THE RISE OF THE RED ARROW

Chapter One

Welcome to Paragon

After all that happened with Calculator, Roy Harper decided it was time again for a move. After being saved in Star City by team Arrow, Roy decided to leave his life in Hub City and find a new one. After hitch hiking far, he had finally made it to the large city of Paragon.

Paragon was bigger then Star City, which Roy was grateful for because all he wanted to do was blend in and not be known by anyone. His days as Arsenal were over. He wanted to live a normal life, keep his head down, and stay out of trouble. To start, or restart, his normal life, the first thing Roy would need, is a job.

Upon entering Paragon, Roy paid a couple dollars at a news stand for the local Newspaper. Typically he would have done his job searching online, but he didn't yet have a computer, so he would have to do it old school. With the help of Felicity, Roy had found a real small and cheap apartment on the outskirts of Paragon. Now that he had a place to live, he needed to find a job. In the help wanted section, Roy saw an ad out for a car mechanic, and he knew this was the perfect job.

It was a cold winter afternoon, as Roy found himself standing in front of Alan's Automotive Shop. It had a very "hole in the wall" repair spot vibe to it, which Roy was excited to see. The hole in the wall places never ask questions, and this part of town reminded Roy of his home back in the Glades.

The young man walked into the shop and found the front desk. There was a mammoth of a man working the cash register. He had a buzz cut, blond hair, intense hazel eyes, and muscles upon muscles on his body. When it was Roy's turn in line, the man looked down at him and very gruffly spoke, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could talk to the owner of this place about getting a job." Roy spoke, still taking a moment to appreciate how large this fellow was.

"The name's Alan Trevit." The mechanic spoke, "And I run this place….so feel free to start talking."

"Well I have experience with cars and have worked at several mechanic spots over the country." Roy replied. "I've heard I am a hard worker and a quick learner..."

"Hmm..." Alan thought as he scratched his chin and scruffy face. "As it turns out we just had to let one of our own go earlier this week, so there's an opening. You look like you'd be good under a hood, but I don't got time to deal with punks….got it? I'm former military so I run a tight ship around here. If you're good with being on time and working hard, I got a job for you. You can start tomorrow/"

"Just like that?" Roy asked, surprised that there wasn't any kind of application process or anything.

"Yeah, what'd you expect kid?"

"I don't know..." Roy responded a bit dumbfounded. "I mean, that's great!"

"Seven AM sharp tomorrow, don't be late." Alan said as he turned and walked away from Roy. As he left, Roy noticed the man had all kinds of tattoos and scars all over his body.

"Maybe he has a past too." Roy thought to himself, "It's good to work under a guy that doesn't want people checking into him as well."

That night Roy laid on his mattress in his barren and dark room thinking. This would be his third attempt at trying to have a normal life and staying under the radar, and he hoped it would work out this time. He was tired of being on the run. He missed home, but Roy knew he couldn't return to Star City. He wanted this place to become a new home, because he was beginning to forget what that felt like.

Roy's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crashing noise heard from outside. Roy jumped out of his bed and listened to see if he could hear more. There was yelling, and some kind of commotion, so without thinking twice, Roy threw on his red hoodie (because it was cold outside, of course), and left his apartment.

Outside and down the stairs, Roy saw three men in black leather coats pushing around a young man, while a little girl was watching in horror. The man being beaten had thick glasses, shaggy brown hair. He was shorter, and definitely appeared defenseless.

"Are you getting our message, Nerd?" One of the thugs spoke, as he kicked the man in the stomach. "Do you read us loud and clear?"

"Hey!" Roy yelled, as he hopped down the staircase and landed on the ground, pulling his red hood over his face. "He seems a bit distracted right now. Why don't you share the message with me and I'll see if I can pass it along to him later"

"Don't try to be a hero, kid." One of the ruffians pointed at Roy and yelled, "It won't end well for you."

"There's being a hero..." Roy spoke, "And then there is teaching a few low lifes a lesson...they are very different. I'm no hero, but I'll make you wish one came for you!"

At this, the three men got off the hurting man in the glasses and rushed towards Roy swinging. With ease, Roy dodged the punches and sent a few of his own in their direction. He knocked one man in the chest and threw him into the wall. To another, he kicked square in the face and knocked him to the ground. The third pulled out a switchblade and slashed at Roy, who quickly disarmed the man and hit him hard in the throat knocking his wind out.

The three thugs fought for a little bit, but then realizing they were wildly outmatched started to run away from the alley the apartments were located on.

"You just wait, you worthless punk!" One of the men yelled back, "Ain't nobody mess with the Wolf Pack like this and gets away with it! You just signed your death certificate! You hear me! You're DEAD Man! D...E...D... DEAD!"

"Yeah," Roy spoke casually as the thugs retreated, "Here's to hoping you kill people as good as you spell." He then remembered about the young man who was getting beat up, and Roy turned his attention to him. "Hey man, are you okay?"

"Yes..." The man spoke, as he put his glasses back on his face and stood up, brushing the dirt off his kacki's. Based off his dirtied up white dress shirt and slacks, he clearly was coming home from work from an office job. "Thank goodness for you coming here when you did….Those bullies might have hurt my sister if I didn't step in, but you saw how good that was..."

"What was their beef with you?" Roy asked, helping the man to his feet, as the little girl ran and hugged her brother.

"They...They just want me to do some things I don't want to do." He spoke as he looked at Roy for the first time. "So um….Are you new to the complex?"

"Yeah..." Roy said, "My name is Roy Harper….and I just moved in today."

"Nice to meet you Roy!" The young man spoke, "My name is Eric Sanders, and this is my baby sister Lilly!"

Lilly reached her hand out to shake Roy's. The car mechanic couldn't help but smile at her cuteness. She had soft brown hair in pigtails and was wearing a pink shirt and jeans. She spoke to him. "Wow! You really kicked butt! Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"I used to get beat up too..." Roy said as he started to walk back to his apartment. "But I had a friend show me how to dish it back to the people who really deserve it."

"Hey wait a minute!" Eric called out to Roy as he began to go back upstairs. Roy stopped and turned around, "Me and Lilly….we live in that apartment next door to you….If you uh, need anything….don't be afraid to ask! Maybe we'll have you over for dinner some time."

"That'd be nice." Roy said as he continued to walk up the stairs. Roy was doing his best to smolder the rush of adrenaline he had received from roughing up those jerks. Everything in him wanted to run back out into other alleys in Paragon and find more thugs that needed roughing up and give it to them. But Harper knew that if he was going to have any chance of a normal life, he'd need to leave his Vigilante ways behind. This was a one time fluke, and not something he planned on repeating.

Or so he thought.