Green Arrow - Emerald Archer

Chapter Two

"Oliver Queen, in my office. Who would'a thought?"

Leena Jones sat at her desk, eyeing Oliver, who had just walked in.

"Leena," Oliver replied. "It's been awhile."

Leena was Oliver's ex-girlfriend, which is the simplest thing to call it. Oliver and Leena's relationship had been through a lot. They met at one of Oliver's many parties, several years ago. She was a nerdy sort of girl, different than all the rest at the party. Oliver liked how she stood out. They dated for a week weeks before Leena caught Oliver cheating on her. Despite his repeated apology, she left. That was all Oliver saw of her for many months. Then, one day, Oliver saw Leena in a bar. She looked very different and was also very drunk. She had started hacking different company's computer servers, causing tons of trouble. Oliver had helped her get her life straight. The continued dating until Oliver left on the boat.

Now Leena was a tech consultant at Queen Consolidated. She had access to all the company's files, and, if she used her skills, the whole city's files. That is why Oliver had come to her.

"Five years, to be exact," she responded.

Oliver sighed.

"Leena, I'm so sorry, I-"

To Oliver's surprise, she smiled.

"Please, if anyone went through a hard time, it's you," Leena said. "I mean, sure, I was depressed for awhile. But I still had Starbucks. I still had three meals a day and slept under my own roof. You were the one stranded on an island."

Oliver nodded.

"But you didn't come here to weep." Leena guessed.

"Yeah, I need information."

"What kind of information?"

"Your kind."

"Right," Leena focused on her computer. "What do you need?"

"A location on the drug Vertigo," Oliver replied. "Don't ask."

"Alright."

Oliver waited for several minutes as Leena typed and scrolled through files.

"Multiple off-the-grid transactions have happened at an abandoned warehouse near here. I'll send you the coordinates. You still have that iPhone 5?"

"Sure do," Oliver said, fishing it out of his pocket.

"Great, there you go," said Leena. "And, Oliver?"

"Yes?"

"It's nice to have you back."

Oliver smiled. It was good to be back.

--

"Thea, you're awake," Oliver noticed, entering his mansion.

She was sitting on one of the couches, reading.

"I think we need to talk," Oliver continued.

She said nothing.

Oliver was worried about her. She seemed so different than when Oliver had left. And she wasn't going down the right path. She was going down the path that Oliver took, when he was her age. Oliver wasn't so sure he liked it.

"Look, I know that I've been--"

"I know what you did, okay?" Thea interrupted, looking up from her book for the first time. "To the guy that was here at the party."

"Oh," Oliver didn't know how to respond to that.

"You should have just left it alone."

"He was dealing you drugs, Thea!" Oliver exclaimed. "You think I'm just gonna let that slide? If Dad was here-"

"Well he's not!"

"And that means it's my responsibility to-"

"You're responsibility to what? You're not Dad. You weren't here."

"I'm here now."

"So what?" Thea asked. "Everything's just gonna go back to normal? Be the same?"

"Yes," Oliver decided.

"No, it's not. I told you that not much had changed. But it has."

Oliver was silent.

"What happened to you, Ollie," Thea asked. "On the island."

Oliver shook his head, "Nothing."

"So you're telling me that you're exactly the same? Tell me what happened. I can see that you're hiding something."

"I told you," Oliver said. "Nothing happened."

He got up and walked out of the room. He walked up the stairs and entered his room. It was still weird, having a room. A bed. His mom hadn't changed anything in the room. It was just like it was almost six years ago. Thea, however, was not. She had changed. She seemed like an entirely different person.

"Oliver?" Moira stood in the doorway to Oliver's room. "What happened? Thea seemed upset."

"She's just different," Oliver responded. "What happened to her?"

"What happened to her? She lost her brother and her father."

"But she still had you. Were you not there for her?"

"Excuse me?" Oliver's mother was taken aback. "Of course I was there for her!"

"Then why has she changed so much?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe she hasn't. Maybe you're the one whose changed. Not Thea."

Moira stomped out of the room, irritated. Oliver sighed and sat back down on his bed. He pulled out the sheet of paper he had written the address of the Vertigo warehouse. If Thea wasn't going to direct herself on the right path, Oliver would help her.

—

Oliver approached a building at the coordinates Leena had sent him. It was, indeed, an abandoned warehouse. But there was no activity. From the outside, it looked very quiet. He had expected to hear or see something happening here, but it looked like an ordinary warehouse. Oliver walked slowly up to a sign. The lights on the sign were burnt out, and it was very dark, but Oliver could see the words etched into it.

Property of Queen Consolidated.

His dad had never mentioned a warehouse out here. Oliver walked up to the front doors. The glass on it was cracked, but he couldn't see inside. It was pitch black. He stuck his arm through the window and unlocked the door from the inside. He stepped in.

If any drug operation had happened here, there was no sign of it. He continued to examine what he could see of the warehouse. He wished he had brought a flashlight. His face got caught in a cobweb, causing him to stagger backwards.

Then the lights turned on. Oliver blinked to see if he was seeing correctly. It was one open room, lined with shelves of bottles and bags of pills. A dozen armed men stood, pointing their guns at Oliver. A woman with an Asian looking face and white hair stepped forward.

"Welcome, Oliver Queen. We've been waiting for you."