Arrow: the Two Archers

Chapter 13: Sins of the Father

At the Foundry, the trio was trying to plan out their next steps. Lydia was still happy that she had managed to prevent the Restons from taking the money, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit miffed that they had managed to escape. Of course, neither Oliver or Diggle blamed her for that, both of the making a point to ensure she knew the conditions in the cramped water treatment tunnels were not exactly ideal for her hunting style. But while it made her feel better about her efforts, it didn't fully dissipate the annoyance.

"So, are we back to square one?" Diggle asked.

Oliver hummed, deep in thought.

"Maybe not. Lydia, see what you can find on the father, Derek Reston." he requested.

Lydia nodded, beginning her search through the web to find any trace of the eldest Reston. Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, she found herself immensely glad for the programs copied from Barbara's systems that allowed her to cut the search time down significantly. In mere minutes, she had details on the man's previous job and living conditions up on the screen.

"Looks like he hasn't been online much in recent times. No credit activity, no utility bills." she observed.
"It seems he used to work for Queen Consolidated."

Oliver frowned.

"What?"

"Yeah. Records say he used to be the foreman for the company's steel factory in the Glades. In other words, the building we're currently in." Lydia said, gesturing vaguely to her surroundings.
"He worked here for 15 years before production was outsourced to China and the factory was shut down back in 2007. And... those bastards! How could they?"

"What is it?" Oliver asked, concerned about his partner's outburst.

Lydia closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself before opening them again.

"The people in the finance division of Queen Consolidated managed to find a loophole in the union contract, so they didn't have to pay severance packages and pensions to their employees. About 1500 people got laid off overnight without receiving a single penny for compensation. As a result, they were forced to live paycheck to paycheck, and those were the lucky ones. Many lost their homes, like the Restons."

She turned in her chair to face Oliver, trying her best to keep the anger starting to bubble up inside her contained. As furious as this new knowledge made her, she also knew it was a far heavier weight on Oliver. Rationally he was aware that his father had made mistakes, that his actions had hurt people. But this was the first time he was actually being confronted with that fact. It couldn't be easy to process.

"Those factory guys used to hang out at a bar after work. Reston has just come home after 5 years away. If I'm lucky maybe he'll be there and we can have a chat." Oliver eventually said.

Diggle frowned.

"A chat? About what?"

"About giving him a chance to do the right thing."

Lydia watched as Diggle shook his head.

"Oliver, he already had his chance to do the right thing. It's called not being a criminal."

"This is happening because of my father. Because of my family." Oliver argued.

"That doesn't make it your fault, man."

"But it doesn't also make it solely the Restons' fault." Lydia piped up, causing both men to look at her inquisitively.
"Yes, Derek Reston and his family had the choice of turning to crime or continuing to try to live an honest life. But it's not fair to ignore what they lost simply because a billion dollar company was trying to save a few bucks."