Chpt. III: To Fight the Monsters

Richard stepped out of his black Chrysler & looked up at the Star City City Hall. He adjusted the collar of his fitted blazer & wiped his shoulder with his right hand. He glanced down at his briefcase in his left hand & gripped it tight. He felt more than prepared to sway Star City in his favor.

Richard walked up the stairs leading to the front doors & entered the building. He made his way through the front lobby, approaching the receptionist's desk. He smiled as the receptionist looked up at Richard. She was an older lady, possibly mid-thirties, with long brown hair flowing over her shoulders & thin framed glasses. She was rather pretty.

Richard cleared his throat. "Hi, my name is Richard Grayson. I represent Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City."

The receptionist smiled at Richard, then glanced down on a legal pad on her desk. "Ah, yes, Mr. Grayson. Your clients are already waiting for you inside of the office. I'll go ahead & escort you."

"Thank you," Richard said as the receptionist stood up from her seat & began to lead him away from the lobby, down into a long wide open hallway. The hall was sleek & modern, along with the rest of City Hall. It seemed newer than what Richard imagined it would have looked like. Richard also considered the amount of attacks in the city, & suddenly the possibility of a redesign of City Hall didn't seem so far fetched.

The receptionist led Richard to two large doors. "You may step in, if you like."

Richard nodded & reached for the door handle. He pulled on it, letting it open slowly. He walked inside of the conference room, where two men were standing. One was a police officer & one was a suit, both conversing casually. Over to the side, where the conference table was, a young woman sat. She had short brown hair & was pale. She had bright green eyes that were heavily focused on some documents that she was already reading. She wore a pencil skirt & a loose white button up. She looked as old as Richard, which put him to ease. Richard didn't catch sight of the Mayor.

The woman looked up at Richard & smiled as he shut the door behind himself. "Mr. Grayson," she said. The woman stood up & walked around the table, passing the two men, & approached Richard. She held her hand out to Richard. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."

Richard took her hand in his, shaking it. "Likewise," he said with a charming smile. He glanced around the room. "Mayor Queen-"

"Won't be joining us this morning, I'm afraid," she explained. "But I'll be standing in his place during your presentation."

Richard eyed the woman for a brief moment, then smiled. "Wait a minute," he said. "Ms. Thea Queen?"

She nodded. "Yes?" she asked, confused.

Richard let out a soft laugh. "I'm sorry, it's just that the last time I ever saw you, it was on the news, & you were REALLY young." Richard stepped back & looked at Thea once more. "Thea Queen, filling in for her big brother as Mayor."

Thea smiled softly, almost blushing. "Yeah, he gets busy with some side projects for the city, so I'm more than capable of handling his meetings."

Richard nodded. "I bet you are," he remarked, arching his brow. He set his briefcase on the table, catching the two gentlemen's attention.

"Mr. Grayson, I'd like you to meet Captain Pike & Lieutenant Conahan of the SCPD," Thea said. Richard shook the suited man's hand, who he assumed was the captain out of uniform. He then shook the officer's hand, who he assumed was the Lieutenant. Richard nodded with a faint smile, then stepped towards the end of the table. The two men sat down on one side of the table, while Thea sat across from them. Richard reached for his briefcase, where he removed a folder containing documents from Wayne Tech, his laptop, & a large envelope. He placed the envelope on top of his briefcase, then held the documents in his hand for a brief moment, scanning over the content one last time. He set it down, then cleared his throat & looked at Thea Queen. "Do you feel safe?" he asked suddenly.

Thea, Pike, & Conahan each exchanged looks among one another. Richard continued. "Yes, as of right now, we have two SCPD officers in this room, & further down this hall are two, possibly three security guards making their rounds around the perimeter. But who's to say that someone can't just barge in right now, guns blazing, & shoot each of us right now? Who's to say that I'm actually another public menace who came here to shoot the Mayor? I mean, your receptionist didn't even ask me for identification. I could kill each of you right now."

Richard noticed Thea's confused stare gradually fade into an intense stare, almost angry. She didn't seem frightened of Richard's hypothetical. In fact, she seemed as though she was prepared for him to make a move against her.

Richard cleared his throat & smiled. "Obviously, I'm not a crazy guy with a gun. I'm not going to kill any of you. I'm just a businessman trying to make you an offer."

"Okay, what exactly is this offer?" Captain Pike asked harshly. Richard turned to Pike, taken back by his sudden aggressive tone. "You're threatening our lives & the Mayor, but, I don't see a product. We were told Wayne Tech had something to offer our department."

Richard nodded. "We do." He reached for the documents & handed them to Captain Pike, who began reading them extensively. "Those are the schematics for something Wayne Tech has been conjuring up in our labs. It's this synthetic material that we're developing out of nylon. We're trying to make it as tough as any piece of kevlar, but we're also working on making it way more lightweight."

Pike nodded. He slid the documents across to Thea, who began reading them as well. "You said 'trying'," Pike noted. "Has Wayne Tech made it work?"

Richard grinned. "You tell me." Richard reached for the envelope & opened it. Inside was a small black glove that he had brought from Wayne Tech. The glove was that of a prototype that Bruce & his engineers had designed based off of Bruce's initial concept for his original suit. Obviously, the material was cheaper, but almost as effective as his own suit.

Richard slid the glove on his left hand & flexed his fingers. He then glanced over to Lieutenant Conahan. "Are you carrying right now?" Conahan nodded. Richard held his right hand out. "May I?"

Conahan placed his hand on his holster. He was reluctant to pull the gun out, & Pike glanced between Conahan & Richard with uneasiness. "Whoa, no, no," Pike hissed. "Do not hand a civilian your weapon."

"It's fine," Thea interjected. The three men glanced at Thea, who waved her hand at Conahan. "It's part of his presentation."

Conahan glanced from Thea to Pike, then from Pike to Richard. Conahan sighed & removed his gun from his holster, placing it in Richard's hand. Richard stepped back from the table, a few feet away from the group, & removed the magazine from the gun, checking to see if it was loaded. Richard then clicked the magazine back into the gun, set the safety off, & gripped the gun tightly in his right hand. It had been a while since he held a gun before. He stretched out his left arm, pointing his left palm outward, & held the gun in his right hand, close to his face. He stared down the barrel of the gun, aiming down the sight of the gun. He pulled the trigger, causing the gunshot to ring throughout the conference room. Nobody screamed, but he saw Thea flinch from the corner of his eye.

Richard kept his left hand outstretched, but slowly walked towards the table. He slid the gun across the table, towards Conahan, & placed his left hand down on the table. Pike, Conahan, & Thea each crowded around Richard's hand. They could see the imprint that the bullet had made on the glove, but it merely bounced off. Richard then removed the glove, placing it on the table as well, & allowed them to examine his hand. There was no bruising, no scratch at all. Richard was unaffected from the gunshot.

"And that's just a glove," Richard remarked. "We're capable of using this material to develop suits with these bulletproof properties. It's better than kevlar in both weight & strength, & Wayne Tech's synthetic material can completely replace the Star City Police Department's standard equipment."

"This isn't military grade?" Pike asked.

Richard shook his head. "Wayne Tech DID borrow some designs from military contractors, but those designs were never approved for combat. Wayne Enterprises bought the designs from the U.S. military & redesigned it into something entirely different, using our own patent. It took several years to perfect this, but we did it."

Pike & Conahan nodded in interest, both smiling at one another. They were obviously impressed. Richard glanced at Thea, who held the glove in her hand. She began inspecting it herself.

"So why is Wayne Tech offering this to Star City?" Lieutenant asked Richard. "Why doesn't the GCPD use this for themselves?"

Richard sighed. "Well, they do, but we felt the need to branch out with this revolutionary tech. Especially now, where in the last few years, Star City has fallen victim to countless amounts of citywide attacks. The Undertaking, the Mirakuru soldiers, the biochemical weapon attack by those freaking ninjas, & Genesis Day. How many people died in those devastating attacks? How many lives were lost? Now, consider how many of your brothers in blue perished defending this city against archers, super strong monsters, & magic-wielding madmen. Central City has managed to upgrade their department to engage in metahuman conflict, but, what about YOU? Star City still has monsters to face. To fight the monsters, you need REAL battle armor."

Pike nodded slowly. Richard noticed Lieutenant Conahan nodded as well, seeing his eyes tear up slightly. Richard glanced to Thea, who was staring right back at him. Richard bit his lip for a moment, unsure of whether he should say what was on his mind. He cleared his throat, then swallowed. He looked up at Thea. "Laurel Lance died to protect this city. No one else needs to die, anymore."

Richard noticed Thea gasp softly, as if he had caught her off guard. She wasn't expecting to hear that from him. It was a good point, though.

"I'm in favor of stocking our department with this," Captain Pike said. "I think it would actually help save a few more lives, especially going up against these crazy people in this city."

Conahan nodded. "We just need your approval, Ms. Queen."

Richard turned back to Thea, who was eyeing the policemen. She turned back to Richard, who was trying to slide a contract over to her. Thea smiled softly. "Actually, you need Mr. Queen's approval. I can't sign off on this."

Richard eyed Thea. "What about filling in for your brother?"

Thea shook her head. "He's the Mayor. I'm just filling in for the meeting."

Richard nodded, sighing an exasperated sigh. "Well, alright then. I'll leave these with Mr. Queen to look over when he gets back, & you can have his people reach out to me to finalize this."

"We'll see," Thea said.

Richard eyed Thea once more, suddenly confused as to why her attitude on the deal was so turned off. Richard walked over to the officers & shook their hands, thanking their service to the city, & said goodbye to Thea. Richard then picked up his glove prototype & placed it within the envelope & tucked it in his briefcase, along with his laptop. He walked out of the conference office, making his way down the long, pristine hallway. As Richard made his way across the front lobby, he felt a soft touch on his forearm.

Richard turned around to find Thea standing behind him. Richard smiled softly. "Hi, again."

Thea gave Richard a faint smile. "You did well today with your presentation, Mr. Grayson."

Richard nodded slowly. "Thanks. So why did you not want to sign off on the contract?"

Thea sighed. "I wasn't lying about not being able to sign the deal. It actually needs to be Mayor Queen's signature."

Richard smiled. "Okay, well, that leaves me with a bit more ease."

Thea crossed her arms over her chest. "This product is legitimate, right?"

Richard arched a confused eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Thea stepped closer to Richard, bringing the conversation down to a soft murmur. "This product that you're bringing to me, was it authorized to be manufactured by Wayne Tech?"

Richard nodded. "Yeah, it is. Bruce Wayne signed off on it himself."

Thea slowly nodded, piecing together what she would say next. "This material...do you think it can be used for other purposes other than law enforcement?"

Richard was now confused. He stepped closer to Thea & bent down to whisper in her ear. "What are you getting at, Queen?"

"I have a contact that may be able to get this synthetic material to the Green Arrow," Thea said.

Richard stepped back & looked at Thea's green eyes. They shined with sincerity. "The Green Arrow?"

Thea nodded. "I can make this deal happen, whether it's with the SCPD or the vigilante." Thea eyed Richard up & down. "You come from Gotham. I know you've seen your share of mask wearing vigilantes too."

Richard grinned at Thea's sudden moxy. "Yeah, I have." Richard cleared his throat. "Listen, sweetie, I'm not authorized to provide this man a whole new set of equipment, if that's what you're asking." Richard stepped away, beginning to make his way to the front door. "Set up a meeting with him for me & we can work out the logistics."

Before Thea could oppose his proposition, Richard had already made his way through the front doors of City Hall. Things had turned out better than he had expected. Not only had he managed to almost close the deal with the Star City Police Department, but he had also managed to get one step closer to finding the Green Arrow. Maybe he knew something that could help Richard find the vigilante he was looking for.