daemonmuses Prompt 3
"Nothing wrong with a little shooting, as long as the right people get shot."
-Turk [Righteous Kill]
I'll never know how he knew. I've never even asked how he knew. All I cared about was that I was woken up in the middle of the night by a wet nose being pushed into my ear, and Tikki was keening on my pillow.
"They're in trouble," he kept saying, high and desperate and crying. "Oliver and Panya, Dinah, they're in trouble."
You have to understand the place I was in right then. Just after moving to Seattle I made a bad call and ended up in trouble of the worst kind. If it hadn't been for Ollie, I'd've died there. I wanted to die there. It's not a time I like to dwell on now, but I spent years dwelling on it afterwards. And it was in many ways the worst possible time for Ollie to go and get himself into the same kind of trouble.
There was a gang war brewing in Seattle at the time. Ollie cared about it. Tikki cared about it. I would have cared, but I had bigger things on my mind. I had him. And dammit - I was going to fight for him. Even if the only one who would give me any help at all was my polecat.
We're not known for using guns. None of us are. I think Bats' hatred of them infects us all at some point or other. They're too powerful, and it's a power you don't have to work for. You don't need years of sweat and discipline to learn to pull a trigger, and you don't have to earn that ability to kill. I have a weapon as powerful as any gun, but I didn't back then. Then, I only had my training and my determination and my love. I was all fired up to go after him with just those three, but Tikki was there to keep me grounded. Or rather, to bite me on the ear when he realised what I was doing.
"Are you crazy?" he squeaked. "We can't go in there unarmed. Not if we're all going to get out of there."
I'm not saying I didn't have a choice in the matter. I'm not excusing it, but I was tired of feeling helpless. When you're as used to being in control as I was, that feeling - it's like every moment is a betrayal of the woman you used to be, and if I let them do to Olli and Panya what they'd done to me and Tikki...
So yes, we took guns from the men standing guard. They didn't even know we were coming. I had two down within seconds, and Tikki had the other's daemon cowering in submission. It always surprises me how people are willing to underestimate the ability of a woman and her polecat.
So, yes, we had guns. And yes, we killed every single man and daemon inside that building - I still remember what Tikki looked like with blood covering his mouth, I don't think I'll ever forget it, but I couldn't tell you what the daemons were he killed, because all I could see were the daemons of the men who hurt me.
We took down all but one man, and one daemon. Panya was caged just as Tikki has been, Ollie strung up just like me. Tikki cut him down, I unlocked the cage. We didn't say it that day. We've never really said it out loud, but that day - Tikki and I saved each other - we rescued ourselves.
[Events taken from Green Arrow v2 Issue 32: The Canary is a Bird of Prey]
-Turk [Righteous Kill]
I'll never know how he knew. I've never even asked how he knew. All I cared about was that I was woken up in the middle of the night by a wet nose being pushed into my ear, and Tikki was keening on my pillow.
"They're in trouble," he kept saying, high and desperate and crying. "Oliver and Panya, Dinah, they're in trouble."
You have to understand the place I was in right then. Just after moving to Seattle I made a bad call and ended up in trouble of the worst kind. If it hadn't been for Ollie, I'd've died there. I wanted to die there. It's not a time I like to dwell on now, but I spent years dwelling on it afterwards. And it was in many ways the worst possible time for Ollie to go and get himself into the same kind of trouble.
There was a gang war brewing in Seattle at the time. Ollie cared about it. Tikki cared about it. I would have cared, but I had bigger things on my mind. I had him. And dammit - I was going to fight for him. Even if the only one who would give me any help at all was my polecat.
We're not known for using guns. None of us are. I think Bats' hatred of them infects us all at some point or other. They're too powerful, and it's a power you don't have to work for. You don't need years of sweat and discipline to learn to pull a trigger, and you don't have to earn that ability to kill. I have a weapon as powerful as any gun, but I didn't back then. Then, I only had my training and my determination and my love. I was all fired up to go after him with just those three, but Tikki was there to keep me grounded. Or rather, to bite me on the ear when he realised what I was doing.
"Are you crazy?" he squeaked. "We can't go in there unarmed. Not if we're all going to get out of there."
I'm not saying I didn't have a choice in the matter. I'm not excusing it, but I was tired of feeling helpless. When you're as used to being in control as I was, that feeling - it's like every moment is a betrayal of the woman you used to be, and if I let them do to Olli and Panya what they'd done to me and Tikki...
So yes, we took guns from the men standing guard. They didn't even know we were coming. I had two down within seconds, and Tikki had the other's daemon cowering in submission. It always surprises me how people are willing to underestimate the ability of a woman and her polecat.
So, yes, we had guns. And yes, we killed every single man and daemon inside that building - I still remember what Tikki looked like with blood covering his mouth, I don't think I'll ever forget it, but I couldn't tell you what the daemons were he killed, because all I could see were the daemons of the men who hurt me.
We took down all but one man, and one daemon. Panya was caged just as Tikki has been, Ollie strung up just like me. Tikki cut him down, I unlocked the cage. We didn't say it that day. We've never really said it out loud, but that day - Tikki and I saved each other - we rescued ourselves.
[Events taken from Green Arrow v2 Issue 32: The Canary is a Bird of Prey]