The Hood and Athena: An Arrow: Season 2 Fanfiction

Chapter 21: Board Meetings and Thinly Veiled Meanings

At the Arrow hideout... (Evelyn Queen's POV) 

Oliver and I came down the steps and into the hideout to see Roy Harper aiming a bow and arrow at a target and John Diggle sitting at the computer. 

'About time,' John commented when we walked in, just side-eyeing us. 'You two letting the bad guys stay alive this year has filled the jails up to capacity.' 

'Yep,' we both said in unison, popping the P. Oliver spoke to Roy. 

'Ready?' We both noticed him. The stance was too tight, too tense. 

'Well, I've been working with Sara, but I'm not exactly a natural,' Roy replied, keeping his eye on the target, or at least trying to. 

'Neither was I.' Just then Roy shot, but it was way off centre, and struck a fixture, creating a shower of sparks. 

'Yeesh,' I said out loud, then clapped my hand over my mouth as Oliver gave me a look. 'Sorry. Couldn't help myself.' Oliver turned back to Roy. 

'Okay, we have some work to do.' Roy met Oliver's eyes. 

'Sorry, I'm just having a hard time keeping my head in the game today.' 

'Thea?' 

'I just can't stop thinking what's the worst that can happen if I just told her the truth?' 

'Well,' Felicity chimed into the conversation, 'I told a guy the truth and he got struck by lightning. To be fair, probably won't happen again, statistically.' I laughed as she walked over to the computer desk, where Diggle and I were. 

'Telling Thea the truth won't make her safer, just the opposite. What we're doing, Roy, it's dangerous. And anyone that is even in our orbit can get hurt.' He placed a hand on Roy's shoulder. 'Try again. This time... aim.' Roy shook his head slowly, imperceptibly, almost like he was dismissing Oliver, and Oliver walked over to where Felicity was before stringing up his bow again. 

'What are those?' I asked, gesturing to the pink pieces of paper in Felicity's hand. 

'About a month's worth of phone messages from Queen Consolidated.' 

'Toss them,' Oliver said, coming over to Felicity so the two could speak mostly in private. 

'That's what I did with last month's phone messages.'

'With Slade out there, I don't have time for the company,' Oliver retorted. 

'Well, you have to make time, Oliver. At least three hours. The annual board meeting. That includes you too, Evelyn.' The two of us groaned simulatenously in exasperation. 

'I'm the younger sibling! Can't I just ditch responsibility?' Felicity glared at me with an exasperated look. 

'You still own part of the company alongside Oliver,' Diggle chimed in. 

'I don't care. I've got a reason to be here. Oliver has a reason to be there. He's the actual man of the family, head of the company. I may have actually paid attention and got good grades in math, but that company shit does not apply to me.' She sighed, then turned her attention back to Oliver. 

'There's absolutely zero way that the CEO can avoid being there. And I know it's been a while, so in case you've forgotten, that's you. Do you remember where you put your business suit? Or do you keep it in a cool glass case, too?' she replied, gesturing to the suit on the mannequin in the glass case. Oliver looked at it, then gave a slight smile and walked away.