The Calm
ONE MONTH LATER
"So, you're one crazy mother-" Diggle stated as he saw Harry hanging upside down from a rope hundreds of feet off of the ground, acting like it was nothing.
"Oh come on, Dig. You know I've done crazier things." Harry laughed over the comms, as he looked in on his target. They were currently going after a man by the name of Reginald Paxton, who was reportedly blackmailing hundreds of men and women into his bidding, the mayor included. His crimes were linked to the Triads, and one particular crime that had caught their attention was an attack on a young woman named Lisa Samson.
Samson had been with her brother, Jakob when they were ambushed. Jakob died trying to protect his sister, and Lisa was taken. She was tortured, and upon getting free she refused to name her captors. Her attorney, Laurel Lance... knew something was off about it so she contacted the Hood. Of course, when the Hood, went to Lisa, it was revealed that Reginald Paxton was responsible for the kidnapping and Jakob's murder. It seemed that Lisa knew something about Paxton that could bring his entire operation down.
Now, here Harry was stalking Paxton to see if there was any truth to the Triad connection he had heard about, and Dig was on the street keeping an eye out for any reinforcements if things went south.
"Yeah, I know. Doesn't mean I thought I would watch a circus act on the side of a skyscraper today." Diggle shook his head as Harry shrugged, even though Diggle couldn't see it.
"So, what happens if Paxton ends up having contact with the Triad?" Hermione asked, from the Lair as Harry adjusted himself, pulling his hood up as he had been upside down moments earlier.
"Well, Ollie's trying to get some more info on Paxton, talking to that detective Lisa mentioned." Harry explained. "According to her, that detective told her to not say anything to Laurel, or else her parents would die. So, if the Triad show up, and I hear something about Lisa, I'm gonna go say hello."
"Are you gonna be like Obi-Wan?" Hermione chuckled, as Harry sighed.
"I let you watch Star Wars one time, and suddenly you're an addict." Harry stated. "And for the record, I'm not gonna say..." he froze as he caught sight of a familiar white haired woman enter the room with that sleazeball Paxton. "Hello there..."
"And you did the thing..." Diggle sighed as he heard Hermione giggling in the background.
"Remember that woman, China White... the one who you stopped from killing Laurel?" Harry asked, gaining Diggle's attention, remembering that fight well enough.
"Yeah, why?"
"She's right in there... which means the Triad is involved with him. I've been meaning to find her since Cho died." Harry admitted, as he tightened his gauntlets, and moved onto the glass.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Diggle asked lowly as to not be heard.
"I'm not letting her get away, and I got a trick up my sleeve to ensure nobody gets away this time. Hermione, thank you for the study materials as always. This is gonna be interesting seeing this in action."
"What?" Diggle asked, still unaware of the magical abilities Harry had. Harry stood on the glass now, and bent his knees before jumping off the glass. The woman looked with horror in her eyes as the Red Arrow came crashing into the room. "Oh shit..."
"He went in, didn't he?"
"Yeah..." Diggle sighed.
The Red Arrow crashed through that window, and Paxton gasped in terror as the vigilante threw his hand out towards China White. To their surprise, China White was thrown off her feet and slammed into the wall, as her skin turned pale, and she was unable to move. "Reginald Paxton, you don't make good choices in your companions. China... how you doing? Been a bit since we last saw each other. We'll talk here in a minute, sweetheart."
"Wh-what are you doing, kill him!" Paxton ordered, as China's eyes grew wide, realizing she was completely paralyzed.
"She's not doing anything. In fact, the only thing she can do, is breathe... and watch. I wish I knew how to do that a long time ago, makes things easier." Red Arrow admitted, sitting down on the table. Paxton went to move, but the vigilante flicked his wrist and Paxton was thrown onto the floor. "Don't even think about it, pal. We gotta talk, about Lisa Samson, and her brother... Jakob."
"Huh?" Paxton faked, rather brilliantly the Red Arrow had to admit. "Who are they?"
"Don't play dumb, it'll make things worse for you. Let me refresh your memory, shall we? Lisa Samson, she's notable in the past few days because she was kidnapped, and her brother Jakob died trying to protect her. Lisa was tortured, and upon being freed by her captors, she refused to name them. However, a little pig told me, that you were responsible for it. And the reason, is just... dumbfounding to me. I would love to hear your explanation for why Lisa saw you kill that cop. Or rather, you had a member of the Triad do it."
"I didn't have a cop killed, and I didn't have anyone kidnapped or tortured."
"Ohhh... you're gonna play that card?! I'm trying to be nice here. Just tell me why you did it, and it'll be so much easier. I know you're a reasonable man, now... come on, let's not make this harder than it has to be."
"I'm not telling a psychopath like you nothing."
"Psychopath... I'm offended. Really," Red Arrow growled now as he stood up. "I've been called many things, monster... criminal. Killer, hmm, assassin, vigilante, hero on occasion, anti-hero, crazy... adventurous. But a psychopath... that is far from it pal. I'm not a psychopath... I'm something worse." He lifted his hood up slightly to reveal the demonic red eyes.
"What the hell..."
"Oh, you're going in the right direction. One chance, before I snap... and this becomes a lot worse for you." Red Arrow hissed, stepping forward and chuckled before holding his arm out to Paxton, which in turn the man began floating off of the ground, and he held his throat as if he was being choked.
"H-h-how... are, are you..."
"Wouldn't you like to know..." the vigilante smiled underneath his mask, before lifting the man higher into the air, floating him across the room towards the broken window. "Time's ticking, wanna talk?"
"Whoa, whoa! HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" he cried out in terror as he was held out the window. "Don't kill me!"
"Talk, or drop."
As Paxton fell back into the room unconscious, Harry turned to see China get free from her magical bonds, and growled. "Okay, note to self... does not last long."
"You..." China growled as the teen held his hands up in a passive manner. "Audacious isn't even capable of describing you."
"So, I take it you're still mad about Cho?" Harry asked, to which China pulled out a sharp blade, making him chuckle lightly. "Oh no, you found my one weakness, small blades... oh don't hurt me." he mocked as he flicked his wrist and the knife was implanted in the wall.
"You've been learning since the last time we fought."
"Last time you fought my partner, you don't wanna fight me." Harry reminded her, as he readied himself to grab a small kunai from his utility belt. China let out a laugh as she crossed her arms.
"And what makes you think that I would be the one to fight you, Arrow..." she asked, making Harry sigh. Did she not just hold a knife out towards him like five seconds ago?
"The knife I just threw into the wall would have something to do with it." he pointed out, nodding towards the knife. "Sometimes I think you guys are brain dead I swear."
"I only did that because you need to suffer because of what you did to Cho," she hissed, stepping forward as Harry cracked his knuckles merely by clenching his fists. "She told me you were one with a temper."
"She was right about that... and I only killed her because she wanted to die. I made her realize that the vendetta she held against me was wrong. I didn't kill her father."
"Lies, she would never let herself be killed."
"Yes, she would. She did... I didn't want her to die..."
"Yet, you still killed her. I won't have to be the one to kill you... people will come and they will be rewarded handsomely for your death." China shook her head, getting closer, and before Harry could react was hit in the jaw, knocking him onto the table. It didn't hurt, but it sure as hell caught him off guard, that's for sure. When he rolled to his feet on the other side, pulling his bow out and drew an arrow, he found China was gone.
"Ugh, note to self, no small talk." Harry blinked as he put his weapons away and sighed, before apparating to the garage where he made a quick change of clothes, and put a book bag on before running out to meet Diggle.
"So, how'd everything go?" Diggle asked, as Harry sighed, adjusting his glasses.
"She got away, but got what we needed anyway." he informed him. "Let's get out of here."
EPISODE SIX: WANTED
Hermione tried to track China White's location, but there was a reason nobody had been able to capture her before, she was like a ghost, not unlike Cho Chang. She groaned out of frustration as Harry and Diggle entered the Lair, looking rather proud of themselves as Oliver walked in behind them in his gear. "Couldn't find her after you got out of the building, Harry. Seems like Cho wasn't the only Ghost around." she admitted as Harry nodded.
"That was my mistake, should have taken her down instead of talking." Harry shrugged, knowing that Oliver would probably chastise him over it later. Stepping into the room Harry noticed that they could very easily with the help of some contractors, magical contractors, create an underground tunnel that could be used to drive vehicles in and out of if need be. He would dive into the idea later, he decided as Oliver removed his hood and set a flash drive on a table.
"What's that?" Hermione asked, taking it into her hands.
"Detective Wilson's entire list of evidence he's collected for Paxton to use as blackmail, and even one file showing the death of that officer."
"We get that confession and flash drive to Laurel or Detective Lance, and we can cross Paxton off the list." Diggle nodded, as Harry put his gear away.
Oliver nodded, unzipping his jacket and got changed. "So, White was at the office with Paxton? Hasn't it been two months since the last time we saw her?" he asked, to which Harry nodded.
"Ever since Cho died, yeah." Harry acknowledged.
"Why is she back in the city now?" Hermione raised the question, which was really on all of their minds. China White had been a part of the Somers case, and her being involved with Paxton raised some alarms. With a shadowy figure like Paxton using the civilians to do his crimes with the information he stole and blackmailed them with, being in the mix, the Triads surely wanted to gain some leverage on him, believing they could profit from it somehow.
"My guess, business as usual, and maybe a vendetta against me. Who knows, unfortunately I can't think about that right now because I have a lunch date to go to with a beautiful woman that actually doesn't fear who I am."
"Nobody fears Harry Potter... they fear the Red Arrow. There's a difference," Hermione pointed out as Harry chuckled.
"Not to me," Harry sighed, putting the last of his stuff up and proceeded to head towards the stairs. "Hey, Hermione, can you do me a favor. There's some things I wanna do to the Lair, to make sure we don't have any problems when the club gets set up in a few weeks, so can you get a hold of those contractors?"
"Contractors?" she asked with a tad bit of confusion.
"The ones who work really fast... and they're discreet."
"Oh..." she realized, nodding.
"I gotta figure out what that cryptic crap that the three of you have going on is. I'm tired of not understanding half of the stuff you say." Diggle groaned, to which the three just laughed.
"Dig, you might not want to find out. When Oliver found out, he was in stunned silence for like a week. Even then he barely spoke to me."
"It's true... I thought I was on drugs," Oliver admitted, which only made Diggle more confused over the matter.
"What the hell? This is what I'm talking about man! I don't understand whether that's a joke or what!" he exclaimed, making Harry laugh.
"Just, uh... open your mind and I'll explain everything. Hopefully it doesn't cause a brain aneurysm in the mean time."
"Uh," Dig blinked with worry.
"I'm kidding," Harry held his hands up in defense. "But yeah, Hermione if you could contact them and see when they could come, let me know. Ollie, I'll get that stuff to Laurel anonymously and go from there. I'll see you back at the Manor here in a bit." he explained as he grabbed the evidence on Paxton and moved towards the stairs. He waved goodbye and rushed out of the Lair.
"So, neither of you are going to tell me what Harry's referring to?"
Hermione and Oliver exchanged a look, and then shook their head. "Nah." they said in unison making Diggle cross his arms.
"Now that's just mean. I'm going to Big Belly Burger if anyone wants to come."
"Ooh, I'm coming with. I'm starved." Hermione smiled, hopping up from her seat and walked up to Diggle's side. "What about you, Ollie? I'm sure you're a bit hungry after all that."
Oliver slipped his shirt on and gave a light grin. "I think I'm good on food. I have a board meeting at the company to go to, that I am running late for. It starts in literally fifteen minutes so I gotta get ready."
"I think that's the first board meeting you've been to, right?" Diggle asked, making Oliver nod in response. "Let's hope your mother isn't too strict on you for being a little late."
"It's Mom... she's gonna tear me apart."
"Oh, she can't get that mad over you being a few minutes late, can she?" Hermione asked with worry, as Oliver and Diggle just exchanged glances. "Oh, you better get moving."
"Yeah, I know..." he sighed, hurrying out of the Lair and to his car.
"So, lunch?" Diggle asked, to which Hermione nodded.
"You're late," came Thea's voice as Harry parked his motorcycle near the cafe where they were meeting up for lunch. Harry removed his helmet and set it on the back of his bike with a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head.
"Sorry, had some stuff to take care of at the club. Been running into some complications with permits. Needed to sign some papers and talk to the contractors," he apologized as he sat down at the table with her.
"You're lucky you're cute, and you actually made a reservation." Thea remarked, to which Harry just chuckled, blushing lightly at the compliment. "Was Ollie at the club too? Mom wanted to make sure he got to the board meeting on time."
"He was on his way there when I left from what I gathered. Who knows what he does though. Oliver is unpredictable with what he does ninety percent of the time. I thought he was gonna do a U-turn on the way to the club today."
"I still don't understand why you thought leaving your bike in the Glades was a good idea, especially in a bad area like that." she remarked, making him shrug.
"I'm optimistic, plus I was too tired to drive home last night, Thea. Oliver drove me back to the Manor. Honestly, had Diggle been around I would just had gotten a ride with him and Oliver could have drove my bike home. It don't work that way, unfortunately. Anyway, what's on the menu?"
"A grilled chicken salad and a soda... since you guys are practically giving me a sobriety test whenever I get home." she replied sourly, making Harry feel slightly guilty. He was being pretty forceful in his attempts to get her to sober up and stray away from the drugs. Margo or whatever her name was, no longer bothered Thea with her drugs, although Harry still checked every now and then to make sure.
"Look, I'm sorry Speedy. I only do that because, quite frankly I don't want something to happen to you."
"You're more protective than Oliver is, and that's saying a lot." she groaned, but he could tell she was thankful. "I haven't touched anything in a few weeks so be happy."
"And I am. Which is why, you and I... here in a couple days, are gonna go drinking. I kinda missed hanging out with you like that."
"Aw, is the mini-Oliver finally sprouting his bar-wings?"
"Shut up." he laughed, as he leaned back in the chair.
"I hope Natalie's not upset that you're on a date with me," she admitted as Harry looked up suddenly at the mention of his 'girlfriend.' "I know it's not really something to get upset over, but still... I hope she doesn't think I'm trying to steal you from her or anything."
"Trust me, Natalie is fine with it. Plus she had to go home to see her dad anyway. It was something important as far as I understand. I didn't ask too much about it because she seemed like she didn't want to discuss the matter." Harry explained, making Thea nod.
"As long as she don't end up holding a knife towards me..." she mused, making Harry snort, imagining Nyssa hold a sword towards Thea in a threatening manner. Oh if only Thea knew how in character that would be for her, oh how many times had she done that exact thing towards him?
The number was far too great. "So, you notice Laurel's been hanging around Ollie a bit more recently?" he asked.
"Yeah, I was actually wondering about that. Are they getting back together or what?"
"No idea, but I think if they did... it'd make things a lot less uncomfortable. Half the time the tension between them is practically cuttable." Harry pretended to cut the air, making Thea laugh.
"We gotta Parent Trap them."
"I don't think we can do that unless we become twins, Speedy."
"Not what I..." stopping, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you just being dumb because you think that's funny?" Harry shrugged, knowing very well he was just playing with her on the matter.
"We gotta get them together, that's what you're saying?" Harry asked, gaining a nod of approval from the youngest Queen. Oliver would probably appreciate their interference if they got back together, but from what Harry understood, Tommy was kind of her fling at the moment, so that was something that might need to be addressed.
"Yesss..." Thea squeaked with joy at the thought of getting Oliver and Laurel back together. "Will you help me?"
"Personally, after seeing Oliver stare at Laurel's photo for five years on a deserted island, I think if they didn't get back together, it would be a tragedy." he leaned back.
"What photo?"
"It was one that he always kept in his wallet. When we were getting Oliver's legal resurrection out of the way, we ran into Laurel. She was harsh towards Oliver, but I had to tell her that he never got rid of that photo. She seemed shocked that he still had it, even after those five years. I think that was when she started being nicer to him. That or the courthouse caused her some damage and she's not thinking straight. I'd like to think it's the photo that did it."
"You're already laying the groundwork... bravo, Castaway. Now, we just gotta get things rolling."
Harry held his hands up in defense as the waiter came out. "I never said I was gonna help."
"Oh," she winked at him. "You didn't have to..."
What the hell? Is she making me help her?!
"You'll help me just because it'll give you a reason to mess with Ollie."
Damn, she's right about that. Now I'm all for it...
Harry smiled, gave his order, and then leaned forward on the table. "When do we start?"
"Oliver, it's your first meeting and you're late?!" Moira asked with shock and disapproval as Oliver came running out of the elevator, finishing his tie.
"Sorry Mom, had some complications at the club."
"Are you aware that it's important you make a good first impression with the board in case you ever decide to step up more?" she questioned him as Oliver sighed, flipping his collar down over the tie.
"Quite frankly, Mom... I don't think I want to ever step up to the plate like Dad did. This was his company, not mine. Walter's got this, and I'm sure he can always find a suitable successor to the matter. I'd like to be down near the streets helping people. I don't want to look down and wonder what's going on out there." Oliver explained, walking with her towards the conference room.
"I'll be the first to admit that your father was one of a kind with how he ran everything, and it is your company, it has your name on it, both figuratively and literally. I'm sure your father would have hoped eventually one day you'd be the CEO."
"He might have, but... for right now, Mom... I think this is the level of interaction I want to be at."
"Have you decided where you want to work at?"
"I was thinking Research and Development. I hear Curtis Holt has been making some strides on bio-energy from Walter. I'd love to be a part of that."
"Hmm, that's surprising. I'll have to put in a word to see about you meeting with Mr. Holt. I'm sure he would love to meet and talk to you," she smiled as Oliver looked at the conference room full of the board members upon stepping into sight of it.
"Oh, there's more people here than I originally thought," he gulped, wondering if all eyes were gonna be on him. Wait, what was he thinking, of course all eyes were gonna be on him.
"Honey, it's a board meeting... every board member is in there..."
"Right." Oliver chuckled, weakly, having let that slip his mind for a second. "Um, what's this meeting supposed to be about?"
"Pay attention and you'll see."
I think getting shot with an arrow would be more appealing than a board meeting.
The word on the so called Arrows of Starling City were that public opinion was starting to support them, even though the crimes they were committing seemed to be a step up compared to normal, especially where the Red Arrow was concerned. The Red Arrow had some new tricks up his sleeve, such as arson... that's what the reports were saying with the latest Red Arrow sighting from the other night when he made the place spontaneously combust into flames. The reports were outlandish enough to be dismissed as delusions created by fear. Detective Lance was unsure, as the Red Arrow had already proven to be not entirely human from his unique strength.
Ever since their first talk a month ago with the arrest of Jason Brodeur, the Red Arrow had been contacting him regularly to send the location of men and women responsible for crimes against the city. Lance didn't like being used as a clean-up crew, but he could never get anything to get a step ahead of the vigilantes. He was looking at the board consisting of photos now littered with them, showing the Red Arrow in the light of day, chasing after a group of men who were supposed to be with the Triad.
Needless to say, the mere thought of the Red Arrow was enough to warrant Lance's suspicion when his phone rang, as if on cue. He saw the unknown number and sighed. "So, it's you again, what can I do for you today?" Lance asked with a bit of attitude as he answered the phone. He had been receiving calls from the Red Arrow for the past month, and he wasn't gonna lie when he said he was fed up with being fed information and leads.
"Hey, Detective. You don't sound very happy to hear from me. Remember Reginald Paxton?" came the Red Arrow's distorted voice.
"Yeah, you mentioned something about him the other night. Why, you go harass him as well?"
"Harassment, cute. I suppose you could say that, but I got some info for you, should be enough to get an arrest. I already dropped it at your desk."
"How'd you pull that off? It's still broad daylight out."
"I have my ways, Lance. I understand you detest having to work with us... but believe me when I say, people would be better off with us cooperating."
"Work with a murderous vigilante, yeah right," Lance laughed, looking around to make sure nobody could hear him. "Look, I'll admit, this is not easy for me."
"I know, which is why I haven't come to see you face-to-face. Lance, I don't blame you for distrusting, or even hating a person like me. I break the law, you uphold it. We're opposites, but the truth is... without me or my partner, a lot of men and women would be getting away with their crimes. There's a lot of them still getting away with it, but that's gonna change."
"What, you proposing we work together?"
"No, not yet. Although, that could change. Give it some thought, Detective. I have work to do myself, and so do you... Paxton's lined up for you. Take your shot."
Lance heard the call end, and he sighed with a bit of frustration laced in it as he put his phone in his pocket and walked over to his desk, where sure enough as the Red Arrow had said, the files and recordings were in plain sight.
"Hey," he called to one of the people sitting near the desk. They looked at him with curiosity, raising an eyebrow. "Did you see anyone drop these off recently?"
"No, haven't seen anyone go by your desk at all, sir."
Looks like magic tricks can be added to his Résumé.
"Many people call the Arrows terrorists... but can you really call them terrorists when the only people they seem to target, are criminals? That's the question that's been raised recently. In the past three months the archers have targeted men like Jason Brodeur, Reginald Paxton, Martin Somers, all people with ties to corruption and murder cases that for the longest time have either went unsolved, or the blame was put on another person. If anything, in the eyes of the public it seems like the Arrows are doing what the cops can't." a reporter spoke as Harry heard the news of Paxton's arrest as he finished his workout at the Manor, wiping the sweat off of his face with a towel, heading towards the shower. He couldn't deny the fact he was enjoying the turn of the public opinion on the "Arrows" as they were starting to refer to them instead of the vigilantes or the hoods.
Oliver was still in the board meeting, and from his latest text it seemed like he was dying inside because of it. "Leave it to Ollie to put himself in a boring situation like that and have no way out." he chuckled as he shut the door to the gym and took a shower. The wounds from his torture were completely healed, and he had gained a couple new scars, particularly one on his right shoulder from one of the arrows that had been in him for hours. The pain no longer bothered him when he was in a fight. Since he had started letting go of those pent up emotional barriers he had been fighting with the past few months since coming back to civilization, he had stopped feeling pain. He had a knife hit him in the arm and it didn't even phase him.
Harry didn't have the tatau anymore, sure, but he knew for a fact the remnant abilities it left behind were making a comeback. He even felt a bit tougher, like the knives were no longer making as much of a dent as they used to.
Stepping into his room in nothing but a towel, Harry shut the door, and dropped it only to hear a whistle. Looking at his bed he found Nyssa sitting on it with a bemused look in her eye. "Hello, sailor..." she chuckled glancing down, making Harry turn a shade of red as he covered himself. "Oh come now, I've seen that too many times for you to be shy, love."
"Yeah, I didn't expect you to be here, plus don't you have a thing going on with that 'Canary' or whoever that one is?"
"We don't talk about them, you know that," Nyssa sneered, tensing up at the mention of the famous Canary, whom Harry had never been in the same room with, and for good reason. Some things had to be kept secret from him, even if he was the Heir to the League.
"Really? Well, I figure since I'm in the open, you could have been too, sweetheart." he gave a little emphasis to sweetheart to show his frustration. "What are you doing back here already? I thought you were going to see your Dad?"
"Oh, I did. He wanted me to come back here and keep an eye on his treasured protege. Naturally I think he suspects there's something going on between us."
"What makes you think that? The fact he never let me stay in the same room with you unattended while I was first sanctioned in the League? Or the fact you always give me those eyes."
"Those eyes?" Nyssa smiled coyly at him, standing up and walking forward. "You mean, these eyes?" she asked with a flirtatious tone, tilting her head slightly, looking rather lustful towards him.
"Yeah, those would be the ones." Harry smiled, although his grip on his towel stayed the same. Nyssa bit her lower lip, as her hand touched his arm ever so gently, making chills run up Harry's back. "Are you trying to seduce me, Ms. al Ghul?"
"I don't know, you tell me?"
"I couldn't tell you, my towel is still on."
"It would seem so," Nyssa sighed, leaning in and kissing Harry, to which he returned for a minute, until he pushed her away as she touched the towel. "Oh, you have restraint now?"
"That was a different time, you know that. Plus, I'm really not in the mood, especially if you're with the Canary."
"Stop talking about them, and I'll have you know, whatever you've heard, it's not like that."
"Sure it is..." Harry laughed, as Nyssa turned away.
"You were more fun two years ago."
"Two years ago I was sixteen and had no control over a lot of things, and a beautiful girl like yourself, well... it was a good combination."
"Well, it's a shame, I was hoping for some fun."
Harry smiled, biting his cheek as he walked into his closet to get dressed. Coming back out, he found Nyssa laying on the bed reading a newspaper regarding the latest Red Arrow sighting. "The Devil of Starling City... hmm, has a nice ring to it. It's a step up from the Demon's Blade, but doesn't have the same ring."
"Who cares about what they call me, it's what they know me by that really matters."
"But with that kind of acknowledgement, eventually you'll find someone wanting to test that title."
Finally getting out of the board meeting, Oliver sighed with relief, feeling his mother's gaze on his back as he stepped out, only to be surprised by the sight of Laurel standing at the elevator, apparently waiting for him. "Laurel?"
"Looks like you managed to make it to your first meeting. I half expected you to bail on it." Laurel smiled at him as he walked up to her, bringing her into a hug. "The businessman look, it looks good on you, Ollie."
"At least you think so, I personally think it's constricting." he admitted, loosening his tie a bit. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought I could treat you to a late lunch, I'm taking the rest of the day off anyway."
"Ms. Lance, are you asking me on a date?"
"Not a date, just friends getting something to eat. That's all."
"Fine by me," Oliver smiled, following Laurel into the elevator, trying to hide his smile.
Sitting at the table, Oliver couldn't help but notice Laurel's tense body language, making him set his drink down and tilt his head. "Hey, everything ok?"
"Um, yeah... it's just, Oliver, it's something that I've been wondering about for a while now, and even Dad has many theories about why it happened, but why did you take my sister on the yacht?"
Oliver knew this would be coming eventually, and as he took in a breath and thought about what to say, he honestly wished he had said this from the beginning with Laurel. "I did it because I wasn't ready for what you wanted and you couldn't see that. I was a lot of things, but at least I was never delusional about our relationship. You might have been ready for the next stage Laurel, but I wasn't. I'm not trying to shift the blame on you, I take full responsibility for my own actions, but anyone else could've seen that I wasn't ready to move in together yet. Did I want that eventually, yes I did... but you were pushing for too much too soon," he sighed.
"You took Sara on the boat because you weren't ready to commit like I was?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry Laurel, but I couldn't tell you... so instead I sabotaged our relationship in the worst way I could think of. I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry about what happened to Sara, and I have to live with that guilt for the rest of my life... along with everything else."
"I, I had no idea."
"I wish I had been more forthcoming with you over my, doubts." he lowered his head in shame, as Laurel sat there with a stunned look on her face, unsure of how to take the news. "I, I don't know if Sara could have survived the wreck, to be honest. We were separated, the water came rushing in, she fell in, and it was dark... there was a storm too, so it's possible."
"There's a chance she's alive?"
"Maybe, but she would have been drifting out at sea."
Oliver felt Laurel take his hand, and sighed. "It may not have been easy for me, Oliver... but I forgive you."
"I don't forgive myself, though."
"Maybe not, but Sara made a choice... she chose to get on that boat with you," she admitted. Oliver nodded, hiding his own demons for the moment, as he saw Laurel's eyes begin to shine from tears coming to the surface.
Silence fell between the two as Oliver noticed that she never took her hand away from his, and he looked down at the ground guiltily. If not for Oliver, Sara would still be with her family, and not dead.
"Can you do me a favor though?" he asked, making Laurel raise an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Can you make sure your dad doesn't shoot me? I think he's been ready to pull the trigger the last three times I've seen him." Oliver chuckled, making Laurel laugh at his comment, as she wiped the tears away.
"No promises, but I will try." she glanced towards Oliver and with her thumb rubbed the back of his hand as she thought about their last encounter before he went missing, and now. Oliver Queen was not the same man she had kissed goodbye on that dock five years earlier. "You've definitely changed, Ollie. For the better."
"Hey, Harry. I got a hold of the contractors. Do you really want to bring them into the fold?" Hermione asked as she got a hold of Harry a few hours later.
"I have a deal with their boss. As soon as they're done they'll be obliviated to forget the whole order. It'll work out for us. Diggle can be fully brought into the fold here in a couple days."
"What time do you want them to show up?"
"Preferably in the early morning when we aren't here..." Harry informed her. "It'll give us a chance to sleep and when we come back the Lair should be complete. There's actually that whole extension charm I'd like to add to the Lair. It'll work to actually have us be able to use the basement as both a part of the club and the Lair's entrance."
"How's that going to work?"
"Don't worry, you'll see. It's going to help in the long run." he smiled as he explained, looking at the blueprints he had made up with the help of Oliver. Oliver had been the one to suggest the extension charm, as he had really done his research in the last month.
The whole truth was that Oliver had really taken a step to improve himself with knowledge about the magical world, whether it was because of what happened with Cho or just the overall shadow that loomed over Harry in that regard, it didn't really matter as now it was helping them in more ways than one.
"Well, I'm excited to see what the two of you are cooking up," Hermione happily stated, before their call ended and Harry sat down in the chair, clicking his tongue as he thought about how he could make things a tad bit easier for the team as a whole. Naturally, it started with taking the Magician down, but he'd been quiet the last month. Not even a remote threatening letter or text to show he was still around. What was that snake up to?
Fear was what gave the Magician his advantage over his opponents... and right now the only opponent he cared about was not afraid of him. He thought about Harry Potter with a vengeance, and decided that the only way he could get rid of the pest was to ensure that someone he had almost lost to would be the one to deliver that killing blow.
"You wanted to see me?" the voice of the assassin stepping into the room called, making the Magician smile from under his mask.
"Yes, I did... you were the one to fight the Red Arrow when he first came to Starling City. Rumor has it, you almost beat him..."
"He pulled out a wild card at the end with that inhuman strength of his. I'm ready for him now."
"If you were to go after him, perhaps with the help of an associate of your's, would you be willing to?"
"Depends, how much do you want for the job?"
"How does fifty million dollars sound... Drakon?"
Constantine Drakon smiled as he put his sunglasses on and pulled out one of his knives, chuckling at the thought of a rematch. "I'd say you have a deal."
"Good... I also know of something that would be valuable to your mission... I know the Red Arrow's real name..."
"How in the hell do you know that?"
"We go way back... but I cannot beat him... he's been trained by the leader of the League of Assassins, personally. I'm not capable of winning that fight."
"Give me the name..."
"The Red Arrow's name is Harry Potter."
A huge question I've received multiple, multiple, MULTIPLE, messages about has been this: "Hey, Arsenal. Are you planning on writing Crisis on Infinite Earths, and how is that gonna affect your series as a whole?" Well, thank you for all the questions, and even some nice ideas... I appreciate all of them. I must say though that as of right now, where I am... Crisis is not a huge deal for me. In the story, we're in 2012. Crisis hasn't been moved up yet, it's still in 2024. Meaning we have twelve years until Crisis hits. That's a lot of work to do, and if I were to honestly speed Crisis up, to me that would be bad storywriting. It's just a way to throw all the building I wanna do out the window and just get to the action. One thing I wanna focus on is building each of the relationships the characters you see in this book to become the ones we're going to be emotionally attached to. One of the ways I intend to do that is to carve a path that most people wouldn't even really be thinking about. Next chapter it will actually start a tone that will show just how much I really want to do things different and branch a path of my own to make this its own thing and not your run of the mill HP/Arrow fanfic. I want to make this series into something I honestly never thought it could be back when I first started out in 2012, ironically when the show first came out.
The story has come a long way in its development, not as far as I would have liked to see, sadly. Originally, Harry still had the tatau, Cho was still the daughter of the Silver Monkey, but things were a lot different.
Harry didn't have the Mirakuru, he was just an archer with wandless magic, the enemies were planted in there all wrong with no real reason. If I recall, for whatever reason I had Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf who bit Lupin, be a mercenary following Harry's death and Voldemort's plan ultimately failing. It was a freaking weird version. I mean, Hermione was never a part of the team, and to ensure Hermione never came to town, Harry even shot an arrow through her leg as warning. He never personally revealed he was alive to Hermione or Ron, although Hermione had her suspicions. Neville was in Starling City and would have been a member of the team... like everything I just listed off, it's not a good version compared to this. Harry wasn't a part of the League, although Sirius was still a part of the story. All the cool stuff I have in here, ninety percent of it is not in the original version. Most of those reasons is that, you guys have really been a help to make this story what it is. Bouncing ideas off of you guys, particularly DylanTheDemon, it's helped me get to where I am now. So, basically, back to the original question... am I gonna write Crisis on Infinite Earths... yes and no. I am going to write it as a part of my plan, but I don't know when or if I'll actually get there. I'm going to make sure this is how I want it before I even attempt to write the crossovers in any fashion.
BUT, with that out of the way... and not going any further into that stuff because, by god that is a rabbit hole I don't wanna go down into right now, haha... what did you guys think of the chapter. It certainly had some stuff in there that's out of the norm. This is the second official "original" episode I'm creating as part of the series, so this episode in particular because of the plot in this one, it's special to me.
So, really I just kinda want to know what you guys think about these events right here:
1. The One Month Time Jump.
2. What do you guys think of the team's dynamic, mainly with how they're interacting. The majority of the "team" section of the chapter was Harry going in after Paxton, a man I created specifically for this chapter, which I have not gone in detail on him because he's really not a huge focus. He's more a throw-away character than anything, but the tone they had certainly was one I liked.
3. I had this chapter be more of a light-hearted one. Did you guys like the overall tone of the chapter?
4. Do you guys like that I'm having Oliver be a part of the company, and would it be a good idea for me to write him into Research and Development? It'd be a way to implement new tools for their alter egos later on.
5. Harry and Thea's lunch date, thoughts on that?
6. The Red Arrow and Detective Lance's "partnership" so to speak.
7. A certain mention of "The Canary" if you guys know who I'm talking about, which is sad to say some of you don't...
8. The Magician revealing the Red Arrow's identity to Constantine Drakon...
Let me know what your thoughts are on those, and I will be back really, really soon with the next chapter!