the trees later that night at the cemetery. Helena sniffed softly and wiped away the tears forming in her eyes, as she knelt in front of her fiance's grave.

"Helena," Oliver's voice said from behind her.

Helena jumped slightly despite not turning around. "How did you find me here?" "I followed you from your house," Oliver answered simply. "Is that your fiance?"

"Yeah," she nodded. Then she placed a red rose on the headstone and stood up to her full height.

"You said that you went through your own crucible. That it changed you," Oliver remembered. "But you didn't say how."

"When you love someone as much as I loved him with all of your heart and you... you can't just... turn that emotion off when they're taken from you," she admitted. "You still feel things as deeply. And if it– if it can't be love that you feel, then... then it becomes hate."

Oliver took a step toward her. "Hate for who?"

"Oliver," she sighed despondently. "You should stay away from me." Then she brushed past him and walked back towards the entrance of the cemetery.

But Oliver wasn't done yet.

He quickly chased after her, hoping to try and get a better understanding of why she was doing this. He wanted to understand, he just needed her to let him in.

However, right as he caught up to her, a big black van pulled up right in front of them, and five guys dressed in suits, including Nick Salvati, came out with their guns pointed at the two of them. "Get in," Salvati growled.

* * *

Helena and Oliver were sitting in chairs with their hands tied behind their backs in an abandoned warehouse watching as Nick Salvati paced back and forth with an ugly snarl etched into his features.

"My father is going to kill you for this," Helena scoffed.

Salvation stopped pacing right in front of her chair and glared down at her before back banding her across the face. Unable to steady herself because of how she was bound, Helena tipped over in her chair and fell to the ground. "I've been waiting to do that for years. Spoiled bitch," he sneered.

Oliver grunted and balled up his fists, then he quickly began to dislocate his thumb so that he could slip out of the cuffs.

"I knew it was someone from the inside waging war against your father and me," Salvati stated. "I just never thought it would be this inside." Then he pulled out the cross necklace that she had been wearing the previous night and dangled it in front of her. "You dropped this at Russo's."

"You're smarter than I gave you credit for, Nicky," she smirked.

"You're not," he snarled. Just as he reached back to hit her again, Oliver yelled at him to get his attention. "You're a businessman, right? So let's talk business," Oliver said. "I can offer you a lot of money if you let us go."

"This isn't about money, Richie Rich," Salvati seethed. "This is about loyalty."

"Leave him alone. He's got nothing to do with this," Helena shouted.

"Then, tell me, what the hell is it about?" Salvati hissed.

"My father had Michael murdered!" Helena screamed. Nick Salvati guffawed arrogantly. "Of course he did. He didn't want you to know the truth. Your rat of a fiance was gathering evidence; he was talking to the fucking FBI!" Salvati informed. "The love of your life was going to destroy your father."

"You're wrong," Helena rebuked. "I found a laptop in Michael's bag, Helena. Everything that could send your father and me to prison for the rest of our lives was on it," Salvati disclosed. "That computer—"

"WAS MINE!" Helena confessed, taking everyone by surprise. "Michael wasn't the one talking to the FBI. I was."

"You?" Salvati squawked.

"My father is a monster. He doesn't care who he hurts to keep his money and power and I wanted it to stop," Helena declared. "Well, then, it's your fault that Michael's dead," Salvati retorted. "Not your father for ordering the hit... or me for carrying it out. Yours."

"You... you shot Michael?" she croaked.

"In the chest so that he knew it was me," he taunted, pulling out his gun. "Just... like... this."

He never got to fire off a single shot when he was suddenly knocked to the ground by Oliver.

The fight broke out almost immediately with two guys coming to attack Oliver and Helena quickly broke out of her zipcuffs and joined the fray. A gun went off firing bullets in Oliver's direction and he used one of the henchmen as a human shield.

Just then, the glass from the ceiling shattered, as the Noir Assassin fell through the roof and did a tumble roll on top of a stack of crates, and fired off two arrows at the bodyguards coming up behind Oliver. Then he jumped down to the ground, slinging his bow over his shoulder, unsheathed his black katana, and got to work slicing and dicing Salvati's goons.

Oliver was still battling against two of Salvati's men and had just broken one of their necks when he witnessed his brother decapitate the other man, causing blood to gush out of the gangster's neck like a geyser as he collapsed to the ground.

"You okay?" the vigilante asked.

Oliver nodded in response. "How did you find me?"

"I put a tracker in your phone months ago," the assassin replied.

Before Oliver could reply, they were interrupted by the sound of Salvati screaming, as he tried to crawl away from Helena. The Noir Assassin narrowed his green eyes dangerously and started walking towards them, but was stopped by Oliver.

"You're gonna burn in hell for what you've done," Salvati rasped, as she choked the life out of him.

"It'll be worth it," she spat. Then she slammed his head hard against a rusted machine rod and snapped his neck, as Oliver and the vigilante looked on in disbelief.

"Helena?" Oliver gawked.

"I didn't have a choice, Oliver," she said. "No one can know my secret."

"You know what? I take it back. I like her," the archer mused.