RETROUVAILLE | oliver queen

01.

01. ➳ THE RETURN OF EVELYN

     EVELYN COULDN'T HELP but pant like a tired dog, running through rows upon rows of thick and thorny bushes and rocky paths as droplets of cold sweat and warm blood dripped down her face with each heavy step she took, the bright afternoon sun beaming down on her. She paused in her tracks and turned sharply, hiding inside some bushes. She winced quietly as the twigs and thorns dug into her face and hair, sitting in silence as multiple men dressed just like her in thick black Kevlar armor passed right by her, one of them shouting orders.

     "FIND HER!" The man roared, "Do not hesitate to shoot and kill on sight!" He instructed. Evelyn glared daggers at the man through the thick bushes, waiting for him and the other men to leave so she could run back where she came from.

       Once they left, Evelyn not-so-swiftly emerged from the bushes, running back towards the burning and crumbling building in front of her. Evelyn had planted explosives all around the building, inside and out, over the last few months. James Fitzgerald, the leader of an organization that had kidnapped Evelyn years before, had been swooped up into a helicopter before anything fatal happened to him, much to Evelyn's dismay.

Evelyn sprinted behind the burning building, covering her face with her arms to protect herself from the harsh flames emitting from the building. She spotted a row of vehicles nearby, rushing over and swinging herself into one of the organization's many black, armored Jeeps and driving off. She allowed herself to take a large breath as she looked at the chaos behind her through the Jeep's rearview mirror. She was free, for now at least, and that was all that mattered to her. She had planned to return to her family, not only because she missed them, but because she knew that the organization would target her family as punishment for her betrayal.

—

EVELYN FOUND HERSELF staring at her own reflection in a dirty shattered mirror as she stood waiting for the man who would bring her back to her family. She was alone in an old abandoned warehouse, the concrete walls decorated with years of dust and graffiti.

Evelyn shifted her eyesight away from her reflection and to some scribbles scratched down onto the mirror's top left corner, most likely with a nail or something similar. She squinted her eyes as she examined the mess. It was a heart, with the letters G + R scratched inside of the heart. Evelyn scoffed to herself and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at this. She thought the action was ridiculous. Evelyn then froze for a second when she heard a small noise from behind her. She sighed.

"You're late." Evelyn spat. She didn't even bother to turn around when she heard the sound of cracking glass shards from shattered windows under the large man's boots as he walked into the old warehouse.

"It's not easy disappearing from the League. You know I could easily be killed for helping a member of Hydra." The trained assassin explained with crossed arms, hiding beneath a dark black cloak and a face mask that showed only his eyes. Evelyn chuckled.

"An ex member of Hydra, you mean." Evelyn retorted, pushing herself away from the broken mirror and finally facing the man. "Thanks for taking a risk to reunite me with my family." She thanked.
The man bowed his head slowly, looking back at Evelyn before he stood sideways and motioned to the front door.

       "Let's move out. This has to be quick or they'll notice I'm gone." He rushed. Evelyn nodded in understanding and they walked out to the stolen armored Jeep together.

—

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THE LAST SIX YEARS, Miss Friedel?" Officer Quentin Lance questioned Evelyn at the Starling City Police Department, wondering about her whereabouts during the years she was missing. Evelyn had changed out of her Kevlar before arriving in the city, changing into some old, dirty, and torn up clothes.

"I was forced to work for some people." Evelyn replied simply as she kept herself calm and answered the questions, trying her best to seem as sane as possible in order to not have to go through any more tests. Evelyn didn't mind speaking about it, she wasn't afraid of revealing the truth. Well, most of it anyways.

"Like a group?" Lance asked curiously with a tilted head, tapping his fingers on the table. Evelyn's gaze moved from the table in front of her towards Lance. She hid her emotions well, leaving Lance with even more curiosity.

"More like an organization." She said. He nodded, pointing to a scar under Evelyn's right collarbone in the shape of a skull with tentacles coming out of it.

"And that scar?" He inquired, his eyes lingering on the long-healed wound.

"The symbol of the organization I was forced to work for." Evelyn informed. "They call themselves Hydra. They made sure every single member had one of these, to mark us as their property, their puppets." She explained, subconsciously rubbing a finger across the bumpy scar. Lance nodded, crossing his arms.

       Although the man had millions of questions running through his head, he decided best to leave the topic be for the time being. The girl had just now somehow managed to arrive back in Starling City after missing for years, and Lance was sure she'd want to reunite with her family. She didn't seem hesitant to answer his questions, anyway. Therefore, he was sure he could continue to ask her about her experiences another day.

"That's all for today." He slowly stood, as if to not spook her with any sudden movements. If only he knew what she really was, he'd know that sudden movements are not enough to spook her. "There's someone here I'm sure you'd like to see." He said. Evelyn's heart skipped a beat as she was freed from the interrogation room and taken into the main office. She slowed in her tracks, staring at her sister and her mother, who stared at her through glossy eyes.

"Oh, Evelyn." Her mother, Willa Friedel, cried as she gasped for air and chocked up on tears, hugging tightly the daughter she thought she had lost forever. She repeatedly kissed Evelyn's forehead, pushing her dirty and sweaty hair out of her face to look at her. "Oh, my sweet sweet baby." Willa cooed between sobs.

Evelyn's older sister, Evangeline, and her mother took turns giving her hugs and drowning her in kisses, bickering on their way home of what she had missed in the last few years. But the truth was, Evelyn knew most of it already. She stalked her own family in secret from the Hydra Tower, hoping to one day be able to return home.

—

EVELYN STARED at her reflection in a mirror for the second time that day, staring intently at the scars that littered her face and neck before holding her own gaze. Evelyn had returned home, and with her, she had brought another side of her. A side that wanted to right the wrongs done in the city. Evelyn returned home with the Phoenix; a killing machine, and maybe someday, a figure of hope and heroism.