HOMEMADE DYNAMITE !
❝ BITTERSWEET. ❞

INTRODUCING:

arthur king/merlyn.
KIT HARINGTON.
DARK ARCHER III.

IT HAPPENED SO FAST.

Abigail Lance barely had time to register the trajectory of the arrow before two hands wrapped tightly around her arms. Their grip pulled her towards them, twisting her around and out of the crosshairs. Too late, she realised what was happening, and a strangled no! escaped her parted lips.

The arrow lodged itself into the upper right of Dick Grayson's chest — right where her heart had been seconds ago— and his hold on her slackened. His knees buckled. His body became heavy in her arms. (It seems only in Star City vigilantes are able to take an arrow to the body and stay standing, she wasn't surprised).

Abby's arms wound around him, reaching under his shoulders as she tried to slow his fall, her knees hitting the ground harshly as she caught him. His landing was much softer and the brunette found her brain descending into chaos as she tried to figure out what the fuck to do.

Already, he looked weak. Sickly. Eyes like glass, like a doll, fading too fast into lifelessness. Not again.

"Dick?" Abby's voice trembled, holding him up as best she could. Falling to the ground would only worsen his wound. "Dick, keep your fucking eyes open."

Her gaze fell to the arrow, and she saw an oozing purple liquid lacing his wound. Poison. Brown eyes rocketed back to his face, watching his skin already begin to pale and his eyelids droop. This couldn't be happening again. No, no, no. She gripped him tighter. He had to fight. He had to.

She glanced up to see Arthur still approaching and instinctively she raised her hand — she could still protect, even if her powers weren't the most reliable. Then a pair of purple boots and a fur coat filled her sight, blocking the pair from harm.

"Who the hell are you?" Arthur barked, arm still raised, crossbow still loaded.

"Not sure. Kory Anders... apparently." the magenta haired woman sounded unsure of herself, but the defensive way she stood would tell any wise person not to come any closer.

Unfortunately, Arthur King was not a wise person. An arrow whistled through the air and panic filled Abby's lungs, but the sound almost akin to a match being struck filled the silence. And so did the flames emerging from Kory's hand. Abby's watched on in awe, only turning away when she felt a weak squeeze on her shoulder.

She looked to Dick, finding his bleary eyes staring at her, drifting in and out of focus as the poison worked its way through his system. The battle before her fell into muffled noises. He hands were barely gripping her shoulders, his strength fading fast, and Abby was pretty sure the only thing keeping him upright was her hold on him.

They needed to move — correction, they needed to get him somewhere they could find an antidote (if there even was one). Abby forced the harrowing thought from her mind and struggled to her feet, bringing Dick with her. His left arm slung over her shoulder, hand grappling his, as she supported him best she could.

Her eyes only needed one glance at his rapidly fading state to speak.

"If leave me again, I swear to God, Grayson — I'll take you to the Lazarus Pit myself."

"No need," Dick mumbled, "Just call Z."

Abby scoffed, "I think Constantine is more likely to pick up the phone."

He let out a half hearted chuckle and Abigail found herself gripping his jacket and hand harder. This felt like fear. Her eyes turned to the scene before her to find no sign of Arthur, and a slightly annoyed looking Kory, who had a single wound on her entire body — a graze on her arm.

"Where'd he go?" Abby asked, eyes scanning the roofs.

"Crossbow boy?" Kory clarified before shrugging, sauntering past the duo, "Don't know. Landed one shot and ran. Said it wasn't over."

"Yeah," Abby grumbled, "Sounds like Arthur."

The trio began making their way back towards the cars, Kory managing to catch Abigail's eye when she wasn't worriedly staring at the man hanging onto her shoulder.

"What was his deal, anyway?"

Abby shifted under the Boy Wonder's weight. "Family feud. Old grudges. Revenge is a dish best served cold. That kinda deal. You know the type."

Kory lofted her brows, almost as though she was resisting the urge to shrug. "Couldn't tell you. No memory, remember?"

"Oh shit," Abby breathed, "When you said Rachel was the key, I..."

"Didn't expect amnesia?" Kory mused, smiling lightly.

"Well yeah." Abby let out a short laugh. "Amnesia tends to come with the line of work, though."

Her mind dug up memories. Old ones. Of late nights in dark rooms with blood stained silver and unmade, dirt-stained beds. Of messy stitches and tired bones and the faint taste of metal on her tongue (sometimes his) as she waited for a single name to leave his split lips. Her name.

Her eyes stung. Memories could be bittersweet. Dangerous comforts. The past would always taste sour.

Kory frowned in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Abby repeated, looking down at Dick, "Can't count the times I've had to wait for this shitshow to remember my name over the years."

"You two go way back, don't you?" Kory asked, a small sympathetic smile curling up her lips as they stopped at the (horrifically) parked car.

"Something like that... we've... we've been through a lot together," Abby sighed, eyes lingering on the deteriorating state of his body, "He was it for me. The way I felt... I never felt like that again. He... I... It's complicated."

Abby's hand grasped the handle of the car and for a second she was worried it might creak and crack and break under her grip. Or maybe the car itself would just fall apart. Anything she touched seemed to. Suddenly the weight on her shoulders was back (and she didn't mean Dick) and the feeling as though a metal clamp was crushing her chest made her grimace.

"Most things are by the sound of it," Kory crossed her arms, turning to Abby with a teasing grin. "But then again, he just took a poisoned arrow to the chest for you so I reckon it's probably not as complicated as you guys are making it."

Abby let out an amused breath. Taking a second to let a reply — anything — slip to kind, she opened the back door and began to lie Dick down. Leaning over his fragile body, she gently placed his head down on the leather seat, the way a gallery would hang an ornate masterpiece.

Her lips parted softly to form a response, when she nearly jumped out of her skin. When he finally moved. It was jagged and slow and seemed to echo the pain in the low groan rumbling in his throat.

"Shit," Abby choked out, hitting her head on the soft roof of the ceiling as she lurched upwards. She heard a pained chuckle beneath her.

"No, no," Dick croaked, "Don't let me stop you. Complicated, huh?"

"Fuck you, Grayson," Abby muttered, glaring down at him beneath her. Somehow, half dead, he still managed to look smug with that damn smirk on his face.

"Wel—," Dick started, before cutting himself off with a sharp intake of breath, then leant over and threw up on the floor of the car.

Her sharp eyes caught the beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow, the fatigue of his movements and the blood in his vomit, the uneven rate of his breathing. She'd seen this type of effect before. She'd seen it when Oliver (surprise, surprise) was shot by, well, Abby's mother. This was a League tactic, this was Wolf's Bane.

Kory appeared at her elbow, letting out a disgusted noise at the state of the car, although Abby could feel her mood change to worry when she noticed the unconscious state he'd slipped into.

"What the fuck did that psycho shoot him with?" Kory growled, watching Abby practically throw herself backwards, stumbling away from the man before her.

Her gaze stuck to the brunette. Watching her face flash and flicker and burn through so many thoughts and feelings and motions that Kory was surprised Abby didn't throw up too. But the girl burst into action, damn near hurtling herself across the bonnet off the car towards the drivers seat.

"Hey! Abby! What're you doing?" Kory demanded, despite already finding herself shutting the back door and climbing in the passenger seat.

"I can't let him die, Kory. There's gotta be a cure. Something — anything." Abby slammed the car into first gear and tore off, leaving the Porsche in the dust as she began tearing down the road they arrived on. "Maybe, maybe Jess, or Rachel, Bruce might have something, he has something for—."

"You mean Jess and Rachel who were at the house that just blew up?" Worry stained her words.

Abby faltered. Her eyes snapped to Kory before back to the road. "... Fuck..."

"Yeah... fuck," Kory mused, nervously glancing over her seat and the writhing man sprawled on the back seat, "Hey, Abby... he is not looking too good."

Shit shit shit. Abby's foot touched the floor, the car straining and screaming as it ripped down the road, burning rubber stinging their noses. (Should've taken the Porsche — then again, vomit on Dick's floor? Maybe not). In half the time it had taken her to get her, Abby screeched to a halt before St Paul's convent.

Well. What was left of it.

What once had stood y'all was now swarming with sirens and firemen. Abby leant back and carefully fished Dick's badge from his jacket.

The two women emerged from the car, one foot at a time as they tried to comprehend the chaos raging around them. The fires and smoke and rubble. Half the fucking house was demolished. How could Rachel have done this? It didn't make sense. Any sense it could make meant something darker. Something sinister.

Kory and Abby slowed to a stop before where the front door had once been, the latter flashing the badge quickly to surpass the police who tried to stop them. As they gazed at the fallen structure, Abby's eyes noticed a pin lying in the dust, in the debris. Half buried. Forgotten.

She approached it slowly, crouching down and pulling it from the wreck, brushing the ash from the enamel. Jess. A little pin that the purple haired girl had worn on her jacket. The idea of it being the last thing Abby would see of either girls made her mouth turn sour.

"Maybe they're still here."

Kory's soft voice rung out from Abby's shoulder. It was hopeful, fearful. Abby pushed herself to her feet, slipping the pin inside her pocket as she shook her head slowly.

"No. No, they're long gone." The two women began to head towards the ambulance housing one of the sisters.

Kory frowned. "How the hell can you know that?"

"Because Jess knows the same people as Dick." Abby pushed down the lump that formed in her throat at the last word. "And they know better than to stay at the scene of the crime."

Silence fell over the two for a second, then Kory spoke trepidatiously, "What do we do?"

Abby paused in her approach of one of the nuns. Her eyes moved to the car they'd just left. To the man who'd somehow managed to sit up in the back of it.

"Hope that no one dies today."

NOTE!
2000+ words of pure SHIT!! but i tried. i'm running on four hours sleep pls help. SO EXCITED for the next chapter, i know this was a bit of a filler, but i have BIIIG things/events planned for the next two chapters; we're getting the conteNT WE DESERVE!!

also, thoughts on making arthur a main cast in this?? thoughts in general pls??