iluvroadrunner6: ([tua] allison)
Emily ([personal profile] iluvroadrunner6) wrote in [community profile] fandomweekly2021-12-30 03:47 pm

[#120] There's No Rescuing Now Because You're Falling Apart (DCTV)

Theme Prompt: #120 – Technical Difficulties
Title: There’s No Rescuing Now Because You’re Falling Apart
Fandom: DCTV
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 | Set in the Season 7 future AU
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 996
Summary: William gets an unexpected visitor at the Arrowcave.



“Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh?”

Mia’s voice is a mix of irritation and worry—the kind of concern she inherited from their father. She’s so much like Oliver, it amazes William that he wound up like Felicity when he isn’t even her biological child. A concern he can mull over another time, when some outside force isn’t trying to hack into the Arrowcave.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Just focus on shooting arrows into the bad guys.”

“Overwatch?”

“I’m fine. Just someone is trying to get past my firewall.” His fingers fly over the keyboard, rapidly inputting lines of code to try and stay ahead of them. “I’m going to politely force them back behind it and send them on their way.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Just focus on what you’re doing.” He doesn’t give her a chance to argue, just pulls out his earpiece so that he can keep his focus. He continues typing, but somehow, some way they keep managing to stay a step ahead. Each block, they dance around, each shove back they never seem to lose any ground. Making a face, he tries to avoid the nuclear option, but soon it’s getting close to the edge and suddenly everything around him goes dark.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Seconds later the auxiliary power comes back on, and with that comes the elevator. It revs to life, traveling up to the first floor of what used to be Queen Consolidated, and he frowns. In terms of the chances of friend versus foe, he’s more likely to lean towards foe at the moment, but he won’t be able to say for sure until they arrive. So, he does the next best thing he can do.

He hides.

Closing one of the nearby closets behind him, he watches the intruders through the slats in the door. The elevator opens and from it emerges a young man and woman—the woman looks to be about his age, and the man about Mia’s. They’re similar shades of dark hair and tanned skin, with similar faces—siblings maybe? He’s trying to catch all the details, but he keeps coming back to two things—the large, almost ostentatious red jewel around the man’s neck, and the cobbled together tech equipment in the woman’s hand.

“Be careful, B. I’m pretty sure there’s someone still down here.”

“No one’s been down here in years. And even if they were, Team Arrow hasn’t exactly been known as being anti-ARGUS.”

Rude, William thinks, but he can’t say it’s wrong. Given Diggle’s ties to ARGUS, he can’t say that they weren’t allies. The same can’t be said for the ARGUS of 2042, but that’s something to sort out later.

“That doesn’t mean we should be inviting trouble.” The woman shakes her head as she goes to sit in his chair, but raises almost immediately after. “The seat’s warm.”

The man does tense at that, fingers coming up to brush against the red jewel hanging around his neck. He glows vibrantly and if William didn’t know better, he would almost assume that the wind picked up in this underground bunker.

“Whoever you are, we won’t hurt you if you don’t try to hurt us.” The woman flashes him a look and “B” rolls his eyes. “They might just be using the bunker to hide. We’re not here to fight anyone, we’re just here for answers.”

William’s eyes study him briefly, the countenance of his face. He’s seen it somewhere before. Pulling up his tablet, he runs a quick facial recognition search, trying to pin down who this person is. The woman at the computer picks up on it, however, and she tenses.

“Someone’s running facial recognition.”

“Let them.”

“Behrad, we don’t know who this person is.”

“They’re trying to figure out if they can trust me. And you can stop it before it goes anywhere else.”

William finds that he isn’t wrong there. Almost as soon as he says it, William finds himself limited in his ability to send out information. Any communication channels that involve law enforcement are shut down, but the information he’s looking for comes all the same. Behrad Tomaz and his sister, Zari. Wanted by ARGUS for a number of dumb, bullshit crimes that shouldn't be crimes, but that's 2042 for you.

William doesn't want to make an enemy out of them. He probably should just let them take what they want and leave. But at the end of the day, he wants to help. He always has.

Stepping out of the closet, he raises his hands in the air next to his head, and glances to them both. "Don't shoot. I come in peace."

They both look anxious and unsure, not sure what to do with his presence, so he continues. "My name is William Clayton. This was my father's bunker, and now it's mine and my sister's. I know my father had a relationship with ARGUS, but that's not us. We don't support what they're doing now."

The Tomaz siblings look at each other anxiously, unsure what to make of the statement, but they don't shoot him with their weird wind magic, so at least that's a start.

"I just want to help you. Not turn you in, I promise."

"I believe him," Behrad eventually says, lowering his hand and extingushing his magic.

"Behrad!"

"He's got a trustworthy face." The hardened freedom fighter veneer cracks with an easygoing smile. "Besides, you said he was giving you a run for your money."

"I did not."

"I definitely did not," William contributed. "It's been a while since I've gotten my ass beat that thoroughly. I'd like to learn from the master." See? He's still got some charm, even if she's not the usual person he likes to charm.

Zari scowls in response, but gives up, knowing she's outnumbered. "Fine. But that doesn't mean I trust you."

William smirks, before moving over to the computer to try and help. "I would expect nothing less."


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