Hello readers
Off we go with another chapter
Later outside the Queen Mansion
A limousine pulls up as Oliver steps out of the passenger doors with closing them before turning to head inside as the vehicle drives off. Pushing one of the double doors open, Oliver steps inside the foyer. Almost immediately Thea rushes up and embraces her brother in a hug, crying in joy.
"I've missed you so much Ollie," Thea says in happiness.
"I've missed you speedy" Oliver replies, a slight grin on his lips.
They eventually break apart as Moira embraces Oliver in a hug, with a mix of emotions on her face mostly in joy and relief of it not being a dream. After a few minutes, Oliver steps back as Moira composes herself and wipes the tears from her face.
"I'm so glad you're alive," Moira says.
"It's good to be home" Oliver replies.
"Through that was a rotten thing to do of a press conference before even calling any of us," Thea says, with folding her arms.
"I had my reasons" Oliver replies.
"Well I'm just glad you're alive and home to us," Moria says, giving a warm smile.
"Glad it's actually you this time buddy," Tommy says, walking out from the sitting room. Decided to come over to the Queen Mansion early after seeing the press release and waited for his best friend to show up.
"Hey, Tommy," Oliver says with a smile.
Briefly, Tommy and Oliver share a manly hug before breaking apart.
"It's been a while," Oliver says.
"That it has, so you want to go hit the town and check out all the new spots? After all your back from the dead and this calls for a party" Tommy replies.
"Thomas Merlyn, I just got my son back so your antics can wait," Moira says, gently chastising the younger man.
In response, Tommy just gives her a charming smile.
"Mom is right and my days of being irresponsible are over," Oliver says firmly.
"Right," Tommy says, a little disappointed since losing his wingman for the time being but not giving up on getting him back.
"Welcome home Oliver," a female voice says from behind them.
Turning around to see "Hello Rasia," Oliver says, with a warm smile.
"A woman on the phone wants to talk to you, and she sounded really upset. Gave a name of Mockingbird" Rasia says.
"Took her long enough," Oliver says while walking towards a doorway in the far corner.
"Who is she? Some woman you slept with?" Thea asks, lightly snarky.
"We can have the lawyers easily deal with her if she's going to be the problem," Moira says.
"No on both. It's actually the lawyer involved with legally bringing me back from the dead" Oliver replies.
"Oh," Moira says.
Walking through the dining room Oliver heads into the kitchen with grabbing the receiver from the wall places it against his ear.
"Hello Waller," Oliver says, knowing it was her from the codename.
"That was quite the stunt you pulled, Mr. Queen and it's forced me to let you go" Amanda replies.
"Well I can't say I'm disappointed," Oliver says dryly.
"You still will need to come in for a briefing" Amanda says.
"I figured as much," Oliver says replies before placing the receiver back in the holder.
Letting out a sigh of relief because his time forced under ARGUS has finally ended and he is free… for now, unless Amanda tries something at the briefing. Hopefully not, either way, Oliver decides might as well get this over with.
Few hours later at the ARGUS field office in Starling City
Standing near the window, Oliver is looking out while currently waiting on Waller. For this place, Oliver knows after they wrap up this mission it will be shut down and left as the abandoned office building it originally was, due to the small business going under due to increasing regulations made the owners unable to remain open.
On a nearby table is a closed duffle bag containing his gear which he managed to get from the weapons room. Inside is a wooden recurve bow and arrow filled quiver, in addition to Shado's green cloth hood. The one item missing is his father's notebook and that's in the fuselage back on the island, which he will have to eventually go get.
Hearing footsteps that are very recognizable, Oliver turns around to see Amanda and Maseo entering the room.
"You get Rick's body out of the dumpster?" Oliver asks.
"Yes," Maseo replies.
"There has been a complication, so you're not quite done with us yet, Mr. Queen," Amanda says.
"The hell it is. What more do want? You have the bioweapon; you have China White it's over" Oliver replies growling.
"This isn't up to me," Amanda says.
Just then two men in basic army uniforms walk into the room and one of them looks to be in his fifties with gray hair.
"Is this him?" the man asks referring to Oliver.
Amanda nods in response.
"Hello, Mr. Queen. I'm General Matthew Shrieve of the United States Army and our county owes you a great debt. After the mess ARGUS has made, this has become a mop-up. I've got some news you're not going to want to hear" Shrieve says.
"Well General I'm used to that by now" Oliver replies.
"We are going to need to debrief you back in China and after that, I'll have you sent back here. Sound fair?" Shrieve asks.
Oliver initially plans on agreeing but stops for a moment, as the familiar feeling of danger comes upon the castaway. Also, his need to not trust anybody completely, learned in his first year on Lian Yu due to Yao Fei, only cemented in by Slade's betrayal. Something is not right with this General.
"Why is the Army involved in this anyway?" Oliver asks.
"Because we are son" Shrieve replies, but his momentarily surprise reaction was all the former ARGUS agent needed.
"I'm not buying that. You see ARGUS is an off the book's government organization. If this really was a mop-up like you claimed, Waller's superiors would have just sent somebody down to kill her and figured out something to do with the rest of us." Oliver explained being thankful for the knowledge he's gained about government organizations these past months "So what are you really doing here General?"
There is a moment of tense silence as the Matthew Shrieve realizes what he just walked into of a trap and Amanda exchanges glances with Oliver, almost embarrassed she of all people didn't pick up on something this noticeable. All five of them exchange glances with each other wondering who's going to make the next move.
Shrieve gives a slight tilt of the head to the other man who suddenly aims his Colt 45 handgun at Maseo and Amanda, just as Shrieve draws his own handgun and points it at Oliver.
"I'm impressed. You really should work for me because your talents are seriously being wasted" Shrieve says.
"What are you really doing here?" Amanda asks.
"China has this country literally held captive and controls nearly everything since we receive nearly all of our major products from them. One of the largest populations in the world. If they ever decide to take us over, we are literally defenseless" Shrieve says.
"Your planning on using the Alpha/Omega bioweapon on China and wanted us out of the way since we are loose ends," Amanda says putting the pieces together.
"Yes. Now I'm going to have to improvise my plans." Shrieve says
"Listen I get it. Ok, I've been to Hong Kong and I grew up where my dad among are other rich class neighbors had various business with the Chinese. So, I get how screwed up we currently are but killing over millions of people? For what?" Oliver growls angrily in disgust "You're no better than Anthony Ivo."
"Because it has to be done," Shrieve says.
Oliver having silently removed a pocketknife from his back-right jean pocket, flips it open then throws the knife directly into Shrieve's right shoulder causing him to drop his gun.
Rapidly unzipping the duffle bag, Oliver grabs his bow with notching an arrow just in time to see Matthew Shrieve raising up his gun but never gets the chance to fire. Oliver let's lose the arrow piercing Shrieve's throat causing him to stumble back and fall to the ground.
At the same time, Amanda turns around delivering a kick to the soldier's right kneecap, before punching him in the face. Maseo rapidly disarms the man of his handgun then fires a double tap into his chest, sending the solider to the floor lifeless.
Maseo and Amanda turn around to see Shrieve laying on the floor with Oliver pulling the knife out and checking the man's pulse.
"Is he alive?" Amanda asks.
"No" Oliver replies while cleaning his blade off on the man's shirt before putting the knife away in his back pocket.
"Complete your debriefing then you can go," Amanda says.
"I'll be taking my equipment as well before I leave," Oliver says glancing over.
Amanda nods in acceptance. That's fine with her since that way he will already have his gear when she needs him again, and she will need to rope Oliver in for more missions eventually.
Some hours later, into the early night at the Queen Mansion
Moving along the top of the walkway Oliver suddenly hears Rasia for somebody to get out and immediately his other instincts are kicking in. Racing down the stairs Oliver follows her voice into the sitting room where he sees Quentin standing there with rage and hate.
"It's ok Rasia, I've got this" Oliver says.
"But he's probably going to hurt you" Rasia replies.
"Oh, I most defiantly am" Quentin spits out.
"I'll be fine. Now please the leave room, I don't want you caught in the middle of this" Oliver says, with a pleading look in his eyes.
"Ok just be careful," Rasia says, then exists.
"All your life you've been an ungrateful punk who has always got away from the consequences due to your parent's money. You killed my baby girl and now I'm going to make you pay for it" Quentin growls venomously.
Rushing forward Quentin punches Oliver directly in his face the hardest he can or at least under the influence of alcohol, which is still hard. Oliver blocks the next punch before responding with one of his own straight into the man's stomach. Gasping for air Quentin goes down to the ground nearly instantly. Oliver really doesn't have much guilt for this, given how he saw Quentin treat his sister at Tommy's birthday party.
"Now I highly suggest you get out of my house before I have to throw you out," Oliver says.
"Go to hell Queen. You got my daughter killed. I lost my wife, all because of you" Quentin replies angrily.
"I know, Quentin I know. For every single day since the Gambit went down Laurel's death is on my shoulders. You still have Sara, try being there for her" Oliver says.
"You go anywhere near Sara and I'll make you wish you were dead" Quentin replies while climbing to his feet.
"That's enough! I kindly suggest you leave my house right now. Before I call Lieutenant Pike to explain why you need to be escorted out in a squad car because your threating to kill my son. Then I'll have you stripped of all your ranks" Moira says in ice-cold but containing the furry underneath while stepping into the room.
Quentin despite being drunk, knows enough to keep his mouth shut when dealing with somebody like Moira who won't hesitate on destroying his entire career and not lose an ounce of sleep over it. Glaring hatefully at them both, Quentin leaves the room than a minute later you can hear a door slam shut.
"I'm going to be making the phone call," Moira says.
"No, you won't. The man is just hurting and has been for the past years because of me, and stripping Mr. Lance of his ranks will make it worse. Despite his drinking issues, Starling City doesn't have many honest people left in the SCPD. This city needs him" Oliver says.
Surprised etched across her features "No the Gambit sinking or Laurel's death is not your fault. And I've never have heard you talk like that before. However, Quentin must learn there are consequences to his actions" Moira says, a warm smile.
"Mom if I get a whisper of Lance having been even pushed down to patrol officer, I'm going to hold you personally responsible. And I'm not somebody you want to be on the wrong side of, not anymore" Oliver says his voice dropping to a colder tone and a certain look to his eyes.
"Very well," Moira says, after a moment. She notes that Oliver's picked up more than one thing from her if this is anything to go by.
"Are you both ok?" Rasia asks approaching.
"Yes, we just fine" Moira replies.
"Thank goodness. Dinner will be ready in a few moments" Rasia says before walking off.
"I better go find Thea," Oliver says then heads back for the stairs.
Four hours later inside a club
Making his way through the crowd of people, currently, Oliver is trying to locate his sister. After having seen her sneak out about an hour after dinner, he hacked Thea's phone GPS and followed his sister here to this club. Clenching his fists, while their mother might have let her get away with this lifestyle, he is for sure not going to.
Seeing Thea up ahead by the bar having just got done dancing with a few of her friends and a guy who is handing them packets, Oliver rapidly makes his way up to them.
"Not going to happen," Oliver says grabbing the young teen's wrist and twisting his arm forcing him to drop the packets.
"Hey man, what on earth you doing?" the kid shouts.
"Ollie,?" Thea exclaims in shock and surprise.
Applying pressure "If I ever see you giving drugs to my sister again, I'll come and find you. That is something you don't want; do you understand me?" Oliver asks calmly.
"Yes, yes. Now please let me go" the young teen squeals painfully.
Oliver let's go of his wrist and the teenager hurriedly disappears into the crowd of other people dancing and such who are paying little to no mind of this situation.
"What are you even doing here?" Thea asks.
Turning to face her "Because I'm not having you waste your life like this" Oliver says.
"Really, your one to judge Ollie. You and Tommy basically spent all your years through high school and college doing exactly this, so you've got no room to tell me a thing" Thea says angrily.
"Why don't you just find a door and let a bouncer throw you out. And leave us to our fun" Margo says standing near bye.
"I suggest you keep out of this" Oliver says then focuses his gaze on Thea "I'm not leaving this place without you and we are leaving now."
"Oh, we are not. You just don't get it; this is my life. Not yours and I don't give a damn about what you think I'm doing with it" Thea growls angrily.
"Tommy and I never did drugs. Why? Because we knew that if serious enough, we could be caught, and our parents couldn't do a thing to get us out. Or just from the physical and mental state, they leave you destroyed" Oliver says, trying to reach her.
"Yeah, neither of those is going to happen to me. You haven't been here for me these past years anyway, so go run off" Thea says dismissively.
Oliver goes to say something but never gets the chance as Thea and her friends go into the crowd disappearing.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and leave a review letting me know what you think.
I decided to have Oliver's bow be the one he used in season 1 and most of season 8 instead of the longbow given I like that one more. Really Oliver's wooden recurve bow looking like it was assembled on an island makes far more sense to acquire from Yao Fei instead of Talia.
Until next time