I was trying to train Courtney in hand-to-hand combat because there could come a situation where she wasn't able to use her staff. Simply put, she was kind of terrible at it. I could tell that she would not be ready if she had to fight someone without her staff. We would definitely have to keep training there.
"Hey, Iris, can you show her how it's done?" I requested. Iris came over and started to spar with me. She was getting better at it. She was able to block some of my attacks even. "Nice. You're picking up the pace."
"I could say the same about you." Iris quipped. "You crossed three names off your father's list this week alone."
I had shown Courtney the list, but she didn't really seem interested in fighting the white-collar criminals. I understood it because they weren't really as dangerous as the mob or The Royal Flush Gang.
"I still don't get why you want to go after these people." Courtney admitted.
"I told you. Just because they haven't physically hurt people, doesn't mean that they haven't done more damage to city than some of the violent criminals." I pointed out. "Not to mention to mention, some people have died because of their actions."
I did have to admit it was easier going after the less dangerous people because a lot of them were willing to surrender as soon as I showed up.
"It seems your reputation is beginning to proceed you." Iris commented before I slashed her.
"Do you want to go again?" I asked.
"No." Iris replied.
"So, how is it that you can heal again?" Courtney inquired. I couldn't help but wonder why people were so fascinated with that.
"I don't know. It's just something that happened one day and I don't know how to explain it." I remarked.
"So what are you doing for Christmas?" Courtney asked me.
"Christmas is coming up?" I replied. I did it know it was, but I remembered that I had spent enough time not celebrating Christmas that I wouldn't automatically remember it. Plus, I had forgotten about the first time I came back.
"Wow, you really were away from civilization a long time." Iris commented. Even in the time that I had spent away from the island, Christmas really wasn't that big of a factor. "So I take you haven't done your shopping yet."
"So maybe you should do something special to celebrate your first Christmas in five years." Courtney opined.
"My dad threw a big Christmas party every year." I reminisced. "He would put a Christmas tree in every room. The whole mansion smelled like pine needles, but it also smelled like Christmas."
"Well is your family having a party this year?" Courtney asked.
"Maybe it would be a good idea to leave the lists to Santa and you can enjoy the holidays with your family." Iris suggested. I would have definitely liked to do that, but I was pretty sure that someone was going to prevent me from doing that. I really wanted it not to be Malcolm. If there was one change I could ask in this world, it would be that. (And probably not Tommy either, but I was pretty sure that it wouldn't be him.) The good news was because of my powers, I wouldn't have to deal with a lengthy recovery. Maybe I could just stop him early, so we wouldn't have to worry about the Undertaking.
When I got home, I noticed Thea was dressed up.
"Wow. Why are you so dressed up?" I asked her in surprise.
"Mom and Malcolm are having a dinner party, so if you're going to be down here at all, you're going to need to put on a dress." Thea explained.
"Thea, why don't we have any decorations up?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" She retorted. Did she think I would notice it was December?
"It's December and we don't have any wreaths or trees or even candles." I pointed out.
"Everyone has been really busy lately." She lied. I didn't see why she couldn't just tell me that they didn't celebrate Christmas anymore? It would have been easier than lying.
"Well does Mom have any of those boxes of candy canes?" I asked. I was hoping to trigger some good holiday memories. "Remember we used to race to see who would finish first."
"I always won." She declared with a smile.
"You cheated." I argued.
"Well Mom doesn't have sugar anymore, So I wouldn't count on any of those." She told me.
I went up to my room and put on a red lace short-sleeved dress. I was still hungry. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone was going to notice how much I was eating. I kind of hoped that they wouldn't because it could lead to some uncomfortable conversations.
"The thing that people forget was that Robin Hood was a criminal." Some guy said as I walked in. It seemed that I had walked into a conversation about me. It seemed like I still had good timing. "And I thought that stealing from the rich to give to the poor was job for the Democrats."
That was a good and accurate joke. I did consider myself to be a Democrat. I had run as a Democrat after all.
"All jokes aside, Commissioner, crime is down for the first time in five years." Malcolm pointed out. I couldn't help but wonder if he actually supported me this time or if he was the other archer.
"That's because of the changes my department has implemented." The commissioner replied. I wasn't sure if he believed that or not.
"Or perhaps, it's because the vigilante's activities have had a chilling effect on the city's criminals." Walter opined. It was good to know that he was still friends with my mother. I was good to see him. I couldn't help but wonder if he had come to my funeral.
"What do you think, Olivia?" Malcolm asked me.
"I think the vigilante needs a better name than Robyn Hood. It's kind of lame." I pointed out.
"I agree. How about Green Arrow?" Malcolm asked. So that was where I got the name from. I had forgotten about it.
"It's better." I said with a scoff.
One thing that I wasn't sure of was if Malcolm would be kidnapped. I didn't think he was investigating things with the Gambit and he also wouldn't be kidnapped if he was the one behind things. Even if he wasn't, I still didn't think he would be kidnapped.
At that point, a police officer came into the house to talk to the commissioner.
"I'm sorry. Something's come up." He declared.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
"It seems the vigilante has struck again. She put three arrows in Adam Hunt." He explained. I couldn't help but notice that Malcolm looked surprised, but he was a decent actor. It didn't prove to me that he wasn't responsible for it.
I didn't need to leave the dinner because I already knew that there was another archer. I did wonder why it took this long for them to appear though. I also didn't hurt that I already had a suspect.
The following day, I had Iris take me and Courtney to school so we could discuss it. I would like that winter break was about to start so I would have more free time.
"So who would kill Adam Hunt with an arrow?" Iris asked. "I mean besides you?"
"I never wanted to kill him." I pointed out.
"It's probably someone trying to frame you." Courtney remarked. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Whoever did it was a professional. They shot the arrows in close proximity, possibly at the same time." I explained.
"I would think that someone like that would be particular about their choice of arrows." Iris commented.
"Well I do already have a suspect, but I need more information before I give them a visit. I don't want to accuse an innocent person." I pointed out.
"Who is it?" Courtney asked.
"I'm not telling you that. I don't want either of you to talk to this person because if I'm right they could be dangerous." I stated. "I care about both of you too much for either of you to get hurt. I think that wherever the arrows were purchased from, it would probably be an anonymous thing."
At that point, we arrived at the school. Courtney and I both got out.
"So are you really not going to tell me?" She inquired. She looked a little hurt about the fact that I was keeping it from her.
"Yes." I replied. "I'm sorry. It won't be easy for me if I'm right and I'm really hoping that I'm wrong."
I wouldn't say that I loved Malcolm like a father, but I had definitely grown attached to him. I didn't want to have to kill him. I just didn't know who else it could be. I would do a little bit of digging at home, even though I didn't think he would leave anything there.
I supposed having dealt with this before was a good thing because I really only cared who it was and how to stop them. I had gotten pretty good with my bow from a different angle. I was confident that I should be able to stop them. There was also something else on my mind and it was trying to get my family back into the Christmas spirit. I needed to show them it was okay for us to celebrate Christmas again.
After school, Thea and I went to Big Belly Burger.
"I think there should be a national holiday for the guy who invented French fries." Thea remarked. That guy was Belgian.
"There's nothing going to be Christmas party, is there?" I asked. She didn't say anything. "Thea, Dad threw one of these every year? Did everyone think that I just wasn't going to notice?"
You know I would think that they would want to bring Christmas back for me.
"Well when you and Dad disappeared, by the time that Christmas came around, none of us really felt like celebrating. So we kind of skipped Christmas that year and every year." She explained. "It's really fine. We've just gotten used to it."
"No, it's not." I replied.
We then went home and I got Mom, Thea and Malcolm together.
"I want to have a Christmas party. I haven't had it for five years and I know that because of me, you didn't have either. I think this will be great for us. We could use a little more joy this time of year and it'll be good for all of us. Please." I begged. "I can even throw it myself. This will be good practice for when my club opens."
"Okay." Mom declared.
"Great. I'll start inviting people. None of you have to do anything other than being there." I stated. "I just want you to come and show some holiday cheer."
"Whatever." Thea responded.
"I'm proud you're taking some initiative." Malcolm remarked.
"So I need to know a night that Tommy doesn't work." I stated.
I actually had learned to love Christmas a lot since I got back, even though some of my Christmases weren't that favorable. Come to think of it, most of them weren't. I also kind of died right before Christmas. That was going to be awkward. I hoped that everyone was okay without me. I wished that I would have been able to communicate with them. I wondered what they would think if they saw me now. It would probably be a mixture of emotions. There were still a lot of people that I wanted to see. I couldn't help but wonder if there even was a Barry or a Kara or anyone else in this world, but I didn't want to do anything weird in order to find them.
I decided to look around my mom and Malcolm's room a little. I wanted to know if there was anything that could lead me to believe that Malcolm was the one behind the killings or even the Undertaking. He seemed like he was a good guy. I didn't have a lot of time to look, but I also didn't find anything, so either he didn't have anything or he didn't have anything at the house. Both were possible. Normally, I wouldn't be so cautious towards something like this, but being wrong about him on Earth 2 makes me really not want to be wrong again.
Another thing that I could do that could possibly clear Malcolm was maybe I could see if I could verify his whereabouts around the time Hunt was killed. Then I remembered that I didn't actually know when Hunt was killed, so it wouldn't be possible to verify Malcolm's whereabouts.
That night, I went out to meet Courtney. I wanted to personally invite her to the party. It wasn't because I had a crush on her. It was because she was the only friend that I had who was my age. I wondered if I should invite Felicity as well, but I didn't think that she would come because she was Jewish. I knocked on the door to her house. The door was answered by a man with brown hair.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm here to see Courtney." I declared. I then heard Courtney come to the door.
"Olivia, what are you doing here?" She questioned.
"I'm here because my family is going to be having a Christmas party and I wanted to invite you and your family." I stated before I shivered a little. I was a little bit cold.
"How about you come inside and we can talk a little more?" Courtney suggested as I stepped inside. "This is my stepfather, Pat."
"Hi." I greeted him. I wasn't sure what he knew about Courtney. I assumed that Courtney hadn't told him about me. I really wanted to keep the number of people who knew my secret identity pretty low right now.
"So how do you two know each other?" Pat asked.
"We go to school together." I explained. It kind of felt like he was interrogating me. It made me feel nervous to be honest. "Is everything okay?"
"I've just never met any of Courtney's friends before." He stated.
"Pat, you're scaring her." Barbara interrupted. "It's good to see you again, Olivia."
"You too, Mrs. Dugan." I told her. "Thank you for helping me. So do you think you can come to my family's party?"
"We would love to." She replied.
"Hey, Olivia, can we talk for a minute?" Courtney asked before she took me to her room. "I heard on my police radio that they found another body and it's someone else that you crossed off your list. So, I really need to know what you know right now so we can stop this person before they kill someone else."
"I don't know who they are. My search has come up cold." I replied. I didn't like lying to her, but I also didn't want her to attack Malcolm. "I don't know what to do or how to stop them. I'm looking into anything that can help me predict where they're going to be next."
"Well we have to do it quickly." She told me "Not to mention, they're blaming you for things that you didn't do. It's not fair and we can't let it happen."
"Trust me. I know." I replied. "I'm doing everything that I can and I'll let you know when we can do something."
That was when something else dawned on me.
"You wanna know another reason why I wanted to forget about Christmas when I was on the island." I stated.
"Why?" She asked.
"My friend Sara was born on Christmas day. She was on the boat with me, but she wasn't able to get to safety like I was. I miss her a lot. I know it's stupid but part of me wants to believe that she's still alive." I explained.
"It's not stupid. It's called having hope." She told me. "Now you should probably get home."
The two of us started to walk out.
"You're under the mistletoe." A boy interrupted. I looked and noticed the plant was hanging above her head.
"Olivia, this is my stepbrother Mike." Courtney introduced. She seemed like she didn't like him very much. "And she was just leaving."
"You gotta kiss first. It's the rules." Mike replied. I blushed and kissed Courtney on the hand.
I knew that I needed to make it look like I was doing something even though I knew that there was nothing I could do until the night of the Christmas party. I didn't know why I couldn't just have a normal party.
The following night, I went home for the party. I knew that I probably shouldn't have been late to my own party, but I was kind of bad at getting places on time. I was pretty sure that was something that people had figured out about me. I was wearing a black suede dress. This would be a time when it was okay for me to wear green, but I still didn't want to risk it.
"It looks like the halls are all decked." I told Iris as I walked in.
"Are you sure that you want to do this right now with everything that's going on?" She asked.
"I want to restore the holiday spirit to my family and I'm not going to anyone be a grinch and stop me." I explained. At that point, Linda walked in the door. I was surprised that she wasn't already with Thea. "Hello, Linda."
"Hey." She responded. I was kind of relieved it wasn't that guy. I liked that Thea had a girlfriend, even though I still didn't very much about her.
I then went into the living room to see my mom, Malcolm and Thea. This was probably the best way to determine if Malcolm was innocent or not. Even he stayed the whole party, I could be pretty sure that he wasn't the archer. I mean technically, he could send someone else, but I didn't think that he would have any reason to considering he didn't know that anyone suspected him of anything.
"Maybe we should get a holiday photo." I suggested.
"I've already sent out our Christmas cards, Olivia." She told me. I never did understand the need for those. I remembered us having so many. Were they sending them to everyone in the company?
"Well maybe we can get one of just the five of us." I replied before I stood with the rest of them and we took a picture. I then looked at Tommy. "So, did Dinah not want to come?"
"She decided that it would be better to spend the holidays with just her dad." Tommy replied. "They're kind of really hard for her."
"I know." I stated. After we were done, Thea went off with Linda. I didn't know if things would go the same way. I was a little afraid to go to her room.
I then started to look around for Courtney. I really hoped that she would come. I went to the kitchen to get something to drink and that was when I heard the doorbell ring. I went to get it and there she was with her mom, Pat, and Mike. I smiled, glad that she had come.
"Hi, come in." I invited.
"This is a lovely home." Barbara told me.
"Thank you." I replied. "I wish I could say that I helped design, but it's just a little bit older than I am."
I didn't know why I made that joke because no one really laughed at it.
I knew that a good portion of the party would be spent biding my time and waiting for anything to happen. I had considered just not doing the party, but for all I knew the archer would decide to hostages somewhere else. I was at their mercy and I would have to wait for them to make a move. It sucked but there was nothing that I could do to prevent anything bad from happening and I just had to wait.
"Merry Christmas." I added since obviously my joke didn't land.
I started to walk around and mingle. I needed to keep tabs to see Malcolm and in the unlikely chance event Tommy was still there. I didn't think Tommy would want to avenge his mother's murder and I didn't think he would wait so long to do it. I couldn't think of any reasons anyone else would want to cause the Undertaking, but I doubted that everyone who was initially involved signed on just because they wanted revenge for what happened to Rebecca Merlyn. A lot of people just didn't like the Glades or the people in it. I looked over at Courtney, who looked really pretty in her lace dress.
"So, you invited the girl that you have a crush on." Tommy replied.
"I do not have a crush on her." I remarked. "Why does everyone think I like her as more than a friend."
"Because I have never seen you look at anyone the way that you look at her." He stated. I wasn't looking at any differently than anyone else. I loved Felicity. Not the Felicity from here. I loved my Felicity, who I was never going to see again. "What kind of brother would I be if I tease your first crush?"
"A good one." I replied. "And I don't have a crush on her."
I then went over to Courtney because I wanted to make sure that she was having a good time. I also wanted to make sure that she stayed here because she didn't understand how dangerous the archer was whether it was Malcolm or someone else. However, I didn't think that was very likely. I knew that she would follow me and I may have an easier time with her help.
"So how do you like it here?" I asked her.
"It's a little bit awkward. Are holiday parties always like this?" She asked.
"Kind of." I admitted. "So the good news is that no one else has been killed recently."
"I don't think that we can expect this person to just stop." She pointed out.
"I know and it sucks, but I need real clues and they haven't left any of them." I stated.
"Hey, Olivia, can you go check on your sister?" Mom asked me. This was also going to suck. I had to act like I didn't know what was about to happen though.
"Sure." I replied as I headed upstairs Thea's room. I opened the door. "Thea?"
I looked at her and saw her in her underwear apparently in the process of undressing Linda.
"I should leave." Linda remarked as she rushed out of the room.
"Can't you learn to knock?" Thea asked in irritation. I supposed it was payback for when she came into my room without knocking, but I didn't exactly feel good about it. "What are you doing?"
"I came to bring you back down to the party." I stated. "I spent a lot of time putting this together."
"I told you that I didn't want a party but you're so in your own world that you didn't listen to me." She argued. "Just because you're back doesn't mean that the memories of you being gone aren't still there. I've been trying to forget them."
"Why would you want to forget them?" I questioned.
"You can't force things to go back to the way they were." She pointed out. "Dad's not here. Throwing this party isn't going to bring him back and I've been trying to tell you that. So just leave me the fuck alone already."
"Olivia, you need to come with me." Iris instructed as she took me to my room where, Courtney was. "The other archer has moved to the next level. They've taken hostages."
She turned on the TV to reveal the hostages. They looked scared. Fortunately, I knew where to find them. Rescuing them was the number one priority. I was not going to let anyone innocent die for this. I headed downstairs to find that Malcolm was still there and that was both good and bad news. The good news was that he wasn't the one responsible for it. The bad news was I had no idea who was.
"We need to go there then." Courtney remarked.
"Courtney, they asked for me. I don't want to put you at risk." I declared.
"I don't want you to go after this alone. I can help you." She argued. Yeah, there was no way that I could convince her to stay behind. She was very stubborn and it was probably dangerous, but I knew that she was also worried about me, even though I was much less likely to get hurt than she was. "Where do we need to go?"
"We need to go get my suit first." I replied. I was also really worried about Courtney. The other reason that I didn't want to go was that I didn't want to become distracted by keeping her safe. I knew that this was something that could potentially be exploited.
We went back to the factory. I was supposed to be getting the new sign for it pretty soon. It was still several weeks away from opening. It would be hard to run a club and be a superhero but I was pretty sure that I could do it. I actually was doing really well in school. Maybe it was from having done it once, but I was pretty sure it was from real-world experience.
"Are you sure that you should do this?" Iris asked us.
"Iris, I don't know if the police can stop this person. Someone has to and I'm pretty sure that it has to be me, plus I'll Courtney to help me." I stated. "However, I want you to focus on saving the hostages before you do anything else. Understand?"
"Yes, I've got it." She promised. "You can count on me to do this."
We went inside of the building and I noticed everyone was tied up. There weren't any bodies on the floor, so I was pretty sure that the people were just being used as bait, but I had no choice but to take it. Courtney got to work untying them before I headed to the look for the archer. I knew that they were after me because they knew that I was after the list, but I also knew that my father hadn't created the list. I had forgotten who had, but I knew that it wasn't him. I started to look around.
"Thank you for coming." I heard from behind me. The person was tall and I was pretty sure that it was a man, even though the voice was distorted. "I knew I would have to do something dramatic to get your attention."
"What do you want with me?" I shouted.
"What any archer wants: to see who's better." He declared.
The two of us started to fire at each other. I knew that this was going to be the toughest fight I ever had in this body. I could definitely defeat him but I would have to make all of the right moves in order to do so. I kept getting shot and while I knew none of it would result in major damage, it still hurt like hell. I needed to get a clean shot in. I decided to pull one of the arrows out of me and stabbed him with it. He was not ready for that. He was also not ready for the blast of energy from Courtney's staff.
"Don't you think two against one is a little unfair?" He asked.
"You don't deserve fairness." I replied as I stood up ready after my wounds had healed.
"It seems like you have a rather impressive tolerance for pain." He commented. "Let's see if your friend has the same."
He began to shoot at Courtney while I was unarmed. I went for my bow to stop him. He shot the same time as I shot. I hit him in the knee, but Courtney managed to block the arrow coming at her with staff…which seemed to be exactly what he wanted to happen, because the arrow exploded and she fell to the ground. She was badly injured and I knew that I would need to get her to the hospital immediately. I didn't have time to figure out who the other archer was. On my way there, I had an idea, but I didn't have a way to do that.
I changed quickly and took her in. The staff helped me get her there quickly. I told them that she had been in a bike accident. They took her in and to the operating room.
Fortunately, she wasn't seriously injured. I mean she was injured, but not in a way that was life-threatening. She woke up about an hour after she was brought in. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"What happened? Where am I?" She asked.
"You're in the hospital." I told her as she groaned in pain. "You have three broken ribs. Now do you know why I didn't want you to come with me?"
"It was the right thing to do. Did you find out who it was?" She asked.
"No, I was too worried about you." I admitted as I started to cry a little. "I'm so glad that you're okay."
I stayed with her until her family got there I knew I needed to take down this archer, but I didn't know when they would return and I was still no closer to finding out who was responsible for it.
NO POV
The Archer left the building and took off his hood to reveal his identity: Robert Queen.
Olivia's POV
Iris took me home afterwards.
"Olivia, tonight might have been a setback, but I know you are going to stop this guy eventually. Courtney will get better and you'll be the one to take him down." She told me.
"We have another problem." The other archer told me that he compiled the list. It wasn't my father."
So I bet that no one saw that ending coming. Some context is Robert and Olivia were separated in this universe. She doesn't know that he didn't save her though. Also since Olivia couldn't be injured, Courtney was the one who got hurt. Please don't forget to review.