As soon as he got off the Queen family private jet in Gotham, Oliver found that Bruce had already sent a car for him to take him straight to Wayne Enterprises and he sighed as he looked around the city as the car drove through it and could see why Bruce had devoted his life to becoming Batman. This city was even worse than Star City was, since unlike Star City, which at least still looked like it was alive and well, when in reality it was rotting with corruption and greed under the surface, you could tell by one look that Gotham was a dying city that was hanging on by a thread that wasn't the GCPD or the hypocritical Crows organization John had told him that Jacob Kane had tried to recruit him for while Oliver was gone and just like Oliver would have, John told him to basically go to hell, since he didn't want anything to do with such a hypocritical organization anymore than Oliver did.
But anyways, the only thing that kept Gotham from going completely off the rails was Batman and his team. They were the true source of hope in this city, understandably, since they dispensed the kind of justice this city needed. The same thing he hoped he could bring to Star City.
Oliver was pulled from his thoughts when the car arrived at Wayne Tower and after thanking and tipping his driver, he headed inside.
"Hello, can I help you?" the receptionist asked.
"My name is Oliver Queen, I have an appointment with Bruce Wayne." Oliver said, since that was true, he knew that Bruce had cleared time for their meeting today.
"One second." The receptionist said before she sent him up.
"Oliver." Bruce said when Oliver got off the elevator to him waiting for him.
"Bruce. Thank you so much for squeezing me in. I know you're a busy man." Oliver said.
"I'm never too busy for a man that I think we both know I'll call family soon enough if my daughter and your sister keep going the way they are in their relationship." Bruce said a chuckle.
"Yeah, while I'm supportive of my little sister, I missed enough of her life already and I'm in no hurry for her to get to that point yet." Oliver said and Bruce chuckled as he locked his office down.
"I understand that. As a father, I'm in no rush to see my daughter grow up anymore than she already has. But anyways, why don't we discuss what really brought you here." Bruce said as Oliver opened his case to reveal Deadshot's computer and phone.
"I'm hoping that your tech person can get me the information on these devices, since they belong to the shooter who attacked the opening night of the community center. Floyd Lawton." Oliver said.
"Deadshot. I'm familiar with him. In fact, he and I have crossed paths before. Though I did see the news report about him getting an arrow to the eye." Bruce said.
"Yeah, that wasn't me. There's another archer in Star City who I'm guessing Lawton was working for and they silenced him to make sure he couldn't give away any information." Oliver said.
"Good to know that it's not you." Bruce said.
"And why is that?" Oliver asked.
"Because every time you kill, you sacrifice a piece of your soul, your humanity. And I understand that you went through hell over the past five years, but you can't lose sight of your mission. If you resort to using the same brutal methods as your enemies, killing as a first resort, then there's no real difference between you and them. That's why everyone who follows me lives by the same code I do. We don't kill, no matter what. It's not our place to determine that." Bruce said.
"No matter how much they deserve it?" Oliver asked, since he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"And that is Amanda Waller and Talia al Ghul talking, not you. You're a soldier, you should know better than to take anyone's life in cold blood. The reason I spare the lives of my enemies, even the Joker, is because so far they haven't thrown anything at me that I can't handle. Besides, if I killed any of them, it would make me just as bad as them." Bruce said and Oliver sighed, since he knew that Bruce was right. He was a soldier and his training as a soldier reminded him that lethal force should never be a first resort. And honestly, most of the people on his father's list didn't require that much force. Most of them were cowards who just needed to be scared, not killed.
"Maybe you're right." Oliver said.
"Besides, it sounds like you're gonna have your own rogues gallery to deal with, since once you've established yourself, more maniacs are gonna come out of the woodwork to face you. This archer is already one." Bruce said.
"I know. But I need your tech guys to work on cracking this stuff so that I can hopefully find some information about who hired Lawton and why." Oliver said and Bruce nodded.
"I'll get my people on it. By the way, I got a call from the person I have in charge of working on your base. It should be done by the time you get back to Star City." Bruce said.
"Perfect. Though I will need someone to help maintain all of that." Oliver said.
"Which is why I won't be sending you home alone. I have a candidate who already knows my secret and can handle the tech side of things that I'm sending back with you. Provided you can get him a job at Queen Consolidated, since Wayne Enterprises doesn't have any offices in Star City." Bruce said.
"Give me a name and a resume and I'll see what I can do." Oliver said.
"His name is Luke Fox and he's the son of my CTO and one of my most trusted allies, Lucious Fox. Both of them know my secret and they can be trusted with yours. Luke is just as smart as his father and he can handle himself." Bruce said.
"I'll see what I can do." Oliver said.
"Great." Bruce said as they continued talking.
YOU ARE READING
Lauriver Chronicles
FanfictionAfter 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...
