Arrow: Maladaptive

Spider-Arrow

I throw a punch.

Connection.

I throw another punch

Connection.

I think of all I've lost.

Connection.

All I've endured.

Connection.

All that I have suffered for.

Connection.

And suffered because of.

Connection.

Punching bag or not, this is too simple and easy for me.

Anger floods my body.

It's been months since I came back from nothingness. Since I met Oliver in Ivy Town. Nothing.

I was sent to Thea. Not that I shy away from her. I came back to meet her as much, if not more than Oliver. Star City, as it's been renamed, is pleasant. I have to say.

Warzone by day and night with these "ghosts" running around, eating their cyanide capsules if or when caught.

This new team of vigilantes isn't cutting it.

You have their leader. John Diggle. I know of Diggle, I kept tabs on him for years once I knew of his association with Oliver. Once like a brother to my brother, John now hates the man for betraying him during the war with the league, not that I blame him. He's a good enough man and is very kind to me despite my relatives' link. I think he recognises me as another soldier, one warrior to another, subconsciously. He understands that much.

Then you have Laurel Dinah Lance. The black Canary. Filling in for her deceased sister Sara... I remember Sara. Fuck... I should have been there.

Connection.

CONNECTION!

I should have saved her.

Hit! Hit!

Connection!

Sara, though we knew each other for mere days, was the only person to make it out of Lian Yu alive and not betray me. For that, I owe her my loyalty and gratitude, though I failed to pay her that. Now, her sister shall receive anything she ever asks for from me. The same offer, to her father as well.

Debts... they never get lighter.

Then there's Speedy. She asks to be called Red Arrow, but we all know Speedy is a better name. She's responsible, not for Sara's death, but for carrying on the legacy of one Roy Harper. May wherever he be, be comforting for his sacrifice to this team. I care for her most of all as she is my twin sister, after all. Bastard children or Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn. At least she got a childhood, though her early adulthood was mostly drinking and drugs, sadly. She's committed to saving this city, that's certain.

Connection.

"Arrrrr!" I groan as I continue punching the bag so roughly that my arm glows orange and sends the bag flying off its stand and into the wall of the new vigilante hideout.

"Whoa." A deep but soothing voice says behind me.

"Sorry." I say weakily as I look down to the ground in shame.

"Working off some stress?" Diggle says behind me.

I nod obediently.

"I uh... never asked. What are all of your meta powers?" He gestures to my orange arm, half of it beaming brightly and the other half splitting its burning beam into just my veins.