Chapter Four

You Have Failed This City

Roy entered his apartment and punched a hole in his shabby wall. The trauma of watching that little girl die was fresh in him, as he beat against his desk and kicked his chair down. Roy wanted so hard to find those responsible, and beat their faces in. He needed names, he needed a plan, he needed a location.

At once there was a knock on the door. Roy tried to ignore it as he looked through his stuff for any kind of weapon he might have possessed. He had nothing, because he was so certain he had given this life up. The knocking persisted, and then Roy heard a familiar voice.

"Roy open up, I know your in there!" Sin yelled from the other side of the door.

Roy opened the door to see Sin bust in the room, caring a medium sized duffle bag. She looked at him and shook her head. "Damn, I heard what happened on the NEWS about the little girl and thought you might have tried something. Looks like you got your ass handed to you."

"I couldn't save her..." Roy said, as Sin got a wet rag and started to help him tend to some of his visible wounds. "It burns me up that trash like those Wolf Pack thugs run wild around here. Eric and Lily...they are good people. That sweet girl didn't deserve any of this! And Eric he was trying to get out of whatever they were doing….But they wouldn't even let him. And then when he tried to stay in, they killed her anyway."

"If it bothers you so much." Sin spoke as she continued to dab the bruise on his head. "Do something about it. You know, go all Arrow on them."

"I plan on it...first I need names, and a place...and then it's on. I figure I'll start with that big guy I saw at the street race….Timber Wolf or something like that."

"Are you kidding me?" Sin asked as she took the rag away and looked at Roy, like he was the dumbest person on earth. "I thought you knew? Damn, you really are fresh meat here in Paragon. Everyone knows Timber Wolf is your new boss, Alan Trevit. He's the leader of the Wolf Pack, and rules the streets. Nobody messes with him, not even the cops. He has to many connections, and from what I hear he has no problem wasting people...even children."

Roy's eyes widened as soon as he realized what all had been going on. Alan was Timber Wolf, and the leader of the Wolf Pack. He ran a car shop and used it to get access to the V100 engines so he could get them onto the streets for his street racing hussle. He had muscle, and he was getting money too. He had no regard who got in his way. He must have had Eric working behind the scenes to fix up the engines in the cars. And then when he didn't want to anymore, Timber Wolf sent his lackeys to do what they do best. Roy got angrier just thinking about it...Alan had to be stopped.

"So that's the name..." Roy said as he jumped off the table he was sitting on. "And I bet I have a great idea of the place. It's time for Timber Wolf to get his."

"Hold on a sec." Sin said to Harper. "Aren't you forgetting something? Don't you have to suit up or get your quiver or something?"

"Yeah, I left all that in Star City." Roy said, feeling a bit like a fool now that he could have really used his tools.

"Yeah, I thought you'd say that." Sin said as she pulled out her duffle bag, "Which is why I got you an early birthday gift."

Roy unzipped the bag to see a red quiver full of arrows, and a black long bow. He looked at Sin, at first incredibly impressed and grateful. Then he gave her a quizzical look and asked, "Do I want to know who you stole this from?"

"Stole!?" Sin exclaimed, somewhat sarcastically. "No man, I bought from a store….with money I may have swiped from a few rich snobs off main street today."

"It'll work." Roy said as he threw his red hoodie on and attached the quiver to his back.

"One more thing…." Sin spoke as she reached into her leather jacket's pocket. "I actually got this one with my own money, I figured it might help you get into the ass kicking mood."

Out of her pocket, Sin pulled out a red leather eye mask similar to what Roy used to have with his arsenal costume. Roy smiled gratefully as he grabbed the mask from her and ran out the door.

Meanwhile at the automotive repair shop, Alan looked at one of the V100 engines on his worker bench with pride. He was going to make so much money off these little babies, and the work being done on cars was only the beginning. For years Alan had been running the city from the shadows, but soon he and his business partner would be out in the open and be seen as gods among men. Alan smiled as he realized the most beautiful part of their diabolical plan….the fact that people would actually be grateful for the tyrants to lead them.

Alan stopped working as he heard his garage door to the outside open. Somebody sure had a big set on them to be barging into His workshop at this hour in the evening. There was a spare right side car mirror on the table next to the V100, so Alan took a chance to look at it to see who was behind him. The figure was in a red hoodie, wore a mask around his eyes, and was pointing a bow and arrow at him.

"Alan Trrevit..." Roy spoke sternly. "You have Failed This City."

Alan turned around, looking quite confused as he talked to his intruder. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? What kind of weirdo just waltzes into someone's garage and calls them a failure? Who are you trying to be kid? Halloween's over kid...I don't know what you're on right now, but I'm going to make you wish you were never here!"

"I'm not on anything." Roy answered, "The days of you running these streets into the ground is over. No more shady car business, no more illegal deals selling high tech engines. And no more killing innocent girls."

"Ohhh you're him!" Alan now understood what was going on. "Yeah, my boys told me about some weirdo in a red jacket that was hanging around the Sanders family like some kind of guardian angel. I heard they gave you a pretty good ass whooping earlier tonight too. You're a special kind of stupid to be showing up here after the night you've had."

"Let me show you what a real beating is." Roy growled back at his enemy as he drew back the string on his bow."

"Show them instead." Alan replied cooly, as he snapped his fingers.

Out of all the rooms and shadows came several men in Wolf Pack leather jackets with various weapons. Some had brass knuckles, long chains, crow bars, and large wrenches. Without a moment's hesitation, Roy began shooting arrows at the thugs, taking them out one by one rapidly. There were dozens of them though, so it wasn't long before a few made their way closer to the archer.

Roy used his bow now as a melee weapon and swung it around, knocking each gangster hard in the front or back of the head, knocking them out. More and more gang members approached trying to take down the vigilante, but they were all sorely outclassed. It wasn't long before Roy had either shot or beaten down all of Alan's gang. He turned his attention back to the leader, who once again had his back turned.

"You know..." Alan spoke as he pulled out a large box under his work bench and opened it up. Inside was his wolf mask, and an assault rifle. "If you want something right." Suddenly, Alan put on the mask and turned and began opening fire. "You do it yourself!"

Roy quickly jumped over a car and ducked under it, taking cover from the flurry of bullets that was coming his way. The shots stopped and Roy heard the Timber Wolf's large combat boots walking around the garage, looking for his prey.

"You got skills, I'll give that to you, kid." Alan spoke as he continued to look in the shadows for Roy. "But I got ten years of special forces under my belt. What do you have, some merit badge in archery?"

Roy took this opportunity to leap up and shoot Alan in the shoulder with an arrow, and at the same time Roy climbed up a nearby chain to hide in the ceiling to wait for another moment to attack.

"Who the hell uses arrows anyway?" Alan grunted, as he winced in pain and broke off the end of the arrow. "Have you tried bullets? They're a lot more fun!"

Roy hopped down from the ceiling and lunged at Alan hoping to take him off guard. Unfortunately, close combat was exactly what the Timber Wolf was hoping for. Alan dropped his assault rifle, whirled around and put both arms up blocking Roy's attack with his bow. He then grabbed the bow and threw it out of Roy's hands. He started to pummel Roy in the chest with massive haymaker blows. Each spot he landed a punch on was also a place that Roy had received previous injuries on earlier that night, so he was taking serious damage.

After knocking him around for a few minutes, Timber Wolf grabbed Roy by the head and tossed him up into the air, sending him straight into the side of a car. The impact was so severe that it dented the car door. Roy fought to stay conscious as his vision became dizzy. In his distorted vision, he saw Alan pick up the black long bow and pull an arrow out of one of his thug's leg. The Wolf Pack leader pointed the arrow at Roy and pulled back the string, ready to end him.

"See? You're not so tough without your bow and arrows, now are you kid?" Timber Wolf said with a villainous grin on his face. "Say hi to that little girl for me please, and tell her that her brother will be joining her soon."

In his delusional state, Roy's mind flash backed to a moment two years ago when Oliver was training him to be Arsenal. The two were sparing in the hideout and Roy hit Ollie's bow out of his hand and then grabbed it, and pointed an arrow at him. Roy remember being overjoyed for a moment, because he thought that he had finally bested his mentor. Oliver in one move jumped over Roy and hit him in the back of the head, causing him to fall forward. The Green Arrow caught his protegee as he fell and whispered into his ears.

"Always remember one thing Roy. I don't need the bow, and soon. Neither will you. It's a tool, not a crutch."

Roy's mind came back to the present, as he realized he was staring down an arrow an imitate death. Roy also noticed that Alan wore a pistol as a side arm, that he had not yet withdrew. In one quick motion, Roy stood up and jumped on top of the dented car. And then he did a front flip over Timber Wolf, grabbed his side arm, and shot him four times in the leg with it. He then pistol whipped Alan in the face, knocking him out. Roy then threw the gun down and picked up his bow, as he spoke to the unconscious villain.

"You're right though. " He said, "Guns are pretty fun, but I'll stick with bows."

After tying up all the gang members and Timber Wolf, Roy called the police. Before he made that call, he phoned Sin and asked her to drive the car he stole from Timber Wolf to the shop. When the police would arrive, they would have Timber Wolf in custody, plus they would have the stolen engine and proof that it had been put into one of his cars. That, along with any testimony of murder that Eric gave later would be more then enough to keep Alan and his thugs locked away in prison for a long time.

Roy went home after a long night, feeling more alive then he had since he had given up the life of a hero in Star City. He hated how all of these events had gone down, but it felt good to be dishing out justice to those that needed it the most. Roy tried to find himself, by hiding himself, and now he was ready to admit, who it was he really was. He was….No not Arsenal, Roy thought as he was going home...He needed a new name. Something that was more fitting. After all, he was no longer a weapon in Oliver's Arsenal, he was someone else….he was something else.

A/N: The last chapter will be coming really soon! It will end this book with a bit of a cliff hanger leading to another potentially. I hope you have enjoyed Red Arrow so far and I'd love your feedback!