Sapphire (Book One, Arrow)

chapter 6 ⚔ Legacies

Oliver and I were training at the hideout with two metal short staffs. 

Oliver was shirtless. I was in workout clothes. 

Oliver swung one toward me. I used one to block the move. Oliver swung the other toward me. I used the other to block the move, spinning to try to kick him. Oliver ducked, standing, trying to hit me with both of his in a blur of motion. I used both of mine to block the moves just as fast, catching one of his. Oliver swung the other at both of mine to make me let go of his other. I swung one of mine down low toward him. Oliver swung down low to block the move, swinging both of his up over our heads, trying to come down on me. I raised both of mine in an X shape to block both of his. We looked at each other, breathing heavily, smirking.

John walked closer. "You two never get tired of training, do you?" Oliver and I lowered the staffs. "Where'd you learn all of this, anyway."

"Most of it from Yao Fei," I answered.

"He give you those scars?" John asked.

"One of them," Oliver answered.

"And the others?" John asked. We didn't answer. "You know, one of these days, you're gonna be straight with me about what really happened on that island."

"Absolutely," I told him. Oliver swung one of his staffs toward me when he thought I was distracted. Without looking at him, I raised one of mine to block the move, swinging my other toward him. Oliver raised his other to block the move. We continued to trade and block blows in a blur of motion. I spun around, hitting Oliver in the back of the leg with one of mine, making him fall. I walked away, past John. "But not today."

I walked toward the table, putting the staffs down.

"Still some pretty sweet moves," John told us. 

Oliver stood. "Yep." He walked toward me at the table. "Tonight I'm gonna use some on him." He pulled up a man's information on the computer. "Scott Morgan runs water and power in the Glades. Jacks up the prices when people can't pay, shuts them down even in the dead of winter."

John walked closer. "Which is at least a month away. Look at this. These guys started at Keystone three years ago." He pulled up information about a team of robbers that had shot a cop in a bank heist. "They began moving west, hitting banks along the way. This morning, they hit Starling City Trust. Shot an off-duty cop. He's in a coma,and the doctors are saying it's a coin toss whether he'll make it."

"If he's a cop, SCPD will be all over it," I told them. 

"Overwhelmed?" John asked. "Underfunded? Listen, these guys don't hit one time. They hit two or three banks per city, which means, right now, they're planning their next job."

"I think you have the wrong impression about what it is we do," Oliver told him. 

"You take out bad guys with a bow and arrow, swords and knives," John told us. 

"We don't fight with street crime," Oliver told him. "That's a symptom of what's wrong with this city. We're trying to cure the disease."

"CEOs and crooked entrepreneurs," John told him. Oliver picked up his father's journal, looking through it. "I get it. Listen, Oliver, I'm just saying, maybe you can make a difference if you think beyond the scope of those pages. I'm sure your father wouldn't mind."

"No, you don't get it," Oliver told him. "My father died so that I could live. Live and make a difference by fixing the city that he and the people in this book ruined. Every name that I cross off this list honors that sacrifice."

"Oliver, there's more than one way to save this city," I told him. "Maybe not for you, but for me. Crime happens in this city every day. I know that I can't stop all of it, but maybe I can stop people like the guys that killed my parents and my brother and nearly killed me and my sister from killing anymore families like they killed mine."