I li-iiiiive!
I am so sorry this chapter took me so long, and I hope most of you are still with me. My brain would just rebel every time I sat down to try and write it, but I finally got it to a point where I'm happy with it. I hope you enjoy!
To those of you living in the US, happy Independence Day!
To everyone else, happy Monday!
*Several days later* I do apologize. There was a faux pas in which a Japanese woman was referenced in this chapter. It now says Chinese-which is what I meant for it to say.
(Announcer): This week on Under the Hood… Our hero unknowingly endeavors to save the life of his worst enemy. And in the midst of battling Chinese mobsters and uncovering a potentially dangerous secret, Felicity Smoak deals with troubles in the form of one rabble rousing teenager.
June 22nd, 2012:
The first time she finds Cindy, it's an accident. It isn't that she hasn't tried to find the girl since she got back, but the teen no longer has an official place of residence. After her father's… disappearance, she'd been put into foster care, but, a month in, she'd abandoned the orphanage for the streets of the Glades. She'd fallen very well off the grid after that.
Felicity is walking home after a long day at work one day perhaps a month after her return to the States-she doesn't yet have the money for a car and she likes walking in the rain, remembers rainy days were the calmest on Lian Yu-when she comes across a young girl huddled in an alley. The hood of her jacket is drawn low in an attempt to shield her from the elements, but the fabric is soaked through and probably not doing its job anymore.
Even though the girl is four years older, Felicity recognises her the instant she looks up.
Cynthia Porter.
She has to force back the memory that tries to resurface of fire and an explosion. She can't think about that because then she'll be as useful to this girl as the puddles on the sidewalk.
"Hey," Felicity says instead as she kneels down, and the girl follows the motion with cautious eyes. "I'm Felicity."
She doesn't get a response.
"Have you ever been to Big Belly?"
It takes a moment longer but she finally gets some movement: a nod.
"Want a burger?"
Before the blonde can even go on a ramble about stranger danger and how the teen probably shouldn't just wander off with people, Cindy asks, "Who do you need dirt on?"
And a pause follows during which time Felicity just sort of stares blankly at the girl in failed understanding as though her IQ is half of what it is.
"What?"
It takes Felicity a moment longer to realize Cindy thinks she's trying to pay her for information-the girl must be good at gathering it if it's what she instantly assumes Felicity is after.
"Hey, look, it's just a burger," the blonde says easily. "It's not like I'm giving you an arm or a kidney or anything. It's on me. You just look a little hungry." Felicity glances over the girl's soaked hoodie again. "And cold." She shrugs. "Ergo, Big Belly. Solves both problems."
It takes a few more minutes to convince the girl that she has no ulterior motives, but then she's leading the way to the nearest Big Belly Burger. She also has to encourage the cautious teen to walk beside her instead of trailing behind her, and it's almost like pulling teeth. Then she starts talking to try and alleviate some of the tension, and she ends up making a fool of herself in that special way she always manages to do. She supposes this serves her initial purpose, however, because Cindy actually cracks a grin.
That night, Felicity has no intention of reaching out to the girl again, but on a whim a week later she finds herself going back down to find Cindy in that same alley, two Doubles with extra pickles already in hand.
March 8th, 2013:
It isn't unusual for Cindy to be out of the apartment early in the morning. She's used to operating on her own timetable, and Felicity understands this. She also knows that, when Cindy's out of the apartment, she usually goes to the Glades. For years, the streets of Starling's most dangerous district had been her home, and she has some friends there. It makes Felicity nervous, mostly because she and her team often operate in the Glades; it's where they're needed, which means it's where most of the crime happens.
But, she knows Cindy can look after herself. She did it for years without supervision, and Felicity also knows that trying to get the teen to stop would most assuredly backfire. So, she makes sure Cindy has her number in her speed dial, and she installed a program on her phone that acts as a one-hit 911, sending an alarm to Felicity's phone should she ever find herself in trouble. The headstrong teen is under the impression that the program will also send Felicity her location, which she can relay to the police, but the truth is that Felicity has bugged Cindy's phone with a tracking device-just as she's done with her mother, Oliver and Diggle, all of whom have no idea they're being tracked.
All this being said, the alarm on Cindy's phone has yet to be used, and Felicity has never noticed anything out of the ordinary to suggest the girl is hiding anything troubling from her.
Until that morning, that is, when the brunette walked in with the hood of her jacket thrown up and her head hung low as if to conceal her face in its shadows.
"Cindy?" Felicity asks, instantly on alert, instantly on alert for this oddity, but the girl doesn't stop.
She's making a beeline for her room, and the blonde gets this protective instinct that has her setting her laptop aside, piles of homework be damned. She jumps up and slips between the wall and the arm of the couch just as the girl passes, and she catches Cindy's hood to halt her, pulling it down in the process. The girl ducks, and Felicity's pretty sure she hears her swear under her breath. She frowns.
"Cindy, what's wrong?"
The brunette's fingers twitch as she slowly turns, and then Felicity can see just why she's being so secretive.
Her lip is split quite severely, her nose has clearly been bleeding, and there's a large bruise forming on the left side of her face where she appears to have been slugged.
Felicity almost loses her cool upon seeing these injuries, demanding answers in her loud voice, but she manages at the last moment to stop herself. Blowing her lid preemptively is a good way to get Cindy to shut down. All the same, the effort of forced outward calm leaves her quietly fuming.
"What happened?"
Felicity can tell that her quiet anger has unsettled Cindy more than any yelling because she shuffles and glances down at her feet.
"I was going to meet up with some friends when I came across these guys who were harassing some guy who was alone," Cindy began, wincing for just the effort to speak as her lip no doubt threatens to reopen. It looked like they were planning to mug him or something, so "I told them to back off, and one thing lead to another… I took two of 'em down without getting hit, but… well, you can see what happened after that."
The girl motions unnecessarily to the damage done to her face.
And see it Felicity can. How badly had the girl been beaten? She doubts the extent of the damage is visible, not with the way Cindy was favoring her left side. She also knows that, whatever the girl's injuries, it could've ended so much worse, and it's this that has Felicity so shaken, so terrified.
Since when does the girl get into fights? Especially against several guys?
"How bad is it?" Felicity asks with a surprisingly believable air of calm. She's surprised by the control she has over her own tone because inside she's anything but. Inside, she's raging against the men who had done this.
"Better than it looks," Cindy supplies, and her tone suggests this to be honest.. "Some guy in a red hoodie stepped in before they could do much damage, so it's mostly just… messy."
Felicity sighed and rubbed her brow. This day had taken a quick turn for the frustrating.
And it wasn't even seven yet.
"Come on," she says as she beckons Cindy towards the bathroom.
Felicity can tell the girl's last comment is a half truth. The damage may be less severe than it would've been had this 'guy in a red hoodie' not stepped in, but she can tell from the slump of Cindy's shoulders that the girl is struggling just to remain standing. The girl doesn't struggle when Felicity sits her down on the toilet, and then the blonde pulls the first aide kit out from the under sink counter.
Under different circumstances, she might find it amusing how Cindy tries so hard not to wince as Felicity draws the alcohol swab across the cuts on her lip and cheek, which had apparently broken her fall to the ground at some point during the fight. While the blonde is trying to figure out how they're going to break the news to her mother, a thought occurs to her for not the first time in the past few minutes, and she decides now was a good time to voice it while she has the girl trapped in the bathroom.
"You stumbled on them, or you were looking for trouble," is her question.
The girl's silence is telling, and Felicity's very applaudable control over her calm slips as she momentarily ceases her fussing over the girl's facial cuts.
"Damn it, Cindy, what were you thinking?"
At first, Cindy is surprised to hear her swear-to be fair, Felicity doesn't do it often-but then she gets this defensive, obstinate look in her eyes, and Felicity knows the fight is certainly not out of her.
"I was thinking there are people in the Glades who need help, and I'm willing to step up," she snaps. "How is this any different than what you did for me?"
This is a good question. That man's intentions had been dark, and what Felicity had done that night seven months ago was certainly along very similar lines as to what Cindy is currently describing to her. There is one main difference however in the form of a deceptively strong Chinese woman and a snarky and terminally cynical Australian secret agent.
"The difference is I knew what I was doing," was what she ended up saying aloud, "and I was only up against one guy."
The wayward teen doesn't miss a beat, as though she'd already thought of this response on the blonde's part.
"That's a technicality, and you know it," Cindy says with an obstinate glare that's returned equalfold on Felicity's part. "Are you saying you would've backed off if it was more than just one guy that night?"
Now it's Felicity's silence that's telling because they both know she wouldn't have. She can't just give the excuse that she has a registered firearm because Cindy might misinterpret this to be her saying, 'get a gun', which is something she would never tell the girl. Her other option is telling her just what kind of training she's had, which is also something she wants to avoid. It opens up a can of worms about how not alone she'd been on Lian Yu.
"See! You would've done the same thing if you were me."
"Cindy," Felicity says in warning, and, with an almost growl as she turns her eyes away, the girl silently agrees to drop the matter for now.
The blonde sighs grievously.
"Where else is it bad?"
Cindy hesitates again, and her fingers twitch once in indecision before she reaches up to unzip her jacket. Removing even that with really only the use of her right hand is tricky, and Felicity knows even before the girl lifts her shirt beneath that she won't like what follows.
But, damn… She still hadn't expected it to be this bad.
Cindy's entire left side is already turning deep shade of red, and Felicity is surprised the girl is able to stand straight at all for the extent of the damage. She sees several major impact points and knows they're most likely the result of a horrible many kicks.
She very nearly asks who had done this, nearly growls it out in a very Oliver-esque fashion. But, she doubts the girl knows any names or addresses to give her.
"That bad?" Cindy asks, and Felicity glances up to see the girl looking at her over her shoulder, her brows furrowed in concern. Felicity's expression must've given more away than she thought. She keeps herself from saying, 'worse' because she doesn't want to freak the girl out. But, the fact remains that there is a lot of bruising, and she fears internal damage. She stands up, egging Cindy onto her feet alongside her.
"What?" The brunette asks, although she complies to Felicity's prodding and confusedly starts for the door.
"Come on. Let's go."
"Where?"
"The hospital."
"What? Why? It doesn't really hurt that bad. I swear!"
Cindy grew up in the Glades. The only medical attention they would seek there, on the rare occasions where they actually did seek it instead of trying to treat themselves, they would go to the less well-equipped-but more importantly-free clinics. It wasn't Cindy's first instinct to see a doctor, even after taking this severe of a beating.
"Just humor me, okay?" Felicity asks.
Her expression must reveal a portion of the true extent of her worry because Felicity watches Cindy's second rebuttal die on her tongue before the girl nods once and glances down at her shoes.
"Okay…"
Five hours and a marginally expensive ultrasound later, the doctor at the urgent care clinic informs them that there doesn't appear to be any internal bleeding, and learning this makes it the first time all day that Felicity's been able to breathe a little easier. The doctor prescribes a potent painkiller, ice, and plenty of rest for a couple broken ribs. As they're waiting to be discharged, Cindy asks Felicity not to tell her mother about the fight.
"Work's been really bad, and I just… I don't want her to worry." Cindy says. "She's got enough going on," she argues.
Felicity can't deny the truth in this statement. Her mother has been miserable at her job recently. She'd ousted one of the other waitresses for taking money from the register, but she'd warned the girl first that she would do so unless the money was returned. By the time she went to the manager, he'd been told that it was Donna who had taken the funds. He'd been more inclined to believe the other waitress, and Felicity was quite sure this was because because of personal matters between the two. Donna had been forced to return the money, which she had not taken, and was put on probation. Every night since then it's taken all of Felicity's self control not to hack into the manager's life and reveal to him whatever she digs up. However pleasing it would be to see the man squirm, she knows blackmail will only make the environment more hostile for her mother. Donna is currently trying to find another job, but it isn't going well given the state of the market in Starling.
The fact remains that Cindy has a point. Her mother has enough stress to cope with without throwing teen rebellion into the mix. She's already dealt with that mess once upon a time.
"I'll think on it," Felicity concedes, and Cindy's shoulders dip in relief. "Just don't make a habit of this," she warns, and the girl gives a-reluctant-nod.
Felicity has a whole new respect for her mother and hopes she was never this much trouble. Of course, even ignoring the whole teen goth, Brother Eye phase of her life, there's still the whole 'stranded and presumed dead for five years' thing.
Her mother really has had a lot to worry about in her life.
June 27th, 2012:
"Look, I'm not your charity case, okay?" Cindy says in the face of the proffered burgers.
If her tone isn't enough of an indication, the girl's folded arms would've let Felicity know Cindy is defensive, but the blonde has a feeling this has more to do with the fact that it's been so long since someone has even marginally taken care of her. She's gotten so used to taking care of herself that she's terrified to rely on anyone else.
Felicity can relate to that.
"I'm grateful. I am," Cindy continues, sounding earnestly so. "But, you don't have to keep coming down here. I was just a little down on my luck last week. I'm fine now. I can take care of myself. I don't need you to be my mom or my big sister, or whatever it is you're trying to be."
Felicity is reminded again-although it's never very far from her mind-that the girl has no mother or sister and that her father, previously her only living relative, is dead. She remembers that she'd been unable to help him, unable to get him back to his little girl whose photograph he'd carried in his wallet.
She fails to swallow all of her guilt, and pushing everything back into its emotional compartment is more difficult than it had been the last time she'd visited the girl.
"You can go back to your life."
Cindy turns then and starts to walk away with every intention of never seeing Felicity again, she's sure.
Felicity should have let her. She has no right to do otherwise, has no right to ask any more of Cindy when she's already failed her, but… She can't help it. It isn't that she's trying to replace anybody in a misplaced drive to atone for her mistakes. It isn't even that she's taking pity on Cindy. The girl can clearly take care of herself given how long she's survived on her own.
But, in all honesty, it's Felicity who can't. It feels like she's drowning, and she needs something to latch onto, something to help her keep her head above water. Felicity loves her mother. She really does, despite their rather apparent differences. But, her mom always hopes to see the girl who'd stepped onto that plane five years ago. Cindy would have no expectations from her, and Felicity needs that. She needs someone who won't superimpose the image of her college self over the damaged girl who returned from Lian Yu, and it seems her mind just chose to latch onto the single known entity from her time away.
And, worrying about Cindy keeps her from worrying about herself.
"How about a friend?" Felicity asks.
Cindy pauses in her step and slowly turns back, her expression one of stunned silence. Felicity can still walk away. She can leave the girl to her life, let her be and walk away. But…
"World knows I could use one too…"
March 8th, 2013:
When John had told him who the target was, Oliver had frozen for a moment, both in step and in mind. Tommy had always been like a brother to him, and Malcolm Merlyn had always been like his second father, more easygoing and approachable than his own when he was a child. Even after the man had returned from his sudden two-year sojourn, cold and distant, Oliver's views on him had changed very little. As opposed to his friend, who rather hated his father for his sudden departure after the murder of his wife, Tommy's mother, Oliver had felt sorry for Malcolm, always thought he was more sad than cold. Where Tommy strived to become anything but his father, rejecting everything Malcolm tried to put on him, Oliver had rather enjoyed the few fencing lessons Malcolm had agreed to give him.
So, the matter of Malcolm's impending assassination struck home in a way that nothing else had since Laurel had been targeted at Iron Heights. Chen Na Wei's henchmen felt his wrath as he carved his way through Merlyn Global to where Malcolm had apparently taken Tommy to his office.
Seeing his hooded friend, whom he hadn't seen since their rendezvous with the Count a month and a half ago, was enough of a surprise that it snapped him out of his Hunter mindset. He'd had his concerns about the girl, had debated reaching out via that laptop to see if she was alright, but he never did.
The girl came in as Oliver was getting swarmed by a few Chinese assailants disguised as waitstaff, and she took down one of them before they even knew she was there. The other two were brought down by a few brutal blows from Oliver, and if one particularly powerful hit came directly after one of them raised his gun to shoot the girl, the vigilante just chalked it up to a happenstance.
"Hey," Synth said by way of a truly lame greeting given how long she's been absent from his dealings of late. "Figured you could use a hand."
She paused, and it tickled something familiar in the back of Oliver's mind when the girl started to explain her own comment. He couldn't focus on that right now, however.
"I mean, I know you already have two of them," she said with a flourish of her hand in his general direction. "Two perfectly good ones, as a matter of fact. I just mean-"
"You are a talkative one, aren't you?"
The voice that cut Synth off before he could was certainly of more of a feminine persuasion than those Oliver had encountered previously, and he looked over Synth's shoulder to see an Oriental woman in an elegant gown. Taking off her black wig to reveal snowy white hair.
Chen na Wei-colloquially known as China White for rather apparent reasons. This meant only one thing.
The Chinese Mafia had been hired to assassinate Malcolm Merlyn.
Oliver was surprised when, after a brief pause, Synth lurched forward as if to launch herself at the woman, and it was only the years of honing his reflexes that let him react fast enough to grab her around the waist, halting her charge just after it had begun. He was so focused on the dangerous woman in front of them that he didn't see Synth dip her head, but he heard her sigh through her nose and wondered briefly what was going through her mind-did this action by him offend her, or was she simply calming herself? She pulled his hand off her waist, however, and Oliver was relieved when she didn't seem about to charge again.
"Go find Malcolm and Tommy," he said lowly, and Synth turned to look at him over her shoulder, although her face coverings and the shaded glasses shrouded any emotions he might glean as a reaction to anything.
He told himself it was because he was worried about his best friend and his father, that he wanted someone to reach them quickly. He ignored the image his mind conjured of a chipper blonde and a moody teen chatting happily at a desk at QC, and he also ignored the subsequent voice in the back of his mind that said he wanted to protect this girl-who could be very important to someone he'd grown a strange attachment to-from a very dangerous mobster.
The girl ducked her head again and stepped aside, removing herself from between Oliver and Chen na Wei, and he breathed a little easier. She took off down the hall a moment later, searching out another stairwell since their current path was blocked.
"You are protective of the small one," China White said, and her tone and expression seemed more amused than anything else. "That isn't a trait the rumors of Starling claim you possess."
"Maybe I'm growing," Oliver quipped easily.
But at the same time, he really wanted to kill this woman for agreeing to assassinate Tommy's father.
"But probably not."
Chen na Wei.
Felicity can't believe the woman is in the States. It seems this particular thorn is one hell-bent on causing her grief. She feels foolish about her reaction earlier. If Oliver hadn't stopped her, she probably wouldn't have ever been able to leave that hallway of her own accord. As in, she would've needed to be carried out. In a body bag. Ded, her personal grievances are with the woman-who surely isn't even aware of them-she wouldn't have stood a chance.
So, she's letting Oliver handle that fight while she goes to look for their reason for being in that building.
When Felicity finds them, Tommy and his father are in the man's office, and they seem unaware of the two mobsters now planning to ambush them from just outside. The two bozos are so focused on trying to sneak up on their targets that they don't notice her approach. They rush into the room, automatic rifles held at the ready to spray the room with lead-not the most precise, these guys, but she supposes they get the job done well enough-but a tranq dart to each of them from her trusty tranq gun draws their attentions to her. They drop before they can even manage to turn their weapons on her.
Felicity steps over them and into the room then to find a stunned pair of Merlyns watching her, the elder seemingly at the ready to try his hand at dispatching the two enemies who no longer require dispatching. Tommy's expression is a rather comical one, the blonde has to admit, all slack jawed with wide eyes as if he'd about to call out a warning about their would be assailants but was interrupted by yours truly.
"What the hell?" he asks instead in a tone that matches his expression, and Felicity almost laughs because there's something satisfying about rendering silent someone who always seems to have something to say.
But, the moment is shattered in the same instant two bullets tear through the window, and Malcolm Merlyn goes down with two holes in his chest. Felicity ducks on instinct just as Tommy does, but as he turns a mortified expression towards his father, she charges forward and barrels into the younger Merlyn, bringing him to the ground as another bullet pierces the window. Although, given where it hits the wall, it may have been meant for her instead of Tommy. They don't land behind any cover, yet, for whatever reason, no more shots come, and she's beyond curious about this because they're sitting ducks.
Tommy is dazed for a moment after the admittedly harsh landing, but then he pushes himself up and scurries over to his grounded father.
"Dad! Da- oh God!"
He must've noticed the blood seeping through Malcolm's shirt.
Felicity can't be sure because she her first move is to scour the building across the street, trying to glean if she can find any sign at all of the source of the shooter. Of course, these efforts prove fruitless because the building is huge, and it's not like the shooter is holding up a giant neon sign to give away his location. On the contrary, the shots have stopped, so he may already be making his way out. So, she gives up and turns to assess the damage done to Malcolm Merlyn as the man's son continues to fumble between expletives and trying to blanch the bleeding.
She recognizes the signs of Curare poisoning almost immediately.
That means Floyd Lawton is alive after all-they never did find a body.
Before Felicity can even think of a way to save Malcolm without any of those useful herbs from Lian Yu on hand, Oliver bursts into the room, and she's is instantly relieved because this means he'd survived-if not won-his fight against China White. But, then she's back on anxious because she failed to keep Malcolm from getting shot.
Oliver is now watching his best friend's father die.
The man moves to rush forward, but he's halted when Tommy, rightly paranoid after the night he's had, levels his gun on the green-hooded vigilante.
"Stay back!" He shouts, but his friend doesn't even flinch. "I won't let you hurt him!"
Oliver holds his hands up to show the younger Merlyn that he's unarmed.
"I don't want to hurt him. I want to help him," he says in that synthetically deep voice.
"Why should I trust you?"
And Felicity can tell that Oliver is too close to this. He's about to do something drastic. She can see him reaching for his hood, so she does something drastic of her own before he can. She hurries forward and kneels down next to the Merlyns, and Tommy turns the weapon on her now. She glimpses out of the corner of her eye when Oliver moves as if to interfere, but she holds her hand out to stop him. If her sudden movement over there didn't make Tommy shoot her on instinct, she doubts he'll do so consciously unless she moves again.
"Let's just… take things down a couple notches, okay?" Felicity asks, remaining very still with her hands up to show that she too is unarmed, but Tommy doesn't look ready to lower his guard anytime soon. "Tommy- You don't mind if I call you Tommy, right?"
She gets no response.
"Okay…" Tommy it is. "Well, your father's been poisoned, Tommy. That sniper who shot him, we faced him a few months ago." The blonde indicates Oliver, who thankfully has remained where he is. "He laces his bullets with poison, and it'll kill your father before anyone can make it up here to help, so we're your only shot."
Tommy glances down at his father, who has since passed out and is looking paler by the minute, and then back up at her. She can see him running through his options, quickly coming to the same conclusion as her, and he seems torn because why should he trust someone whose face he can't even see? All the same, Felicity sees his guard drop even if he forgets to lower the weapon he has trained on her.
"What do we do?" he asks and he looks so lost, like a small child in uncertain times.
He probably thinks she'd saved his life a couple moments ago from that third shot, even though it seems he wasn't the target-Lawton must have recognized her from their last incursion, but that he hadn't hit her tells her he hadn't meant to. It's probably the only reason Tommy is listening to her at all, but she'll take it.
At the same time, she's not sure herself what they should do.
"He needs a blood transfusion."
Apparently Oliver isn't suffering from the same problem. Tommy turns to him, finally lowering the gun.
"It'll slow the poison long enough to get him some professional help," Oliver supplies, still keeping his distance until he's given the go-ahead. "Are you the same blood type?"
And so, with Tommy's affirmative, they're starting the process of setting everything up using the generously stocked first aid kit Malcolm keeps on hand. Felicity's job will be to fish the poisoned bullets out while Oliver sets up the transfusion between father and son.
She glimpses it when Oliver tears the man's shirt open to let her assess the two gunshot wounds, one to his ribs and one to his upper chest.
A bullet scar on his shoulder.
She knows Tommy's mother had died in a mugging, so she forces herself to realize that it had probably happened then. So, why does her mind keep flashing back to a man clad in black robes. A man who had nearly killed Oliver. A man who had nearly killed her.
A man she'd shot in this very shoulder.
But, Malcolm Merlyn is a businessman and an acclaimed humanitarian. For these reasons, she dismisses her initial instinct as the folly of a mind looking for someone to blame for that incident in December. Where would a man such as Malcolm have learned to kill as the Dark Archer did? And how would a man such as that be able to fool everyone enough to be revered as being 'for the people'?
It doesn't make sense.
She's simply imagining things, forcing pieces of a very large puzzle to match her version of things when in reality plenty of people have probably been shot in the shoulder.
March 10th, 2013:
He told himself he was imagining things.
It was the stress. It forced him to search for familiar faces where there weren't any.
That could've been anyone's jaw.
But, then Tommy was sitting in Verdant a couple days later after learning that his father should survive getting shot, getting poisoned, and his surgeries, and the youngest Merlyn couldn't help but wonder.
What did Oliver keep down there? He still had no idea. His friend had once told him there was some flooding damage, that it was unusable.
But then why lock it up?
So, Tommy contacted the company that had made the keypad and got them to unlock it for him remotely-he was co-owner of Verdant, after all.
That was how he found him standing in the middle of a room that looked like it had been taken right out of a sci-fi film or something. All chrome and lit up. A setup of computer screens that seemed rather impressive despite the fact that he knew very little about computers. Several racks of sharpened, green-headed arrows.
And a very familiar uniform.
Good God…
Oliver was the Hood.