A Dangerous Love: Athena and Prometheus (An Arrow: Season 5 Fanfiction)

Chapter 1: The SCPD Gala

Thea Queen stood in the center of several well-dressed people at the gala, reassuring them in regards to Oliver's absence as the mayor of Starling City. 

'The mayor will be making his official statement on the anti-crime initiative at the ceremony honoring the Black Canary, but -' Just then, she was interrupted by Oliver's voice coming from the top of the stairs as his younger sister and Thea's older sister, Evelyn Queen, joined him. 

'But he can say a few words now,' Oliver said. He fixed the button on his suit jacket, and continued to speak. 'The A.C.I is an important step towards lowering crime in the city, but I'm not going to consider it without some major reforms.' 

'What type of reforms?' a reporter asked as she was standing at the bottom of the stairs. 

'Uh... to start, an investigation into allegations of widespread corruption within the police department. Second, for the SCPD to ally directly with my sister Evelyn Queen's efforts to stop domestic violence and human trafficking within the Glades as a whole.' Thea walked up to the bottom of the steps, taking Oliver's arm as she did so. 

'Okay. Mayor Queen will elaborate on all comments at the ceremony honoring the Black Canary. Thank you all very much.' The two of them, as well as Evelyn, walked up the steps, speaking quietly. 'You do realise you just accused the police department of being corrupt at the police department gala?' 

'I answered a question,' Oliver defended. She turned to face him at the top of the steps.

'Yeah, and you also just put blame on the police department instead of taking responsibility for the city's crime.' 

'You know I'm taking responsibility,' Oliver shot back. 

'We both are, Thea,' I spoke. 

'Yeah, as the "other guys",' she shot back, 'but as the mayor, it looks like you're sleep walking, okay? Evelyn's showing up, doing her part. Showing up late again is not helping that perception.' 

'Being the mayor gives me access to actionable intel as the "other guy",' Oliver replied. 'It's a means to an end.' 

'It didn't start off like that, Ollie. You wanted to become and then became the mayor to actually be the mayor,' Thea said. 

'Right, and then reality set in,' Oliver replied. 'Even if we weren't dealing with a corrupt police department, which we are, or an electorate that thinks I got all my political knowledge by binge-watching "The West Wing". I still wouldn't be able to being mayor, Speedy, because I'm flying solo as the other guy.' 

'Okay, nice try,' Thea replied sarcastically. 'Talk to the controller about tax initiatives and Councilman Garcia about sanitation. I also put the applications for deputy mayor on your desk. I'm going to go drink.' 

'Me too,' I said cheerfully. 'I'm coming.' The two of us parted ways from Oliver. 

At the ceremony on the wharf of Starling City (a couple days later)... 

'Thank you all for coming,' Oliver said, standing in front of a sea of reporters, with Thea Queen, myself (Evelyn Queen) and some of the high ranking members of the SCPD behind him as he made his speech to honor the Black Canary. 'With all that ails our city, I think it's fair to ask why we would spend time and money to honor anyone, why we would commission a statue and have a ceremony to unveil it. Surely those resources could be put to better ends. But I, for one, think there is no better end than a reminder of what we are capable of when we stand together united, a reminder of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice protecting our home, and a reminder that as long as we keep their spirit in our hearts, there will always be better days ahead.' He turned, gesturing to the covered statue near us. 'Ladies and gentlemen, Laurel Lance, the Black Canary.' The sheet was pulled off, and a bronze statue, a memorial to Laurel Lance suited up as the Black Canary, was revealed. Just then two motorcycles rolled up and gunfire started echoing around the area, people scattering in panic. Oliver fought off one or two, and I fought off another, but then we were surrounded, and the men there overpowered us and loaded us into a SCPD vehicle, driving off soon after. 

At the new and improved Arrow hideout... 

Felicity Smoak stood at the table, holding a tablet in her hands and looking at the screen as Thea and Quentin Lance walked in, with Curtis Holt, a new tech recruit to Team Arrow, came over to help her. 

'Felicity,' Quentin called. 

'We saw it,' she shot back, staring at both the screen and the tablet in her hands. 

'Why didn't Oliver fight back?' Curtis asked, grabbing another tablet to look over the area with satellite cameras as Felicity sat down in her chair. 'Sorry, really dumb question.' 

'Okay, well,' Thea spoke, 'can we check the van?' 

'No, they shut down traffic cameras,' Felicity replied. 

'And there are no satellites over the area,' Curtis said. 'We're blind.' 

'Okay, well, if the SCPD van was legit,' Thea said, 'then the police are going to be no help.' 

'Well, maybe this is a job for Speedy,' Felicity replied. 'Can you suit up and hit the streets for intel?' Thea paused, turning to the open brackets that held the suits on mannequins in them, including Thea's. 

'Can you maybe try to hack into the police department and see if there's any internal chatter we can go on?' Thea replied, looking at the suits. 

Later... 

Quentin Lance came into the hideout again as Thea was sitting on the chairs around a small table that the team gathered for meetings before the fights and missions began. 

'We got a 20 on Oliver and Evelyn's location,' Quentin said, placing a dossier full of photos on the table, sliding it over to Thea. She opened it, taking out the photos and looking at them. 

'Felicity and Curtis?'

'Neither,' he replied. 'Felicity says it's - it's probably the work of a Tobias Church. And look, he's done his homework, because he knows the Green Arrow and Athena are working with someone who's tapped into the city's security cameras.' 

'Okay, so he's trying to call the Green Arrow and Athena out.' 

'Except he doesn't already know that he's got them,' Quentin replied with a smile. 'Cute, huh?' 

'All right, well, you - you need to go do something.' Quentin frowned. 

'Well, that - that was going to be my line to you,' he said, gesturing to the paper. She sighed, looking up at him. 

'For the first time, in a long time, I'm really starting to feel like myself again. I'm not a killer. I'm not a vigilante. I am - I am a normal version of me. And I think just after everything that happened with Laurel, I - I really needed to know that life like this was even possible, and now that I do, I don't want to give it up.' 

'Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I get where you're coming from. I do. I lost my job - I lost my daughter, I lost my girl, and you know, I just wanted to hit pause on the world, you know?' He pulled up a chair and sat down across from her. 

'Yeah,' she said quietly. 

'But then I - uh, you know what, I listened to Oliver's speech. You know, that's when I realised that I - I can't do that. I can't hit pause on the world. I got to get on with my life, you know?' He stood again. 'Even if that life isn't what I want it to be.' He turned and left.