The Arrow's Shadow

Pilot [2]

Oliver knocked on the bedroom door of his sister's.

"Ollie!" Oliver's sister greeted cheerfully.

"No one's called me that in a while, Speedy," Oliver chuckled.

"Worst nickname ever,"

"What, always chasing after you as a kid? I thought it fit pretty well. Maybe it still does,"

"See you at school, Speedy," A girl said as she left the room.

"Sorry about her," Oliver's sister apologized.

"I have something for you," Oliver revealed.

"You did have to come back from a deserted island with a souvenir,"

"It's a Hozen. And in Buddhism, it symbolizes reconnecting. I kept it in hopes that one day it would reconnect me with you,"

"A rock," Tommy said from the doorway. "That is sweet. You know, I want one of those T-shirts that says My Friend Was a Castaway, and all I got was this crappy shirt,"

"Don't let him get you into too much trouble," Oliver's sister mused. "You just got back. Take it slow,"

Tommy cleared his throat. "The city awaits,"

The boys left her room.

"Have you noticed how hot your sister's gotten? Because I have not,"

***

"Your funeral blew," Tommy said in the car as he drove Oliver through the city.

"Did you get lucky?" Oliver grinned.

"Fish in a barrel. They were so sad and huggy..."

"No,"

"And I am counting on another target-rich environment for your welcome-home bash,"

"At my what?" Oliver frowned.

"You came back from the dead. This calls for a party. You tell me where and when. I'll take care of everything," Tommy stopped at an intersection, and the duo noticed the people by a burning trashbin. "This city's gone to crap. You know, your dad sold his factory just in time. And why'd you wanna drive through this neighborhood anyway?"

Oliver glanced over at his father's old factory "No reason,"

"So what'd you miss the most? Steaks at the palm, drinks at the station? Meaningless sex?"

"Laurel," Oliver admitted.

"Everyone is happy you're alive. You wanna see the one person who isn't?"

***

"Laurel," A woman stopped a brunette in her office, "I just got this from Hunt's lawyers." She handed Laurel a file. "They filed a change of venue. We are now in front of Judge Grell,"

"Hunt funded Grell's reelection campaign," Laurel noted. "He's got Grell in his back pocket,"

"You know, it's fun being your friend. I get to say I told you so a lot,"

"No. Adam Hunt is not smarter than we are,"

"No, he's just richer and willing to commit multiple felonies,"

"We don't need to go outside the law..."

"To find justice." The woman sighed. "Your dad's favorite jingle,"

Laurel's smile fell when she saw Oliver standing by one of the boards.

"Hello, Laurel," Oliver greeted.

***

"You went to law school," Oliver noted as he and Laurel walked around outside. "You said you would,"

"Yeah." Laurel said, "Everyone's proud,"

"Adam Hunt's a heavy hitter. You sure you wanna get in the ring with him?"

"Five years, and you wanna talk about Adam Hunt?"

Oliver shook his head. "No. Not really,"

"Why are you here, Ollie?"

"To apologize. It was my fault. I wanted to ask you not to blame her,"

"For what? Falling under your spell? How could I possibly blame her for doing the same things I did?"

"I never meant to..."

"She was my sister. I couldn't be angry because she was dead. I couldn't grieve because I was so angry. That's what happens when your sister dies while screwing your boyfriend. We buried an empty coffin...because her body was at the bottom of the ocean where you left her. It should have been you,"

"I know that it's too late to say this, but I'm sorry,"

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I'd hoped that you'd rot in hell a lot longer than five years," Laurel left Oliver and over to his best friend, who was waiting off to the side. "How did you think that was gonna go, Tommy?"

"About like that," Tommy admitted.

***

"Okay, so we took care of that," Tommy sighed as he and Oliver walked back to Tommy's car. "Good call. Now we can make up for the lost time. If you're not too sick of fish, I suggest we find some leggy models and eat sushi all day. What do you say?"

A blue van pulled up behind the two men as men in red masks walked over and aimed their guns.

"What the hell?" Tommy asked.

One of the men fired and hit Tommy and Oliver with tranq darts.

Oliver watched as a third member used a gun to kill a man that tried to stop the kidnapping.

***

"Mr. Queen. Mr. Queen!"

Oliver glared at the man who held him and Tommy captive.

"Did your father survive that accident?" The man in the mask questioned. "I ask the questions. You give me the answers,"

Oliver didn't respond, so the man tazed him.

"Did he make it to the island? Did he tell you anything?"

The man tazed Oliver again.

"Yes, he did," Oliver replied.

"What did he tell you, Mr. Queen?" The man asked.

"He told me I'm gonna kill you,"

The man laughed. "You're delusional. Your zip-cuffed to that chair,"

"I might be. But she's not,"

Shabina dropped down on top of one of the masked men. She used the surprise to her advantage and slammed the second one to the ground, using him as a shield as one of the men fired a machine gun.

Seeing he was at a disadvantage, the one who held Oliver took off running.

Shabina quickly checked Tommy's pulse and signed that he was still alive before slicing through Oliver's zip ties.

"Took you long enough," Oliver huffed.

"You're the one that wanted to use yourself as bait." Shabina huffed.

Oliver smirked. "Go back to Queen Manor. I'll finish up here,"

"What about you're friend?" Shabina nodded back toward Tommy.

"Leave him; he's my alibi. Plus wouldn't be the first time he's woken up in an alleyway," Oliver took off after the final masked man.

Shabina wanted to go help, but she had done her part of the job.

Now it was Oliver's turn.