Destiny Rewritten

Chapter 8

Laurel had just entered her apartment after dealing with a surprisingly fair trial against Adam Hunt, for some reason Grell wasn't just eating out of his hand like she'd expected him to, if anything, he seemed adamant on the trial being fair. She didn't know why, but as long as justice was served, she honestly didn't care.

She flipped the light switch, but to her surprise, nothing happened.

"Hello?" Laurel asked as she pulled her gun out of her purse and for some reason, she started getting flashes of memories. Things that had never happened before, but were still somehow familiar to her.

"Laurel Lance." a deep voice said and Laurel turned to see a man wearing a green leather outfit standing in the shadows of her apartment.

"Who are you?" Laurel asked, trying to keep panic out of her voice.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." the man said as he placed his bow on the ground.

"Then why are you here?" Laurel asked.

"To give you this." the man said, holding out a folder to her and as if by instinct, she took it, somehow already knowing what it was as she read it.

"This is proof that." Laurel said.

"Jason Brodeur had Camille Declan killed when she found incriminating information against him and framed her husband for it. An innocent man is currently in prison and likely headed for death row soon." the man said.

"Why are you giving me this?" Laurel asked, though she could feel some kind of attraction to this strange man, something familiar about him, but she couldn't place it.

"Because you're one of the few people in this city who truly want to seek justice. I know you'll do what's right." the man said as he moved to leave out the window, picking up his bow on the way.

"Who are you?" Laurel asked again, causing the man to look at her and she swore she could almost see his face under that hood and mask.

"I'm the Green Arrow." he said as he fired an arrow out the window and like that he, was gone and the lights in her apartment came back on, leaving Laurel to wonder who that guy was, why she felt like she knew him and where these strange new memories were coming from. But for now, she had to focus on winning her case against Adam Hunt so she could begin focusing on Peter Declan.

Back at his own apartment, Oliver could see Cisco was still working and he had more tools with him then when Oliver had left.

"Did you breach back to Central City while I was gone?" Oliver asked.

"Yep. But I'm almost rigging a hiding place for your suit here." Cisco said, showing him the alcove he was working on.

"Nice. This will have room for my gear?" Oliver asked.

"Complete with a mannequin for your suit and a rack for your bow." Cisco confirmed.

"How much longer?" Oliver asked.

"I'd say maybe an hour or so." Cisco said, surprising him.

"You're an even bigger genius then I thought and that's saying something." Oliver said and Cisco nodded.

"I'll let you when I'm done." Cisco said and Oliver nodded as he let Cisco get back to work and began preparing for if he needed to go after Jason Brodeur himself or if this time, Laurel could get Declan out with the information he'd given her.

The next day, Laurel couldn't help but smile as she heard Judge Grell rule in her favor.

"What, no, you can't be serious." Hunt said, shocked.

"I am completely serious Mr. Hunt. You'll do jail time for embezzlement and every other crime you've been accused of here today, along with all the money you've embezzled being returned to its owners immediately." Grell said as Hunt was dragged away by the prosecutor as Laurel smiled, though she was curious about why Grell had done this. She thought he was in Hunt's pocket for sure.

Laurel was on her way out to her car when she heard Grell talking to someone.

"I made sure the trial was fair like you asked. Now, will hold up your end of the deal?" She heard Grell ask someone and Laurel was shocked when she found him talking to none other than her ex-boyfriend Oliver Queen.

"The other 10 million will be deposited by 10pm tonight like we agreed." Oliver said.

"What is going on here?" Laurel demanded, thinking that Oliver had bribed the judge just to get her to like him again.

"I'll handle this." Oliver said to Grell, who nodded and quickly walked away.

"What were you doing giving money to Grell?" Laurel demanded, shocked at how calm Oliver was at this.

"Hunt's a heavy hitter and we both know he would've paid Grell off to make sure he got away with his crimes. All I did was offer Grell more money to actually do his job properly." Oliver said.

"Wait, that's why Grell convicted Hunt?" Laurel asked and Oliver nodded.

"Corruption maybe a problem, but it can be used to a person's advantage and Hunt was going to use that to get off scot free, so I simply offered Grell more." Oliver said.

"So, you weren't trying to buy the trial?" Laurel asked.

"No. Because I think that while parts of the legal system are broken considering a judge who's willing to throw a case just for some extra money, I do recognize that it still has a purpose." Oliver said.

"You really have changed haven't you." Laurel said, calming down a bit.

"Yeah, I'm not the same man I was. He wouldn't have even cared about any of this. I'm trying to be a better person Laurel. And honestly, I should've just told Grell to call me when the trial was over, since I wanted to remain anonymous." Oliver said.

"You weren't looking for credit?" Laurel asked.

"No, I wasn't. Now, are you done yelling at me, because I actually have other places to be." Oliver said and Laurel nodded, shocked.

"I'll see you around Laurel." Oliver said as he walked passed her, leaving Laurel shocked, since this was the first time she was starting to believe that Oliver really had changed.