Chapter 3

Skulls and Axes

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. Now, let's roll on! Takes place around twenty minutes after previous chapter. And oh yeah, to the following: Doctor Anthony, motherdrukker, highlander348,Kindleflame5, WinterRain36, and 234dfg… Where the heck did you guys go!?

A ready for the day Oliver Queen silently made his way into the dining room much to the surprise of Moira, Walter, and Raisa since he tended to be around later in the day rather then so early. Sitting down in the closest empty chair, the archer grabbed an apple and started to eat it. "Now this is certainly a surprise to see you up and about Oliver." Commented Walter as he took another sip from his morning coffee.

"Is everything alright?" Asked Moira in concern as she gave her son her undivided attention.

Swallowing a bite of his apple as he looked at her before answering. "Yeah, just a dream is all. Nothing to worry about."

The look he got from his mother told him she wasn't convinced by that. "Mom, I promise its nothing to worry about." Though she had her reservations on it, the mother of two let it go for the time being much to Oliver's relief.

As it is, the last thing Oliver wanted was to make his mom worry about anything when it might not even be anything to begin with. And he knew she'd want to know who Shado was and he wasn't quite ready to even talk about her with anybody as her death was still so fresh in his mind despite the two years that had passed. After finishing off his apple and chowing down on some non seasoned bacon and eggs, Oliver got asked what he intended to do today and replied he wasn't sure just yet. Though in reality he wanted to look into the attacks on the Glades to see if there was any hints to who had done it. Rumor was there had been quite a few taggings left behind in the wake of the attack in the form of a skull with two axes.

What that meant he wasn't sure but if it was a clue in the whole thing then he would try it. As something like that attack just couldn't happen again as those people deserved far better even if those of the richer side of life in Starling probably didn't see it that way. "Perhaps you and young Thomas can meet up." Suggested Walter and the idea sounded like a good one to Moira too. Well, so long as the two didn't get up to anything that would get them on the news anyway.

"Yeah, maybe." Answered the former castaway noncommittally as he downed the last of his food and orange juice.

The Foundry an Hour Later

An hour later would see Oliver down in the Foundry after being out in the Glades while ensuring he wouldn't be recognized as he investigated the areas that were attacked. The lack of cops had made it easy to get fairly close to the ruined areas and sure enough he had been able to find taggings of the skull with two axes. He'd had to defend himself a few times from a few punks looking to make a buck during the whole thing but he was reasonably sure he'd shown them the error of their ways. As he made his way to the Foundry, Oliver made sure his path took him by Sin's house and was relieved to see it untouched. The fact Sin herself looked to be in good health was a bonus to him as well.

Once at the Foundry, Oliver had quickly gone down to the basement to begin researching on the image he saw but so far had little luck. Mostly thanks to the fact he only had a single laptop and search engines weren't exactly helpful in the whole thing. The thought to ask Shrieve to look into it had entered his mind but he wanted to do it on his own as he didn't want to have to go to the man for everything anytime he hit a snag on something. Guess I'm gonna have to learn better computer skills. Maybe invest in some more advanced computers too.

Something that would have to be done discretely of course as the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention on what he and the others were doing in the Foundry. Oliver then decided to stop the research for now since he wasn't getting anywhere and decided to work out a good while until his stomach rumbled. Taking a shower in the makeshift bathroom they'd managed to put together, Oliver made his way to Big Belly Burger where he had no doubt John would be as well as had become his morning custom before getting on with any work. Primarily because the breakfast selections there was tastier then anywhere else and occasionally Carly would be doing a morning shift so he'd keep her company for a bit.

Once inside and sitting at the nearest booth, Oliver quickly saw that neither Carly or John were there and figured one was enjoying theirselves before likely working later that evening while the other was already out and about on either a job or keeping an eye out for Thea while he stayed outside of the school. As he waited on the waitress to come for him, he stared out the window as people passed by and the folks inside talked about various things. Chief among those things being the attacks and how it was racially motivated to an extent. And when Oliver thought about it, he realized there was some truth to that line of thinking.

Later, after an enjoyable meal at Big Belly Burger, the archer decided to head to a library as he figured he might have better luck there due to all the reference materials they had. And it wouldn't be until later that night when out on patrol that he would come across a man with an axe looking to make a few kills. While the man wouldn't know a great deal of information, he would be at least somewhat helpful in informing Oliver that there was a group out there he himself had been looking to join since the rumor about them is that their a bunch of White Supremacists. A bit of information that Oliver didn't care much for since he'd heard of how those types could be.

Things are bad enough in the Glades and the last thing we need is racially motivated attacks happening. Thought Oliver before knocking out the would be killer and tying him to a nearby fence for the police to get.

Author's Notes: Sorry if this seems crappy and hopefully the next one will be a lot better. I'm kind of thinking about the next chapter being a return to Nanda Parbat but I'm not so sure yet. We'll see what happens when the time comes. R and R!