Oliver roamed the city streets, familiarising himself with the urban landscape, shifting from shadow to shadow with unnerving ease. He had already internally charted a basic map of the streetscape of most of Starling City within his head.
Tonight he was going to the Docks.
He already was aware of the Triad taint which had infected this area of the city.
And he wanted to keep an eye on their operations, if there was even a chance that the Triad had reinfected QC or were in any way a threat to himself or his goals, he would need to shut them down.
As his feet silently skimmed the edge of the metal shipping containers, Oliver found himself recognising a heartbeat nearby.
Chien Na Wei.
Known by those outside China as China White.
A vicious woman, known both her brutal assassinations and by her peddling of alpha- Methylfentanyl an opioid analgesic of which she is named after the street name for the drug.
Rationally Oliver should have turned away, he did not need to follow the Triad bitch around. She knew too much about his work for A.R.G.U.S in Hong Kong, and if she saw him, she could potentially cause some problems, especially if she had proof about his time in Hong Kong. Logically, he should just walk away, China White was unlikely to act unless provoked.
But curiosity was a fickle master, and for the moment Oliver did not care.
He followed her heartbeat to a shady office, to his surprise he recognised another heartbeat – Martin Summers, the maritime magnate that Laurel was trying to jail due to murder.
He was hardly surprised that the Triad and Martin Summers were working in tandem, it was not unusual especially in Starling City for dirty businessmen to make deals with the overseas mobs, allowing them access into the American market while they profited.
He found a murky filthy broken window, and slipped through the opening, landing lightly on a beam in the shadows high above the tycoon and white-haired assassin.
With the barest semblance of civility, Martin Summers was the first to speak, "Thank you for coming."
"Anything for a friend." China White's silky tone was almost teasing in its sarcasm.
"We are not friends. You smuggle drugs. I let you use my port." He snarled back.
"For which you are paid a lot of money." She reminded him.
"I don't get paid enough to have a witch hunt from Laurel Lance. You need to take her seriously, she is a bigger threat to our operation than Nocenti ever was. She won't stop until she burns you, me, and the entire Triad to the ground."
With chilling simplicity, White answered, "Then we kill Ms Lance."
Oliver silently twisted his body into a complicated acrobatic manoeuvre, and exited out of the same broken window.
His heart was racing, and he could feel the Mirakuru screaming for blood, rationally Oliver knew that he could take out both Summers and White silently, violently, and cleanly. But he was more concerned about the consequences of that action.
After his year in Russia, Oliver was well-versed in the inner workings of a mob, while the Triad and Bratva were dissimilar, they had enough similar elements which forced Oliver to concur that murdering the top Triad assassin in Starling City along with one of the Triad's main entrances to the American market under mysterious circumstances would lead to suspicion focused on Starling City that Oliver did not need.
Lying low as the Mirakuru super-soldier was the main reason Oliver retook the persona of Ollie Queen, he could not allow for any of his old enemies to work out that the enhanced ARGUS assassin was still alive and kicking, with an easily attackable family to boot.
Oliver would have to lay in wait for China White, which meant that he needed to make amends with Laurel so that he could use her as the bait for his trap. It would be far less suspicious that China White had been killed during a botched assassination attempt, than killed brutally on the Starling City Docks.
…/|\...
"Attorney for shipping magnate Martin Summers has confirmed that his client has no intention of testifying. Maintaining his innocence in the wrongful death of Victor Nocenti. Nocenti's body was found four weeks ago. We will keep you updated as more information comes available."
Oliver only half-listened to the droning TV presenter as he pulled on a dark blue button-up shirt, having extensively researched the man last night after returning from his excursion to the City Docks.
Oliver could hear Thea's heartbeat nearby, and began his latest operation to convince Thea that she should stop partying and start taking life seriously.
He deliberately left his scarred torso in sight as he turned to pick up his light brown winter jacket.
"Wait? How did you get those?"
Thea had predictably walked in like a typical naïve pampered rich girl, without curtesy and acting like she owned the place.
"Don't you knock?" Oliver pretended to act annoyed, as if he had not meant for Thea to walk in on him.
Oliver tried to hide the scars with little success as Thea marched over and pulled the material away to give herself a proper look at the damage.
"Mum said there was scars… I, um. Oliver what happened to you out there." Thea fumbled with her words as she assessed the rough inelegant scarring lightly with her palm.
"I don't want to talk about it." Oliver did not believe that Thea was ready for even the partial truth of Lian Yu yet.
"Of course you don't. You never want to talk to me about anything. Except for my social life."
Oliver was torn.
He had miscalculated, Thea was more insensitive than he had first thought, or perhaps even more naïve.
Slade spoke up, "She simply can't understand what your scars entail. Her sheltered life does not offer enough knowledge of injury for her to truly understand this kind of pain. You need to take this in smaller steps, over a long period of time. People don't change easily, and sometimes not at all."
But Oliver still wanted to talk with Thea.
To help her to become a better person. To help her avoid the mistakes he had made. To keep alive the one person alive that he truly unconditionally cared about and loved.
"Thea, wait. It's not that I don't want to ever tell you about what happened. It's that I'm not really sure how." Oliver decided that a hint of honesty was desired in this scenario.
"How about you start from the beginning?" Her sarcasm was angry and petulant.
"She is too much like you before Lian Yu. Never having any attention, never having any restraints. Always getting what you want, but not what you really needed. You didn't change quickly and neither will her." Slade lectured.
Oliver briefly noted the helpfulness of the Mirakuru and decided that he would need to ascertain whether the Mirakuru was going to use Thea as one of its hallucinations in the future, or if it was simply helping him due to the fight he had planned later against China White.
"It's not that easy Speedy." He answered with a sad finality, knowing that she would not take this refusal of information well, even if it was for her own good.
"With you it never is." She spat out, before turning on hell to stalk out of the room.
"Where are you going?" He called out, not really expecting her to answer.
"Why should I tell you?"
"I'm sorry Thea. I need to get better at talking about what happened to me there. But I'm not ready yet." And neither are you. Oliver thought reflectively.
Thea stood as if debating a choice in her head, before finally asking, "Do you have a second?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I want to show you something out back."
…/|\...
Oliver was somewhat surprised when Thea led him out towards where he knew his grave was.
"Sometimes, when I felt… whatever. I'd come here." Thea began.
"Yeah whenever you felt like getting high." Slade sneered reminding Oliver of his brief retrieve to Starling City when he was under the grips of Amanda Waller.
Oliver ignored both of them, looking at the carved speckled grey limestone block.
A loving son and brother whose light was dimmed far too soon.
It was ironic, death would have only dimmed his light but living on Lian Yu had extinguished it.
"About a month after your funeral, mum stopped going out. Pretty soon she stopped talking altogether. And Dad was typically always at work, he didn't notice at all. The house got so quiet. So I'd come here." She gestured to the gravestone, "To talk to you. I mean, stupid stuff, like what I was doing that day, what boy I had a crush on. And then sometimes I'd ask you, beg you, to find your way home to me. Now here you are, and the truth is I felt closer to you when you were dead."
She turned towards him pleadingly, "Look I know it was hell where you were, but it was hell here too."
Predictably Slade scoffed in response despite Thea being unable to hear him, "You don't even know the meaning of hell, little girl."
"You got to let me in Ollie, you have got to let someone in."
Oliver realised that this conversation, while proving how much Thea was naïve and unready for the truth, was useful. Useful for a pre-text into which to trick Laurel to letting him near her, so that he could both protect her and finally get his revenge on the Triad bitch.
…/|\...
After ditching Diggle for perhaps the twentieth time, Oliver immediately headed towards Laurel's apartment block. His motorbike purring underneath him, he made two stops: the foundry for extra weapons, and for ice cream.
As he pulled up outside the grey concrete mass, he nodded to the two cops waiting in separate cars parked near each end of the building.
A noble attempt by Detective Lance, but the day-cops would be slaughtered by the Triad thugs without much trouble.
"No one can say he doesn't care about his precious little birdie. I can't decide if the lack of adequate protection is because he is over-confident or just stupid." Slade spat poisonous words, and Oliver once again was reminded that it was not truly Slade but a manifestation of the Mirakuru beside him.
He quietly waited in the elevator, listening to the heartbeats in the building. Before the lift had reached the laurel's floor, he could have told you to great extent about the seventy two other residents, and the thirteen staff currently in the building.
But the most important factor was determined by his senses – China White was not yet near or within the building.
And Laurel's own heartbeat was steady and slow, still alive. And she would remain so, as long as Oliver remained close.
He knocked loudly on Laurel's apartment door, well-aware that she had a tendency to become lost in her own thoughts and therefore he needed to be loud in order to be heard.
When the door swung open, he hesitated for a moment, looking at the almost enraged expression on her face, "Hey. Are you okay? There are two cop cars outside."
"How am I supposed to stay away from you if you won't stay away from me? What are you doing here Ollie?"
Thinking carefully about his next words, Oliver decided to strike Laurel where she was weakest – family, "My sister pointed out to me that I have been distant since I got back and that it would probably be a good idea if I let somebody in."
"So you thought you'd start with the first person you pushed away."
"I did that to protect you. And then I saw you yesterday and I realised that I hurt you." Oliver lied fluently, knowing that Laurel was easily manipulated when she believed that he was speaking the truth – and therefore would likely let him in.
Predictably, Laurel sighed before stepping aside and gesturing for him to enter the room.
"Wow. This place hasn't changed in five years."
"I haven't really had time to redecorate." She snapped back stiffly.
Oliver employed a tactic which had so often convince Laurel to forgive him in the past, particularly when they were dating, he admitted to his faults honestly, "I'm a jerk. Before the Island I was a jerk, and now I'm just a damaged jerk."
Her shoulder's slumped, and eyes softened almost involuntarily, Laurel knew that Oliver was playing on her weaknesses but wasn't really sure if she cared at this moment.
"What is in the bag?" She asked tiredly.
Oliver smiled mysteriously, ""I thought about many things on the island but there was one thing I thought about every day. I actually dreamed about it. And I promised myself that if I ever got a chance to do it again, I'd do it with you."
He supressed a mischievous smirk at the annoyed look on Laurel's face, he had deliberately phrased his sentences to work her up.
"Eat Ice-cream." He finished with fake cheerfulness while pulling out a tub of Laurel's favourite Ben & Jerrys Mint-Choc ice-cream, trying desperately not to laugh as Laurel transformed from being cantankerous to delighted with only two words.
