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NARITA, JAPAN
Silver Siren
I follow the good guys from behind as we walk in the airport. We continue to walk in and walk through a private security line that Drake got due to his high status. I guess Celebrities don’t get the peasant treatment. They don’t put us through any metal detectors letting us automatically in trusting us with no weapons. Big mistake.
I smile at the security guard casually, playing a role as a normal person as he looks at me up and down curiously. “Didn’t know you had a twin Mr.Lance.” I hear the American security guard fully recognize me as I’ve made as much changes to me. “Not identical thought.” The guard laughs and I scoff still playing the role as Drake looks back at me with a smile.
“Careful, he bites.” Drake says teasing me and I roll my eyes.
“I didn’t eat breakfast today.” I say with a bright smile, and a soft chuckle. The guard laughs at me as I charm him and we are let into the terminal area of the airport. As we walk together, Slade walks besides me and I stop playing the role as the sweet and innocent.
“Let me buy some water. You guys wanna come with?” I hear Drake and the rest of them nod, while I don’t respond. I become uninterested and take out a pair of sunglasses from my bag and put them on to hide my face from being embarrassingly recognized as Drake again. “You want anything Silver. I’ll pay.” Drake offers me nicely and I shake my head, as they all go into a shop together.
I stand outside the shop, looking around the magazine stands that stand outside of the shop. I look at the Japanese fashion magazines, seeing celebrities on the covers of them. As my eyes begin to look at all the covers I find one with Drake on the cover and chuckle at it. I pull it out, wanting to take a look and flip through the magazine wanting to find his article and photoshoot.
There was a time where I modeled to play a role.
I find his photoshoot finally, and see the black and white photos of him with his Black Canary jacket. He flexes his iconic Black Canary jacket shirtless with a pair of jeans, in his black underwear, his PJs, etc. The whole point of the shoot is to prove that his jacket, and his identity as Black Canary is who he is truly. I think about myself, and I begin to realize that’s what makes us the same.
I stop looking at the magazine and close it, stuffing it back into a random place in the stand. I look at the three of them back in the shop talking, distracted from reality and look around for anyone who might look suspicious. I spot two dark haired guys laughing in the corner by the medicine area in the shop, as they can’t seem to make up what stupid systems they have. I spot a blonde female who seems like she is no threat with her son by her side. A business man figure answering an important call, while paying for his magazine and a couple of snacks. Can never leave eyes from your shoulder, that’s what I learned the most while being a Black Wolf. Hell, if it was up to me, I’d like to be called The Black Wolf instead of a silly name like Silver Siren.
As I look around I spot a man walking down the airport who resembles a lot like someone I knew in my Earth. Papa. I stare at him as he wears an opened button dark brown long sleeve v-neck, dark blue slim fitting jeans, and a luggage that he rolls around. I watch him walk and I begin to look how much he resembles to my Papa. This is what it must feel like to see someone you know.
He walks past me entering the duty free section of the airport and I look back at the team. They seem safe and I walk away from the shop following my Papa doppelgänger. I follow him into the duty free section where I’m greeted by a bunch of women and men standing by makeup/cologne/perfume stands trying to sell their products to me. I look around as I’ve lost my Papa but then look again one more time to find him standing behind a wall, by a J’adore Dior stand.
I slowly walk up to the stand acting interested in the advertisement of the golden goddess model with the Dior perfume. I stand close to Papa as he doesn’t notice me and I watch him spray the perfume on a piece of paper. He wiggles the piece of paper around and I begin to wonder who it could be for. Papa on my Earth had nobody except the Soviet Union, he was all alone without any real family. I was it, I was all that he ever cared for.
He stops waving the piece of paper in the air smelling the sweet but balmy scent of the perfume. “Does that smell good?” I ask nicely, being curious as I take my sunglasses off, pulling it back into my long platinum blonde hair. Papa looks at me curiously and he hesitates to find words. He recognizes me?
“Sorry, I don’t speak English.” He says with a thick Russian accent making hand gestures to say the words. I make a small smile as he sounds just like him and he smiles back at me.
“Я спросил, хорошо ли пахнет? / I asked if that smells good.” I repeat in my fluent native Russian tongue and he looks at me confused, and shocked to see me reply to him.
“Ты говоришь по-русски? Вы звучите нативно. / You speak Russian? You sound native.” He says shocked and I chuckle. This man seems nothing like him, they act different. As I look at the man I see a wedding ring on his finger and I feel comforted about Papa’s life on this Earth. This is the life he would’ve wanted. “Это для моей жены. Наша годовщина приближается. / It’s for my wife. Our anniversary is coming up.” He tells me continuing to smell the scent on the piece of paper. “Понюхай. / Smell it.” He says handing me the strip and I take a smell of it and I smell the strong floral hints.
“Вкусно пахнет. Как долго вы женаты? / Smells good. How long have you two been married?” I ask giving him back the piece of paper and he picks up the packaged box of the perfume.
“28 лет, у нас есть сын и дочь вместе. / 28 years, we have a son and daughter together.” He says with a big smile and this is nothing like Papa. Papa never was the one to commit to a life like that. He fantasized about it if we won the war, made bets with his comrades that he would if we won. Papa was committed to being a soldier, fighting for the Soviet Union, while caring for me and raising me to be the strongest. I never would disappoint Papa, not now, and not ever.
Towards the end when Stalin died and The Soviet Union fell, Papa became a drunk. The war ended, and it was over for many of us. A lot of us moved on, others not so much.
A man that spent his entire life fighting for what he believed in, to losing it all broke him.
There were mornings I’d come back from the mission to find him passed out on the floor. Empty bottles of vodka by his side. Open bottles of pills emptied or spilt on the floor. He lost his reputation, his honor, and dignity. I spent a lot of my time taking care of him, giving him the same unconditional love he gave me when he saved me. Until I couldn’t.
“Позволь мне показать тебе. / Let me show you.” The papa doppelgänger says pulling out his phone and I begin to lose interest in this. I wave my hand lightly, disregarding the idea.
“поздравления. Я только что вспомнил, что мне нужно добраться до ворот, скоро начнется посадка. / Congratulations. I just remembered that I have to get to my gate, boarding is gonna start soon.” I say dissing him lightly and he takes it softly. He understands and smiles lightly. “Ты должен купить ей это. / You should buy her that though. I’m sure she’ll like it.” I say walking away from him as this maybe wasn’t the right thing to do. I begin to feel something inside of me, disappointment? Upset? Empty? I’ve never felt this way about anything in my life. I was trained not to feel.
“Спасибо, безопасных путешествий! / Thanks, safe travels!” He says and I begin to feel the emotions grow stronger and as I walk back, I don’t watch where I go and bump into someone. I play it off scared but then realize the person who I bumped into.
“Who was that?” Drake says in a serious tone starring at Papa. I look back at Papa and see him check out the perfume and I look back at Drake not caring anymore. I put my sunglasses back on, hiding my face with them as Drake continues to stare at Papa as if he recognizes him. He will never.
“Someone I thought I knew.” I tell him walking around, and as I do, I spot the same two dark haired men from the little shop, standing together leaning against a wall as they look directly at us. As I look at them, they turn away and I begin to suspect them. Not a coincidence.
“C’mon we need to get going, the pilot is here already.” Drake tells me and I walk away with him, joining with the others. All four of us walk together to a private area of the airport once again, and as we walk, I stare at all the reflections seeing the same two dark haired men follow us from a distance.
“We have visitors.” I say softly as Slade overhears me and turns his head towards me confused as he doesn’t believe me. These are Joe’s men, and they’re not afraid to make a scene. We get into a more private area without so many watching as we begin to walk towards the hangar and I decide to make the move as I still catch them following us. “Can I have a gun now?” I ask Drake as I’m not armed with anything and we all stop as they stare at me.
“What is with you and your poor listening skills.” Drake scolds me and I stare at him seriously tilting my head. “No way.” He says in a more serious tone and I roll my eyes.
“Then you all should turn around now.” I advise them as I look directly at the two dark haired men walking towards us with their guns out. Play time. Slade quickly pulls out his gun, turning around and shoots down one and Sara throws a ninja star at the other.
They all look at me relieved, finally believing in me and trusting me. It’s starting to get annoying when nobody can trust you fully. “I’m sure there’s more of them.” Slade says stating the obvious as he knows his men so well.
“We should really get going then.” Drake says and we begin to walk towards the hangar spotting the jet inside with the hangar doors open. Drake makes a fist, Sara pulls out her stick, Nyssa takes out a small blade, and Slade takes out his gun. I’ll watch.
As we walk into the hangar, there’s no sign of anyone and I get suspicious. We walk into the jet and as we do, we find our pilot dead sitting in the chair. Everyone stares at him dead and I push him to the side, throwing his body out of the plane. Weight we don’t need. We stand together in the plane as I hear cars, sounds like 2 driving towards us and I know this will be fun.
“May I please have a gun now?” I ask again, but this time nicely to Drake.
“No, and you’re really starting to irritate me by asking.” Slade scolds me instead and Drake looks at Slade
“If he wanted to kill us he would’ve done so many times already. Just give him the god damn gun.” Drake says meanly to Slade trusting in me more and I give Drake a small smirk. Slade hesitates to trust me and Sara and Nyssa begin to get frustrated as their silly little weapons won’t take down these men as fast as I can. They all don’t know what’s coming.
“We don’t have time to figure out if we like him or not!” Sara shouts as she must’ve heard the cars coming and Slade rolls his eyes.
“Fine, whatever. Take it.” Slade gives me his gun and I know he’s packing more on him. One isn’t enough. I take out my other hand gesturing for one more.
“Can I have a second one please?” I ask in a sweet voice and Slade looks at me crazy.
“Two guns at once? That’s kinda lame.” Slade says handing me the second gun and I smile. “Now can we leave?” Slade says and Drake quickly gets into the pilot seat going to fly.
“Too late.” I say walking out the plane loading the gun as I see the two black SUVs park in front of us. Sara and Slade walk behind me for backup and I raise the guns in the air beginning to shoot as the 6 men walk out of the cars. I shoot down all the men injuring them, and not killing them to make these good guys happy.
“Okay, that was kinda hot.” Sara says complimenting me and I look back at her with a small smirk.
“We need to go.” I say getting back on the plane and they follow me in. I close the door and I watch Drake and Slade get in the pilot seats trying to figure out how to move the plane. I don’t have time for amateur hour.
“Move.” I say pulling Slade out of the pilot seat and get on it. I turn the switches and devices on, knowing what to do as it was part of my training. I begin to move the plane all on my own and Drake watches me surprised as he’s not doing in anything. I watch more black SUVs drive towards us and Slade has an entire army sent to kill us.
“I’ll take care of them.” Drake says leaving the pilot seat, and Slade sits down, replacing him. I begin to accelerate the speed of the jet as I get on the runway, and the SUVs continue to follow. I hear the door to the plane open, and I look behind me to see Drake putting his head out the door.
“SCCREEEEEEEEEEEEE.” He screams loudly and I go faster in the plane, as the plane begins to lift off the ground. Drake manages to scream at the SUVs crushing the mercenaries in them and goes back in, closing the door.
“You know the way?” Drake asks me and I shake my head obviously as I don’t know where we even are going.
“I’ll take it from here.” Nyssa commands me as she seems to know how to manage a plane. I get up from the pilot seat, and she replaces me as it’s just her and Slade flying. I walk out of the cockpit, taking a seat in the back of the plane and relax as I look out the clouds and skies.
_____
Drake Lance
“You still trust him?” Slade doubts me talking about Silver Siren and I ignore him. Silver saved our lives, three times in the last 15 minutes. Of course I trust him, I know there is good in him. I know there is more to him than what he thinks he is.
“You’re talking like we trust you either.” Sara says countering Slade’s comment and she’s right. Slade shouldn’t be the one talking so bad about Silver Siren. “We’re not forgetting the time you tried to destroy Star City, and kill us all in the past.” Sara brings up again making the point clear for him to understand and walks away to sit down by a window.
Slade looks at me and then looks away as he expects me to defend him, and I won’t. Sara is right, and if he’s going to paint Silver Siren like the threat, we might as well paint him like the threat he is. I believe everyone has something good in them, I’m just not sure if I do anymore.
I walk away from the cockpit and stare at Silver Siren in the back of the plane and I decide to sit by him. I walk up to him as he seems to be daydreaming while staring out of the window. I sit in front of him and he doesn’t budge wanting to give me attention. Maybe it’s better that way.
“That man at the airport. You looked like you knew him.” I say wanting to find out more about Silver Siren and he lifts his head off the window and looks at me. “But he didn’t know you. Who was he?” Silver says and chuckles with a small smirk.
“How can you be so naive?” Silver changes the subject ignoring what I said and I let it slide. Some things are better left unsaid. I give him my attention as he stares at Slade in the cockpit from behind me and also at Nyssa. “You have the most dangerous man on Earth, the most wanted woman in 7 countries, and an ex-KGB agent from another Earth for hire.” Silver says reading Slade, Nyssa and himself.
“Because sometimes people change.” I tell him the truth and he scoffs looking away.
“Don’t you ever get tired of being a hero?” He says and if the most blunt person believes, I’m a hero, then maybe I am. I just need to believe it for myself.
“I’m not a hero, I’m a fraud.” I tell him the honest truth.
“Being a hero is about giving a shit, and doing something about it.” He tells me his truth, and he’s right about the hero stuff.
“So does that make you a hero?” I counter his little argument. “You gave a shit about us, and you made it pretty clear.”
“I gave a shit because I want to live.” He makes his point loud and clear for me to understand and I get it. He’s a survivor. It gets quiet between us as we have nothing interesting to talk about and I watch him go back to staring out into the window. “Joe is going to kill me, I just know.”
“I won’t let him. I promise.” I reassure him because I’m done losing people. He looks at me with a small smile as if he’s about to laugh, holding it back. He shakes his head leaning back on the window. “After we win, I’ll take you back to Earth-2.” I say as I know these next 5 months will be hell. If I survive this, I can move out of Star City, settle in the cabin and start my normal and real life with Ollie and our child.
“This isn’t about winning. It’s about surviving.” Silver speaks up as he talks from deep down. “The whole point of Pandora’s box is that once you open it, you can’t ever close it again. And when everything is over, and the worst has happened. There is still one thing left in Pandora’s box.”
“-Hope.” I say as I turn on my phone to see a message from my surrogate as she is in a city far away from Star City. I made sure of that, so that she’d never be in harm’s way. As I open the message of my surrogate’s I see an ultrasound photograph of my daughter.
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