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Author's Note: Ok I've written a lot of Retcons over the past several months and after every single one of them, I'm always getting asked the same exact question: when is the next Green Arrow story coming. I avoided any solid answers because I couldn't really come up with a storyline. But after giving it a lot of thought and some quick brainstorming over the last few weeks, I finally came up with one :) So here it is---finally---the sequel to How To Take the Kill Shot. I highly recommend that if you haven't read that story then you better read it before this one. I'd like to thank my beta readers---you know who you are, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter One:

January 19, 2011

The rain drummed lightly on the roof of the limo, like the pattering of little feet. I was staring out the window, watching the water as it ran slowly down the window. When I was little, I used to play a game while watching the raindrops roll down the glass. I used to pick one of them and pretend it was a race. I’d silently urge on my “rain pony” and see if it could get to the bottom of the window before the others. When the “race” was over, I’d pick a new “pony” and start all over again. It was a silly game but it helped me pass the time, especially on long boring car rides. Staring out the window, I felt like a kid again, silently watching the raindrops race one another to the finish line. It was so innocent, so childlike and so relaxing.

Not like life. Not at all like my life. Nothing was simple or innocent about my life anymore. The Old Man was dead, killed by my old archery teacher. The company was at a standstill and things were going to hell. The vultures were already circling the carcass too, even though it wasn’t fully dead. We lost half our stockholders the moment my grandfather’s coffin went into the ground. I think they were all afraid of the idea that their future was now in the hands of a sixteen year old. Hell, I knew I was. For the first time in twenty years, Queen Industries' sales were at an all time low. There was a lot of name-calling and finger pointing too, the Board was in an uproar and all anyone could do was blame the kid. Like it was my fault, some evil bastard killed my grandfather in his sleep. But no one cared about my feelings, I was the dumb tart from England, the “Luckiest Dumb Blonde on the Planet” as the press were dubbing me. They were already comparing me to Paris Hilton.

I just put my grandfather in the ground no less than twenty-four hours ago and they were already lighting the torches. It was outrageous to say the least. Yesterday’s press conference was all over the news. I was terrified the whole time and it showed. It’s not easy being bombarded by thousands of questions all at once. Scarlett tried to field them but there was no organization. That woman was the worst---Lois Lane. She was the biggest shark of them all. Nothing seemed to please her. I think she was just pissed off that I gave the exclusive to her colleague. But there was no way I was going to let that bitch anywhere near me, not after all the stuff with the Green Arrow nonsense.

I sighed thinking about it. That was the worst part, too. Because of all this crap, I didn’t get any time to sneak off and do my thing. The Tower was swarming with press and paparazzi. All of them camped out on my front lawn, waiting for the elusive Bimbo to show her face. Last night someone robbed a bank and the Green Arrow was nowhere to stop it. The day before that there was a car jacking right out in front of the building, in full view of the press and their cameras. All they could do was stop and take pictures. I watched the scene from the closed circuit cameras in stunned silence as the bastards snapped away while a poor innocent man was held up at gunpoint. By the time my security managed to push their way through the crowd, the mugger was long gone. The Green Arrow couldn’t act then either. When I put on the costume I thought things were going to be simple, I thought my life was going to be simple. Now I was finding it hard even to look out my window anymore. How can someone save the city when the whole of its news media was watching her twenty-four seven.

It sucks being a superhero and a billionairess.

I sighed again, banging my head against the glass.

“You’re lucky those windows are tinted,” said the curt voice of Scarlet. “If not you might find that unbecoming pose of yours plastered all over the front page of some rag?”

I scuffed. “Bimbo Under Glass, see story on page 3.”

She sighed. “It’s not that bad and you know it.”

I pulled my head away from the window and turned to her. She was sitting like she owned the world; her legs crossed nicely, no runs in her hose, her shoes worth more than the car we were currently driving in. Not that my shoes weren’t either. Scarlet Jefferies was my grandfather’s Chief of Staff; she ran everything about his life and now mine by extension. She was forty-two; her hair was always piled on top of her head and was more gray than brown. I think it was the stress. She always dressed conservatively; today it was a nice blouse and pencil skirt. Sitting next to her was a bulk of a man in a tailored charcoal colored suit, his head shaved bald, wearing dark shades. He was Spencer, the second half of my grandfather’s personal bodyguard duo. Locke---his other---was in the front of the limo with the driver. With my grandfather now gone, I inherited both of them.Back from the dead too apparently. When Merlyn killed the Old Man, he left the two of them for dead. It wasn't like him to be so sloppy but they both were alive and well.

Lucky me.

“How much worse can it get” I fired back, annoyed. “They think I’m some ditz ready to use my grandfather’s credit card to buy Guam or something.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes. “They’ve been harsh I’ll give you that but you have to understand, your grandfather was this City. Without him things are going to be rough for a while.”

I nodded. It was no secret that the Old Man helped make San Francisco. His telecommunication branch alone bought and paid for most of the city. In fact, there was a rumor going around that we had more satellites in the air than even the US government. It was an understatement to say that we or rather he created “Star City”.

Without Jameson Queen, there would be no Star City. Right now things were running a little chaotic, the city and its people running a little scared. I think everyone thought I was going to drive things into the ground. It was a scary notion and they wouldn’t be that far off. Yes, I’d been studying the books my grandfather made me read but I was far from running a huge company. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to run the company. I was only fifteen---sixteen if you counted the lie the Old Man told. I was far too young to be running a billion dollar conglomerate. Even Bruce Wayne had help when he took over his company from his parents and he wasn’t even ten then. But people were comparing me to Wayne and not in a good way. I was a blonde girl who came out of nowhere, I was pretty and cute and non-existent. I was labeled a recluse immediately because I didn’t hit the club scene in LA with the likes of Paris and Lindsay and that Kardashian girl with the big butt. It scared the press that I wasn’t a party girl. It also annoyed them because I wasn’t out doing stupid things and whole likes to read about a boring heiress.

I smacked my head on the glass again. This time I let my forehead slide slowly down it so I made an annoying sound as my head squeaked against it.

“Olivia, can you please?” asked Scarlet.

I pulled my head away. “Can’t we turn the car around and forget all this?”

Scarlet looked like she’d swallowed a gold fish. She was one of those people that had everything planned out way in advance. This stop was only the first of many for us. But it was still the one stop I was dreading more than any. I knew it was coming of course, it was inevitable. But I still didn’t like the idea of it. I mean who likes to meet with lawyers and discuss things that were hashed out probably years in advance.

“You can’t skip this,” she said, looking at her Qpad. “It’s very important for the future of your company.”

I shook my head. “His company. I don’t want this, I never wanted it.”

Scarlet pursed her lips. Though she hadn’t been present, my argument with the old man that day was pretty common knowledge around the Tower. Though most of the content was still between those in the room, it was spread around pretty quickly how I blatantly refused to take over the company when the Old Man died. Even when I did the press conference after my grandfather’s funeral, I made it clear that I was going to leave the company in better hands. It was a statement I made without any advisement and one that quickly pissed a lot of people off. The press twisted it in the papers, making me sound like a spoiled party girl. That’s when the “Bimbo” and “Tart” started. It was only yesterday and already everyone wanted to string me up and beat me with sticks.

Scarlet remained calm. But I could tell she was annoyed again, I could hear it in her voice. “Regardless of what you may think, this is now your company. Though it’s not official, there is no way that you’re going to escape this responsibility young lady. The sooner you accept that, the better life will be for you.”

“A life you two created for me.”

She didn’t say anything. How could she after all when we both knew it was the truth. A few months ago, there was no Olivia Queen, only Jonas Oliver. I was happy being a nobody, happy being the girly boy with the breasts that all the guys thought was a girl, happy with my two friends and being anonymous as far as the world knew. Then the Old Man had to come into my life. I wish I’d known ahead of time that he was going to ambush me in that diner. If I had, I would have turned the other way and run like hell. But I didn’t run and I let him railroad me into all this crap. First, the changing of my name and making me pretend to be his sixteen-year-old granddaughter. Then the girl lessons and his trying to groom me into taking over for him. The tip of the iceberg was our big argument, the one in which he told me he knew all about the Green Arrow and wanted me to quit. That one stung more than anything else. All that man did was take and it pissed me off.

Scarlet shifted on her seat ever so slightly. She looked a little upset. I frowned. “I’m sorry” said, finally with a sigh. “I’ve been having trouble processing all of this.”

She smiled sadly and reached forward, giving my knee a gentle squeeze. “Your grandfather’s untimely demise took us all a little by surprise dear. We have been preparing for it for a while now but none of us thought it would end the way it did.”

I nodded, feeling a tear roll down my cheek. I turned away and wiped it off before either she or Spencer saw. The last thing I wanted was for either of them to see me cry. I was done crying, done mourning for a man I barely knew. Did his death shock me? Yes! Did I want revenge for it, more than anything? I thought it ended with Merlyn but then I remembered what he said: he was only the hired hand. Someone paid him to kill the Old Man and that someone was still out there. Last night after the press conference I made a few calls, found a private investigator I could trust and told him I’d pay whatever he wanted as long as he could find me something on the hit put out on my grandfather. I asked Mia to look into it as well. If anyone could find anything, it was her.

“I’m sorry” said Scarlet softly, reaching for my knee again.

I shook my head, still unable to face her as the tears flowed more freely now. “I’m ok,” I said, trying to hide the pain in my voice. I took a deep breath and spoke with a more reassuring tone. “I’m good really. I just…I’m not sure if I can do this.”

Scarlet moved from her seat and sat down next to me. She did something unexpected then. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close, allowing me to rest my head on her shoulder. Scarlet was far from being a comforting person. In fact, I was pretty certain there wasn’t a nurturing bone in her body. But for her to do something like this meant a lot. She held me for only a minute or two before letting go and straightening the front of her blouse. Then she did the same to her bun, making sure not a strand of hair was out of place. I couldn’t help but scoff.

“You can and you will do this,” she said assertively.

“What if it goes badly?”

She laughed. “Have you ever been at the reading of a Will?”

I shook my head. If my parents had a Will I wasn’t there when they read it. My grandfather handled all that stuff without me. I know everything of theirs was put into my name but I’m not sure if that was their wishes or if he did that on his own. Neither of my parents made a lot of money but if I’d been a normal kid, I would have been fairly well off. But as it turned out, I was far from normal. I was the grandson---now granddaughter---of Jameson Queen, well the former Jameson Queen now. I was set to inherit billions of dollars. It was quite daunting to think about. I was just scared that the Will left me out completely. I wasn’t scared about losing a massive fortune; the money didn’t mean all that much to me. I was scared that he didn’t care about me enough. Before I met him in the diner, that was the first time I’d ever seen him face to face. Hell, I was surprised he knew my name then.

Now I was scared that he forgot it.

I started crying again. Scarlet didn’t hug me again but she did take my hand. “It’s going to be all right, you’ll see. Your grandfather didn’t forget you.”

I smiled, wiping away the tears. How did she know? She winked but said nothing more on the subject.

Then she looked at her watch, sighing. “Now can we please get out of this car and go into the building?”

I sighed heavily. We’d been parked in front of the lawyer’s office the whole time, for almost thirty minutes now in fact. The Will reading was actually supposed to start ten minutes ago. This whole time I was just too afraid to get out of the car. Outside there was a crowd of reporters and bastards with cameras just waiting for me to get out? I had tried to ignore them before but it was hard to when they were practically pressed up against the car. It was a scary thing knowing that all these people were out there waiting for me, ready to call me horrible names and print lies about me again.

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Ok, I think I’m ready.”

Scarlet sighed. “Finally.”

Spencer leaned forward and tapped on the partition. A few moments later I watched the driver walk around to my side of the car. I took a deep breath as he opened the door and held an umbrella open for me. I took a deep breath, squinted at all the flashes and stepped out of the car. As soon as I did there was a rush of people, cameras going off, my name shouted over and over again as microphones and mini tape recorders were shoved in my direction. Locke was immediately at my side as he took the umbrella from the driver. Spencer was there too, acting as a giant barricade as we pushed our way through the crowd. The reporters pushed and shoved, trying to get in my reaction. One of them actually grabbed my hair, a felt a tug and some of it actually got yanked from my head. That hurt like a bitch.

Finally though my goons were able to push their way through the mess. I turned only to look at the crowd of Sharks for a moment before I was ushered into the building, glad that at least that treacherous part was over. Now all I had to deal with was the Vultures upstairs and I’d be home free. I felt the dread swell up inside of me---along with my breakfast. But I forced it all down and slowly followed the goons as they ushered me through the lobby and toward the elevators.

My grandfather’s lawyers were Pierce, Pruitt and Peterson. They were big time in this city, with clientele ranging from someone like the old man through actors and politicians. They boasted a lot and had a reputation to back it up. They were one of those big firms that liked to get their name in the news. It was hard not to watch anything high profile and not hear P, P, and P were involved. Standing in the glass elevator, on my way to the twentieth floor was a little daunting though. They had an impressive building, not Queen Tower impressive but still slightly intimidating. There was nothing warm or welcoming about this place at all. At least the Tower had the feel of being welcome. This place was cold and fierce. Everything was stainless steel and glass, lots of sharp edges, no room for comfort. Everyone dressed sharply too and no one seemed to have any manners.

The receptionist for instance had a cruel face. When she saw us enter the building while security held off my unwanted entourage, she turned her nose up at me. I couldn’t help but feel her eyes on me the whole way into the elevator too.

Now that the elevator was finally coming to a stop on our floor, I couldn’t help but feel the butterflies. I was about to walk into a room where my whole future was going to be laid out for me. It was definitely scary. If the Old Man left me nothing then I was fine with that. I still had the house and the money from my parents. It might take a little work but I could get myself emancipated and live alone. Most of my time would be spent at school anyway. Thankfully not that Elias place. I was still technically enrolled but they were giving me some time before I reported for my first class. I talked to the Head Mistress last night about it; she wanted to make sure I had time to mourn. I was suppose to report to class next week. But I was pretty confident I wouldn’t be reporting at all. I’d make other arrangements; maybe even go back to Jack Kirby.

When the doors opened, I was greeted by that same cold interior from the lobby. The little foyer we stepped out in was anything but pleasant. The floors were made of cold white marble; the walls mostly glass. The only color was from a drab print on the wall, some modern art piece of crap with a few blobs of paint on a plain white canvas. Who called that art? There wasn’t even a potted plant. At least the Tower had good art on the walls and shrubbery. We also had class and friendly people who actually smiled when you approached them. If there was a Hell, I suspected it was very much like this lawyer’s office.

“With their money and rep, you’d think they’d be able to afford an interior decorator or something” I found myself saying aloud.

One of the goons---I’m not sure which---snorted.

Scarlet made a tutting sound. “Your grandfather was a highly respected client of theirs. I think it would be wise not to get off on the wrong foot by insulting them.”

I laughed. “Shouldn’t that be the other way around? I mean I’m the wealthy client, shouldn’t they bend over backwards so they don’t offend me?”

Scarlet looked a bit flustered. I couldn’t help but smile. Making her flustered made me feel a lot better. She seemed to think over an appropriate response but never got the chance to say it. Our conversation was interrupted by the clack of heels. I turned and looked toward the hall as a smartly dressed young black woman came toward us. When she got closer, I realized how young she really was. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-five. She was wearing a gray pants suit, holding an attaché case. She was cute but I felt no attraction toward her. It was one of the perks of being me. Though I appeared female, I wasn’t fully one. I never was fully male either. I did have a crush on a girl named Sandra, we went to a dance together actually---but looking back on it I can’t help but wonder if I didn’t see her more as a role model than a girlfriend.

This girl would have definitely been someone to possibly consider as girlfriend material.

“Miss Queen?” she asked as she stopped in front of us, a bit of nervousness in her voice. I nodded and I saw her physically relax, dropping her shoulders a bit. “I’m Joanna Pierce, my fath…I mean Mr. Pierce has asked me to escort you to Conference Room One.”

Her father? Well I guess that makes sense. After all the Old Man was grooming me to replace him so why wouldn’t Jackson Pierce be doing the same.

I smiled at her. “Lead the way.”

She nodded and slowly turned, making sure we followed her as she led the way down the hall. I was expecting some of the Pierce family to be present here but there was none of that, besides the name of course. Though Jackson was a big name in these parts, his brother was the bigger one by far. Jefferson Pierce was a former Olympic athlete. He was retired from that life now but he’s a big something in Chicago. You hear his name in the news every now and again. But around here, it’s like the man didn’t even exist. If my brother were a big athlete, I’d at least have a framed poster of him or something. There was none of that; it was like Jackson was jealous of the man or something.

I managed to sidle up next to Joanna as we walked. “Your father and his brother don’t get along?”

She looked shocked that I figured out some things. She recovered quickly. “My father doesn’t like to mix the personal with business.”

I nodded. “My grandfather was the same way”

She smiled. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

I smiled back and thanked her.

We got to talking as we walked side by side. She was twenty-five, just finished up a Master’s. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to pursue law or not. She was in the interim at the moment, trying to find herself. To help her make up her mind, her father got her a job as a paralegal at his firm. When I started talking about myself a bit, she seemed really interested. I guess it’s not every day that you meet someone who could potentially inherit billions of dollars in the next few minutes. We tried not to talk about the money though. Instead, she switched topics to her cousin Anissa. Anissa was about my age, she lived in Chicago. She was a big time track star or at least she was striving to be. Joanna was a bit worried about her though too.
“She’s involved with this group,” she said as we stopped at the conference room. “It’s some strange thing with a health club or something.”

She shook her head and sighed as she opened the door. I was about to tell her everything was probably all right but didn’t get a chance. The conference room had those double doors and as soon as she opened them, everyone in the room looked right at me. I scanned the faces, my heart skipping a beat. Now I knew exactly how a deer in headlights felt. It took Scarlet’s hand on my arm to snap me out of my momentary brain freeze. I shook my head and smiled as I walked into the room, Scarlet and the goons following. I turned slightly to see Joanna wave and shut the door. I quickly snapped back to the suits in the room, all sitting at a really long mahogany table. I looked from face to face trying to recognize them but I couldn’t. When I got to the lone woman in the room, I couldn’t help but feel she didn’t belong. Who wears a red dress to a thing like this?

She was blonde and young too, twenties tops. She had vibrant red lipstick and long fingernails. Everything about her screamed tramp to me. She couldn’t help but stare at me too, like she was sizing me up. We locked eyes for a while until she finally got bored and pulled a compact from her little clutch. She turned around and touched up her lipstick.

“Miss Queen” said a tall African American man at the head of the table.

When he stood, I couldn’t help but feel small. Most of his hair was still black but it was slowly going gray, especially around the temples. He had this authority about him and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why he wanted to sit at the head of this very long table. He liked being in power and he liked everyone to know it. I recognized him as Jackson Pierce almost immediately. His face was plastered all over the television whenever someone important did something stupid. P, P, and P dealt with criminal law mostly but they branched out into so many other things as well.

“Mr. Pierce” I said, trying to match his tone but failing miserably.

I once fought a four hundred pound behemoth with rock hard skin. I’d take him over Jackson Pierce any day of the week.

He took off his glasses. “Why don’t you take a seat Miss Queen so we can finally get this thing started?”

I quickly slipped into the nearest seat, making sure it was away from the red dressed viper in the Prada shoes. Sitting next to her was a tall thin man in a suit. I could only assume it was her lawyer. I looked around the table; there were a lot of men in suits actually. I felt kinda nervous now. Sitting on Mr. Pierce’s immediate left was a man in a black suit and yellow tie. His hair was slicked back and could small his overpriced cologne from halfway across the room. This guy was drop dead gorgeous with a smile that could light up the room. But looking at his suit, I couldn’t have been more disgusted. The suit was really high end---I know because my grandfather used to wear similar ones. But it was the cufflinks that did me in. I knew those too and for him to be wearing a pair of those, he must have been a moron who liked to blow his money.

“Good, now that we’re all here and properly seated” said Mr. Pierce “I believe we can begin.” There were nods from all around. I was still really confused. “Now before we start are there any questions?”

“I have one,” I said quickly, causing every head in the room to turn toward me. I gulped but recovered quickly. “Was I supposed to have a lawyer as well?”

There was a light chuckle. I felt like an ass for asking. Mr. Pierce rubbed his temples. “Not usually but given the circumstance it would have been wise to bring your own legal counsel.”

“Seriously?” I said “I mean we’re reading a Will right? I mean I don’t plan on being sued because I got more than someone else for instance.”

There was another round of laughter. Apparently, I was missing something.

Pierce groaned. “This isn’t a Will reading Miss Queen. Contrary to what you might see on TV and in movies, most Will’s are passed among the parties involved. If I am correct to assume so, you received a copy.”

I turned to Scarlet, she nodded. Now I was really confused. If this wasn’t a Will reading than what the hell was I doing here?

I felt all the eyes in the room on me. I felt more than a little embarrassed. This wasn’t my world; these weren’t people I wanted to hang out with on a daily basis. These were all people out to get something from me. I had no idea what was going on but apparently, they weren’t too thrilled to have me there. Hell, I wasn’t too thrilled to be here. I thought I was coming in to listen to some jackass read a Will to me. The room was definitely filled with jackasses; the only thing missing was the Will. Instead, it was people I didn’t know and their lawyers. If I didn’t need her, I would have so fired Scarlet on the spot. But I knew without her I was way more screwed than I already was.

What made it worse was the way the woman in red seemed to glare at me. What the hell was her problem anyway?

Mr. Pierce cleared his throat. “Now that the asinine questions are out of the way” There was more chuckling. “We can get down to business.”

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Instead, I sat and listened as a room full of suits discussed the future of my company. Well it’s not technically mine until I turn twenty-one, per my grandfather’s request apparently. The gorgeous man in the expensive cologne was Walter Steele, the new CEO of Queen Industries. Well, acting CEO actually. He would be the guy in charge until I was old enough to take over. I was apparently Chairwoman of the Board or whatever they called it. Apparently, they were trying to hash all that stuff out here today. Most of the suits---minus the lawyers were Board members save one who seemed to be a proxy. I had no idea that other billionaires could be Board members for other companies. The proxy was actually standing in for Mr. Wayne, as in Bruce Wayne.

But being Chair was only a small shocker.

The biggest shocker was the woman in the red dress. I was confused as to who she was until Mr. Pierce finally addressed her. “What say you Mrs. Queen?”

The woman looked around, until she realized the man was looking at her. I was confused as all hell. Was she a relative I didn’t know about? I knew for a fact that he wasn’t calling me “Mrs.” because of the way her emphasized Miss when he spoke to me.

“I’m sorry,” said the woman with a laugh. “I don’t go by Queen. It’s Isabel or Miss Rochev. Jamie never wanted me to take his name, said that that honor was for his late wife only.”

I nearly spit my water all over the table. Late wife? What the fuck? The Old Man was married. I turned to Scarlet; she turned a few shades of white. I think she realized then just how much I was unprepared for this meeting. I shot her daggers to which she turned and looked away, clearly surprised that I didn’t know. A small part of me wanted to resurrect the old bastard just so I could kill him with my own two hands. He was married and never told me. Not only that but she was some dumb blonde bimbo who didn’t even know her own name.

I wanted to scream. Instead, I sipped my water and visualized firing a green arrow into the back of this woman’s head.

This was definitely not the meeting I was planning on at all.

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

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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 2 of Target Practice. This narrative is going to be slow, so some things that might not make sense in one chapter will be addressed in the next or possibly a later chapter. By the beginning of this chapter a character's motives will be answered to what I believe is a perfect explanation. I'd like to thank the people who beta read this chapter for me, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Two:

“Thanks for the heads up Scarlet”.

The entourage and I were getting were getting into the elevator on our way up to my grandfather’s office. After the meeting with Board members at the law firm, I seethed in the car ride home. I was too pissed off to say anything to anyone. Not that Scarlet didn’t try. Apparently, she mentioned the circumstance of the meeting and I completely ignored her. The Will was actually one of the documents---one of many---she’d handed to me over the last day or so. When she told me about the meeting to “discuss the contents in the Will”, she actually meant the future of the company. That fault was mine but as far as that was concerned; it was the only fault of mine. I was still pissed about the whole Isabel thing though. How hard was it for the Old Man or even Scarlet for that matter to say “Oh, by the way, you have a twenty seven year old Step Grandmother.”

“Your grandfather should have told you,” she said, sighing heavily. “I had a conversation about it with him a few days before his passing. But he was adamant that you not be told.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

There was silence in the elevator for a minute or two before I asked the question plaguing me since I found out who Isabel was. “So what’s her story anyway?”

“She and your grandfather have only been married six months. It was a marriage of convenience more than anything. She comes from an old family, immigrants I believe. Her ancestors were fairly wealthy Russian businessmen back in Moscow. Her uncle is the Russian Ambassador actually. That’s how the two of them met.”

I nodded. “She doesn’t live in the Tower does she?”

I think I would have remembered seeing a blonde bimbo basking by the pool side. Nevertheless, I had to ask.

Scarlet shook her head. “Like I said it was a marriage of convenience. She’s legally his wife but she doesn’t carry his name nor does she have any involvement in the company. Your grandfather married her to have something shiny on his arm. Miss Rochev lives in a penthouse in LA most of the time; while in the city she stays at the St. Regis.”

So the Old Man had a trophy wife. I couldn’t help but smile at that. He was such a severe old bastard; I found it hard to believe that he loved anything besides himself. Or his company for that matter. I only knew him for those few months but the way Mom used to talk about him; he wasn’t much of a father or a husband. It was all business with him and little else. He was cold and cruel. When Mom ran off with Dad, he disowned her. She was still technically the heir to his fortune but only on paper. The first time I ever met the man was when he walked in on me at that diner in Florida. Before then he was a name to me---a very famous one---but just a name nevertheless. Now he was dead and that very famous name was mine---the only thing that man ever really gave me.

A name that was taking a lot of hits lately.

“Does Isabel have a stake in the company?”

Scarlet smiled. “I think she thought she might. Upon his death, your grandfather left eighty percent of Queen Industries to his only living relative, you. The remaining twenty was split up amongst charities and other organizations. Isabel will receive less than one percent of that and only once a month.”

“Must have been some prenup.”

Scarlet smiled again. It was rare to see her do so. It was clear from the smiles that she wasn’t a fan of Mrs. Isabel Rochev Queen either. Not that there was a Queen in her name. It seemed weird that he’d keep something like that from me though. Then again, I was keeping a huge secret from him and when he finally found out, he blew a gasket. In hindsight, I think that both of us overreacted a bit. It pained me that the last words I had with him were so nasty. A few days after our argument he was dead and I would never be able to apologize again. That didn’t stop me of course. I think I said I’m sorry more than twenty times since visiting his mausoleum.

Scarlet put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I didn’t even know I was crying until I saw my reflection in the elevator glass. This time I didn’t wipe away the tears. She didn’t say anything to me as we rode those last few legs up to his office. When the elevator stopped and the four of us got out, I took a deep breath in the little foyer area. The last time I was here, there were dead guards on the floor. All of that was gone now, cleaned up pretty quickly. The police investigated of course. Besides in house security and a few people in the know, the police were the only others who really knew how my grandfather died. Merlyn’s “fall” out of the window was labeled the “suicide of a distraught Queen employee” who name was withheld from the press.

Merlyn had no relatives that I knew of so I arranged for a small burial, no official ceremony. He was laid to rest in a small cemetery on the far side of town. Standing in front of the elevator, I couldn’t help but see the bloodstains---even though they were long gone. Scarlet’s hand stayed on my shoulder as she led me through the little foyer and through the double doors into the office proper. It was exactly how I remembered it, far too large for one man. Everything was back to normal, including the large window I accidentally blew up, sending Merlyn to his death. I was shocked to see how quickly things were back to normal. It was as if nothing bad ever happened. In fact, the glass was squeaky clean, sparkling in the afternoon sun. I couldn’t believe how efficiently things operated around here---especially without the Old Man running things.

I walked slowly over to the desk, running my fingers gently along the polished wood.

“We can have that replaced if you want,” said Scarlet as she walked through the room, her Qpad in hand, looking at some of my grandfather’s furniture. “Maybe update all this with something more modern.”

I turned slowly. “I don’t understand.”

“This is your office now, Miss Queen.”

“Wait, what?”

“You own a majority share of the company, you are the Chair and your grandfather left his entire estate to you. Therefore, this office is now yours.”

“But Mr. Steele?”

She shook her head. “Mr. Steele will keep his office; he said he’d have it no other way.”

I nodded numbly. I looked around the room. Everything about it was old fashioned from the curtains to the chairs. Even the desk. But I kinda liked it. Some of it was in dire need of an upgrade, like the PC for instance but most of it fit somehow. It was like the Old Man was still here and I didn’t want to change any of that. I finally shook my head and told Scarlet that for the moment I wanted to keep everything as it is. She seemed to smile slightly. Then she moved onto other business. She droned on about different things. I walked around the desk and sat in the large comfortable chair. I only caught snatches of what Scarlet was saying…something about a new secretary and security personnel. I only half listened. My eyes wandered the desktop, falling upon an old picture. Most of the pictures in the room were of the Old Man and other people, dignities, celebrities and a few Presidents.

But the picture on the desk was of a much younger Jameson. He was sitting in his chair, a small blonde haired girl sitting on his lap. Both of them were smiling and looked happy. It took me only a second to realize it was the Old Man and my mother. I reached out and gently touched the frame, smiling as tears started to flow again.

“He told me disowning your mother was the hardest and the stupidest thing he’d ever done,” said Scarlet with a heavy sigh. “He was going to reconcile with her as soon as you got back from your trip. He said no man---no matter how much of an ass they were---should ever die with unfinished business.”

Unfinished business? “And Mom died before he got a chance to…”

Scarlet nodded. “The death of your parents practically killed him. When he thought you were dead as well...” She paused and collected herself. “When he found you in Florida, he was the happiest I’d ever seen him.”

“Could have fooled me”

“Your grandfather is…was…a very complicated man”

I nodded. I continued to stare at the portrait. It was hard to think of that smiling happy man as the same grumpy old bastard who showed me nothing but disdain. I stared at the portrait for a while. Eventually Scarlet left, said she was off to handle other matters. Before she disappeared though, she told me where I could find a copy of the Will. Instead of getting the copy---I knew what was in there anyway---I picked up the phone. I needed to talk to someone, anyone. So I found myself dialing Mia’s cell.

She picked up on the second ring. “Hello?” she said in a whisper.

I looked at the clock and cursed. It was one; Mia would still be in class.

“Sorry Speedy, I didn’t realize the time.”

She laughed. “Well all of us can’t be mega gazillionaires who don’t have to go to school.”

I could just see her sticking her tongue out.

“Trust me I wish I was in school.”

“The Will thingy didn’t go as planned?”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

I quickly told her everything that happened. She was quiet the whole time, but she gasped when I told her about my step grandmother. It took me only a few minutes to relay the morning’s events to her. When I was done, she sighed heavily. I knew that sigh; I’d been doing that since I woke up this morning.

“That sucks,” she said afterwards.

“I need a destresser or something.”

Mia laughed. “I’m thinking retail therapy.”

We both laughed. Leave it to Mia to rope me into taking her shopping. But it was good idea, just not one for today. We made plans to go shopping tomorrow. We’d spend the whole day at it, which worked because it was Saturday. After we talked a little more, she promised to come over after school and we’d veg out all day in my room, eating ice cream and watching crappy television. Leave it to Mia to come up with fun stuff to do while in a bad mood.

“We have to hit Victoria’s Secret next,” said Mia as we left Claire’s, me dragging behind.

There were three groans, only one of which was mine. I had a pretty good idea where the other two came from. I turned my head slightly and smirked at both Locke and Spencer. They were laden down with bags and didn’t look at all thrilled. I couldn’t blame them. A week ago, they were bodyguards to one of the most powerful and influential people in the city and now they were tagging around in the shadow of a sixteen year old and her best friend. To be fair I did try to ditch them but they didn’t want to hear it. If anything they were loyal but even when I was a guy or rather when I was more guy-like, I couldn’t stand all this shopping. They were a lot more resilient than me that’s for sure. Even now as Mia dragged me from one store to the next, I was trying very hard not to scream and run in the other direction.

That didn’t stop her from having a good time though.

Mia was one of those rare breed of people, the kind of person that liked to do things her own unique kind of way. Take her hair for instance; it was a shocking hot pink. Her mother hated it but said it helped people to remember who she was. She liked to stand out, liked to advertise herself to the world. Besides the hair complemented her really well. She was spunk personified, always on the move, always jabbering away. That’s why I called her “speedy” because she was always going like the Energizer Bunny. Today was no different and now she had something to help fuel her craziness: me and my seemingly endless supply of money.

“Stop being grumpy” said Mia as she grabbed my arm and pulled me into lingerie store.

Spencer and Locke were extremely uncomfortable the whole time Mia and I looked at underwear. Hell, I was uncomfortable too. Though I looked like a complete girl on the outside, I was still a guy where it counted. Not that it was very big anymore. It started to get smaller on the island and seemed to be doing so every day now. I had to wonder if I was going to wake up one morning to find it completely gone. The idea of losing my you-know-what didn’t scare me---I knew there was no going back to being Jonas---but at least it was a small connection to my old life. The only true question was did I want to remember any of that. I miss my parents; I miss them every single moment of the day. But there was no getting them or my old life back.

I was Olivia Queen now and I needed to accept that, no matter how much I was reluctant to do so. After leaving Victoria’s Secret, we made a quick stop at The Gap. The best thing about being rich was that nothing seemed too outlandish. I could literally walk into a store and buy everything or anything I wanted. But that was a double-edged sword too because the sales people tried to get you to buy everything. They kept pestering the hell out of you, thrusting this and that in your face. Though I’d only been in the papers fairly recently, everyone seemed to know me. In The Gap I got a lot of looks and giggles from employees and customers alike. It was the same with every other store we went into today; everyone kept staring and whispering. The whole mall was like that. I felt like I was a goldfish and the mall was a huge bowl that only I was swimming in.

“You’re really spaced out today,” said Mia as we left the Gap, my goons carrying two new bags.

“Sorry”. I sighed heavily. “I have a lot on my mind what with Board Meetings, asshole lawyers and secret grandmothers.”

Mia nodded and lowered her voice. “Let’s not forget the other problems too.”

The other problems she was talking about concerned my “extracurriculars”. Mia was the only person outside of the Tower who knew what I did every night. Or rather what I used to do. Ever since taking care of Merlyn a few days ago, the Green Arrow was grounded. As soon as my grandfather died, the press came swarming. It’s kinda hard to sneak around the city when pictures of you were cropping up on the Internet almost every single day. It was amazing how fast these bastards worked, too. Just this morning there were several candid shots of me walking about my penthouse, getting into the limo, getting out of the limo, going into the law office, coming out, going home. The list went on and on. These people didn’t have a life or rather their new one seemed to be following me around with a camera everywhere I went.

Even now I could see them lurking. Thankfully, Scarlet was able to work out a deal with the mall. If any paparazzi were spotted on the premises, I’d sue the hell out of the place. So mall security was being extra vigilant for me today. I think Scarlet was trying to earn brownie points over the whole Will fiasco thing. I didn’t blame her in the least but I’m not sure she knew that. She made it clear last night---after our conversation in the my new office---that it was never her intention to lead me into that meeting as blind as I was. She confessed to being a little blindsided herself. The whole Board wasn’t supposed to be there, it was supposed to be me, her, Mr. Steele and Mr. Pierce. The Board showing up was something of a shock to her. After telling me all that she spent the rest of the night on the phone arguing with various people for me.

I’m not sure what the final verdict of all that was. When I woke up this morning, she had already made arrangements for me today. Though there would be people at the mall---something she didn’t seem to be happy about---the press would leave me alone. At least while I was inside. I just wished they’d leave me alone all the time, not being Green Arrow was driving me nuts. It was the only truly good thing in my life and not being able to do it was like cutting off one of my limbs.

It was even worse knowing that my grandfather’s killer was out there. Merlyn himself confessed to working for someone. At the time, it just seemed to slip on by but now it was all I could think about. Someone hired an assassin to kill my grandfather. I couldn’t help but think it might be the same someone who hired assassins to kill me and my parents. Merlyn didn’t really confess that much but it was easy to put two and two together. I was just lucky that they weren’t looking for Jonas Oliver anymore. As far as those people knew, I died with my parents on that boat in Florida. The Old Man made sure of that. But I had to wonder if he was really the target or if it was his company. That’s why I hired Harvey Mullins, supposedly the best PI in the city. Mr. Mullins---call me Harv---was confident he could get to the bottom of things.

It was driving me nuts not knowing though. So that’s why I asked Mia to look into it as well. She was something of a computer genius. I guess the correct term was Hacker but we kind of used that word loosely. She was good at what she did, better than good in fact. She could do mad crazy things on the computer. She could do even more now that she had full access to a super computer and the Queen Industries network of satellites. Ever since deciding to become the Green Arrow, Mia and I set up a nice little operation in the Tower. We had one full floor devoted to it all. We called it The Hub, it was a room of computers and servers set up so she could do her thing. On the books, it was listed as my gaming room. So besides all that the room had three massive flat screens and every game system known to man in there. All part of the cover of course but it also helped to unwind.

When not in school or at home, Mia spent a lot of her time in The Hub. I bit my lip as we walked down the mall promenade, making our way toward the Food Court. It was clear from our grumbling bellies where our next stop was going to be. As we maneuvered our way through the throngs of people, I couldn’t help but think that Mia had something, she wanted to discuss with me. It was the way she kept looking at the goons and me, back and forth with shifting eyes. I wasn’t truly certain until she slightly gestured toward the bathrooms with her head.

I nodded and turned to Locke. “Mia and I have to go to the bathroom.”

Neither he nor his partner were stupid as was apparent by the narrowing of his eyes. “You’re not trying to ditch us are you, Miss Queen?”

One of Spencer’s eyebrows rose. Jonas would have caved right then and there. But I’m not him anymore. So I played it cool. “Even if we did ditch you, we’d have nowhere to go. As soon as I stepped out of this place, the damn paparazzi would be all over me in second. Not that I don’t want to get rid of you guys---no offense.”

Locke looked annoyed. He didn’t want to follow me around either. He tried to hide it but it wasn’t working. So he nodded instead. “Don’t take too long.”

Mia grabbed my hand and we left my two clueless goons holding the bags. Mia was in a bit of a hurry as she practically pulled me into the bathroom. When she let go of my hand, she made a big show of checking each stall. When her search came up empty, she ran over to the bathroom door and locked it.

“A bit paranoid?”

“Cautious” she said “I don’t want one of those creeps with a camera to pop up on us.”

I laughed. “I take it you saw the pic of me in my bra then?”

She shuddered as she nodded. That pic someone was definitely getting sued over.

After our shudder fest, I asked her what was going on.

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. She handed it to me as soon as she was done unfolding it. The sheet was Greek to me, a bunch of letters. I frowned and handed it back to which she sighed heavily. “It’s bank account numbers” she said, then pointed out several she apparently highlighted. “These ones are important.”

I looked at the sheet again, now it made sense. The ones she highlighted were large amounts, over a hundred thousand. I looked at the corresponding dates and my eyes widen. The first one was two days before my parents were killed. I looked at her and she nodded. Looking back at the sheet, my hand shook slightly. This had to be…but how? “Where did you get this?”

She looked around, still suspicious that someone was still watching us. “I did some searching in the bank’s mainframe. At first it was a bit of a chore, especially when it looked like it was going nowhere. Then I found a rather interesting name---John Bowman. Mr. Bowman got large deposits on dates corresponding to ones of significance.”

I took the sheet back from her and looked again. There were only three highlighted dates actually, the first one and third ones I noticed because of the dates and the amounts. But the second one was a bit confusing. It corresponded with the cruise ship hijacking but there was something different about. It took me a moment to realize that it was the transfer number. The first and third transfers came from one place but the second one was different.

Mia saw me looking. “Whoever owns accounts one and three is the same person but number two is different.”

I nodded, thinking back to the cruise ship. There was a group of heavily armed but undisciplined thugs. I took them all out pretty easily actually. But when I got to the bridge and encountered the boss, something was off. Especially when Merlyn saved me. Though he was dressed like the others, it always seemed to bother me. Why was he on the outside? He was on the bow of the ship, away from all the others. I always just assumed he was the real boss and the others were his goons. But it just felt wrong. Merlyn was a loner and working with others just didn’t work. He told me he didn’t kill me that day because he wasn’t hired to do so but it just felt wrong.

Mia nodded. “I can’t trace one and three yet but I’m working on it. Two however, someone clearly isn’t as skilled as they pretend to be.”

“You know where the transfer came from?”

She smiled. “I traced it to a location right here in the city.”

“You’re shitting me?”

She shook her head. “I was a bit surprised too. Something seems off about it though, like it’s too easy.”

I nodded but it was a lead. It might be a fishy lead but it was the first one we had. Now I just had to figure out how to investigate it.

She seemed to have an answer for that too. “I’ve got an idea but I need about a day to get it right. You think you can wait that long?”

I nodded reluctantly.

Mia smiled then returned the page to her pocket. We then proceeded to wash our hands, even though neither of us actually went. I guess it was the motion, just like Mia taking out her lip-gloss and giving her lips a touch up. When we were done and unlocked the door there was a stern older woman glaring at us. Mia apologized as she angrily pushed past us into the bathroom, grumbling about teenagers and drugs. We both couldn’t help ourselves as we laughed and made our way back to the Food Court. Spencer and Locke picked a table in the center of everything, looking really out of place in their black suits and sunglasses. Everyone around them was staring at them oddly, especially seeing that most of the people around were teenagers.

Locke started to stand when I approached but I shook my head. I didn’t want anyone to know those two were with me. Spencer said something to him and he reluctantly sat. I watched them for a few seconds as they watched Mia and me. Then the two of us went and got some food. Mia was in a pizza mood and that was fine by me just as long as she didn’t get crazy stuff on it like pineapple. Thankfully, I was able to talk her into normal cheese and pepperoni as the two of us carried our food back to a table away from the goons. They were two tables over and thankfully had enough training not to stare at us the whole time. Every once and a while one of them would look our way but it was done nonchalantly.

Throughout lunch, all I could think about was Merlyn. I had no qualms about killing him or rather watching him die. He deserved to die after what he did to the Old Man but it was still bothersome to know that it inadvertently happened at my hand. Ok, so the window blew up and he got sucked out but it was still my fault. I couldn’t help but think about it a lot though. I kept replaying the incident over and over again in my head, wondering if there was something, I could have done differently. Lately I’d been telling myself there was no choice, that it was either me or him but I’m not so sure anymore. He knew I’d be able to fire in the dark, he also knew I could out shoot him. I mean he was jealous of my skill when I was younger, it was the main reason he stopped taking me on as a student.

It just seemed strange that he would pick that particular moment to come after the Old Man. Why then, why that way? It didn’t make any sense.

“Shit” Mia cursed, interrupting my thoughts.

I knew that tone from her, it meant that something bad was about to happen.

“What’s the scale?” I asked, referring to our Scale of Bad Things.

“About a twelve.”

This time I cursed. Twelves were bad, especially when our Scale usually only went up to ten. The last time we got to twelve was at the community pool shortly after my breasts started to grow. I was in the boy’s locker room, which I thought was supposedly deserted. I was half way through changing---in the middle of taking off my shirt---when two guys a bit older than me walked in. It scared the shit out of me, especially when they looked right at my little bumps. For a moment, no one said anything. In my head, I was screaming but on the outside, I was scared shitless, afraid I was going to get my ass kicked. Instead, they apologized for walking into the wrong locker room and left. I pulled my shirt on quickly after that and bolted before they realized their mistake. I heard hell from Mia afterwards for abandoning her but as soon as I explained it, she understood.

So if it was a twelve now then it was really bad.

I took a deep breath and turned my head slightly, wondering what could be so horrible to rank that high. I cursed loudly. Coming toward us, looking a bit confused was Roy Harper, my best male friend in the whole wide world. The blood in my veins turned ice cold as he approached, my heart pounding a mile a minute. It had to be Roy, of all people it just had to be him. He was the one person I was avoiding more than any other person in the world. He didn’t know about my condition but he knew me well enough to be able to recognize my face.

This was bad, really bad. Of all the people, he was the last one I wanted to know about me. Thankfully, he was far enough away for me to react. I quickly reached into my purse and took out the pair of sunglasses I kept there. It was in the nick of time too because Roy slowly walked up to the table, the confusion still apparent on his face. He seemed taller than before, more manlier now too. I shook my head, he’s my friend, there’s nothing manly about him. He looked from me to Mia back and forth for a few seconds. Finally, Mia broke the silence with disgust in her voice.

“What do you want, Harper?”

He looked at me, really staring. When he spoke, there was still confusion present. “I could have sworn I knew you for a second there.”

Mia laughed. “Jonas right?” I kicked her in the shin under the table. Mia shot me a nasty look but laughed it off. “They do look alike and they should. This is Olivia, she’s Jonas’ cousin.”

The confusion seemed to fade. Roy sighed but looked sad too. I hated lying to him but it was the only way. I could not let him know that I was still alive and living as a girl now. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said sheepishly.

Before I could say anything, Mia shot me an evil look. "You want to join us? I was just helping Olivia get used to the city.”

I shot her one of my own evil looks as Roy sat down. I was going to kill her later.

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

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Author's Note: I'm on a roll lately. I think my business stuff is right in here but if its not I'd love for someone to help me fix it. I think I'm finally back into the swing of things, I was told by a few people that the last few chapters were a bit confusing so I'm hoping this one is a little better. I'd like to thank my beta readers for their help, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Three:

“I oughta kick your ass,” I said as the two of us climbed into the back of the limo.

I gave her a non-aggressive shove, which only caused her to laugh. In truth, I wanted to beat her with a tire iron. But seeing as I didn’t have one of those readily available I was willing to make do with my fists. Mia Dearden was my best friend in the whole wide world and what does she do. I groaned as Locke shut the door while Spencer finished putting all our bags in the trunk. I just spent one of the longest hours of my life, sitting there as my only guy friend stared at me all through my lunch. It was the most humiliating moment in my entire life, even worse than the locker room at the pool. Twelve my ass, more like a fifteen. The worse part, Mia was enjoying it way too much. As soon as Roy sat down at the table, it was like she was watching a soap opera.

I confess that I might have enjoyed it as well if I wasn’t the star. But seeing as nothing exciting like this ever happened to her, I guess I was the main attraction. The lunch hour wasn’t a total loss, I guess. After Roy got done staring, he started to tell me about the city. I guess it never occurred to him that I’d been here for a while. But I listened and smiled, not really saying much. In fact, I let Mia and Roy do all the talking. I was afraid if I opened my mouth he might recognize my voice. I definitely wasn’t prepared for that. Telling Mia was one thing---in fact that was accidental but Roy was something else entirely. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell him but things were really complicated right now. I definitely didn’t need him to make things even worse. So I played the silent type while Roy went on and on about this and that. I was hoping that I might make him disinterested but I think my tactic backfired.

When we finally called it a day, I saw him give me a look and a smile. I knew that look all too well. It was the Roy Harper “I’m interested and not going to give up” look. He gave it to a lot of girls at school. I’m sad to say that like them, it made me a little weak in the knees too. Not that I now suddenly had a thing for him or anything but it definitely had an effect. One that wasn’t lost on Mia either.

As soon as the limo started moving, it was the first thing she brought up.

“So you and Roy?” she asked coyly.

I felt like punching her. Instead, I gave her a dirty look. “Wipe that image from that demented mind of yours please.”

She laughed. “I saw the way he looked at you and I also saw the way you reacted.”

I made a face. “Half my face was covered in these gigantic sunglasses you made me buy,” I said, finally taking them off.

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I’m not changing the subject because there’s nothing to talk about. Roy is a friend---was a friend. I can’t be friends with him anymore.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

It was a good question. One that I didn’t really have a good answer for. “It’s complicated” I finally blurted out which made Mia make the face.

She tried to get me to talk about Roy the whole ride back to the Tower but I didn’t want to talk anymore. So she yammered on while I looked out the window. At least it wasn’t raining anymore. The rain was extremely depressing yesterday which had fit well with my mood. I hated going into that meeting so unprepared like that. Scarlet really dropped the ball on me but I dropped the ball too. So after she left me alone in the office yesterday afternoon, I took some time to find the Will myself. I didn’t really understand half of it, ok more than half actually. But what I could understand was simple enough. It was pretty much what I was told; eighty percent of Queen Industries was now mine. That eighty percent included my grandfather’s majority shares, which meant that I controlled the company even though I wasn’t in charge. The Will made that all very clear too. I would gain full control at the age of twenty-one, at which time Mr. Steele would step down and I’d take my place as CEO.

The only part of the equation was whether I actually wanted it. The Old Man never once discussed any of it with me. My mother used to talk about how much her father used to infuriate the hell out of her and now I knew exactly what she meant. I couldn’t help but wonder how much of Scarlet’s reconciliation story was bull. The only Jameson Queen I knew was a cold, hard bastard that only cared about business. I knew that man long before I met him in person, too. I know my grandfather never approved of my father but I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more that drove my mother from him. When I was younger, I always used to wonder what he might be like. I used to imagine him being a great man, like a rich Robin Hood. After all the Old Man did help a lot of people---hell he had the humanitarian awards to prove it. The only person he wasn’t human with was his family apparently.
Humanitarian my ass.

I felt arms wrap around me from behind and a head lay gently on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and got lost in the embrace. Even when I was cross at her, it didn’t take me long to forgive Mia. I think she probably thought she was doing me a favor. I really wanted to be friends with Roy again but I just wasn’t prepared for what that friendship might entail. Finally, after hugging for a minute or two, she let me go with a sigh.

“I’m sorry about lunch; I wasn’t thinking when I asked him to sit with us.”

I shook my head, still looking out the window. “I’m glad you did. I was worried about him actually. The last time I saw him was at the funeral and he looked horrible.”

She gave me a gentle nudge. “Well it’s not every day that you get to go to your own funeral. Roy didn’t take things too well. He pulled inside himself the whole time you were missing; he skipped a lot of school like me. But unlike me, he didn’t do stupid things. He kinda went real quiet. He wouldn’t talk to anyone, didn’t sit with anyone at lunch. It was like he was there but not there.”

I tried imagining Roy like that. It hurt to think about. Roy was the outgoing one, the guy who always charged into anything like an ass. I remember when we were kids and used to sneak off to this secluded copse of trees in the woods behind my house. It was our little thing, something he and I did without Mia. We used to like to race one another there. Roy always beat me because he was the better athlete. But there was this one time where I managed to get the upper hand. I’m not sure how I got past him but I was so excited when I beat him to the trees that I started shaking one in victory. Well I didn’t notice the bee’s nest. But Roy did. As soon as those bees came swarming out of that hive, he sprang into action. He charged in there, grabbed me around the waist and pulled me practically out of my shoes. As soon as he got me to my feet, the two of us ran like hell out of there. I’m not sure how many times we got stung but it was quite a few.

But Roy just shrugged it off and made a joke about it. That’s the kind of person he was. It was hard to think of him as anything but that impulsive kid who did things without thinking.

Now a small part of me almost regretted not telling him who I really was.

The rest of the ride back to the Tower was done in silence. Mia could tell that I was lost in thought and didn’t want to bother me. She kept looking at me, about to say something but decided against it. I hated giving her the silent treatment but she’d given me a lot to think about. When we finally got to the Tower, we drove around to the side, entering through the garage. There was a crowd of paparazzi outside, snapping shots. Their flashes were cut off when the large metal door closed behind us. Locke got out of the car first to get my bags; he was followed about ten seconds later by Spencer. As Spencer opened the door, Mia tried to slide out with me. I think her plan was to take the bus home but there was no way I was letting her do that.

I turned to Spencer. “Is there any way you can accompany the limo and Mia back to her house.”

Mia’s eyes bugged out. “You’re serious?” she asked, excitement apparent in her voice.

I nodded; she squealed and wrapped me in a tight hug.

“You are the best friend ever,” she said, making herself comfortable once again after she let go of me. Then she whispered. “You going to be ok?”

“Roy surprised me that’s all” I sighed heavily. “I guess I should have told him”

Mia made a face. “You think Harper could handle that? I mean he was crushing on you big this afternoon, if he found out you were Jonas it might break his brain.”

I gave her a face and a playful shove, which she laughed at.

Locke finished unpacking my bags then I told Mia I’d call her later. Spencer came around and shut her door then got into the passenger seat. I wanted to stay and watch them drive out of the garage but Locke was insistent upon getting me inside. I think he was paranoid that there might be a creep hiding somewhere in the darkness, lingering amongst all my grandfather’s cars. No, not his cars, not anymore. I glanced longingly at all the nice shiny vehicles as Locke led me past them. My eyes lingered on a really nice green Viper. It caught my eye a while ago but so far, I wasn’t allowed to touch it. Now that it was mine, I had every intention of taking that bad boy for a spin.

When we got closer to the little elevator leading to the higher floors, I glanced over at the little mechanic’s station in the corner. My grandfather had a personal mechanic that handled all his cars. Alberto was a good guy; I’d talked to him more than once while I was down here admiring my grandfather’s collection. He had two children---a son, Jaime who was about my age and a daughter, Milagro who was much younger. He was a man that talked about his family often and that’s what I liked most about him. Apparently Jaime helped out when he could, mopping the floors and things like that. Unfortunately, I had yet to meet him.

Alberto wasn’t in the station today when we passed. He often didn’t come into work until later, which was a shame. I really wanted to ask him if I could get the keys to that Viper. I mean there were a lot of other really nice cars in here but I really wanted to get behind the wheel of that car, especially seeing that it was green.

“Miss Queen” said Locke, interrupting my thoughts.

I turned and saw him holding open the elevator door. I smiled and nodded, stepping around his arm and inside. The door closed and I sighed, losing sight of that gorgeous car once again.

The garage elevator only went as far as the lobby. It was also extremely cramped, definitely not designed for more than one person to ride it. I was nearly elbow to elbow with Locke the whole ride. Thankfully, the ride only lasted a minute or two. Why my grandfather had an elevator installed when there was a perfectly good flight of stairs was beyond me. I suppose in his old age it was getting harder and harder to climb steps but why was it so damn small. It was a good thing I was skinny or else there would have been a real problem. It was also a good thing that Spencer wasn’t with us. I’m also glad that Locke had the decency to put the bags into the elevator first and send them up before us.

When the elevator down opened onto the lobby, Scarlet and an unidentifiable girl were standing there. The girl was a little older than me, oriental, wearing a white blouse and gray skirt. Her long black hair was pulled back and she was wearing a smile. It was strange to see anyone smiling around here lately. Ever since the Old Man’s death, everyone was stressed out. There wasn’t a smile to be found anywhere. But this girl seemed to have a cheery disposition, which made me feel a little less bummed. Her disposition seemed to be rubbing off on Scarlet too. My grandfather’s Chief of Staff had been looking pretty haggard lately, running about doing absolutely everything. I mean that’s her job, but with the Old Man at least he had some inkling of what was to be expected. With me, it was probably like trying to teach a five year old how to read War and Peace. I was learning but it was definitely messing with Scarlet’s mojo.

I looked at the girl again. She was remarkably pretty which made her easy to look at but it was her nails that stood out the most. They were shocking neon green and really long. Well not prostitute length or anything but definitely longer than most people who worked in places like this. When she caught me looking at them, she blushed and folded her arms, trying to hide them from view. It was clear she did them that way to look good but she didn’t really want anyone looking at them. I guess she shouldn’t have painted them neon then.

“Miss Queen” said Scarlet, using her official voice. “This is Jade Nguyen. Did I pronounce that right?” The girl nodded, Scarlet sighed in relief. “Miss Nguyen is going to be your personal assistant.”

Personal assistant? So that’s why Scarlet looked less stressed. I looked at the girl with renewed interest. I guess it made sense in a way. Jade was a lot younger than Scarlet, if I were to guess I’d say early twenties, probably straight out of college. Scarlet always did seem out of place when talking to me and let’s not get started with that Etiquette coach she and the Old Man hired for me. Girl Lessons were the worst. But with Jade, I could see where Scarlet might think I could relate more. It was a calculated move on her part, a lot more calculating than I gave her credit for.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Queen,” said Jade with that smile of her’s.

“Olivia” I said with my own smile. “If we’re going to be spending a lot of time together I don’t want you calling me Miss Queen all the time, its kinda creepy.”

Jade nodded. Scarlet looked annoyed but kept her mouth shut.

But he silence didn’t last long. “Miss Nguyen has come highly recommended. It has come to my attention that most of the stuff I say and do goes in one of your ears and out the other. I figured that someone like Jade might be able to get your attention.”

Just like I thought. The teenager needs a younger, hipper assistant to make things interesting. But I couldn’t help but wonder if Scarlet was just tired of “babysitting” me. I couldn’t blame her I guess. If I were the Chief of Staff of one of most powerful companies in the world, I wouldn’t want to follow a teenager around either. Jade would be able to relate, to hang out with me while I shopped, maybe even be able to find a way to make business interesting. But I couldn’t help but wonder why now. I mean if the Old Man really was grooming me to be his replacement, why assign Jade to me after his death. Shouldn’t she have been with me since the beginning? It almost felt like she was a distraction or a spy, someone put there to make sure I didn’t do something stupid.

I gave her a once over. She seemed normal enough---besides the nails. But could she be working for the Board? If so, why did they think I needed to be monitored like a child?

Scarlet plastered on one of those fake smiles she liked so much. “Well I let the two of you get to work. I have a lot of stuff that needs to be done and finally some time to do it”

She said that last bit under her breath as she walked away. But her intent was clear: Jade was in fact my babysitter now. I looked at the pretty oriental girl and smiled. She smiled back. We did that for a few minutes, just standing there, smiling at one another. It was kinda creepy actually. Not that it was a bad thing to stare at her---she was quite pretty. If I’d been a normal guy I definitely would have been “in to her” as they say. Roy definitely would like her. I felt a sudden pang of jealousy thinking about Roy drooling over her. It was quick but it was there. I bit my lip and cursed. There was no way I was crushing on my friend.

I finally got tired of the awkward silence and phony smiles. “So what is it that you do exactly?”

“I’m here to manage your day to day activities.”

Great, just what a secret superhero needs. I inwardly groaned. If it wasn’t the press, now it was going to be some girl who was keeping me from being who I wanted to be. I gave her a once over again. Could I trust her with the Green Arrow? As of right now, there were only a small handful of people who knew, Mia and the Old Man being the closest. Luke Cross---my driver---was also in the know but that was never my choice. Luke was an ok guy but he was on the payroll. He knew if he ever spoke out, I’d have him fired and let’s face it, if he ever really told anyone he’d have to deal with an arrow up his ass. But Jade was an unknown. I smirked. I had to wonder if Jade the Green Lantern---the other Jade in my life---had to deal with something this crazy. She knew who I was too and by extension, I’m sure Terra knew as well. I think it might be a part of the new superhero code or something.

In the Warrior Angel comics, the Dark Avenger---Warrior Angel’s sometime ally---he knew Warrior Angel’s true identity. It only seemed right that other hero Metas should know who one another are. Though I don’t think I could make it a habit. I guess it all came down to whether or not I could truly trust someone. I usually knew that upon meeting them. Like Scarlet for instance. She was a good person, if a bit stuck up but there’s no way I could trust her with the Green Arrow secret. I’m not sure why but there was something about her that just made me want to keep things from her. Looking at Jade I could see myself trusting her but at the same time I felt there was something she was holding back too. She was too cheery and cheery people were definitely hiding something. Let’s face it, anyone that happy is always masking something.

That didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends. It just meant that Jade and secrets, they were a no no. At least for now.

Security in the Tower was definitely different now. Before I could walk the halls and be able to recognize all the faces. But all of that changed the night my grandfather died. The Tower had twelve guards who worked it on rotating shifts; six out of them were killed by Merlyn. Spencer and Locke barely got away with their lives---who knew that Kevlar could stop arrows. After the massacre and the payoffs---the Board didn’t want anyone to know how Jameson Queen really died. So the families of those who died were paid large amounts of money and told to tell others their son/father’s were killed in a gas leak. It pissed me off the next day when I found out; it angered me even more that they lied about the Old Man’s death. As far as the rest of the world knew he finally succumbed to his illness and died peacefully in his sleep. The Board liked to cover their asses.

The day after my grandfather’s murder, there were new security guards to replace the ones lost. It didn’t even take twenty four hours and it was like things never happened. They even covered up the death of my grandfather’s secretary, a woman who had the misfortune of working too late. I’m not sure if they bundled her in with the gas leak or came up with some other asinine way to cover things up. I should have known then that the Board was a bunch of jackasses but I was too grief stricken to pay much attention. But they quickly swept things under the rug to save their own asses and now they were trying to strong arm me.

“This is bull right?” I asked, waving the sheet of paper in the air.

Jade came around the desk to take a look. She scanned the sheet quickly and frowned. “They want you to sign off on an allowance?”

I scoffed, slapping the paper on my desk. Chair of the Board and majority shareholder meant very little to these bastards apparently. A few of them were already filing for injunctions, scared to leave the company in my hands. Even though I tried to reassure them that it wasn’t my hands, it was Mr. Steele’s. I spent all day yesterday in one video conference after another, trying to get through to these thickheaded pricks. But none of them were taking me seriously. Here it was now four days after the impromptu meeting, three days after hiring Jade and still they were trying to push me around. Even with her MBA and credentials, they were treating Jade like she had the plague. No matter how much either one of us tried we couldn’t get anywhere. What made matters worse was Steele. He was refusing to take any of my calls, always in an “important meeting.”

“Can they do this?” I asked, pointing to the already impressive spread of official documents scattered across my desktop.

“It looks like it,” said Joanna Pierce from her chair, leaning forward to take a look.

She was my legal counsel now. Her father assigned her to me because he was busy with other clients. What he left out was other “important” clients. Jackson Pierce didn’t see me as anything other than the dumb girl who inherited an Empire. The rest of them saw me as less than that. I was nothing to them and they thought they could screw me over. They were doing it too, bogging me down with paperwork. I couldn’t even make heads or tails of any of it. Jade was trying to help as best she could but even she thought it was bordering on ridiculous. It felt like a losing battle and it was getting worse. Somehow, one of the weasels got me to sign some kind of proxy sheet. I didn’t even know what I was signing at the time. It got slipped in with a stake of papers Scarlet had me sign the other day---before Jade and Joanna were on the case. It turns out because I signed said paper; I had somehow turned over my shares to the person who made me sign it. So now, the person could vote their own shares and apparently mine as well. So in essence, my majority shares now belonged to one of those bastards.

I wanted to run my fingers through my hair but currently couldn’t. It was pulled back into a tight braid, which trailed down my back to my butt. Jade said it made me look more professional. That, added with the power suit I was wearing was an attempt to make me at least look the part. It was also an attempt to make me look more serious. I thought it was working too but things blew up in my face pretty quick. Someone got some pictures of me in the mall the other day, mainly ones during lunch with Roy. Though they didn’t get a really good shot of him, it was plastered all over the headlines everywhere: QUEEN FINDS PRINCE. The papers were calling him the “Unknown Boyfriend” but the damage was done. The Board used it to paint me as even more of a disgraceful “teenybopper”, their words not mine.

“This allowance thing” I said, picking up the paper. “Can they do this?”

Joanna took the sheet and read it quickly. At the end, she sighed. “I figured it would be Ross.”

I knew that name all too well. Besides me, he owned the most shares in the company. He was a cold hearted bastard, some ruthless prick who was always challenging my grandfather’s authority. I guess now that the King was dead then the greedy Lords were ready to feast. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Ross who actually controlled my shares now. The man took me for a moron but I knew exactly what the allowance was---it was his threat. If I didn’t play ball then he’d use my shares and force me out. It was a dirty, nasty thing to do but apparently, my hands were tied.

“I still say we try Mr. Wayne again,” said Jade with a hopeful and helpful smile.

To call him now would be the sixth attempt. Apparently, Bruce Wayne was harder to find than Waldo. The man kept strange hours and was never home. As soon as I found out about the proxy yesterday morning, Jade had tried to call him numerous times. He was the only one on the Board who had yet to contact me. From what I knew of him, he was a good man, fair in his dealings with others and a personal friend of the Old Man. It helped that he also happened to be my grandfather’s grandnephew. It’s strange how those things worked out. The Old Man’s sister married a Wayne, Bruce’s uncle. I’m not exactly sure what that made us other than related.

Wayne wasn’t my only option. I’d been getting repeated calls from Lexcorp. Luthor was very interested in Queen Industries and was trying desperately to set up a meeting with me. Jade kept trying to tell his people that I wasn’t in charge but the man didn’t take no for an answer. Even if I was in charge, it would still be a very big no. As far as Luthor was concerned, he was Public Enemy number one in my book. Though I couldn’t prove it yet, I was convinced he was the one who actually had the Old Man killed. Unfortunately, Luthor was very good at covering his tracks. Harv kept telling me I was barking up the wrong tree but I told him to keep at it. Mia was trying as well. But so far hacking Lexcorp’s system was proving be a feat and a half. Every time she got by one firewall, another popped up in her path. But Luthor was my guy, the fact that he was hiding things so well just proved it even more. He was so smug and calm at my grandfather’s funeral that it made me sick. Out of all the people out there he was the one who would have benefitted most from seeing the Old Man dead. Q.I. was Lexcorp’s chief competitor and with the Board now pretty much in control; it was looking like the company was going down.

Our stocks were down by fifty the next day after they announced the Old Man was dead. They were gradually climbing but it was looking grim. If things kept up the way were then I wouldn’t even have a company to take over when I reached twenty-one. Of course, everyone was blaming me---the media, the Board, the employees. Death threats were starting to become common. I got several letters a day, mail and e-mail alike. Then there were the phone calls. A lot of bastards threatening this and that. But it was the disturbing ones that bothered me. Someone kept calling, breathing heavily into the phone and hanging up. It was really starting to creep me out. Marko---my Chief of Security---tried tracing the call but it was one of those prepaid cell phones.

So even if I got a hold of Mr. Wayne, I’m not sure how much help he could give me. I took a pen from my drawer and looked down at the paper, hovering the tip over the dotted line.

“You sure?” asked Joanna, looking defeated.

I sighed heavily. “What other choice do I have” I quickly signed the sheet and put it on the edge of the desk.

Jade picked it up, putting it in a folder. “I’ll take this where it needs to go.”

I nodded and she slowly walked across the room and out the doors.

“I’m really sorry about all this,” said Joanna softly. “If it’s any consolation, I think my father is being a real bastard. I tried to talk to him about it but he told me that it’s business and that I wouldn’t understand.”

I scoffed. It sounded like the same damn line the Board kept feeding me. Except they all added “little girl” to that insult. I was getting sick and tired of everyone treating me like I had no idea what was going on. If the Board only knew how much I helped this city, I bet they’d be whistling a whole different tune. I’m not saying they’d be kissing my boots but they sure as hell wouldn’t be treating me like I had no idea what I was doing. At least I hoped they wouldn’t.

I sighed, rubbing my temples. “I think I need some time alone, Jo, you mind telling Jade to hold all my calls.”

Joanna stood up from her chair. “I’d like to say it gets easier from here but…”

She didn’t have to say the rest because I knew. I nodded my head to her smile. She then turned and slowly left the room, leaving me alone. In my anger, I snatched the letter opener from the desktop and launched it clear across the room. It landed right between the eyes of a portrait on the wall of some guy I didn’t know. It wasn’t just arrows that I could hit the bull’s eye with. In my old room at home, I used to have a dartboard and suffice to say Roy hated it when we ended up playing. It was never fun for him when I could hit the center each time. I smiled at the shot. It was mean to take my frustration out on the decorations but it sure made me feel a lot better.

But it was short lived because I had other things on my mind. Last night Harv called and said he had a solid lead. He wouldn’t say anymore but said he’d call when he was done. Not that I was worried about him but it seemed kind of an odd thing for him to do. Harv was never one to rush off into the field by himself. He was a big time PI with underlings to do that sort of thing. But when I hired Harv, he told me he’d take my case and do it personally.

Apparently, my grandfather got him out of a scrap a few years back and he owed it to the Old Man.

I still couldn’t help but feel a bit worried though.

The phone ringing broke me from my thoughts. I cursed; apparently Jade didn’t know the meaning of no calls. I was about to reach for the handset when I realized it was my cell. I groaned; Jade had no control over that of course. I clicked it on when I saw Mia’s number.

“No fun tonight, Speedy, I’m being sanctioned”

There was a pause before she answered. “You sure because I’ve finally figured out how the Green Arrow can come out and play?”

My heart skipped a beat. It was the best damn news of the day. “I’m all ears.”

Mia is crazy; I think I might have mentioned that once or twice. But that didn’t even explain her craziest plan yet: i.e. Operation Decoy.

“It’s going to work” said her voice through my blue tooth.

I wasn’t so sure. Her plan was too simple and definitely not fool proof. How dressing up in a blonde wig and my clothes was going to fool anyone was beyond me. I also couldn’t understand how it took her this long to get something like that together. Apparently, she had to wait for the wig to come in; she ordered it off the internet. I didn’t even want to know why she ordered a wig like my hair before she told me about the plan. She didn’t say either, Mia was weird like that. So as per the plan, she would make a show out of leaving the Tower and getting into the limo. The paparazzi would follow her and I’d be free to do my thing. So far, the plan was working to my surprise. I watched it all unfold from the garage, hidden in the shadows. She did exactly as planned, even convinced Spencer and Locke to go along with it. I’m not sure what she told them but they treated her just like they did me. It was amazing. It was also weird to see a phony me walk out of the Tower and into the car. Apparently, Mia spent a long time studying me or something because she got all my mannerisms down. Though I’d have to work on my posture because she was walking a bit mannish.

Anyway, as soon as the limo pulled out of the garage, I sprang into action. Or rather Luke and I. He was already waiting in the Viper, revving the engine. It pained me to see him behind the wheel of what I’d come to think of as my car. But the Old Man had been insistent upon me having a driver. Though he made me, legally sixteen---I was actually only fifteen---he refused to let me get my license. At least not until I was more responsible. That meant for the time being I had to have someone drive me around. That’s how Luke got read into the loop. I’m still not sure what Mia said to convince him but he was really cool with it. A week ago, I was still pissed at him for ratting me out to the Old Man but now it was water under the bridge.

I slipped silently across the garage and into the car. I was already wearing my suit. It felt good to be back in green again. I felt like the real me, the true me. Olivia Queen felt like a daytime disguise to me but as the Green Arrow, I felt like my old self. Of course, I’d never truly get back to being Jonas again but archery was always my thing. I’d been doing it since I was little and as Olivia, I couldn’t even call it a hobby. But as the Green Arrow, it could be a lifestyle. It was my signature and I loved every minute of it.

“You’re smiling,” said Luke as I closed the door. “I haven’t seen you smile in a while, kid.”

“I feel real good tonight.”

He smiled then pulled quickly out of the garage. I programmed the address into the GPS. The place in question was on the west side, in one of the lesser populated parts of the city. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d found myself there. I didn’t know the place all that well but there was a Meta gang that called the area their turf. I had a run-in with them shortly after the Brick incident. They pulled a lot of small petty crimes. I didn’t really bust them but I came down pretty hard all the same. It became pretty clear that they were only stealing to survive and I made them promise that as long as it was small change then I wouldn’t bring them in. It was our own little agreement. It was working so far. They were a good bunch, just a lot of hard times.

It didn’t take long to get to our destination. I made Luke pull up a block away, in a side alley. When I opened the door to get out, he showed his usual concern. “You sure about this?”

I shook my head. “No but this could be the only lead to my grandfather’s killer, I have to at least try.”

He went stone faced and nodded. “Put an arrow in his face for me.”

Luke loved the Old Man, everyone did. Except me of course. When I killed Merlyn, Luke slapped me on the back with tears in his eyes. I think we both knew then that Merlyn was just the middleman but it didn’t matter. For the moment, it was enough. Now there was a chance for some real retribution, the right kind. A fire was burning inside of me as I ran away from the car and disappeared into the darkness. I scaled a nearby fire escape and ran quickly across the rooftop.

“You’re really moving tonight,” said Mia, commenting on my heavy breathing.

“I’m just anxious to get this over with.”

“This could be nothing”

“Or everything.”

She didn’t say anything to that. I ran hard and fast, my bow out, an arrow at the ready. When I finally got to the spot, I jumped from the roof I was on to the fire escape below. The building was across the street, the only entrance I could see was a grimy window. Thankfully, there was another fire escape. I could a deep breath and jumped the gap, landing with a grunt at my destination. The jump kinda hurt a bit and my cape got snagged on the landing but I made it in one piece. I took a moment to collect myself before walking over to the window. I took a deep breath and slowly started to open it. I got it halfway open before I realized what I just stepped in to.

Harv was in the room, tied to a chair, duct tape over his mouth. All around the chair were small gray bricks. I cursed as I followed the wire leading from them to the window. It was the click that did me in. I closed my eyes and turned my head as a loud explosion rocked the whole of the fire escape. The blast threw me backwards. I slammed hard into the wall of the opposite building and dropped, darkness taking me before I hit the street below.

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

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Author's Note: I would have put this up a couple of days ago but I got preoccupied and only finished writing it this afternoon. This is an interesting chapter because it deals with a big question. I'd like to thank my beta readers, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Four:

The first thing I remember seeing was a bright light as my eyes slowly opened. It was so bright that I forced them shut again. Was it the bright life of death, was this how things truly ended. I opened my eyes a crack and I saw the brightness again, it was hovering over me. It was so beautiful and comforting. Death, huh? I guess dying in an explosion was a good way to go. At least now, I wouldn’t have to worry about all the crap that the Board was trying to pull. I could rest finally. I could finally see Mom and Dad again and the Old Man. I could wear a tiny white dress and float around on clouds, looking down on all the foolish things living people did. I could be free. The only regret in life being that, once again, I’d leave Mia behind all alone. That regret made me sad. I’d already died on her once and to do it again felt selfish.

I shook my head. No, I don’t want to die. “I don’t want to leave you, Speedy?”

Suddenly there was a softness gripping my hand. It was a gentle feeling and I realized it was someone else’s hand holding my own. Then there was a voice: “You’re not leaving me. You’re going to be okay.”

It was Mia’s voice. I opened my eyes further and suddenly realized where the bright light was coming from. There was a huge fluorescent light above my head, shining down on me. The reason it was so bright was because the walls were white and there appeared to be sun coming in through the windows. I blinked a few times and the room came into focus. It was a large one; two thirds of the walls were glass windows. I managed to sit up slightly, feeling some discomfort. Though I’d never seen the room before, I had a pretty good idea where I was. When my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, he had his own private little hospital built in the Tower. It was only a couple of rooms but it was equipped with the most state-of-the-art equipment money could buy. He also had a full medical staff on retainer.

I turned to look at the rest of the room. There were some modern artwork prints on the lone white wall and a small sitting area in the corner. One of the chairs was pulled up beside my bed and Mia was sitting in it. She looked like hell: her hair a mess, her clothes rumpled, bags under her eyes. She looked as if she’d been crying, too. She was holding my hand, smiling as if she’d just won the lottery. I opened my mouth to say something but I realized how dry it was. I looked around and saw a glass of water sitting on my bedside table. I grabbed it and downed it in one gulp.

When I set the empty glass down, I groaned. Lifting the glass hurt like hell. In fact, my whole body ached. I looked at my bare arms, there were bandages wrapped around my hands, an IV sticking out of my left arm. I was wearing one of those flimsy hospital gowns and could tell that I had a bandage on my chest, too. I sure as hell felt like I’d been blown up. I just couldn’t imagine how I survived something like that. I should have been dead and yet here I was.

“I feel like shit,” I said, laying my head back down on the pillow.

Mia laughed, letting go of my hand. There were tears in her eyes, now. “You scared the shit out of me, that’s for sure.”

“I’m sorry.” I said, finding myself tearing up.

I closed my eyes for a second, trying to think back to the explosion. I really stepped into it, that’s for sure. I’d been careless and it cost me quite a bit. In my mind’s eye, I replayed some of the events. It happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to process the whole thing. Now, I did. Harv was there, tied up and waiting. It was almost as if someone knew I was going to show up there. Hell, they rigged the window to blow up, knowing I’d probably try to enter the room that way. The big question was: how did they know that I was the Green Arrow? It was clear that they caught Harv and probably figured out he was working for Olivia Queen, but did they make the ultimate connection?

I groaned and opened my eyes. “It was a setup, Speedy.”

She nodded. “I’m really sorry. I had no idea.” She was still crying. I squeezed her hand tightly.

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I dropped the ball. It was too easy and I never caught on. I should have known something like that was too simple. I could have gotten you killed. If you died…”

She broke up completely. Though it was extremely painful, I leaned forward and wrapped her in a tight hug. She sobbed on my shoulder. I held her for a long time and let her cry on my shoulder. During that time, the door to the room opened. Standing in the door was a familiar face: Dr. Gloria Carlson. I lit up when I saw her. I guess it was premature of me to say that only Mia, Luke and the Old Man knew who I was and what I did, when in fact Gloria was there from the beginning. She was the doctor on the cruise ship---the one that rescued me off my own private little island. She was one of the very few people who knew everything about me too. We were together a bit in Florida before the Old Man collected me. There was some talk about bringing her to San Francisco, but the last time I saw her was the day I left Florida.

She smiled from the doorway and walked slowly into the room, moving quietly to give us some privacy. She waited patiently while I comforted Mia. Her crying didn’t last long and as soon as she realized we weren’t alone, she straightened herself out, wiping away the tears. Mia hated any public display of emotion; I think she felt it made her look too human.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” said Gloria as she took a Qpad from her lab coat, walking slowly over to us.

Mia was still wiping her cheeks. “It’s okay. I was having a human moment. I’m done now.”

I shook my head. Typical Mia. Then, I looked at Gloria. “I see the Old Man was good to his word. Did he strong arm you here as well?”

She laughed. “He was very persuasive, but in the end it was the large salary that finally convinced me.”

Typical. That man seemed to like to throw money at the problem, but I was glad she was here. We spent a lot of time together, just the two of us. I left her when I thought I was in trouble and only briefly saw her before shipping out. Even then, my grandfather talked about bringing her along, but Gloria had some business to finish up in Florida. I suppose it made sense that the Old Man would want her close. After all he was committing fraud by creating me and she was a loose end. It was either bring her into the fold or eliminate her. My grandfather was not a mob boss so the only reasonable thing to do was pay her off or offer her a better position in the company. It looks like she took the better deal and I was all the more happy for it.

“How long have you been here?”

She laughed. “Not long, only a few weeks. We were supposed to meet a few days ago for your first physical and check up but circumstances being what they were…” Her voice trailed off.

I nodded, but doing so caused me to wince. “Well you have me now. Care to tell me the prognosis?”

“You’re damn lucky,” she said, giving me a stern look. That look softened a second later. “Whatever that suit was made out of Miss Green Arrow, it saved your life.”

I looked at Mia who was smiling happily. “I told you it would be worth it.”

Perma-Flex huh? It was something one of the company’s subsidiaries had been designing for soldiers. It was supposed to be indestructible and apparently, it lived up to the hype. So the suit saved my life, I guess it was worth it then. I couldn’t help but feel a little happier knowing that Mia and I did something right for a change.

But the frown on Mia’s face was very telling. “Speaking of the suit…” She held up a large shopping bag and handed it to me.

I reached inside and took out the green Perma-flex bodysuit. Now it was charred black and shredded, torn to bits by debris from the blast. I frowned at it. The suit had lived up to a barrage of many things including a pretty nasty fight with a Meta named Brick. In the end, an explosion was just too much for it. It made me happy to know it saved my life, but sad that it was finally done for. Staring at the charred representation of my super-hero-dom, I couldn’t help but think that the Green Arrow might be over with as well. Clearly, I’d been fooling myself with all this. I’d been lucky until now but almost getting blown up is a real eye opener. I mean what kind of girl wants to do this stuff if she’s going to get blasted out a window into a brick wall.

“I know that look,” said Mia as she took the suit gently from my numb fingers. “You’re not quitting, not when we’re so close.”

“Close? They nearly blew me to bits!”

She smiled again. She put the suit into her bag and brought forth her laptop, setting it on the edge of the bed. She opened it up and started to type furiously. “Harv backed up his files. I managed to hack his hard drive before someone wiped it. Whatever he was on to, someone didn’t want to be found. The bomb was a last measure. I’m not one hundred percent sure what’s going on but it’s big, real big. Bigger than me, in fact. I might have to find some outside help on this one.”

I shook my head. “They know who I am Speedy, they set a trap for me. I’m done with this.”

“Just like that? You’re quitting?”

I sighed. “What’s to stop them from putting a bomb in the Tower or in your bedroom? These people---whoever they are---they’re dangerous.”

Gloria cleared her throat. “I hate to interrupt the super-heroing but you won’t be doing anything for at least two more days. That blast bruised two of your ribs, several of your muscles and here’s multiple small cuts and lacerations all over your body. Your hands have first-degree burns, you have a sprained ankle and one of your shoulders was dislocated. You’re going to rest for the next few days then I’m sending you for some physical therapy.”

I groaned. That’s all I needed. “Can we skip that last part?”

She shook her head. “Superhero or not, you’re not indestructible, girl.”

I scoffed. “I’m not anything girl, actually. I don’t have any superpowers.”

Gloria looked confused. “Are you sure?” I nodded. She bit her lip. “I think on top of all that, you might need to visit a specialist. I know someone; he works for a laboratory in the city. He was a professor of mine when I went to Berkeley.”

“I’m not sure I want to bring someone else into the loop on this?”

She shook her head. “The lab he works for actually has been working with Metas.”

I groaned. “I’m not a meta.”

She bit her lip. “You’re not one hundred percent human either.”

That came as a bit of a shock. “What do you mean?”

Gloria raised her pad, bringing up a screen. “I did some scans while you were unconscious to make sure there was no internal bleeding, things like that. I had a chance to review all your medical records the other day in preparation for our meeting plus, of course, I had the ones I took of you from the ship.”

I nodded. “I’ve had a lot of tests.”

When I was diagnosed with intersexuality, I had a battery of tests. Though I had a penis, I was not fully male. I had ovaries, which were producing estrogen, but I had no testicles. My penis wasn’t really a penis at all. But the ovaries were the extent of my female nature. I meant to have some tests run as soon as I got back to San Francisco but the Old Man had me working on such a busy schedule that I didn’t have time. I did notice some shrinkage though. My penis was definitely getting smaller and my body was feminizing a lot faster than it was in the past. Those few months on the island had really changed me. I went from this awkward looking prepubescent girl boy into a full-fledged teenage girl. It was a bit scary but I thought it was all a part of the program. Now, there was something else, I could see it on Gloria’s face. Her scans clearly found something, something that was unsettling to her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, Mia squeezing my hand.

Gloria looked more confused. “According to my latest scan, you appear to have a uterus, now, and everything that goes with it.”

“Holy Hannah.”

I blanked out most of the rest of the conversation. Gloria went on to explain everything that she found. The blood rushed to my ears at that point, drowning out pretty much everything. Mia seemed to be paying attention though, nodding her head every so often. Me, all I could think about was the fact that now I could have children. Well, I could if I didn’t have a penis that is. I’m not really sure how I should have reacted. I felt like throwing up or passing out. Instead, I just sat there and listened as the two of them discussed things. Thankfully, neither of them asked for my opinion. They made plans though. I’m not sure how I wasn’t involved in all of that actually. They talked like I wasn’t even there through most of it.

Finally, Mia turned to me. “Ollie, you okay with that?”

All I could do was numbly nod my head.

“When did I agree to this?”

We were in the back of the Audi halfway to our destination. Mia was sitting across from me, trying to keep herself occupied by playing some game on her laptop. Yesterday, she and Jade bonded over it, both of them apparently preferring Rogues. Mia played a yellow and red clad archer---she makes me proud. Jade favored a green clad assassin with poisonous claws. It makes me wonder what her off hours are like. The two of them spent an hour talking about it, sharing tips and things like that. Of course, that was before the shit hit the fan with the whole Board thing. Now, I couldn’t imagine there would be much free time for Jade to be playing games. Right now, she was back at the office, trying to see if there was any way around the proxy. Jade definitely lived up to the hype. She was very efficient when there weren’t scumbags trying to railroad her. Before I thought Scarlet hired her merely because she was twenty-three, but it appears Jade had some mad skills. She was putting those skills to good use now, trying desperately to see if we had any options left.

She promised to keep me apprised of the situation.

To her and the rest of the staff, I was on my way to a therapy session. In truth, we were actually on our way to STAR Labs. Apparently, that’s what Mia and Gloria were talking about yesterday---the conversation I was only half paying attention to. They made arrangements for me to meet with Gloria’s old professor–some man named Dr. Hamilton. The meeting was off the books, strictly on a need-to-know basis–not just for my people, either. Gloria made Hamilton promise to keep things low key, in case there were people out there wishing to sell my story to the highest bidder. I could just see the headlines: “QUEEN, THE SUPER FREAK”. It was one thing for the press to label me as an incompetent bimbo, but it was another thing entirely for them to think I was a Meta. Hell, I didn’t even believe the last one. Gloria did and she was convinced that Dr. Hamilton could prove it.

That’s also why we decided to take the Audi. Mia was hoping for the Vauxhall and I wanted the Viper, of course. Luke decided on something a little less flashy. The Audi Q7 was one of the very few SUVs in the Old Man’s garage. Though its windows were tinted, it was less conspicuous as most of the other cars. In fact, when we drove out of the garage most of the paparazzi ignored it because it wasn’t my usual fare. They were used to seeing me in the limo and were expecting the same. Jade had suggested the car change, actually. The Audi was one of the less flashy cars, too. There was the Mercedes E Class but it was currently getting some work done. It felt a little strange driving in the Audi, but it was only to the Lab and back.

A trip in a glorified station wagon. Kill me now.

“This is nice,” said Mia as she took a sip of her coke, letting out a loud sigh. “I could really get used to traveling like this.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t feel like you’re going on vacation in this thing?”

She shook her head. “I feel famous”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. We didn’t talk for a few minutes, then she stopped typing. “I think I figured out a new suit idea?”

“New suit?”

“Well you can’t very well wear the old one.”

Right back on the horse, huh? I frowned. I’d actually been thinking a lot about that, actually. As much as I was a little reluctant to get back out there just to get blown up again, I did come to one decision. I took a deep breath. “You think I need training?”

She gave me a strange look. “Um… last I looked, there was no listing for superhero trainers in the yellow pages.”

I’d just finished eating a Snickers a few minutes before. I crumpled up the wrapper and threw it at her. “I’m not talking about actual superhero training. I’m thinking more along the lines of learning how to react faster, maybe how to fight. So far I’ve been kinda winging things, but after almost getting blown up it definitely puts things into perspective.”

“I guess I can see that.”

That’s what I loved about her. Mia rolled with the punches and nothing I did seemed too outlandish for her. She was with me every step of the way through this, a true friend. In fact, I’m not sure I could do this whole superhero thing without her. I wouldn’t call her a sidekick but she was definitely there to support me whenever I needed it.

Which of course brought us back to the suit. When Mia set her mind on something there was very little you could do to stop her. “So what have you come up with, suit wise?”

Mia smiled and turned the laptop so the screen was facing me. On it was a 3D rendering of me, at least a close approximation. She was wearing a black jumpsuit with an arrow on the chest. The arrow was vertical, pointing upwards. It was pretty cool and looked a lot sleeker than my original one. To top things off I had green gloves and boots with the same green hooded cloak and black mask. It wasn’t too far off from my original one, but it looked more professional.

“So, this is the Green Arrow of the future?”

She nodded. “As soon as you’re on the mend, of course.”

Though nothing was visible, I was pretty wrapped up. Gloria wrapped my ribs yesterday and stitched up the few cuts that required it. I had severe pain from the sprained ankle, but she promised that with painkillers it wouldn’t hurt as much. When not sitting, I had to use crutches, which I’m sure the press was going to have a field day with. The official story was an unfortunate gym accident. According to the release Jade wrote up, I slipped coming off the treadmill. Someone had already run with the story this morning, actually referring to me as the “Clumsy Heiress”. I suppose that’s better than being the “Bimbo Tart”.

I still had a question or two about the suit, of course. We spent the rest of the ride discussing it. It was still going to be made out of Perma-Flex, but a different blend. Apparently, the company who designed it was working on a new formula, one that took field combat into mind. They were trying to work shrapnel and things like into the equation. Mia hacked their system and downloaded their designs. Then, she’d have it made through a subsidiary, marking it an R&D project for the company. She did it so discreetly that I’m not even sure what channels she went through. She promised the suit would be ready in a week and that everything was legit. So, in the meantime, the Green Arrow would continue her vacation.

The suit kept us preoccupied the whole ride. I didn’t even notice we reached our destination until the car stopped. Turning to look out the window, I saw the white marble and glass structure before us. A man named Meersman, in an attempt to create nationwide research facilities outside of government jurisdiction, set up the Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories about fifteen years ago. Many very important men, like the Old Man, helped foot the bill to get such places off the ground. It was a little known fact that STAR Labs was starting to do Meta testing, trying to see where the gene came from. I’m not sure what their end game was but I knew the government had to be involved in there somewhere. I’d only had a chance to read through some of the Old Man’s private files but, apparently, he was trying to get an injunction against the government for trying to “force” private facilities into Department of Defense contracts.
So far, the Old Man was losing that battle.

Luke got out of the car first, walking around it to open my door. I handed him my left crutch and slowly slid out, passing the right crutch over, as well. He held one of the crutches so I could get a hold of it, then he helped me get the other one under my arm. I felt ridiculous and a bit weak but it was keeping the pressure off my foot, so it helped. After that, Luke got into the car and told me he’d meet us inside before driving off. There was a parking lot around back, so I assume he was going to find a spot. I watched the “station wagon” drive off then turned to hobble up the unblemished sidewalk toward the gleaming white building. From above, it was shaped to look like a star that fit in nicely with its name and the nickname the locals dubbed the city.

Mia pushed the blue handicap button when we got to the door. Then, she followed close behind as I hobbled into the lobby. Everything inside was pristine and sparkling, including the large portrait of my grandfather hanging over the receptionist’s desk. I hobbled through the vacant sitting area and up to her horseshoe-shaped counter. She looked bored, filing her nails. When she saw us, she smiled. It was one of those fake ones. I hoped my sunglasses hid most of my bruised face, but from her grimace it was clear that they didn’t. During the explosion, a piece of brick hit me in the face. Yesterday my whole face was puffed up but most of the swelling had gone done, leaving me with a black eye and a nasty bruise.

“How can I help you, Miss…?”

“King.” I said quickly, sticking with an old alias.

When I was picked up off the island by the cruise ship, I pretended to be a Texan by the name of Bonnie King. I only dropped the charade when Gloria was around. I’m not sure why I lied back then. I guess I didn’t want people to know that I was a guy. Now, it seemed like the right thing to do. In fact, Gloria suggested it. Just in case people started poking around in the records, they’d see Bonnie King and not Olivia Queen.

The receptionist smiled and typed away. With the bruised face and the normal clothes–i.e. hoodie and jeans–there was no way she could tell I was me.

“Oh, here you are, Miss King,” she said, looking up from the computer and flashing me another one of her fake smiles. “Dr. Hamilton left a message for me to send you straight to his office.”

She turned in her seat and pointed to a door as it clicked open. I nodded. Together, Mia and I went through the door. The hallway leading to the doctor’s office was just as pristine and sterile as the rest of the place. The only thing that seemed to differentiate it from everything else was the carpeting. Here, instead of the polished floors, there was a bland gray carpet. I tried not to stare at as I slowly moved along but I couldn’t help it. Mia seemed to be doing the same because of the comments she made every few seconds.

“I feel like I’m in a hospital” was one that she used frequently.

Finally, we reached aboard with a name stenciled in the glass: DR. EMIL HAMILTON, LEAD RESEARCHER. Clearly, Gloria’s teacher made a good living for himself. I took a deep breath as Mia rapped on the door. A few moments later, after some movement from inside, the door opened. There was a tall man in a white lab coat there to greet us. He appeared to be in his forties, most the black in his hair and goatee turning gray. He gave us a once over then a warm, welcoming smile. It wasn’t fake like the receptionist’s. He wore a badge with his picture on it and his name underneath. It’s funny because he appeared exactly how I was picturing him in my head. However, his hair wasn’t as messy and he had normal glasses, not the ones that were tiny and fit on just his nose.

“Miss King?” he asked, giving me a once over.

“For the moment.” I said and he smiled.

Gloria had called earlier in the morning and said the meeting was all arranged. In the books, I would be ‘Bonnie King’, but Hamilton knew who I really was. He also promised not to use my real name while the two of us were in public. So we’d keep up the charade until we got some place more secure. I thought that place might be his office but, instead, he pointed down the hall and led the way. Mia and I had no choice but to follow. We had to walk down three hallways and take the elevator before we finally arrived at his sub-level basement laboratory. When we finally got to the lab, he typed in a code at the key pad, then let me in first. The lights turned on as soon as I stepped into the large room and I was hit by a very sterile odor.

I’d been in the school chemistry labs but it was nothing like this one. For one thing, there weren’t desks and lab stations all over the place. There only seemed to be one large station and lots of sophisticated equipment. I could only name about half the devices and only because I’d seen them on various movies and television shows. The usual was scattered across the station: beakers, Bunsen burners, a microscope or two. Everything was neat and organized though. There was a desk in the corner, framed on either side by filing cabinets. On the desk were several file folders, a lamp and a computer. Though it looked very clean, there were a lot of personal touches as well: calendar, framed photos, some posters and lots of charts. There were two 'fridges, one had a glass front and was filled with vials and test tubes. The other was a mini-fridge so I assumed it had food.

The doctor walked over to the desk, sitting on the edge of it. He reached behind and grabbed a folder. When he spoke, there was excitement in his voice. “So, Miss Queen, tell me why you believe that you’re a Meta.”

I laughed. “I don’t think I’m a Meta at all.” He looked a bit confused. I sighed. “Gloria thinks I’m a Meta.”

“And, you are convinced otherwise?”

“She thinks otherwise,” said Mia quickly before I can answer. “But, she does these amazing things.”

“Do you have the ability to provide a demonstration of these professed ‘amazing things’?”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I looked quickly around the room. I’m not sure what they expected me to show them. I didn’t have heat vision or super hearing. I was a normal girl and like a normal girl, there was nothing wrong with me. Okay, so that’s only partially true, I’m not normal in the sense that I’m not fully female, but close enough. I learned to accept that fact. There was no way I was going to let anyone talk me into believing I had super powers. I looked at the two of them staring at me, waiting for me to do something. I sighed again, finally picking up his letter opener. I looked around the room, trying to find something. They wanted mad skills so I’d give them mad skills. I tried to find a target, any target. There were a lot to choose from in this room but I think I found one worthy to impress.

I stopped looking and listened. There was this faint buzzing sound as a fly flittered about the bright lights at the ceiling. The others didn’t seem to notice, but I did. I centered on the fly and it was as if the whole room slowed down. The only thing that mattered was me and the fly. I found it, listened as I could hear its wings slowly flapping. I took aim and threw the letter opener. Instead of throwing it directly at the fly, I took aim a millimeter from it. So when the world came back into normal motion, the letter opener was where the fly was going to be. I speared the fly against the far wall, it was a direct hit. I couldn’t help but smile.

Dr. Hamilton and Mia blinked. I’d shown off in front of Mia before, but nothing like that. It took the two of them a second to realize what happened but when they did, Hamilton ran over to the wall. He stared a few seconds at my kill, his mouth open ever so slightly.

“A more direct hit would be inconceivable,” he said, pulling the letter opener from the wall.

The dead fly fell to the floor.

“Holy shit, Ollie!” shrieked Mia, running over and looking at the mark in the wall where the opener stuck. She turned to me, shock on her face as well. “I knew you were good, but I had no idea!”

Hamilton looked from the fly to the opener in his hand. I watched as he slowly put two and two together. When he did, his eyes widened slightly. “That would make you…”

“Yes, doctor.” I said, neither of us saying what we were thinking.

So, now, there was another person who knew who I really was. I definitely have to keep my big mouth shut. Now, it seemed I’d have to stop showing off, too.
He took a few moments, turning the letter opener over in his hand. When he spoke, there was even more excitement in his voice. “How long have you been able to accomplish a stunt similar to this one?”

I shrugged. “I’ve always been a good shot. I’ve been studying archery most of my life, but something like that?” I shrugged again. “My aim has gotten better since the island.”

“The island?”

I sighed. I’d only told very few people about the island and what exactly went on there. Mia was one of them. I promised to only tell the story to those people I really trusted. I looked intently at Hamilton. Gloria was convinced that he could help me. I trusted Gloria immensely, so I suppose it couldn’t hurt to trust the doctor, as well. So, I took a deep breath and started from the beginning, telling him about my previous medical history and going from there. He seemed interested in the island, but more interested in the glowing green stones. He kept stopping me and asking me about the stones. He wanted to know if I ever drank the water in which the stones were submerged. Well, I didn’t really have much choice because it was one of the only fresh water sources on the island.

“These new changes–for example, the increase of your femininity–did it start to happen after you drank from the reservoir where you located the stones?”

I shrugged. “Probably. I didn’t really keep a record.”

He nodded, stroking his chin. “And, these stones: did you happen to transport any of them with you upon your rescue?”

“I made several of them into arrowheads. I’ve got a couple more.”

Hamilton smiled. “Would it be pertinent for me to request an examination of those stones?”

Mia caught on. “You think the stones are making her like this?”

He shook his head. “I am not so disillusioned to believe that I can formulate a hypothesis without having reviewed the evidence. These stones are a variable in the equation. There would be several causes of their green color and the fact that they seem to glow. For instance, they could be harmlessly phosphorescent, but I can’t rule that out without testing them in the lab, first. You see where I'm getting to?”

So, in the end I agree to send him the last of the stones I still had. After that, he took some blood and ran a couple of other tests on me. I played along, but I was convinced it was a waste of my time. I still humored him and Mia, for that matter. He asked me some questions and I answered to the best of my ability. Overall, the whole visit lasted about an hour or so. When we were done and the door to the lab was opened, I found Luke standing vigil outside the door. He nodded to me with a warm smile. Hamilton followed the three of us to the lobby.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss King,” he said, shaking my hand. “I will give you a call in about two weeks when your test results come back.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

I turned and hobbled away, the three of us leaving a very giddy scientist in the lobby. The Audi was waiting out front for us. Luke went ahead to open the doors. Mia and I were halfway there when she cursed. She mumbled something about leaving her bag inside. Instead of hobbling the rest of the way to the car, I stood and waited for her. Luke gave me a look, but I waved him into the car. Mia was always like this. She’d forget her own head if it wasn’t attached. As I stood and waited, my arms got tired. So, I saw a bench closer to the building and started hobbling toward it. As I slowly started to seat myself on it, my cell rang. I groaned loudly, knowing how much of a bitch it was to get it out of my pocket. I finally fished the phone out but it had already stopped ringing.
There was a text though from an UNKNOWN sender.

I groaned. How in the hell did someone know my number? Instead of deleting it, curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. It was a picture text, on the screen I saw a few strands of blonde hair and a message to go along with it:

ONE PIECE AT A TIME :).

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

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Author's Note: Sorry for the massive delay but I've been kinda busy as of late---too many things to do and only one me :) Things should take a different turn after this one, less business stuff for a while. I'd like to thank the people who beta read this for me, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Five:

One piece at a time, the words of the text haunted me for the next few days. I couldn’t get them out of my head. Then there was the smiley face that accompanied them. What kind of sick bastard would threaten someone and then sign that threat with a smiley face? As soon as I got it and was done getting over the shock, Luke made sure we got out of there real fast. He rushed Mia and me into the car and drove as fast as legally possible back to the Tower. Then he contacted the proper authorities. The only thing the police did was file a report. So I put my own person on it: Mia. Mia spent the rest of that night and into the next trying to trace the call. But apparently, who ever sent it was just as good or better as she was at covering their tracks. She finally gave up after she came to the final dead end. Apparently, my mystery texter was a crack electronics expert as well, making their call untraceable.

I tried putting the text behind me to think of other things. Unfortunately, those other things involved the Board and their further attempts to push me out. Jade and Joanna finally got their act together and tried to file an injunction against the Board but were having a hard time getting an audience with a judge. It didn’t help things that Ross was waylaying their every attempt. I don’t know what I did to the bastard but he was hell bent to make me suffer. Everything we threw at him he seemed to be ready for, it was almost as if he was reading our minds. Worse, someone was tipping him off. I hated pointing fingers but it was the only other answer. The only problem with that theory was that I was starting to trust these people. Jade, Joanna and to a lesser extent, Scarlet. Even though it was becoming increasingly apparent that Scarlet was distancing herself from me.

If I had to point fingers anywhere, it might be in her direction. After all, she wasn’t here to serve me but the company as a whole. It was pretty clear that she didn’t like the old man’s idea of putting me in charge either. She didn’t verbally announce her disdain for me but it was clear by the fact that she quickly pushed me off on someone else. I hated to think of her as a traitor but it was the only answer I could come up with. I mean, if Jade or Joanna were going to betray me then why go to all this trouble to help me in the first place.

We were getting nowhere fast with that help either. So far, my attempts to contact Mr. Wayne were failing miserably. He was the only member of the Board not to choose a side and it was becoming increasingly apparent that he wanted no part in any of it. Joanna and Jade were still convinced he was our best hope but how can he help if no one can get a hold of him. No, we were alone; I was alone. I would go down fighting but I would go down in the end.

“You’re moping again,” said Jade as I continued to stare out the big window in my office.

The city looked beautiful this time of day. The tops of the all the buildings gleamed in the afternoon sun. I looked toward the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean beyond it. I couldn’t help but sigh. I’d been cooped up in this office for the last three days, going over paperwork, trying to exploit the loopholes. Jade was my rock during it all. Joanna was cool too but she worked for the enemy as well. It was hard to see her anything but a friend in all this but I had to remind myself that she was actually here because the firm put her here. She genuinely wanted to help me but her father was also one of the bastards trying to strong-arm me. I couldn’t figure him out either. He was supposed to be on my side I thought. He was my grandfather’s lawyer after all and yet he turned against me before the rest. It didn’t help matters that he owned shares in the company as well. Not enough to put him on the Board but close enough. It was a definite conflict of interest and was one of the things that Jade was working on. Because Pierce had a stake in the company, she and Joanna were trying to get me another lawyer. Someone not associated with her father’s firm, someone that maybe I could trust too.

All I could do in the meantime was stare out the window at my gorgeous view and roll a pencil along the desk. I was bored as hell. The only good thing about the last few days was yesterday when Gloria announced I didn’t need to use the crutches anymore. Which I should have been ecstatic about, but they actually turned out to be a good thing in the end. Though the press dubbed me the “Clumsy Heiress” because of the fake story we made up, I got a lot of sympathy for them too. They started to overlook the fact that I was some bimbo and started to feel a bit sorry for me. Not all of them were as considerate but there were enough that people were now seeing me as an actual human being and not something to be despised.

“Are you going to roll that thing all day?” asked Jade, referring to the pencil.

I shrugged. “Is there anything else for me to do?”

She looked at the Qpad currently in her hand. She tapped the screen with one of her green nails. “Well, you missed yesterday’s appointment with your tutor, we could reschedule that.”

I stuck out my tongue at her suggestion. It’s not that I didn’t want to meet with the tutor but I had a lot on my mind lately. Miss Jones---the forty something spinster who tutored me---was an all right person if a bit of a bore. I met with her three times a week or at least that was the plan. I’d only ever met with her twice so far and both times my mind wandered. I’d been doing that a lot lately. Back as Jonas, I was never this scatter brained but with everything I’d been through, it was bound to happen. I just didn’t have the time to sit here and listen about the fall of the Roman Empire or run through complex mathematical computations.

“Then maybe something a little less academic” she said as she tapped away at the pad.

I could do with some non-academic unwinding actually.

“Might I suggest that physical therapy Dr. Carlson mentioned?”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. It was supposed to be part of my recovery. Apparently getting almost blown up and blasted across an alley requires me to seek out some kind of strenuous and pointless exercise. Gloria had a number of really good people lined up. She gave the list to Mia who in turn tried to give it to me. I glanced briefly at before sticking it in my desk drawer. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to her people it’s just that I didn’t need them. I felt fine, better than fine actually. In fact, besides the slight bit of pain in my left ankle, things were perfect. But after Gloria’s last visit---when she took away the crutches---she almost insisted upon it.

I listened as Jade explained the benefits of the therapy, just like Gloria had. I blanked most of it out. After about ten minutes of it---that’s all I could take---I decided to go for a walk around the Tower. The top two floors were the living area, the rest of the Tower was mainly offices. Though there were a few floors devoted to other things. On the twentieth floor, for instance we had an indoor pool. On the 22nd floor, there was a Gym. The private medical facility was on the 15th, my grandfather’s library and trophy rooms were on the 10th. Then there was the museum. It was on the 17th floor, used mainly to house antiquities that the Old Man picked up in his many travels.

It was the museum I decided to visit on this particular trek. I hadn’t been in it since the Old Man’s death but I used to find myself in there a lot since coming to live here. There was something about weaving slowly through the maze of glass cases that was oddly comforting. The Old Man had one of the largest private collections on the West Coast, hell it might have been the largest for all I knew. Most of the artifacts were from Greece, he had a thing for the Greeks. Most of the stuff was from the 12th Century BC, supposedly the era in which the Trojan War took place. The Old Man was obsessed with it, all his artifacts supposedly coming from Turkey where the real Troy was. There was a lot there but my favorite piece in the collection was a 12th Century bow. It wasn’t very fancy but it caught my eye above everything else.

I walked through the room and stood in front of the bow’s case, reading the description on the little gold plaque: Trojan War Bow. It was one of the few artifacts that he owned that was in fairly good condition. Looking at the petrified piece of wood under the glass you could see a clear curved bow-like shape. It wasn’t a full bow however. When I first laid eyes on it about a month ago, there was something about it that had me transfixed. A small part of me wanted to break the glass and touch it. But I knew if I did, it would probably crumple in my hands. So all I could do was stand at a distance and stare. But staring at it always seemed to make me feel better. Even now as I looked, I couldn’t help but wonder what the wielder’s life might have been like. Did he have problems like mine, did he have scheming bastards trying to backstab him.

I drew a lot of parallels between myself and the imaginary bow wielder I created in my head. Somehow, I envisioned him as a great warrior, striking down his enemies with a single shot. A small part of me saw it as Paris’ bow, the famed prince and archer. Most known for stealing Helen and starting the war. But very few people remembered that it was actually Paris who shot the arrow that brought down the mighty Achilles. Though I loved Robin Hood, a small part of me always liked the story that a single arrow brought down one of the mightiest warriors the world has ever known. Of course, it was an arrow that brought down Paris too.

I stayed in the museum about an hour, staring at the bow and other things. When I finished, I made sure to lock the door on the way out. Security got another upgrade in the last few days. Before it was all keypads but now it was fingerprint scanners. It was another attempt by the Board to make things a little more efficient around here. I’m just surprised they let my prints into the system at all. I hated the fact that they were trying to take over every aspect of my life though. It wasn’t just the scanners and telling me how to spend my own money either. It was the secret video cameras, the new guards, the complete and total lack of privacy. Just the other day Mia did an internal sweep of the Tower’s mainframe and found several monitoring software bots. She disabled them first and then rewrote their programs to pretend to spy on me but in truth, they were actually spying on whoever put them there. The culprit was my friend Ross, who I’m sure was just looking for more little bits to push me further away from control.

When I exited the museum, a new guard was waiting. He was dressed all in black but it wasn’t as sophisticated as the old guard’s. This new uniform consisted of black pants and turtleneck, wireless earpieces and no sense of humor. All the new guys were ex-military and supposedly highly qualified---Mia took the liberty of hacking their files for me. There were twenty of them now, all the same apparently. Of my grandfather’s security personnel, only Marko remained now. But I think that was more out of fear than anything else. Cain Marko was huge, at least seven foot and built like a house. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be the guy who fired him. So to keep order, the Board let him stay around. I managed to keep Spencer and Locke as well, working them into the deal as my personal bodyguards. I didn’t like the goons but after all, they’d been through for the company, I wasn’t going to let them hang out to dry.

Luke was still around too, but he’d been downgraded to my driver. I’d read his file too and it was sad to see someone with his potential to be screwed like that. At 25, Luke tried and failed SEAL training. He wasn’t a washout per se but he once told me his heart wasn’t in it. He did one tour of duty in Iraq before an injury sent him home. He got honorably discharged and came to work for the old man about a month afterwards. He’d been here less than a week before he was assigned to me. Luke was a good guy besides that little flaw of ratting me out to the old man----I’d forgiven him for that.

The new guy was touching his ear when I stepped out of the room. As soon as I turned from locking the door, he stood at attention. I threw up a mock salute, which got no response whatsoever. I rolled my eyes as I walked past him. He fell into step behind me. Yeah they were supposed to follow me around everywhere I went. I felt like a damn prisoner in my own fricken house. It was humiliating. I tried not to let his presence bother me as I walked down the hall and slipped into the elevator. I hit the button fast, hoping the door would close before he got in. It almost did too but the bastard was quick, slipping inside at the very last moment.

“Did they clone you freaks from the same guy?”

Like usual, he kept his mouth shut. The guys guarding Buckingham Palace had more emotion than these goons.

The whole ride up to my penthouse was made in silence. I occupied my time trying to think of better ways to dodge these guys in the future. When the elevator stopped and I got out on my floor, he didn’t follow. Instead, there was another one waiting for me. Just like I mentioned, it was like they were cloned from the same guy. All of them looked the same: tall, Caucasian, no emotions. It’s like the Board went to Boring Henchmen R’ Us or something. This guy was a little darker in skin tone than the elevator guy but they had the same buzz cut, same expressionless demeanor. I tried not to let it get me down though as I entered my place. I made sure he stayed outside though as I quickly slammed the door in his face.

Jade was sitting on my couch, working on her Qpad. She looked up briefly as I entered. “I called you twice you know,” she said, as she set her Pad on the coffee table.

“I shut my phone off” I said, flopping down on the other end of the couch.

She smiled. Then reached forward, grabbing the remote. She unmuted the TV and turned the volume way up. I knew this routine well. After finding out my room was bugged, we decided to keep the bugs there. Let the bastards spy on me. Then we came up with a plan. One of us would turn the TV up real loud and the other would discreetly write down messages. The Board had a full range of audio and visual bugs on me. The loud TV drowned out the noise while we sat so our backs were always to the cameras. There were six of those, strategically placed and well hidden. Mia found them all in an hour. Instead of disabling them, we decided to let them spy.

Jade wrote down her message quickly: Got a Break. Have a number to call. There was a number scrawled on the bottom.

My eyes widened and she nodded. I stood up; taking the note with me as I slowly went into the bathroom. There were two rooms where they didn’t have cameras, one of them the bathroom. The other was my bedroom. So there were no horny pervs someone getting kicks out of a teenage girl doing whatever. I was always curious about what they’d do if they caught sight of what I actually had in my pants. I was half-tempted to undress in the living room, give my spies a shock of their life. Thinking about that made me smile as I dialed the number, Jade gave me. Her message was a code: Got a Break meant they’d finally gotten through to Wayne. My small circle of allies was convinced the Board was trying to keep him from me.

My call was answered on the second ring. “Wayne” said a male voice on the other end.

I sighed heavily. Maybe now all this crap could come to an end. “Mr. Wayne, this is Olivia Queen, Jameson Queen’s granddaughter.”

There was a chuckle. “The nonexistent one.”

Crap. Of course, he’d know that, he was family after all.

I took a deep breath. “I can explain that.”

“No need, we all have our secrets. I know I do but let’s just pretend neither one of us knows who you really are.”

I smiled. I liked him already. “Works for me.”

“Now that that’s out of the way, this is the part where you tell me how you managed to get a hold of a private line that only two people in the whole world know, one of them me.”

I bit my lip. “I have people.” I said, trying to sound cooler than I actually felt.

In truth, I was terrified. I wonder what he’d say to the idea of my computer hacker friend poking around where she didn’t belong.

He shocked me with his next words. “Your friend Miss Dearden is very skilled, she has my respect. But I’m sure that’s not why you called me.”

Moment of truth. I took another deep breath and told him everything, well everything about the Board anyway. He listened intently, never saying a word. It all came out in a bit of rush but I wasn’t sure how much he wanted to know. I might have put in stuff that he didn’t need to know either like how scared I was that these people were now in control of everything. When I was finished, I finally took a much needed breath.

He laughed. “I see where that might be a problem.”

I bit my lip. “My grandfather held you in very high regard and I was hoping seeing as we’re family that you might extend the same courtesy you did to him for me as well.”

There was a moment of silence. “I’ll see what I can do about the Board but in the mean time I’m going to give you a number of a lawyer, a man that I trust completely. He’s helped me in the past with situations like your own. He’s very good at what he does so you have nothing to fear.”

I let out another sigh, this one of relief. He gave me the number; it was for a lawyer in LA. I wasn’t expecting that. “You sure about this?”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, he’s one of the good guys.”

I let out another sigh.

“And Olivia you can relax now, things are going to get better.”

Things are going to get better, Bruce’s words were on my mind the whole time I sat at the table and waited. Those words were a fantasy but a good one worth holding on to. After I got off the phone with him, I felt a hundred times better. She was right immediately. When I told Jade about the conversation, she seemed to look less stressed out. I mean losing this company didn’t just screw me over, it screwed others as well. Jade was a new employee but I was pretty certain the bastards didn’t want to keep her around. We were both certain that if I went, she’d follow soon after. No one wanted a reminder of my incompetence lingering about. I made a promise to her that I would never let things come to that and now with Mr. Wayne finally in our corner, things were hopefully going to change.
That’s why I was sitting in the mall food court, trying hard to blend in with all the other normal teenagers.

I looked at the slip of paper in my hand; all that was on it was a name: Johnathan Walters. After the phone conversation yesterday, Jade and Mia did their own separate research. Walters was good, specializing in several different fields. Top on his list was Contract Law, something Jade was very happy to see. That meant that John would be able to help me get out of this little predicament rather easily. That’s what we hoped anyway. Mia’s search brought up some personal things. He was a bit of a glory hound skirt chaser. Not exactly someone I wanted to be associated with, but given the circumstances, I didn’t really have much of a choice. Both of them found that he came highly recommended, lots of accolades. So whether or not I liked him as a person mattered very little, I needed him and that was the important thing. The other important thing at the moment was trying to be inconspicuous.

It was a Saturday afternoon so the place was filled with three times the amount of people. Most of the Food Court was filled with families but there were a lot of teens too. I even recognized some of the faces. It felt strange calling them classmates though because I was no longer in school with them. At one table was a group of jocks who used to hit on me in the halls, at another was a pair of girls that used to be friends with my crush Sandra Hawke. Looking at the two of them, I couldn’t help but think about Sandra. Back as Jonas, I fooled myself into thinking I was attracted to her. But in truth, I don’t think there really was any attraction. I mean I didn’t get attracted to girls that way, not like Roy or other guys anyway. What I thought of attraction might have actually been great admiration.

Sandra was an amazing person. So perfectly coiffed, so polite and pretty. She always said the right things and treated people---no matter their status in the school---as equals. We went on one date together, to the school dance. It was at the end of the year, right before Summer Break. Probably one of the only good memories I had of that time. Shortly after that, my family and I went on vacation and everything fell apart after that. When I got back to the states after being stranded on that island for months, the Old Man had Jonas Oliver declared dead. Apparently, Sandra didn’t take the news of my disappearance very well. Her family moved north and supposedly into an ashram. The Hawke’s were dyed in the wool hippies and proud of it---Sandra’s actually name was Moonday, believe it or not.

The girls---Sandra’s former friends---took notice of me staring. One of them, a pretty blonde smiled and waved. I cursed under my breath; all I needed was to draw attention to myself. I dodged the paparazzi early by playing the shell game, sending out three different cars at once. It apparently worked but if these two recognized me then all of this was for naught. I looked past them, trying not to notice them for a moment. Instead, I caught eyes with Luke who was sitting two tables over, dressed in civvies. He was my only protection today. I gave Spencer and Locke the day off; they were too recognizable to the press anyway. Luke looked from me to the girls, wondering if he should intervene but I shook my head.

That didn’t seem to stop them though. They slowly got up from their table, carrying their bright red plastic trays. They came toward me, smiling. When they got closer, the second one---a brunette---had a strange look on her face. I bit my lip, wondering if she recognized me. Her name was Cathy, Sandra’s best friend. I’d met her more than once; in fact, I had a couple of classes with her last year. The blonde was Debbie; we had Math together two years in a row. She wasn’t giving me the confused look but I didn’t really associate much with her. She wasn’t a bimbo but she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed either.

“I love that top,” said Debbie as she slipped into one of the empty chairs.

The top in question was a pastel blue spaghetti strap tank. It, along with my hip hugging jeans and boots probably cost more than the combined wardrobe of them and several other people in the Court. They were the most casual clothes I could find in the closet. It was one of the outfits that I got myself, ordered online. I tried to look rich while at the same time maintaining my own style. It was Mia’s idea; she wanted me to conform but not so much so that I lost myself in the process. So Olivia Queen was chic but not trashy. I liked the look we created, it made me feel comfortable and high class at the same time. And it scared the hell out of me too. A few months ago, I wouldn’t have been thinking about fashion in the least but now thanks to circumstance I knew more about these kinds of things than I ever wanted to admit.

Jonas was slowly dying inside of me day by day.

“Umm thanks,” I said in response to her compliment.

Cathy gave me the once over, still confused. “Do you go to Star City High?”

I shook my head. Star City was the local name for Jack Kirby, the high school I used to attend. None of us know why it’s called Star City but there were theories. We had more winning sports teams than any city in the state so I think we were dubbed “Star City” by our rivals. The other common rumor was about a meteorite crashing here hundreds of years ago or something. Regardless of the reason, everyone inside the city dubbed San Fran the “Star City”. I thought it was kinda cool if a bit confusing at times.

“I’m home schooled” I said.

Cathy bit her lip. “Then why do you look so familiar?”

I was about to open my mouth, uttering some lie made up on the fly when the whole world came crashing down around me. It was one word, one name that shattered everything: “Olivia” and the voice that uttered it was one that sent a shiver down my spine: Roy. Of course, as soon as he half shouted my name from across the food court, Debbie’s eyes popped open. Cathy’s mouth dropped too. It was clear the two of them recognized me now. I guess in retrospect I shouldn’t have worn my hair in the now famous Queen Twist----long and braided down my back.

All I could think of as he took the last empty seat at the table was why did it have to be Roy. He smiled at me and then frowned at the other two girls. Debbie for her part sneered. I could have kicked myself for not remembering that she and Roy had a small fling. It only lasted a few days but apparently, he was too hung up on some other girl to be really serious about things. Even Cathy shot him a dirty look, both of them forgetting for a moment that he just said something major and life altering.

Cathy recovered first. “You’re her,” she said, smiling big then smacked her forehead. “That’s why I recognized you.”

She pulled her QPhone out of her pocket and showed me a pic: it was one of me leaving the Tower on my crutches the other day. The rest of the screen was filled with the news article the pic accompanied. It was one of the more positive ones about me. So the fact that these two girls weren’t throwing their food trays at me meant that they didn’t believe everything the media said.

I sighed. “Guilty as charged”

The two girls squealed, I hushed them. I think they caught on real quick that I didn’t want to draw attention to myself so they shut up quickly. That didn’t stop them from wanting pics with me and autographs though. I happily obliged. Then it was a barrage of fashion tips and things like that. I tried my hardest not to groan through the whole ordeal. I did keep catching Roy staring at me though. At first, I thought he was being a normal guy, doing his thing. But it was the way he was looking at me. It sent shivers up my back again. I would admit that I was happy to see him, I’d been thinking a lot about our last impromptu meeting. But I was glad these two were here with me because there’s no way I could face sitting here all alone with him.

That alone time came sooner than I thought though.

Cathy looked at her phone and sighed. “Our ride is going to be here which sucks because it’s not every day we get to meet a bazillionaire.”

I smiled as they stood, dreading the fact that they were going to leave me. When they were gone, Roy laughed.

“So are you stalking me or is it the other way around?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, which got another funny look. “Ok, so you have to stop looking at me like that.”

He frowned. “You look and act so much like your cousin it’s scary.”

I bit my lip. There’s that guilt again. I hated not telling him but how would I even broach the subject. Oh by the way Roy, I’m not just a girl but I’m also your best friend Jonas pretending to be someone else now. I’m not sure if he’d die of shock or punch me in the face.

I decided to do something risky. “What was he like?”

Roy frowned. “You never met him?”

I shook my head so he started to tell me all about myself. It was kinda strange hearing about myself from a third party. Roy was very kind, too kind in fact. He painted me like some fricken superhero and I was hardly worth it. I suppose he was trying to play me up for the benefit of a pretty girl and my “cousin” but I was just amazed at how good of a job he was doing. If I had any qualms about telling him, they were justified now. There was no way I could tell him who I was now after hearing him talk about me the way he did. He told me about all the cool stuff we did together: playing Robin Hood in the woods, archery, going to the Gym together.

“The Gym?”

He nodded. “Old Wild Cat’s place.”

I totally blanked on that. I’d only been there once and remember it fondly because Wild Cat Ted Grant thought I was a girl. He frowned upon girls being in his manly sanctuary. After he grumbled a bit about me, Roy was able to convince him I was a guy and he let me stay. The incident happened not too long before I went on vacation actually. I had plans to get a full membership like Roy as soon as I got home. Now thinking about that place I couldn’t help but see a solution to my physical therapy problem. Gloria wanted me to work my strained and bruised muscles and what better place to do it than at a Gym.

“You think he’d take me on as a client?” I asked, referring to Grant.

Roy shrugged. “He isn’t a fan of girls.”

I gave him puppy dog eyes---something I saw Mia do to her Dad more than once. It always worked on Mr. Dearden and apparently, it worked on Mr. Roy Harper too. He sighed heavily and finally agreed we could meet there tomorrow afternoon if I wanted. We tossed around times a bit and decided that the best time would be about one. I could see the huge smile on Roy’s face, probably him thinking he had a potential date. I couldn’t help but smile as well. It might be different between the two of us but at least I’d be able to hang with my friend again.

We talked like old times even though he didn’t realize it was old times. He wanted to know a lot about me but I dodged a lot of those questions by asking about him. He seemed to like the attention. It was strange watching him open up like this though. The Roy Harper I knew was pretty standoffish with girls and his innermost workings. But this Roy was completely different. He was funny and sweet and knew how to say all the right things. I was seeing a completely different side to my friend and truth be told I kinda liked it. I’m not saying I was falling in love with Roy but I wouldn’t mind spending more time with this version of him.

Our joyous conversation was short lived however. I saw him before I knew who he was but it was pretty obvious. About six feet tall, maybe a hundred and eighty pounds, brown hair speckled with gray. It was the expensive suit that gave him away though. The man approaching the table was no doubt Johnathan Walters, super attorney. He even had a bit of a swagger to his step, which made me wonder if meeting this guy was such a smart thing after all.

“Damn” I said under my breath.

“Something wrong.”

I nodded. “My lawyer’s here, looks like we’re going to have to cut this conversation a bit short.”

Roy frowned. “So tomorrow then?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Roy’s smile was huge as he got up, taking his tray with him. I watched as he meandered through the tables toward the trash can. I only turned away from him when I smelled the overpriced cologne. Johnathan was at the table, a smirk written across his face. It was a rather handsome one but the smugness was a definite turn off. I knew he was the best but did Mr. Wayne have to send such a prick to me.

“Miss King?” he asked, using the alias we agreed upon.

I nodded so he slipped into the sit directly across from me. “You’re late Mr. Walters” I said, slightly annoyed.

“I’m a busy man, sweet thing.”

I inwardly groaned. This was going to be a very long meeting indeed.

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

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Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay again, its just been one of those hectic times. I was having a bit of a problem with the opening scene as well. I'm not saying its a resolution but its a "patch" for her problem at the moment. The story will move on and periodically go back to the problem so its definitely not over. I want to give a big thank you to Faeriefyre for helping me with that scene and to Donjo and Starbuck for their insight. I also have to thank djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for their characters.

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Chapter Six:

Mr. Walters---call me John---had one of those smiles. It was the smile of a man that one could both trust and detest at the same time. Sitting across from me in his fancy expensive suit, silver tie and gold cufflinks, I wasn’t sure whether he was a big joke or my greatest savior. Since arriving five minutes ago, the only thing either of us did was introduce ourselves. I think he was giving me the once over, probably trying to decide if I was worth his time. I’m not talking about romantically either. He was handsome but he was pushing fifty at least. Besides, I didn’t intend to make a habit out of dating slime balls. Not that I was going to date anyone, but thanks to “John” I now knew what type of man I didn’t want.

He cleared his throat, carefully setting his briefcase on the table. But he made no move to open it. Instead, he flashed me another toothy smile. "Are you sure that you want to have this meeting in the food court? I can't really guarantee confidentiality, here."

I smiled. “I feel safer here, lots of people.”

“But anyone can be watching.”

I only slightly glanced around, my eyes lingering on Luke for a moment before looking at the other faces around me. I tried to tell if any of them actually knew who I was, but from the way they were acting, no one seemed to give me a second glance. Ok so there was a guy sitting by himself---college age or so. When I looked at him, he raised his eyebrows in a come hither look. I curled my lip in disgust and turned back to John. He was smiling smugly, sure that he made his point.

“I can trust these people about as much as I can trust you.”

“Good point.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page then.”

There was another moment of uneasy silence before he spoke again. “I’ve had a chance to review some of the paperwork your assistant sent over but I’d like to ask you a few questions about your situation.” I nodded so he continued. “For starters, why don’t you tell me everything in your own words and we’ll go from there.”

I took a deep breath and told him everything I knew. He nodded his head here and then, jotting notes down on a legal pad every so often. I ended with. “So they’ve completely shut me out of the company, they have control of my stocks and every day they seem to be putting new restrictions on me. So in other words, my situation in hopeless.”

He smiled from ear to ear. “Miss King, hopeless is what I do best.”

Those words had little real comfort but it was a start.

He finally opened his briefcase, taking out a folder. When he opened it up, the first thing I saw was a copy of my grandfather’s Will. After the whole fiasco with the Board before, I made sure I read the whole thing thoroughly. It turns out that my earlier assessment of the situation was off a bit. The Old Man left me the majority of the company but it turned out to be no more than sixty-two percent, the rest of the company given to charities and the other stockholders. The one good thing of it was the fact that Scarlet seemed to be the Executor but even that seemed to be a bit off to me. It bothered me that she was allowing these bastards to walk all over me like she was.

"As far as the Will is concerned, I think we should honor your grandfather's wishes and wait until you're 21 to take over primary control of the company. You're just 16 years old. I really don't think you're ready to take the reins of a multi-national corporation, are you?"

“Not on your life.”

"That's what I thought. So, the strategy is to keep the board from freezing you out, in the meantime."

“That’s the idea.”

He smiled. “The first thing we need to do is remove the Conflict of Interest.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your grandfather named Jackson Pierce as your legal representation and Power of Attorney but Mr. Pierce is actually a member of said Board, something I’m sure you were not made privy to?” I shook my head, he sighed. “It’s a good thing you contacted me when you did.”

I nodded. It’s a good thing I was able to get through to Mr. Wayne as well. That made things extremely suspect to me. Joanna was turning into a good friend but I couldn’t help but wonder how much of that friendship was an act. Her father was on the Board and it was just rather convenient that he sent his daughter to “help” me. I didn’t want to blame her but she had spy written all over her. I made a mental note to terminate Joanna’s services. Like her father, she had too much at stake. I guess I would also have to pull out of P, P, P effective immediately, I guess there was no loss there. I definitely didn’t want a lawyer who I couldn’t trust and who I knew hated me.

“So what can we do about Pierce?”

“We’re going to have to get an injunction against him and revoke his Power of Attorney status.”

I nodded. I guess that made sense. But that still left me with one small problem. “What about Ross?”

John smiled. He moved around some papers in his folder and took out another sheet, turning it to face me. “This the paper he made you sign?” I looked at it, my eyes bugging out of my head. “I take it from your expression that this is the right one.”

“Where did you get that?”

It was clearly a copy but still---I thought things like that were confidential.

“I have my ways,” he said with a smirk. Then he tapped the paper toward the bottom. “Mr. Ross may have filed the proxy but he’s not in control of it, Mr. Pierce is. If we remove him as Power of Attorney then this proxy is null and void, meaning that this paper is no better than something to fuel your bonfire with.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I was dead wrong about Walters. When he first showed up, I seriously considered bailing immediately, especially when he opened his mouth. He looked like a slime and talked like a slime but he definitely didn’t play like one. He knew his stuff, ten times better than Joanna and Jade. Now looking at this man and feeling the confidence he gave off, I truly believed Mr. Wayne’s words about things being better.

I sighed heavily. “You’re a life saver.”

“It’s a start,” he said, returning the papers to the folder. He put the folder back into his briefcase and took out another. When he opened it, he had a look that told me something was wrong. “We need to talk about the widow.”

I was confused at first until I remembered he was speaking about Isabel. “What about her?”

“I’m finding it very hard to believe that she’s remained mum during all this.”

“You think she’s involved?”

“It might be worth the investigation. I have a few friends, some favors. I think it might be wise to look into her and the Executor as well.”

“Scarlet?”

He nodded. “Isabel has too much to lose and remaining silent seems fishy. Plus I’m concerned about Miss Jefferies; she’s too much of a professional to let things slide like this. It bothers me that she led you into that meeting so unprepared and then abandoning you so quickly afterwards” He shook his head. “There’s something not right there.”

Scarlet and the Bimbo, I never really gave either the time of day. Especially Isabel because she was, well, Isabel. Scarlet on the other hand, maybe John was right. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Do it as discreetly as you can.”

He smiled, reaching forward and gently taking my hand. I flinched, expecting him to make some kind of lewd move on me. But his touch was gentle, comforting in fact. "I'm gonna take care of you, hon. Don't worry about a thing. I gather your grandfather would have expected nothing less."

The meeting ended after that. John left first, disappearing into the crowd as it were. I sighed heavily as he slowly vanished from sight. I laughed at myself for pegging him all wrong. Sure, he was not what I expected and definitely someone I would not have hired but he was good. When the meeting started, I was confident he was going to disappoint me and waste my time but now I found myself strangely trusting him. I think it was his final words to me, the way he held my hand so sincerely. He had my back, he was going to make things better and then maybe I could finally start reclaiming some of that which belonged to me.

I pulled out my cell after a minute or two, dialing Luke’s number. He answered on the second ring. “I’m done,” I said with a big, happy smile.

“You want me to come in there with you?” asked Luke as we stared at the gray building through the windshield.

I shook my head but most of my attention was on the building. The last time I’d been here was back before vacation. Roy dragged me along for a rock climbing excursion. The Gym just put in one of those really cool rock climbing walls. Roy had been raving about it for weeks and finally talked me into going with him. I remember walking through those doors and first thing that came out of Ted’s mouth was a complaint about me being a girl. He might have been one of the toughest sons of bitches on the west coast but he was still the biggest chauvinist I’d ever met. I knew his type, the gym was meant for the manly boys and girly ones not even bother to step through the door. If I was an actual girl then it was probably ten times worse.

I smirked at the memory and continued staring at the place.

The Gym was wedged in-between an old dollar store and an antique mall that had definitely seen better days. It wasn’t the best neighborhood---probably the reason why Luke didn’t want me to leave the car alone---but it was a good spot. Judging by the several cars parked around the place, the Gym did good business. Probably better than most. The building itself had seen better days, though, that’s for sure. The gray paint was peeling, showing signs of wear and tear. It looked like it had once been white, possibly with black tiger stripes. The elements were definitely not good to the place. Most of the front was glass, probably to show those walking by what might be going on inside. But it was clear that someone gave up washing the windows a while ago because from the outside there was nothing but a fine layer of dust.

Lots of business but no care.

Luke asked his earlier question again, adding a “you really sure you want to go in there?” at the end of it.

I laughed. “I’ve been here before, I’ll be all right.”

“That was before; things are a bit different now.”

I frowned. I was about to tell him I’d be fine when the throaty roar of an old era muscle car came rumbling toward us. I turned my head and caught glimpse of a primer black Chevelle. It pulled into the spot next to ours, emitting a bit of black smoke from its tail pipe as it did so. No, I’m not suddenly a super car expert. But I did know that car. The last time I saw it though it was in Roy’s garage, with no engine, headlights or wheels. It was a Junker, given to Roy as a fixer up. His foster father, Broken Bow, told him that if he could fix up the car then he’d teach Roy how to drive it. That was a little over a year ago. Roy spent a lot of his free time on the car. It had apparently paid off in the last few months too because it was running fine now, save for the smoke of course.
It was a nice car but paled in comparison to the Mercedes S Class I was currently sitting in. Seeing that car and mine, I felt like an overdressed girl ready to embark on a casual date.

He got out of his car first, giving the Mercedes a nice once over. Then he walked over, I rolled the window down as he did so. I had to fight back the urge to congratulate him on finally finishing his “baby”. Instead, I opened my mouth and mimicked his exact same words when we both said “nice car” at the same time, which of course was followed by laughing.

I caught Luke rolling his eyes but didn’t comment. Instead, I reached over the seat and grabbed my gym bag. Before Luke could say another word, I opened the door and got out. Roy closed the door for me and the two of us walked slowly toward the Wild Cat. It was strange but if you didn’t know the place, it was almost impossible to find. The only sign was stenciled on the door in fading letters. At one time, it probably said Grant’s Wild Cat or something but now all it truly said was Grant’s. Roy pushed open the door, holding it open for me. The first thing that assaulted my senses was the smell---like a sweaty gym sock.

The second thing was the noise.

It didn’t take me long to locate the source. The Gym was set up with a few different things in mind because Ted was a well-rounded kind of guy. Off at one end was a workout area where the rock-climbing wall was, on the other end was a small karate dojo. Smack dab in the middle of both, taking up most of the room, was a boxing ring.

All the noise was coming from there. There was a crowd of men around it, shouting and waving their fists. In the ring, two burly, sweaty guys were going at it. It was a wild match of fists and feet. I cringed when one of them took a low blow, possibly near the groin. A few of the guys made pained noises. The fighter shook it off and threw a quick jab to his opponent’s face, which was easily deflected.

“I thought this was a boxing ring?” I asked loudly.

No one else heard me but Roy. “They’re not boxing; it looks like some form of mixed martial arts at the moment.”

“Lenny” a loud voice shouted, shattering my eardrums or close enough. “You need to concentrate; you’re never going to beat that upstart from Seattle unless you stay on your toes.”

Lenny it would appear was the one who was currently getting his ass kicked.

“C’mon, let’s get out of the way before things get really out of control.”

Roy took my hand. It never even occurred to him that this wasn’t something you just didn’t do with a stranger. Well, almost stranger. I didn’t protest though. It felt kind of nice. I shook those thoughts away as he led me away from the ring toward the work out section of the Gym. There was an over abundant amount of workout equipment and a few beefy guys trying to become a little more so. They barely noticed Roy but the sight of me raised an eyebrow or two. Looking around the place it was clear I was definitely the only girl. The last time I was here, there was another one---the Japanese exchange student Shado. She was over in the dojo then, showing everyone in the place how flexible, she could be. According to Mia, Shado was back home now. So I’d be getting no sisterhood from her.

Roy stirred me through the equipment toward a door wedged in the far corner. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if Roy hadn’t led me there. It was painted white like everything else, the words OFFICE crudely written on it in black. Roy knocked once then opened the door. Another strange smell hit me but this one was actually soothing. Jasmine maybe. I looked around the cramped office, looking for the source. The room was definitely crowded, far too much stuff for such a small space. A desk, two filing cabinets, a bookcase and a beat up old couch. The walls were lined with framed pictures and newspaper clippings. They went all around the room, ending behind the desk where a beat up beat of boxing gloves hung on a hook underneath a framed poster. The poster was old, yellowed on the edges. It was for some magician, John Zatara. Clearly, it held some significance for the man sitting in the chair underneath it all.

Ted Grant was a presence. He was about six foot two, weighed about two sixty and was built like an ox. His hair was jet black, usually slicked; the sides of which were turning white, the only sign that the man was aging in the least. He had chiseled features, his face misshapen in places from taking so many blows. His nose looked to have been broken more than once and there was a scar over his left eye. His hands were his most distinguishing feature because he always had them wrapped in white boxing tape. Today was no different. He sat at the desk, dressed in army fatigues and black muscle shirt, both of which had seen better days.

“Harper” he grumbled, his voice was gruff. “What did I tell you about girls?”

Roy stumbled over his words as he answered. “I thought you could make an exception just this once.”

Ted squinted his eyes, scrutinizing me. He stared for a while before answering. “You made of gold and diamonds, girly?”

I smirked. “Not quite but if that’s what you want, I can probably arrange it.”

There was a hint of a smile on his craggy face but only for a second.

“I’m not interested, take your business elsewhere.”

“You don’t even know what she’s here for,” groaned Roy.

Ted laughed. “I have a pretty good idea. She’s a Little Miss Fancypants, wants to turn this place into the next big thing, probably get me plastered all over Entertainment Tonight or whatnot. I’m not interested in being the next big thing, so take your business elsewhere.”

I scoffed. Same Old Ted. “Look my doctor says I need physical therapy but I figure this place is a much better place than some stuffy doctor’s office or whatever.”

He laughed. “You thought wrong. The Gym is not an alternative to physical therapy. Swallow your pride, girly, and follow your doctor’s orders.”

I decided to change my tact. “I can pay you whatever you want.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want your money.”

“What about new equipment? Or maybe even a sponsorship, I have some connections…”

He cut me off. “I don’t want your charity, I want you gone. I’ve got enough problems with all these yahoos from wherever flocking to this place day in and day out. All of them want to train where the great Ted Grant trains. Well, news flash, I don’t train anymore, I don’t take on students and I don’t cater to little snot nose upstarts who like to flash Daddy’s checkbook around.”

Roy lowered his head, clearly defeated. Me, I wanted one more crack at it. “I don’t want to train, I don’t want to be your student and the only checkbook I’m flashing around is mine. The money is mine to do with as I please. All I’m asking is that you let me fill out my physical therapy requirement in your Gym.”

Ted was quiet for a long time then smirked. I’m not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Then he laughed, which really scared me. When he finally spoke, I wasn’t sure what he was going to say.

“You’ve got spunk I’ll give you that.” He sighed heavily. “We don’t have a ladies’ locker room so you’re going to have to change in the back in the storage room, it’s a bit drafty in there but it’s the best place for it.”

I smiled. “Does that mean you’ll let me stay?”

He nodded. I smiled and wanted to hug him. I knew that wasn’t going to happen so I hugged the next best thing, which turned out to be a very surprised Roy.

Just as Ted said, the storeroom was a bit drafty. I dressed as quickly as I could, putting on my workout clothes: white tank, black work out pants, white running shoes. I’m not really sure if it was the right or wrong thing to wear but they were comfortable. I used some bobby pins to put my braid up on the top of my head then exited the room as fast as possible. There was a narrow hallway leading to the main room. I raced down it as quickly as possible. There was something about it that sent a shiver up my spine. I guess it was the idea that turning around was a bit difficult. I didn’t like the idea of being boxed in like that, even if it was a hall.

As soon as I got to the door, I took a deep breath and stepped out into the Gym. I scanned the room, trying to find the best place to start. Surprisingly there was a lot going on. I looked over at the workout equipment, wondering if I could even attempt any of it. There was a gym back at the tower but I had yet to visit it. I think it was there for the employees mostly, a place to unwind either after or between hectic hours. I saw people coming and going from time to time. I guess I was always just afraid to go in there. As Jonas, I was never that athletic, well not in that sense. I had some upper body strength due to archery but nothing to boast about. In gym class at school---back before my unsightly developments---I was always picked last for team sports. No one wanted the girly, frail kid on their team.

Not that I ever let them bother me. The way I saw it, they were good at something and I was good at something else. I didn’t try to compete with them because my skill set was not in the same ballpark as theirs. It made me feel kind of special to be able to shoot so well. According to Merlyn, there were very few people who could hit targets like me. In fact, I was the youngest one he’d ever seen. I think that’s what made him so jealous. It was common knowledge that Merlyn didn’t take up archery until high school. I think it pissed him off that a kid so young had such raw talent. That’s why I think he kept upping the ante in my training, always trying to push me to my limit and beyond. He tried to force things out of me, things he wanted and I didn’t. In the end, those things were his own downfall.

I sighed heavily, looking over at the ring. The two guys were no longer going at it. The crowd that had gathered was gone, too. Some of them were working out on the equipment but it looked like most had left. The Gym was now barely half full. Those that were still there were either lingering about or trying to look busy. I spotted a few on the climbing wall and one of the fighters was pounding his fists into a punching bag. It was the one who lost or was losing---Lenny, I think his name was. I found myself wandering over, trying to decide if pounding the other bag was something I wanted to do.

His trainer was there hassling him. “You let that guy walk all over you.”

“I’m safe, coach, but there’s no way I’m going to be ready for McKinley, he’s way out of my league.”

“You keep talking like that and he will be,” snapped his trainer.

I looked at the poor guy, caught his eye and smiled weakly. He gave me a disgusted look, which only made me wish that this McKinley---whoever he may be–had knocked the son of a bitch flat on his ass. Being near them also made my decision for me---they stunk up the air. So I left the area and started to wander toward the dojo. As I did, I heard a familiar sound. It was the slight whistling sound that drew me. I looked and smiled. There was Roy, bow in hand. He dressed in the warm up clothes of our school team: red shirt, yellow windbreaker pants. Roy’s bow was a Matthew’s, one of the new Conquests I think. It was a nice piece of equipment: integral grip, carbon cable rod and a nice shiny blue color. Roy was never one for the flashy and neither was his style. He’d been firing as long as I have, but sadly he didn’t have the skill. He was good but he let things get in the way. The environment was always a factor with Roy. No matter how much he tried to block it out, in the end something always seemed to get in the way. He seemed to be in the zone today but his hits were off, he was putting them too far off center.

I walked slowly over. “You’re distracted by what’s going on around you.” The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

I cursed my stupidity.

“I know,” he said, without noticing. He fired his next arrow, it was better but still too far out. He was reaching for another one when the ball dropped. He turned to me, confused. “I didn’t know you knew archery?”

I shrugged, thinking fast. “Jonas is….I mean was my cousin. I used to watch him shoot when we were kids.”

Roy looked at me strangely. “Funny, he never mentioned it to me.”

Damn, always digging aren’t you Roy Harper. I shrugged again. “Do you tell your friends everything?”

He shrugged. “It’s just that Jonas and I had no secrets.”

I bit my lip. If only he knew the truth. I’m not sure why I never told Roy about my medical condition. I suppose it would have made things easier but it felt weird. Roy and Mia were the only friends I had. Mia was Mia, she rolled with the punches. She and I were close, better than close, like sisters. We’d always been that way. Roy was Roy though. He was cool and fun to hang with but he was a guy. I’m not saying that made him bad or anything but he was different from Mia. When he and I were together, we did things that Mia would have hated. We went camping, fished in the lake, shot arrows at trees. We did guy stuff together. How do you explain to your guy friend that you have breasts and that you might be more girl than boy? So I lied to him, I wasn’t happy about it but it happened.

I felt horrible then and even more so now.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything. But he beat me to it.

“You want to try?” he asked, holding out the bow to me.

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t be very good at it.”

That’s the last thing I needed. As soon as I took that bow and fired an arrow, he’d know. There was no way I’d be able to hide it from him. I could try to screw up but that never worked. Back with Merlyn, I discovered pretty quickly that showing off wasn’t the answer. So I tried to suck. It was pretty hard but I managed after a while. But I don’t think I ever fooled Merlyn for a second. Every time I pretended to miss a target, he knew. I saw it in his eyes. He gave me this look and I just knew he was even more angry. I don’t Roy would give me a look but there’s no way I could take that bow from him and miss.

The other day I was screwing around. Luke and I cleared out one of the bigger boardrooms in the tower and I set up several diverse targets around the room. I tried to make them some of the most difficult shots I could think of. I’m not sure why but I needed to test myself. I didn’t even try hard when I was shooting but in the end no matter what happened; I always hit the bull’s eye. I tried changing things up, even attempted shooting with a blindfold. That one was amazing; I’m not sure how I pulled it off. But bull’s eye each time, every shot. I even tried missing a few but it didn’t matter. It was like my arm was wired to make the shot and something inside of me made it happen. It was the craziest thing in the world.

So even if I tried to miss there was just no way that I could.

Roy didn’t want to take no for an answer though. He smiled. “You’re not going to embarrass yourself. C’mon, I’ll show you how to do it.”

I shook my head. “I’ve got horrible aim, I might break something.”
He laughed. “You should have seen how many windows I broke when I was learning, BB nearly killed me.”

I laughed right along with him. “BB was never one to be angry for long.”

Roy laughed. “You got that right. One time Jonas and I…” he stopped before the story begun. I think he realized what I realized too.

Shit, I acted as if I knew who BB was when he never mentioned him to me. I bit my lip, trying to come up with a good excuse.

Roy looked a bit put out now. “Did I mention BB to you?”

I shook my head. “No, but Jonas did. He used to tell me all about the crazy crap you two used to get into.” I laughed but it forced and pathetic.

“He told you a lot about me.”

I shrugged, feeling the warning signs but ignoring them. “We were close, talked about lots of stuff.”

“Funny, he never once mentioned you.”

“Do you have cousins?”

He nodded. “Two.”

“You ever talk about them with Jonas?”

He shook his head. “But I never told them all about him either.”

Roy stepped toward me. It wasn’t threatening or menacing but it did catch me off guard. I stumbled a bit and ended up falling backwards. He reached for me, trying to grab my wrist but I ended up kicking his feet out from under him. Before I knew what was happening, we were in a heap on the floor, him on top of me. Our faces were close, too close. I could feel his hot breath on my neck. He was looking at me, at my face, at my lips. He leaned in, for what I thought was something I’d been denying but so desperately wanted. He was almost there when his eyes drifted lower. For a minute, I thought he was going to look at my chest but he stopped at my neck. He was looking right at it or rather right at something hanging from it.

I cursed, realizing my error. It was my necklace. They were a present from his father, Broken Bow. He gave one to both of us, something to do with solidifying of brotherly bond or something. Roy reached down with trembling fingers and picked up the little arrow. He turned it over gently in his hand, and then reached into his shirt to retrieve his. The arrows on our necklaces were identical but more than that, they actually connected together. He put the two of them together and let go, they didn’t break apart. As soon as he did so, his eyes widened.

“How did you?” There was a bit of confusion and then it was like a light bulb. I saw it as clear as day, the secret was out, the lie was done. The next word out of his mouth clarified it: “Jonas?”

I panicked. I threw my arms up, slamming my palms into his chest. Doing so snapped my chain, causing my necklace to break free from my neck but I didn’t care. I pushed him off me then scrambled to my feet. Hot tears rushed down my cheeks as I turned and bolted. I didn’t even bother to look back as I heard him call my name. First, I was walking fast then I ran full speed toward the door. I cried the whole way, knowing how stupid and foolhardy pursuing a friendship with him might be.

I rushed out the door. Luke was leaning against the car, reading a magazine. “Start the car now,” I yelled, pulling open the door and climbing inside.

He dropped his magazine and rushed into his seat as I slammed my door. “What happened?” he asked, doing the same.

I shook my head. “Just drive, damn it.”

He didn’t have to be told twice. Before burying my face in my hands, I caught a bewildered looking Roy in the rear-view mirror, standing in the parking lot.

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

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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 7. I'm happy to report that I'm back on track with this story and hope to write it more frequently. This is another Green Arrow chapter finally, which is strange to say because this is a Green Arrow after all. I'd like to thank everyone for their input, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Seven:

Life as I knew it was over. Roy knew who I was and now everything was hell. I wanted to curl into a ball somewhere, find a dark place to hide in and hope no one ever looked at me again. Ok, I’m being a little dramatic but I couldn’t get his face out of my head. As soon as he took my necklace in his hand and saw it connected with his----I shook my head. The look on his face, the confusion, the shock, the utter disgust. Ok, so there was no disgust, but it was sure to come. He almost kissed me, me his best friend in the whole world. Me, the biggest fraud in the whole wide world. I guess it can be said that I might have reacted a little poorly. But at the time getting away seemed to be the only thing I could think of.

When I got home yesterday, all I could do was cry. Now all I could do was stare at the blank TV screen, the remote in my hand. The whole world was at my fingertips and all I wanted to do was sit in the dark. I couldn’t get yesterday out of my head. I kept going over events again and again. I tried to think about what I could have done differently. I suppose the first thing was not to go at all. But I wanted to go, I needed to go. I’d be a fool if I didn’t admit that I missed Roy. He was one of my best friends in the whole wide world and avoiding him felt wrong. When he first caught Mia and me in the mall the other day I felt like fate was pushing him back into my life. When I ran into him again two days ago, it was destiny.

But I was a fool to think I could hide from him forever.

I wanted to tell him about me a long time ago but I was scared. I was afraid that he’d think I was a freak and leave me. Mia was fun to be around, I loved her to death. But Roy was my rock, the guy I could always count on. The guy I wanted to be. I’ll admit I was a bit jealous of him too, but I never didn’t want to be friends with him. Telling him what was going on with me in my eye meant an end to our friendship. I just couldn’t deal with him hating me. So when Jonas “died” I decided to cut Roy out of my life. It was easier to let him think I was dead then to try to explain things to him.

The opening of the door broke me from my depressed thoughts. I didn’t turn my head until I heard my visitor slam into something and curse. The light flicked on as the words came out of her mouth: “Why are you sitting in the dark?”

Mia.

I turned and tried to hide the tears but it was no use. We locked eyes and her annoyance at my strange behavior was gone. She was holding a folder but dropped it as soon as realization hit her. She rushed across the room and sat down next to me, pulling me into her arms as she did so. I cried into her shoulder, wailing as hard as I could. I started telling her what happened but through the tears and sobs it was lost to her. I cried and talked for a few minutes and when it was finally over, she pulled me away gently.

“Mind explaining all that in English now please?” she asked, handing me a tissue.

I wiped my eyes then blew my nose. Snot is disgusting. Then I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Roy and I went to the gym yesterday.”

She nodded. “You told me. I was expecting you to call last night to tell me how it was, but I take it by your reaction it didn’t go so well?”

I shook my head. “Everything was going fine for a bit. I was enjoying myself then he wanted me to shoot with him. I tried to tell him I wasn’t very good but then he insisted on teaching me. I refused some more and tripped while backing up. He grabbed at me and we fell on top of one another. That’s when he tried to kiss me.”

Anger flared across her face. “That little son of bitch, the next time I see him I’m going to punch him in the balls.”

I shook my head quickly. “No, I actually liked that part” I was blushing, I couldn’t help it. The blush wasn’t lost on Mia either who smiled both with confusion and understanding. I took another breath and let it out quickly. “We never got to kissing though because he saw my necklace.”

“Oh shit.”

I nodded, tearing up. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next.”

Mia didn’t say anything for a second or two. She grabbed my hand though, giving it a gentle squeeze. “So how did he react when you told him the truth?”

I bit my lip. “I didn’t, he kinda guessed, but I ran away.”

“Olivia!” She smacked me upside the head, which I definitely deserved. Then she gave me a warm hug. “Sweetie” she said, as she pulled away. “You should have told him, running away is only going to make things worse.”

I was crying again. “I was scared, I was afraid he’d react badly.”

Mia frowned. “So you decided to react badly and didn’t give the boy a choice.”

My lip trembled and I ended up balling some more. Mia wrapped me in another hug; this one lasted a bit longer. I didn’t cry nearly as long though. When I was done, she wiped away my tears. Then she moved the hair from my face and smiled. We sat there in silence for a bit, Mia smiling, trying to make me feel better.

I finally broke the silence. “I screwed up.”

“Yep” she said with a smirk to which I gave her a gentle, playful shove.

We both laughed.

Then she got serious. “I think you should try calling him.”

“No way” I said to which she frowned. “At least not yet, I’m not ready to talk to him just yet.”

“The longer you wait the more confused the boy is going to get. You need to get this over with and fast. Roy is dense but he’s a good guy too. You’re afraid he’s going to freak but he’s a good guy.” She bit her lip and sighed. “And you didn’t see him after you disappeared. I’ve never seen anyone look that way. I was a wreck but Roy was like a robot. Everything about him was gone, pulled inside and everything left was a vacant shell. You’re his best friend and when you were gone, he died a bit too.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I know she told me something similar before but I guess I never realized what it would be like for him. It was hard for me not having him in my life but I completely forgot about his feelings. What a selfish bitch I turned out to be. Here I was thinking about the hell I might be in if he found out that I wasn’t truly a boy but I never thought about his feelings. Now here I was avoiding him, letting him think I was still dead. I rushed to Mia immediately, I couldn’t live without her. But Roy, what made him any different than her?

“Shit, I’m a fucking idiot.”

Mia nodded. “Yeah but I still love you.”

We laughed and I gave her another playful shove. Then we hugged again.

“Thanks Mia, I really needed that.”

“You’d do the same for me, hell you did do it when you saved me that night.”

Mia went to a dark place after I was gone, both physically and emotionally. She told me more than once that I saved her and was totally grateful for it. I would save her time and again if it meant that she never went back to the place I found her. When I saw her that night in the woods I didn’t even recognize her. Then when I rescued her from her so called new friends, I wanted nothing more than to save her for the rest of her life. It was only fair that she returned the favor today.

“I’ll keep saving you Speedy,” I said softly, not sure whether or not she heard me.

She smiled so I’m guessing that was a yes. Then she took the remote from my hand, clicking on the TV. She started to surf through the channels, trying to find something decent to watch. Me, I got up off the couch. It was a good thing too; I’d been sitting on it all day. I wasted most of the morning and the afternoon just vegging. Here it was Monday afternoon and all I did was mope. I made Jade cancel all my appointments, which pissed my tutor off but I was a mess anyway.

I looked around the room, wondering if I should open the curtains to let some much needed light in. As I was looking over at them, I noticed Mia’s folder on the floor. In all the depression and the crying, I think both of us forgot about it. I turned to her to ask about it but she was busy surfing so I decided to walk over and pick it up. As soon as I did, she turned her head and laughed.

“I forgot all about that,” she said, jumping off the couch.

“What is it?” I asked as she walked over and I handed it to her.

“I’ve been doing some digging on Merlyn. Those transactions have been bothering me so I sent some feelers out. I kept running into dead ends so I decided to put the word out. Saturday morning I got a reply from this awesome hacker, calls herself The Oracle.”

“Wait, how do you know it’s a girl?”

Mia smiled. “Because all the best hackers are girls dummy.”

I rolled my eyes.”Full of yourself a bit.”

She laughed. “Anyway, this Oracle was able to do some serious digging. Merlyn’s a busy boy; he has more than twenty different aliases and does jobs all over the world. The one in Florida and here were his last.”

“When you say jobs you mean…”

“Assassinations” said Mia, nodding. “He’s a pretty popular guy too, did at least six jobs this year alone. He’s really good at them as well. Your grandfather was one of his highest paid ones though.”

She fell silent. It was still a touchy subject.

Neither of us said anything until I remembered something. “What about the Florida one?”

She smiled. “That’s the funny one. The bank account we found was a set up, some kind of dummy trail for your PI to follow. I’m sorry for both of you that I didn’t see that sooner. That’s why it was taking me so long to find any more leads, but Oracle found them right away. Merlyn is good at hiding his tracks but not good enough. The Florida job and the hit on your grandfather, they were both from the same guy.”

“Who is it?”

She shook her head. “He covers his tracks well” She sighed deeply then smiled. “Merlyn on the other hand…” She opened the folder, pulling out a sheet of paper.

“What’s this?” I asked, looking it over.

There was a name but not much else. It wasn’t the best lead but it was good enough. I could work with a name. Besides there were ways of finding the right information if you knew the right sort of people. Thankfully, I did or at least I knew where to find the sort. According to Mia’s info, my guy worked out of the shadier part of the city, which meant one thing, I was going to have to travel with some cash and a lot of luck.

“I think it’s time the Green Arrow pays Mr. Albrecht Raines a visit.”

“Tell me about Raines?”

I was in the back of the Viper, Luke behind the wheel. It wasn’t the most inconspicuous car on the lot but I’d sorta began to think of it as Green Arrow’s car now. Mia even jokingly dubbed it the “Arrow Car”. It was just a shame that Luke was still refusing to let me get behind the wheel. He made a promise to my grandfather to look out for me and that’s apparently what he was going to do. So as long as Green Arrow was going out into the streets at night, so too was her silent partner, Luke the driver. He was silent too, barely uttering a word. I think I surprised him when I called him to the penthouse and told him Green Arrow had another mission.

Luke was none too happy about it, either. He had convinced himself---and only himself---that my last mission had been my last. I guess he thought nearly getting blown up had some kind of finality to it. But the only thing it brought a finality to was my costume. Now I was improvising, using my green hooded cape, black yoga pants and dark green turtle neck. It didn’t exactly scream menacing but it was the best I had on such short notice. My new costume was still being “made”. I’m not sure of the specifics other than the fact that it wouldn’t be ready until at least the middle of March. So that meant either one of two things: Green Arrow was grounded until then or she’d just pop around in whatever clothes she could find.

Luke was definitely for the former.

“You’re not paying attention are you?” asked Mia’s voice in my earpiece.

I sighed. “Sorry, Speedy, daydreaming.”

She groaned. “If you’re not going to take this seriously then I’m going to bed, I have a physics test tomorrow.”

“I’m serious.”

She was silent for a second or two before continuing. “Like I was saying before, Albrecht Raines, age 36, college drop out. After leaving college, he tried to make it big in New York, selling his paintings on street corners but it didn’t pan out. So nearly broke, he made his way to San Francisco, hoping to get luckier here.” There was a pause and I heard the tell tale sound of her fingers tapping furiously away at her keys. “This is interesting. According to SFPD’s database, Raines was arrested on suspicion of counterfeiting but the case was thrown out. The DA was furious but they couldn’t get anything to stick. They tried to book him on smaller accounts too, fake ID’s, phony passports but nothing seemed to work.”

“Who the hell is this guy?”

“Ugh” gasped Mia. “I just found his Deviant Art page. This man likes his color.”

I rolled my eyes. “You said he was a counterfeiter?”

“Small time stuff” There was some more tapping. “Then about six months ago, Raines dropped off the grid. He sold his apartment, emptied his bank account and disappeared. It’s like he was there one minute and gone the next.”

“Sounds like someone didn’t want to be found anymore.”

“He covered his tracks pretty well,” said Mia, it almost sounded like there was admiration in her voice.

“How did your friend find him then?”

“She didn’t, well not really anyway. An old alias of Raines turned up attached to the same account that Merlyn was using…the Bowman one. Apparently Bowman transferred money into an account owned by Albrecht Regenbogen, one hundred thousand to be exact.” Mia whistled which with the feedback was a bitch on my ear.
“Whatever Raines did for him it had to be something big.”

“Anything else, Speedy?”

“Yeah, something doesn’t feel right about this whole thing. If you happen to find him, try to be careful. Raines is clearly connected to something and that something has a lot of pull, too much pull to be safe.”

“Will do,” I said, pulling the earpiece out of my ear and putting it in one of belt pouches.

Luke made a scuffing sound but other than that, he didn’t say a word.

The silence was welcomed as we drove. I tried my hardest not to think about things but my mind kept wandering back to Roy. Mia started nagging me after about an hour of watching TV. She was insistent that I call him and try to clear the air. I promised I would but I’m not sure she bought it. In truth, I was kinda on the fence about the whole thing. On one hand I wanted to tell him everything, I felt I owed him that much. On the other hand, I was still afraid of how he might react to the truth. Not only was I lying to him as Olivia but I’d been lying to him as Jonas for a couple of years now. I found it hard to believe that he’d just sweep all of that under the rug like it was nothing.

I groaned. We were going to have to talk but that talk could wait.

The car came to a slow stop. I turned and looked out the window, grimacing into the inky blackness around us. I hated this part of the city; there were never any lights on---well at least no place where they were needed. I hated coming here too. A couple of blocks over was where I had my first real fight as the Green Arrow. It was with a criminal called “Brick”. He robbed a bank and I chased him into an old glue factory. We had a good fight; I only ended up besting him through pure dumb luck. I should have left it there but something about the area perplexed me so I returned the next night. I started poking around the old warehouses, trying to stir up the dust. That’s when I found them: a gang of teenagers. They were squatting in one of the buildings. At first, I thought they might just be some of the numerous homeless in this part of the city. Then one of them made a move, proving he and his friends were anything but normal.

It was the first and only time I ever had a run in with a metahuman gang that called themselves Posse. I was outnumbered but managed to hold my own. In the end, we came to an agreement: I’d leave them alone if they kept their noses out of the real dirty stuff. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, one that I was unfortunately going to have to break tonight. Not that I was here to turn them in for their petty crimes but I did need info. Kids like them were invisible and the invisibles were always the ones who saw the best things.

“You sure about this?” asked Luke as I opened my door.

I nodded but said “no.”

As soon as I stepped outside, I was hit with the smell. It’s really hard to describe without comparing the place to a gas station rest room. I tried not to think about it as I closed the car door and darted quickly across the street, disappearing into an alley. The Mission District at night always had this foreboding feel, especially when I was snooping around not knowing where I was going. I still wasn’t totally familiar with every part of the city. I’d lived here all my life and yet there were parts that were still very foreign to me. My family actually lived outside the city in a nice big white house, far away from the bustle and hustle. For the first few days living in the tower, it felt strange to sleep at night and not hear the sounds of crickets and the wind blowing through the trees.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek just thinking about home. The house was still there---vacant. It was all left to me in my parent’s Will. My father was a contractor so he made an honest living. He and Mia’s father were in business together. My parents and her’s made enough to vacation more than once a year and to own a beach house in Miami. Now I owned several houses. My grandfather had a lot of property all over, not just in the city either. There were a few villas in Spain, a nice mansion in the south of France and a tropical getaway down in the Caribbean. All of it was now in my name. There were a lot of places in the US as well, mainly in the major cities of course. I had yet to review all the paperwork but I was looking at over one hundred million dollars in prime real estate.

It made me sad to look at the buildings in this part of town in comparison. Things were bad here and only seemed to get worse. My grandfather’s mechanic and his family lived not too far from here. Not that I’d ever been to their house but I made it my business to know where my employees lived. I wish there was something more I could do for him and his, something to get them out of this shit hole of a neighborhood. But unfortunately, one problem at a time and tonight I had two of them I wanted to take care of.

I stayed in the shadows as I slunk down the alley, something not all that hard to do. When I reached the end of it, I crossed another street and into another alley. I did this for a couple of alleys until I found the place. It looked like all the rest of the old buildings around. It was built in the 40’s, its steel frame rusted, two thirds of windows boarded up. It didn’t look like anyone lived there but that was the point. I found the place by accident the first time. I thought I was following the shadow of a cat but it turned out to be a strange girl in a Lolita dress. It was almost as if she led me to the place. Before I knew what was happening, I was ambushed. I put quite a few arrows into the pavement before her friends realized I wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

Now here I was making my way through those very same shadows, trying to act as stealthy as before. But as soon as I stepped up to the building, I realized my cover was blown. I smelled him before he was on. He came fast and hard, swinging his arms like a damn bulldozer. He took me by surprise but thankfully, I caught a whiff of him. I rolled away from his blows, pressed against the far wall. I only managed to bring my bow up just in tip. I couldn’t get an arrow off in the cramped space but I was able to use the limb to block his swinging arm as it made way for my head.

“Thumper” a voice called from the darkness, distracting the brute for a split second.

I rolled off the wall and away from him, swinging the bow in a quick arc toward his legs. I caught him in the shins, taking him down like a ton of bricks. As soon as I did, there were several curses in the darkness and the other members of his gang seemed to appear out of nowhere. The one in the lead---the tall black man---was their leader. I didn’t know his real name, hell they didn’t have them as far as I knew. The gang called him Damper, I’m not sure why. As far as I knew, he could make himself invisible.

“La Flecha Verde” he said with a laugh.

The large tub of lard next to him rumbled as well. The one on the ground---Thumper---grumbled as he got to his feet.

“Bitch caught me off guard,” he grumbled.

“Bitch got you good” laughed the fat one.

“Enough you two” said Damper, giving them cross looks before turning to me. “What brings the great Green Arrow back to our neck of the woods---back to where she said she wouldn’t tread?”

“Business” I said, trying to sound more badass than I was.

“And you came to little old us?” said Damper with a laugh. “I’m touched, truly I am.”

I smirked, pulling the large wad of cash out of my pouch, waving it in the air. “I have cash, quite a bit of it if you’re interested.”
Damper’s eyes widened and he licked his lips. But came to his senses a second later, crossing his arms. “We don’t want your money.”

“Don’t be a fool” snapped a female voice, somewhere unseen.

“Stay out of this woman.”

I waved the cash back and forth. “Two thousand, Damper. It will feed you guys for a couple of months I think, maybe clothe you too. All I’m asking for is an address.”

He eyed the cash and nodded slightly. It was too much to give up, especially around these parts. They were good people---most of the time. But everyone had to do what they could to survive. I respected that, hell I lived it for a few months myself. “So this unlucky bastard have a name?”

I smiled. “Raines.”

It didn’t take a genius to know that they knew him. I saw it on their faces as soon as the name rolled off my lips. “You’re familiar with him?”

Damper nodded. “Bit of a prick. Nasty business with him though, you might want to keep your distance.”

I shook my head. “I need this one. He might have some much needed intel. I’m not asking you to get involved, I just want an address.”

Damper sighed. “He lives a few blocks from here” He turned toward the darkness behind him. “Probe, you can show her where.”

A moment or two later, the girl in the Lolita dress appeared. She had jet-black hair, pale skin and always wore dark shades. Like before, her face was an expressionless mask.

“That good enough for you?” asked Damper.

I nodded then tossed him the cash. “If this turns out to be a wild goose chase, I’m coming back for that and trust me when I say I’ll shoot first.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, chica” said Damper as he slowly disappeared into the background.

“He’s down there,” said Probe as she pointed down the alley.

I looked down it, pulling an arrow out and notching it. I wanted to make sure I was prepared this time. Last time I went poking my head where it didn’t belong I almost ended up in a bunch of mushy green pieces. This time I had to play this smart. I nodded to Probe, motioning her over to a nearby dumpster. She went without complaint, ducking down and disappearing from sight. I moved slowly, winding my way to my source. Raines’s place was a little hole in the wall with a dirty window and only one door I could see. There might be a back entrance but as long as the man didn’t know I was coming, I think I was pretty safe.

I crept up to the window, ducking low but not low enough that I couldn’t see through. The view wasn’t great but I was able to make out a person inside. Raines was a tall man, wiry brown hair in a ponytail. He had an unkempt beard and looked to be a man that didn’t get much sleep. He was somewhat jittery, fluttering about his little workstation. I found it hard to believe that he was the man that had Posse so scared. Sure, I knew there was something up with him but this guy was hardly menacing. If I had to guess, I’d say he had criminal underworld ties, possibly a local branch of Intergang or something of that nature. It wasn’t unheard of for them to work here. They were usually East Coast thugs but word on the street was they were expanding their horizons. It also made sense that they’d keep someone like Raines on their payroll.

A counterfeiter and a forger might come in handy. I had already figured out why Merlyn wanted him, too. A job like the one he took probably made him a big target. If Raines was as good as they said then Merlyn would have come here for a new life. I just wondered how much about Merlyn’s business this man might know. There was a good chance he didn’t know a damn thing and that meant this was a waste of time. But if he did know something and was willing to talk then I just found my new best friend.

I took a deep breath; I guess there was only one way to find out.

I took a step back, standing up as I did so. I fired a quick shot through the window, followed by another just as quickly. Raines squealed like a girl but I didn’t give him much of a chance to react. I gave the door a swift kick, glad it was as weak as it looked. It gave way, popping open. I rushed into the room, firing another arrow and quickly notching another. All my shots were precise, two had gone on either side of his head, the third went directly above it. Raines was standing there trembling, the crotch of his pants thoroughly soiled. At the sight of me, he made a mad dash for his desk in the corner. I fired my fourth arrow, hitting the desk drawer before he got there.

“Enough of that” I snapped, causing him to stop dead in his tracks.

“What do you want?” he asked, trembling.

“John Bowman.”

He shook his head. “Don’t know him.”

I smirked. I fired another arrow a centimeter from his big toe. “Want to try that again?”

He shook his head. “You don’t want any part of them, trust me.”

“Who are them?”

He bit his lip and cursed. “Forget I said anything, bad news all around.”

I fired another arrow, this one at his other foot. “You’re a smart man Raines, I’m not here for you but I can make things very difficult for your line of work.” I notched another arrow, pointing it toward his left hand. “Want to try your luck?”

Raines’s face went as white as a sheet. “Ok, ok. Bowman---I don’t know his real name. He works for this group; they funnel a lot of business my way. They want solid ID’s, good covers. They pay well, keep me out of trouble. But you don’t want anything to do with them, they’re bad news. They’re killers, assassins for hire.”

I nodded. “What do you know about Bowman’s last job? Who hired him?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I get a package in the mail, specifics, pictures.”

“Get it for me.”

He nodded and made his way slowly over to a filing cabinet in the corner. He pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket and fumbled through several before finding the right one. He opened the drawer quickly, rummaged for the file before finally pulling it out. He turned toward me, pressing it against his chest and shaking his head. “You don’t want this, nothing but death is attached to this thing.”

I held out my hand and he reluctantly handed it to me. “Do you have a name, a name for the group he works for?”

He shook his head then sighed. “Used to work for actually.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just talk. Bowman’s last job, they didn’t sanction it. He did it freelance. Hell, if you hadn’t killed him, they would have. They don’t like it when you disobey their orders. They’re very bad mother-fuckers. I’m telling you right now; leave this where it is because you don’t want to get involved with these people.”

I smirked. “I’ll take my chances.”

He laughed nervously. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I stuck the folder under my arm and slowly backed out of his place with my bow raised. There was no way I was going to take my eyes off a prick like him. I kept on him until I was well away from the building. As soon as I did, I lowered the bow. I hefted the folder in my hand and smiled. Now I had more than something. I’m not sure how much that something was but maybe it was enough to give me some clues as to what I’m dealing with.

“We good now?” asked Probe as she came out from behind the dumpster.

“We’re good, thanks for the help.”

She nodded. “This means you owe me one, you know that right?”

I smiled. “Sounds fair to me” I pulled a business card with a number out of pouch and handed it to her. “You get in trouble, give that number a call.”

She took it and nodded. Then she turned and ran off back down the alley.

I looked at the folder in my hand and smiled.

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

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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.

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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

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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 9.Things are moving along nicely. The other day I mapped out the rest of this story in my notes so I have a pretty good idea where I want to go from here. I'd like to thank everyone who had input, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Nine:

“This is so totally awesome,” said Roy as he and I entered the Hub.

After yesterday’s unfortunate incident at the school, I told him everything. I made him promise not to tell a soul about the operation Mia and I were running. He swore but on the proviso that I didn’t keep him out of the loop anymore. After all that crazy woman had tried to kill him, too. So we shook on it, with me promising him I’d show him everything. So here we were now, in the Green Arrow base of operations. The Hub started small back when Mia and I started this whole thing, only a computer or two. Now it was a massive network with several computers, plasma screens and servers. It had even grown more in the last week or so. When not doing her own thing, Mia spent all of her time in this room so now there were a lot of personal touches as well. When I say personal touches, I meant the vending machines, pinball machine and the futon. It was a home away from home for her now.

“Don’t touch a thing, Harper” the annoyance in Mia’s voice was pretty apparent.

She wasn’t a fan of the whole “let’s tell Roy everything” plan. I think she liked that this was just between her and me. However, with Roy here now, things were getting a bit too crowded for her.

I tried to ignore the tension between the two of them. I pointed to the futon, meaning I wanted Roy there. He got the hint and walked over, hobbling slightly as he did so. After yesterday’s attack, the two of us spent a few minutes tying the crazy bitch up with her own whip. Then we dragged her ass back to the locker room. Roy got his cell and we called the police. It took a bit of explaining to do but I think we were finally able to convince them that she just attacked us out of the blue. The last I saw of my crazed would-be killer she was being loaded into the back of a police car, saying nothing. After that, I stayed with Roy as a paramedic patched him up. Of course, the incident made the evening news, with my name used heavily. I made sure they kept Roy out of it though, the news calling him an unknown teenage male.

The two of us had been lucky. Roy went to the hospital afterwards, got ten stitches or so. I couldn’t help but feel bad though. I nearly got him killed. When I finally told him about the Green Arrow stuff, I used that as a selling point for him not getting involved. But he wouldn’t hear it. He wanted to help in any way he could. So I told him he could help us try to find out who these people were. I guess it was better than him grabbing his own bow and following me out into the streets. Though it might be nice to have a partner out there, I wasn’t willing to risk his life anymore.

I watched as Roy tried to get comfortable on the futon before heading over to Mia. She was typing away furiously, several computers on and working at once. She was working herself too hard but I didn’t dare tell her that. She was adamant to get to the bottom of all this crap. All the dead ends were driving her nuts. As soon as she got a little bit, several more roadblocks were thrown in her path. I tried to be as supportive as I could but this was her arena. The best I could do with a computer is play games, surf the net casually and send email.

“Tell me you know who the bitch with the whip is at least?”]

She groaned. “I hacked into the police database, pulled up the surveillance in the Interrogation Room like you asked. But the girl is good. So far they haven’t gotten a damn thing on her.”

I cursed. “Who the hell are these people?”

“Bad ones” said Mia, still typing. “Elusive too. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that she might be connected to Merlyn somehow.” She brought up a page quickly, throwing it up onto one of the plasma’s. I recognized it from Raines’s files. “This line of names here, all of these aliases are female. Look at this one here.” She zoomed in on one of the names.

I groaned. “Angela Whipman. You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“You think these people are connected with that jack ass who killed your grandfather?” asked Roy from behind us.

I turned my head slightly. He was making himself comfortable with a Hershey’s bar in one hand and a coke in the other. “Clearly someone doesn’t want me poking around in their business. They killed Raines right after I went to visit him; then that bitch showed up. It’s too much of a coincidence to think otherwise.”

“What the fuck is wrong with these people?” asked Roy, pushing himself up. “I mean first they kill your parents, try to kill you. Then they try to hijack one of your grandfather’s cruise ships. When that didn’t work, they actually killed your grandfather. Clearly someone has it out for your family.”

I sighed, nodding. I’d been thinking the same thing myself. My grandfather was a powerful man so he was bound to have a lot of enemies. In fact, there were quite a few that I could think of, several of them in this building. But there was no logic to the Board doing it, if it was in fact them. I mean what could they possibly gain. I’d been talking with John, trying to write up a Will of my own. In the untimely event that something did in fact happen to me, I was leaving a small fortune to both Mia and Roy and the rest of the company was going to Mr. Wayne. The only other person who knew about my Will was Jade and I trusted her more than anyone lately.

So if these people were trying to kill me to hurt Queen Industries they had another thing coming. But there was something else, something wrong. Merlyn felt like he had a purpose but that whip girl, she made no sense. It was clear she and Merlyn were friends because she mentioned him. What I couldn’t understand was why she’d go after me. It was possible that the same person who hired Merlyn to kill my grandfather hired her to kill me too. But for some reason I felt yesterday’s attempt was different. She knew I was the Green Arrow, that alone was enough to throw up warning signs. But she wasn’t using that information to her advantage. I mean she could have told the police about me but she was keeping her mouth shut. Something was going on here, something that I knew I wasn’t going to like.

Was it possible that there was more than one person out there trying to kill me? I shuddered at the thought.

My new cell rang at that particular moment as well, sending a different kind of shudder through my body. I pulled it from my pocket---cursing the stupid thing---and looked at the number. It was the office or more importantly, it was Jade. I pushed the pocket as I brought it up to my ear.

“I’m in an important meeting,” I said, knowing well that she knew this.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Olivia, but a Dr. Emil Hamilton called, he said you might be expecting his phone call?”

I cursed. With everything that had been going on lately I completely forgot about all this metahuman nonsense. I groaned loudly, causing Mia and Roy to look at me strangely. I took a moment to collect myself before speaking again. “Call Luke, have him bring the Mercedes around. I’ll be there in ten.”

I clicked the phone shut, returning it to my back pocket.

“Something wrong?” asked Roy, looking more concerned than usual.

I shook my head. “Just something I have to take care of. I’ve gotta go for a bit, might be a while. If you want I can have someone drive you two home?”

Mia nodded but Roy shook his head. “I brought my car,” he said with a smile.

It was a great smile, one that I could get lost in. When I got a moment, I would definitely need to sit down with him and discuss our relationship. I think he was probably just as confused about it as I was. It was clear the two of us were into one another but I’m just not sure what I thought about it. He was great and dreamy and wonderful. But he was Roy too, my best friend. The thought of us being together left a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. But that feeling also had a neighbor and that neighbor didn’t like the idea all that much. I smiled back at Roy before turning and walking slowly out of the room.

I’d been dreading this meeting for a while now. I didn’t even want to go to this place the first time around and now here I was heading back to it. I tried to be in good spirits as I walked slowly through the lobby but I wasn’t. So they finally got my results back, it took them long enough. Ok, so I was a bit cranky but I got like that when it rained. It was pouring out right now, drumming loudly off the roof and the glass front of the building. I turned slightly to see the Mercedes still sitting there. Once again, Luke didn’t want to come inside. He was one of those standoffish kind of guys, a bodyguard that guarded his client from a distance, apparently. I’m just glad Spencer and Locke finally decided to ease up a bit. They were still around but once again, I managed to convince them that I didn’t need a huge detail.

The receptionist smiled when I approached the desk. “Good evening Miss King”.

I put on a good front. “Dr. Hamilton is expecting me.”

She nodded, pushing a button that unlocked the doors leading to the labs. I smiled, thanked her and went on my merry way. I pushed open the door and slowly walked to Hamilton’s office. I felt like a man being led to the gas chamber. There was just something about all of this that I didn’t like. If I were a Meta then wouldn’t I have crazy powers, laser beams shooting from my eyes or the ability to fly? Hey, I used to read comics---well Mia forced me to---but I knew all about those superhero guys. I found it hard to believe that I might be in the same category as them and the rest of the people in Jade’s superhero club.

I took a deep breath and knocked. A second or two later, the door opened. There was a burly guy in a black suit on the other side. I wasn’t expecting him. Nor was I expecting the woman sitting in the chair in front of Hamilton’s desk. I gave her the once over: sharp suit, mocha colored skin, short hair, welcoming smile. But there was something else about her, something that made Hamilton a bit nervous. I looked at the doctor and could read the disdain written over his face. Whoever this woman was, it was clear he didn’t want her here.

“Olivia Queen?” she asked, I nodded. She turned to the man at the door. “Benson, you can wait outside.”

“Yes ma’am” said the goon as he stepped into the hall, closing the door behind him.

“I was under the impression that this meeting was going to be between myself and Dr. Hamilton, Miss…” I was annoyed that this woman was here.

“It’s Agent actually” said the woman “Special Agent Helen Helligan, I’m with the Department of Metahuman Affairs.”

I groaned. Seriously. I looked over at Hamilton; he gave me an apologetic smile. I looked back at her, trying to put on my best angry face. “Never heard of it.”

She laughed. “You wouldn’t have. We used to be under Homeland Security for a bit. We’re a new division, recently created to help the world deal with the rise of the metahuman race.”

“Is this the part where you tell me I’m a dangerous whatever and try to lock me up?”

Helen laughed again. “Not exactly, Miss Queen.”

Dr. Hamilton cleared his throat. “Miss Queen, I contacted Agent Helligan.” He said it though he didn’t sound too happy. It was clear that he didn’t want her here. “As you know, the results of your tests are in. I’m sure if will be no surprise to you when I say they came back positive.”

I sighed. I was afraid of that. “So I’m a meta?”

“You don’t have to be upset by this news,” said Helen “you’ve been given a fantastic gift.”

And I was just told I wasn’t normal. I had no problem with Metas but I just never thought in a million years I might be one as well. It was kind of a scary thing to think about. “Bring on the laser beams.”

Helen smiled. Hamilton continued. “You’re a rare individual, Miss Queen. Of the Metas that my organization has had the pleasure of meeting, you’re the first who has exhibited these kinds of changes. Your acceleration into a female form is most fascinating actually. Then there’s the green rocks. I had a chance to study the one you sent me; it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

I’d forgotten all about the arrowhead I sent him. “What does that mean exactly?”

Helen cleared her throat. “The rock appears to be extraterrestrial in origin. My department has sent your arrowhead to several different facilities worldwide and no one can make heads or tails of it. You’ve discovered something truly extraordinary Miss Queen, possibly even world altering.”

Hamilton spoke again this time telling me some of the scientific mumbo jumbo concerning the arrowhead. It was all over my head. All I seemed to get out of it was that the rocks gave off some kind of radiation and that my prolonged exposure to them somehow accelerated the dormant metagene in my body. So apparently, if not for the rocks, I might have been fairly normal. I was still neither truly girl or boy but the rocks tipped the scale toward girlhood. My penis was even smaller now, barely a visible nub. According to my latest physical with Gloria, I now had all the internal plumbing of a fully functional female. She wanted to operate to remove my penis but apparently that wasn’t going to be necessary now. According to her findings, it would gone in a matter of days. So, goodbye boyhood.

“These rocks are truly a fascinating discovery” finished Hamilton, ending his long and boring Snoopy adult talk.

“That brings me to the reason I’m here,” said Helen. “We were wondering if you could point us to this little island of yours.”

Of course they were. I had found something valuable and now the government wanted it for themselves. But I was a bit confused by her request. “Didn’t the cruise ship record the coordinates?”

Helen sighed. “Apparently the logs of the cruise ship were altered, removing any mention of the island at all.”

Who could…wait, never mind. It had to be the Old Man, but why would he do such a thing. Unless he was trying to protect me? But that didn’t make any sense. I sighed. “I can’t help you, Agent Helligan because I don’t know where the island is either, the best I can do is tell you it’s somewhere in the Atlantic, past the Keys.”

She nodded. “We have reason to believe that the information we seek might be stored somewhere in your company’s databanks. With your permission, we’d like to access them and try to find the information ourselves?”

A small part of me was willing to let them. I mean I really wanted nothing more to do with that damn island. It held a small place in my heart but at the same time, it was like a prison too. “You can try looking but if I know my grandfather, he’s probably covered his tracks pretty well.”

Helen smiled. “Let us worry about that.”

I nodded. “Ok then you have my permission but if I find any bugs in my system I’ll make you wish you never talked to me.”

“Fair enough” said Helen and she stood up, holding out her hand. I took it gently. “It was a pleasure meeting you Miss Queen. I suspect you’ll use your new gifts for the betterment of this city and its people.”

She winked when she said this, did she know about my extracurricular activities?

Agent Helligan left after that, leaving me alone with my new friend Hamilton. The good doctor and I talked for the better part of the hour after that. He asked me lots of questions, both about my so called abilities and the island. I had lots to say about the island, I was there for nearly three months. My abilities; I had nothing. I didn’t have a clue as to what they might be. Hell I was still convinced that he and his people made a mistake. There was no possible way I could be a Meta?

“We can run tests if you’d like” he said after I told him for the third time that I had no idea what kind of gifts I possessed.

“I’m not sure I want to be a lab rat doctor.”

He chuckled. “Not those kinds of tests. We’ve been trying to establish a way of testing powers, helping those who don’t know what they might possess.”

I nodded. “Thank you doctor but I’m not interested in your tests.”

He sighed. “I understand but if you change your mind don’t hesitate to make an appointment.”

I stood up from my own chair and shook the doctor’s hand. “It was a pleasure meeting you Dr. Hamilton, if I find any more like me, I promise to send them your way.”

He smiled big. “I’d like that very much.”

As soon as I stepped out of his office, I pulled out my cell. I hit #2 on my speed dial and got an answer on the second ring. “Speedy, I gave the government permission to access QI’s database.”

“Ummm, should I be worried?”

I laughed. “They want information on my little island. There’s something about those stones there, the government is really interested in them.”

“You want me to move any truly important stuff to a backup server?”

“That might be a wise thing to do.”

She groaned. “What the hell does the government want with you?”

I gave her the Cliff notes version of the meeting I just had. When it was done, she groaned. She made a comment about the DMA to which we shared a laugh. Then I let her go, realizing that it being eight at night she probably had loads of stuff to do before she went to bed for the night. As soon as I got off the phone with her, I considered calling Roy but decided against it. But I knew if I did, I would want to see him and I’m not sure where that might lead. So instead of dialing the number I really wanted too, I stuck the cell in my back pocket.

Then I found myself wandering the halls but not toward the lobby. I’m not sure why I didn’t head straight to the car and Luke. I couldn’t help but think of the conversation I just had in Hamilton’s office. So I was a Meta and it had something to do with the rocks. I knew there was something strange about those rocks when I first laid eyes on them. It’s not every day that you see green glowing rocks at the bottom of a little pond. But I shrugged it off simply because they were in one of the only fresh water sources on the whole island. It was either drink from that pond or walk all day to another source. But to think that the rocks were causing my changes, well accelerating them. On the island, my body had definitely changed. When I was diagnosed intersexed, my doctor told me I would be female on the outside but I’d be male as well.

Things changed on the island. My androgynous body---one that the doctor swore I’d have for more than a year or so---changed almost overnight. I thought the doctor had been mistaken. Now I knew the truth and it frightened me a bit. I was a Metahuman, my gene was dormant and much like the others, some traumatic event triggered it. I’m guessing that was the death of my parents and my eventual Robinson Crusoe adventure on the island. What I couldn’t understand was why I didn’t change fully? Others---like Terra---changed almost immediately. What made her different than me? Was it the rocks or was it something else, something about my genes?

Walking the halls, I ended up in front of the ladies room. I slipped inside. At the mirror, I looked at the pretty teen girl who called herself Olivia Queen. I tried to find Jonas in there, turning my head a bit. But no matter how much I looked, I only saw a shadow of him. I looked like my own sister or possibly a distant relative. Parts of me looked like my mother but other parts of me looked alien. I small part of me wanted to scream and punch the glass. But the rest of me liked what I saw. I wasn’t ashamed to be a girl; I was never ashamed of being who I was before either. But it was the idea of my genes being so much different than others that sent a shiver up my spine.

I shook my head. I’m still me though. I’m still the same person, I’m Olivia Queen. I’m sixteen years old---well fifteen but that didn’t matter. I had two great friends, an annoying Board of Directors and a huge company. So I wasn’t a normal teenager but I was still me. I was just a new kind of me, the kind that might have special powers. What they were I had no idea. I groaned, turning on the faucet, splashing water in my face. I did this a few times before I shut it off and dried off my hands. After that, I left the bathroom, pulling out my cell as I did so. I dialed Luke’s number; it rang twice before he answered. But the voice who said hello was not the voice of my friend.

“Who the hell is this?”

“Hello Miss Queen or should I say Miss Green Arrow” said the voice, it was cold and confident.

“I think you’re mistaken.”

He laughed. “Don’t insult my intelligence.”

“Ok so you know who I am. What are we going to do about it?”

He laughed again. I hated that laugh already. “We’re not going to do anything. You’re going to do something for me though. You’re going to back off. Your grandfather is dead and buried, things happen for a reason. You got his killer, now leave it alone.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“You know what they say about revenge Miss Queen?” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “You have to dig two graves. But in your case, if you keep at this you’re going to be burying a lot more than that.”

“Just tell me who hired Merlyn and I’ll back off.”

He laughed. “It’s over with. You don’t want to stick your nose into it anymore. You should have listened to Raines and left well enough alone. We tried to be civil but you just wouldn’t get the hint. I’m going to give you one more chance and you better take it. Time is running out…tick…tick…tick…”

He clicked off, leaving me stunned. It took me a moment to gather my thoughts before I tried Luke again. But the phone kept ringing. I cursed and took off running. I cursed the fact that I wore more heeled boots today. I tried not to think about it as I pushed myself as hard and as fast as my feet could carry me. There was something about the way that he said tick, tick, tick that scared the hell out of me. When I got to the lobby, I barreled through it, ignoring the receptionist as she called out to me. I pushed through the glass doors leading outside, rushing into the pounding rain. I shielded my eyes as I ran, seeing the Mercedes where Luke parked it. A feeling of dread overwhelmed me when I didn’t see him in the car.

Then he popped up, apparently bent over. I let out a huge sigh of relief and stopped running, walking slowly toward the car as I did so. Maybe I was overreacting after all. Whoever was on the other end was clearly trying to scare me off. It only half worked though. He got me all worked up and I almost panicked. Now seeing Luke sitting in the car, looking fine. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. I smiled at the sight of Luke, glad to see he was all right after all. I even laughed a bit, finding humor in my stupidity. I slowed my pace to a brisk walk, dripping wet now from the pounding rain around me. When I got close to the car, I locked my eyes with Luke’s. He smiled too. He had a great smile, so warm and welcoming. Looking at him only lasted for a second and I found myself gazing across the street. At first, I couldn’t see anything but the rain. It was really coming down, in thick sheets no less. But something happened, something I can’t really explain. It was as if I could see through the rain or rather through the spaces in-between the raindrops. The rain slowed to a standstill and I saw him.

There was a man on the other side of the street. He was dressed in a brown trench coat, army fatigue pants. His face was obscured though, blacked out. No not blacked out, I could see his eyes. He was wearing a black ski mask or something, it stood out because he was wearing a red bandanna around his neck. I stared at him and he caught sight of me. There was something in his eyes, something that told me that this guy was up to no good. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled outside something small. He raised it up and waved. It was the oddest thing in the world. I watched as he moved his finger and then there was a loud explosion.
The blast tore me from him and threw me backwards. It was the Mercedes. My entire world screamed around me as I flew through the air. I hit the pavement hard. Fiery debris and smoke rained down around me. My ears were ringing, my back ached and for a moment, everything was in slow motion. The world came back to me a few seconds later. When it did, I heard screaming and realized it was my own. I found myself sitting up and didn’t remember how. Everything was blurry until my eyes focused on the car. Or what was left of it. It was now a burning wreck. I heard shouts and screams, lots of running. Security was coming out of the building behind me; bystanders were running in every direction. Me, all I could do was look at the wreckage.

Luke. He was in there. He was there one minute and now---I shook my head. Tears were streaming down my face and before I knew what was happening, I was on my feet.

“Miss, are you all right?” asked one of the security guards, taking my arm, trying to lead me away from the fiery wreckage.

I shrugged off his arm. Instead, I looked across the street to where the masked bomber had been. I gritted my teeth and took off, kicking off my boots as I ran. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I wove through all the stopped cars in the street. There was an alley behind where the man had been standing; he no doubt disappeared into it. I charged blindly into the alley, not caring about the consequences. I just watched one of my friends get blown up by this bastard and I wanted some payback. But the alley was deserted. I ran through it, running the whole length of it. It was a lot longer than I thought. When I can out on the other side, there was a line of houses to greet me. I cursed and looked both ways, wondering where the bastard might have disappeared too.

I caught sight of him finally. It was strange but he wasn’t trying to hide his presence. He stopped walking and actually turned to look at me as if daring me to give chase. I did. I wanted to tear this son of a bitch’s throat out for what he did. He started walking as I ran after him, taking his merry time with it too. He was quite a ways ahead of me but that didn’t stop me from trying to run and catch up. I was determined to get my hands on him and make him pay for what he just did. When I got close enough, he ducked into another alley. This side of the street was apartments. I couldn’t lose him though, I wouldn’t lose him. I ran faster, reaching the alley in no time. As soon as I charged down it, I realized my mistake. It happened pretty quickly after that. I’m not sure how many of them there were but I felt the first blow to the back of the head, driving me to the ground. The next few came at my ribs, it was all vicious kicks. I got the wind knocked out of me from the first hit and the rest were just for good measure.I rolled with the punches though or rather the kicks, using my arms to defend my vital spots as much as possible. It still hurt like hell but bruising I could deal with. Though they got a few shots in at my face, which I know was already starting to swell. I thought the beating was never going to stop and then it did.

One of them grabbed my braided hair and pulled me off the ground. Another pulled my arms behind my back and held me there. The Bomber was there, standing ten feet away. My eyes were starting to swell shut already.

“I told you to back off or you would be burying a lot more people.”

I spit blood in his direction. “I’m going to….”

One of his thugs punched me in the gut.

“You’re not in a position to do anything,” said the masked man. Then he turned to one of the guys not holding me. “End this. Keep her alive but make it hurt a lot.”

He disappeared into the shadows, vanishing from sight.

“Let’s take care of this bitch shall we boys.”

“Not here” said one of the others. “Too many yuppies. Let’s take her some place secure and finish this up.”

I was being dragged after that. The beating had torn my jeans and my bare knees were now scrapping across the pavement. I vaguely felt myself being lifted and tossed into the trunk of a car. I think I might have blacked out for a second because when I came to the trunk was being open. Someone pulled me out and there was more dragging. I caught a faint odor and realized I must be in the mission district. I groaned. So this is where I was going to die, how fitting. Someone grabbed my braid again, pulling me from the ground. Then the fists came again, fast and hard. There were too many to keep count. All I knew was that it hurt like a son of a bitch. I tried to roll my body like last time, hoping that I could avoid serious injury. But unlike being on the ground where I could protect myself, being held with my arms behind my back made it impossible to defend myself.

Then something happened. There was someone else there. It happened so quick. One minute they were pounding on me and the next they weren’t. In the next minute, someone was pounding on them. I saw black clothes, white tape wrapped around large hands. Those hands pounded the faces of several of them, coming back blood covered. I collapsed to the ground, barely able to maintain consciousness. Someone picked me up though, scooped me up in strong arms.

I saw a face, a vaguely familiar one. At the sight of it, I smiled then passed out.

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

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Author's Note: Sorry for the delay everyone but it was a combination of cold that did not want to go away and boredom. I knew what I wanted to write but for the life of me just couldn't seem to get it down. I guess its because this story is starting to wind down and I'm eager to move on to something else. THat's not to say I don't want to write this one because I really like it but I'm anxious to start my next project. I'd like to thank my beta reader, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Ten:

When I opened my eyes, my entire body told me that I’d been through hell. I don’t think there was an inch of me that wasn’t sore. Even my eyelids hurt as I slowly forced them open. I blinked a few times as everything slowly came into focus. The first thing I noticed was that I was no longer in the alley. I was lying on something soft and comfortable. Shifting slightly, I realized it was a bed. But the room was unfamiliar to me. I pushed myself up slightly to take a better look. When I did so, the blanket slid off my body and I moaned from pain. Then I blushed in embarrassment. I wasn’t topless but it was clear that I was no longer wearing the clothes from earlier. I’m not sure who undressed me, but whoever it was, they put me in an oversized shirt.

I reached for my collar and peeked down, wincing as I did so. My lower chest was wrapped tightly with bandages. I wasn’t wearing a bra either but at least someone had the decency to leave my underwear on. I couldn’t help blushing again, wondering if my rescuer had fun undressing a naked girl. There was a slight panic then, wondering if they discovered my secret too. After all, I was still slightly male where it counted. Albeit the maleness was barely three year old in size now, it was still there. I was scared of the implications. If someone connected my face to a name then that meant they knew that Olivia Queen wasn’t who she was pretending to be. I could just see the headlines now: QUEEN ACTUALLY KING IN DISGUISE.

I felt sick. I threw the rest of the covers off, getting a first look at my bare legs. They were bruised in several places. I winced just looking at them. I tried not to think about what had happened because it was just too painful. Luke was dead and the person responsible almost had me beaten to death. I started to cry, the tears flowing freely down my face. I got Luke killed. All he was doing was his job and now someone else I cared about was gone. It was my fault, too. If I hadn’t stuck my nose where it didn’t belong, none of this crap would have happened. I ran my hands through my hair, wishing I could pull it all out. Instead, I found myself beating my fists angrily against the bed. I’m not sure how long I did it for but when I stopped, I felt a little bit better.

At least I’d stopped crying. As soon as I was done, I took a better look at the room. There wasn’t much to it actually. There was a window that had the blinds closed, the bed I was on and a small dresser. There was no closet that I could see and the only decoration on the wall was a framed poster from a boxing match. I stared at it, recognizing the names and the faces. It was Ted but a much younger Ted. He looked as gruff as ever in the poster but happier too. If that was possible. I inched to the edge of the bed to get a better look. But to get a really good look I’d probably have to get right up to it. A small part of me told me that that might not be the best idea at the moment. I didn’t feel secure walking. My legs were still pretty sore and I was afraid that putting weight on them might not be a good idea right now.

“I see you’re up and about,” said a friendly voice.

I nearly fell off the bed from being startled. I snapped around, catching sight of a stunningly attractive Hispanic woman standing in the doorway. She was leaning against the door jamb with her arms crossed but a smile on her face. She was dressed in jeans and a tank top, a stethoscope draped around her neck. Her long black hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and judging by her muscular frame, I’d say she’d spent a lot of time in the gym. It took me all of a few seconds to realize who had undressed me and tended to my bruised body. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that some strange guy hadn’t groped me. Though I couldn’t help but grab the blanket and pull it up to my chin.

She laughed. “A bit bashful I see, too.”

She walked into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Where am I?”

“In Ted’s apartment above his gym. Do you remember what happened?”

Ted? Suddenly I remembered seeing my rescuer clearly. Though he was dressed all in black, it was his white tapped hands that gave him away. “Ted saved me?”

She nodded. “You’re lucky he goes out for a run before closing up. He spotted those guys taking you from the car and dragging you into the alley. They never stood a chance” she chuckled.

I nodded. Then realization dawned on me. “Holy shit. How long have I been here for?”

“Three days now. You’re lucky Ted called me when he did. I wanted to take you to the hospital but Ted said it wasn’t safe.”

Three days? Damn it. People were going to be looking for me. When someone like me goes missing for three days…I couldn’t even think about the media frenzy. The woman seemed to notice my sudden panic because she reached out and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. It didn’t calm me down but it helped a great deal.

“It’s ok, Miss Queen. Ted called your friend Roy, told him what happened. He and a pink haired girl were just here to see you yesterday but you were still unconscious.” I numbly nodded. She continued. “After the beating you took I’m surprised you’re not in worse shape but it’s surprising how fast you healed.”

I sighed. “I’m a meta.” I couldn’t believe I was saying that aloud.

She nodded. “I figured as much. I’ve never actually met one but we’ve been briefed at the clinic, told what we can expect.”

“Clinic?”

She laughed and smacked her forehead. “I’m Yolanda, well Dr. Yolanda Montez. Boy that sounds weird to say actually. I just got out of medical school a few months ago, actually. I never thought I’d be meeting a Meta so quickly though. You hear in the news of them popping up but wow.”

“So about what you saw…I mean down below….”

She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s called doctor patient confidentiality, I won’t tell anyone sweetie.”

I smiled as a tear ran down my cheek. The next thing I knew I was in her arms, crying on her shoulder. We stayed like that for a few moments, letting me get it all out of my system. When I was done, she handed me a tissue to wipe my eyes. I took stock of my situation now. Three days ago---hard to believe but ok---three days ago I got beaten up and rescued by Ted Grant. I apparently have a strange meta healing ability but not a super one or else I’d be feeling no pain right about now. Ted took me back to his place, brought a doctor from some clinic to take care of me and now here I was. At least Mia knew where I was or else she’d be freaking. Hell I was pretty sure the press was having a field day with all of this.

I groaned. “I’m guessing everyone wants to know where I am?”

She smiled. “You’re on every channel actually. It’s hard not to be what with your car being blown up, your driver dying and now you’re nowhere to be found.”

I nodded. Then thought of something. “Why didn’t Ted take me to the hospital?”

She sighed. “I’ll let him explain that. He says there’s things that the two of you should discuss in private. In fact I only came in here to check on you as it is, didn’t expect to see you up and about actually. I need to go and get him now.”

She slid off the bed. “Can you call Mia too, the pink haired girl, and call Q.I., ask for Jade and tell her what’s going on.”

She smiled. “I’ll call your friends.”

She left the room, giving me a moment to collect my thoughts.

I looked around the room, wondering why it wasn’t as decorated as Ted’s office. I mean this had to be his bedroom, right. The Gym wasn’t all that big, I couldn’t imagine there being two bedrooms to this place. I had half a mind to crawl off the bed and follow Yolanda into the other room. In fact I managed to get up enough courage to do just that when Ted walked through the door. He was wearing a sweat drenched black tank top and workout pants. His salt and pepper hair was clinging to his head and his hands were still wrapped in that white tape. He stood in the doorway and stared at me for a few minutes, his intense eyes scrutinizing me.

“The elusive Miss Queen, so full of surprises.”

“What about you Mr. Grant. Not everyone would go out of there to help someone in trouble?”

He smirked. “This coming from the girl who was in trouble in the first place.”

I smiled. “I have my reasons.”

The smirk disappeared from his face as he walked into the room. He found a chair in the corner and dragged it over to my bedside before dropping into it. For a man his age he should have been exhausted after his apparent workout but he looked fine. In fact, besides being a little sweaty, he showed no sign of fatigue at all. Maybe he truly was the Man with Nine Lives like everyone said.

He glared at me for a moment before speaking. “You’re damn lucky I came along when I did, guys like that don’t mess around.”

“I’m grateful for the help but I’m not some weak little girl like you think I am.”

He grumbled something unintelligible. Then he got to his feet rather quickly. “I want you to get up and get dressed.” He walked toward the door, stopping in the doorway. “Meet me downstairs when you’re done, you and I need to discuss a few things.”

He left the room as abruptly as he arrived. I took a moment to prepare myself before sliding off the bed. I was a lot more stable than I thought, wobbling once on my sore legs. After realizing I wasn’t going to go tumbling to the ground, I rushed over to the dresser. I opened the drawers one by one, hoping to find something to wear. I was surprised to find them filled with feminine clothing. Was there something Ted wasn’t telling me?

The top drawer had underwear but all I grabbed was a sports bra. I peeled off the huge t-shirt, getting a first time look at my bruised and bandaged upper torso. Those bastards really did a number on me. I tried not to think about it as I pulled on the sports bra, finding it more than adequate to hold my girls in place. As I was opening the next drawer, I realized Yolanda was standing in the doorway.

“They’re my clothes in case you’re wondering,” she said then laughed. “I bet you thought Ted had a secret life he wasn’t letting anyone know about.”

I laughed, pulling a pair of stretchy pink yoga pants from the drawer. “Somehow I can’t see Ted strutting around in this.”

She laughed. When she was done, she still had a big smile on her face. “He’s my Godfather actually, took me in when I was twelve, raised me after my parents died.”

She walked into the room, looking at it with a frown. “He busted his ass saving up enough money to send me to college. I remember how excited he was when I got into Berkeley and then later into medical school.”

“This doesn’t exactly look much like a lived in room?” I said as I pulled on the pants.

“I took most of my stuff out of her when I moved out last winter; I guess Ted hasn’t found anything to fill the empty space with yet. I leave some clothes here from time to time, especially when I’m down in the Gym working out.”

“You mean he lets you…but…” I frowned. “And he was giving me such a hard time.”

She laughed. “All an act. He’s the biggest softy in the world, well once you know what buttons to push.”

We laughed as I found my sneakers and slipped them on, lacing them up quickly. Then I followed her out of the room and into the small apartment. It was definitely decorated by the man who owned the Gym below. The walls were covered in old boxing posters and newspaper clippings. There was even a space where some old heavy weight belts hung and a pair of battered boxing gloves on a nail. The rest of the room seemed cramped by comparison, a tattered, worn couch and chair, an old rabbit-eared TV set. There was a stack of pizza boxes in the corner and dirty dishes piling in the small kitchenette area. Yolanda frowned at those, shaking her head as she muttered a curse or two in Spanish. Then she led me toward the stairs, telling me about how glad my friends were to hear I was all right.

When we got downstairs, Yolanda disappeared back up them. I was alone in the Gym with Ted. Looking around it was clear that it was after hours because the place was completely deserted. I found Ted on the other side of the boxing ring, holding a bow and an arrow. I gulped. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he wanted me to do. I walked slowly over, wondering how much of my secret Ted knew or how much my friends might have let slip. When I finally got to him, I saw his scowl.

“Before I hand you this and ask you to shoot for me I have one question.” I nodded, gulping some more. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”

It was definitely not the question I was expecting. It took me a moment to respond. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me girly. You riled up a hornet’s nest when you started poking into your grandfather’s death like that.”

Shit, what did he know? I decided not to play dumb. “I want answers.”

He laughed. “Look where those answers got you. The League almost killed you, twice in fact.”

The League? What the hell was that?

Ted seemed to read the confusion on my face because he shook his head. “Some great investigator, you did all this poking around and you still don’t know who you’re up against.” He sighed heavily, running his fingers through his hair. “I promised myself I wouldn’t get involved with all of this…” his voice trailed off.

“All of what? Do you know what’s going on? Do you know who tried to kill my grandfather?”

He shook his head. “Not the actual person but I know who he used.” He groaned, rubbing his temples. “They call themselves the League of Assassins. They’re a covert group of killers who operate in total secrecy. They’re world renown killers, responsible for some of history’s greatest assassinations and accidents. There was a second gunman on the grassy knoll and Elvis didn’t die because of a drug overdose. These guys are deadly and very efficient.”

“Why my grandfather, then?”

Ted shook his head. “They sell themselves out to the highest bidder. Whoever wanted your grandfather dead must have had his reasons and a lot of money.” Then he scratched the back of his head. “But it doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

“John Merlyn and his group. They’re thugs, worse than mercenaries. Word on the street is that they’re not even with the League anymore, they went rogue months ago.”

“But if they’re not with the League then the League didn’t kill my grandfather.”

Ted nodded. “But it reeks of the League. The Seven were at the top, the best of the best. There’s no way the League could let them go rogue and pull off a high profile job like this…unless….” His voice trailed off again.

Ted looked agitated. He started pacing, talking to himself.

I needed him to focus though. He seemed to know a lot, I’m not sure how but he did. If he could give me answers, I needed him to concentrate and not ramble. “Who are these seven you mentioned?”

He stopped pacing. “The Seven Men of Death. They were the top seven assassins in the League, Merlyn was their leader.”

“I was attacked by a female whip wielding psychopath.”

He laughed. “I don’t think they picked the name based on gender.”

I nodded. “So they killed the old man but why me?”

He shook his head. “If I were to guess I’d say you got too close. I think they tried scaring you off at first, blowing up that PI or yours.” My eyes widened at that, he just smiled and continued. “When that failed and you found their forger, they decided on more drastic measures. They sent their lowest ranked member to take you out.”

“The Whip girl.”

“You made short work of her so they decided to up the game by pulling in a big gun.”

I closed my eyes, trying to force away the tears. Luke died because of me, I’d been right. They tried to get me to back off but I kept pushing it. That’s what the guy in the mask had said. I should have stopped, why didn’t I stop. I tried to hide my tears by turning my head away from Ted but it didn’t work. A few moments later, one of his strong hands was on my shoulder.

“It’s not your fault, kid, you were doing what you thought was right. No one will fault you for that.”

I turned to him, tears flowing freely. “I fucked up.”

He nodded. “That you did.”

“Aren’t you suppose to cheer me up or something?”

“Not my job” he said, putting on a steely demeanor. “I’m here so that you don’t do it again.”

I wiped away my tears and looked up at him. “I don’t understand.”

He smiled. “You can’t do this alone kid, not with the skills you possess. You might be good with this” he held up the bow. “But it’s going to take a lot more than fancy shooting to take down all these bastards.”

“I thought you didn’t want to help me?”

“True, but I can’t stand by and watch you get hurt either.”

I wanted to hug him but I refrained from doing so. Instead, I held out my hand and he passed the bow to me. The target was far on the other side of the room, a playing card that he set up. It was the Ace of Spades and there was no way a normal person could do what I was about to do. But I was not normal, not any more. I took a deep breath, nocked the arrow and took aim at the spade in the center. I didn’t even look as I let the arrow fly.

I turned to him before my shot found its mark. “When do we start?”

The twang of the arrow hitting the card reverberated through the room.

Just as I predicted, the press had been having a field day. The best headline of them all was QUEEN STILL MISSING FROM HER TOWER. My disappearance was the talk of the town, my face all over every news channel and on the cover of every newspaper. It’s not every day that someone tries to kill a billionairess and then she goes missing shortly thereafter. The theories ran rampant in my absence too. Everything from being kidnaped to being killed and even being abducted by aliens---gotta love the tabloids. When I finally did get home---via taxi---the press swarmed my entrance. Ted was nice enough to go with me and managed to keep the vultures at bay as the two of us pushed through the crowd and into the Tower. Things got no easier once I got inside because I was ambushed by Mia and Roy both of whom took turns giving me hugs. I think I might have cried a bit.

Then there was the other stuff. Everyone wanted to know what happened, my friends at the top of the list. The press was second, then the Board of course. It took me hours to wade through it all, first with Mia and Roy, then with fielding phone calls for interviews and things like that. In the end, I decided that the best course of action was a press conference. I scheduled it for the next afternoon. Things finally calmed down enough that I was able to slip into my office, Mia and Roy following right on my heels. I made sure the room was secure, shutting off the intercom and telling Jade to hold all my calls. As soon as I knew things were ok, I let out a huge sigh as I dropped into my chair. Mia and Roy watched me for a few seconds, silently following my strained movement with concerned eyes.

I groaned. “I feel like a goldfish.”

Mia smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry but the last time we saw you, you were lying in a bed, covered in bruises with an IV in your arm.”

She started to tear up. I quickly got out of my chair and gave her a big hug. Roy was silent but I locked eyes with him over Mia’s shoulder. It was clear he wanted to say something too but the words weren’t coming. Instead, I sent him a weak smile and mouthed, “I’m ok” to him. He nodded, smiling back. After I was done with my overly long hug, I returned to my nice big chair.

Roy broke the silence that followed. “So what’s our next course of action?”

“There is no next course of action, at least not for you two.”

Mia opened her mouth to protest but I cut her off with the raising of my hand. “Not with these guys, Speedy, they’re too dangerous. They killed Luke and nearly killed Roy. I should have pulled the plug on this whole thing back then but I was stupid.”

“But they’re not too dangerous for you?” snapped Mia, clearly pissed that I was cutting her out of the loop.

I sighed. “Yes they are but I’m going to play things smart now. Ted has agreed to train me, to teach me how to fight.”

Mia smirked, crossing her arms. “You think a few karate moves are going to protect you?”

I shook my head. “No but I’m not going to walk into another one of their traps.” I reached across the table and touched her arm. “I’m also not going to put my friends in any more unneeded danger. I can’t use you on this one Speedy, it’s just too dangerous.”

Mia pouted. Roy shook his head. “You don’t have to tell me to back off twice.” He rubbed his arm; the welt from that bitch’s whip was still visible. “But if you need any backup you know where to find me.”

I smiled. The offer was tempting but there was no way I was going to let him risk himself for me. There was already too much death involved with all this. Hell they even killed Raines and he was one of them. These people were bad news. I couldn’t let Roy or Mia anywhere near this, not anymore. Especially seeing as how I just spent the last half an hour on the phone with Luke’s mother, telling her how truly sorry I was for her loss. She was a strong woman and knew what her son did contain some risk and was truly grateful that I took the time to call. It surprised me how strong she really was. But there was just no way I was strong enough to make calls like that to Mia’s family or even BB. They might be strong but I wasn’t. So Roy and Mia were not going to be put in harm’s way, not anymore and definitely not because of me.

Mia was still pouting with her arms crossed. She was giving me the evil eye, which meant I was going to be in the doghouse with her for a while. But I didn’t care. I sighed heavily, trying to figure out a way to make it up to her. A thousand ideas were swarming through my head and I finally found one I thought she might like. I opened my mouth to tell her when my cell rang. I groaned, forgetting to shut it off. I pulled it out and was confused when I saw Jade’s number but then realized I shut off the intercom. I clicked the button.

“Miss Queen, sorry for the interruption” She never called me Miss Queen anymore so this was big. “But Mr. Steele is here and he’s got a Mr. Maxwell…”

I cut her off. “Uncle Max is here?”

“Should I tell them you’re in a meeting or send them through?”

I groaned then looked at my friends. “Send them in.”

I clicked off my cell and set it on the desk. “Sorry you two but I have to take this meeting. You can hang in the Hub if you want.”

Mia shot me a look, one that told me that we weren’t done discussing this. Roy grabbed her arm and pulled her from her seat. The two of them made for the door just as my new guests were coming in. Walter Steele was smiling, flashing me that gorgeous smile of his. He was smug, which overpowered any bit of handsomeness the man might have. He was handsome too; drop dead gorgeous to be exact. He also knew it and because of that, he was one of the most arrogant bastards I’d ever met. He tried to be nice but it was all an act. Why my grandfather ever named him, CEO was a complete and total mystery.

Uncle Max on the other hand was one of the kindest men I’d ever met. There was nothing smug about him. He had a warm welcoming smile and everyone loved him. He came from money, having inherited his empire from his father. Though he was currently trying to merge his company with mine, I felt no hard feelings toward him. As far as I was concerned, Max was family. He looked particularly put out today though. He still had that warm smile but there was a hint of sadness too. He was wearing a light gray suit in contrast to Steele’s charcoal colored one. His graying hair was slicked back, his face covered with a few more wrinkles since the last time I saw him.

The two men took the seats vacated by my friends.

“Miss Queen, all me to introduce Maxwell…”

“Uncle Max” I said like a giddy schoolgirl, biting my lip as I did so.

Shit, I only knew him as Uncle Max via Jonas, not Olivia.

Uncle Max raised an eyebrow. Then he squinted his eyes. For a second he was confused then a small smile crossed his lips. I cursed under my breath, he knew. Damn me and my big mouth.

Steele recovered quickly, clearing his throat. “Miss Queen I think you’ve put off this meeting long enough. I know that you’re still recovering from your unfortunate mishap but I can’t delay the Board anymore.”

I sighed and nodded. Steele smiled. I sat there and listened as the two men droned on for an hour, talking about the merger and all the benefits that it might bring. They had a lot of good points but I knew from reading my grandfather’s files that he didn’t want this merger. I’m not sure why he was so against it but he had made it pretty clear that he didn’t want to go into business with Max. As much as I wanted to do good for my company, I also wanted to respect my grandfather’s memory as well. The old man may have been a lot of things but a fool he wasn’t. He knew his business and if he didn’t want to go into business with Max then there had to be a reason.

When they finally finished, I smiled and nodded. “That’s an interesting proposal gentlemen and I’ll take it under consideration.”

Steele looked confused. “Under consideration?”

I nodded. “I want to discuss things for my lawyer first and foremost; I’d also like to read the proposal in full, get a full understanding of what this merger might offer for my company and Uncle Max’s as well.”

I cursed again; I had to stop calling him that. Max only smiled, clearly amused.

Steele on the other hand looked like he just swallowed a goldfish.

“This is a good thing Miss Queen, it will benefit everyone involved.” Steele was pretty adamant, which only made me question things more.

They were all suspect to me. It was clear that someone tipped off the bad guys about STAR Labs, someone who knew I was there. The cover story had to deal with grants and extending contracts. There were a lot of people in the Tower who knew my schedule so anyone of them could have tipped off the other side, including Mr. Steele. I was taking no more chances anymore.

Max stood up, smiling. “I understand your concerns, Miss Queen and I agree with them. I think it’s very wise and I await your final decision.”

“You can’t be serious,” said Steele.

Max reached for and took my hand, giving it a gentle kiss. “It was nice meeting you Olivia,” he said with a wink.

I smiled. I have to learn to keep my mouth shut.

I stood up, signaling the end of this meeting. Steele looked pissed but Max was still smiling. He put his hand on Steele’s back, leading him away from the table. My CEO was handsome but a slime ball through and through. Ross may have been the villain on the Board but Steele was the guy in charge. He had the power to stop things but instead he just let them go. In my eyes that made him as crooked as the rest of them.

I watched as the two men slowly made their way out of my office. Steele grumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like “stupid bitch” but I let it slide. As soon as they were gone, I picked up my cell and called Jade. “A little warning next time,” I said, groaning as I dropped into my seat.

“Sorry about that, boss, but Mr. Steele wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

I sighed. “I think I might need to get Mr. Walters to do a check on him as well, can you make an appointment with him for me.”

She laughed. “Mr. Walters wanted to meet with you anyway, I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Thanks” I said about to click off but stopped. “Oh, no more surprise meetings today and hold all my calls.”

“You’re the boss.”

I clicked off the phone and tossed it on my desk, sighing heavily. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, glad that that pompous jackass Steele was finally gone. I took a couple of deep, reassuring breaths, trying to finally relax. The ringing of my cell shattered whatever relaxation I might have achieved. I cursed and opened my eyes, grabbing it off my desk. It only rang that once which meant I got a text. I groaned and pushed the button. As soon as I did, the color drained from my face. It was a picture message but not a picture I wanted anymore to take: it showed me leaving Ted’s place, Ted helping me into the taxi.

The message was simple: SO GLAD YOU’RE OK, SWEETIE. I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU, XXOO. It was signed with a heart that had an arrow through it.

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

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Author's Note: Hi there :) In case anyone didn't read it, I posted a blog a little while ago stating that I'd run out of ideas for Target Practice and that I was stopping the story for the time being. Well that didn't work out so well. Two days after I wrote the blog, I got struck with a brilliant idea. So I sat down and wrote 3 pages, which in turn became a whole chapter shortly there after. I now have enough ideas to finish off the whole story :) I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing, DC Comics for the characters and a brilliant game called Arkham City for getting me out of my rut.

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Chapter Eleven:

If anyone ever knocks a bubble bath in my presence, so help me God I’ll put an arrow in their foot. It’s funny how a simple change in perspective truly changes things. Before you wouldn’t have caught me dead in a bathtub, soaking in a mountain of bubbles. Now it was the greatest thing in the world. I used to be a shower kind of guy. I’d hop in, soap myself up, wash my hair and get out. The whole thing might take less than twenty minutes. But there was something about sitting in a nice hot bath, closing your eyes and just relaxing. It also helps the healing process after nearly two grueling hours of having your ass kicked.
It wasn’t just two hours, though. It was two hours every day for the last four weeks. I had pain in muscles that I didn’t even know I had. Ted was a vicious slave driver too, but it was so worth it. The day after my unfortunate meeting with Mr. Steele, I met with my tutor early in the morning and then went straight to Ted’s. He wanted to start simple so he decided on running. He said he wanted to see how much my body could take. Thanks to my most recent injury, it wasn’t much. He had me run around the block a few times in the hopes that I might surprise him. I didn’t and he berated me for it. But at the same time, he understood that I was still on the mend. After that, we spent most of our time in the gym. From that point on it was all about building muscle. He put me on a strict diet and made sure that I continued with my workout routines at home.

Every day for the next week, it was like this.

From the running and exercise, came the real work. That’s when he started me on some combat training. If I wanted to be successful, I had to learn how to truly defend myself. It wasn’t just about the bow; I needed to learn how to act without it. There might come a time when I was all out of arrows and had to rely on other skills. He started me on a blend of ninjutsu and muay tai. Ted also thought it might be a good idea that I take up other weapons too, throwing stars and knives. He ran me through hell and back with all the training. But it was worth it. I’m not sure if it was because of my newly discovered metagene or if I was a natural but I took to it all rather quickly. Especially the other weapons, throwing knives was just like shooting arrows and I had the same accuracy too.

At the beginning of this week, he dropped the bomb on me. Apparently, he wanted to see how good I might actually be. That’s when the two of us talked a little bit more about what I might be up against.

“The League has been around for years,” he said as I beat my fists on a punching bag. “No one’s really sure how long but they say the man in charge is practically immortal.”

“Immortal?” I asked, my face turning a nice shade of green.

He only laughed at that. “Not really immortal. I think it’s more like a father to son thing. I’m not sure who the first one was or what he might have been called but the only name he answers to now is Ra-s Al-Ghul.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You’re serious?”

He shrugged. “I’m not making this shit up kid.”

He spent a while giving me a history lesson on these bastards. They were a rather influential bunch, taking credit for a great deal of things. Supposedly, Booth worked for them, as did the real assassin of JFK. There were also several other high profile assassinations that could be linked to the League in some fashion or another. But they also had standards, too. At least the modern version did. It’s believed the current Al Ghul took over in the seventies and that the League’s activities since his tenure have turned toward more political assassinations and less jobs-for-hire. Ted was convinced that al-Ghul himself wasn’t responsible for the death of my grandfather but he might have been involved. Like he mentioned before, The Seven weren’t exactly League favorites anymore. In fact, according to his source, all of them were running scared. Thanks in no part to Merlyn actually. Word on the street was, al-Ghul didn’t want anyone touching the Queen hit.

I shifted in the tub as my thoughts turned to the present. We only talked one more day about the League then he refused to answer any more questions about it. Ted was a tough guy but I could tell the League made him nervous. It made me think. I couldn’t help but wonder why someone like al-Ghu-l would keep his people from going after the old man. It didn’t make sense, but then again a lot of it didn’t make any sense. If the Seven were running scared from the League then why risk coming after me. If I was running from someone, I’d make sure not to make the news. So far, they weren’t really good at staying under the radar. The attempt at the school made headlines thanks to Carrie Hartnell, my new best friend---i.e. my worst enemy.

The car bombing and my subsequent disappearance made an even bigger splash. Here I thought Lois Lane was a thorn in my side but Hartnell made her look like a kitten. The woman just didn’t know when to stop actually. Apparently, while I was recuperating from my beating, Hartnell started making up her own headlines. I think it irked her that I refused the interview from a few weeks ago. The woman was a menace. The phone calls from her didn’t seem to want to stop either. Since surviving two attempts on my life, I’d become something of a celebrity. Before I was mad at all, the negative press but now I was getting kind of sick and tired of all the good press.

There were twice as many reporters camped out in front of the Tower now. There were so many that I had to send more than one decoy car out to fool them. The saddest part of it all was my nerves. I could get up; go through my daily routine, hell, even go to Ted’s without a problem. But coming home, going into that garage and looking at the empty spot where the Mercedes should be----that really got to me. Every time I close my eyes, I can’t help but see Luke’s smiling face. It hurts knowing that I got him killed.

A gentle rapping on the bathroom door broke my thoughts. I sighed heavily, slipping further into the bubbles. I even went so far as ducking my head into the water, hoping that the knocking would go away. After a few moments, I resurfaced only to hear the knocking still. I groaned heavily, it was probably one of the new girls. There was only one good thing about all this good press; it was causing the Board to back off immensely. They pulled almost all their new additions to my staff and actually allowed me to have some control over my money. John was still working on his side of things but it was looking good. We did manage to stop the buyout, which was great. I don’t think Mr. Steele was too happy but I didn’t really give a damn.

I was tired of being pushed around in my own place.

The new staff was Jade’s idea. She thought it might look a little better if we hired some women as well, something my grandfather and the male dominated Board didn’t think was necessary. So after removing the Board goons, Jade oversaw the hiring of six new and highly qualified women to work behind the scenes. I’m not really sure what they did only that they seemed to find me whenever I wanted to be alone and didn’t take no for an answer. So I was pretty certain that whoever was knocking on the door was one of my new interlopers, out to ruin my quiet time once again.

“Miss Queen” said a meek voice from the other side of the door, the knocking finally stopped. “I’m sorry to interrupt ma’am, but Miss Dearden is on the line. She says it’s important.”

That was the best news I’d heard in days.

I stayed in the bath for another minute before climbing out and grabbing my robe. I paused before pulling it on, taking a look at myself in the large mirror I had installed on the bathroom wall. To look at me one would never be able to tell I’d ever been anything other than Olivia Queen. All that was Jonas Oliver was completely gone now, the last bit having disappeared sometime last week. I was so caught up in the rigorous training I didn’t even notice. I felt a small pang of sadness over it all but at the same time I couldn’t be happier. I felt whole now, complete in my new life. Sure there would be some bumps along the way but those I could handle.

The old man handled the rest. My identity was taken care of months ago with all the bells and whistles too. The only thing left was my driving. In-between working with Ted and my tutor---with what little free time I had left---I took lessons. I did it discreetly, under an alias. Dad had been teaching me a little bit here and there so I wasn’t a complete amateur. So after only a few weeks of lessons, I was able to take and pass my test. My official license doesn’t arrive until next week some time but I now could drive any car I wanted. I celebrated the other day by taking the Viper out for a spin. It was everything I expected it to be. After driving it, I broke down into sobs, missing Luke more than I ever thought.

I smiled at the girl in the mirror as I pulled on my robe and left the bathroom. The meek messenger was gone but someone took the liberty of laying out some clothes on my bed. I groaned. I’d already made it pretty clear that I didn’t want people waiting on me like this. But no matter how hard I complained my pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears. Though Mr. Steele and the Board were still in charge of the day-to-day operations of the company, thanks to John, things were starting to go my way. The Board wasn’t giving me any more problems. There was still the matter of who might be feeding information to my enemies but John was confident that we’d get to the bottom of it soon. He was still in the process of running his background checks on everyone. I was pretty confident in his abilities.

I got dressed quickly, glad someone knew of my jeans and t-shirt motif. At least for around the Tower anyway. When I was trying to be more official, I glammed it up a bit. But to take a phone call and maybe do some light training in the gym, this outfit was good enough. Not that I would train in jeans of course but I usually keep spare workout clothes down there.

I pulled out my cell as I walked back into the living area. Mia and I got smart, especially after my repeated, untraceable phone calls. Now my cell---my brand new one---was totally encrypted. I’m not sure how she pulled it off but it would take a super genius to get through to me now. Thankfully, Mia was the only genius I knew. I typed in the scrambler number before calling her. It rang twice, letting her know it was me.

“You’re a hard person to get a hold of lately, Miss Queen,” she said with a mocking tone.

I laughed. “Been kind of busy, you know learning to save the city and all that.”

It took me two days to get Mia to talk to me after I told her and Roy I didn’t want them to have anything more to do with the hero business. She didn’t take the news very well. But all that changed when my stalker sent me another text message. Mia used all her know how but somehow the person once again eluded us. Whoever he or she was they were skilled enough to bounce their cell signal all around the city, leading us on another wild goose chase. It was discouraging but Mia was confident that she’d catch them eventually. In the meantime, the two of us started to refurbish the Green Arrow side of things. Mia expanded the Hub into a network of communication satellites all around the globe; the program was buried discreetly in a Queen R&D program. We also set up multiple servers throughout the city, each wired to devices that would erase all of the content on them in case compromised.

As far as the physical aspect of the Green Arrow went, we were still a work in progress. My new suit was still not ready. It was the second week in March now and I was starting to get antsy. Ted’s training consumed most of February and I was starting to grow more confident in my abilities. I still couldn’t beat him in a one on one fight but I was “progressing nicely” as he told me after each match. Green Arrow was also on her way to getting some kick as transport. The Viper was good in a pinch but I really needed something more mobile. So we went as far as setting up little stations throughout the city, complete with spare arrows, a change of clothes and most importantly my new rides: Hayabusha GSX-1300R-K8 motorcycles, green of course. We had six stations so far, each one strategically placed and discreetly disguised.

“So what’s so important that you had to interrupt my bath?”

“Have you been watching the news in the last few days?”

I shook my head even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “I’m lucky if have enough time to even turn the TV on.”

By this point, I was walking out of the penthouse and toward the elevator. I hated having a call like this in such a public place but I had some stuff to do in the office.

As the elevator door closed, Mia sighed. “Your friend from the school slipped police custody.”

I cursed. Not only was she a whip wielding deadly assassin, she also seemed to know that Olivia Queen was the Green Arrow. Definitely not a good person to have running around. I had Mia keep an eye on her all the same. After Roy and I kicked her ass at the school, the police found her right where we left her. They took her into custody but she never ratted me out. In fact, she didn’t say a thing. They ran her through the databases but no one had anything on her. Hell the only concrete thing the SFPD could pin on her was the death of the janitor. The last I knew they were checking international channels to see if anyone knew anything. I thought about consulting with my DEO “friend” but I didn’t want to get them involved in my business.

“What happened?” I asked. “I mean I thought they had her in a maximum security prison?”

I heard Mia typing rapidly. “According to the reports and the video from the prison, she feigned an illness and was sent to the prison’s medical facility. She somehow smuggled a makeshift knife in with her. She slit a nurse’s throat and took her place before they knew what happened. Then she set a small fire, triggering the alarms and causing a bit of panic. In all the craziness she walked right out the front door.”

I ran my fingers through my hair as the elevator stopped and the door opened. I started toward my office when I asked. “Tell me you’ve got her?”

Mia chuckled. “Please this is me you’re talking to.” There were more keys tapping away. “Thanks to my brand new super network and a little help from our Oracle friend, I was able to pinpoint little Miss Assassin’s location to a small hotel on the east side.”

I smiled. “You’re the best, Speedy.”

“Damn straight I am.”

We both laughed. I was still laughing when I walked into the little lobby of my office. Jade was sitting at her desk, looking very sharp today in a white blouse and green skirt. She was also blushing something fierce. At first, I thought she might be on the phone with a boyfriend, something she’s been known to do from time to time. Men fell all over themselves to chat her up, Roy was one of them. The first time they met, my dear friend was very smitten with her. I almost made a comment as I walked through the room until I noticed she was talking to someone. That someone was sitting in the chair opposite her, a man from the back of his head. Jade was blushing and even so far as giggling. I couldn’t remember ever seeing her so flustered by someone before.

“Ollie, you still there?”

At that particular moment, Jade caught sight of me. She quickly regained her composure. “Miss Queen” she said, taking on a more business-like tone.

That meant our guest was important.

The man turned in his seat, shifting so I could see his face. My heart skipped a beat, no wonder Jade was blushing, he was gorgeous. He had jet black hair, sparkling blue eyes that you could get lost in and this chin, I can’t even describe it. He had an award winning smile too, one that he exhibited rather nicely as he stood to greet me. Dressed in a crisp, expensive suit I knew this man was very important. There was also something rather familiar about him though I couldn’t place it.

“Olivia” he said, it was nice to hear my name come from those lips. “It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”

Shit, that voice. I knew that voice.

I gulped and sighed at the same time. My heart skipped a beat again. “Speedy” I said softly into the phone. “I’m going to have to call you back.”

I clicked off before she could say anything.

The man walked through the room, still smiling. “I’m sorry to drop in so unannounced like this but I finally had some free time so I thought I’d pay you a visit, I hope you don’t mind?”

I numbly shook my head. Bruce Wayne, the Bruce Wayne was standing in front of me.

I smiled, finally finding my voice. “I don’t mind at all Mr. Wayne.”

I know I shouldn’t be enjoying whipping through the back streets on this testosterone rocket but I couldn’t help myself. I might be all girl now but the little boy in me still loved the idea of tearing it up on this super bike. I would like to say I picked it because of its speed and its maneuverability but I’d be lying. I liked those things about it a lot but in the end the girl in me won out and I picked it because it looked cool. I know that’s a horrible thing to say but it’s the truth. The fact that it was fast and powerful was just an added bonus. It also helped that Ted definitely didn’t approve of me driving around the city on it. Ever since he took me under his wing he’d become like an overprotective teddy bear. It would have been almost cute if he didn’t feel a lot like an scared father looking out for his little girl.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the analogy. Back when I first met him, if I’d known then what I know now, I would laugh until I couldn’t breathe. I can honestly admit that a small part of me had been afraid of him when I walked into that Gym with Roy and saw Ted barking out orders to people. It scared me even more when he accused me of being a girl and practically told me to get the hell out of there. It’s amazing what a couple of months, a spontaneous gender change and lot of long hours training together can do to a relationship. I know found it hard to imagine my life without Ted. Even though it had been only four weeks since we started, it felt like a lifetime. Ted Grant had an overwhelming effect on people; some might say that’s a bad thing but not me. When we actually worked in the Gym around other people, he pretended to be tough but as soon as he went overboard and saw me hurting, he let some of his soft side through. He tried to hide it of course but I caught some of the other guys smirking and even laughing in the corner. When they thought I couldn’t hear I heard them mumble about “beauty that tamed the beast.”

“What’s he like?” asked a voice in my ear, Mia’s voice.

“Who Ted? You’ve met Ted.”

“A yeah, I was talking about Bruce Wayne.”

I laughed to myself. I’d been so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t realize I was thinking them and not speaking them. Of course, she wanted to know about Bruce, everyone wanted to know about him. I laughed again. “Bruce is a normal guy.”

This time Mia laughed. “Roy is a normal guy, Bruce is a billionaire.”

“I’m a billionaire too, am I abnormal?”

I could almost see Speedy rolling her eyes. “This coming from the girl who dressed up in a green costume and goes prancing from rooftop to rooftop.” She laughed. “Yeah, nothing abnormal about that.”

She had a point. I definitely couldn’t see Bruce Wayne dressing up in a costume and lurking in the shadows somewhere.

“So normalcy aside…”

I groaned. “Now’s not really the time to talk about it.”

In truth there wasn’t really much to tell. Bruce was there for exactly the reason he said he was there for. After meeting in the lobby, we went into my office and talked. He seemed particularly interested in my well being, going so far as to ask how I’d been handling myself since the old man’s passing. We talked a bit about my grandfather then changed subjects to the Board. He told me how Mr. Walters had been keeping him apprised of the situation and that that he was doing everything in his power to keep the other Board members from trying to toss me out on my rear. Then he dropped the mother of all bombs on me. HE told me that over the last year or so, he and my grandfather had been secretly buying up company stock. The old man knew that his time was short and that the Board was going to try to pull something crooked. The original plan was to pass all the stock onto my mother---his legitimate heir---but with her untimely death, everything fell to me.

His news floored me. It floored me even more so when I found out that with the stock I inherited plus the ones that the two of them were secreting away, I now owned well over sixty five percent of the company. So that meant even if they wanted to, there was nothing the Board could do to challenge my power. The company was fully mine. Mr. Wayne said we’d make it official next week but that the shares, which were once were his, now were mine. So in essence, the whole of Queen Industries was now mine without a fight. I had full power to do whatever I wanted, including firing every single Board member if I wanted. I knew the first order of business was to buy out Ross; I definitely didn’t need a pompous jackass around. I also intended to getting rid of Walter Steele.

“Earth to Ollie” Mia’s voice rang through my helmet.

“Sorry, Speedy, got a little distracted.”

“Not the wisest thing to do considering where you’re going.”

Ok, head into the game now. “How much further.”

“Should be coming up on your right.”

The motorcycle had built in GPS. True to her word, the hotel was on the right. I pulled into the alley alongside the building, making sure no one saw my approach. I made sure to leave the Tower at night, dressed in my running clothes. It was nothing new that I was doing a fair share of jogging now. It was all part of my getting into shape cover I’d been using. And just like always, Spencer and Locke met me in the lobby dressed to run as well. I ran with them for a few blocks, keeping pace. I usually ran about three miles a night now; it helped me unwind before heading to bed. As far as they were concerned tonight was to be no different. Except unlike the previous nights, I gave them the slip about a mile into the run. It wasn’t too hard to lose them. I made a turn around a corner, well ahead of them and then slipped into one of secret stations.

I watched them from the safety of my hiding place. They did show a bit of panic and searched the area for a good ten minutes before deciding to head to the authorities. Later when I was done, I planned to tell them I thought someone was following me and took off at a dead heat. I would then double back a few hours later, telling how I was so convinced I was being followed that I hid until I was sure the danger was past. It was a believable enough story if you didn’t try to analyze it too much. I just hoped that I’d be done with whatever it is I had to do here in less than a couple of hours.

I moved the bike to the back of the alley, making sure it was well hidden. Then I took a look around, trying to see if I could find easy access.

“Tell me about this place,” I said as soon as I took off my helmet, switching our comm. over to my earpiece.

“Most of this part of the city was abandoned. It’s been scheduled for demolition for a few years now but due to the recent economy, no one has done anything about it. Now it’s mainly home for squatters, people a lot like our assassin in many respects. There should be a fire escape nearby with third floor access.”

I looked around and nodded. “Got it. Let me gear up and call you back.”

I walked to the back of the bike where I had a custom fitted storage compartment. Each of the six bikes had them, big enough to fit one takedown recurve bow and a quiver of six arrows. I opened the compartment and took out my tools, reassembling the bow like a pro. I attached the quiver to my left thigh then reached back into the compartment for my newest tool: a small collapsible crossbow. I strapped it along with its holster onto my other thigh. The only thing I was really missing was the proper outfit. Tonight I was roughing it with a pair of black work out pants, combat boots and a green hoodie. It was definitely not something I’d wear into a situation like this but I was hoping that there wasn’t going to be any trouble. If the assassin wanted to put up a fight, I was more than prepared to put an arrow in her shoulder or if need be, in her chest.

This woman was a killer; I didn’t have the luxury of playing good guy tonight.

As soon as I was all equipped, I took to the fire escape, scaling it with ease. It amazed me how quickly I was able to climb it, thanks in no part to my rigorous exercise and training. Once in position, I decided to go with the crossbow. I loaded a bolt and slowly opened the window, slipping silently inside. The hall was dark and smelled of mildew. Taking a step, I was greeted with a creak of old wood. I took another cautious step, putting a bit of pressure down just to make sure it would hold my weight. Satisfied that I wouldn’t fall through, I made my way stealthily down the corridor. Now comes the tedious part. Mia knew she was in the hotel somewhere but she wasn’t sure where. That meant searching every room until I found her.

The search was long. I walked up and down the hall, slowly looking into every room with the crossbow first. After searching the whole of the third floor, I switched to my takedown bow and went up a creaky flight of stairs. There were only four floors to this place and if I was her, I’d probably go to the highest floor just to be on the safe side. I opened each door with the bow pointed ahead of me, an arrow nocked and ready to fly if need be. I debated bringing some of my “trick” arrows with me but in the end decided the old fashioned kind were just as good.

The search of this floor was just as tedious as the last. When I got to the final room, I made a silent prayer and pushed the door open with my foot. I went slowly, making sure to lead with the bow. The first thing I saw was a wooden crate near the window, a little camp stove sitting on it. I looked from it to the four corners of the room, waiting for an ambush. Two of the corners had nothing but the third had a sleeping bag and pack, some clothes scattered about it. I took a few cautious steps into the room before stopping to look at the last corner. What I saw surprised the hell out of me. It was my assassin, whip in hand, lying limp against the wall. By the angle of her head and the way her body was positioned, it was clear she was dead.

I kept my eye on her as I walked over to the camp stove. There appeared to be some kind of stew in it. I dipped my fingers into it, feeling how cold it was. When I pulled my fingers out, I sniffed them, recoiling at the smell. The stew had been sitting there long enough to a get a film of mold on it. I slowly walked away from it and turned to the body. Only half of it was visible, set aglow by the moonlight shiny through the window. I took a chance and pulled a glow stick from my hoodie pooch, cracking it quickly. I used it to search the rest of the body. Rigor had already set in, her skin was grayish, her eyes clear and milky, staring lifelessly up at me. Her lips were twisted into an agonized expression, the remnants of what looked like saliva around the corners of her mouth. I bent close but not too close because it was starting to smell.

“Speedy, we have a problem” I said, I didn’t get an immediate response. “Speedy, you there?”

“I’m jamming the signal,” said a raspy, dark voice from the dark.

It was to my left. I snapped around, raising the bow to fire. As soon as I got it up to take my shot, I felt a strong hand grab the shaft of my arrow, holding it in place. I could have fired but it would have been useless. Instead, I dropped my shoulders, showing my guest that he had me. It seemed to work but he took my arrow nonetheless.

“Carbon shaft, titanium tip” he said, his voice had a frightening edge of darkness to it.

“Stings like a bitch when it hits you too, care for a demonstration.”

“You’re not going to shoot me, Green Arrow because I’m not the enemy here.”

I scoffed. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

There was movement and then he slipped the arrow back into my quiver. “I’m here for the same reason you are, except in my case I was expecting her to be dead.”
He had me there. “I was hoping to interrogate her, see what she knew about the death of Jameson Queen.”

I’m not sure why I was telling him all of this. For all I knew, he was the one who killed her.

He seemed to read my mind too. “I didn’t kill her but I know what did” There was another flash of movement and then a black gloved hand appeared in my field of vision, the rest of him out of reach. In-between thumb and forefinger I saw what looked like a little dart.

“Poison” he said, pulling the dart away. “Very lethal from the looks of it. I’d say she was dead in less than a minute. I know only one group who would use something like this.”

“The League of Assassins” I said, answering with the obvious.

“The League doesn’t take kindly to its members going rogue and branching off on their own.”

“I took one of them out after he killed Jameson Queen.”

“So I’ve heard.”

His presence was intimidating, like he filled the whole room. I felt blood turn to ice in my veins as he spoke. Who the hell has such a presence like that? “So if you’re not with them, what’s your stake in all of this?”

“A mutual acquaintance tipped me off to the assassin’s movements. I came here in hopes of tracking them down and stopping them before they caused anymore harm.”

I raised an eyebrow. “In my city?”

I didn’t realize I was territorial until just then. But it felt good. Not that I wanted to make a habit of it, mind you, but I didn’t like the idea of another freak stalking in the dark around here.

“I’m not here to stay, just visiting as you might say”

It clicked just then. I knew exactly who this guy was. I felt like wetting myself. “You’re that nut from Chicago, aren’t you?”

He didn’t answer. “They’re not going to stop until you’re dead. A word of advice. Set a trap and draw them out, then follow them back to the hand that feeds them.”

There was more movement and the next thing I knew I saw a black shape at the window, crouched down and ready to jump. It was a man, that much I could tell. He was dressed in black from head to toe; the only thing visible was his mouth. Fear struck me as I looked at this menacing figure. I knew know why so many criminals in Chicago feared this guy, he truly was something terrifying.

“So that’s it?” I said, surprised and shocked.

He turned toward me. “I’ll be in touch, Miss Queen”

Then he turned and dropped out of the window, a flap of black billowing around him. I rushed to the window in hopes of catching where he might go. By the time I got there, he was gone. I cursed. What the hell just happened? Who the hell was that guy? Worse, how the hell did he know who I was?

There was a crackle in my ear. “Ollie, Ollie, you there?” Mia’s voice was frantic. “Please respond?”

I sighed heavily. “I’m here Speedy.”

“Thank God. I think someone was jamming me but I’m not sure how. What the hell happened?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

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