Sapphire Ruby (Book Two, Arrow)

chapter 2 ⚔ Identity

Jill was in the Verdant club during the raging night.

Oliver walked up behind her. "We're going to need more sparring dummies."

"I'll start ordering them in bulk," Jill told him. 

"This mean you're ready to launch Crusade 2.0?" Oliver asked.

"I'm ready," Jill answered. "I just don't know where to begin. Last year, we had the list. Getting justice was as simple as crossing names out of a book."

"This is Starling City," Oliver told her. "You never have to look far to find someone engaged in illegal activity. Yesterday, Big Belly Burger got robbed."

"Really?" Jill asked. Oliver nodded. "I would kill for a Big Belly Burger."

"Maybe we should grab a bite sometime," Oliver told her.

Jill smiled, looking down.

Thea walked up to them. "Hey! I didn't see you come in."

"We had a secret entrance installed when we ran the club," Oliver told her. "Kidding."

Thea nodded. Her phone rang. She pulled it out to answer. "Hello? Yes, yeah, this is Thea Queen." She rolled her eyes. "Of course that's where he is."

Roy had been arrested for picking a fight in an alley.

⚔

Flashback

Oliver was looking at the blood on his hands from when he had smashed a man's head in with a rock.

Shado, Slade and Jill were nearby.

Oliver walked away, sitting down.

"Others will come," Shado told them. "They won't be happy we killed their men."

"All the more reason to figure out why they're here," Slade told them, taking a paper out of Man 1's jacket. "It's a map of the island chain, containing Lian Yu. This is similar to the recon shots that ASIS gave me before I came here to rescue your father. Whatever they're looking for, it must be here, on this island." Jill was watching Oliver. "I've seen men in war with that look in their eyes."

"What look?" Jill asked.

"The one that says he's split into someone else," Slade answered. He sighed. "Someone he doesn't even recognize. If someone doesn't talk to him, it'll tear him up."

Jill walked toward Oliver, walking around him to look him in the eyes, taking his hands in hers, not minding the blood. "Come on. Let's get away from this place."

Oliver slowly nodded.

⚔

Now

Oliver and Jill were in the hospital in the Glades, looking at everyone inside.

"They survived the quake and ended up here," Jill told him. "From one hell to the next."

"Yeah, whoever's stealing from here, they won't be for much longer," Oliver told her.

They walked along.

They heard a man's voice. "This hospital is in danger of becoming an oversized morgue."