Chapter 2: The Queen's Gambit

Now sitting in an old metal and plastic chair on one side of Jefferson's desk, Oliver slid off his hood, running a hand through his scraggly black hair in the process. Closing the door to his office, Jefferson took a steadying breath before he turned to look at Oliver. For a moment, Jefferson could do nothing but stare at Oliver, not sure he believed that the young man was really sitting there. Then, after taking a moment to steady himself, Jefferson walked over to his desk and sat in his chair across from Oliver.

"Oliver," Jefferson began to say, struggling to put his thoughts into words as he stared at the young man, "Where….where have you been?"

Oliver said nothing as he looked around the room, seemingly having not heard Jefferson.

"Oliver?" Jefferson asked, a concerned expression spreading across his face.

"Huh?" Oliver replied dumbly, blinking his eyes rapidly as if he was waking up from a dream, "Sorry, what did you say, Mr. Pierce?"

"I asked where you've been," Jefferson repeated, worry clear on his features, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Oliver answered, pausing to clear his throat before continuing, "I guess I'm just getting used to talking to people again."

"Getting used to talking to people?" Jefferson question in confusion, "Oliver, where have you been?"

"You ever hear of a place called Lian Yu?" Oliver asked in reply, a far away look coming over his face.

"No," Jefferson replied with a shake of his head, "Where is it?"

"It's a remote island in the Pacific," Oliver explained, "The name is Chinese. Literally means "Purgatory"."

"Oliver, are you saying you were stranded on an island in the Pacific for five years?" Jefferson asked, clearly shocked.

"Is that how long its been?" Oliver questioned in reply, chuckling a little, "I lost track after a while."

"Oliver, I'm being serious," Jefferson replied, crossing his arms as he narrowed his eyes at the young man, "Most people thought you just left town one day. The police were looking for you for skipping bail."

"If I'm lying, I'm dying, Mr. Pierce," Oliver said as he held his hands up in front of him.

"Well, if you're telling the truth, how did you end up on this island?" Jefferson questioned as he leaned back in his chair.

"Well, if you know about the bail, then you have to know about who paid it, don't you?" Oliver asked in return.

"Robert Queen," Jefferson answered with a nod, a puzzled look on his face, "I never understood why he did that."

"It's because he was my dad," Oliver explained simply.

There was a long pause as Jefferson stared at Oliver in shock.

"Robert Queen….was your father?" Jefferson questioned slowly.

Oliver merely nodded in reply as a look of realization crossed Jefferson's features.

"You're saying you were on the Queen's Gambit, aren't you?" Jefferson surmised.

Oliver could only smile at that.

"What happened on that ship, Oliver?" Jefferson asked as he leaned forward in his chair.

"That," Oliver said as he leaned back in his chair, "Is a long story."

5 years earlier,

Standing outside the Star City Marina, Oliver, now dressed in a dark green hoodie over a grey t-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers, with a black, nylon backpack slung over his shoulder, looked at the gate hesitantly. As he did, a man dressed in a security guard uniform walked up, a suspicious look on his face.

"Can I help you?" the guard questioned as he stopped next to Oliver, his thumbs in his belt.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Oliver replied, immediately feeling uneasy in the guard's presence, "I was just here to meet Robert Queen."

"Robert Queen, huh?" the guard questioned with a dubious expression, "Right. Look kid, this is private property, so why don't you get out of here before I get the cops involved?"

Oliver eyes narrowed as he got ready to argue with the guard, but paused as the gate leading into the marina opened and Robert Queen stepped out.

"Do we have a problem out here, Bob?" Robert asked as he gave the guard a questioning look.

"Oh, uh, no, no problem, Mr. Queen," the guard, Bob, replied as he flashed Robert an uneasy smile, "Just dealing with some riff-raff."

"Well, that "riff-raff", as you call him, is my personal guest," Robert explained, his expression turning serious, "So, I would appreciate it if you didn't harass him."

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Queen," Bob muttered, his face going pale as he realized the gaff he had just made, "I-I didn't know."

"I'm sure it won't be a mistake you make again," Robert observed, before he turned his attention towards Oliver, "Come on, Oliver. I'll show you in."

Nodding in reply, Oliver followed Robert towards the marina gate, flashing a smirk at Bob as he passed.

Walking along the docks of the marina, Oliver's eyes widened in surprise as he spotted the pristine white, three deck yacht with the name "Queen's Gambit" stenciled along the side.

"Man, I knew you rich people had yachts but it's one thing to know that and another to see one up close, ya know?" Oliver said with a laugh, "This thing is sick and I don't even give a crap about boats."

"Well, I'm happy you approve," Robert replied with a chuckle, "It's a good thing you like it too, since we'll be spending a lot of time on it. At least, if you decide you're willing to come with me, that is."

Oliver looked thoughtful for a second before he smirked and shrugged.

"It's not like I have anything better to do," Oliver replied before a thought seemed to occur to him, "Won't the cops be pissed that I skipped town on bail though?"

"I've learned that the police can be quite….pliable when you use the right tactics," Robert answered with a somewhat awkward expression.

"I bet," Oliver commented with a snort, "So, where we going anyway?"

"I have some assets I wanted to check on on an island in the Pacific," Robert explained as they approached the gangplank leading onto the yacht.

"Wouldn't it be easier to fly there?" Oliver questioned as they reached the gangplank, "Like, I figure if you've got enough money for a yacht, then you have enough for a private jet."

"True enough," Robert agreed with a laugh, "But where we're going doesn't have an airport or anything like that. It will give us time to get to know one another."

Walking up the gangplank, Robert turned to look back at Oliver as he followed behind him and flashed him a smile.

"Also, it's easier to show up unannounced on a boat," Robert explained, "Which means you can see how things are really run, not just how it is when your employees clean things up for the boss."

Oliver could only chuckle at this as he followed Robert up onto the deck of the ship.

Days later,

The sun was setting on the horizon as the Queen's Gambit sailed along the wide open expanse of the Pacific Ocean. On the third floor of the yacht, Oliver and Robert sat in the cabin, a well appointed room lit by electric lights designed to resemble candles mounted in the corners. The floor was covered in a rich, Persian rug and consisted of a pair of fine leather couches facing each other across a glass coffee table.

"Okay, so you're saying the first time you were arrested was for stealing a dozen Twinkies?" Robert questioned with a laugh, a class of scotch in his hand.

"Look, I was trying to lift just one of them," Oliver explained with a chuckle, "But the cashier spotted me, so I panicked and grabbed the whole box instead. The cops caught me a block away trying to destroy the evidence."

"Destroying the evidence?" Robert questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

"I had already stuffed about six of the Twinkies into my mouth when the cops found me," Oliver explained, prompting Robert to let out a loud laugh.

"Yeah, it's pretty funny looking back on it," Oliver continued, as his smile fell away from his face, "The beating my foster dad gave me afterwards isn't."

Robert's laughter quickly died as a look of guilt plastered itself across his face. Leaning forward, he placed his glass on the table and met Oliver's gaze.

"I'm sorry for everything you went through, Oliver," Robert said solemnly, "I'm sorry for not being there for you."

"Being sorry implies that you never wanted to give me up," Oliver observed as he looked away from Robert, "So why did you?"

"Your mother and I….we never wanted to give you up," Robert answered with a sigh, "Not truly. But there were factors outside our control."

"Factors?" Oliver asked in confusion.

"My father….he was not a kind man," Robert explained, a distant look in his eye, "He only cared about increasing the power of our family, and that included making sure his son married someone who would add to it."

"So, I'm guessing my mom wasn't that kind of woman," Oliver observed.

"Your mother was an immigrant from Japan," Robert elaborated, "I met her while she was working as a secretary at Queen Consolidated. We hit it off and before we knew it…."

"She was knocked up with me," Oliver guessed, a troubled expression on his face.

"You have to understand, we had to keep the whole thing a secret," Robert said, "My father would have done just about anything to….get rid of an unwanted member of the Queen family. And your mother's family wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with you either."

"So you did it to protect me," Oliver surmised, his gaze focused on the floor before him.

"We did," Robert replied with a nod of his head.

"There's one thing I don't get though," Oliver said as he raised his gaze to look at Robert, "Is your old man even around anymore?"

Robert blinked in surprise at the question before his expression turned guilty.

"No, he died a number of years ago," Robert answered quietly.

"So, if he hasn't been around for awhile, why are you just getting in touch with me now?" Oliver questioned as his gaze hardened.

"I'll be honest with you, Oliver, I don't have a good answer for that," Robert replied with a sigh, "After my father passed, I thought of tracking you down, but by that time….I already had a family."

"You were worried about your wife?" Oliver questioned with incredulous expression, "I thought you loved my mom?"

"I did….I do," Robert answered as he looked down at his hands, "Your mom immigrated back to Japan not long after you were born, and not long after that, I married Moira and while she might not be the person I would have chosen….she's a good woman."

"And you wouldn't want her to be embarrassed by your long lost son showing up," Oliver accused.

"I would have lost my family, Oliver," Robert argued.

"You're that worried about losing the woman you just said you aren't in love with?" Oliver asked, a look of clear bafflement on his face.

"Not Moira," Robert admitted with a sigh, "Your sister."

"My….My sister?" Oliver questioned, clearly caught off guard.

Reaching into his pocket, Robert pulled out his phone and brought up a picture before handing it to Oliver. Looking at the picture, Oliver saw that it was a girl roughly twelve years of age with long, straight blonde hair and grey eyes just like Oliver and Robert's. The picture seemed to be a school photo, as she was dressed in a preppy school uniform, with her hair pulled back into a low ponytail.

"This is Mia," Robert explained, "Moira and I had her a few years after we got married."

"I….I never…." Oliver mumbled, "As a kid….I sometimes thought about….you know, what my parents might be like but I never thought…."

"That you had any siblings?" Robert finished with a nod of understanding, "You'd like her. She's a firecracker just like you. Can't keep her anyone place for long. She used to run around so much we started calling her Speedy."

Oliver said nothing as he continued to stare at the picture, lost in thought.

"I know this doesn't excuse what I've done, Oliver," Robert continued with a sigh, "But I hope it helps you understand. But that being said, I'm done hiding all this. When we get back, I'm telling the whole world that you're my son. And you'll be able to meet your sister."

At this point, Oliver raised his head and looked Robert in the eye.

"I think I'd like that," Oliver stated with a genuine smile.

Later,

The room that had been set aside for Oliver on the yacht was easily twice the size of any bedroom that Oliver had ever had, with a queen sized bed covered in silk sheets. It was the most luxurious bed that Oliver had ever laid on and yet he found he couldn't sleep. Sighing, Oliver, now without his sweatshirt and shoes, sat up in bed and looked around the darkened room. Eventually, his gaze was drawn to a porthole looking towards the bow of the boat and he slid off his bed before walking over to the window.

Peering out the porthole, Oliver could see what lay before the Queen's Gambit. For the most part, there seemed to be nothing but the vast expanse of the ocean, the darkened waves lapping at the boat's hull illuminated dully by the moon and stars in the sky above. As Oliver continued to stare out the window though, something on the horizon caught his attention, a large, solid black mass against the star-filled sky. After a moment of looking, Oliver realized that it was an island.

Then, suddenly, the boat rocked violently and Oliver was thrown to the side.

Grunting in pain as he hit the floor, Oliver slid across it a few feet as the room tipped dangerously to one side. After sliding to a stop, Oliver managed to push himself to his feet, only to almost fall again as the ship rocked a second time. Looking around with a bewildered expression, Oliver heard the sounds of shouting outside his room and quickly moved to put on his shoes and sweatshirt.

A moment later, Oliver exited his room, only to be thrown into the wall across the narrow hall as the boat rocked again. Grunting from the impact, Oliver pulled himself back to his feet and began to hurry down the hall, using the wall to steady himself. Hearing voices shouting above him, Oliver rushed towards a set of metal stairs leading to the upper decks, struggling to retain his balance as the ship continued to violently rock back and forth.

Reaching the top deck, Oliver began looking around wildly in an attempt to get a sense of his surroundings. The first thing that Oliver noticed was the large column of smoke that was rising from the back of the ship, which Oliver could only assume was where the engines were located. Hearing more shouting, Oliver turned in the direction of the noise and spotted Robert being loaded into a wooden lifeboat by two of the crew.

"Oliver!" Robert shouted as he spotted his son and desperately waved him over, "Oliver, we have to get out of here!"

"What's going on!?" Oliver questioned as he began running to the lifeboat.

"I don't know!" Robert replied as the crew men prepared to lower the lifeboat, "I think there was some kind of-"

Robert was cut off as an explosion erupted from the back of the ship near where Oliver had seen the column of smoke rising from, sending a fireball rocketing into the air. The force of the blast knocked Oliver completely off his feet and slammed him down onto the deck. At the same time, the explosion sent shards of metal shrapnel shooting through the air, striking one of the crew in the back, knocking him to the deck with a foot long piece of metal sticking out of his torso. Another piece of shrapnel struck the mechanism used to lower the lifeboat, sending it and Robert plummeting out of view. At the same time, the sudden movement jerked the other crew member off his feet and slammed him into the now broken mechanism, the man hitting the machinery with a sickening crack before he too disappeared off the side of the boat.

His ears ringing, Oliver slowly pushed himself to his feet and looked around with bleary eyes. Half of the ship was now in flames, and, through the fire, Oliver could make out a gaping hole where the back of the ship had been. As he regained his wits and saw no sign of Robert, Oliver quickly made his way over to where Robert's lifeboat had been, sparing a queasy glance towards the crew member now bleeding out on the deck as he went.

"Robert!" Oliver shouted as he reached the side of the boat, gripping the railing for stability as he peered down at the churning sea below. After a moment, Oliver quickly spotted Robert in the lifeboat dozens of feet below him.

"Are you okay!?" Oliver shouted down to him.

"I'm alright!" Robert called back as he looked up at Oliver, "You need to jump, Oliver!"

"Jump!?" Oliver exclaimed as he looked at the sheer drop between him and the water, "Are you crazy!?"

At that point, the ship rocked violently again and began tipping dangerously towards the back, raising the part Oliver was on even higher in the air. Gripping the guardrail tightly, Oliver managed to keep from falling as his feet slipped out from under him. As Oliver clung to the guardrail for dear life, he watched as the body of the crew member who had been struck by shrapnel slid down the deck before falling off and plunging into the ocean below.

"Oliver!" Robert called from down below, "You need to jump! You'll die if you don't get off that ship!"

"Yeah, like jumping won't kill me," Oliver mumbled to himself as he looked down at the churning sea.

Moving carefully, Oliver shifted himself so he was on the outside of the guardrail. As he got himself settled, the ship rocked again, almost throwing Oliver off as he let out a cry of surprise.

"Oliver!" Robert shouted, his voice laced with fear.

"Shitshitshitshit," Oliver whispered to himself as he regained his grip and began preparing himself to jump from the ship, "Oh, man, oh crap, I can't believe I'm about to do this. Okay, okay, okay!"

With that, Oliver pushed himself from the ship, his arms and legs thrashing wildly as he fell through the open air.

"Oh shiiiit!" Oliver screamed as he fell before he plunged into the churning sea, the shock of hitting the water stunning him for a moment as he sunk beneath the waves. After a moment, Oliver regained his senses and he swam upwards, gasping for air as he breached the surface.

"Oliver!" Robert called, catching the young man's attention, "Oliver, over here!"

Turning his attention towards the source of his father's voice, Oliver quickly swam over to the lifeboat that held his father, who reached a hand out to his son. Taking Robert's hand, Oliver let his father help him into the lifeboat, where he promptly flopped onto the floor, laying on his back as he fought to catch his breath.

"Are you okay, Oliver?" Robert asked as he loomed over the young man, a worried expression on his face.

"Yeah, I think so," Oliver replied, nodding as he sat up.

Looking towards where the Queen's Gambit had been, Oliver was shocked to see only the prow of the ship still above the surface.

"What happened?" Oliver questioned as he turned his attention back towards Robert.

"I-I don't know," Robert replied with a stunned shake of his head, "I was in my room when the ship rocked and the crew came to get me. One of them said something about the ship striking something that caused an explosion in the engine room…."

As Robert's words drifted away with a pensive look on the man's face, Oliver looked at him with concern.

"What is it?" Oliver questioned.

"It's….It's nothing," Robert replied as he shook his head clear.

"What do we do now?" Oliver asked.

Before Robert could answer, the distant sound of a motor engine caught both of their attentions. Turning towards the source, Oliver spotted a small boat skipping across the waves towards them from the direction of the island. The searchlight attached to the front of the boat swept across the dark waters before it landed on the lifeboat and focused on it, forcing both men to hold up their hands against the glare of the light. A few moments later, the boat pulled up next to the lifeboat, and the searchlight was pointed away from the men, allowing them to see who was on the other boat.

The first thing that Oliver noticed was the pair of men, dressed in dirty t-shirts and shorts, who were aiming automatic rifles at Oliver and Robert. The two men flanked an Asian woman in her late twenties. She was of short stature and slim build, dressed in a black leather jacket with matching tight pants, a pair of long knives hanging from her hips. Her most striking feature, however, was her pure white hair that hung past her shoulders.

"Good evening, Mr. Queen," the woman greeted with a cocky smile as she glanced at the Queen's Gambit just as it finished disappearing below the waterline, "It looks like you're having a little boat trouble."

"What is this!?" Robert demanded, glancing wearily between the woman and the men pointing guns at him, "Who are you!?"

"My name is Chien Na Wei," the woman explained as she rested her hands on her hips, "Though most people call me China White. And I'm here to welcome you…."

China White trailed off as she glanced at Oliver with her dark brown eyes.

"And your friend," she continued as she turned her attention back towards Robert, a sadistic grin on her face, "To Lian Yu. The Professor is very eager to talk to you."

A/N: Finally got around to writing another chapter for this one! Had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you all enjoyed it! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!