The Starling Saviour

Chapter 28

'Starling City Police, the party's over kids,' Lance shouted over the loud music and fuelled crowd, who booed Lance as he tried to ruin their fun.

'What is Detective Lance doing here?' Marcus asked me, confused.

He was supposed to be watching Adam Hunt, not Oliver. I thought that was my job that night.

'I guess we weren't needed here after all,' I said, slightly annoyed.

As we watched Lance walk over to Oliver and Tommy with Detective Hilton, they seemed to have some heated exchange.

'Hey everybody, two million dollars for anybody who can find a nutbar in a green hood!' Oliver suddenly announced after a minute or so of discussion, causing the crowd to cheer like they did on his arrival.

But Lance still didn't seem too happy. He confronted Oliver some more, Hilton having to quietly push Lance away from the building. After all, Lance still blamed him for Sara's death; Oliver's return wasn't going to be an easy one.

'It's way too quiet in here, this is a party!' Oliver yelled at the crowd again, causing them to cheer for what felt like the hundredth time.

'I don't think we need to stay any longer,' I said decisively to Marcus. 'Let's go.'

---

The SCPD was in a state of underlying panic as I returned to work the next week. And all about one person. The guy in the hood.

'You... Saw the hood guy?' I asked, astounded, as Lance told me his tale.

'I didn't just see him, I saw him zipwire outta Hunt's building,' Lance recalled. 'It was... Something else.'

I could tell Lance disapproved of him, but I was very interested in this guy. The next vigilante of Starling City was one to watch, and I wanted to see what the Robin Hood figure could think of next and who he was going to get back at.

'He's already attacked a few other guys across the city,' Hilton chipped in. 'And I don't think he's going to stop there. You need to get your lab ready for lots of analysis; one of these arrows could lead us to his true identity.'

'Okay,' I nodded. 'One of my scientists are already analysing that arrow from Hunt's office, but she's found nothing yet.'

Deep down, I doubted we would really find anything out about Mr Vigilante; he was very smooth, and he made sure he didn't leave a trace on his arrows. If he kept this degree of discreetness up, we would never find his identity, and I was sure he'd want to keep it that way.

As I returned to the lab, someone was waiting for me there. Oliver.

'Why are you here?' I asked him angrily and as brief as possible. 'I already told you, I don't want anything to do with you.'

'You did Friday night,' Oliver said arrogantly. 'I thought maybe you'd changed your mind.'

'No, I didn't want to be there at that... Gathering,' I corrected him. 'And anyway, Marcus didn't let me have a proper conversation with you. He understands.'

'But I don't understand why you don't want to talk to me,' Oliver said innocently. 'Last time we... Saw each other, on the-'

'Maybe we should take this conservation elsewhere?' I suggested, using my eyes to gesture to my eavesdropping colleagues.

'As I was saying, last time, when we were on the island,' Oliver resumed his sentence on the basic balcony of the SCPD. 'We were friends. We relied on each other to survive. And now you're... Shutting me out?'