Roy Harper woke with a start. It was the nightmare again. The same one. He was looking down at the man, seeing his broken bloody form, and yet, he could stop himself. Again and again and again his fist came down connecting with the man. His jaw, his stomach, his kidneys. All the vital organs, hit with precision; precision he had been trained. He had used the skills that Oliver had taught him to end another human's life. He was a monster. The mirakuru may have been in his system, but Roy knew that if it had been Oliver, the Green Arrow was too strong of mind to allow a drug to force him to kill and Roy wasn't strong enough. He was a failure.
He glanced at his clock beside the bed, the green lit display showed 4:27. Roy rolled over with a groan. He knew that no matter what he tried, he wasn't going back to sleep. Instead he took a breath and began to slowly extricate himself from the tangle of sweaty sheets and groped the floor for his boxers, sweat pants, and his favourite red hoodie. In the dark, he found one sock and in submission he flicked the light on. The light was harsh; he squinted at the floor of his small bedroom hoping to locate the other sock. Once found, he pulled on his runners and left the small, musty apartment. Once outside, he began with breathing exercises, expanding his lungs, and removing the old air from within, he slowly started to stretch his stiff muscles and loosen his body, preparing it for impact. Complete, he bent to the pavement, took three short deep breaths and lunged forward sprinting.
Roy Harper ran through the Glades in the dark, watching the morning sky lighten, feeling the dew dissipating. He finally reached the Bay and watched the sunrise over the Starling skyline. During the day, the City didn't seem so dark, so poison. It had a brightness to it, a hope that Roy liked. He glanced at his watch again, 5:12. Roy thought he would go past the 'Arrow Cave' to get a head start on his work outs, now that he was warmed up. He jogged towards Verdant in a kind of haze, he would have to tell Oliver that he was having the dream still. It was a matter of safety. If he was distracted, or tired, he wasn't being the partner Green Arrow needed.
He headed down to the bunker taping his hands as he went, and headed for the practice dummy. He stretched his arms over his head and over his body, then grounded his stance. Then from the darkness, higher than expected came a voice.
"So, do I call you 'Red Arrow'?"