-----

Author's Note: I siad last time that this story would start finding its pace and I think this chapter really shows that. I had a lot of fun with one, a lot of fun. I especially have to thank Starbuck for helping me come up with the cool idea for the second act and Dustin for being my beta. I can't forget djkauf for the lightning fast editing on this one and DC Comics as always for their wonderful characters.

-----

Chapter Eight:

The phone rang again from the other room, most likely another reporter looking for an interview. All I could do was groan and hope that whoever it was, they’d get the hint. I wasn’t doing interviews, no matter what. The news was out now, Olivia Queen was a fighter. Apparently, I made a big splash in the world by standing up to my Board and not backing down to the overwhelming pressure. Mr. Walters worked fast just like he promised. He went straight to a judge as quick as he could, got Pierce removed as my Power of Attorney and was able to reverse the proxy. Yesterday morning---after waking from my long night---there was new paperwork waiting for me. I made sure to read all of it before signing. The first sheet was a Power of Attorney document, giving Walters the title. The next one was to officially fire P, P, and P as my law firm. It was sad to see Joanna go but it was necessary in the end.

I’m not sure who leaked it to the press but they had a field day with it. It was on every news channel in fact. Pierce was the King of the West Coast and for someone to fire him was unheard of. But that was only the half of it. Someone---I’m guessing my new best friend, Mr. Walters---leaked some of the Board’s documents to the press as well. Specifically the ones that were trying to make me look like an idiot and take my company from me. Now the press saw them as the Big Bad Wolf and me as poor little innocent Red Riding Hood.

The downxide to all of this: all the damn phone calls asking for interviews.

Jade was doing a good job screening them but it was getting annoying hearing the phone ring every five minutes. I wanted to find some place quiet to crawl into and hole up for a while. But I knew that wasn’t possible, not now. In a few minutes, Mr. Steele was supposed to be stopping by with a new business proposition apparently. Jade knew the specifics but apparently a rival company was looking for a merger, something the Board was seriously trying to push at me. It was also something I knew my grandfather never would have approved of. If there was one thing I knew more about the Old Man than anything, it was his love for this company. He never would have let anyone try to take it from him. I read the merger proposal already and it didn’t look good for me at all.

There was another thing about the merger, too. It was with my Uncle Max. Ok, so he wasn’t really my uncle but when I was growing up, he told men to call him that. He was a childhood friend of my mother’s; the two of them had been very close. Max and Mom were inseparable according to her. When I was little, he used to come around all the time. He was kinda cool, always had the greatest presents and things like that. Then one day when I was ten, he just stopped coming. I asked my mother but she didn’t want to talk about it. After that, Max became famous. His father was a huge businessman like grandpa and when he died, he left everything to Max. Max took his father’s company and pushed the microchip into the 21st Century.

It bothered me that Max was taking such an interest in my company. Queen Industries was mainly a communication company, with some small holdings in computer software. But Max’s was a huge computer giant, it made no sense. He was better off merging with Kord Industries or even LexCorp, hell, even Stark Industries had more to offer him than me.

My intercom buzzed, shaking me from my thoughts.

“Mia’s here” said Jade’s voice from the little box.

Before I could say anything, Mia let herself into my office. It was cool; I gave her free range of the entire building. She was my BFF and could come and go as she pleased. When she walked into the office, she was frowning. Her school backpack on one shoulder, her laptop tucked underneath her arm. She dropped into one of my comfy chairs and huffed. I could tell from the look on her face that she had some bad news. I haqd given her the file from Raines yesterday and she promised to get on it as soon as possible. Most of the stuff in it was spreadsheets with lots of names and numbers, stuff I didn’t understand. Mia promised to try to make some sense of it. But from the look she was giving me, the folder was clearly causing her problems.

“We’re screwed aren’t we?”

She sighed. “Well if you were expecting all the answers then that’s a big yes” She reached into her pack and grabbed the folder, tossing it on my desk. “Those numbers are transactions but the names are all bogus. Some of it makes sense but other part are just a mess.”

“Can you tell me anything?”

She nodded. “There are seven different aliases listed. I’m not sure if they’re all Merlyn’s or if they belong to seven different people. They all have at least half a dozen bank accounts though and each time they’re paid the same amount in the same increments. It doesn’t make any sense. You said Raines told you there were some really nasty people involved well I’m beginning to think he might be right.”

“You’re not bailing on me are you, Speedy?”

She shook her head. “No but I think we should forget it. I sent copies of this list to the Oracle and she told me to drop it. I tried to get more out of her and she said the people involved, we don’t want to get involved with.”

I rubbed my temples. “Just one of those days.”

The ringing of my phone interrupted our conversation. I cursed, if it wasn’t one phone it was another. I rolled my eyes at Mia and pulled the dreaded thing out of my desk drawer. There were only a few who knew the number, one of which was sitting across from me. I checked the number but didn’t recognize it. But I answered anyway.

“Hello?”

“Miss Queen?” asked an unfamiliar female voice. She didn’t wait for me to respond before talking again. “I’m Carrie Hartnell, Celebrity Gossip News, I was wondering if I could get a few minutes of your time.”

I groaned. “I’m not doing any interviews at this time Miss Hartnell.”

How in the hell did this woman get my personal number?

She laughed. “It will only take a second” she said and then asked. “How does it feel to be out from under the oppressive strain of those bastards on the Board?”

“No comment.”

“What about Pierce, surely you’re glad to be rid of that jackass.”

“No comment.”

John and I had talked yesterday briefly. He suggested that I answer “No Comment” to every question asked. He didn’t want the press to use anything I said against me. It was a good tactic. I told him I didn’t plan on letting any reporters ask me anything but there were inevitably situations like this one, I suppose. I guess I underestimated their cutthroat nature. It was do anything to get a story with these people. I just never thought one of them would go so far as seeking out my unlisted cell phone number.

“Is it true that you fired Mr. Pierce’s daughter as well?”

“No comment”

Carrie sighed on the other end. “You’re not making this easy.”

“And I told you I didn’t want to be interviewed. I’m sorry for the inconvenience Miss Hartnell, but no matter what questions you ask, you’re going to get the same response.”

She scoffed. “You think you’re better than me just because you’re rich?” There was bit of anger in her voice.

I grit my teeth. “This conversation is over.”

“Don’t hang up on me you little bitc…”

I clicked off and tossed the phone at Mia, who caught it clumsily. “I need a new one of those I think. Some bitch reporter was able to find my number.”

“You want me to trace the call back to its source?”

I nodded then pushed the intercom. “Jade, I just got a call on my private line from a pushy reporter. Her name was Hartnell.”

Jade groaned. “Her again, she’s called here three or four times this morning already.”

I rubbed my temples. “Can you call John for me?”

I talked to John for a few minutes, in the end he promised to take care of my reporter problem. My cell rang again as soon as I got off the phone with John, Mia nearly jumped out of her chair. Instead of tossing it back to me, she answered it. She talked to whoever it was for a few minutes, nodding and looking at me. There might have been a bit of a smile but it didn’t linger for very long. When the conversation was over, she nodded one last time and placed the phone on my desk.

“Tell me that wasn’t another nosey reporter?”

I slumped back in my chair, sliding down a bit. I was so getting tired of this crap today.

Mia laughed. “That was Roy actually.”

As soon as she uttered his name, I nearly jumped out of my seat. My heart started pounding a bit, my palms sweaty. “What did he want?” I asked, trying to find my composure but failing miserably.

“He wants to talk,” said Mia with a smile. “I told him you’ll meet him tomorrow after school.”

“You did what!”

She laughed. “You’ll thank me later.”

Jack Kirby High School, my old alma mater. There was a bit of nostalgia standing here, staring at the large building in front of me. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness. The last time I was here, I was Jonas Oliver, a happy althougth a bit awkward teenager, without a care in the world save for the obvious of course. Life was fairly normal back then. My parents were alive, I had two of the greatest friends in the world, a potential girlfriend and my grandfather was just a man who sent me occasional presents on my birthday. Jump ahead several months and here I am now. I felt like a complete stranger as I stood before a place that was such a big part of my life for almost two full years of it.

I sighed as I looked at my watch. Thankfully, classes let out about twenty minutes ago so I wouldn’t have to run into anyone I knew. I didn’t want to go through the shock of someone recognizing me as either Jonas or Olivia Queen. I was already taking a big enough risk coming here, without my goons. I made sure Spencer and Locke were nowhere near me. In fact, I even left Luke down the street where I made him park. I didn’t want to go into this place, drawing attention to myself. As far as anyone else was concerned, I was just another student staying behind after school to watch the practices. Not that that there were many who did such a thing, especially for something as trivial as Archery.

But every once and a while I used to catch girls looking at us from the bleachers. Ok, so maybe not me but Roy always seemed to catch some attention.

Not that he ever seemed to react to it. Roy was weird like that but focused as well. When he was shooting, it was the only thing that mattered.

I took a deep breath and decided to get this over with as quickly as possible. I took the long way around to the Field. Usually I could cut through the school but I afraid someone might spot me. So I decided to walk the exterior of it, making my journey in solitude and silence. It gave me time to come up with something to say, too. I could have killed Mia for springing this on me yesterday. In fact, I was pretty pissed off at her for the rest of the day. I was going to take care of the Roy thing but in my own way and on my own time. I wasn’t ready to process things. In fact, I was never going to be ready to process them fully. The thought of him finding out who I was and reacting badly to it scared the hell out of me still. However, avoiding it was only going to make things worse.

I was tortured by indecision all last night. I kept going back in forth in my mind, should I come or should I blow him off. The internal struggle kept me up most of the night. In the end, I decided that I was being stupid. I was stupid for being mad at Mia and stupid for trying to run from this. Roy was my friend and he deserved to know the truth. If he turned his back on me then it was his loss and he was never a true friend to begin with. But at the same time, if he accepted things, I’m not sure where that left us. I would be a fool if I didn’t admit there was something there. I felt the spark between us. Back when I was Jonas, the spark didn’t exist; that I was certain of. Now I couldn’t keep my heart from thumping when I saw him. That scared me as much as everything else.

I finally reached the end of my walk, taking another deep breath as I turned the corner of the building and found myself facing the field. It was a combination Football and Track Field. Off in the distance behind it were the baseball diamond and the Soccer Field as well. There were a handful of people in the bleachers, mainly girls there to watch the football team practice. I searched the sea of red helmets and yellow practice jerseys, trying to find my man through it all. I caught sight of Roy far off in the distance. The Archery team had their own little place way off from the others. Roy and several others from the team---my old teammates actually---were in the middle of shooting.

I tried to act inconspicuous as I made my way over to the bleachers. I found a spot near the top, away from the other girls. One of them stared at me for a minute or two before turning back to the football players. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was looking at Jonas Oliver back from the dead or Olivia Queen slumming with the commoners. I was hoping the latter; it would definitely be easier to explain. I tried not to think about it too much as I turned my full attention to Roy. From my position I could see their practice clearly now. Roy was in good form today, hitting center with every shot .He’d definitely been practicing since the last time I saw him shoot. His body language was even off a bit. Roy used to be a little less stiff when he stepped up, his shoulders a little less tense, a smile on his face. Now I hardly recognized the stern faced, straight-backed guy shooting.

I couldn’t help but wonder if I had something to do with that.

Archery practice ended shortly after I arrived. The others filed off one by one but not Roy. Apparently, it was common because none of the other guys tried to coax him back to the locker room with them. The football practice wrapped up shortly after that as well, the burly players left en masse, their star struck giggling fans followed them. Soon the only ones left on the Field were Roy and me. He never once looked in my direction; he just kept firing away like the only thing in the world was him and that practice target. I waited patiently, trying to think up what I might say to him. In the end I decided to let him do the talking, at least until I had something to contribute. After all, he was the one who wanted to meet with me so clearly he had something he wanted to say. So I sat and watched and he fired. It went like this for another twenty minutes before he stopped. He lowered the bow, wiped his sweaty brow and turned toward the bleachers. He shielded his eyes with his hand as he looked up at me. Even from the distance, I could see his face.

I was surprised when I saw him smile.

He packed up his gear quickly, pulled the arrows from the target and then slowly walked my way. When he was almost halfway there, I stood up and walked down to the bottom of the bleachers to meet him. My heart skipped a beat when he got closer. It saddened me to see him decked out in his red and yellow as it reminded me of the life that I left behind. I think he misinterpreted my frown when he saw it because his smile disappeared.

He dropped his duffel on the bottom step and sighed. There was uneasiness in his voice when he spoke. “I didn’t think you’d actually show up.”

I didn’t really know what to say to that so I shrugged. He smiled weakly as we sat. I tried to make sure I was close but not too close, turning my legs in the opposite direction of his body. He ran his fingers through his hair, which was damp with sweat. That was one thing I wasn’t going to miss about Archery. I loved shooting but I hated getting all sweaty afterwards. But Roy overdid it today; he was drenched from head to toe.

After we sat, the silence said a lot. He opened his mouth to say something but could never find the words. I tried as well but no matter what I tried to say it didn’t sound right. The awkwardness was strange. He was my best friend; we used to do everything together. Now here we were, acting like total strangers with not a thing to say to one another. It was clear that he had a lot of questions but it was almost as if he was afraid to ask any of them. I couldn’t blame him. I was afraid to say anything for fear that it might be the wrong thing and push him away. So both of us sat there in silence, too afraid to say what we wanted to say.

I finally decided to break the silence. “That’s not your usual bow?”

He shook his head. “The new coach doesn’t want us to use our own during practice.”

I nodded. “Mia told me Coach McCoy returned to the university.”

Roy nodded. “His research ended.”

We fell into that awkwardness again. The silence was annoying. One of us had to take the plunge. I decided that that person was going to have to be me. I took a deep breath, ready to jump into it when he beat me to the punch.

“So about this?” he asked, pulling a pair of chains from around his neck. He had my necklace too. In the rush to leave Ted’s the other day, I must have left it with him. I bit my lip. I sighed heavily, refusing to look at him.

When I spoke, I felt myself tearing up. “I wanted to tell you but I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what” he asked gently.

I raised my head, biting my lip. “Afraid of how you might react” The tears started flowing freely. “I’m a girl, Roy; I’ve been like this for a long time now. I didn’t start to truly develop until the onset of puberty. I hid it from you and others because I was afraid how you might react, how you might treat me.”

Roy sighed heavily. “I know.”

That surprised me. “You know what?”

He sighed again. “I knew there was something different about you but I couldn’t quite place it.” He ran his fingers through his hair again. “Damnit, Jonas you should have said something. I thought there was something wrong with me. I would look at you and see my best friend but I was also having these feelings.”

Another surprise. “Feelings? What kind of feelings?”

He gave me a look. I saw it in his eyes. He was attracted to me. I bit my lip. How could I have missed that? Of course, I was never really looking for it. Roy and I were always close but we were friends, guy friends. There was never any indication that we were anything but. I only ever thought of Roy as my friend, back then I didn’t have feelings for anything. Hell I didn’t even know I was attracted to men until I met Luke for the first time. He sent my heart a flutter. Now the same thing was happening with Roy. It just surprised me to know that all this time he might have been feeling the same way about me. Not Olivia but Jonas. I felt stupid that I didn’t see it until now.

“I had no idea.”

He scoffed. “I was terrified. But I was dealing with it. I told you there was this girl I wanted to take to the End of the Year Dance well that girl was you actually. I knew it wasn’t possible but I still wanted to. Then you went with Sandra and I went with Mia” He said her name with disgust. “I swore that I was going to tell you how I felt that night but I chickened out when I saw how happy you were with Sandra. So I was going to do it the day after but you left on vacation and then…”

The tears were flowing freely down Roy’s cheeks.

I reached over and grabbed his hand. “Then I disappeared.”

He squeezed my hand. “Mia told me it destroyed you.”

He nodded. “For a month I was in denial but eventually it started to sink in. I might never see you again. Then back in October when your grandfather announced you were dead…” his voice trailed off into more tears. “I almost killed myself.”

I was crying now too, harder than before. I wrapped him in a hug and held him for a long time, letting him cry gently on my shoulder. We stayed like that for a while. When we finally pulled away, we paused for a moment, our faces lingering close to one another. My heart was pounding in my chest, wondering if I was finally going to get that kiss denied me before. We moved closer, our lips nearly touching when I stopped. Something dawned on me just then. If I kissed Roy without explaining everything to him then we’d have more secrets. I couldn’t live with being in a relationship with him and lying to him still.

“Wait” I said, pushing away. “Not yet, not this way.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I have some things I need to say.”

He smiled but continued to look me in the eyes. “You’re here, it’s really you though. You’re alive and you’re sitting in front of me and you’re perfect.”

I smiled. “You’re not making this any easier.”

He laughed, he had a great laugh. “Ok, sorry. Tell me your stuff first.”

I was still holding his hand, which was nice. Then I took a deep breath and told him what happened. I told him about the guys coming onto our ship, about how they killed my parents and how I barely got away. I told him about my life on the island, struggling to survive day to day for nearly three months before being rescued by the cruise ship. I left off the part about the pirates attacking the ship. I wanted to tell him about the Green Arrow but I wasn’t ready to broach that subject just yet. So I continued the story with befriending Gloria and eventually being found by the Old Man. How it was my grandfather’s idea to declare me dead with my parents and to create a whole new identity for me. How the old man was afraid that his enemies might come after me if they knew I was still alive. When I got to the part about wanting some connection with my old life and seeking out Mia, he stopped me.

“Mia?” there was a bit of anger in his voice. “You went to her but you didn’t go to me.”

Shit, I knew I shouldn’t have said it like that. I bit my lip. “She knew about me, about my condition. I was afraid how you might react to all of this. I never intentionally meant to meet her; I just wanted to see her that’s all. Then she was in trouble, almost got raped by her new friends so I came to her rescue. Things kinda fell into place there.”

Roy was still a bit pissed. “Why didn’t you seek me afterwards then?”

I lowered my head. “I was scared.”

Roy angrily pushed himself to his feet, cursing. “Damnit Jonas, I was a total fucking wreck. You were dead and my life was over. I didn’t want to live anymore thinking you were dead and here you were hiding out in a fancy penthouse, pretending to be someone else and the one person you pulled into that life was the one person I despise more than anything.”

I got to my feet too. “What the fuck did you want me to do, Roy? I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone; I was pushing it with Mia as it was. The Old Man was watching me, spying on me. I had to keep Mia a secret from him and that was bad enough. There was no way I could keep you a secret too. It was killing me inside not being able to talk to you, to see you. You’re like a brother to me, the only male friend I have in the whole world. You were dying; well I died not being able to be friends with you again.”

Roy didn’t say a thing. He just stood there and stared. The tears were running freely from me again. I didn’t bother to wipe them away. Roy was a typical guy, making it all about himself. I understand that he was tortured by all of this but he didn’t even stop to consider my feelings. Even now, he stood there, staring at me. He wasn’t giving me a nasty look but he was definitely still mad. I was pretty pissed too. This was definitely not how this was supposed to go. I knew there was going to be some anger but I never thought he’d be so mad that I couldn’t bring him into the fold on this. All I wanted to do was grab something and throw it at his stupid head.

When he spoke, they weren’t the words I thought he was going to say. “I need to take a shower.”

That was it. He then turned and walked back toward the school. I dropped down on the bench, crying softly into my hands. I sat there for a long time. That man, I never thought he could piss me off so much. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to beat his ass or kiss him. These emotions bounced back and forth in my head until I finally wanted to scream. I reared my head back; ready do so when I noticed something in front of me. It was Roy’s red duffel, his name stenciled on the side. I groaned. The stupid moron stomped off in a huff and forgot his bag. I stood up and grabbed it, turning to see if I could catch him. But he was long gone, probably in the shower by now. I groaned and decided that I might as well bring it to him.

It felt kinda weird walking the halls of my old school, passing rooms and lockers that I knew. Mia’s locker was only a few hallways from where I was right now. My old one was on the second floor, right next to the Biology lab and three lockers down from Roy’s. There was this girl who used to have a locker next to me who was a total ditz, used to make up a song to remember her combination. I tried my hardest not to talk to her. Now though as I walked the vacant and dark halls, I had a sense of foreboding. It somehow felt wrong to be in this place when the lights were off and no one else was supposed to be. I still felt a bit naughty though, sneaking about, doing something I shouldn’t be doing. I had half a mind to run down the hall screaming, banging my hand against as many lockers as I could. I mean come on, the school was deserted and there was no one here to tell me not to.

No one that is but the janitor. I nearly collided with him as he was coming out of a room.

“The school is closed, Miss,” he said, after getting over our collective fright.

I nodded. “I was here watching a friend practice, he left his bag outside. I’m just bringing it to him.”

The janitor nodded. “I saw Roy head to the locker room about ten minutes ago.”

I raised an eyebrow in surprise and he laughed. “He stays behind after every practice. I keep the locker room door open for him; if you hurry he might still be in there.”

I smiled and nodded, rushing past him down the hall toward the locker room.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from where I was. I only had to turn a corner and go down a small flight of stairs to get to it. It was actually across from the double doors leading into the Gym. The guys went into the locker room first then crossed the hall into the gymnasium. I took a deep breath at the locker room door before pulling it open. I was immediately hit by the smell, it was absolutely horrible, a combination of mold, gym socks and really bad BO. I pinched my nose as I stepped inside, my eyes actually watering a bit.

“Roy” I shouted, hoping for an answer immediately.

The less I stayed in this place the better.

It’s funny because I’d been in this place several times. Now standing here, among the red lockers, I couldn’t help but feel like an interloper. I was a girl now and this place was a male sanctuary. I didn’t feel any different, well besides the obvious. I walked a few feet into the room, stopping at the locker that used to be mine. The lock on it belonged to someone else of course; we had to take them at the end of the year. But at the beginning of the year, we were all assigned one. I felt kinda sad knowing that last year this had been mine and now someone else was sticking their smelly clothes in there.

I shook away the nostalgia and called for Roy again. This time I heard the roaring of the water, echoing from the showers in the back of the room. I had half a mind to charge in there and shout in his ear but instead I waited. I sat down on a nearby bench and starting counting the tiles on the floor. I got to two hundred when the water shut off and a few seconds later Roy walked around the corner. It was a good thing he was wearing his towel wrapped around his waist or else we both would have been in for a surprise. As it was, he nearly jumped out of the towel at the sight of me.

“Damnit Jonas you can’t come in here now.”

I frowned. “First you call me Jonas, a guy’s name and then you acknowledge I’m a girl, what’s it going to be.”

He blushed, rushing quickly to where his locker was located. I stayed put.

“Sorry, force of habit” he shouted then added a second later. “You still can’t be here you know.”

“You left your bag outside.”

He groaned. “That’s partially your fault,” he said, stepping out from his hiding place, fully dressed except for his shoes.
He sat down on a bench and started putting them on.

“My fault, you’re the one who overreached. I was trying to explain things and you stomped off just like a typical male.”

“Look Jonas…”

“Olivia” I snapped, “my name is not Jonas, he’s dead. I’m Olivia Queen, whether I like it or not.”

There was dead silence in the room. Roy stopped lacing up his sneakers and looked at me, shock on his face. I shocked myself. This whole time I’d been fighting this dual nature of myself and now I just confirmed what I’d been feeling. Jonas really, truly was dead and now all that remained was me, Olivia. I’m not sure how I felt about that. On one hand, I was the same person but on the other hand, there was something about saying Jonas was truly dead that made things final.

Roy opened his mouth to say something when the lights went out. Then he cursed. I heard him stumble to his feet. “I think Hal forget we were in here” he said, walking toward me.

He nearly bumped into one another. I found my hand slipping into his as he led me toward the door. He led the way. It felt kinda nice letting him take charge. We found the door, Roy pushed it open and we stepped into the hall. He shouted out for Hal the Janitor. The hall was a lot lighter than the locker room and I could see the silhouette of a figure standing at the end of it, a bucket near his feet. Roy saw it too because he groaned.

“Hal, you shut the lights off on us buddy” he said, as the two of us slowly started toward him.

We got about halfway there when I knew something was wrong. I’m not sure how I knew, it was a feeling. I squeezed Roy’s hand before letting it go. We got a few more feet when I knew something was wrong. Hal was standing with his back to us, not moving. He didn’t even reach when Roy talked to him earlier. But strangest of all was the fact that his hands were twitching. I stopped walking but Roy kept going. He got another foot or two before Hal dropped to the ground like a sack. Something whipped through the air away from him, recoiling in the darkness.

“I’m not sure who Jonas is sweetie” said a sinister female voice. “But Olivia Queen is going to be dead soon too.”

The blood went cold in my veins. I reacted before Roy even knew what was happening. I rushed forward, kicking the bucket. The soapy contents spilled onto the floor between us and my attacker. I’m not sure if she was close or not. I didn’t stay to find out. I grabbed Roy’s arm and wrenched him back down the hall, pulling him toward the locker room. Instead of going inside----it was too confined a place for a fight---I pushed against the double doors leading into the gym. Thankfully, they weren’t locked and I pushed Roy inside.

“What the hell is going on?” gasped Roy as I slammed the doors shut.

I fumbled with the locks at both the bottom and top of it, making sure they were secure. I turned to him quickly. “Run over there and lock the other doors.”
He did as he was told, running as fast as he could across the gym floor. I lost him after he passed under the light streaming in through the skylights. I turned my attention quickly to the other door on this side of the gym, racing to it and locking it before whoever that bitch was got inside. I stopped and turned, panting heavily.

“Roy, are we secure?”

“All locked” he shouted and I heard him running back toward me. When he reached me, he was panting and looked confused. “Mind telling me what the hell is going on?”

I bit my lip. “My grandfather didn’t die of cancer, he was murdered.”

“You serious?”

I nodded. “I have reason to believe that someone might have hired someone to do it. This same person might have hired more people to kill my parents and take over that cruise ship I was on.”

“What cruise ship?”

I cursed. I didn’t tell him about rescuing those people. “Nothing, never mind. The point is it’s possible they finally decided I was a threat too.”

Of course, what I didn’t tell him was the possibility that this might be related to Raines too. Last night his place burned down with him inside of it. I thought it might be related but I’d been foolish to think that whoever wouldn’t connect the dots. What scared me was the implication of that. If they were after me now then that meant they knew Olivia Queen and the Green Arrow were one in the same. That scared me more than anything. It scared me even more that they seemed to know where I was. Call me paranoid but things just fell into place a little too easily to be coincidence.

“Now what?” asked Roy frantic, running his fingers through his hair.

“You have a cell phone?”

He shook his head. “Its in my school bag, I left that in my gym locker. What about you?”

I groaned. “I got annoyed with it so I tossed it Mia, told her to get me a new one.”

He laughed. “You run the biggest telecommunication company in the world and you don’t have a cell phone.”

I laughed for a second too. Then I started to go through the options. It was clear that whoever was out there had no problems killing anyone who got in her way. She made that pretty clear when she killed the janitor. That meant Roy was a possible target as well. That made things a lot harder. I wracked my brain, trying to think of what I might know about her. It was clear that whatever she used---it was too dark to see it clearly---had some range. My guess would be some kind of whip, made apparent by the way it seem to recoil backwards. I also had to assume she had some kind of connection to Merlyn, which probably meant she killed people for a living. Which was very bad for the two of us, especially seeing, as we were unarmed.

I smacked myself on the forehead. I was still carrying Roy’s duffel. I dropped it off my shoulder and unzipped it quickly. Inside I found the school bow and exactly three arrows. I groaned. It wasn’t a lot but it was enough. I nocked one of the arrows and looked around, wondering which door the bitch would come through. I didn’t have to wait very long. There was a snapping sound that seemed to ricochet throughout the gym, followed by the door slamming open. Then I heard the tell tale sign of her boots, the stiletto heels tapping loudly on the floor. I tracked her movement in the dark, following the heels, training my arrow at a spot I knew that would wound but not kill.

“Nowhere left to run kiddies,” she said, amusement in her voice.

“Take another step and I’ll drop you.”

She laughed. “John said you were good but he was the best archer I know and not even he could make a shot in the dark.”

I smirked. “Too bad he didn’t live to tell you about how good I really was.”

Roy looked at me, confused. “What the hell is going on?”

I ignored him. The girl didn’t say a thing. She stopped walking though. She was close, too close for comfort. I heard the snap and then Roy screamed in pain. I snapped around and saw him holding his left forearm, blood seeping through his fingers. A whip, she was using a whip. Another snap sounded and Roy screamed again, dropping to the ground. I cursed. He was on his side, moaning. I could see where the whip had torn through his jeans, slicing a wicked slash across his upper thigh.

“I can do this all night, Miss Emerald Archer.”

I smirked. That was all I needed. I took a deep breath and found her. She snapped her whip toward Roy a third time and the room fell into slow motion. I saw the whip in the dark, arching toward my friend’s face. I followed the long black cord back to its source and found her. She was dressed in a gray skintight suit, her long black hair pulled back in a high, tight ponytail. I followed her movement in slow motion. I took aim at her shoulder blade and fired. The practice arrow had a blunt head. It wouldn’t hurt too much but it would sting like a bitch. When I fired, everything sped up. The arrow found its target quickly, the whip never reached its. The girl screamed, dropping her deadly weapon. She fell back and I fired again. I hit her in the thigh. She screamed again and I charged. I swung the limb of the bow across her face, breaking bone and sending her onto her back. Her head slammed against the hard gym floor and knocked her out cold.

I dropped the bow and ran over to Roy, helping him to his feet. He winced from the pain. “You’re going to be OK,” I said, smiling weakly.

“What the hell is going on?” he gasped through gritted teeth.

“I wish I knew.”

He looked from the girl to the bow then back to me. One thing clicked and then another. “She called you the Emerald Archer.”

Shit. I was hoping he didn’t hear that.

“Yeah, about that” I said, not looking him in the face. “I might be the Green Arrow, too."

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF