I had to help her back to the lair. I gave her some water and some herbs. I wondered if I would be able to give her a blood transfusion or something, but I didn't have the tools to do such a thing. She ended up passing out.
I really hoped that Iris wouldn't have a problem with me doing this. When she woke up, I had my hood down.
"Hey." I greeted her.
I waited for Iris's reaction. I wasn't sure if it would be the same as John's. I was expecting it to be, but I wasn't sure.
"Am I seeing things?" She asked me.
"No." I replied as she stood up.
"You're the vigilante then?" She replied. I just nodded my head. "I knew it."
Okay, that wasn't the reaction that I was expecting her to say. John had seemed genuinely surprised when I told him. Maybe Iris still had inquisitive nature despite the fact that she was no longer a reporter. She tried to walk over to me, but she didn't look like she wanted to hit me. She was still stumbling as she did so. I wasn't sure how, but I was pretty sure that I was even more about what she would say.
"Be careful. You were poisoned." I told her.
"With what?" She asked.
"It's a substance called curare." I told her as she took a seat on the table. It seemed like she wanted to listen to what I had to say. The only problem was I hadn't really prepared for it.
"Why did you bring me here?" She questioned.
"Well for starters, this is the only place that I have something to treat the poison." I explained. I supposed a hospital would also be able to do it, but I didn't want to tell Tommy just yet. "As to why you're still here, would you believe because it's kind of difficult to carry you?"
I hoped that she understood it was a joke. I didn't know why I was making a joke because it was probably not the time for that.
"And what made you want to do this?" She inquired.
"Star City is dying. It's being poisoned by a criminal elite who don't care who they hurt and the police aren't going to do anything about it." I explained. "They'll receive kickbacks and nothing is going to change unless someone takes a stand."
"And you think that you can be that person?" She asked. She really didn't look as angry as I expected her to be. Did this mean that she wasn't about to reject my offer? "Are you just going to kill them all?"
"I don't want to kill anyone." I stated. "And I don't want to do this by myself. I want you to join me. You're someone who wants to change things as much as I do. You're someone who has something to prove."
"Olivia, I don't know if I can do this. No matter what your motivations are, you're still a criminal." She said. "Besides, I already have a job and I don't know how well I can do that if you're putting your life at risk like this. Now I need to get you home."
So, it seemed like she wasn't ready to quit being my bodyguard. That was already a step up.
"Where are we?" She asked. "Are we anywhere near the car or do I have to call someone here?"
We ended up taking a cab home. Iris didn't look like she was about to tell me no, but she also didn't look like she was going to tell me yes either. I hoped that when she woke up in the morning, she would still be there.
I walked into the house and started to go to bed. I wasn't sure if there would be an unexpected visitor like last time.
"Where were you?" Dinah asked. Yeah, she was still here.
"What are you doing here?" I retorted. I actually was a little confused about it. It would have been different if she had been at the auction, but she wasn't.
"I heard about the shooting and I wanted to make sure that you were okay." She declared.
"You did?" I questioned.
"Yes. I knocked on the door and I found a family terrified because they had no idea where you were. So where were you?" She repeated.
"It's hard to explain." I told her.
"Olivia, are you that selfish that you can't make even make a phone call to let your family know that you're still alive?" She challenged. That probably was something that I should have done, but I was busy tending to Iris. "You were shot at. My father ended up saving Malcolm's life, but he didn't even see you leave the building."
"You're right. I should have called." I relented.
"The world doesn't revolve around you. I know that you're smart enough to know that." She stated. "Your family doesn't deserve you causing them pain like that. They deserve someone who doesn't only care about herself."
"Dinah…thank you for coming by." I declared.
"I care about other people, Olivia, maybe you should try it sometime." She said before she went out the door.
I was left thinking about how I said that I would do things differently, but I couldn't help but be upset that I seemed to still be the same person I didn't want to be. I didn't want them to worry about me, but it wasn't like I could just tell them what I was doing. I thought this would be easier since I had already done it, but maybe I was wrong.
"That was harsh." Thea said from behind me. "Are you okay?"
"I guess. Thea, I'm sorry for leaving like that." I told her. "I should have told you where I was going."
That night I tried to sleep, but I wasn't having a lot of success involved that. I had this weird feeling unlike anything that I had ever felt before. I felt bloated. I got up out of bed and that was when I noticed that I was bleeding. Since I apparently had the ability to heal, that could only mean one thing. I hoped that Thea was still up. I headed to the living room.
"Couldn't sleep either?" She asked.
"Thea, I need your help." I told her. It was pretty embarrassing to talk about, but at least I was fortunate enough to be in a situation where it made sense for me to not know about it. She was able to show me how to use a pad.
"So how did you deal with this stuff on the island?" She asked.
"I really don't want to talk about that." I remarked with a blush. I looked at the TV. "What are you watching?"
"Peter Declan." She answered. You know I was hit with a realization. I had no idea how I was going to save him. I mean at least from a legal standpoint. I supposed that I technically didn't need to since Laurel really hadn't been much help other than giving me the name of Matt Istook, which I already knew. "So this guy killed his wife in their baby's room."
"Are you sure about that?" I questioned.
"The courts found him guilty." She explained as I looked at it. "Is there something that makes you think that he didn't."
"I don't like to pass judgment on people that I don't know." I declared. "All I know is people aren't always who they seem to be."
She then turned off the TV.
"So. this is basically your first real period." She commented. She didn't know how true that was. "How do you feel? Does the Midol feel like it's helping?"
"I'm not sure." I admitted with a blush. "Can we please talk about something else?"
"Well, have you met anyone in school yet? Do you have any crushes on anyone?" She asked.
"Thea, I've only been there for a few days." I pointed out. I wondered if she was trying to intentionally make me blush. I also wasn't sure if I should talk about Felicity. She was the love of my life, but this also wasn't the same Felicity that I knew. I didn't know if she would like me like that. "Can I hang out with you and Linda sometime? I mean not in a place with alcohol. I would like to get the girl who stole my sister's heart."
"I'll have to talk to her about it." She stated. "But I'm not sure Mom is going to let you out of the house again."
That was something that I didn't think about. Would she ground me for this? I really hoped not.
"You know I'm still figuring out who I am." I stated. "I want to be a good person."
"I think you are, but you should probably do a better job of showing it." She told me.
That morning, I headed down the stairs, unsure if Iris would be there at all. You know I never realized how impressive it was that Mom had been able to find John's replacement so quickly. Did she just have a backup bodyguard in case she fired him or something? To my surprise, Iris was still there.
"How did you sleep?" Mom asked me.
"Fine." I stated. "Mom, am I in trouble?"
"Normally, you would be, but Miss West tells me that you were trying to help get people out of the building. I do wish you would have called, but I suppose I can't fault you for doing something noble." She explained. Now, I was genuinely shocked. I couldn't believe that Iris had covered for me like that. I noticed her smiling at me.
"That's right." I agreed. It was even technically true. Iris just didn't mention that it was herself specifically. The news was on and they were talking about Declan.
"Thank God we're not going to have hear about that awful man anymore." She stated. All of the circumstances seemed to be the same. It was then that I got an idea, but it would require me not being at school.
"Mom, can I talk to you about something?" I requested.
"Of course." She stated.
"Iris, this is a bit of a personal conversation. Do you think you can go into another room?" I requested. I really didn't want to tell her, even though I might actually do it afterwards. She stepped out of the room.
"So, this is a little bit embarrassing." I remarked. "Last night, I started my period. I've never dealt with this before. I don't know how to deal with it at school. Do you think that I can take the day off? I promise this won't happen every month, but I'm still getting used to dealing with it like this."
I was also wearing a tampon, which I would have to figure out how to sit down in. Having to deal with this really made me want to hurt the Monitor.
"I suppose you can. Do you need any assistance?" She inquired. I really did not want to think about her helping me with that. Thea doing it was bad enough.
"No. Thea showed me." I replied with a very bright blush. I then gave her a hug. "Thank you so much."
I went to my room to change. I wanted to wear jeans…only to find that they didn't fit. Felicity had told me that her clothes were like that sometimes during her period. I sighed and put on a black skirt with a white sweater.
So, I had Iris go to the car with me.
"Something tells me that there's a reason for skipping school that you don't want your mother to know about." Iris noted.
"I want to look into the Declan case. I just have this feeling that he may be innocent and I don't want him to die for something that he didn't do." I explained.
"So, what are you going to break him out of prison?" She inquired.
"No." I told her. That wouldn't accomplish anything because even if he wasn't on death row, he still have to go back to prison for escaping from it.
I took her back to the lair when I began to look into the case.
"You are a lot smarter than I gave you credit for, but you know you probably could have looked this up on your phone." Iris stated. "I don't see why this is something that you needed to skip school for."
"Our next stop will make that more clear." I explained.
I felt nervous about doing it this way, but unfortunately, I couldn't count on Dinah to help me, so I would have to do this differently. The first thing that I noticed when I got there was there seemed to be a lot of things about the vigilante. Someone even wrote a codename and it was awful: Robyn Hood.
"What are you doing here?" Quentin asked me.
"I want to talk to you about the Declan case." I stated.
"And why do you think that I'm going to tell you about it?" He questioned.
"Because this information is public record after the case has been completed." I replied. "I would like to see it."
He sighed because he knew that I was right. He went to the archives and came back a few minutes later. He threw the file at me.
"Look at it. There are fingerprints, blood, motive. Everything that was needed to convict him is there." He explained.
"Well, I think he was framed. Jason Brodeur seems like the type of person who has the resources to do so. I can even think of a motive for why he would want her dead. I think that she was going to blow the whistle on some illegal dumping." I countered.
"I don't know why you're trying to save this guy, but he is one who killed Camille and there is nothing that you can do to stop him from being executed. Her supervisor testified that he didn't talk about such a thing." He declared. "Now, I believe we done here."
He snatched the file away from me. There probably wasn't a point to me doing that. I walked out of the building with Iris.
"What were you trying to accomplish with that?" She asked me. I could see how it was confusing. I supposed that I was just trying to plant doubt in Quentin's mind.
"It's all part of the plan and I got him to reveal a little bit of information to me that I couldn't find otherwise." I explained. "Can we get some lunch now?"
We headed to Big Belly Burger and I ordered two burgers…for myself. Iris also got her own.
"Are you sure that you can eat both of those?" Iris asked me. She seemed to be concerned about me but my eating habits weren't something that I would expect. It was kind of funny because I was pretty sure that the Iris from my world was probably used to such a thing.
"I'm pretty sure that I have to." I replied. I figured this part would probably work best to show her. I took out a fork and stabbed myself with it. Luckily, I was good enough at dealing with pain that I could prevent from screaming out.
"You really are crazy, aren't you?" She asked.
"Look." I winced before I sound the wound start to heal.
"How the hell did you do that?" She questioned in awe.
"I can't tell you that…because I don't know. All I know is I was shot by Deadshot and as soon as I removed the bullet, it started to heal." I explained. "Everything that I've read about accelerated healing includes a new for a higher caloric intake. So, I'm surprised that you agreed to do this."
"I haven't agreed to anything, but I'm still not going to let you go unprotected, even though you may not actually need it." She replied.
"Why did you quit the police? Why did you become a bodyguard?" I questioned.
"It's simple. The department that I joined was corrupt, not the Star City police though." She explained.
"What if you had the chance to do what you wanted to do when you joined the police?" I asked.
"Not to be rude, but you were born to family with more money than some countries." She pointed out. "I still can't figure out why you want to do this."
With that, I took out the book.
"This was my father's. Inside is a list of who he believed was responsible for all of the trouble in Star City. That's the reason that I believe Peter Declan is innocent, because Jason Brodeur is on this list." I stated. I wanted to say what had happened originally, but the truth was I wasn't sure if the circumstances were the same. I didn't know how I had gotten the list. "I want to write the wrongs done by my family and I'm offering you a chance to write the wrongs done to yours."
"What are you talking about?" She questioned as our food arrived. I waited for the waitress to leave before I said anything.
"The police never caught your father's killer." I remarked.
"Leave my dad out of this!" She exclaimed while still whispering.
"I'm just saying the bullets were laced with curare, the same ones you were shot with." I replied.
"Are you saying that you killed my dad's killer?" She asked.
"I stopped her." I told her. I couldn't be sure that she was dead because her father hadn't been. "I just want to be able to protect this city and I want to make sure that no one here suffers due to others and no one dies for something that they didn't do. That's why I want to help Peter Declan."
I also had to figure out what I was going to do after I got the file. Maybe I would be able to get him out without having to use force. I severely doubted it, but I might have been able to do it. I could give it to Quentin directly, but that probably wasn't a good idea. I was pretty sure that he wouldn't want to work with me just yet.
I decided to go to Brodeur Chemicals. I found Istook as he was heading out to his car. I couldn't help but think that Brodeur had given him a nice bonus for committing perjury for him. I did the same thing that I did before. I hit him with a tranquilizer and handcuffed him to the train tracks. I didn't want Iris to know this was what I was doing. I thought of trying to do it a different way, but I couldn't think of any other way to get him to talk.
"Matt Istook." I greeted him.
"You're her. You're that vigilante. I thought you would be taller." He said. Was it seriously going to be everybody? Okay, I couldn't lose my cool. I couldn't less the PMS control me. I didn't want to do something I would regret.
"You lied about speaking to Camille Declan and you put Peter Declan on death row. I thought you should get a chance to see how it feels to be facing death." I stated. "Now how about you tell me the truth if you don't want to be on the bottom of this train."
You know I probably shouldn't have said it like this considering how gross that was. Of course I wasn't going to let him die, but I also didn't want him to know that.
"Okay. Brodeur paid me to say that I never talked to Camille about the dumping. I didn't kill her though." He stammered. "Please let me go. You can have the file."
"What file?" I demanded.
"There's one in my desk. Camille gave it to me." He replied. With that I freed him. It probably was wrong to torture him because he didn't seem to be as immoral as some of the people I dealt with, but like I said it was necessary to save Peter Declan, even if it didn't work. Part of me thought that I should have just gone to Brodeur but making it so Istook would testify against him would help put him away.
I went to the desk and grabbed the file. It was then that I realized that I had no idea what I was going to do with it. This kind of thing wouldn't be admissible in court and I also couldn't turn it in myself because I would have to explain how I got it. I couldn't give it to a lawyer because it was stolen. I would just have to do it the hard way. The only problem was I didn't have time to talk to Jason Brodeur tonight. I had to get home because I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to skip another day of school. Hopefully, I wouldn't be too late.
When I got home, I found that Thea was still up. The first thing that I did was go to the bathroom for something that was very messy.
"How do you stand having these in you?" I asked Thea.
"Well you never really like it, but you just get used to it." She explained. "So how are you doing? Are you still doing that teen club thing?"
"I'm still waiting on the permits before I can start construction." I replied. I wasn't sure if I would need an extra push to make that happen.
"Well I know something that will help you feel better." She told me as she took me to the kitchen. She started to make some hot chocolate.
"Thea, I don't think that I should be having chocolate right before bed." I told her.
"Trust, you'll love it." She assured me. I sighed and drank it and wow it really was good. I never knew that Thea was so good at making hot chocolate.
The following day I was at school. I was on my laptop in the lunchroom. I was sitting alone because Thea had a different lunch period than me and no one else would really talk to me. So far, school really wasn't that good for my social life because I didn't expect that everyone would just leave me alone. Part of me thought that I should try to take the initiative, but I didn't really know how to talk to teenagers. I wasn't keeping track of the latest trends or whatever. I really wasn't that good at being a teenage girl.
"Can I sit here?" Someone asked me. I looked up and saw a girl with curly blonde hair.
"Are you sure that you want to sit with me?" I asked her.
"I mean there doesn't really seem to be anywhere else to sit." She commented. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't?"
"You don't know who I am, do you?" I asked her.
"No, I don't." She remarked. It was a bit weird to be around someone who didn't know who I was. "I just moved here. I'm Courtney. So what's your name and why shouldn't I sit with you?"
"My name is Olivia Queen. I spent five years on a deserted island and I just came here last week." I stated. "My family is the richest in Star City, but it seems like everyone is afraid of me here, despite the fact that my older sister is pretty popular."
"I would love to sit with royalty." Courtney declared as she sat her tray down. I wasn't sure why but I kind of wanted to be her friend. Maybe this could be an example of me doing things differently. I still wasn't sure if I should tell her who I was though, even though I didn't know if she had heard about the vigilante either. "So, what are you working on?"
"Oh, it's nothing." I replied as I closed my laptop.
Courtney and I hung out for the rest of the day, at least as much as we could. If I didn't have more important things to do, I probably would have asked if she wanted to do something after school. I had to admit that it was nice to be around someone who didn't know anything about me. It also made me wish that I could just be a normal person. The other thing she was the first person that I met who wasn't taller than me.
"So do you want to do something after school?" She asked me as we stood in the courtyard. I started to look for Iris.
"I can't today." I told her. You know I couldn't help but think what would happen with school after I was arrested. I didn't think that could expel me for not even being convicted because then I could sue after being exonerated. "I already have plans, but if I could give you a raincheck, I would like that."
"So how are you going to save Peter Declan?" Iris asked me. "I know that you think that he's innocent but is it really worth breaking the law in order to save him. Do you think that he would want that?"
"I think that he would be happy with getting out of prison and I don't plan on killing anyone to make that happen." I stated. "I don't want to kill any of these people, even though I willing to do whatever is necessary in order to do what is right. I just wondered why you haven't turned me into the police."
"I wouldn't do that and I believe that you believe what you're doing is right and I think that it needs to be done." She responded. She had taken this a lot better than John had. I still couldn't help but wonder if she was going to meet Barry later on because I wanted her to be happy. "But how are you going to save him? I don't think there's anything other than getting Brodeur to confess to having her killed to save him."
"Then that's what I'll do." I declared as I grabbed my bow.
I headed to Brodeur's office. I wondered if he was still going to go after Declan directly if Dinah wasn't there. There really weren't that many people around. I thought he would have better security than that especially after what happened to Istook. I found him and drew my bow in front of him.
"Jason Brodeur." I stated. "You're going to confess to having Peter Declan's wife murdered."
"What so I can take his place in prison?" He challenged.
"So, you can avoid the death penalty: from the courts and from me." I told him. "Now tell me what happened."
"Except if I'm dead, you won't have anyone to pin Camille's murder on. You need me to exonerate Peter Declan." He stated. "What are you going to force me to sign a confession? I won't do it."
Because I was still suffering from period problems, I shot him through the hand. At that point, I found that he was in fact going after Declan. I decided that I would leave him like that after knocking him unconscious because I had more important things to deal with and the most important one of those was saving the life of an innocent man.
I headed to the prison and I couldn't help but notice that there was a vent that I was probably small enough to fit through. I basically knew my way around the prison after staying there for so long. That was another thing that I regretted. I should have never given myself up like that and if I was still here several years from now, I was not going to do it again.
Even though I knew that I wasn't any dangerous, I still couldn't help but be afraid being around such dangerous people. It was probably because I hadn't quite the figured the best way to take out a bigger person if I was forced into hand-to-hand combat because that never came up. The good news was that I was able to get Peter Declan to safety. I had a feeling that the riot would prevent them from being able to do the execution and I also remembered that it was because of the riot that he had been freed. I made my way the same way that I had come in.
The following day, I was getting ready for school when I noticed that Jason Brodeur has been arrested. I had done what I wanted to do. I then went downstairs and I found Iris.
"I'm in," She declared. "After seeing what you did to save Peter Declan, I don't think I can say no to this, but me protecting you is just to protect you from physical pain. I know what you're doing can take a toll on you and I'm not going to let that happen. Whenever you need someone to pull you back from the edge, I will be there to help you. I just need to tell me what you need me to do, though I am not going to be your sidekick."
It was at that time that I heard the knock on the door. They were here and this was going to be important. I supposed it made sense that I had someone who was basically the same build as me as a bodyguard because I could ask Iris to pretend to be me. It definitely caused a scene. One thing that I hadn't thought was Malcolm probably was capable of getting me off but I didn't want that.
"Olivia Queen, you are under arrest on the grounds of obstruction of justice, aggravated assault, trespassing, acting as a vigilante and murder." Quentin told me as I was handcuffed.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you can and will be used against you. You have the right to attorney." Hilton declared as I was taken away. This was still going to suck though.
So for starters, Iris stayed by Olivia even though she wasn't ready to join her yet. Also, she may have finally made a friend at school, but is Courtney only going to be a friend or will she be something else? Please don't forget to review.