DAC Issue 2: Closer Combat

Issue 2: Closer Combat is the second comic-styled episode in the Dark Archer Chronicles series. It began production on May 16, 2015. It centers around Malcolm Merlyn and his League fighting against the remainders of the Bannerless Legion forces in the Iron Temple and finding the Artifact in question, but this forces them into another challenge, one far greater then what they faced sofar.

Summary
Zambesi - Nyssa al Ghul, Malcolm Merlyn and Talibah were surrounded by dozens of monks, armed with spears and swords. Each of them raised their bow or Dao blade, and prepared to fight when one of the monks stepped forward, saying they have one chance to step away and leave. One arrow of Malcolm proved he had no chance of leaving peacefully and all three of them faced off against the dozens of monks, killing them one by one. Finally Malcolm and Nyssa left only the monk that stepped forward, alive. Talibah was hurt by swords and Nyssa orders one of their men inside to treat to her.

The captured monk revealed the legacy of the Iron Temple and the artifact being a gateway to different realms. Malcolm slices his hand off demanding to know where it is. The captured monk says he is Rael Rha'as, he will never tell him. Nyssa points them to a secondary door on the left and Malcolm kills the monk, by decapacitating him. Malcolm forces the door on the side open, and tells Nyssa and a group of assassins to go through and scout the area behind it. He then contacts a set of assassins in Starling City where they watch over Thea Queen, telling them to step up their protection.

Nyssa and her group go down on a staircase leading deeper into the ground. However in the staircase hidden traps kill various members of her group, leading her to only have three more assassins with her when she gets down entirely. The following hallway ends up in a opening into what is revealed to be a circular chamber, but the opening is the ceiling. She uses her scarf to descend down, but finds herself in rubbles of bones. A ritualistic symbol is carved in the ground. She tells her fellow assassins to contact Ra's, they found it. Openings appear in the room however, releasing gas in it, turning Nyssa into halucinating things including Sara Lance.

The assassin send by Nyssa, returns to the catacombs where Malcolm is waiting. He is informed by what they found and that Nyssa send him back up. Malcolm orders the assassin to lead him down there, but before they can do anything, the same gas that filled the room that Nyssa became exposed to, fills the chamber where Malcolm is in, and he begins hallucinating, and more severely then Nyssa, about things including a dead Thea Queen and his dead son Tommy Merlyn. He is led to believe that he kills reanimated monks now, but instead he kills the few assassins left standing with him.

A plane is flying towards the Iron Temple, and in it, Amanda Waller gives out orders to people in the shadows. She informs Task Force X has been activated again.

Trivia

 * The gas used here in this issue is inspired by the same gas the Scarecrow uses in Batman Begins.

Issues
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5