The Rise of Artemis

Chapter 23

The cure for Mirakuru had been mass produced now and all that was needed was someone to test it on. They would have to wait for the time being to do that. Oliver, Thea and Roy would have a few injection arrows with them while Dig and Laurel would have guns that had some clips that had cure bullets in them. They just had to wait for now.

The team was out on patrol that night and they hadn't come upon much other than a few muggings and small stuff like that. The next thing they knew, Barbara was calling Artemis through the comms.

"Artemis. There is a robbery in your area. It just came over the scanners. From the sound of it, you might get to test the cure tonight." Barbara said.

"Good. The sooner we get it tested the better." Artemis said as she made her way toward the warehouse that was being robbed.

When she arrived she found out that it was the STAR Labs warehouse that was in Starling that was being robbed. They must be looking for something to mass produce the mirakuru Artemis thought to herself. She followed the noise that she could hear in the warehouse and it took no time for her to find the man, who already had the machine that he was looking for. The good thing was, he was using both of his hands so that he wouldn't be able to stop the injection arrow she shot at him.

Artemis shot the arrow and it hit the man in his chest. He put the machine down so that he could get the arrow out of him and he looked at it and the next thing Artemis knew, the man had fallen to the ground and passed out.

"Well, the cure at least makes them pass out. Spartan, bring the van. We need to take this guy back to the bunker so that we can run some tests on him." Artemis said.

"On the way. I will be there in a few minutes." Spartan said.

"Make it fast. We don't need the police to get here before we get this guy out of here." Artemis said.

"Got it. Be there soon." Spartan said while the rest of the team finished up their patrol and headed back to the bunker to wait for the other two.

. . .

When they were all back at the bunker, Oliver and Diggle carried the man inside and locked him up in the cell that they had constructed just for this purpose. They all kept their suits on so that the man would know their identities when he woke up.

A few hours later, the man finally woke up and he saw that he was locked in a cell. "What am I doing here?" the man asked.

"You were infected by a serum known as mirakuru. It gave you superhuman strength and you were stealing a machine from STAR Labs." Green Arrow said.

"I know that. I was doing the will of my master." the man said.

"What did he want with the machine and who is he?" Artemis asked.

"To reproduce the serum on a mass scale and I will never tell you who he is." the man said.

"That's fine. We will find out in the end. So, I guess we can try to get that test done now." Green Arrow said as he shot the guy with a paralytic dart and entered the cell to take some blood from the man.

Green Arrow then made his way to where Barbara and Curtis were waiting for them and gave them the blood. They ran the test on the blood and found out that the cure had worked and the man no longer had any trace of mirakuru in his system.

"Looks like the cure worked. There is no trace of the mirakuru in his blood." Curtis said.

"That's good. Now we know that we will be ready when the time comes to use it. Thank you for your hard work on this Curtis." Artemis said.

"You're Welcome." Curtis said.

"Let's get this guy to the police. I don't think he will cause them much trouble anymore." Green Arrow said as he and Spartan went to get the man and put him back in the van and took him to the nearest police precinct.

. . .

When Oliver and Dig returned, the rest of the team had already changed and were waiting for them to return. They all seemed to be happy that the cure worked and they would be able to take care of Slade and any people he might give the serum to.

"This was a good night guys. In the other timeline Slade and his army destroyed most of the city before you got the cure. We are already ahead of the game here." Thea said.

"Yeah, that is a good thing. So, when will Slade make himself known?" Oliver asked.

"We have changed some things. I am not really sure now. Last time mom was running for mayor and he used his cover as a rich businessman to put money into her campaign. I guess if mom runs for mayor, it could all happen the same way this time." Thea said with a shrug.

"Did he think that I wouldn't notice him?" Oliver asked.

"No, I think the point of the visit was to shake your confidence and I think it worked. As long as that doesn't happen this time, you should be good." Thea said.

"It won't being that I know about it this time. I can't believe mom ran for mayor." Oliver said.

"It was a surprise to all of us, but she actually had some good policies, it just sucked that she never got to use them." Thea said.

"Let me guess. Slade killed her?" Oliver asked.

"Yep. Right in front of both of us while we were tied up." Thea said.

"That won't be happening this time around. Mom will live a long life now Speedy." Oliver said.

"Damn right she will. I don't intend to let her die anytime soon." Thea said and Oliver nodded.

The team then decided to leave for the night. It had been a good night and they were going to celebrate it by taking the rest of the night off and getting some rest.