Second Chances: Arrow - Rough Draft

Chapter 12

Oliver was surprised when Lyla called him and asked him to meet her at Argus HQ.

"What's going on Lyla? Is everything okay?" Oliver asked the director of Argus, who smiled.

"Don't worry, everything is fine. In fact, I called you because Argus owes you a favor and I'm paying it." Lyla said.

"How so?" Oliver asked.

"Well, John told me that with Felicity in Keystone, you need new tech support and I happened to have one that would be perfect for your team." Lyla said.

"You'd give us one of your agents?" Oliver asked.

"I didn't say that she was an agent. But she will be familiar to you." Lyla said as an Argus agent brought none other than Alena Whitlock into the room, her hands cuffed and she was wearing a prisoner jumpsuit.

"Oliver Queen, meet Alena Whitlock. Former hacker for Helix." Lyla said.

"Illegally arrested with no cause." Alena said.

"Yeah, nice try, but we did have cause, since we caught you hacking into Argus's servers trying to access highly sensitive information. Do you really think that we aren't aware that Helix's political activism is really just a cover for their cyberterrorism." Lyla said.

"We were trying to expose the people you were unjustly locking up." Alena said.

"You really think that low of us. Okay maybe when Amanda Waller was in charge we did that, but not anymore." Lyla said.

"Enough. Something tells me you didn't ask me to come here just to watch you fight with this girl about this." Oliver said.

"No, you're right, I didn't." Lyla said.

"Then why did you bring me up here from my lowly cell?" Alena asked.

"Because Ms. Whitlock, I had you brought here to offer you a deal." Lyla said.

"What kind of deal?" Alena asked.

"A way for you to work off the remainder of your sentence." Lyla said.

"Go on. But it doesn't involve you putting a bomb in my head does it?" Alena asked and Lyla chuckled.

"I can understand why you'd think that, but no, it doesn't. I retired that program shortly after I became director and unless the situation is truly dire, I have no plans to reinstate it." Lyla said, shooting Oliver a look not to say a word.

"Go on." Alena said.

"I'm sure you've heard about Oliver Queen?" Lyla said.

"You mean the man who Waller kept talking about wanting to recruit, rings a bell." Alena said.

"Well, his current activities will find him needing someone with your skillset." Lyla said.

"What is it exactly? I don't care what the deal is, I'm not getting involved in something until I know exactly what it is I'm working on. It's clear I made that mistake with Helix and I won't make it again." Alena said and Oliver smirked, since he could tell that this was someone he could work with.

"A group of vigilantes planning to protect Star City from threats law enforcement can't. I'm assuming that if you're a prisoner here, you don't mind going around the law sometimes." Oliver said.

"True, but how come he's not wearing handcuffs right now?" Alena asked.

"Because unlike what you were doing, Oliver here has proven that he really does want to help this city and his previous work with Argus does help. And now I'm giving you a chance to repay your debt to society by putting your skillset to use protecting people, not hurting them." Lyla said.

"And if I do this, I get to walk out of this building?" Alena asked.

"Yes, but there will be certain precautions in place to ensure you don't try to escape and while we won't be putting anything explosive in you, we will be implanting a tracker that will allow us to know where you are at all times and it will also serve as our way of keeping tabs on what you're doing." Lyla said.

"Believe it or not, I actually do want to help people. That's what I thought I was doing with Helix." Alena said.

"Well, now you're being given a chance to actually help people. What do you say? You want to be a vigilante?" Oliver asked as he held out his hand to Alena.

"Do I get my own costume?" Alena asked as she shook Oliver's hand.

"Sorry, but costumes are for people who actually go into the field, but you will have access to our bunker once it's built. I'll also arrange for you to have a job at Queen Consolidated so we can keep an eye on you and so you'll still be able to put your talents to use." Oliver said.

"It will also provide you with a means of financial support, since until you get a place to live, that is approved by Argus of course, you'll still need to return here, since you are technically still a prisoner, just one we're going to give the opportunity to redeem herself." Lyla said and Alena nodded.

"I understand and while I'm not thrilled about having to come back here at the end of the day, at least I'll have a chance at rebuilding my life." Alena said.

"Also, one last thing, everything you learn about this operation is a secret. If you breathe one word of it to anyone without permission, this deal will be terminated and you'll be serving a life sentence." Lyla warned.

"Understood. So, when do I get to meet the team?" Alena asked.

"After you're done being prepped. Speaking of which." Lyla said as she nodded towards the guard to take Alena towards the medical.

"You really think we should trust her, after what we learned she did in the future? Not to mention she is the one who caused Felicity to go down that dark path." Oliver said.

"We can't judge her for actions she hasn't taken yet and she has proven to be an ally before. I think that there is a good person there, but she needs proper guidance, something she didn't have before. That's another reason why I want her to work with Team Arrow. I saw what it did for Felicity and I think it would be good for her too. Though we're not restoring her memories." Lyla said.

"Agreed. But anyways, I should let the team know and hopefully John won't flip out about it." Oliver said.

"I already ran this by him and he agreed with it." Lyla said.

"That's a relief." Oliver said as he headed out of Argus.