***
Kara hovered above Star City, eyes closed, her hearing focused solely on her fiancé's city. Somewhere below her was a teenager who was possibly the reason Cayden James' son was dead, or she possibly needed their help. Ever since Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel had proven time after time that they could change after what they had done in the past, changing their legacy from bad to good, Kara couldn't think of any reason why Evelyn didn't deserve a chance like they did. She just hoped Laurel had gotten through to her like she hoped she had.
Her ears twitched, and her head shot up as she registered a familiar voice. "I hear her," she said.
"Where?" Laurel was quick to ask.
Kara turned her x-ray vision to the buildings below, narrowing her eyes as she focused on one in particular. "Five buildings down from the warehouse the bomb was previously stored at," she answered, then blinked when she saw another person approaching. "Wait . . . someone else is there, too."
Laurel cursed. "Who?"
"We can grab two in one go," Malcolm looked on the bright side.
Kara's breath hitched. "Black Canary doesn't make two."
Laurel cursed even louder.
***
Evelyn stared for five seconds at her phone before scoffing and turning it off. "Yes, ma'am," she muttered sarcastically, grabbing another wad of bills from the bin she was digging through. Satisfied she had enough, she was about to close the bin when she found something in the bottom of it. Hesitating for only a second, she timidly reached inside, took the paper, and pulled it out.
It was one of the few photos she had left, and she never knew why she had kept it. She knew why it was at the bottom, though – it was from her early time with Team Arrow, complete with the entire team from then – herself, Rene, Curtis, Rory, Oliver, Dig, and Felicity. She stared long and hard at it for a second, then clenched her jaw and put the photo in her bag next to Vincent's visor, hastily zipping it up. She slung it over her shoulder and hurried to leave, debating on whether to return to Talia or not.
The worst-case scenario turned out to happen as she rounded the corner and came face to face with someone she didn't want to see at all. She froze in her tracks, eyes wide like she was a deer in the headlights. "Vince told me everyone had a to-go bag stashed," Dinah said quietly, steel in her voice. "It took me a little while to figure out where was."
"Dinah," Evelyn stammered, staggering backwards. "Please – "
"You don't get to beg!" Dinah snapped, rushing towards her.
Evelyn quickly rolled to the side, running for the door. Talia it was, then, if it meant she could get away from the Canary. She almost made it to the door when Dinah grabbed her from behind; she had just enough time to cover her face as she was hurled through the window nearby.
Evelyn crashed through it, crying out in pain as shards of glass cut through her hands. She did manage to get to her feet, though, swiftly ducking underneath the frenzied swing Dinah took. That was a benefit of being shorter than her – she could duck swings like those easily. If she could just tire Dinah out . . .
No, that wasn't going to work, Evelyn realized as Dinah fought with everything, not just her staff. Evelyn was doing everything she could just to make sure Dinah didn't sweep her feet out from under her. Finally, she took a deep breath and reached up, pressing her fingers to the collar around her neck. She heard it whine as it activated, and ignoring the frantic pounding of her heart, she took a deep breath and screamed.
Dinah countered just in time with one of her own, and both were catapulted backwards as their screams met. Dinah's back hit the floor, and Evelyn slammed into the wall behind her. With a gasp of pain, Evelyn slumped to the ground, wincing as she tried to get to her knees. She froze when she felt the cool end of Dinah's staff poke her in the neck. "You can't stop me," Dinah hissed. "This ends tonight. end tonight!"
"Please," Evelyn sobbed. "I didn't want to, I didn't!"
Dinah snarled angrily, and Evelyn closed her eyes, hearing the metahuman take a deep breath, probably intending to scream until she was dead.
In the next second, the lights above them exploded, and Evelyn heard Dinah flinch away from her. Then her own body was moving – not falling, but somehow moving. Evelyn instinctively flinched, then a grip on her tightened.
Everything around her stopped, and Evelyn stumbled, almost pitching forward. "Hey," a familiar voice said, holding her by the shoulders. "It's OK, it's OK. Take a few deep breaths." Evelyn closed her eyes to stop everything from spinning, doing as she was told. "There you go," the voice said, and Evelyn's eyes flew open when she realized who was talking to her. "Evelyn?" Kara asked, looking at her in concern. "Is that better?"
Evelyn opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. "No," she finally choked out, shaking her head wildly.
Kara's face softened, then the Kryptonian silently held out her arms. Evelyn didn't even care that just a few days ago, this woman had been her enemy; she just ran forward blindly, right into her arms, letting her tears fall again as Kara hugged her.
***
Everyone's comms went live a few minutes later. "We have Evelyn," Malcolm reported.
"Dark Archer?" Oliver frowned, hearing the tense tone Malcolm was using.
There were a few seconds of silence, then he sighed. "Dinah was about to kill her when I took out the lights for Kara to get in there."
"Damn it," Oliver gritted his teeth.
"That means the others could interfere now," Imra said.
"They aren't who I'm worried about," Oliver shook his head.
"He's right," Mon-El agreed. "There's three others that are still in the wind."
"Correction," Felicity's voice came on. "Ricardo Diaz in the wind. Cayden's satellite just picked him up headed south."
"Oh, thank God," Winn spoke for all of them, and Slade snorted when he heard what sounded like the techie thumping his head on what had to be the table.
"I want Diaz," Alex volunteered at once.
Oliver didn't argue. "Go get him."
"Sending you the GPS coordinates now," Felicity reported.
"Martian Manhunter, Guardian, go with her," Oliver ordered. "Valor, Saturn Girl, the two of you go after Talia."
"Copy that," Mon-El nodded.
"The three of us will be ready to get Anatoli," Oliver finished, looking at Dig and Slade, both men nodding. "Overwatch, put me through to Cayden."