Oliver smirked when the leader of the Star City chapter of the Bratva, Alexei Leonov, personally exited the garage after clearly having a talk with Anatoly back in Russia.
"The Pakhan was not happy we woke him at this hour in Russia and was even less pleased to find out that we were questioning your credentials. He speaks very highly of you." Alexei said.
"He should, I saved his life and helped establish him as Pakhan." Oliver told him and Alexei nodded.
"Because we questioned your credentials, the Pakhan is insisting that we help you free of charge this once." Alexei said, clearly not happy about it, but knowing better than to question his Pakhan.
"I understand you being skeptical of an American holding such a high rank in your organization, but get over yourself, since I can assure you that I will be keeping a very close eye on this chapter of the Bratva to make sure it sticks close to Anatoly's code." Oliver warned, since his loyalty was more to the Pakhan than to the Bratva itself, since he trusted Anatoly, but not the rest of the organization.
"Of course, now how can we be of service to such a high standing captain." Alexei said, knowing that if he wanted some of his enterprises to remain in operation, he had to appease this captain, since he knew that this was one man who could bring him down.
"I need information about a mercenary I know this organization has used before. Callsign Deadshot. I need to know everything this organization has on him, anything I can use to track him down while he's in this city." Oliver said.
"I will see what we can find, but know it might take a few days." Alexei said.
"I understand, but since this is a request from a Bratva captain, I can assume that you will take it seriously." Oliver said.
"Of course Kapushion." Alexei said, though Oliver could tell that it was grudgingly, since he knew that most members of the Bratva who hadn't been there when Gregor was overthrown wouldn't like taking orders from an American, since they hadn't seen what he'd done. And even so, he could tell that soon it might be time for Leonov to be removed from his post and Oliver knew that he'd be the one to do it if necessary.
"How'd it go?" Laurel asked when Oliver returned home from his meeting.
"I thought that you don't want to know about this part of my activities to give you plausible deniability." Oliver said.
"True, but when it's about tracking down a shooter who nearly killed you and a lot of other people yesterday, I'm going to make an exception." Laurel said.
"My contact is playing hardball, since I don't think that they like me, but technically, I outrank them now, they didn't have a choice." Oliver said.
"Do I want to know what it is you had to do to get that contact?" Laurel asked.
"Probably not for both our sakes, since it's not the kind of contact you should know about." Oliver said.
"I know that it's a connection with one of the criminal enterprises in this city, but why don't you use what you know to bring them down?" Laurel asked.
"Because this contact allows me access to intel that the SCPD can't get, so it's more useful to me that way and more importantly, even if I did want to come forward, how would I explain how I got my information without blowing my cover?" Oliver asked.
"Fair point. But I still don't like it." Laurel said.
"Why do you think I don't involve you in this?" Oliver asked.
"Still Ollie, these people are dangerous." Laurel said.
"And if they step out of line, they'll find out just how dangerous I can be. Besides, I think that this shooter might be a way to convince John to join my ranks." Oliver said.
"Really, how?" Laurel asked.
"Because even before I went to see my contact, I did research of my own on the shooter given the codename he gave me, Deadshot and I think he's the man who killed John's brother." Oliver said.
"Which means that taking him down would allow you to give him closure and also make it easier for him to agree to work with you, but you should consider looping Lyla in, since it sounds like she knows what you were doing while you were gone and she might be able to help bring John around." Laurel said, since she knew that John's wife Lyla worked for the government organization Argus, which had forcibly employed him for two years before he'd left them and gone to Russia.
"Yeah, I'm still hesitant to go to Argus for help about any of this, since while I trust Lyla, I don't trust anyone else who works there. Including the woman who's supposed to run it." Oliver said.
"Fair enough, but still, I think this might be something worth making an exception." Laurel said.
"I'll reach out to Lyla, but that's it. My other contact is one thing, since if he crosses me, I can deal with him quietly, but Argus, that's a whole other can of worms that I'm not planning on getting too involved in." Oliver said.
"Got it." Laurel said as Oliver noticed what she was looking at files regarding Dr. Blossom, Abby's boss.
"Why are you looking into Abby's old boss?" Oliver asked her.
"Because he's corrupt, I just don't know how to prove it. The way I met Abby was because she was fired from the Star City General after she was sexually assaulted by Thomas Blossom and he then fired her and discredited her to keep her from exposing him. Since she's an old friend and the doctor who actually delivered Jasmine, who's also her godmother, I agreed to see if I could find a way to bring criminal charges against him." Laurel said.
"Have you told your dad?" Oliver asked.
"It's a father-daughter bonding project trying to find a way to convict that bastard." Laurel said, since her father wanted Thomas Blossom behind bars almost badly as she did.
"And I'm gonna see if I can help too. And maybe you should rope in Sara, since she is a federal agent, which means that she has security clearance to get files you don't." Oliver said.
"Maybe you should take your own advice and bring Sara in, since it couldn't hurt to have a government agent you trust on your team." Laurel said.
"I want to wait and see what her reaction to my operations is before I consider that." Oliver said.
"Fair enough." Laurel agreed.
YOU ARE READING
Lauriver Chronicles
FanficAfter 5 years in hell, Oliver Queen is finally returning home to his family, his friends, and the woman he loves, but he's no longer the man he used to be. Now that he's home, he has one mission, to save his city. As he learns to navigate his new do...
