A/N: Hey everyone! If you stayed tuned for this sequel, thanks so much. I understand if you didn't want to wait because of my track record with updating. College is killer and when I finally have time to write, I have no desire to because of all the papers and essays. I am trying my damndest to update for all of you so thank you for being so patient with me!
A New Life
Chapter 1
Two Years Later….
Walking down the street, Kayla was smiling on her way to class. The past two years had been the best of her life. She had no run ins with other "Meteor freaks" or anything else that usually tried to kill her. She was studying business administration and with how many hours she took every semester, she was due to graduate early and she couldn't be more excited.
She had one last class before she had an internship interview. Since she had one of the highest GPA's at her college in Star City, she was in the running to be the right hand man, or in her case woman, of the CEO of Queen Industries, Oliver Queen. It was the internship of a lifetime. Even if you didn't get the job after graduating with Queen Industries, you were basically guaranteed any other job out there.
She hadn't really talked to Clark though she knew he was trying to find her. Chloe had called her multiple times but when Kayla told her why she had to leave, Chloe understood and said she wouldn't tell Clark. She needed this and she was finally finding herself although one problem remained. She had taken to wearing sunglasses and never took them off unless she was alone.
People tended to stare when they saw her different eyes mixed with the horrific scar on her face and she was tired of being judged based on that. The only time she took them off was when she was alone, or at night when her other persona took over. The press had named her "Angel" for her wings and her way of protecting women and children from muggings and rapes leaving the offenders unconscious at the steps of the police station.
She had to come up with a plan on how to be Angel and an intern and a college student without overloading herself if she got the job. Her class lasted about an hour and her hand was, once again, cramped from how much the professor demanded the class write. She hurried back to her apartment to shower and get ready for her interview. She put her hair in a very elegant updo, as she hadn't cut it except to trim it at certain intervals, and it was very long.
She put on a pair of black dress pants with a cream colored blouse and made her way to the street. She was headed to interview with the CEO himself and she couldn't be more nervous. One of her professors appointed her for the internship and she knew what this could do for her resume so she couldn't screw this up. She reached into her bag and pulled her sunglasses out. She did not need to scare a potential boss.
She walked into the building and told the lady at the front desk where she was headed. She was handed a visitor's pass and the woman gestured to the elevator telling her to take it to the top floor. At the last minute before the elevator arrived, she felt her nerves break loose and she had to get a hold of her breathing. At the last second, she took her hair down and put it in front of the left side of her face. Her insecurities won out again but she would curse herself later. Right now, she had a job to get.
When the elevator doors opened, she slid her sunglasses up onto her nose, threw her shoulders back and walked with as much confidence as possible back to the desk of the secretary.
"Kayla Sanders. I have an appointment with Mr. Queen." She told the lady but a voice rang out behind her causing her to flinch and turn.
"Mr. Queen was my father, but until we get to know each other better, it'll do." A man with sandy blonde hair said. Kayla had to stop her jaw from dropping as she took advantage of having sunglasses on. He had high cheek bones and a chiseled jaw. His smirk did things to her she refused to admit existed. Running her eyes down, she knew he was built and lean under the designer clothes he wore. "Please, Ms. Sanders, come in." He moved out of her way and motioned her into his office.
She gulped lightly before walking forward into his office. 'My god…' she thought. His office was huge. It had a flat screen bigger than she thought they were made on one end with chairs and love seats scattered around small tables. Then there was his desk. It screamed money. The dark mahogany wood looked so smooth and the detail on it was so intricate it had to have been hand carved. It shouted money and she immediately resented it. Her grandparents had been killed because they had money so she didn't want what they gave her.
He walked past her and motioned to a chair in front of his desk.
"Please, have a seat." He looked uncomfortable being so formal it seemed but she shook it off and sat down in the chair he motioned to. "Please tell me about yourself."
"I um…" She thought for a minute. "I am attending the local university studying business administration…"
"Boring." He said and she balked at his rudeness as he just started signing papers. "That's what everyone else is going to say that is in the running. Where do you come from? Before you moved to Star City." He didn't even look up and she just tilted her head. This man was seriously rude! But she needed this job so she just shook it off.
"I'm originally from Smallville, Kansas." She said with a cough. "I've lived on two farms, one in Smallville and one in Nashville, Tennessee. My grandparents used to raise show horses. They were Tennessee Walking Horses." She felt herself loosening up as she thought about her life. She didn't notice Oliver Queen look up from his papers to smile at her as he continued listening. "I had chores I had to do every day before school and every day after. We had cattle as well." She coughed again as she skipped the bad memories. "I had my own pony that I took care of until she got sick. I graduated high school early at the age of 16. I moved to Smallville and attended a community college there."
"Yeah, I noticed you didn't finish there." He popped up picking up her resume she sent in.
"Unforeseeable circumstances came up and I decided not to go back." Kayla said looking at the ground as her jaw clenched at the unwanted memories flowing through her brain. "Then I moved here to get a new start and I love it here." She leaned back in the chair relaxing with a smile on her face.
"Well, I'm still stuck on how you quit college the first time. I'm concerned about your work ethic. I mean… this is a big job." Oliver said with a straight face and Kayla couldn't hold her anger. She stood up and pulled her hair back and saw his eyes widen upon seeing her scar.
"I was almost raped by my professor and he gave me this among a couple other scars to live by so yes I quit. I couldn't walk into that building after what he did to me! Do your homework before jumping to conclusions, Mr. Queen. Have a nice day." She said with pure venom in her voice. She stalked out after grabbing her bag and waited on the elevator. "Oh my god what did I just do?" She felt her breathing pick up when it caught up to her brain what she just said to the CEO and owner. She walked into the elevator in a complete stupor looking at the ground.
Right before the doors could close, a hand caught them and her head shot up to see Oliver Queen himself standing there holding the doors open with a serious look on his face. 'Here we go,' she thought as she braced herself for the onslaught of insults.
"No one ever talks to me like that." He said with a really intense look on his face before he walked into the elevator and pressed a button for a floor. "Since I'm heading there, do you have the information pay roll needs?" She swore she was going to get whiplash from how much her head was snapping around in the last few minutes.
"Uh… I got the job? After the temper tantrum I just pulled?" Kayla asked thoroughly confused. He shrugged with a nonchalant face.
"I like someone who can stand up for themselves no matter the cost. Shows me how committed you can be." He smiled at her and she swore she almost melted into a puddle on the floor. Maybe this was a bad idea but she REALLY needed this job. "So… is that a yes or no to the job? I have other applicants waiting you know." He said almost sarcastically.
"Oh! Uh yeah of course I'll take the job!" She said holding her hand out to shake his which he eagerly reciprocated. "When do I start?"
"How about next week after your finals?" He asked and she looked surprised. "What? I know a lot about you." He got off the elevator and waited for her to follow him which shot her into action and she started walking after a slight jump. They got to a conference room where there were a crap ton of forms to fill out. She sat there wondering if she were ever going to finish while he just sat his happy ass in that chair chewing on an apple.
She finally put her pen down and gave him her ID and her birth certificate for her I-9 form and sat to wait while he made copies. She wondered why the owner of a company would be doing all of this himself. When he came back in, he had a PDA and a tablet that he had programmed for what her job entailed.
"Wait… you already have a secretary. What does the assistant do?" She asked as she followed him back to the elevator going through her new gadgets as they walked.
"You go with me everywhere. You fix what she messes up and most of all…" He turned to look at her. "You cover my ass because I'm going to need it." He rode to the bottom with her where they traded out her visitor's badge for her own access card to the building. "Also, you will make reports and update them to me biweekly about how the company is doing. And you have the pleasure of keeping me company through the ever droll board meetings. Any questions?" He turned to her when they reached the door and she shook her head as her PDA and tablet went into her bag.
"I'll see you on Monday then since my finals end Friday?" She asked and he simply nodded. She smiled and held her hand out again. "Thank you so much for the opportunity, Mr. Queen." He took her hand but had an interesting smile.
"You won't be thanking me when you start working for me." He winked at her causing her head to tilt before she adjusted her sunglasses.
She walked away but couldn't help but look over her shoulder one last time and thought she was in trouble if her new boss looked like THAT.
The sun had set so Kayla had to be benched so Angel could come out to play. She took her long hair and braided it down her back. She slipped on the black halter top shirt before sliding her legs into the tight leather pants. She had a belt full of different knives she attached around her hips on top of the leather and she had a few extras that went into her black leather combat boots in case her belt was taken or empty. She then reached into a chest under her bed and uncovered face glue and a mask that hid her horrid scar from the world so no one could ID her. It always seemed "Phantom of the Opera" to her as it hid half her face except for her lips but it was needed to keep her identity a secret. She painted the mask with the glue and very carefully, to avoid yanking out hair later, positioned it on her face and held it for a few seconds until she knew the glue was dry.
She then walked to her window and took a deep breath before leaping out of her window. One second of concentration later, she took to the skies with her wings. She did this most nights. She would keep to the skies listening for anything out of the ordinary and if something happened, she would take care of it. She was on her third sweep of the city when her sensitive ears picked up an alarm below her. She saw a man in green leather crawling out of the penthouse apartment of a building and he had obviously stolen something. Her eyes narrowed as she flew down right behind him and landed without a sound. He hadn't even noticed her presence until she spoke.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you Robin Hood is just a story?" She put her hands on her hips while he turned and they both stopped.
Green Arrow was shocked. He had heard about Angel but he had never seen her and the drawings didn't do her justice. Even he had to admit that the name fit her to a T. She was beautiful but there was an aura of "Fuck Off" oozing from her. His eyes flicked down to her belt behind his sunglasses and he smirked at the knives. But it was her eyes that held him captivated. He had never seen such a color before. They were ice blue and felt like the pierced right through him.
Angel didn't know what to think. She couldn't see most of his face but what she did see, she could tell he was handsome and that form fitting leather left little to her imagination. She then noticed the two bows and the several couplets of arrows on him and she snapped back to attention.
"And here I thought I had the patent on the leather outfit. But I must say it does suit you." His snarky remark caused her to glare as they began circling each other.
"Coming from a thief, I'm so touched. You know the police will be here soon." She shot back. "Looks like you aren't as good as you claim, Jolly Green Giant." Her eyes stayed on his face but she was perfectly tuned to the coil of his muscles as he prepared to strike because she now stood between him and his only way out.
"Haven't you heard of the motif of Robin Hood? He steals from the rich and gives to the poor." He said before he moved with his fist aimed at her face.
She easily blocked the attack before hooking her arm around his and nailed his gut with her knee causing him to cough and bend over.
"It wasn't yours to touch in the first place, bean stalk." She shot back as she brought her knee up again into his jaw causing him to stumble back. He quickly recovered to come in for a feigned punch and ended with a kick that hit her in the side causing her to cry out. She caught his arm coming at her face and returned with a punch of her own that rocketed across his jaw causing his head to whip to the side. "No man touches me without my permission." She growled before she did a back flip, her heel catching his chin sending him sprawling to the ground as her wings caught her mid air and flapped to keep her hovering. "I'll let the police take care of you." With that, she flew off to make one last sweep of the city before Kayla had to come back.
Green Arrow got up as fast as his spinning head would allow. He took out his small bow and shot an anchor arrow into the building across the way and he made his escape just as the police burst through the door to the penthouse suite he had just vacated. He was pissed. No one got the upper hand of him without being properly introduced. He needed to know who this woman was so he could get them on the same page. She obviously didn't know they were on the same side but he would rectify that next time they met. He made it back to his apartment and took his sore and stiffening muscles straight to the shower before taking care of some last minute things for Queen Industries before retiring for the night; ice blue eyes haunting him all night.
Angel flew to the window ledge before she climbed into the apartment. She quickly changed out of her clothes and put them in her chest along with the mask after she cleaned it of the glue's residue. She undid her hair before stepping into the shower. She looked down at the bruise starting to form on her side from that vicious kick. It would take about a day or two to heal on her but she just had to be careful about clothing choice until then. Once she climbed out of the shower, she put a pot of coffee on and went to her living room table filled with her books for her two finals the next day. She hit the books hard knowing that concentrating on something would be better than her lingering on how painful it was to breathe currently. Something was up with that walking leather fetish and she would find out what after her finals in two days.
