Numb Belligerence
Rating: T
Info: Initially inspired by listening to A Perfect Circle's song "The Outsider" after watching the DC showcase short of Green Arrow for the thousandth time. Ollie and Roy have some very much needed father/son time on the horizon. Brief allusions to Justice League Unlimited.
Disclaimer: Remember! Fanfiction! Kudos if you know who the villain is named for.

The roar of rain drowned out the incessant thrum of sirens from the streets below, enveloped him in a different world. Low, sluggish clouds blotted out the tops of Star City's tallest towers, knitting the gray skyline into murky sky. Even the lights of the nearby skyscraper glowed only feebly, mere smudges along the bland vista.

He could feel the cold rain seeping into his suit and the merciless wind at forty stories above the ground pushed the temperature to near freezing. Dinah would be having a fit if she knew where he was. Or not. Last time Oliver had seen her, she had attempted to dislocate his jaw after finding a woman of questionable morality in his house… The blond stripped the domino mask from his face and threw it over the balcony. It caught on the wind for a moment before plummeting into the murky depths below. She had just started trusting me, too.

First Roy, now Dinah. All he had to do was wait for Hal to drop by Star City sometime soon and completely ruin that relationship, too.

Oliver tore the glove off his left arm, hissing when the fabric caught on the dried blood of one of his newest battle wounds. Warm blood oozed from the deep laceration on his arm, but it went unnoticed. Pale, green eyes narrowed as he examined his palm. It looked something akin to shredded meat at this point. The freezing rain had numbed the pain already, but the sight of it was nearly enough to make him sick. Diamond-studded brass knuckles on the fist of a meta human could do so much worse than shred someone's hand to ribbons.

A sharp whistle wailed over the thunderous pounding of the rain, and there was a shower of concrete as a grappling arrow slammed into the wall several feet from Oliver's head. The superhero did not look up even as a pair of hands slapped over the edge of the balcony.

"What are you doing up here? Half the city thinks you ran off and died!" Roy clambered over the slick railing and tossed the grappling arrow's rope to the floor. The kid paused then before standing next to his adopted father's perch, following Oliver's gaze to the archer's maimed hand. "Figures. Here, let me see."

A moment later, Oliver felt warm, gloveless hands take his, but he could not bring himself to say anything, not a single sardonic quip or even a simple "thank you".

Roy dabbed gingerly at the bloody mess that was Oliver's hand, the alcohol infused cloth becoming soiled within moments. "The EMTs on site gave me the medical supplies after they told me you refused treatment and disappeared." The redhead's stern expression softened slightly when his mentor's uncharacteristic silence continued. "What happened?"

Death.

Oliver ripped his hand away from Roy's grasp. The sky was beginning to brighten even more, the gloomy clouds taking on a sickly yellow-gray hue. How many hours had passed? How long had it been since all of those people died, all completely unsuspecting of the monster that would soon be their end? So much terror and bloodshed, and for what? What message did the violently insane continuously try to send to the people of his city?

"Ollie." Roy climbed onto the concrete wall and sat next to his mentor, looking down past their feet to the streets as they began to come alive once again and the rain began to die. He slowly but firmly took Oliver's hand again and returned to his previous task of cleaning the wound. "If this is about all those people that-"

"No one person should be able to decide who lives and who dies, Roy."

With painstaking concentration, Roy poked and prodded at what looked to be a tiny piece of glass embedded deep in the folds of the muscle. Blood continually seeped into the deep wounds, blocking it from view. "I know, Ollie. That's why you're here to keep everyone in line. That's why the League wanted you to keep them in line." With the help of a needle, the small shard came free. Roy flicked it off the ledge, out of sight and out of mind.

A joke. The League had needed him to remind them of their powers and the rift that separated the lowly humans of Earth from the meta humans (and aliens) that floated out in orbit. The reality was that, in the event of one of them actually falling into a morality crisis and then losing, he would not be able to stop most of them. Hell, he probably wouldn't even be able to stop Batman from killing a man if the Dark Knight had his sights on it. Oliver gave a slow, halting sigh.

"Sometimes, Roy, doing your job is the worst thing you can do."

The night before.

Finding the bastard wasn't difficult. The first victim had been tossed haphazardly across the steps of city hall with the words "Jackson Way" written across her bloodied lab coat and the second had been strung up on a street light where Jackson Way dead ended by the beach. The looming shadow in the darkness could have been no one else, and this new psychopath obviously needed to learn that no one harmed his people without suffering the consequences.

The hulking figure turned just as Oliver made the first shot, but made no other move as the arrow splintered and the net inside leaped free of the remains. When the net settled over him, the man simply gave a 'hmph' of impatience. "I figured you'd be here sooner. That signal has been shining on the clouds for ages." His voice was soothing, as if talking to an old friend. He wore a beige jumpsuit and had no shoes.

"Aw, nice to see you missed me. This is a big playground and I had other kids to play with." Oliver knocked another arrow, flashing a wide grin. Perps like this didn't just give up, and that was the thrill of the game. Where was the joy in hunting if the prey made no effort to fight back? First, he would hand this maniac over to the police, and then he would take care of the poor corpse that was strung above the street like a forgotten Christmas decoration. His smile turned mirthless. "So, what's the deal here? What was so important that you had to kill two people to get my attention?"

A knife glinted in the street lights, and the blade cut through the cable net as if it were yarn. However, then the man returned the knife to the sheath on his waist. He took several steps forward until he was fully under the nearest light, and Oliver could see the calm, blue eyes, the deceivingly amiable expression. "I wanted to meet someone like me, but you sort of ignored my calling cards." He extended a hand. "Cecil Rhodes. That was what they called me when I was still human."

Well, this was a new one. Oliver relieved the tension of the bowstring, an eyebrow rising beneath his mask. What are you up to? "I'm sure you know who I am. Forgive me if I'm not inclined to shake your hand. Bit forward for the first date, don't you think?"

"Figures." Rhodes' friendly smile faltered slightly as he lowered his hand. "I had thought that you might be able to identify, even if you are human. You're conditioned to nearly beyond the limits of mankind. You run with some friends in high places." Then the smile was gone completely. "You just think that I'm a failure, too."

"What?" The bowstring was pulled taut once more, and Oliver felt the first drops of rain fall. "I don't even know you. How can I-"

"Shut up! You think you can hand me off to the police so that they can take me back there?" Rhodes settled into a defensive stance, bringing his arms up to shield his chest. What looked to be jagged-edged brass knuckles adorned his hands. "I know what I did! I killed a few of the worms, and I don't regret it! I'll make sure all of them die before I'm satisfied."

Oliver took a deep breath to calm his rising frustration. He wanted to go home and have a nice bowl of chili, and he was stuck here trying to bring in yet another lunatic. They could twist someone's words for the worst and refused to listen to all reason. They had to be dealt with using force. Oliver released the arrow, his expression unreadable as the head shed its cover and the punching glove inside collided with Rhodes' forehead.

Rhodes didn't even flinch and the arrow merely clattered to the concrete. "So far not impressed. Now, let me try."

Extreme endurance and a significant amount of strength. Nothing new here. When Rhodes charged, Oliver easily dodged and shifted toward the dark-haired man's left, aiming a blow at Rhodes' leg with his bow. The blow merely bounced off and Oliver scowled, only just barely twisting away to avoid a punch to the chin. "Hey, now, watch the face, big guy. I'm rather attached to it."

"For now," Rhodes snarled, swinging again with his right arm.

Well, he wasn't the best fighter. Oliver caught Rhodes' arm with ease and wrenched it downward, quickly losing interest. "Look, I really don't think this is nece- Agh!" He released his opponent and looked down to his leg to see the knife from earlier embedded in his right calf, the hilt still firmly in Rhodes' left hand. Oliver grabbed the man's head and rammed his knee into Rhodes' chin with as much force as he could muster before retreating a few steps.

"You underestimate me, just like they all do." Rhodes briefly glanced to the blood on his hand before the now pouring rain promptly began to wash it away. He looked up with a scowl.

Oliver pulled the knife from his leg with a grunt before throwing the weapon into the nearest storm drain. "All right, you have my attention. Don't think you can one-up me again without more dirty tricks, though. And now I know to expect them from you."

Rhodes' first swing hit air as Oliver ducked and aimed a blow at the man's throat with the heel of his hand. With a snarl, Rhodes finally stumbled, and it gave the blond archer the opportunity to ram his palm over Rhodes' left ear. Then, it was simply a matter kicking the man's legs out from under him, and Rhodes was on his back within seconds.

"Keep your day job. A little old lady could down you if she wanted." Oliver hopped up and away when Rhodes' leg suddenly lashed out, and backed off as the now furious man got to his feet. High endurance fighters were such cheaters. He dodged another blow, but the sharp edge of the brass knuckles sliced through fabric and skin from his forearm to just above the elbow. "And now you're just jealous of the costume," he snapped, bringing a hand to the cut.

"Arrogant ass," Rhodes snarled, swinging again. He grinned when the blow hit its target, sending the green-clad archer to the ground.

The concrete was wet and cold, and Oliver clutched at his ribcage as he both tried to cough and bring in a breath of air. Not only had it been a heavy blow, but the jagged texture of the knuckles bit deeply into the skin.

"Diamond-enforced," Rhodes growled, kneeling and grabbing the front of Oliver's tunic. However, then Oliver head-butted the dark-haired man and then rammed Rhode's head into the ground. Rhodes retaliated by throwing a punch at the ribs once more and got to his feet as Oliver collapsed into a heaving heap. "You are just like the others were. It was foolish to think otherwise." Then he aimed a kick at Oliver's head.

::…::

Oliver awoke with a start, realizing that he had been unconscious. But, that meant… He groped at the quiver on his back, his stomach dropping when he realized all of his arrows but one were gone. Where had Rhodes run off to? The rain was torrential at this point, and it had been a long day of chasing and fighting bad guys. Was it too much to ask for one night off with just a nice, warm meal?

A scream split the air, and then the shattering of glass. There. Oliver slowly got to his feet and retrieved his bow, forcing himself to run toward the apartment building the sounds had come from. The front door was already open, and he could clearly hear the sounds of a struggle one story up… He was up the stairs within moments.

A person was tossed into the hallway, a young woman. There was a gaping, evil hole were the left side of her skull should have been and the blood began pooling about her head. She had a wedding ring on her finger, and, when Oliver looked a second time, it seemed she was…

He nearly dropped his bow. This woman had been pregnant.

Rhodes had to be in the apartment. Oliver knocked his bow and slowly entered, immediately noting the body of a young man beside the front door. Across the living room, by the dark, broken window, was Rhodes, who chose that moment to look over his shoulder.

The murdering fiend's initial expression of shock slowly melted, twisting into a wicked leer despite the barbed arrow that threatened him. He pushed himself away from the wall, shoulders squared and fingers twitching in anticipation. "Your hands are shaking, Arrow," he said, voice as deceptively soothing as it had been earlier. "What's wrong? Finally understanding just how dangerous I am? What a terrible predicament for a wretch who refuses to take a life."

Oliver held the bow as steadily as possible and fought to maintain his composure. He was wet, cold, and damned tired, but the adrenaline rushing through his veins quickly eased the petty aches away. In his hand was his last arrow, the simplest of them. No tricks, no quirky devices that amused him as much as they plagued his adversaries. It was only metal, carefully carved at the head with several nasty rear-facing blades.

"See, that sort of attitude could get someone killed."

If the bow were not made to withstand punishment, it would have snapped in his grip. The blond archer took a step backward, a ghost of a scowl slipping past his guard.

Light from the flickering light bulb overhead glistened on Rhodes' rain-streaked face. The entire left side of his face was darkening with garish bruises courtesy of their earlier scuffle in the street. "I could destroy this entire city and you still wouldn't be able to stop me. You know this and you despair." He took one quick step forward to match the archer's.

"No." Oliver locked his jaw. It was not terror, not any sort of fear for this demon in human form. A vague shudder of pain shot up his leg, and somewhere in the back of his mind he could recall that he was injured. "No. If one of us should be afraid, it should be you. That's five people now, all innocent. What have they done to deserve this? Nothing!"

"You don't know anything!" Rhodes snapped, again shifting to the unreasonable beast he had been earlier. "They weren't innocent! Any of them!"

Sick, twisted, demented. No place in the world could punish these sorts of monsters enough to bring justice to their victims. Fury stiffened his limbs, began to intensify every ache. "What could an unborn child have done to you? The doctor? The accountant? A couple expecting a baby? What could they have done?"

"Doctor? Ha! That woman didn't work in the medical field anymore! She was working at the genetics lab downtown, in the classified sector. Where they kept me, sculpted me, and finally left me to die because I wasn't the soldier they needed." Rhodes' glare went to the mangled corpse of the young man across the room. "These two were the psychiatrists, the ones who tried to understand our minds after they cut us into pieces and put us back together again! In the end, all of the others like me were killed because of their flaws, but not me! I escaped, and I couldn't let them do it again!"

"What are you blabbing about? You're insane."

"I am not!" Rhodes threw another punch, but Oliver dropped his bow and caught the offending fist out of instinct. The dark-haired man's lips curled into a malicious grin. "Ohh, bad choice." He grabbed Oliver's wrist with his other hand and ground the brass knuckles into the archer's palm.

'Diamond-enforced'. The shards of diamond bit deep, and Oliver attempted to wrench his arm away, unable to contain a shout of agony. No, I have to get out of his hold, concentrate! He smashed the heel of his boot along Rhodes' bare foot, and aimed a punch at the man's eye with his free hand. As soon as Rhodes' grip faltered, he slipped free and backed out of reach.

"Dad?"

A small, strawberry blond kid suddenly entered the room, her brown eyes wide with terror as she spotted the body of the man by the front door.

Shit.

Rhodes was closer and reacted first. He grabbed the child, his large hand curled around her neck. "They took me from the streets, saying they would pay me. Give me enough money to send my boy to a decent school. I didn't know they would make me inhuman, treat me like a lab rat. I didn't know they would never let me see him again." He looked down at the girl in his grasp as she started to scream. "I dreamed that I would do the same to them, but in the end I couldn't bear to let them live long to do it!"

No, this was getting too dangerous. "Get away from her, Rhodes!" His picked up his bow and lifted it as best he could, but the aim was still horrifyingly shaky, wrath still flowing through every inch of him. No more. This mad man could not harm another person, especially not a child.

"You're no better. You won't kill me. I'll snap her little neck, and you'll still be standing there, too afraid to even move."

"Don't."

"No."

Oliver released the arrow as soon as his aim steadied, his scowl almost inhuman with fury. Rhodes' eyes went wide as the arrow lodged in his throat, a horrific scream that was quickly reduced to a drowned garble joining the shrieks of the little girl. Bewilderment passed over his face, then rage, and finally something akin to fear before the man toppled over.

He was shaking again, unable to move as the numbing rage ran its course. But, after a few seconds of silence, terror set in. The girl. Oliver sprinted to Rhodes' body, shoving the deadweight aside to see the tiny form of the girl. Her eyes were open, but her neck was at distressing angle. The archer put two fingers to her neck and bent to place his cheek near her mouth. No pulse, no breath.

Dead.

"…Dad."

Oliver looked up to see a second child, a boy with black hair, enter from the room the girl had come from. Instead of looking toward the body across the room as the girl had, though, he was looking at Rhodes.

The boy knelt beside Rhodes' fallen body, his shoulders shaking as he began to sob. "He was coming to save me," he said, voice a strangled murmur.

Rhodes was this kid's father. He had said these people had taken his son away… Oliver stared at the boy for a moment. Had Rhodes come here primarily for the boy, or for the family?

With a loud sniff, the kid brushed away the tears with the back of his hand, looking up with a glare. "Why? What did he do? He was coming for me! Why?"

Rhodes hadn't been right in the mind, even if he had been telling the truth. Still, Oliver found himself at a loss for words. The boy's bright eyes were narrowed with fear and hate. The archer got to his feet. He had no answer, so he simply climbed out the window and onto the fire escape. He still had to cut down the body out in the street and call the police chief to tell him Rhodes' location.

Death was everywhere tonight.

Roy had bandaged Oliver's hand and dressed the wounds on his mentor's abdomen as best he could, though he mentioned that a rib or two was likely cracked or even broken. Oliver slung his legs back over the ledge so his former partner could attend to the wound on his leg.

"You killed him," Roy said simply.

"I could have helped him." Oliver grunted when Roy gingerly touched the stab wound, unable to hold back an annoyed glare. "He was probably telling the truth. If so, he was hurt badly, had his kid taken away, and had no idea how to put up with being a highly durable meta human. He needed help, not an arrow in the neck."

"The detectives on the scene were talking to the boy while I was there. He was talking about the company that apparently offered them money for participating in experiments. Rhodes was never seen again, and the kid was living with that couple who worked at the labs."

They would have to check out those labs as soon as possible, though the police were probably already making plans to do just that. "Maybe if I hadn't killed him, the girl wouldn't have died."

Roy paused, his expression unreadable. "Maybe. Maybe not. Ollie, even if you hadn't killed him, he would have been put in jail for the rest of his life. He and his kid were never going to be together again. At the very least, the girl won't have to live with that now."

Wandering about afraid and alone… He knew that feeling well. Starfish Island. Rhodes had been just like that last night. Oliver stiffened suddenly. "He wanted to see me. He wanted me to be there, said he wanted to meet with someone like him."

"You aren't like him."

"What if that was a way of asking for help?"

"It wasn't. You said he had always wanted revenge."

Oliver looked to the bandages around his hand. "No one person should ever decide who lives and who dies," he said miserably. Especially not a man who had been apparently experimented on and who was half out of his mind with grief, fear, betrayal, and who knew what else. Still, killing people associated with the labs had not been the appropriate retaliation. With time, he could have lived peacefully. Incarcerated, true, but at least then his son would be able to visit him from time to time.

"What do you always say?" The stern tone returned to the redhead's voice as Roy began to wrap the wound. "You're not a hero. You can't save everyone, and you aren't expected to. Try, yes. But, sometimes things don't go as planned. You get over it. You use the experience to your advantage and you better yourself because of it." Roy looked up to his mentor with a frown. "You took a life, but not because you wanted to. The difference between you killing him and him killing those other people is that you regret it. You know it was wrong, and you will learn from that."

This kid. Oliver gave Roy's hair a halfhearted ruffle before extending a hand to help the teenager to his feet. "Give the old man some time, then. We don't learn as fast as you kids do." And it would take time. The dark-haired boy's expression was still seared into his mind, as was the little girl's.

Over the ocean, the sickly clouds began to brighten to a bright, golden-white. Beyond, the shining waters met blue sky. The lingering scent of rain remained, but now the familiar scent of the ocean mingled with it. Oliver realized that he was supposed to be arriving for a board meeting with Queen Industries this morning. From the rain and the darkness as Green Arrow to the sunlight of the day as Oliver Queen, all over again.

Roy allowed a small smile as he watched Oliver study the sky. "You know, perhaps Red Arrow wouldn't mind having a partner every once and a while."

Oliver managed the beginnings of a grin. "Oh, really? I hear Batman is looking for one these days. His sidekick apparently ran off to join a team of teenage superheroes."

"Well, Batman does have the Bat Cave."

"I still like the sound of 'Arrow Cave' better."

"Only you could say that with a straight face. But, seriously." Roy put a hand on his adopted father's shoulder. "I'll be in town for a few days. We can sort out this mess with the labs together, put an end to all of this."

There would never be an end, but at least it would be a first step. Finally, Oliver offered a smile to his former partner and gave Roy's hand a pat, though he winced when it upset the wounds on his palm. "It's a date, then."

"First, you need some rest. Then, some proper medical care."

Ha. So much for that board meeting. Oliver got to his feet, testing his weight on his injured leg and instantly deciding that it was best to not walk on it for a while. "Roy, just out of curiosity… How the hell did you find me up here?"

The teenager smirked and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Lady in the hotel across the street saw you. Called the police in hysterics yelling about how Green Arrow was going to jump off a balcony. Now, come on. Let's get out of here. We're taking the stairs this time."

Oliver looked toward the hotel building as Roy pulled his arm over the teenager's shoulders. Yep, there definitely was an elderly woman standing at one of the windows. He gave a wide wave, which the woman hesitantly returned.

"Stop flirting. It's ridiculous."

Same old Roy, even if he was no longer Speedy. Still the level-headed, serious partner that kept Oliver grounded. Still the friend that could support him through every time of hardship, just as Roy was physically supporting him now. And, most of all, this boy –this young man- was his son.

Finally, the world was beginning to feel right again.

fin