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

Chapter 9: Tracing Leads

John Diggle and Oliver Queen sat outside the small suburban house in the black vehicle, watching the house carefully. 

'Thanks for coming along,' Oliver said. 'I know that being my body man isn't your job anymore.' 

'Sure it is. Just a different suit, that's all.' 

'Now we're sure this is the address?' 

'Yeah. Felicity is. According to her, this is the house that Justin Claybourne bought for his mistress,' John replied. 'Think she'll play ball?' 

'That depends,' Oliver replied softly. 

'On what?' 

'Whether or not she knows her son is Prometheus.' 

The doorbell rang, and the woman in the red cardigan stepped forwards to open it, revealing Oliver Queen standing there in his full mayoral suit. 

'Amanda Westfield?' Oliver asked. 

'Yes?' she said. Her face was wary, her eyes distrusting as she sized up the mayor. 

'Hi. Uh, my name is Oliver -' 

'I know who you are,' she interrupted. 'Mayor of Star City.' 

'May I come in?' Without saying anything, she stepped aside and let Oliver enter. 'Lovely home,' he remarked, but she said nothing, offering a tight-lipped smile in return as she continued to silently evaluate his intentions. 'For the past several months, there has been a serial murderer that has been terrorizing Star City. We have reason to believe that this individual is your son.' 

'I haven't seen my son since Justin Claybourne's funeral,' the woman replied. Oliver stepped forward slightly. 

'But you know he's become something else... someone else. It's why you live here, far away from Star City.' 

'I moved away because there was nothing left for me there,' the woman retorted. 

'Ms. Westfield, your son is an incredibly capable and incredibly dangerous individual. He has erased virtually all traces of his identity from the Internet, and I am - well, I am here simply to ask you for his name.'

'And what happens when you find him?' 

'He needs help. He - I want him to get that help.' The woman looked at him with a glare in her eyes. 

'What you want... is to cage him up like an animal, like the animal who killed his father. He put an arrow in his chest. What kind of monster does that? Whatever my son is doing, he is doing it because he is hurt, he is scared, and I will not help you destroy his life.' 

'Innocent people are dying, and you might be our only chance to save them,' Oliver pleaded, but then the woman snapped, 

'Get out of my house.' Oliver took a deep breath to compose himself and replied, 

'I'm easily reachable if you change your mind.' Then he walked out of the house, the woman saying to his retreating form, 

'I won't.' 

Several days later... 

Reporters clamored outside the Star City mayoral office, shouting questions at Oliver as security detail, including Quentin Lance as the deputy mayor, herded our entourage through the crowd. 

'There's no comment at this time,' Quentin exclaimed to the crowd, 'but we will have something for you shortly. Thanks.' We headed inside the building. 

The elevator doors opened and the security detail, including Quentin Lance, Dinah Drake, Oliver Queen and myself (Evelyn) walked into the hall, our youngest sister Thea joining us shortly after. 

'I've called in every favor I could,' Thea said. 'I still don't know how this got leaked.' 

'We know how it got leaked,' Oliver said, as the five of us walked into Oliver's office, the doors shutting behind us. 'It's Prometheus. He sent the ACU after me as the Green Arrow, and now he's coming after me as the mayor.' 

'Something he set you up for in the first place,' Thea remarked. 'Speaking of which,' she added, looking over to me, 'why isn't Prometheus targeting you too? You work with the Green Arrow.' 

'I didn't kill Justin Claybourne. The Green Arrow did. Athena wasn't in action then.' That was part of the truth. The other half was that I knew Prometheus personally - I just couldn't spill. I had to keep it a secret because Adrian asked me to. 

'Nobody's saying the guy isn't smart,' Quentin spoke up. 

'We're just going to have to be smarter,' Dinah replied, turning to Oliver. 'What's the plan, boss?' 

'We don't have a plan yet,' Oliver replied, which made Dinah give him a certain disapproving look, 'but if we lose this office, then Prometheus wins.' 

'I just realised, am I allowed to be in here?' Dinah asked.

'Usually, the detail stands outside,' Quentin replied. 

'Gotta go blend in,' Dinah said, turning and walking out the door of the office. 

'Well, on the political front, I think the plan should be to deny, deflect, obfuscate,' Thea offered. 

'That's just gonna confuse people.' 

'Well, that's the point, Thea,' I butted in. 

'What if we tell the truth,' Oliver said, making all of us look towards him, but before we could protest against it, he backtracked, saying, 'a version of the truth - the Green Arrow and Athena are good guys, and I gave them the benefit of the doubt?' 

'You know what? It worked on Pike,' Lance replied. 'I'll tell the vultures you're going to be making a statement.' Oliver nodded as Lance walked out to speak to the horde of reporters, now leaving just him, myself and Thea in the room. 

'Do you want me to write you a draft?' Thea asked him. 

'No. I'll write it. I need you to handle something for me.' 

'Okay.' 

'You need to make things right with Susan.' Her face, otherwise passive, turned into a look of utter disapproval. 

'Ollie -' 

'You got her fired under false pretenses, Thea,' I butted in. 

'Only because I was trying to protect you two, which is what I'm doing now,' she shot back. Just then there was a knock on the door, and Adrian Chase slipped in, carrying a manila file, placing it on Oliver's desk. 

'Yes, Adrian?' 

'Mr. Mayor.' 

'What's this?' Oliver asked. 

'My letter of resignation,' Chase replied, 'in which I take sole responsibility for the cover-up.' He stood back, lacing his fingers with mine, and glancing down at me, to which I offered him a tight-lipped smile. 

'No. The cover-up was my idea,' Oliver spoke up. 'I approved it. I'm the mayor.' 

'And if this impeachment proceeding goes the way that I think it will - not for long.'