Finally Home

Chapter 36

I walked in seeing Laurel talking to one of the firemen. I overheard some of their conversation. Of course Laurel was here researching the murderer. There was a group of 8 called the Fireflies, all of which had the same tattoo of the murderer. It got shut down a few years ago. 4 of the men were now dead. Three of which were in the past 6 weeks. The other, Garfield Lynns, died in the Nodell Tower tragedy two years ago. The Nodell Tower? The fireman looked up at me as I neared.

"Did you forget something, Miss.Merlyn?" He asked.

Laurel quickly turned to look at me.

"Just wanted to see if my friend here needed some help." I smiled, as Laurel looked down knowing I heard some of the conversation."What was the Nodell Tower?"

"How do you not remember that?" The fireman asked, clearly he didn't watch the news.

"I was Wi-Fi free for a few years." I answered.

"It was 22 stories of glass and steel, except it turns out that the construction company. Who built it, used substandard materials to save themselves a few bucks. It was nowhere near the structural code." He filled me in.

"A gas line blew. There was a fire." Laurel added.

"Melted right through the stanchions. Whole damn thing came down." He continued.

"Bad day." Laurel softly said, recalling the memories.

"Thirty-four civilians and six of my fellow firemen died." The fireman concluded. "Now do you need anything else, Ms.Lance, other than reminding me of all the friends I've lost and buried?"

The fireman walked away at Laurel's silence. Laurel walked away. I quickly followed behind her.

"What was that all about?" I asked, finally reaching her side.

"It was nothing, (Y/n). I have to go." Laurel rushed walking away.

I looked around seeing Oliver waiting for me at his bike. I made my way over watching as he pulled a phone from his pocket. I recognized it as the one we gave Lance. He placed it to his ear. He didn't say anything for a few seconds before he finally spoke. I couldn't hear him due to the distance between us but I read his lips. 'Nothing. It's our turn.' Oliver hung up looking back at me. I gave him a nod as I made it to his side.

~~

Oliver and I sat in a comfortable silence as we typed away at the keyboards, trying to find any lead on who this guy is. I heard footsteps enter the base. Diggle. Great, what was he going to say this time.

"I thought you two were done helping Laurel." He said.

"The first Firefly to die, his name was Garfield Lynns." Oliver filled Diggle in.

"Well, being dead kind of rules him out as a murder suspect, right?" Diggle asked.

We just ignored him. According to every article I found, they never found Lynns's body. Granted it could've just gotten lost in the rubble. However Lynns was in an area where his body would've been near the top of the rubble. It made no logical sense that they didn't find his body, unless he was still alive.

"Oliver,(Y/n)." Diggle broke my thoughts, pulling up a stool, as Oliver and I turned around. "I'm sorry I came at you two so hard, but I've been there. I know what it's like to stare death in the face, to hold a comrade as they bled out."

Oliver nodded his head as he seemed deep in thought. My mind started to drag me into my thoughts. I've been close to death on the island more times than I can remember. I never feared it, because I had nothing to lose. When that archer almost killed me when I stared death in the face, then I thought about all the people that I've let into my life since I've been back. My family, Laurel, Oliver. That made me afraid. Afraid of what would happen to those people if they lost me again. For the first time in a long time I had something to lose. Oliver looked over to me, and we made eye contact. I could see he was thinking the same thing. Diggle was right, we both saw that now.