I apologize profusely! I wrote this piece in December already, but then my laptop crashed and I lost everything. Still there is not excuse for my late update.
On a second note I have started with school and am busy busy with exams coming up, so there is a possibility for the next chapter to be late too. Forgive me!
Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow!
Chapter 5
"Ok Carlos, I'm glad you two are safe and settled in… Yes, I'll pick you up on Saturday and then I'll show you and Michelle around Starling." Alex spoke into the phone.
"Thank you, Miss Wayne." The Brazilian man said before he put the phone down. Alex smiled at her triumph. She was one step closer to opening her restaurant: the staff had already been hired and the place already bought, and now Alex could tick Find Head Chef off her list too.
The door to the apartment opened and closed as Aiden swiftly entered it, "Hey Babe." Alex greeted as she turned to him. He looked worried as he put down the groceries on the kitchen island and walked into the living room.
"Alex you got to see this." He murmured as he kissed her cheek before quickly switching on the TV. Alex furrowed her brows in confusion. "What's up with you?" She asked, confused. Aiden didn't say anything as he quickly sought out the news channel and turned up the volume.
"Nothing. Watch." He instructed. Alex rolled her eyes but turned her attention to the news report. Her breath hitched when she spotted a photo of Oliver in the corner. With rapt attention she listened to the reporter's words. "Oliver Queen is alive. The Starling City resident was found by fishermen in the North China Sea five days ago, five years after he was missing and presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed the Queen's Gambit."
Alex stumbled and the phone that had been clutched in her hand slipped and fell to the floor. Thank God for shatterproof covers. Aiden turned to his girlfriend and held a hand out to steady her. Her eyes jumped to him. "He's alive?" She breathed. Her gaze jumped back to the TV, she only caught the last few words, "…but now officially confirmed as deceased." before the news had shifted to the weather report. Robert. She thought as she shut her eyes for a second to try and digest this new information.
"God, Aiden. Ollie is alive." She gripped his biceps to try and regain control over her rapidly beating heart. "You want me to take you over to the hospital and see him?" Aiden asked softly. Alex shook her head and turned away from Aiden, her mind racing. How was he alive? The shock of the news shook her world. The last time she felt so out of control was when a red hood had been ripped from a murderer's head to reveal her brother.
She swallowed thickly and glanced at her glass of wine on the coffee table. No, alcohol wouldn't make this disappear, wouldn't make the inner turmoil go away. She needed a good workout and the only way to get that was to go on patrol. She swiftly turned and grabbed her jacket,
"Where are you going?" Aiden called after her as she stalked to the front door, grabbing her car keys as she went.
"Out. Don't wait up." She answered over her shoulder before she exited the apartment and headed for the elevators.
Tigra gripped her sword as she faced five different men. Oh how she hated walking into an alley to find someone being mugged. They were hesitant: she could they were wondering if she was the masked woman who could break all your fingers in less than ten seconds.
"So, since we're all here and you all think you can take on little ol' me, who's going to charge me first?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Three of them shared a smirk, and Tigra's lips melted into a scowl. She hated men who thought she was easy just because she was female. She couldn't wait to kick their asses, especially after the night she's had.
She studied each assailant. They all looked the same in her eyes, but some trademarks stood out. One of them had a scar that crossed his entire face, another had bright red hair sticking out of a beret, a third guy held a crowbar loosely in his grip. The last two men each held a knife and Tigra was 85% sure one of them had a gun on their person.
The first to charge her in the end had been the two men with knifes. One was short and stubby, the other long and skinny. The short one slashed at her in a wide ark, Tigra blocked the hit with her sword and shoved the knife to the side. As the man went stumbling past her she kicked him in the back and heard a crash as he slammed into a few trash cans. When the other one tried to stab her she jumped back and used the hilt of her sword to ram into his jugular. He crumpled to the floor while he choked and tried to regain air. He yelled out in pain when Tigra kicked him in the head. The masked vigilante turned her gaze to the remaining three men. She sensed the other one picking himself out of the dumpsters.
Crowbar charged her, weapon grazing the ground as he swung upwards aiming to her chin. Tigra took a step back and drew her head away. She didn't expect the thug being skilled enough to land a hard kick into her abdomen. Tigra sucked in a deep breath as she stumbled backwards. Ginger and Trash Can charged her with Crowbar as Tigra glared at them. Dropping her sword she lifted her hands and waited. Ginger through a punch, she caught his fist and slammed her foot into Crowbar's leg. Twisting the man's wrist she brought him to the ground as she flipped over him and slammed her heel on Trash Can's head. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Dropping the dislocated hand she turned to Crowbar. His sneer was menacing as he dropped his weapon and tried a different approach.
He sent a kick to her leg. Tigra blocked it with her foot. Crowbar punched to her right, her left and aimed an uppercut at her jaw. Tigra barely missed the uppercut by bringing up her arm to block. Crowbar took a step back.
"Big mistake." She grinned and attacked.
She didn't waste time playing with him, but sent a fake jab to the left before squarely knocking him on the side of the head. Crowbar fell over like a sack of potatoes. She snorted as she sheathed her sword. She heard a click of a gun and jumped out of the way just as a shot rang. Tigra pulled out a blunt knife and threw the gun out of the Scar Face's hands. He must be the ring leader she thought. The man was big, really big with muscles bulging in anger. The scar crossing his face made him look menacing in every sense of the word, but Alex had to admit, Two Face would always be the prettiest of them all.
Tigra waved him over, "You going to fight me like a man?" She asked him, her eyelashes flashing innocently. Scar Face smirked, his teeth were a disgusting yellow and she just couldn't resist, "You ever heard of a toothbrush, big fella?"
Scar Face snarled and ran at her. Tigra took a deep breath and just as he swung his large arm to hit her face, she lightly stepped to the side, grabbed his biceps and threw him over her shoulder and against the wall. There was a loud crunch and when the thug turned around his face was coated in blood. Tigra resisted a smile. Poor guy never learned to turn his face when being slammed into a brick wall.
"You think you can just show up and change how things work here?" Scar Face asked. Tigra blinked in surprise when she learned he was Russian. She narrowed her eyes, maybe she should keep a closer eye on the Russian Mob.
Tigra shrugged, "I don't see why I can't." She said her head slightly tilted to the side. Scar Face laughed, his head thrown back. Alex would never admit it, but a shiver definitely went down her spine. "This city is so far down the gutter, a woman in a tiger suit won't be able to save it."
"Anything is redeemable." Scar Face smirked. "Keep thinking like that sweetheart." Tigra barely had time to shift her stance before the bullet tore through her shoulder. She cried out and her hand flew to the wound. When she looked up again, the large man was barreling down on her. He knocked into her with such force she flew across the alley and slammed into the wall. Tigra grit her teeth as she pulled herself up from the floor. Her eyes flashed as she glared at the thug who held a gun to her head.
"You ain't messing with us anymore." He snarled.
Tigra threw herself out of the way. She was beyond pissed, the guy actually succeeded in distracting her. She ignored the flare of pain in her shoulder and cartwheeled out of the way of flying bullets. She sprinted towards Scar Face from the back and flipped onto his shoulders. Using her legs and body she twisted around him, grabbed one of his arms and used all her strength to slam him into the ground when her feet met earth.
He groaned and Tigra pulled harder on his arm as she stepped onto his throat. The arm cracked and crunched. Tigra waited until his struggling body went limp before she stood. He wasn't dead, but he'd definitely be hurting for a while. Tigra rolled her shoulder and hissed when a flare of pain raced down her arm. She sighed and turned to look at the wound. She silently studied it, it was going to leave a scar, but it was merely a flesh wound. She glanced at the men surrounding her, she's been running around the city for the past year and she hadn't even made a dent in the crime rate. Fighting down her own frustration she quickly scaled the building and ran across the rooftops, heading for her hide-out.
She was silently stitching up her wound when the door swished open. A gun was already in her hand, aiming at the person who had just walked in before she recognised Aiden's face. He raised an eyebrow in question at the gun.
Alex scowled and put the weapon down next to her, "It's the easiest thing to shoot with." She grumbled out an explanation as she pulled another stitch through her flesh. Aiden huffed in annoyance and walked over to help her when she winced in pain, "I thought Bruce had a no gun policy." Alex didn't meet his gaze as she watched his hands tend gently to her shoulder,
"I don't have an issue with guns, I just prefer swords." Aiden didn't say anything, but he sent the bullet lying in a metal basin an accusing look. Alex resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him. She hissed when he pulled the stitching a little too roughly. She cursed him in French. Aiden smirked, "Sorry." She knew he wasn't.
When he had finished she jumped of the table and pulled on a T-shirt she kept in a gym bag under one of the tables. "So what are you doing to distract yourself with next?" Aiden asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. Alex ignored the sarcasm in his voice and headed over to the computers. She quickly did a search using a program Barbra invented, "Did you know Alexi Leonov has been in charge of the Russian Mafia in Starling city since he was eighteen years old?" She asked him. Aiden snorted and leaned over her shoulder to look at the information spread across the screen.
"It's the Bratva. And yeah, I know. There have been dozens of cases against him and his men, but nothing sticks." Alex pursed her lips, "Why are you so curious all of a sudden?" Alex shot him a disgruntled look over her shoulder and lightly shoved him away, she needed to work and couldn't with him breathing down her neck.
Aiden huffed in annoyance, "Can you stop pushing me away? I can help. I am the one who's got all access to all the case fails back at HQ." Alex paused in her reading as she pondered Aiden's point. After a few seconds she decided that she needed a little help. Even Batman had an Alfred. She took a deep breath and turned around as she blew out her breath, "I ran into a couple of goons tonight, but in the high-rise areas. They usually stick to the Glades, I'm afraid their drug cartel has been… extended." She said, her lips pulling into a frown. Aiden studied her for a second, "Has it ever occurred to you to do some digging into the lives of Starling's richest?" Alex snarled, "Of course it's occurred to me. I've been working on a way in and I'm slowly getting there. Dad got in easily enough since he inherited Wayne Industries, but it's a little harder to trust an ex-party girl." She said as she stood up and walked to a wall on the opposite side of the train. It was littered with various photos and notes Alex had made over the past year of the richest families in the city, almost like an evidence board. Her next job was to dig deeper and find just what made the high and mighty tick before calling in Detective Grand about the thugs lying in the alleyway.
"Why didn't you come to dinner last night?" Tommy asked as he handed her a cup of coffee.
Alex took a sip and shrugged in nonchalance, "It was last night?" She asked innocently as her eyes scanned over the papers on her desk. They were currently in her office above the restaurant. Boxes stood everywhere and furniture was still snuggly wrapped in their plastic covers. She could almost sense a speech from Tommy as he opened his mouth to crap on her, because yes the dinner had been last night and yes he had texted her too.
"It was his first night back and you couldn't even be bothered to call at least?" He demanded heatedly. Alex glanced at him. His arms were crossed and his eyebrows were furrowed in that way they were when he was mad. She smiled, that had been his angry face since the first time she had stolen one of his toy cars back when they were kids.
She changed the subject, "What the hell are you even doing up so early? I mean it's six in the morning." She said when she made an exaggerated motion to look at her wrist watch.
Tommy huffed, knowing he wasn't going to win with her, "Ollie and I are scoping the town today. I'm picking him up in an hour." At the sound of Oliver's nickname a pang of… something hit her heart.
She forced a perfect smile as she looked up at him, "Well enjoy it then. Please don't go and cause trouble this early in the morning." Tommy smirked and leaned on the table in front of her to grab her attention. "You know usually when you say that, we end up causing trouble as the Starling Trio." He said arrogantly. Alex narrowed her eyes and plucked the corner of her paper from underneath his thumb away, "Well the difference is I'm grown up." She popped the last p.
Tommy shot up, his hand resting on the left side of his chest, above his heart, a hurt look scrolled across his face as he exclaimed, "And I'm not?!" Alex lifted her head and studied him falsely, she pretended to look thoughtful before she nodded her head and turned back to her work. Tommy gasped in false hurt.
"You can be so cruel." And to add extra drama he coughed up a fake sob too. Alex rolled her eyes and held the coffee to her lips again, "Thanks for the morning wake-up." She said, effectively cutting off any other space for conversation. She could sense Tommy's disapproving stare. He walked out without saying goodbye. When the door shut softly behind him she blew out a breath of air she hadn't noticed she was holding.
She got the call from Aiden while she was having lunch at Big Belly Burger. Alex swore as she quickly tried to wipe of the grease from her hands as she reached for her phone. She swiped the answer call with her pinkie and put the Aiden on speaker. She licked her fingers as she greeted him, "Hey." Her voice was muffled.
"We just got a call from the middle of the Glades, close to CNRI, guess who was in the middle of everything?" Alex picked up her phone and pressed it between her shoulder and ear, "Who?" She asked curiously.
"Oliver." Alex stopped rubbing at the grease. Her eyes grew hard and her lips set into a thin line. She called for the waiter and dropped 100 dollars on the table as she stood, "I'll be there in five minutes." She said before she hung up.
The nice thing about being the daughter of multi billionaire CEO was that Alex had access to a multitude of very fast cars. Alex sat behind the wheel of her Bugatti Veyron as she zipped between Starling City's usual lunchtime traffic. She arrived at the Queen's Mansion 9 minutes later.
"Why is it that wherever you go something bad happens." She heard Lance say as she strode into the room. "Usually it's because Tommy and I are next to him." She commented as she shot Moira a smile and greeted an officer who played poker with Aiden on Saturdays. She held her hand out to the detective, "Alex Wayne." She introduced. Detective Lance shook it, "Detective Quentin Lance." He said almost hesitantly. Moira decided to step in at that moment. "I think you should leave, Detective. Oliver has told you everything he knows." She said calmly, but Alex didn't miss the hint of venom in her voice. Lance narrowed his eyes, but nodded and left with the officers trailing behind him.
Alex watched them as they went and the first thing she did when they were gone, she turned to Tommy. He looked dazed and kind of angry.
"You ok?" She asked him. He only nodded. Alex breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to ask Moira what had happened but her eyes landed on Oliver instead. He was watching her intently, his blue gaze never wavering. Moira seemed to sense the tension in the air and lightly touched Walter's arm, "Why don't we give these two some privacy. Tommy dear, I think a cup of tea is in order." Tommy nodded and slowly rose from his spot on the couch, he threw his arm across Thea's shoulders and led her out of the room, "Come on Speedy."
When everyone was gone and only Alex and Oliver remained, silence seemed to press in on them both. Alex studied him with her perceptive gaze. He looked older, his shoulders were broader and his eyes didn't hold the same light they used too. The stubble that grazed his cheeks and jawline made him look more mature and, dare she say it, more handsome. It was Oliver who broke the silence, "I heard you moved to Starling." Was all he said.
Alex's hands balled into fists as she narrowed her eyes, "Five years and that's all you say?" She asked him heatedly. Oliver shrugged, his voice was soft when he spoke again "You… look good. I like the new haircut." Alex resisted the urge to pull a hand through her now shoulder length hair. She felt anger flare in her chest, how could he do this to them, to her? She was looking at him, but not seeing. Alex had imagined this exact moment almost a thousand times and each time it was her running into his arms, happy he's alive, before he disappeared into a fog of smoke.
She took a deep breath, a sting flared from behind her eyes. It wasn't the fear of never seeing him again, it was the fact that when she got him back, he wasn't the same anymore… just like Jason. Oliver didn't look the same and she could also see the darkness swirling in his gaze. He was trying to hide it, but Alex knew you couldn't hide that kind of hell, you had to accept it. She narrowed her eyes, "Where did they find you?" she asked. She hasn't really been paying attention to all the details. Oliver's gaze shifted from hers for the first time. "An abandoned warehouse, close to-" Alex cut him off.
"That's not what I meant." Oliver's eyes flashed with something Alex didn't recognise. His shoulders seemed to grow tense, as if to fight when he needed to. Alex didn't miss any of it. "An island, called Lian Yu." Alex sucked in a soft breath.
"Mandarin right?" She asked. A look of shock flashed past Oliver's face, "Yes…" Alex studied him closely, "What does it mean." Oliver seemed to think long and hard about his answer, finally he shrugged, "I don't know."
He was lying.
Alex could speak Mandarin; she had grown up learning the language. Lian Yu, might sound like a cosy and warm holiday resort, but the meaning was much scarier. Alex swallowed and glanced away from him. She shut her eyes for a second, expecting when she opened them, he would disappear. When she opened her eyes again, Oliver was still where he had been five seconds ago.
Alex's hands shook and she balled them into fists to stop Oliver from noticing. Alex had always thought of moving to Starling after college, but she had never gotten around to it, especially after Oliver 'died'. She hadn't set a foot in Starling City for a year, because she had blamed herself for Oliver's death. She knew he had gone on that boat to run away from his growing relationship with Laurel, because that's what he always did. Alex felt like she could have prevented it, like she could have stopped him.
"Alex?" He asked softly. Alex looked up and her body released all the pent up anger and guilt. In a flash Alex's arms were wrapped around his torso. He stiffened at her touch, but she didn't care. God she had missed him so, so much. She felt him relax that small inch he would allow and wrapped a tight arm around her middle. Alex heard his heart rate pick up that small fraction and the emotion in her throat was so heavy a sob shook her body. The tears that streamed silently down her cheeks dampened his shirt and when she tried to pull away, to avoid being even more embarrassed than she already was, he didn't allow her. Alex was grateful for his comfort, it wasn't the same it had been before he had disappeared, but Alex wasn't expecting him to be. His arms were bigger and tenser, but the brotherly love was still there.
Alex sniffed and pulled away lightly rubbing under her eyes, trying to avoid looking like a panda bear.
"I'm happy you're alive." She murmured.
Oliver smiled, "Me too." He agreed.
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