Arrow: Maladaptive

Prologue

Truth and Justice are a lie.

You can stand on the edge of the universe, THE EDGE OF TIME ITSELF!

You can watch the end of all that there can, will, and is in the universe. And come out with less than you ever had.

I, for instance, have nothing.

I had something once, though. Something very dear and precious to me. I gave it all up on a gamble, and now I'm here.

Here in Ivy Town.

Current residence to one Oliver Jonas Queen and Felicity Megan Smoak. A Felicity who I expect is not too far off from becoming a member of this precious little family soon enough.

A cold chill draws its way up my spine, like an elongated nail digging into the scarred skin and tissue beneath my clothing.

My eyes reluctantly relocate to the surrounding residents' homes. Basic and colourful, even in the faded moonlight. I'd be lying if I didn't confess it somewhat resonates with me. I envy them.

Like how I envy Oliver Queen.

A man who I regard as someone who once stole everything from me.

My mother's hood. My grandfather's bow. Helped me slay my brother in arms. The very message they stood for and twisted it into some amalgamation of murder and revenge. The man who abandoned me...

Though Shado and Yao Fei hardly bare resemblance to me, I am clearly of American descent as opposed to my Chinese family. They are the closest things I've ever had and will ever have to a parent and grandparent.

I mean Moira Queen... what a joke.

Malcolm Merlyn... what a joke.

Oliver Queen, a man who yes I... I... once perceived as a father... is not a joke. He's a full deck of cards of just jokers.

My history is one very complicated, and I don't care to share that past much with all of you. Doesn't seem necessary. If you truly cared, you'll learn in due time.

What is important about me, what you need to know before I do this... is that my name is Jack. I used to go by Shadow as when my found family found me on Lian Yu, I was without a name. You can all see where I took inspiration from.

When I was on Lian Yu, I was merely 12 years old. No recollection of the past dozen years of my life and astray on a beach. Why I was there... doesn't matter. What matters is what happened whilst I was there.

I met him first. A man clad in a green hood. Standing tall and strong over me, carbon fibre long bow in his grasp and all. Not the vigilante or the hood or the "arrow" but the original deal. Yao Fei Gulong. Contrary to shooting Oliver in the chest when they first met, an altercation that took place mere weeks later, Yao Fei nursed me to health. Fed me and gave me water for sustenance. I did not talk much, but he shuffled through as many languages as he could till I responded. He found I knew English and Arabic. He learnt Arabic from the one and the only Talia Al Ghul, former heir to the demon, until his sexism and hate for his own child became more apparent. Oh yeah... I know about her, my friends. I know more than you could possibly know.

Within due time, I came across my next ally and close friend... till a drug took over his mind, and he was killed by Olivers hands before me just after Sara was lost to the sea. He was killed until he'd show up years later in Starling City and fight my family. Yeah, Slade Wilson, everybody. The man's who plane I deemed home for years. He taught me a lot of what I knew... and found out I somehow knew how to do a lot of it already. Somehow, I always had the capacity of a killer.