Chapter 21: The Demolitionist and a Glimmer of Hope
The air in the Arrow Cave was thick with the scent of fear and burnt electronics. Felicity, usually a whirlwind of optimistic energy, was biting her lip, her fingers flying across her keyboard with a frantic pace. Oliver was slamming his fist into a punching bag with enough force to splinter wood, the rhythmic thump-thump-thump a grim soundtrack to their current predicament. John Diggle stood in the corner, arms crossed, his face a mask of stone.
Adam, meanwhile, was sipping a lukewarm coffee, staring at the schematic of a recently-detonated bomb. He couldn't help but make a joke to himself.
"Okay, so we have a brooding archer, a perpetually worried hacker, a stoic tank, and a guy who thinks he's a video game protagonist. It's like a superhero version of The Breakfast Club, but with a lot more leather and way less dancing. The villain of the week is a bomber, because apparently, in Starling City, subtlety is a foreign language. What's next? A villain who floods the city with bad puns? I think I'd be the only one who could stop that."
A series of bombings had been plaguing the city, each one more powerful and more precise than the last. The police were baffled, the media was in a frenzy, and the team was at a dead end. Oliver, in particular, was taking it hard. He saw every explosion as a personal failure.
"We're always one step behind," Oliver growled, his voice a low rumble. "We can't find a pattern, we can't predict his next move."
Adam, with his pop-culture knowledge and a well-hidden smirk, knew exactly where to find a pattern. He knew the bomber was using a specific chemical signature, a telltale sign that he had used in his previous attacks. He also knew Oliver needed a little nudge, a little push in the right direction. He had a mission to complete, after all.
[Mission: Stop The Demolitionist.]
"Okay, Guido. 'Stop The Demolitionist.' Vague, but I'll take it. But how? My new Poison Gu isn't exactly a bomb-defusing tool. I can't just... sneeze on the bomb and hope it stops ticking. I'll have to get creative. And Oliver's brooding isn't helping. I need to give him a bit of a pep talk. A sarcastic, pop-culture-infused pep talk. It's my specialty."
He walked over to Oliver, who was still punching the bag with the force of a small truck. "Hey, O-man. Take a break. You're going to break the bag, and then Felicity will have to order a new one, and that'll just add to her stress-induced rambling."
Oliver stopped, his chest heaving. "This isn't a game, Adam. People are getting hurt."
"I know, I know," Adam said, a serious expression on his face. "But brooding isn't a valid form of reconnaissance. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack by angrily staring at the hay. You're just making yourself more tired."
He then subtly used his B-Rank Hope Gu. It wasn't a mind-control Gu; it was a Gu that subtly influenced hope, that made people feel a little more optimistic, a little more confident. He just gave Oliver a little mental nudge, a little whisper in the back of his mind.
Oliver's face softened a little. "You're right," he said, a look of grim determination replacing the grim frustration. "We need a new approach. What do you have?"
Adam smiled. "I have a theory. And a new, very non-lethal use for my Poison Gu."
He explained his plan: he would use his C-Rank Poison Gu on the remnants of the last bomb, not to create a toxic cloud, but to analyze the chemical signature. The Gu would act as a kind of high-tech chemical sensor, giving him a complete breakdown of the bomb's components. He then used his meta-knowledge to cross-reference the components with a list of known chemical suppliers, a list that only he knew.
After a few minutes, he had his answer. He had a name, a location, and a motive. He had The Demolitionist.
[Mission Complete. The Demolitionist stopped.]
[Reward: B-Rank Explosive Gu and 1,500 Coins.]
[Gu Acquired: B-Rank Explosive Gu.]
[Coins Acquired: 1,500.]
Adam felt a new, powerful buzzing sensation in his gut. The Explosive Gu. A Gu that could subtly influence explosions, that could make him a master of demolition and demolition-related humor. A sarcastic, pop-culture-obsessed master of demolition.
"An Explosive Gu! This is going to be so much fun. I can finally create a fake explosion to mess with Oliver. Or a fake explosion to mess with Diggle. The possibilities are endless. I'm an explosive-bender now. A very, very sarcastic explosive-bender. It's a good look for me."
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