I was currently chasing after a criminal. Traveling around wasn't quite as easy with Courtney not around. I hoped that what she said was true and her leave would be temporary. I couldn't believe that I had messed up so badly with her. I was only trying to keep her being killed, but I instead made it so she didn't trust me anymore. It seemed like I was my only worst enemy when it came to relationships and I had a tendency to screw things up. I was surprised that Felicity had only left me once and that was only because I didn't tell her about William.
Back to the criminal, I shot out his tires causing his car to crash. I drew my bow as I went towards the wreckage. I quickly found that he had escaped. I started to chase him and he started to fire at me. I then shot an arrow and hung him upside-down on a steel beam.
"Who is the man in the mask?" I questioned. I wished that I could just use my knowledge of the other world, but I still didn't have any actual proof that Sebastian was under the mask and I really didn't want to go after an innocent man even if there was a high chance he was guilty.
"I don't know." He declared.
"You're the biggest dealer in the Glades. You know everything." I pointed out.
"I haven't seen the guy before. I'm still on parole." He pointed out.
"Not anymore." I declared before I punched him out. He had broken the law and if he wasn't going to talk then he was going to go back to prison."
I was watching the news as they talked more about the particle accelerator explosion. It was impressive how there really wasn't any damage. Thea and Linda had both made it back okay, but I wasn't sure if either of them would experience any other issues. No one had really experienced any superpowers until several months after the explosion and also not everyone was affected. I found that Iris and Mia were in the lair.
"Have we heard from Courtney yet?" I asked.
"No." Iris responded. "Why don't you just talk to her and apologize to her?"
"Because whenever I see her at school, she just walks away from me and I don't want to just show up at her house like a creepy stalker." I pointed out.
"It's not like you haven't done that before." Iris quipped.
"Yeah, but that was for criminals." I remarked. "I'm going to give Courtney space. Do we know of any strange incidents occurring in Central City?"
"Not that I'm aware of. Why?" Iris inquired.
"Because the particle accelerator explosion caused people to gain superpowers in many other universes." Mia declared. "We'll continue to monitor it. Has Thea displayed anything abnormal?"
"If she has, she hasn't told me about it." I explained. "Tonight was another bust. It seems like no one seems to know who the man in the mask is."
"Are you sure that you're doing this because you want to know or are you putting yourself into your work because you're still upset about Courtney breaking up with you?" Iris replied. I wasn't going to lie and stay that I wasn't upset, but that really wasn't the reason that I was doing it.
"I'm doing it because this man is dangerous and I don't want him to be able to take over this city." I pointed out. "Yes my heart is still hurting from the breakup and Courtney not being here, but I just have to accept that she doesn't want to be with me anymore. Have we heard from Kara at all?"
"I've texted her a few times, but she's not really doing very much." Mia told me.
"Well we can't let this spread to others. One guy was hard enough to kill. More will be even harder." I declared.
"Have you checked on Artemis lately?" Mia asked.
"She only recently stopped hating me and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that. So far she hasn't shown any enhanced ability and I'll continue to monitor things in the future."
I really hated waiting for these things to happen especially since I probably knew what was going to happen but I really didn't want to overstep my boundaries. I didn't know what was going to happen with Thea though. I thought that maybe I should try to talk to Artemis about her being kidnapped, but no one really knew about that because it wasn't in the papers, which meant the only ones that knew were her, the perpetrators and the vigilante and I didn't want to reveal myself as the vigilante to her because I didn't know if I could trust her with that secret.
Suddenly, my phone started ringing. It was Tommy, so I answered it.
"Hi." I answered.
"So I'm starting to get worried about Dinah." He replied. I couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with her addictions.
"About what?" I questioned.
"She's been looking into Sebastian Blood lately and I'm not sure that it's healthy." He replied. "I heard that you were hosting a campaign event for him. Why are you doing that when a lot of your patrons can't vote?"
"Because I believe that he could be a great mayor." I replied. It wasn't even a lie. I did believe that he could be a good mayor if he didn't choose to be evil. "So I need to get to that. Do you wanna come?"
"I'm already going to be there with Dinah." He remarked.
"So I know that I can't vote, but I really think we need a leader like Sebastian Blood. He cares about this community. Sebastian for Star City!" I declared before I raised my non-alcoholic glass to him. It was probably better using his last name because it sounded a lot less violent. Though I also knew that things would get pretty awkward if Mom decided to run as well.
"Thank you, Olivia, and not just for your support, but also for your friendship, even though I think we should keep the photo ops to a minimum." He quipped. I really hoped that there wouldn't be stories about me having an affair with him. I did not want to go through that headache. "And thank all of you for coming. You know when Olivia calls me a son to Star City, it feels like a literal truth. I was a street orphan and this city raised me as its own. I am the man I am today because of my Star City family, so it's time that I give back. So thank you all for your support."
"Since when do you care so much about politics, Livvy?" Thea asked me.
"Well I care about the city." I explained. "And Sebastian has become something of a friend."
"Are you sure it's not something more?" She teased. I glared at her. I really did not want things to go there. "Seriously though, I'm sorry about what happened with Courtney. You should really try to work things out because I really like her."
"So how are you and Linda doing?" I questioned.
"We're great, but why is my relationship suddenly an interest?" She asked.
"I meant that you were in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded. That can't be easy." I remarked.
"And while sucks that people died, both of us are okay." She stated. "You don't need to worry about me."
I was pretty sure that I would be continued to be worried about them until I could be certain that the two of them didn't develop powers and I didn't have any way of determining if they would.
"Olivia, this is wonderful!" Mom gushed as she came over to us.
"I'm just proud to be helping out the community." I stated.
"No, I'm the one who's proud." She retorted. "You've really turned this place into a successful business."
At that point, she and Thea walked away.
"Olivia, thank you so much for your kind words." Sebastian told me. "Excuse me, a friend just walked in."
At that point, I saw Tommy and Dinah were there.
"So how well do you know Sebastian?" She asked me.
"Do people really think that I would jeopardize my reputation and his career like that?" I questioned.
"That wasn't really what I meant." She declared. "I just feel like people don't know the real Sebastian."
A few minutes later, I got word of an explosion across town.
"Was there anyone in the building?" I asked as we went down the stairs.
"The cleaning crew and some bankers working on a deal." Iris explained.
"Well the first thing that we need to do is figure out if there are survivors or casualties." I pointed out. Finding out who was responsible for it was secondary. "We need to check with police and the fire department."
"Got it." Mia declared before I heard that there were people on the 5th floor, but the fire department was having trouble. "Looks like they're going to need someone whose lungs can regenerate."
I grabbed my bow and got dressed before I went inside. I found a person shortly after I went inside.
"Gary's still back there." She told me.
"Get to safety. I'll help him." I promised. I found Gary was pinned but I was able to lift it off of him. I had to say that saving people were even more fulfilling than taking down the criminals themselves and I was glad that I was able to do it. I did have to get out before the fire department showed up though.
The following morning, Iris was giving me a ride to school.
"Are you okay? You were up pretty late." She pointed out.
"News reports say that the bomber didn't steal any money." I explained.
"I think they were just trying to make a statement." Iris replied. "I found something that you should read. It's his manifesto. 300 pages of anti-government hate. Do you think that there's any chance he's connected to the man in the mask?"
"I don't think so, but I think he might be more important right now because he can do a lot more damage." I pointed out. I vaguely remembered this guy, but the truth was that I didn't even remember his identity. One thing that I did remember was that Amanda Waller killed him.
We parked outside the school and we started to talk as she walked me to the door.
"We should start with the bomb. Bombers like to use unique bombs, but all of the evidence would be with SCPD." Iris explained before I heard someone walking over to us.
"Well it's a good thing that we have someone in the department that we can talk to." A voice interrupted. I looked to see that she was standing there.
"I didn't think that you were ready to come back yet." I told her. I thought about trying to hug her but it would probably be a bad idea.
"I heard about the bombing and I knew that this wasn't just something that I could stand by for." Courtney declared.
"Good. We could really use your help." I replied. I then noticed that things were awkward. "So how's your family?"
"They're good. How's Thea?" She retorted. Yup, we were still in the awkward stage of our breakup.
"She seems okay." I answered.
"I'll reach out to Detective Lance. Have a good day at school you two." Iris declared. I wasn't sure how much the two of us were going to talk at school.
I knew that it was also important for me to try to do some research into Sebastian but to be honest, I was kind of more focused on getting him to atone for past. I kind of didn't even want him to go to prison. I thought maybe I could get him on the right path because I really did think he could be a good mayor.
Later in the day, I was at work and found that Emiko and Artemis were already there.
"I didn't expect you to be here so early." I stated.
"Yeah, I was just really anxious to get to work." Artemis stated as she lifted some heavy boxes onto a shelf.
"It seems like you've been working out more." Emiko commented.
"Well my dad is going to be reopening a new gym soon, so he got some stuff for the house." Artemis lied. I knew what the real reason was, but I couldn't say anything about it.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I've just been a little sleep-deprived lately." She answered.
"You know if you want to go on leave, I will pay you for it." I told her. "Courtney's about to come back so I can deal with it."
"No, I don't want to do that." She declared. "You don't need to be concerned about me. I'm fine."
"Well let me know if there's anything that I can do to help." I told her. I just really hoped that she wouldn't use her newfound power for evil."
"You are helping." She assured me. "This job has helped me out a lot and made me see that you're really not a bad person. I'm sorry that I picked on in school."
She then walked away.
"She does not seem right." Emiko commented.
"I know, but if she says that she's fine, I have to believe her." I stated. "As long as her work doesn't suffer, there's nothing that I can do."
"Is it true that Courtney's going to come back?" Emiko asked. I nodded. "Are you two going to get back together?"
"No, but she said that she was okay with us working together again." I replied.
That night, I went to meet Quentin in front of the courthouse.
"You know most cops go to meet their informants in the back of a cruiser or a coffee shop." He quipped. "Also no one seems to have seen your friend who dresses like a flag recently."
"Did you bring me what I asked for?" I questioned. He then presented me with a bag and I put it in my pocket.
"That's a sample of everything that CSU collected from the blast. There's melted glass, multiple explosive fragments and trace residue that looks like nitroglycerine. That means that we're dealing more than just a basement nutjob."
"It's someone with training." I agreed. "Thank you, Detective."
I then started to leave before he stopped me.
"I need a favor too." He told me. "I'm pretty sure that there's a mole in the police department. Can you get me cell phone records for every cop in my precinct?"
"Do you really think that there's a leak?" I inquired.
"I think those phone records are the only way to know for sure and I know your friend is really good with computers." He explained.
"I'll ask her." I declared before there was suddenly another explosion. Quentin called for backup and I called the team. "He's hit again."
"It's the Star City Municipal Building." Iris stated. I couldn't help but wonder what they actually did there.
"I need a location." I replied.
"I can find out where this guy is." Mia remarked. "There was a spike about two seconds before the blast. That frequency is way outside the approved frequency for US carriers. I've got a moving signal. I think he's moving. I'll send Courtney out there."
Courtney came on her staff and we started to follow the signal. It felt weird being on it and I definitely wasn't holding onto her like I was before. It was definitely going to be awkward working with her again.
"Okay, he's in a big white van." I declared. He seemed to notice us because he drove through a red light. It was a good thing that we didn't have to adhere to traffic laws at the moment.
"He just turned left on 67th." Mia explained. We got pretty close to him before he threw a grenade and we had to swerve out of the way of the blast since the staff couldn't fly and fire at the same time.
He then threw a smoke bomb and it caused us to lose him.
"We've lost him." I stated.
"I've lost him too." Mia declared.
"Damn it." I cursed.
We then went back to the lair and went up to everyone.
"What happened?" I asked.
"He's using cellular technology to detonate his bombs and his also managed to mess with his signal." Mia explained. "This is more than I've ever had to do before. I'm sorry that I wasn't prepared for this."
"Well you need to be prepared because people are dying." I argued.
"Maybe you shouldn't dictate how everyone does this." Courtney interjected.
"I don't do that." I responded.
"Maybe we should just chill." Iris suggested.
"You're still making the same mistakes that you did before. It's like you don't believe in us." Courtney replied. "It's not just you that's doing that and you need to get in your head that we're a team and we don't just work for you. I'm going out."
She then walked out of the room.
"Okay, so it seems like there are still a lot of issues between you two." Iris commented. "I think that you should really apologize and I think that she is right. This isn't going to work unless all of us are on the same page."
I knew that both of them were absolutely correct. The thing was that I was never good at apologizing and I didn't think that one would fix everything between Courtney and I but it might fix something. I just had to figure out the best way to do it. I was also pretty sure that even if I did apologize, she probably still wouldn't take me back.
The following night, I went home for a little bit before I needed to go to the club. I found that Mom and Malcolm were watching some TV and found out that Sebastian was on the TV.
"We weren't expecting you tonight." Malcolm commented. "You're just in time."
"What's he doing?" I asked.
"Bringing the city together…" Mom quipped. "And if I'm not mistaken campaigning."
"Tomorrow night I am holding Star City's first ever unity rally at City Plaza." Sebastian announced. "We are going to show the word that this city will not bow down to terrorists."
"That sounds suicidal and he's inviting the entire city to join him." I commented. I was pretty sure that he was giving the bomber the invitation to attack him.
"Isn't he your friend? Maybe you should try to talk him out of this, Olivia." Malcolm suggested.
"I don't think he'll listen to me." I declared. Fortunately, I did have another idea.
I went to his office and turned out all of the lights. I saw that he seemed to be reaching for a gun.
"Sebastian Blood, we need to talk." I declared. "This rally tomorrow night. You need to call it off."
"You know I'm flattered that the Star City Vigilante is paying me a visit." He stated.
"I think it's a mistake. You know the bomber will probably attack it." I pointed out. "I don't want anyone to die unnecessarily because you want to stand up to this guy?"
"The city needs to come together and I need to show them how." He argued. As much as that was a good idea, he was not executing it the right way.
"You won't be able to show them anything if you're dead." I reminded him. I wondered if he thought that Slade would protect him. He may have thought that he was more important to Slade than Slade did…if he was even working for him.
"Every night you risk your life for the people of this city." He replied as he got up. "How can you expect me to do any less?"
"But what about the lives of the people coming to your rally?" I challenged. "Even if you don't die, how would you feel if any of them did?"
"I'm not going to tell anyone to stay home or stay scared." He remarked. "I've made my decision and I'm not changing it."
"Alderman, whatever happens tomorrow night is not up to you. Let's hope for both of our sakes that I'm able to stop this guy." I told him before I left.
The following night, I was in the lair as we tried to find the location of the bomber. I knew that there would be bomb squads on the scene, but I doubted that they would be able to search everywhere. The news seemed to be a bit cynical. I couldn't help but wonder how they decided who was going to potentially risk their life to report on it.
"I tried to get him to stand down." I remarked.
"Well it seems like he's a lot like you when it comes to fighting back." Iris remarked. "You're both very stubborn."
"You got that right." Courtney muttered.
"Hey, none of this is going to work unless all of us on the same page." Mia commented.
"Maybe we should just head to the rally." I declared. We would be closed because several of my employees wanted to go.
"Maybe we don't have to." Mia replied. "I analyzed that fragments that we got from Lance. The bomb is pretty much identical to an anti-government group called The Movement. I found out that they have a very active message board that with a surprisingly-low amount of security. One of their most prolific users has an I:P address here in Star City."
"Who is it?" Courtney asked.
"I don't know, but I do know that the computer is at a local souvenir shop and the user in question goes by the name Shrapnel." Mia explained.
"Then we should suit up." I declared.
"I'm going to sit this one out so I can stay by the computers. Plus, me being there would only be a distraction because you two need to figure out your issues." She said. "You don't literally need to kiss and make up, but if work together then we're not going to have a chance against this guy."
"Fine." I agreed. "Iris, I need you to go to the rally. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious or anyone suspicious, but don't try to engage with any visible bombs."
At that time, Tommy called me again. It was really bad timing.
"Tommy, I don't really have time for this right now." I told him. I still had to answer in case it was an emergency."
"Well Dinah seems to be obsessed with finding dirt on Sebastian Blood, but things aren't there." He remarked.
"Can we please talk about this later? I have a bombing that I'm trying to stop." I told him. "I know it's important, but hundreds of lives could be at risk."
Courtney and I went to the souvenir shop and found that it seemed to be closed. Shortly after walking in, we found out that we had triggered a bunch of security lasers.
"Boom. You're dead…or you will be if you move a single muscle." The system declared. "Then you'll miss the show at Blood's unity rally. I've got 50 pounds of explosives there and I have plenty lining the walls of my store. This city thinks that Sebastian Blood can keep them safe. Tonight they'll learn that the only things that politicians care about protecting is their jobs."
It was then that I looked at the TV and noticed that Malcolm, my mom, Thea and Emiko were all there.
"What are we going to do?" Courtney asked.
"Mia…" I declared.
"Did you get him?" She asked. I was pretty sure that she didn't think it would be that easy."
"No." I answered. "We're trapped by a laser grid. I would really appreciate it if you could disarm it."
"I can try but it might need to be disarmed in person." Mia responded. "Can you take a shot at it?"
"I can get these lasers, but Courtney I really need you to stay in place." I told her.
"Well do you trust me not to move?" Courtney asked.
"You're not helping." I told her.
"The building was built in the 70s. That means the wiring is likely defective. If you can sever one wire, it'll blow all of the fuses including the one connected to the bomb."
I maneuvered my way around and fired at the fuse box causing the lasers to disappear. I heard Courtney take several deep breaths.
"We need to get to the rally now." I explained. I knew it would probably be a good idea to try to apologize to her but I also didn't know how much time we had and someone like could interfere with us being able to stop the explosion.
"I've found out where the explosives are. They're in the sound equipment." Iris said over the comms. That did seem like it would be a good place to hide the stuff.
"I can disarm this." Mia replied. "At least I hope that I can."
"Mia please be careful." I told her.
It was then that I noticed that the man holding a gun and figured that he was the one who was the bomber. We would have to find a way to prevent him from activating it. He threw a bomb into the crowd but Courtney was able to shoot it down.
"Iris is hit." Mia told me.
At that point, one of the light structures started to fall before Artemis ran over and caught it. It was pretty clear that she had powers.
"I need to help Iris. Courtney I need you to catch him." I told her.
"So you're trusting me to do this?" She questioned.
"Yes, now please go stop him." I told her before she flew away.
I rushed over and took out a syringe and filled it with my blood before I put it into Iris. Fortunately, everyone else had run off and no one was around to see me.
"What are you doing here. You should be going after him." Iris remarked.
"Courtney's going to do it. I'm gonna get you healed up." I explained as I helped her to her feet.
"I got him. He's holding the detonator." Courtney whispered.
"Courtney, I believe you can stop him. I trust you." I told her. With that I heard a small blast from the staff. "I've got him."
After the aftermath, I went to the club to do some inventory. We had donated some drinks and I needed to know what we still had. There were parts of owning a business that I didn't like sometimes. I would talk to everyone after I was finished. It was also my cover for why I wasn't at the rally. Suddenly, the door opened and there was Artemis.
"Hey, I saw your bodyguard got shot at the rally. Is she okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, she's going to be fine." I explained. "So Mia told me that you managed to stop a light fixture from falling on someone."
"I guess all of that working out gave me really good reaction time." She quipped. "It was an adrenaline rush. Please don't think too much of it. Look, I'm just here to get my check. So can I have that so I can go home?"
I went and gave her the check and she was out the door. I would have to deal with that another time.
I then went downstairs where I found Courtney.
"So how does it feel to take down your first criminal by yourself?" I asked her.
"You know I didn't think that I would be able to do it." She admitted. "So are we going to try to find this man in the mask?"
"Not tonight." I declared. "I'm sorry for thinking that you couldn't handle yourself, but I did come to a conclusion. I think it might be better if we just try to stay coworkers for right now."
"That is probably a good idea. It will mean that our emotions are less-invested in each other." Courtney agreed. "I know that you were only trying to protect me."
"You know I thought that I could do this on my own. I thought that I could use what I learned to stop this without anyone's help and I certainly didn't think that I needed another hero. There was no way that I could have saved Iris and stopped the bomber by myself. I need you. Please stay a part of this team. I do have one more thing that I need to do though."
I went back to Blood's office and once again turned out the lights.
"Well done, Alderman." I told him.
"Thanks to you." He replied.
"It was still a very big risk to take. It looks like it paid off for you." I remarked.
"Tonight we both stood up for Star City." He declared as he walked over to me. "You and me we can save this city if we work together. So what do you say? Do you wanna be partners?"
"You should be very careful who you align yourself with." I declared before I shook his hand. It was a bit of a warning. I just hoped that I would be able to prevent his death.
So Olivia and Courtney managed to patch things, but they're not exactly back together. Also Olivia wants to prevent Sebastian from dying. Will she be able to do that? Finally Artemis showed some signs of Mirakuru. Please don't forget to review.