Oliver receives vital intel regarding Ricardo Diaz before stopping an arms deal.
[ONE MONTH LATER]
[THE GLADES – 20:37]
"You sure he's going to show up?" asked Captain Smith, growing more and more impatient.
"He'll be here," replied Morgan coolly.
Every time Smith found himself on this rooftop with Mack Morgan, the two of them awaiting the arrival of the Green Arrow, he always seemed to experience the same feelings of disbelief and near perplexity.
From as far back as he could remember, he and vigilantes were like oil and water. When Wildcat first appeared, Smith had personally made sure that he was on the case to bring him to justice. Then, when The Hood showed up, he had gladly aided Quentin Lance on his many attempts to bring him to justice and in recent years, had gotten into more than one debate with Mayor Queen over the topic of vigilantism.
And now, here he was, working with one.
His debates with Queen remained civil as far as Star City policies towards them were concerned. When personal attitudes were injected into the discussion, that was when things tended to get a little dicey. For a man who agreed that vigilantes would not be allowed to operate in Star City, Queen sure as hell defended them as if they were his own blood whenever Smith sought to question their character. One could easily chalk it down to him simply being a vigilante groupie, but a more intuitive person could infer that Queen's attitude was because of his previous relationship with Laurel Lance.
Even then, Smith could see something beyond that. Something deeper, something ingrained in Queen's psyche beyond a respect and grief for a demised loved one... But he couldn't figure it out, and honestly, he didn't care to.
In the end, Queen turned out to be right. Vigilantes weren't needed in Star City following the demise of Adrian Chase, but indeed, their character could never and perhaps, should never be questioned again. When shit hit the fan after seven years of relative peace, they showed up and saved thousands of lives. And they were sticking around too. A large part of him expected the Green Arrow to slither away once Azrael was defeated, but he didn't. He was still out every night, doing as much as he possibly could to clean up the streets.
With Morgan already in contact with him, Smith quickly realised that working with the Green Arrow would easier and more fruitful for all parties involved as opposed to diverting SCPD resources in an attempt to apprehend him. Agreeing to such a partnership may have been against everything that he'd believed in for decades, but it was necessary.
Eventually, he and Morgan heard the crack of a grappling arrow attaching to the neighbouring building, turning to see their hooded acquaintance glide down on the zip line towards them.
"Better late than never," remarked Smith.
"I was busy. The warehouse at corner Parnell and Jones," replied Oliver, "The Scorpions were keeping Burnout stashes there. Feel free to send a team in to clean it all up."
"Will do."
"What's this new intel that you got for me?" asked Oliver. Morgan stepped forward and handed him a file.
"Anthony Moreno." Morgan explained while Oliver opened the file and looked at the profile of the man, "Diaz has been keeping a low profile since we took down Azrael, he hasn't shown his face in weeks. Moreno is now his commissary."
Smith continued. "If Diaz wants something done, he does it through Moreno. Diaz calls the shots from wherever he is, Moreno goes out and executes the plan."
"How did you come to that conclusion?" asked Oliver.
"We raided another hideout today and one of the men we brought in spoke. His story checks out. Moreno was always pretty close to Diaz, he was actually recruited into The Scorpions by him years ago. If we get Moreno, we get one massive step closer to getting Diaz."
"We know Diaz has made a boat-load over the past few months, but without Azrael to back him and his profits decreasing, it's only a matter of time before we catch up to him," said Morgan, "At this rate, we're going to shut him down soon."
"I'll find Moreno," replied Oliver, handing the file back to Morgan. "Is that all you have for me?"
"Yeah, that's it for now," replied Smith.
"That Glades separatist movement is gaining some traction. Is that of any interest to you?" inquired Morgan.
"Sounds like it's more of a problem for Mayor Lance," replied Oliver. Mia's voice spoke up in Oliver's earpiece. "Yeah? Okay, I'm on my way."
"What's the crisis?" asked Morgan as Oliver began walking away.
"I'm late for dinner with my girlfriend," joked Oliver.
"You have a girlfriend?" asked Smith, having not picked up on Oliver's sarcasm, "Who? Supergirl?"
Oliver couldn't help but smirk before jumping off the rooftop.
Oliver returned to the lair, immediately flipping his hood and taking his mask off as he approached Mia.
"Green Arrow – 12, Scorpions – 0," said Mia, as she marked another hideout with a cross on her digital map.
"Smith has found out who Diaz's right-hand man is," said Oliver, "Anthony Moreno, long-time member of The Scorpions. I need you to locate and start tracking his movements. If he's as close to Diaz as Smith says, I'm willing to bet that they meet occasionally. Hopefully, he can lead us right to Diaz."
"That's assuming that they do and that Diaz is staying in one spot."
"Diaz hasn't left the city, I'm sure of that much, and I doubt that he feels comfortable enough to constantly be on the move with the Green Arrow on his tail. What's this?" inquired Oliver, spotting a transparent tablet bottle without a label on her desk.
Mia quickly snatched the bottle and placed it in her pocket, not allowing Oliver to take a closer look. "Nothing… Just my iron supplements. I'm anaemic."
"Oh, okay. You said you have something important for me?"
"This guy," she replied, opening an image of a businessman, "Gordon Vorheal. He's an arms dealer. He arrived in Star City this afternoon."
"Who's buying?" asked Oliver.
"He was spotted having lunch in Chinatown, so…"
"The Triad."
Although The Triad had been driven out of the city years ago, they returned during the chaos of the past six months.
"I managed to ping his phone," said Mia, "It sounds like there's a deal going down in the next half hour."
"Where?"
"Where do you think? There's a reason I called you back here," replied Mia with a grin.
"You've got to be shitting me."
"You know that criminals have a penchant for doing deals in abandoned warehouses and so forth. Vorheal decided that it would a be good idea to have it at the remains of the old Verdant nightclub."
"Alright, I'm going to go take point. Stay down here, things might get a bit rocky," replied Oliver as he headed for the stairs. "And loud."
"Don't mind me. I'm alright, alright, alright," replied Mia, taking another sip of her soda while keeping an eye on the cameras stationed in and around the abandoned nightclub.
As Oliver sat on the upper level of the nightclub, awaiting the arrival of the dealers, he looked back on the past month. The state that the city was currently in eerily reminded him of his early days as The Hood and The Arrow. Gangs were active in The Glades, crime was rampant and the police were once again understaffed. At least now, he had the full support of the police department and the issues presiding in the city seemed to be acute rather than chronic.
Even a month later, Dr Schwartz's words were still sticking with him. For his original crusade and this one, he never planned on doing them forever, but she was right when she implied that retiring the second time around might be more difficult. He was an adrenaline junkie, and this second crusade was a relapse.
It did seem that it wouldn't take another twelve years to fix Star City, but that was hardly a relief for him. As he had admitted to Kara, he had many problems, but one of the more troublesome ones… He always has to join the fight. And if there isn't one, he has to be there to make sure it ends before it starts. Whether it was in a Green Arrow suit or a Tom Ford two-piece depended on the situation, but it always had to be him. It always felt like his responsibility, and when lives were lost, it felt like it was his fault. It was something ingrained in every hero's psyche, but Barry and Kara had somehow found a way to strike the balance between their self-interest and the greater. Oliver had yet to, and he wondered if the day he did would ever come.
On the brighter side of things, Thea was now nearing the 9-month mark of her pregnancy and was going to give birth to a baby boy any day now. Things were going well between him and Kara. Just like how they agreed, they were taking things slow and almost starting again as a couple. One new thing that they hadn't experienced before was both of them being heroes at the same time. It didn't allow for them to see each other as often as they liked and now created an anxiety for Kara that she'd never felt before. A fear that he'd lose his life in the field, especially since he was going out alone.
That Glades separatist movement that Morgan mentioned wasn't a concern for the Green Arrow right now, but for Oliver Queen, it was. It had sprung up in the past month and with all that The Glades has endured, he could understand why. The people of The Glades believed that the city's administration had failed them time and time again, and in a way, they were right. Now, they wanted autonomy, to be able to govern themselves. Oliver had no doubt that a lot supporting it had good intentions, merely wanting to create a better future for themselves and their children, but with a place like Star City, such movements could be too easily hijacked and turned into something cynical. He had to keep an eye on it for the foreseeable future.
Oliver heard the vans approaching and moved to a window on the upper level of Verdant to take a peak. Vorheal arrived first with two of his goons and were joined a few minutes later by three Triad members. He let Vorheal present the first weapon to see what he was selling… M249 light-machine guns.
Oliver took in a deep breath before exhaling slowly… Time to get to work.
He nocked an explosive arrow and fired at the Triad van, destroying it. He fired two more arrows quickly, an explosive to take out the engine of Vorheal's van and then the second a flashbang arrow, disorientating the six men present. He leapt through the window, landing right behind Vorheal and his men.
As always, these street thugs were no match for Oliver, as he took each of them out without getting hit once. Although he'd struck Vorheal once with his bow, Oliver turned to see him having run away, but listening intently, Oliver picked up on his footsteps.
Vorheal had no idea where he was going, mindlessly running in an attempt to escape his reckoning. Hopelessly unfit too, he gasped for air after just a single sprint, having to stop to catch his breath. He noticed a door to his right, a back-entrance for the nightclub. In his desperation, he grabbed the door handle and attempted to yank it open. But it was locked, and he hadn't the strength to kick it open.
"Gordon Vorheal."
He spun around, squealing at the sight of the Green Arrow standing just a few feet away from him.
"Please, please don't kill me," he muttered, begging for mercy even though he knew he likely wasn't going to get it.
"You have failed this city!" exclaimed the archer, as he nocked an arrow and fired it.