2177/Verdant: The beginning

Verdant: The beginning
Date of Scene:	21 June 2020
Location:	Central Business District
Synopsis:	Club is cleared and there is more clean-up to be done in Starling, apparently!
Cast of Characters:	Thea Queen, Oliver Queen, Vanessa Carlysle

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Thea Queen has posed:
Early morning. Why do police always do early morning raids again?

Oh yeah.. it's to catch people off guard. Why would anyone be up so early, much less up and ready to kick some butt? Seriously, it's not human.

Those people really haven't ever encountered a determined Queen or two, apparently. And their team.

It's been a month or so since Thea's started her research on a warehouse in Starling. It's been a month or so since her first bit of infiltration into the actual building, finding paperwork in a desk, in a wall safe (opened, courtesy of a man with claws), and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that club or not, it had to be emptied of its occupants. Drugs. Weapons. Human trafficking? Doesn't matter. It's a blight; a spot in the city that needs to be cleaned up before it takes the lives of (more) citizens. And right now? Starling is trying to survive.

It just needs help.

So, early morning it is, and whether or not that was a decision by Thea or by Oliver, it really doesn't matter. The building was reconned (again), the comings and goings monitored and marked for timing (based upon communications), and Thea is settled on a rickety, unused fire escape, her back tight up against the wall, a window just to her left that leads to a second floor loft that is used as an office. She's in all leathers, a hood, a mask... those items that had looked so 'freshly used' from the other day. In hand, a bow, with arrows in back. (Seems there's a family theme?)

The lights of the warehouse are low; still on that 'emergency lighting' running, crates piled from floor to almost ceiling, and there are men, several men that have actually begun their day (Or is it just ending?), checking crates, moving pallets around for a new shipment coming in 'at any time'. It's an operation.

"I think I might go for blue as a base for the club," Thea mutters into the com. "It'd make the red pop."

Oliver Queen has posed:
For Oliver following a schedule is like a mantra. Early rising, late nights. It's like the man doesn't need sleep, always focused on the next problem that crops up, or on the next deal for the company. Married with his work? Well...!

So being here at unholy hours wasn't too hard, just another day (or is it end of night?), taking note of the coming ins and outs, studying from his own perch on the other side of the building, watching the back door where a couple of men are outside and going through their morning ritual of having a cigarette or two... Hardened ones, rough. They fit the bill of being thugs.

He also came dressed in the familiar leathers of the Queen family, even if dark green is a much nicer color than red, bow in hand and speaking to the comms. "Keep your focus on the mission. We still need to put these guys down before you can think on how to color the whole thing." Oliver. A veritable killjoy.

"I see two out here on a break. If they are anything like the group I came across a few days back expect them to be carrying some heavy firepower. Keep your wits up." the moduled, grave voice on the comms being heard.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
The third member of the team is placed to bracket the building so every walls is under observation by at least one person. Quiver is lying flat on a rooftop to avoid making a silhouette even though the sky is dark. She has a small pair of binoculars in hand. Her first time to the warehouse, so the extra firsthand scrutiny is warranted as she matches up what she's heard with what she sees.

"This side is clear, just a few vehicles in the parking spaces. One pickup parked diagonally across two spaces. Hate people that do that," Vanessa says into her comms. She's dressed as Quiver, the colors and style of her leathers matching Green Arrow, though the cut quite different to fit her far smaller physique.

The binoculars swing Vanessa's gaze across the building. "Could go in through a window but, then you'd have to fix a window," she muses. "Looks like a roof access though over in this corner. Trapdoor type of thing, and there's a ladder up the outside over here as well."

Thea Queen has posed:
"Oh," and Thea sounds almost.. perky so early in the morning, her tones sounding almost a complete opposite to the growly sounds.. the grave sounds on the com, "I do. But, I just like being reminded -why- I'm up when even God Himself isn't." Still, no one had to force the younger Queen to be here; actually, it's been Thea that's been driving the work on the warehouse. It's probably why she hasn't been seen around the Cave, or showing up for dinners. Or..

"And too late. Already hired my interior designer."

Thea nods at the reports, and quickly remembering that no one can hear nods, reports, "Office lights are still dark, but they usually come on within the next 15. I'll break a window when you make your move.," there's something of a frown to that. Here's to replacing windows, "Grab their attention, and Quiver?" There's a pause before she utters a soft laugh, "Thanks for keeping repair costs down." Sounds like coming through the roof is a great idea!

Oliver Queen has posed:
The mention of God not being awake brings only a grunt to be heard in the comms. Eloquent. But it also signals he is done with that particular line of talk. Both how early it is and interior design! Not his talent anyway!

So instead he listens on to the rest of the reports. The cars parked outside (DIAGONALLY), then the the roof access. "Sounds like a plan." his eyes go up and he shoots an arrow, a grappling one, finding purchase on the top of the building and then he zips across from the nearby building where he was at, all the way to the top of the roof.

"Good work you two. Moving in now, through the roof. Quiver, backup?" he informs. All those years of training have made him be quite adept in moving quietly, approaching almost without a sound. He listens to the trapdoor, making sure there's noone on the other side and slowly opens it before beginning to walk downstairs.

"I am in." he slides down to an office room. Noone around just yet, but he can hear sounds right on the other side. The bow gets prepared. "In position."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
"You'll have to show me the designs, Speedy." Quiver gauges the distance to the building and what are available on the roof on her side for targets to grapple across. "Looks like it's best to hoof it this time," she says, not seeing anywhere that would hold a line without doing something that would make too much noise, like sink an arrow all the way into the roof.

Plus? Thea would have to repair that!

Quiver takes a last look around and then puts her hands and feet on the outside of the ladder she used to climb up to this particular rooftop. Sliding down rapidly while using that contact to slow herself near the bottom.

Another look around and then she's jugging quickly and quietly across the street. She doesn't slow when she reaches a chain link fence on this side of the building, just grasps the top and flips herself over in one smooth motion. She continues forward, moving to hide near the cars to take stock and see if her approach was noted, though avoiding getting too close in case they have sensitive alarms.

No sign of reactions. "On my way up," she says and then jogs quietly to the outside ladder and begins climbing swiftly to the roof. "These extra rungs make it so much easier. Maybe we should put those on the salmon ladder too?"

She reaches the top and follow Green Arrow inside, though moves off another direction to cover an exit from a location that also gives her a good vantage point on the larger warehouse space. "Ready."

Thea Queen has posed:
"I'll be redoing the lines on the parking lot, too."

Thea smirks, getting that last bit in before the work ahead truly begins. She's got her game, really! And following the rest of the reports, blue eyes look up automatically searching for a zip-line she knows she's not going to see. Other side of the building!

"Oh, and by the way? I hate that ladder."

Waiting for the sign that everyone is in and in place, Thea looks down the road from her vantage and checks her watch, and adds her new bit of information. "Box truck is coming in from the east."

With the marks of 'ready', Thea takes a deep breath, winces in anticipation, and breaks the window that she's standing near, at the office level, second floor loft of the warehouse. Red leathers keep the glass from cutting her, and immediately, she's got the bow levelled while she glides through the 'as of yet' unoccupied office. The sound of glass breaking doesn't get near the attention Thea imagined; the little pallet loaders are loud on the floor.

Coming to the open office 'ledge', Thea keeps to the shadows as much as she can, and raises her bow in order to start picking off some of the men on the ground. Get them, then meet the truck at the bay!

"Easier than I thought."

One arrow in a leg brings out a cry of pain. A second, arm shot on another leads at least a small handful of others to assume they're under attack. Trajectory?

Pistols are pulled out (not JUST warehouse guys!) and one, two wild shots are taken in Thea's direction.

Oliver Queen has posed:
"I have no idea why someone wouldn't like the salmon ladder." Really, it's Ollie's trademark workout exercise! And who doesn't love seeing those workouts.... Tsk! But then it's game on, which means comms are out unless they are strictly necessary. He listens to the reports from both Quiver and Speedy, a nod when Quiver moves by to walk to another point in the building.

And with their position finally done it's time to get to 'work', with work meaning doing some serious beatdown. He notches an arrow in, blunt ones this time because his killing days are long gone.

He levels it towards one of the men that steps out at the sound of the breaking glass. "What was tha-" arrow to the head, that's what it is, knocking the man over.

He then runs forth as another man steps out from that same office, gun coming out but a punch to the jaw makes him forget any ideas of fighting back, knocked over.

The rest are beginning to move towards the sound though those shots brings a general alert to the warehouse, shouts.

"Must be the police!" one shouts. A couple bring out assault rifles. Indeed not just simple warehouse guys!

Oliver then speaks up. "Heavy guns on a couple of these guys. Be careful."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Quiver is watching the main floor, and once the fight begins she immediately lets loose a blunt tipped arrow. It catches a man on the jaw, knocking him unconscious and making it unlikely he's going to be munching on anything hard for a few days.

A second arrow zips across the open space of the warehouse, taking down a second man before anyone else has really realized what is going on. But after that it starts to get 'interesting'.

Quiver sees an assault rifle come out. An arrow with a reinforced, hardened tip is drawn and she lets it go with as much pull as she can manage on her specially made bow. The arrow hits the weapon and shatters the stock, causing the man to yelp and drop it. A few bullets go off as it hits the ground, spraying across the floor and up a wall but thankfully not hitting anyone.

But anyone who wasn't aware before, that gunfire will make them so now.

Thea Queen has posed:
And it's game on. Thea is on her second floor perch, but it's not a good vantage once they work out where the arrows are coming from. The younger Queen makes a flying leap, and lands on one of the pallets on the first floor, looking like she actually kind of knows what she's doing. Immediately her bow is up, and she's shooting a pistol out of the hand of another as he wheels around to try and draw a bead on Vanessa. Oops.. she might have hit his fingers as well. Will work on that later.

"Heavy guns, got it. I'm headed to the dock." The truck is coming in!

Thea runs across the top of the pallet, one of the other assault rifles shooting up the pallets as she moves. Wooden chips fly in all directions as the bullets hit it, as another yells, "Stop shooting up the goods!" (Apparently someone isn't the best with an assault rifle?)

Oliver Queen has posed:
Boys and their big guns. They love 'em but they don't know how to use 'em. That works just as well for Ollie because the tat-tat-tat of the machine gun gives him a clear point of where it's coming from. He moves out from behind cover of a crate where he had been perching, still at a vantage point from above and shoots one of his flashbang grenades. Good to make that man stop firing, along with a couple of others that were nearing that position. Immediately after he lets another arrow fly, one of the 'gooey' ones that pins that man down on the floor without being able to move.

The rest are out of sight so he has to drop himself down to the main floor, closing in to deliver some pain from up close and personal. A knee hitting one of the men that was still unable to see due to the flashbang, the other being tossed against a nearby crate, spilling the contents on the ground. Drugs? It makes him frown. And yes, Oliver certainly doesn't fight fair, cheap shotting those guys that were still incapacitated.

Though that seems to be most of those carrying guns, the rest the typical thugs with their knives and pipes! Not that they appear to be too keen on continuing to get beat up. "Lets get outta here!" a voice heard near Vanessa. Most likely the two guys on the outside that were taking a smoke break.

Oliver speaks up on the comms. "Most of the guys in here are subdued, find stragglers and beam on that truck."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Another pair of arrows are launched, one letting out a distracting screech when it hits that makes two men wince. Someone shoots at Vanessa and she smoothly spins back behind a crate and then comes out the other side of it with an arrow knocked and drawn. The man's gun hand is fully penetrated, the arrow driving into a crate and pinning him there.

Quiver sees another man heading her way with an assault rifle. Rather than dodge way, she jumps towards him, landing on a stack of thin crates. She uses her body to add some extra momentum to the landing, sending them toppling over to knock the man down, while she jumps to the side. She grabs hold of another crate and swings herself down to the floor, then moves to kick the gun away from the man.

"How many men are in the delivery truck?" she asks, pointing an arrow directly at his head.

Thea Queen has posed:
It's a warehouse. It's not a small footprint, and it takes Thea a little time to bounce across the pallets, making the leaps across the gaps. In one spot, she uses one of the zip-line arrows in order to swing and kick one of the thugs in the head, sending him down, before she lands and gets into a quick hand-to-hand. An open hand, palm thrust to the lower jaw sinds the man back, following up with a roundhouse kick to bring legs out from under him, Thea isn't above kicking him while he's down before she continues on her way towards the dock.

"Have a clear path," comes through. She sounds a little out of breath; maybe a little out of practice?

"Truck is backing in." Apparently they haven't gotten the wave off... which is good news for them. And, there's no one in the receiving area.

The guy that Vanessa has, now, looks like a deer in the headlights. Nothing is worth this; not at his paygrade, anyway, and he's standing stock still, staring at that arrow-tip. "Three in the back, two up front.."

*beep*beep*beep*

Oliver Queen has posed:
Mental note. Up Thea's training regimen. That's what Oliver concludes from what he notices on the comms and that lack of breath. Glass half-empty kinda guy. Because so far the mission seems to be going well enough, the team working in unison.

A quick sweep with his eyes show the ones he was handling are mostly done for. Good enough, he starts dashing out to the exit, speaking on the comms. "Get the tires and they won't go anywhere." his dash leading him through the main door of the warehouse and to the outside, following the trail of destruction left behind by Thea.

"Quiver, join up front when you are done with your friend." though he is still not yet being able to sight the truck, so far only Thea apparently.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
"Five in the truck, three of them in back," Quiver reports. "Thank you," she tells the helpful thug, and then motions with the bow for him to roll over. When he complies, she cuffs him and gags him. "So much better than me having to shoot you or kick you in the head, isn't it? He gives her an urgent not.

Vanessa is just starting to head towards the back when a man ducks out from behind a crate and pistol whips her in the back of the head. She goes down, tumbling forward and her vision blurry. She comes up, blinding shooting the arrow but the man is already charging at her and he manages to side-step the snap shot.

He kicks her in the stomach, knocking her back down and following up again, though Vanessa rolls with it and then launches forward to drive her shoulder into his stomach. Both of them go down, gasping for breath.

"Gonna... be.. a few..."

Thea Queen has posed:
From the outside, the big ol' white boxtruck is backing up in a single, short loading dock area. There are two raised concrete 'berms' with the entryway sunk in by about 6 feet, so there are 'walls' on either side, making it difficult for the truck to make any tight turns once backed into the area.

So, the plan sounds like Thea's got the back, Ollie and Vanessa have the front-- or not.

Thea catches the sound of Vanessa having a little bit of a hard time, and she looks up, glances towards the docks, back where the last known area where Vanessa was.. and back at the docks, and she fires up her com again,

"I'll go get her."

Swinging back around, then, Thea tears off to the location where she'd last seen one of the newer members, and finding her quickly, makes sure the guy she was fighting -doesn't get up-, and offers a hand to Vanessa. "C'mon. You okay?" Thea smiles from under her hood, behind her mask, and those blue eyes echo the expression, "Been there, done that, and will be again, I'm sure. Let's go. Truck is waiting."

Oliver Queen has posed:
At Vanessa's voice on the comms there is just the briefest pauses. But before he can react there goes the impulsive Queen! And not following the plan either! But Ollie was perhaps expecting that already. No plan always survives for long!

So it's up to him to get done with the truck. He continues on his dash, running around the warehouse at a speed, sliding over a large crate which is impressive enough for a man of his size and then finally sees the truck making the maneuvers to get out of that entryway.

He levels his bow up, a couple of sharp arrows sticking out of his mechanized quiver and he shoots them almost instantly, one after the other. The arrows sink into the back tires just as they were preparing to run away.

"Truck stopped, right close to your position." he starts closing in to the truck but the abrupt opening of the back door and the subsequent machine gun fire heard makes him throw himself to the side, dodging bullets as they begin to destroy up his cover. "I hate people that bring guns to a bow fight." he complains. "Are you both alright?" he then asks, waiting for an opening.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
The other man is just starting to get to his feet when Thea arrives, an easy one to take down. Quiver reaches up, taking the offered hand and getting back to her feet with the helpful pull upwards. "Yeah, just took the wind out of me," she says, breathing a bit harder than normal. "Thanks for the help. Let's get that truck then," she says.

She'll start running, a little the worse for wear so not quite at full speed, but jogging quickly back towards the vehicle entrance. She managed to hang onto her bow during the fight, Oliver's training just kicking in there.

"Yep, almost there," Vanessa replies, stopping behind a crate as bullets impact the other side of it. She draws an arrow and whirls around from her cover to let it go. There's a yelp from inside the the truck and the sound of a body thudding onto the metal flooring. One down.

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea brings another bright smile in encouragement, and once Vanessa is up, on her feet, and on her way, Speedy is making sure nothing happens to her; guarding her six.

It's the rapidfire sound of a machinegun, however, that gets her attention quickly, and instead of taking the path, Thea leaps onto one of the lower pallets and ducks as she runs. There's a pause in her step as she takes deadly aim, and lets loose on an arrow, hitting the forearm of one of the others with a gun just as the area away from her is being sprayed.

In the next second, however, she's taking cover between pallets as that final gunman in the back retaliates, the hail of bullets swinging around towards her area. "Please let this actually block bullets," is murmured..

The truck, for it's part, is no longer going anywhere, thanks to the tires being shot out. The two in the front aren't as well armed as those that are/were in the back.. and they're trying to find the best spot where they can fully open their doors and jump out in order to shoot the guy with the bow!

Oliver Queen has posed:
The test on whether Thea's cover actually holds or not doesn't seem like it will need to be endured for long because as the gunmen are being shot from both sides, and Ollie senses that those bullets aren't being sprayed in his direction he launches himself away from cover, shooting an arrow through the air to have it lodge through that last gunmen's shoulder. Three down.

The Arrow rolls on the ground and then comes up to his feet, speaking in that authoritative tone of his. "You have failed this city." yay, catchphrases! "Surrender now and we won't be shooting you down." Oliver brushing up on that 'diplomacy' of his.

He moves in slow towards where the truck is, bow at the ready in case any of the men that come out have different ideas other than surrendering. Itchy finger it seems.

To the comms he speaks up. "Surround the truck, they aren't going anywhere."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Quiver swings out wide to the opposite side of Oliver, moving around to where she can start to see the driver side. She steps up onto a small crate, and then another to get a view inside. She must see something though the driver's side window as she unleashes an arrow that punches into the door and lodges there deep enough the pointy broadhead must be sticking out through the other side visibly.

"That means no guns," she calls out, her voice modulated. After a moment the door slowly swings open and a man puts both of his hands out first. "I dropped it!" he calls out as he slowly opens it further and then steps out, hands still raised while Quiver covers him with another arrow knocked.

Thea Queen has posed:
While the pair are in the front, Thea's pulling herself carefully from cover, bow up and ready to release in a heartbeat's moment. When that moment doesn't come, she surveys the damage done to the thugs, and zipties everyone that she can reach for the moment, prodding (none too gently) them into position where they can be 'taken care of'.

The emptying has begun.

"Consider this to be an eviction notice. You have 15 minutes ago to be out." It's better than 'you have failed this city'! Right?

Once done, Thea goes to check on her brother and partner, peeking her head around the corner. "Tied up here. Going back up to the office so I can have something for the police." Thea has been doing her homework!

Oliver Queen has posed:
No respect for the Arrow anymore! That's how these thugs are now... Pfftt, trying to reach for a gun while he is in cover of the rest of the team. But now that they are being secure and put away he joins in zipping the men up. He does have those years of practice afterall. He proceeds on doing it to the two drivers up front, asking them.

"Your operation is done. What were you trafficking here?" he is close to snarling. All the best that they can think him a vigilante capable of seriously hurting them if they answer incorrectly.

A nod is then given towards Quiver when she comes near. "Good job there. We should be nearly done here." he calls out to her, then a glance towards Speedy.

"Don't take too long, they should be here soon and we may not want to hang around to talk with them." because while Arrow and his team have been a fixture in Starling for so many years it's not like vigilantes are just outright accepted so easily.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle helps secure the men and then as Oliver is questioning them, she makes another quick pass around the warehouse, making sure that no one has been missed and nothing else untoward is going on.

The young woman in the green archer's outfit returns, going into the back of the truck. She examines the exterior of a few of the crates and then pulls a small tool from her belt, a little pry bar useful for opening doors, locks, and in this case, crates.

She pries on the corner of a lid, having to put some muscle into it, and repeat the effort in a few places to get the lid up and be able to check inside and see just what this was all about. "Hrm," she says. "Electronics." She pulls out a bag and opens it up, looking at the circuit boards inside. She puts it back in and then pulls out some paperwork that's sitting inside the crate. "Not for export to... your usual list of countries," she says. Then leans over to eye again what the final destination of the crate is. "Oh. I think that is what you'd call a 'violation'," she says as the destination is on the list of banned countries.

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea bounds back the direction she came, actually using the steel staircase to access the loft offices. Once up, she's tearing the desk apart again, her bow slung back and in a secondary quiver holder. She's murmuring to herself as she shifts through papers, until blue eyes light upon pages closer to the bottom of the pile.

Receipts.

"I found paperwork for workers," is murmured. "Receipts for passage." There's a pause before, "Importing... 'servants'... and they've been doing it for a little while." From the sound of her tones, that 'little while' hasn't been a little while.

"I've got it. It'll take a little while to go through it." Thea is hating the fact that all this is going to get turned over and...

Thea pulls out her phone and begins to take pictures of everything she can find; where it is, placement and when she's nominally satisfied, puts her phone away.

"Names, addresses.." She'll be paying visits!

"I'm done here!"

On the outside, the driver seems to be paid a little more than those within, and he curses and spits in Russian, <<You are dead man.>>

Oliver Queen has posed:
Electronics. Suspicious enough, and maybe even just the tip of the iceberg. It makes him narrow his eyes. "Servants..?" he then asks on comms. That doesn't sound good at all. But with the sirens already near there won't be much of a time for him to beat it out of these people. And considering what he just heard in russian seems like he wouldn't be getting much out without some serious devotion to bringing in some pain.

His bratva days are long gone but there's still some words he knows, some sentences. So he replies in russian just as well. << You are done in this city. >> making sure the zip ties are secure and then joining Vanessa on the back. "Lets go." he tells her, then informs Thea. "We are on our way out too."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa glances up. She's never understood Russian before Oliver, but hearing the words spoken her brain reacts as if she'd spent the same time in the bratva. She doesn't comment on it, just one more of those little things that takes getting used to.

She takes one of the circuit boards but leaves everything else. "Ready to go," she confirms. She'll wait until they are well away from the place to comment in a teasing voice, "Going to have to spackle a few bullet holes in addition to fixing the window I'm afraid. But job well done tonight."

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea makes sure everything is good, and actually goes out the way she'd come in; through the window. Emerging onto the rickety fire escape, the youngest Queen draws down the rotted and rusted iron steps and leaps to the ground, bending her knees to contain the shock. Once out, she's over the coms, "Free from the building." Time to catch a ride out!

"Broken window, bullet holes. I'll have to pay the renovation team a little extra so they don't ask questions."

But, it's time to go home and get out of her outfit so she can go back to sleep!

"Not too bad. Thanks for the help."