The Starling Saviour

Chapter 57

I was stunned. How on earth did this Counselwoman who I had never met before, Ms Rogers, know that I was a vigilante? Was she secretly aliased with Vanch? Or did she just really hate me?

'There are numerous reports on this so called Sapphire Saviour patrolling the streets after Miss Coleman returned to Starling City,' the Counselwoman continued with her unfortunately spot-on accusations.

'Rogers!' The Judge tried to prevent her from saying any more.

'I have plenty of evidence to support this!' The Counselwoman insisted.

'I am not this... Vigilante!' I protested at once. 'I-'

'Miss Coleman, were you or were you not missing for a year in the summer of 2007?' The accusational Counselwoman quizzed me.

'Yes, I did,' I confirmed. 'But if everybody in here knows who I am, they would know that.'

'And wasn't that the exact same time that Oliver Queen was shipwrecked on an island in the North China Sea?'

'Well, yes-'

'Isn't that a bit... Coincidental?'

Where on earth was the Counselwoman going with this now?

'I guess so, but people go missing all the time,' I pointed out. 'Oliver and I were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

'You never told the police, or any lawyers, or anyone, for that matter, what really happened to you that year,' the Counselwoman picked up on the one thing I had prayed she wouldn't. 'It's almost like you are trying to cover up something. Maybe it's about who took you, what happened to you, or... Where you spent the year. So, Aria, please, tell us what exactly happened.'

'I don't like to talk about it,' I said quietly, bowing my head. 'Please, don't make me talk about that year, not now.'

'Actually, you don't get to decide,' the Counselwoman pressed with some awful intent. 'Because whatever happened to you, it made you into a killer. A vigilante. So talk!'

'Rogers!' The judge shouted her name yet again against the murmurs of the jury. 'This is a court case to testify against Cyrus Vanch, our offender, not Miss Coleman, one of the innocent victims.'

I looked over to where Oliver, Tommy and Laurel were sat, Oliver giving me a sympathetic look while Tommy was smiling at me in support. They were the only two who really knew I was on the island, but Oliver was the only person in the courtroom who truly knew what I had been through. Ivo's boat, the Mirakuru... And Sara. I could feel myself starting to cry, this being the first time in a long time I had properly remembered what had happened on the island. Yes, I always thought about my time there, every day another reminder that I was alive and Sara wasn't, but now I was experiencing the whole ordeal yet again. I just couldn't cope.

'Oh, don't cry, Miss Coleman,' the Counselwoman pretended to be sympathetic, but I knew her game. 'You'll have plenty of time to do that behind bars for the rest of your life.'

'This trial is dismissed until further notice,' the Judge interrupted, the courtroom now the exact opposite of silent.

I couldn't tell if the people were agreeing or disagreeing with these new stories, but I did know that they were all talking about me. It was bad enough that this Ms Rogers had brought up Marcus' trial, but now about me being a vigilante because of the island? I was positive she just wanted to blacken my name somehow, but her motives were unclear. What was her vendetta?