So, here is book two of Oliver Queen: Agent of SHIELD. The chapter is a little on the short side, I know, but it will get longer.

And, so everyone understands where we're at in the MCU timeline, the first chapter takes place four months after the events of the Avengers film.

SHIELD safe house

Afternoon

In the safe house that had acted as their base of operations for the last six months, Oliver Queen and Richard Dragon were sparing with Escirma sticks. Doing so reminded Oliver of all the times he and Slade would do so on Lian Yu but he couldn't get distracted by bittersweet memories.

As Dragon struck at him, with reaction speed that would have made Slade proud, Oliver whirled around, using his Escirma stick to block Dragon's. Dragon pushed back and Oliver stumbled back, barely managing to block some of Dragon's strikes. Oliver dodged Dragon's attempted blow to his head and grabbed his arm, throwing Dragon onto the floor.

"Huh," Dragon said as he stared up at Oliver. "I thought this was only supposed to be an Escirma stick only spar."

"An enemy wouldn't play by the rules. That what you're always telling me, right?" Oliver asked sarcastically and Dragon nodded.

"True enough. But you made one mistake," Dragon said, confusing Oliver. "You've left yourself wide open."

Before Oliver knew what had happened, Dragon had knocked Oliver onto his back and had one of his Escirma sticks at his throat.

"If I was the enemy, you'd be dead by now," Dragon said before pulling the stick away and standing up, offering Oliver a hand up. "Never let your guard down, even for a minute."

"Couldn't you teach me that in a way that doesn't have me falling on my ass?" Oliver asked sarcastically as he accepted Dragon's hand and the other man laughed as he helped Oliver up.

"Don't feel too bad, you've come a long way in the last six months," Dragon said and Oliver sighed.

"It's hard to feel good about that when we aren't getting anywhere with our mission," Oliver grumbled.

He had a point, Dragon mused. Once arriving in Russia and setting up shop in the safe house, the trio had looked into the transactions between Kang and his contact in Russia. They had traced it to a company that turned out to be a front for a government agency run by a man known as Konstantine Kovar. They had spent the last five months trying to find out why Kovar would be exchanging emails with Kang but after five months, they were no closer than the day they arrived.

"Oliver, I know you're frustrated, but you need to be patient. We'll find out the connection Kovar has with Kang and the Triad soon, I promise," Dragon said as he placed a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Bobbi's out checking on a lead right now."

Russia

Same time

Dressed in a tight, form fitting dress that made her feel like a hooker, Bobbi made her way through the bar. Seeing her target, she gave the man a wink. Feeling his eyes on her, she walked out the door and, like a moth drawn to the flame; he got out of his feet so fast he almost tripped over himself. He then followed her into the back alley and, before he knew what had happened, Bobbi had grabbed him in a neck lock and slammed him against the wall.

"There are five ways I can kill you before you could make a sound," Bobbi said as the man felt a cool blade against his side. "You want to live, do exactly as I say. You work for Kovar, don't you? Nod your head yes if you do."

Terrified, the man nods.

"Good. Now, I know Kovar is in contact with someone from America, someone who works for a company like Queen Consolidated. Why?" Bobbi demanded.

"Kovar, he has deal with Bratva, Russian mob," the man said in heavily accented English. "American contact is so he can pay his contact in Bratva."

"Who's the contact in the Bratva?" Bobbi demanded.

"I don't know, I swear," the man said in a panic.

"I believe you," Bobbi said after a moment, a hint of remorse entering her eyes. "And I'm sorry…but I can't chance that you'll tip off Kovar that I was asking around. No one can know."

Before the man could respond, Bobbi stabbed the man in his side before yanking the knife out all in less than five seconds. The man gasped in pain as Bobbi let him go. He fell to the ground; holding his side, which was gushing blood as he looked up at her. She looked at him regretfully before walking out as the man slumped to the ground, the fight leaving his eyes.

SHIELD safe house

Later in the afternoon

Oliver and Dragon were eating some lunch when Bobbi walked in. They could clearly see she was upset about something.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Oliver asked in concern as the pair stood up.

"I…interrogated one of Kovar's men," Bobbi said, hiding her emotions behind a blank mask. "Kang wasn't Kovar's only contact. He has someone in the Bratva working for him."

"Bratva, like the Russian mob?" Oliver asked and Bobbi nodded.

"Well, that's interesting," Dragon mused.

"Why?" Bobbi asked and both she and Oliver were confused and a bit unnerved by the smirk that crossed his face.

"Because Oliver has an old friend in the Bratva," Dragon said as he went over to the computer and started pushing buttons.

A holographic screen then appeared in the corner of the room. As Oliver and Bobbi turned to look at it, Oliver stared at it in disbelief.

"Anatoly?" Oliver breathed.

"Anatoly Knyazev is a Bratva Captain, next in line to be Pakhan should the current Pakhan fall," Dragon explained and was met with a blank state. "He'll be leader if the current leader meets an unfortunate end."

"Okay, but how does this help us get Intel on Kovar?" Oliver asked, not seeing it.

"We'll use your connection to Knyazev in order to have you infiltrate the Bratva, try and root out Kovar's men," Dragon said and Oliver stared at him stunned.

"Anatoly's my friend, I'm not gonna exploit him that way," Oliver protested immediately.

"Well if you have any other options, I'm all ears," Dragon said and there was a tense silence. "Oliver, this is the break we've been looking for. This is the lead that could get us to Kovar and to the people who went after your family."

"Oliver, I get it, he's your friend…but we all we have to do things we don't want to in this job. It's not always about what we want," Bobbi said and it was silent for a moment.

"Okay," Oliver finally said with a sigh. "Okay. What do I have to do?"