Narcotics Anonymous, Star City, Earth 9
It was almost 11 am tonight, but some people weren't finished with their annual meetings. "Okay, who would like to go next?" A woman said asking the group circle.
Roy Harper, feeling the need to unload tonight stepped forward by raising his prosthetic arm in the air; of course, no one knew that because his arm was covered by a glove and his leather jacket. "Hi, I'm Roy and I'm an addict." He addressed the people in the room.
"Hi, Roy." They said in unison.
"I see some new faces tonight, so for those who don't know my choice of poison ... heroin. I used to shoot up all the time, just so I could feel the rush you know. But like all things, I guess I reached a point where I couldn't do it anymore. Anyway, I met some people who helped me sober up and more than that give my life some actual purpose." He said thinking about Oliver and Laurel. "The last few years, I've lived with the urges ... and for the most part, I've risen above them. But in the last few months, I've wanted to shoot up almost every single day. One of the people who helped me get sober ... he died. And when he did he basically left me with his job. And I'm struggling with it. I mean, in my previous job I was basically his right-hand partner but, ah, I guess it's a lot different when you're the one calling the shots. His girlfriend, she worked with us too and she left when he died. Sometimes I think about calling her, asking her to come back, to help me out but ah, I know I shouldn't cause she's still grieving and she has their daughter to think about." He went on about losing Oliver and his struggles to live up to him as the Green Arrow. "Lately ... I've started to wonder if he made the wrong choice picking me to do his job ... cause honestly I feel like I'm gonna screw it and myself up any day now. Anyway, that's all I have for tonight, thanks." He finished and everyone clapped before moving on to the next person.
Leaving his chair to get some coffee and cookies, Roy then felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and saw that it was Sin and answered it. "Sup. Okay, I'll be there soon." He told her and then left the building. But first, he had to make a quick stop.
Streets of Star City
Officer Cindy Simone or Sin as she preferred to be known, was waiting outside of her police car for her contact who is a certain archer and speak of the devil; he just landed in front of her. "You know, I wonder if I'll ever get used to you in Green, Abercrombie." Sin joked as he walked over to her.
"You know, I wonder the same thing myself." He chuckled. "What do you have for me, Sin?"
Pulling out a picture, she gave it to him. "Angela Hawkins. 21. Frequent partier. With a long history of drug use at said parties." She said as Roy looked at the young woman, she was black with crazy unkempt hair with a chestnut brown shine.
"You do know I go after criminals right? Not idiots being young." He commented.
"I'm aware. It looks like our girl has moved from drug user-to drug dealer. In the last 2 days, anyone she's met up with is now hospitalized from an overdose." She went on further. "Apparently, they're showing signs of being plagued by things that they're supposedly afraid of according to their friends. Spiders. Drowning."
"Vertigo." He realized. "Last I check, Zytle still in prison."
"My best guess, she managed to find some of the Count's private stuff before you sent him back to prison two weeks ago." She speculated.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter now; I'll let you know as soon as I find her." He told her and after putting the photo away he notched and fired a grappling arrow to get to the rooftops.
"Not gonna lie, that is so chill." Sin said to herself before getting back into her car.
Abandon Warehouse, Next Night
If there was one advantage that Roy Harper had over Oliver Queen, it's that he was never a billionaire playboy; not that he wouldn't have mind experiencing that life at one point. For all intense and purposes, Roy was just an average guy, which made approaching and asking questions from people about someone a lot easier when you weren't one of the most recognizable faces in the city. Asking around about Angela to her friends and social groups, Roy learned all of Angela's hangout spots, and back in the Arrowcave, he hacked into the security feeds to confirm her location at an abandoned warehouse in Penny Town. Dressed up as the Green Arrow, Roy moved cautiously inside the building looking for his target. He then heard a noise. Drawing an arrow, he held it against the bowstring preparing to notch it any moment. Which he immediately did as he turned around the corner.
Immediately, he saw her, Angela Hawkings. She had a sleeping bag and a bunch of empty soda cans and junk food around her. "Angela?" Roy said and she looked at him fearfully. "Stay right where you are." He ordered her as he slowly moved to her.
"Please, please, you need to stay from me," Angela said fearfully as she got up and began to back away slowly.
"Okay." He said and unnotched his arrow as he approached her, realizing that she didn't seem like a typical drug dealer in Star City. "Listen, Angela-"
"Back away!" She shouted and was about to run before he immediately grabbed her to stop her from fleeing. But as she tried to push him off her by shoving his face, something began to happen to Roy. Immediately he felt like his head was spinning like he was losing his sense of balance, which he eventually did and he collapsed on the floor. As he did, Angela immediately ran off leaving him to his fate. Pressing an emergency trigger on his suit, Roy continued to spiral as he realized that somehow when Angela touched his face; she drugged him, and based on the effects that he was feeling it was Vertigo. A lifetime ago, Roy would've sampled the designer drug all on his own-because as much he hated to admit it, his euphoria right now was amazing.
"Well, there goes five years of sobriety." A familiar voice said to Roy. It was a voice that Roy could still hear in his head and then as Roy turned on his side on the floor he saw him, he saw Oliver.
"Ollie." Roy could only mutter. In the back of his mind, Roy knew that this was just the side effect of the weaponized version of Vertigo; showing you you're greatest fears. But even though he knew that this wasn't real and that Oliver wasn't really here, it didn't make anything he said hurt any less.
"You right about yourself Roy, I did make a mistake choosing you as my replacement," Oliver told him. "Getting you off the streets, training you, putting you in a costume; all that was just makeup to cover up what you still are. A Junkie. A Punk. One who has no business wearing my Hood."
"No, no you're wrong," Roy argued.
"No, I'm not. And do you know how I know that? Because your loving this right now aren't you. You might be dying right now, but you're loving the fact that you're going out high as a kite. Aren't you?" Oliver insinuated and as much as Roy hated to admit it, he was right. He loved the rush, he missed it, he missed it so much. And, he hated himself for just how much he missed it. "Still an addict, aren't you Roy?" The hallucination told him and gradually Roy began to blackout.
Arrowcave Bunker, Morning
He felt the light on his face first and then gradually, his eyes began to open. Roy saw that he was back in the Arrowcave, lying on the table slab, Roy looked around and saw Sin with her back turned working on a computer. "So ... I guess you got to me in time," Roy spoke weakly causing Sin to turn to him and immediately rushed to his side.
"Hey, yeah I got your little distress beacon. It wouldn't stop bugging me 'til I'd come to save your ass." Sin joked and Roy began to try to get up. "Whoa, easy there Abercombie."
Taking a few deep breaths, Roy gathered himself. "We misjudged Angela. She's not a drug dealer. Huff, huff, she's a meta." He told her.
"What? How?" She said stunned.
"I don't know. But when she touched my face ... it was like she infected me with Vertigo." He explained.
"She can dose people with Vertigo just by touching them?" She asked redundantly.
"Apparently." He shrugged and then got on his feet but immediately began to stumble. Fortunately, Sin was able to catch him.
"Uh, God. You have no idea how heavy you are." She remarked and sat him on the computer chair.
"We need to find her ... and fast." He said to her and to himself.
Angela Hawkin's Home, Night
Roy entered the apartment of Angela's ex-boyfriend, Robbie Stephens, it was one of the places he had set up an alert system in the surveillance cameras just in case she ever drove by those places. Breaking down the apartment door, Roy entered inside and then he saw who he assumed was Robbie Stephens. He had already OD. As if the events from last night were replaying itself, he heard Angela crying and eventually found her in the kitchen corner. "Angela," Roy said startling her as she looked at him. "Hey-hey-hey, it's okay." He said and then place his bow down and threw his hands up to show her he means no harm this time. "I'm sorry about last time ... really. But I swear I'm just here to talk."
"I ... I killed him. I ... I didn't mean to." Angela told him tearfully. "I thought ... I thought I killed you too."
"But you didn't, okay. I'm alive." He reassured her. "What happened to you? How did you get like this?"
"A few nights ago." She started to say tearfully. "I was ... I was partying with some friends. Then my friend, Perry, gave me some Vertigo. New stuff he said, stuff he swiped when he was working for Count Vertigo. I tried it ... and at first, it was awesome. But then I don't know ... I guess I had a bad reaction or something." She recounted as Roy continued to listen to her. "Next thing I know, I wake up, and then when I wiped the dust from my eyes ... it's like I took another shot of V; except without the high."
"You're ... you're seeing your own fears, aren't you?" Roy realized. "Every time you touch your face or your own hands, you dose yourself with Vertigo?"
"You ever tried not touching yourself ... it's almost impossible." She cried.
Moving closer to her, Roy spoke up again. "You know when I got hit by your powers, I saw my worst fears. All my insecurities ... my doubts. Tell me what are you seeing?" He asked.
"Being alone." She said after a brief pause. "I'm alone ... all the time. I think that's one of the reasons I party all the time ... so that I don't have to realize just how lonely I actually am."
Thinking about what to say for a moment, Roy figured out exactly what to say to her. "You know how people say that-that fear can be overcome?" He asked her.
"Yeah." She said sniffling.
"You ask me, it's a load of crap like we can just get rid of it." He admitted. "The truth is we live with our fears ... every day. And every day we have a choice to either let them consume us or rise above them." He said speaking from experience. "You can rise above yours, especially when you should realize the obvious."
"Wh-what?"
"That right here, right now, your not alone." He said smiling and reached out his right cybernetic arm.
"No, don't!" She said flinching back but he touched her face, and slowly for several seconds, she noticed that the Green Arrow seemed unaffected by her. Most likely because she wasn't touching his flesh.
"See it's okay." He said and then removed his left glove and gave it to her. "I'm guessing you need skin-to-skin contact to dose someone. So here." He gave her the glove and she put it on. As she touched his hand he still seemed unaffected by her condition. "Let's get out of here, 'kay." She nodded and then the two left as she got up.
Several Days Later
Arrowcave Bunker
Armed with his bow and his quiver, Roy tugged down on the rope and several tennis balls dropped down on the floor and began bouncing in the air. Drawing and firing one arrow after another, Roy pinned each tennis ball to the wall, not missing a single shot. But then he heard the sound of whistling, turning around he saw that it came from Sin. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I was watching Oliver Queen training." She commented.
"Yeah, I still remember when he first made me do this. Thought I'd never get the hang of it." He remembered fondly as he looked at the feats of his training.
"So, meant to ask you about Angela. How's she doing?" She inquired.
"I sent her to S.T.A.R. Labs, they believe that they can synthesize a drug that'll reduce the effects of her powers so that she can at least touch herself without getting dosed." He explained. "They don't think they'll be able to find a cure for her condition but they can find a way to help her manage it."
"That's good to hear." She smiled.
"Sara says hi by the way." He added causing Sin to chuckle.
"Yeah, well tell Dr. Lance that she still owes me for paying off her bar tab." She said missing her friend the S.T.A.R. Labs physician.
"I'll pass it along." He said and then looked sadly, something that Sin noticed.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Not really." He admitted. "I just-I just feel like I'm back to square one again."
"What do you mean?"
"I've been struggling lately, Sin. Since, Oliver. Hmph, the stress is getting to me of being the Green Arrow ... doing this alone. It's made the urges harder than ever." He expressed much to his shame.
"Roy." She muttered. "It's not like you purposely made her drug you.
"No. But still ... feels like I'm back to square one." He pointed out feeling like he threw away all that hard work at staying sober.
Getting closer to him, Sin decided now was probably the best time to tell him. "Well, I can't help with ... that. But I can help you with the other thing." She mentioned.
"What do you mean?"
"I talk to Laurel. She's gonna be stopping by." She filled him in.
"To do what?" He asked, hoping that she wasn't coming back to help him as he assured her he could handle it; though a part of him wanted her aid.
"To train me." She explained and Roy chuckled at the thought of Sin being a vigilante. "She realized it probably wasn't a good idea to leave Star City or the Green Arrow without a Black Canary."
"Yeah, but seriously Sin. You being the Black Canary." He asked still finding it funny.
"What? You don't think I'd look good as a blonde?" She asked sarcastically.
"No, probably not. But that's not what I mean and you know it." He clarified and then air became rather serious. "Are you sure about this?"
"The SCPD was a good start for me, but I can do more. I want to do more and being the Black Canary is how I can do it." She explained her reasons.
Roy paused for a moment but then smiled. "Well, I look forward to our future partnership." He said extending his hand.
"Me too." She said shaking his robot arm. "Though I do have one condition though."
"Which is?"
"That just because your the Green Arrow and I'm the Black Canary, does not mean that we have to sleep together." She jested.
"Ha. Well ... I already know your gay but thanks for the clarification." He chuckled and his friend and new partner soon joined him in the laughter.
Author's Notes: When it comes to Roy Harper there were a lot of missed opportunities for some good stories in the show but for the most part I understand why due to Colton Haynes's personal issues with anxiety affecting his ability to stay on the show. Among the many things we didn't really learn about Roy is what happened to his parents, did they abandon him or did they die, or both. Fun fact, he's also a descendant of Vandal Savage too. There's also his romance with the supervillain, Cheshire, who in the comics is the mother of his daughter, Lian Harper, both of who could've appeared on the show. Additionally, they could've given him Diggle's storyline in Season 6 and made him the Green Arrow during Oliver's brief retirement. There are just a couple of stories I would've liked to have seen at one point for him.
Angela Hawkins is based on a small-time Teen Titan Villain named Phobia, her ability with Vertigo is based on her comic-book counterpart's who has the power to sense peoples' fears and project their fears into their minds as illusions. Originally, I was going to make her villain for Roy to take down but I wanted something different and instead made her someone who just can't control her powers and is unintentionally hurting others as well as herself.
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Earth 9 is the official home of the DC Universe's "Titans" TV show and they have even mentioned Roy Harper existing on their Earth in Season 2.
Sin as the Black Canary in another universe would be pretty awesome considering her ties to Sara in the show and in the comics, she's Black Canary's protege and adopted daughter. This version of her being gay is because of Bex Taylor-Klaus's being gay in real life. Speaking of Sara, I thought it could be cool to have a version of her as a S.T.A.R. Labs doctor since according to her mother she wanted to be a doctor when she was a kid. I could even picture her having a Grey's Anatomy love life on this Earth (haha).