I was currently at home with Thea. It was about to be her party and I had one goal for the week that I really hoped that I would be able to live up to. I wanted to prevent her from driving under the influence of vertigo. I also wanted to prevent her from taking vertigo, but if she didn't get caught doing it, it would still be good. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to prevent this, but I knew that I would be able to find a way. Of course, executing said way would also be difficult.
"Do you like Tahitian green or midnight black better?" I questioned.
"I don't think you're going to get a car of any color." I told her.
"I couldn't have said any better myself." Mom remarked as she walked into the room.
"But you said that I could get my driver's license as soon as I turned 18." Thea argued.
"You don't need a car." I explained. I had to admit that I missed driving but I probably wasn't going to be doing that for over a year.
"Yeah, you have plenty of people that can drive you around." Tommy added.
"Thea, the party planner is waiting." Mom told her.
"Can we stop by the convertible store?" Thea asked as the two of them walked out of the room.
"So who's buying her the car again?" I questioned.
"I am. I know a thing or two about convertibles." Tommy declared.
"Do you think that you can buy one for me too?" I requested. I figured that was something that someone in my position would ask.
"I would do that but one your mom would kill me and two you don't have a license." He replied. I gave him a fake pout. I then turned on the news and I saw that they were talking about the armored car robberies. I did wonder why they were talking to Quentin and not someone higher up though. As far as I knew, Iris didn't have any connection to Ted Gaynor, but I also hadn't asked her. "What's got you so interested in this?"
"I'm just a little concerned about it." I remarked. I hoped that I would be able to both protect Thea and do this.
"Well don't worry, our money won't be affected by this." He commented. I glared at him especially since both of the men transporting it had been killed. Yes, no one ever laughed at my jokes, but I at least tried to not be insensitive.
Later, I was at the club with Iris and Courtney. Courtney and I were sparring with each other, but I wasn't going to be hitting her in the face. She wasn't good enough yet to hit me in the face.
"So have you thought about putting in a side entrance to your what do you call this…Arrow Cave?" Iris asked.
"No, arrows don't go in caves." I replied. I was annoyed that everyone called it that in the past and I wanted to come up with a better name. Yeah, it was kind of catchy, but it was inaccurate. "And yes I had one put in already."
"So do I really need to learn to fight?" Courtney inquired as I blocked her attack.
"Yes, there may come a time where you don't have your staff and you don't want to be helpless without it." I pointed out before I threw her to the ground onto the mat. "But we can take a break from it because there's something that I want to show you two."
"Are you going to start a career as a YouTuber?" Iris quipped. I didn't know how to do that. I brought up the heist video.
"Why are people going after these armored cars? I mean besides the fact that they're full of money." Courtney inquired.
"That's a pretty good reason." Iris pointed out. I mean there were probably easier ways to get the money. I knew that scamming the elderly was a very profitable and immoral way to make money.
"I knew that I had seen something like this before. It's the same tactic that the military used to take out a Taliban vehicle in 2009." I explained.
"I think a better question would be how you found this." Iris pointed out.
"I was researching some people and I noticed that it was a former bodyguard that now has his own private security firm called Blackhawk. His name is Ted Gaynor." I declared. I couldn't help but notice an uneasy look on Iris's face. She knew him somehow.
"Is everything okay?" Courtney asked.
"Olivia, Ted Gaynor was a friend of my father's." Iris answered. I supposed that I couldn't be surprised that he managed to convince Joe he was a good person.
"Iris, I'm sorry, but Ted Gaynor is on the list." I told her.
"Isn't your list supposed to only be rich people?" Courtney questioned.
"I never said it was just rich people." I pointed out.
"I refuse to believe that he is doing this." Iris replied. "This guy's a friend of my family. You're wrong about him."
"When was the last tine that you talked to him?" I questioned.
"Six months ago when he offered me a job at Blackhawk." She answered. "I declined because I did not want to be the only female employee there."
I had a feeling that would be a good call. Who knows what they could have done to her.
"You don't know him like I do." Iris added. Courtney looked like she really didn't want to get in the middle of this.
"I know that this is the same weapon and same tactic that he specialized in." I declared. "Now I do admit that I don't have any proof that he's behind this but it would very coincidental if it was someone else."
"Shouldn't we be concerned about the fact that your father didn't make the list. It was the other archer. Should you really trust their judgment?" Iris challenged. I didn't know what that had to do with the fact that the attackers were using Gaynor's tactics.
"Why would the list be wrong about him when it was right about everyone else?" I countered. "I'm going to talk to Mr. Gaynor and we'll see. Are you coming, Courtney?"
"I think that maybe I should sit this one out." Courtney commented. She definitely did not want to get in the middle of this.
Of course, before I could do that, I had to talk to the construction crew. It was a good thing that I had plenty of time.
"So we have a lot of work to after the fire." I explained. I had even debated putting in a sprinkler system but I realized that could be a problem if I had live music. "And I want to fire in a fire exit too. I know it's not standard, but I things could have been a lot worse if the exit had caught on fire."
At that point, I noticed that Malcolm was calling me. I answered the phone wondering why he was calling me.
"Is everything okay?" I asked him.
"Not really. I seem to have neglected to get your sister a birthday present." He told me. "Is there any chance that I could convince you to come shopping with me?"
"I really can't right now." I explained. "I have a lot of work to do."
You know one thing that I couldn't help but wonder was if Mom and Malcolm had still had an affair. Thea didn't seem to be related to Malcolm if her hair color was any indication. Of course, I couldn't use it as the only indication. I would need a DNA test to be sure, but it didn't seem to be important since Malcolm didn't seem like he was a bad guy in this universe.
"Well do you know if there's anything that she wants?" I inquired.
"She's only been talking about a car and Tommy's already getting her one of those. If you want, I could buy her something and put your name on it." I offered.
"Thank you. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" He asked.
"Can I get a car too?" I requested.
"No. I know you're jealous but you have to wait until you're 18 just like she did." He answered.
That night I broke into Blackhawk. Well it wasn't really breaking in because they were technically still open. They were just closing up and Gaynor was still there. I went to his office and kicked him.
"Ted Gaynor. We need to talk." I declared. "Don't move or this will go very badly for you."
At that point, I heard the sound of a gun. I wanted to sigh but I didn't want to be heard. I shouldn't have been surprised that Iris was there. I was just hoping that she wouldn't be. I really wished that I could proof it, but Gaynor seemed to be very good at covering his tracks.
"Put the bow down." She ordered. I sighed and decided to do the same thing that I did before. I shot out his computer and grabbed the flash drive.
Iris and I had a very heated conversation when we got back. I wished that Courtney was there to back me up. In fact, I decided to go to breakfast with her the next day because I needed to talk to her about it.
"So can you please try to talk some sense into Iris?" I asked her. It was also weird having a third party involved in this situation.
"Olivia, I am not going to get in the middle of you two here." She stated.
"But I'm right." I argued.
"Do you know you're right?" She challenged. "I do know that if you're wrong, you could permanently mess your relationship with Iris."
"I'm not wrong though." I argued.
"How would you feel if she accused someone close to you of something like this?" Courtney asked.
"Well I would at least try to listen to her side, which is something that she doesn't seem willing to do with me." I declared.
"Well the important thing is stopping these robberies. You need to do that first and figure out who's behind them second." She reminded me. "So what are you doing for your sister's birthday?"
"Well I want to keep her away from all illicit substances including alcohol." I explained.
"Is there anything wrong with her drinking as long as she doesn't leave the party?" She asked.
"That's one of the things that I'm concerned about. She could try to take her new car for a spin when she's less than sober." I explained. I was more concerned about Vertigo. Part of me thought that I should just be trying to deal with the Count, but I couldn't let any more armored cars get hit and I didn't think that I would be able to focus on both at the same time.
"Your sister's a smart girl. I don't think she would do that." She stated. It was at that point that I remembered why Thea had driven under the influence of vertigo. She was mad at Mom for supposedly having an affair with Malcolm. They had actually been meeting to talk about the Undertaking but neither of those were happening. Well the Undertaking could have still been happening but I was pretty sure that neither of them was behind it.
I decided that maybe I should get some information myself. I knew that they wouldn't tell me about the Undertaking and they would be very concerned if I asked. I didn't want to ask if Thea was Malcolm's daughter because I couldn't come up with a good reason why I would think that she was. Maybe I could fake having so information. I could tell that it was going to be a very awkward conversation no matter how I did it.
Maybe I should first ask Thea to see what she thought. Yeah, that would be a good starting point.
"So do you ever wonder if Mom and Malcolm did any together before they got married. I mean while Dad was alive?" I questioned. She would probably think that I was paranoid if she hadn't.
"No, not really." She replied. "I try not to think about that. Why is there some reason that you think they did? Also do you know if I'm getting a car. I need to know the color, so I can match my dress to it."
"I'm not telling you if you're getting a car." I declared. "And as to why I think that, they always were close even back then."
"I mean maybe they could have hooked up before, but I don't think they've done anything while either of us were alive. Mom loved Dad." Thea explained. "She wouldn't cheat on him."
It was a little ironic that she seemed to be the one who thought Mom was a saint. Maybe it was because I knew that she wasn't, but I still thought that she was mostly innocent in all of this. Maybe it was because she was the older sibling now that she wanted to me to think that everything was okay.
"Livvy, you don't need to be paranoid." She told me. I really wasn't that paranoid. I was just trying to look out for her. I knew that it still looked weird. Maybe I should have approached this differently. "Mom may not be perfect, but she would never cheat on Dad, but if she had, she could have done a lot worse than Malcolm. If you want, you can talk to her about it, but I'm sure that you have nothing to worry about."
Now it meant that I had to talk to Mom about it. This was going to be awkward.
"Mom, can I talk to you about something?" I asked.
"Of course." She replied.
"So did you and Malcolm ever do anything before you were married, like when you were married to Dad?" I asked.
"Olivia, this isn't really your concern." She said. That was a weird way to put it.
"Could you please just give me an answer?" I requested.
"Your father is the one who was unfaithful." She remarked. That was conveniently leaving out whether or not she cheated in retaliation. "He had several affairs."
As soon as she mentioned that I couldn't help but remember something. I had also brought her back. I hoped that my family had accepted her and she had become a good person.
"Mom, can you answer me something truthfully." I requested. "Do I have any other siblings?"
"No." I replied. To be fair, I didn't have any way of proving if she was lying. There was also a chance that Emiko didn't exist in this universe. I couldn't help but wonder if I should try to find her at all. She also just might not have known about her.
When it came to the flash drive, I had a bit of an issue. I couldn't go to Felicity for help with it. That was a downside of not further building a relationship with her. I couldn't help but wonder if I should try to do that. I did have a pretty good memory of where they were going to go and I supposed that I could only go off of that. I would be screwed if they decided to go after another armored car though. I wondered if I should try to be friends with her. It would definitely be helpful.
I also wished that Courtney hadn't decided to sit this out. I mean she could still help me protect the armored cars without accusing Gaynor. It would help having another body, even though I was pretty sure that I could at least save the drivers myself. She was right that preventing the crime from happening was more important than stopping the criminals.
I hoped that it wouldn't take too long to do this. It was a school night and I did still need to sleep. I seemed to be able to function on less sleep than other people, but I did still need to sleep. The last one happened late in the night. It was a good thing that no one ever checked on me after I went to bed. That was mostly because I locked my door and went in and out through the window. I couldn't help but wonder what anyone would think if I got caught coming back. I didn't really have an excuse and just needed to count on them respecting my privacy. God I was so bored. I couldn't help but wonder if my mind was regressing a little as well, but I didn't think that I could happen and waiting was just boring in general.
I was basically watching some videos on my phone when I heard the sounds of a large vehicle coming my way. Well there was the armored car. I just had to keep an eye out for the robbers. I then saw a black van. It was unmarked, but I didn't think they would be dumb enough to use a Blackhawk van considering that would be major evidence against them. I went and shot the guy who was trying to use the grenade launcher. I needed to do what I could to allow the armored car to get away. Several shots were fired at me, but I managed to avoid all of those and when the tear gas came, I didn't have to worry about it because of my mask. I supposed it actually was good for something other than making me look cool. Unfortunately, I forgot the other thing that it did. It obscured my vision simply by being there. They drove away quickly. I thought about trying to shoot out their tires, but I then figured that I should wait until I could actually get Gaynor. These other guys could lead to him but the important thing was getting him. I didn't know if I would need to kill him. I would try to avoid it if I could.
The following evening was Thea's birthday party. I kind of hoped that I would be able to have a fancy birthday party like her. Of course there was one problem with that. If I wasn't able to prevent the Undertaking, I wasn't sure if anyone would want that. I would need to find out who was trying to do it and where the earthquake machine (or machines) was. Anyway, I was wearing a metallic blue dress. I probably didn't need to wear a dress, but all of the other girls were wearing them and it made so I fit in better.
I walked outside and that was wear I saw Thea with the biggest smile on her face.
"Look what Tommy got me: a convertible." She gushed.
"You must be so surprised." I stated.
"There's no need to be jealous." She told me. "I'm sure that you'll be able to get a car whenever you turn 18 and maybe if you're good enough that let you get one this year."
"I'm not jealous." She declared.
"This party is so perfect. The only way that it would be any better would be if Dad was here." She replied.
"If Dad was here, he would tell you that look amazing." I assured her. "So, you aren't planning on going away, are you?"
"No." She answered. "You're not still hung up on the whole Mom-having-an-affair thing are you?"
"No." I replied. I still couldn't help but wonder if I should investigate my parents' affairs more. They were hiding things from me and I needed to find out what. It was then that Thea ran off to find Linda. Maybe her girlfriend would be able to distract her from leaving. I really needed her to stay here, even if she didn't take any vertigo.
It was then that I noticed Courtney and Iris and figured that I should talk to them about what went down last night. I hoped that Iris would at least be more understanding now. I did still consider that she would defend Gaynor since I didn't have any proof that he was involved. I also couldn't help but wonder how Gaynor would force her into helping.
"I heard that there was an attempted armored car heist last night." Iris declared.
"I can assure you that Gaynor wasn't there." I told her. I almost wanted to say that she was right, even though I knew that she wasn't.
"So are you two going to stop fighting now?" Courtney asked. It was kind of weird how she was acting like she was our teacher or something.
"I know because I was with him when it happened." Iris replied.
"Okay, you were right." I remarked. I hoped that she wouldn't be too crushed when she found out the truth.
"Well I think if someone at Blackhawk is involved, it would be Knox." Iris surmised. "He started right before the heists began and he has military training under Gaynor."
Was it possible that he was the ringleader, yes. Did I think it was very likely, no. I just didn't want to fight with Iris about it.
"Well one of then was hit and he was bleeding pretty badly." I explained.
"Okay, if any of Knox's blood is in one of the vans, we'll know for sure." She remarked before she started to leave.
"I'll go with you." I offered.
"No, you two stay here. I'm too old for this party anyway." Iris declared. As she was going, I slipped a bug on her. I knew that she would probably figure it out, but it would also be helpful to her.
"Did you just plant a bug on her?" Courtney inquired.
"She's going to talk to Gaynor and she'll probably be able to figure out whether or not he's involved." I pointed out. "Plus, even if he's not, she could still end up in trouble and in a situation where she can't just her phone. I know what I'm doing."
"I really hope that you're right about this because I like being around both of too much for this to break up." She declared. I mean it wasn't like she could side with Iris because I was the one who went to school with her and she was still going to be working for me whenever I did open the club. I should also look into insurance, even though I didn't think there was insurance for man-made earthquakes. Still, if there was anyway I could get it insured, it would probably be a good idea.
I went upstairs to investigate something. I went on Facebook. I wasn't sure if I should do this. Did I really want to cyberstalk my little sister? Not to mention, I wasn't even sure if she was my little sister anymore. I started to type Emiko Adachi in the search bar. It was then that I started to think. Even if I found her, what would I say to her? I didn't even have a way to figure out if she was really my sister. I mean if Malcolm wasn't Thea's dad, it was also possible that she wasn't my sister. I supposed the first step would be to know if she existed. I clicked enter and found a page. I looked at her. She had blonde hair, but it was obviously dyed. I could see the roots in the photo.
Before I could look any more into it, I got a hit on the bug. First Knox found her and then Gaynor. I could only imagine how she was feeling at the moment. Granted, it probably wasn't as bad as when John found out his brother was working for Damien Darhk, but I imagined that it was still pretty bad.
I also found out how they were going to blackmail her. It turned out that Gaynor had found out that she was working for the vigilante. I didn't know if the police would even buy that, but it probably wasn't worth the chance. Not to mention, they could just shoot her. Threatening to kill her would probably be more effective to be honest, but at least the good news was it give me a little bit of time to get ready. I would have to borrow one of the cars and make sure that I didn't get caught again. As long as it wasn't Thea's, it would probably be okay. First I went downstairs to talk to Courtney.
"So Iris is in trouble." I told her. "I need you to do something for me though. Can you please stay here and make sure that Thea doesn't go anywhere. I'm pretty sure that she's drunk and I don't want her to get in an accident or get arrested for DUI."
Technically, she had both of those things happen to her, just not at the same time.
"Okay." Courtney agreed. "How are you going to get there, though."
"I'm going to borrow a car." I replied.
"No, don't do something that you could get in trouble for. Plus, I know a way to get you there faster." She replied.
She took me out to the front yard, where no one was because everyone was in the back. She whistled and the staff came flying our way.
"Take Olivia to the club and then to Iris." She instructed.
"Courtney, I don't think this a good…idea!" I declared before the staff flew under me and started to carry me. I got there a lot quicker than I expected. I kind of felt like I wanted to throw up though. Fortunately, that wave of nausea passed quickly. I went to put on my costume quickly. I kind of didn't want to change in front of the staff, even though it didn't have eyes. "So I'm still going to use my bow to fight."
I also felt weird talking to something without a face. I felt that even if the staff trusted me, it probably wouldn't me use it and I didn't want to use it anyway because it was probably dangerous in the hands of someone who didn't know how to control it. I also didn't know how it knew where to find Iris, but I had no idea how it worked and I wasn't going to question it.
It took me to the site of armored car and then went back. I supposed that it did exactly Courtney had told it to do. I wasn't expecting it to be so literal. The first thing that I noticed was that Iris was not wiling to fire the rocket launcher. I supposed that it was a good thing that she would rather die than commit a crime, but of course I was not going to let her die either. She then fired at them. I knew I could intervene, but I figured that I would let her handle it until I was needed.
However, I noticed that Knox was trying to try a shot at her and I stopped him. I knew that I would have to fight him. I would probably need to kill him. I didn't know if they knew my secret identity, but I didn't want people that could use anything against me to be around. Plus, the guy was still a murderer. I started to spar with him before I snapped his neck.
I then started to go after Gaynor and Iris. Like Knox, I couldn't let him live with knowing that Iris was working with me and I also didn't like him very much either. Iris found him and cornered him, but she wasn't able to pull the trigger. It was a good thing that I was, because he would have killed her otherwise. I watched as Gaynor fell over dead.
"You're late." She told me.
"So I see that you found the bug." I remarked.
"You couldn't have been any less obvious about it." She pointed out. "I just wish that you trusted me."
"I trusted you, but I told you he was on the list for a reason." I explained. "Now I kind of need a ride home because mine was kind of one way."
"What do you mean?" She asked me.
"Courtney told her staff to bring me here…and only here." I replied.
It was then the police showed up and I knew that I had to leave.
I had made it back to the club before I got a call from Malcolm.
"Hello?" I answered. I hoped that this call wouldn't be about Thea.
"Where are you?" He inquired. I had thought of an excuse for why I wasn't home.
"I had Iris take me to the club because I forgot something there." I answered. "What's going on?"
"Tommy's been in an accident. He's in the hospital." He declared. Was Tommy the one that had taken Vertigo? That was equally bad because not only could he lose he go to jail. He could also lose his job.
"I'll be right there." I promised.
I got changed and headed to the hospital. I went there to find Malcolm, Mom and Thea in the waiting room.
"How is he?" I asked.
"He just woke up, but we were waiting for you before we went to see him." Malcolm explained.
We went to his room and I couldn't help but notice that he was mad at Malcolm for some reason. Had something happened between the two of them that I didn't know about?
After I was done there, I went back to the club to talk to Iris.
"So what happened with the cops?" I questioned.
"I just told them the truth that Gaynor threatened to kill me and they let me go because everything happened under duress." She replied. "I'm sorry, Olivia."
"You wanted to believe in someone and I don't fault you for that. I think that it would be better if we just put this behind us." I declared. "Now can you please take me home?"
In the morning, I went to pick up Tommy with Laurel before school.
"Dr. Merlyn?" A police officer interrupted us.
"Is there a problem?" I asked.
"In the event of an accident, the hospital is required to a toxicology report and the doctor found that Dr. Merlyn tested positive for a drug called Vertigo." The officer explained.
"But I didn't take anything." Tommy argued as he was arrested. Yup, I was going to have to find the Count.
So it was Tommy that ended up in the crash and with Vertigo instead of Thea. The other thing in this chapter is that Moira mentioning Robert's affairs reminded Olivia of Emiko. She will be appearing a lot sooner this time around. Please don't forget to review.