Chapter One: Oliver
My name is Oliver Queen. After five years on a hellish island, I have come home with only one goal: to save my city. But to do so, I can't be the killer I once was. To honor my friend's memory, I must become someone else. I must become something else.
Oliver Queen, under the guise of the Arrow - Starling City's vigilante/hero, stealthily dashed over rooftops as he tried to chase down a potential disaster in progress speeding through late night traffic.
"I just want to be clear," the voice of Felicity Smoak emanated from within Oliver's earpiece communicator, "It's not that I mind being up most nights to sunrise, but at least one night a week I do actually need more than two hours of sleep."
"Take it up with Diggle in the morning," Oliver replied as he leaped across an alleyway, "He can teach you his technique from the army for getting the most out of minimal sleep."
"And what's your technique?" Felicity asked as keyboard keys clicking could be heard over the comm-line.
"I lived on an island." Oliver answered flatly as he quickly scaled a utility ladder, "I'm nothing if not adaptable."
"While I would love to finish this conversation," Felicity started with a bit of sarcasm and a new intensity in her voice, "I feel like I should let you know that he's slowing down like he's meeting someone at the next intersection - another van which happens to have the same RFID signal is pulling up now."
"That can't be a coincidence." Oliver said as he launched a grappling arrow into the air, swung down and around a light pole and into the intersection where the two vans were meeting.
Oliver then drew an arrow with a timed explosive that would begin countdown when released from the bowstring, and - aiming the arrow at the space between the vans - called out under the guise his electronic growl, "Out of the vans, on the ground, now!"
The drivers of the two vans looked at each other across the intersection, then in unison opened their doors and stepped out onto the pavement. The driver on the right was someone Oliver was unfortunately familiar with - Benjamin Turner, AKA the Bronze Tiger, known ally of the local Chinese Triad. The driver of the van on the left was definitely new in town; the man had a wild look in his almost beetle-like black eyes, a shaggy mane of black hair and a beard to match, a sleeveless jacket modeled to look like a lion's pelt over Russian and American desert combat fatigues as well as body armor. The man also wore a belt, two straps across his chest, some sort of gauntlets on his wrists and anklets all loaded with potential weapons and resources, as well as carrying two rather large pistols at his sides and a rifle on his back.
"I seem to remember putting you away a few weeks ago." Oliver called out in his growl as Turner unsheathed his claw-like blade weapons from within his jacket.
"Prison didn't take," Turner answered, "And one doesn't have to look far in Starling for a friendly policeman."
"Who's your friend?" Oliver asked moving only his eyes to the newcomer who was now unsheathing two rather large knives from sheathes in the back of his belt.
"My name is Kraven." The man answered in a thick Russian accent, "You are prey. This conversation is over."
Before Oliver could respond, the man apparently named Kraven launched one of the knives at Oliver like a javelin with almost frightening accuracy and strength. Oliver barely had time to let his explosive arrow fly, move his bow to knock aside the knife and duck to avoid injury or worse before the explosion flipped the two vans onto their sides. Turner was thrown through the air over the intersection into a storefront window, Kraven used the force from the explosion to launch himself at Oliver with his remaining blade aimed right at Oliver's neck. Oliver brought his bow up to parry the blade and went to move himself out of the way - into a smoke cloud that Kraven had launched from a pellet on his belt. Oliver barely made it out of the cloud in time as he felt Kraven's fist flying over his (Oliver's) head and into the side of a light pole behind him. Before Oliver could make a move of his own, he heard police sirens coming down the road toward the scene as a few officers on foot came out of the nearby alleyways.
"Freeze!" An officer yelled as he came around one of the nearby buildings - past another officer arresting Tuner - with his gun aimed at the men in the intersection, "Weapons on the ground, hands in the air. Both of you!"
As Oliver and Kraven both slowly started to lower their weapons, Kraven swiftly grabbed a small throwing knife from one of the bandoliers on his chest and threw it with frightening speed almost all the way through the officer's neck.
"NO!" Oliver yelled in his growl as the officer grabbed at his neck and collapsed.
"This hunt is not over." Kraven's voice whispered in Oliver's ear as he whipped his head around.
Using another grappling arrow, Oliver launched himself up and out of the intersection and onto a nearby rooftop.
"Oliver, what's happening?" Felicity's voice came in after a patch of static, "I lost contact with you and cameras in the intersection for a few minutes there."
"Officer down, Turner's in custody," Oliver breathed, "And we have a new player in town."
(INSERT SEASON TWO ARROW TITLE CARD CLIP)
"Who was that guy?" Felicity asked as Oliver stepped into the foundry lair underneath Verdant.
"He called himself Kraven." Oliver replied as he set his bow in the glass class that had been custom made to store it, "He called me prey."
"Is this him?" Felicity asked as she turned from the three large computer monitors in front of her to gauge Oliver's response.
"Yeah, who is he?" Oliver asked as he looked at all the files Felicity was now pulling from who-knows-where.
"Well 'Kraven', or 'Kraven the Hunter,'" Felicity started as she typed and clicked through several pages and websites simultaneously on the monitor directly in front of her, "Is a mantel that gets passed down either to family members or those worthy of the name. The current Kraven is Alyosha Kravinoff. He has more than a hundred stints in about the same number of prisons around the globe: Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain, the U.S.; all of these arrests are the murders he's actually connected to, there are hundreds others that he's been tagged in but never fully proved. And you don't wanna know how many his father, uncle and sister have."
"Sounds you're gonna need all hands on deck for this guy." The voice of John Diggle sounded as he stepped into the lair behind Oliver.
"I thought you took the night off, Dig." Oliver said as he turned to the man.
"Couldn't sleep, heard the call for backup come in on the police scanner." He replied.
"Probably a good thing you did." Felicity drew their attention to the monitors, "It doesn't look like the Arrow is Kraven's only prey while he's in Starling."
A news bulletin on the monitor to Felicity's right showed eye-witness footage of a businessman being covered with a white tarp, but not before the camera could see a rather wicked looking knife protruding from the man's chest and what looked like some kind of cable wrapped around the man's wrists and ankles.
"Hogtied and everything." Diggle sighed in disbelief.
"Can you pull up anything more on Kravinoff or the family name?" Oliver asked.
"I can, but you're needed at work." Felicity replied as a notification popped up on the monitor to her left reading a text from Isabel Rochev - co-CEO of Queen Consolidated with Oliver - asking where he was.
"Dammit." Oliver said under his breath as he started taking of his gloves and grabbing his street clothes from earlier in the evening.
"What does she want at this hour?" Dig asked as he stepped to the monitor for a closer look.
"We are going over the latest stock numbers," Oliver replied flatly, "These figures take into consideration my mother's choice to run for mayor."
"Still not talking to her?" Felicity asked as she turned around in her chair.
"I can barely be in the same room with her, let alone holding a full conversation." Oliver answered curtly.
"You know, Oliver, I'm not one to defend your mother by any means," Dig said as he crossed his arms and leaned against the table, "But she is the only one you got."
Oliver stood in place took a deep breath, then looked Dig in the eye before replying, "That's what makes what she did even worse."
As Oliver walked out, his mind flashed back to the horrors of the island.
Shado was dead. Oliver couldn't tear his eyes away from her body as Sara sobbed behind him and Ivo still stood over them with a loaded gun.
"You have no one but yourself to blame for this, Oliver." Ivo gloated, "You made this choice."
Before Oliver could respond, what almost sounded like a battle cry was roared from the trees behind Ivo and his men - then Slade, with tears of blood running down his face, leaped over the hill and took out one of Ivo's men in one punch. The other men started firing on him, but Slade kept moving through them and their bullets as if he was made of steel. Ivo tried to get away, but not before Slade's hand shot out and practically broke the doctor's shoulder as he tried to escape.
"You're not going anywhere," Slade slowly said in his Australian accent almost in a growl, "My friends and I have a few words for you."
"Friends, huh?" Ivo asked through a wince of pain, "What kind of friends sacrifice others so that they live?"
Slade's eyes widened in horror before he turned to see Shado's body on the forest floor.
"What. Did. You. DO?!" Slade asked to no one in particular.
"Slade," Oliver croaked as he slowly stood, "Ivo posed it as a choice, he was waving the gun between Shado and Sara, I just didn't want anyone to die so I put myself between them and the gun, but he took the shot anyway."
Slade took a deep breath then turned to Ivo without looking him in the eyes.
"Is this true?" Slade almost whispered.
"No, no, no, he chose Sara." Ivo tried to reason with fear in his voice, "It was his choice, I just pulled the trigger."
"Slade, you called me brother," Oliver started with more confidence in his voice, "I am asking you, as a brother, what makes more sense? That I sacrificed Shado for someone I thought was dead, or that I would sacrifice myself so no one else would die?"
Slade blinked a few times, looked at Oliver then looked Ivo in the eyes.
"I've discovered something you may find interesting, doctor." Slade said as he adjusted his hand on Ivo's left shoulder and pressed Ivo's back against a tree, "The left shoulder is so close to the heart, that if one were to place their hand just so, they could feel the fresh heartbeat in the veins running through the shoulder. They could feel every rise and drop in heart-rate, especially when the person in question is lying."
Ivo's eyes widened as the realization was made. He then moved to put his pistol against Slade's head, but not before Slade grabbed the pistol with his freehand and crushed the barrel in his fist like it was made of putty.
"Your heart-rate and your actions have proven your guilt." Slade said slowly, "Thank you for making this much easier for me."
"No, Slade, wait-" Ivo started before being cut off by Slade pulling his body back and smashing it through the tree trunk repeatedly.
As Slade pulled Ivo's body back out of what was left of the trunk, the tree fell back away from the group and Slade through Ivo's body onto the ground.
"Oliver, Sara," Slade started somberly, "I would like some help burying Shado, but first please help me get whatever we can from Ivo and his men."
"Of course." Oliver replied quietly as Sara nodded while wiping the last of the tear stains off her face.
Back in the present, Oliver stepped into the main conference room of Queen Consolidated to find Isabel already waiting for him as she worked on a Windows tablet.
"Sorry I'm late." Oliver said in his best apologetic voice.
"Not at all," Isabel started as Oliver took his seat and set up the laptop he had brought with him, "Considering your former reputation as a playboy, and your current reputation of turning up anywhere fashionably late, I took the liberty of moving all of your calendar events and appointments up thirty minutes so that you are either somewhat early or right on time."
"Really?" Oliver asked before checking the time on his watch. "Huh. Thanks, I think."
As they began their work, Oliver got a text from Felicity telling him to turn on the nearest TV to the local news.
"Do you mind if I turn on the news?" Oliver asked, "I just need some background noise to help me focus."
"I suppose that's fine." Isabel answered in her typical voice that was perpetually laced with judgement.
Oliver reached for the remote, pressed the button that brought the large screen down from it's hidden slot in the ceiling, then turned on the local news channel.
"-has dropped another body." The female newscaster was stating, "Police and media are calling him 'Kraven the Hunter.' Police are baffled as to why this man is in Starling, but urge all citizens to remain cautious as he is professionally armed and extremely dangerous. This just in: police have evidence that the vigilante from New York City known as 'Spider-Man' is also in currently Starling City."
"I'm sorry, I gotta go take care of a family thing." Oliver stated drawing Isabel's attention from her work, "I have enough done that, as much as I haven't been here, should be enough that you feel comfortable doing the rest."
Isabel looked over the shared workspace on her screen to verify Oliver's statement before looking to him and merely nodding her consent for him to leave. Oliver grabbed his laptop, shut the lid and began a phone call all in one motion as he walked towards the elevator.
"Felicity," Oliver started as the elevator doors closed, "I need everything you can get and a location on him, now."
On the other side of Starling City, a figure swung off of a webline and used their meta-human abilities to stick to the wall of a skyscraper. The figure wore custom-made thin but practically indestructible soled red shoes, blue jeans, a red hooded zip-up vest with a spider printed on the front and back over a blue sweatshirt, a red beanie, custom-made black goggles with mirror-level reflective lenses, and a large, blue bandana tied around the bottom of the face to complete the mask.
The figure climbed the rest of way to the top of the building, then perched as they looked out on the city and pulled the bandana down for a breath of fresh air. Just as the figure took a breath with a devious smirk, a cell phone clipped to a bandolier hidden under the sweatshirt began to ring. Reaching up to the bluetooth earpiece hidden under the beanie to answer the call, the figure spoke.
"Hey, Aunt May." The man spoke in a voice that hadn't fully dropped yet, "Yeah, I'm fine, just visiting an old friend in Starling for a few days. It's nothing with you, I just needed to get out of New York for a bit. Don't worry about living arrangements, I'm staying with Felicity. Yeah, the one from college. Alright, love you too, I'll let you know when I'm coming home."
As the young man ended the call, a woman screaming for help could be heard a block away. Pulling the bandana back up and tightening it, the young man jumped from the side of the building towards the sound of danger as police sirens began to echo on the other end of the very long street.
END CHAPTER ONE