The Hood and Athena: An Arrow: Season 2 Fanfiction

Chapter 10: Awkward Exchanges

Evelyn Queen's POV 

At Queen Consolidated... 

The weather was coming down not too long ago. Raining, it was. Oliver and I stepped out of the elevator, with our Mom following not too far behind. She had been acquitted by the court recently, and we were welcoming her back to the company. Felicity strolled up to us. 

'Mrs. Queen, welcome back to the company,' she said with a big smile on her face.'

'Thank you,' she replied. 

'You look fabulous. Really, better than ever. Did you do something to your hair?'

'Yes, I shampooed it without eight women and a guard watching me.' Felicity laughed, then caught herself. 

'Is it okay to laugh? Because I was ordered not to say anything about you being in prison, just to avoid any awkward - exchanges.' The small entourage, including Oliver and myself, walked away from her. Oliver stopped and leaned close to her. 

'Like that,' he said softly to her. She let out a small groan. Diggle was standing nearby, trying not to smile while shaking his head disapprovingly at her. 

'Right.'

We walked to the conference room, where Isabel Rochev was currently speaking to the business people around the table. Oliver opened the door and ushered Mom and I in first, then followed after her. She looked genuinely surprised to see Mom back at the company. 

'Oliver, I didn't realise your mother was stopping by for a visit today.'

'Well, it's not a visit,' Oliver said, pulling out a seat for Mom and then for me. We both sat down, then he pulled out his own seat and sat down too. 'This is her company, too.' 

'Of course,' she replied with ice in her tone. Then her expression changed back to fully stony again, and she stared at Mom. 

'How are you, Moira?' 

'Back, Isabel.' She looked directly at myself and Oliver. 

'Mr. and Miss Queen, may I speak to you for a minute?' 

We stood in the main foyer of the Queen Consolidated building, just outside of the conference room where our mother now sat, as Isabel spoke to the both of us. 

'What sort of message does it send to the investment committee, to the city, if we hand Queen Consolidated right back to your mother?' 

'She was acquitted,' I spoke up. She glared at me, then kept her focus on the both of us as she said her next words. 

'By a jury. Not by the city.' Her gaze turned slightly pleading then. 'Oliver. Stop thinking like a son and start thinking like a CEO.' She turned and headed back into the conference room. 

'Oliver. Evelyn,' Diggle said. We turned to see him and Felicity standing in the door. 'There's been a break in.'

The four of us stood in the Applied Sciences building, cops all around with detectives. 

'This door was made of expanded reinforced titanium,' Diggle said to Oliver. I was standing back with him, watching what had been left of the crime scene. 'What did they use to do this?' 

'Not sure yet,' Officer Lance said, strolling up to us and circling around Diggle to stand on the right of him. 'No sign of any explosives. Maybe a crane, maybe a forklift. I'm guessing there was at least three of them, maybe four. And given how quick they got in and out of here - they were fast.' We strolled deeper into the building, with Officer Lance. 'Any idea what these guys were so hot to break in here for? You didn't happen to leave a spare earthquake machine lying around, did you?' Oliver gave the former detective a hard look. 'Sorry.' Just then the tech guy came up to us, holding a thick tablet in his hand. 

'This is what we were able to pull off the security cameras. He was the only guy we got on video. The rest of the crew must have - come in after him.' 

'Actually, it was only one guy,' a teenage-sounding voice spoke up from the back of the room. 'Ah, sorry I'm late,' he said, stepping forward with a strange smile on his face that only grew as he talked animatedly. 'But actually, my train was late. Well, the second one. The first one I did miss, but that was my cab driver's fault. I've got this great traffic app, and - but he thought that he was right. I'm here now, though. So...'

'Great. Who the hell are you?' Officer Lance asked. 

'And do your parents know that you're here?' Oliver asked. 

'I'm Barry Allen.' He fiddled for a second in his bag before he pulled out a badge in his wallet. 'I'm from the Central City Police Department. I'm with the crime scene investigation unit. We're working on a case with some similar unexplained elements in Central City, so when the report of your robbery came over the wire, my captain sent me up here.' He was still smiling, slightly. It still seemed suspect though that he was here, like this. 

'And you think one guy ripped through this door like it was tin foil?' Officer Lance asked, wiggling his hand for effect. 

'One very strong guy, yeah,' Barry said, pulling up a photo. 'Uh, it takes about 1,250 foot pounds of torque to break someone's neck. You see the marks on the guard's neck? The bruising pattern suggests the killer used only one hand.' He met Oliver's eyes. 'I'm guessing you don't know how hard it is to break someone's neck.' He looked up, startled. 

'Hmm? No. No idea,' he said nonchalantly. 

'Uh, we're going to need a list of the entire inventory here to figure out exactly what was stolen,' the tech guy said. 

'Actually, I think I know what was stolen,' Barry said. 'A centrifuge. An industrial centrifuge. Probably the Kord Enterprises 2BX 900.' He led the three of us through the building. 'Maybe the six series. Both have a three column base.' He stopped at a concrete base that had several rebars, all standing on end. 'Here, you can see the three sets of broken bolts where the thief just - ripped it out of the ground.' 

'And what exactly is a centrifuge?' Officer Lance asked.

'It separates liquids,' Felicity offered. 'The centripetal acceleration causes denser substances to separate out along the radial direction.' 

'And lighter objects move to the top,' Barry finished. 

'What did you say your name was again?' Felicity asked him. 

'Barry. Allen.' 

'Felicity. Smoak.' Oliver gave him a look as Barry smiled again. He smiled far too much. 

'Um, you can see the cracks heading towards the door. One guy.' Oliver knelt to inspect the damaged bolts. 'Anyway, it's just a theory. One backed by a lot of evidence.'

'There has to be another explanation,' Officer Lance said, walking away, Felicity walking with him. 

'Yeah, I'm sure you're right,' Barry called after him, not looking entirely convinced. He pulled her aside. 

'You might want to fill our mutual friends in on this.' 

'Yeah. Don't worry. I'm sure they're already on it.'