Chapter 7: 7 – Protector

'I was arrogant and complacent. I thought that just being Oliver Queen would be enough to protect me and protect my family.'

'I was wrong.'

'I looked for reasons to explain my unwillingness to become the Green Arrow, some I might have even felt that were true, but I was a hypocrite.'

'I thought that just the existence of a supervillain would motivate the need for me to rise up and become what I needed to be.'

'I ignored the minor crimes that happened and only started to care when something occurred to Thea.'

'What about the others just like Thea or even worse? I simply ignored them because I felt I had the right not to be what I am supposed to be.'

I made my way to my hiding place and went directly to the basement. Getting there, I went straight for my uniform.

' It seems that I knew something would happen because I already have everything prepared.'

''It's time.'' I said as I put on the uniform and grabbed the bow and arrow, a pistol, and a few other things.

'' I know you're there, don't need to hide.'' I suddenly said.

There is some noise on the stairs leading to the basement. 

''What's all this?''' asked Diggle, who followed Oliver.

I was in a hurry, so I told him the partial truth, "' While I was really missing for 5 years, I wasn't alone.'' I showed him my scars, '' I learned the evil of this world and also how to defend myself against it.''

Diggle looked surprised, ''' Okay, and what does that have to do with what's happening now?''

'' As I said, I learned how to defend myself against almost anything the world throw at me. And today, someone messed with my family and I will use everything that I learned to save Thea.''

 '''So you're telling me you're going to the worst part of town to save your sister,'' Diggle pointed to my bow, '' with a bow and arrows?''

I sighed,'' Look man, every second I waste talking to you is a second lost to save my sister. So just say whatever you want to say and stop wasting my time.''

That seems to have waked to the gravity of the situation and Diggle came to a decision,'' I can't let you do that.''

I raised my gaze to him, '' Do what?''

'' Play the hero. You're just a guy going against at least 30 people. Just let the police do her job.''

I went face to face with the man, '' Do you really think the police are going to do anything?''

Diggle stayed quiet.

'' Look, since I've been back, I've had the desire to do something useful for the town and I noticed that I could do that as Oliver Queen, but I also could do it as something else.''

'' What happened to Thea was just the spark that lit the fire. Now I am ready and not afraid of what I have to do.''

'''And what is that?'' - Diggle

'''Helping people. No matter if it's a big crime or not, people deserve to feel safe, anywhere in the city. So I will do something about that.''

'''Alone...''' - Diggle

''You want to help?''

Diggle looked shocked.

''I'm not going to hold punches, people might die tonight and they might call me a murderer or something along those lines. But you have to know that some people are too far gone. I can't risk innocent lives to save someone like the drug lord who kidnapped Thea.''

At the mention of killing, Diggle struggled to respond. 

I sighed, '' Look man, you don't need to help. You just don't need to be in my way.''

I pushed the man aside and started up the stairs, '' Come see me after it's all over. Then you can decide whether to call the police or not, but right now I need to go.''

Diggle said nothing and I stopped wasting my time with him.

'Based on what I know about Diggle, I don't think he will tell the police or anyone else about this, but I can't be 100 % sure. I'll deal with that later.'

I grabbed my bike and headed toward the worst part of town, reaffirming to myself that I was doing the right thing.

'I have to be prepared for anything...it's kill or be killed with that kind of person and situation. I can't hesitate.'

'While the former Oliver may have killed a lot, I hadn't killed anyone yet, and that could be a problem.'

It took five minutes for me to reach the area where Thea was being held prisoner and mentally prepare myself for what I was about to do.

Today some people are going to learn that this town has a protector.

 

---

 

With Thea

Thea thought that everything would be okay if she paid off the gang leader, but in the end, he ended up kidnapping her. 'He and his goons didn't touch me but he probably already talked to my mother and asked for money. I don't see any other reason for him to do this.'

'Ollie... I tried my best not to let him see my ugly side, but now I don't think it matters anymore.'

Thea wanted her brother never to find out what she did, the paths she took in these last five years, but fate didn't let her do that.

'I was stupid, I already knew what kind of people they were but I still thought I could handle it alone.'

Her situation is complicated. In the years that Oliver was dead, she got involved with the wrong people, rich people like her, who introduced her to the world of drugs. She got in very quickly and lost herself.

She continued this way for a long time, trying to forget the pain she felt at the loss of her brother and her father.

But as soon as she heard that Oliver was alive and coming back, she cut her ties with these people and with drugs. 

But once you get involved in that world, it's hard to get out.

The blackmailing started as soon as Oliver landed in Star City. Right away, it was considered cheap and something that Thea could easily afford, but as the days went by, the price went up.

Since they knew Thea was a billionaire, they kept asking for daily payments until it got to the point where Thea saw that it was a vicious cycle. No matter how much she paid, they would always ask for more.

So when they called her tonight, she said enough is enough.

"Hi little princess, today's payment is 1m dollars. You can send it to the same account. 

"Enough! I'm not sending you any more money. Give me a large amount for you to destroy these images and I will pay you right now.'' Thea said quickly.

The voice on the other end of the phone was slow to answer, '' The little princess is showing her claws guahahahahaha... But that's okay, bring 20m dollars to our usual place and I'll delete those pictures.''

''I can do the transfer right now.''

"No, no. It has to be in person, I want to see your little face one more time.''

20m wasn't much but Thea had to act like it was, so she shouted into the phone, '' Alright! But this is the last time.''

Thea didn't even say goodbye to the guests or her family and went straight to the place where they always made their transactions.

As soon as she arrived and got out of the car, she already noticed that something was wrong but she kept going anyway. Thea cared too much about what her brother thought of her, so she didn't hesitate.

As soon as she got close to the gang leader, she didn't even have time to react and was dragged to the nearest building. And now she's lamenting her choices.

The building was medium-sized, with three floors, and they took Thea to the last floor.

After remembering everything that went wrong, Thea began to cry, 'I should have talked to Quentin about my situation, maybe he could have helped with something.'

As she lamented her choices, the leader of the gang entered the place where she was.

''Hi, princess. I just got off the phone with your mother, she decided to pay 100m to free you.''

Thea said nothing and just stared at the man.

The leader didn't like her attitude, '' You know what? I'm going to post all these pictures on the internet. Maybe then you'll learn your lesson.''

This seemed to move Thea and she began to plead, "No please, anything but this.''

The leader was curious, ''Why do you have such a strong reaction to these pictures? It's not like anyone knew you were into drugs, so what's the reason?''

Thea still didn't answer and just kept crying.

This reaction only made the leader want to know more, so he kept talking, '' Is it your mother? No, she already knows about it... your friends, maybe? No, they also know about it...''

After talking about several possibilities, all that was left was her brother, Oliver Queen. The leader finally noticed that he was the only one left, so he continued,'' Perhaps it's your brother...?''

The leader noticed that as soon as he said her brother's name, the reaction he got from Thea was stronger.

The leader smirked, '' Then it's your brother. Imagine the disappointment he will feel knowing that his little sister uses drugs. HAHAHAHAH I would love to see his reaction when he finds out.''

The leader was actually going to post the compromising pictures of Thea on the Internet, but just then, one of his henchmen came into the room practically screaming, '' CHIEF. We have a problem!!!''

Noticing his henchman's distress, the Leader dropped what he was doing and asked, ''What happened?''

''I received a message from the people on the second floor that they think a person entered the building some minutes ago and now-''

Before he could continue, everyone in the room hear a gunshot that sounded near.

The leader realized that the situation was not good.

 

10 minutes ago

 

I stood at the entrance to the building from which the policemen saw Thea being carried inside.

' There's no turning back now. This is the first time I'm going against humans, but good thing I have memories of the old me. It's do or die.'

'I have a few alternatives on how to get into the building unnoticed but I want to save Thea as fast as possible, so the best option is to face it head-on.'

The number of enemies is unknown, but I don't care.

After checking my equipment and making sure everything was in order, I entered the building.

As soon as I entered and saw three armed people, it was as if my body went into a trance. I was in control but the feeling was strange.

Before these three could react to me entering the building, I ran towards them, doing a flying kick at the first one and using an arrow, that I grabbed with my hands, on the other. The arrow entered the guy's stomach and I don't know if he can survive this and apparently, I don't care.

The other guy, who clearly noticed my presence after I finished off his friends, tried to scream and shoot me, but I didn't let him do either.

I grabbed some kind of arrowhead out of my boot and threw it in the guy's direction and it hit his head. Yeah, that guy is dead, nobody survives this.

After killing one and leaving the other two to die, I went on my way.

'I thought killing would be complicated but I'm calm.'

To my surprise, while the building only had three floors, it had several rooms and I didn't know which one Thea was in, but in these situations, I bet she was on the top floor.

Deciding to go to the 3rd floor and get this over with as quickly as possible, I knocked on the door of one of the apartments on the 2nd floor. ''I'm going to eliminate all the threats before I go up, I don't want to get shot in the back.''

The person who opened the door didn't even have a chance to say anything when a punch came at him. He had no way to react and was hit.

Inside the room, there were four other people and they clearly noticed that their friend was knocked out.

I looked in the room and noticed that these people were not armed with firearms, only with knives and clubs. ''That makes it easier.''

I walked into the room and closed the door behind me, ''Let's finish this as quickly as possible because I'm in a hurry.''

The people inside the room finally reacted and came toward me. 'Honestly, the way they attack has no shape and only strength. I can finish them off in 45 seconds.'

Said and done. The first of the four who attacked me received a bow to the face and fainted.

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The remaining three took knives and were slowly approaching me. I decided to stop waiting and went towards them.

I used the bow as a long weapon and attacked the nearest one. He dodged my bow but not my kick to the arm. He was caught by surprise and dropped the knife, due to the force of the kick.

Taking advantage of this, I grabbed the knife in mid-air and swung behind me, where one of them was approaching me. He was not expecting this and had a look of terror on his face when he noticed that the knife was in his neck.

The other one, seeing that two of his friends were knocked out, one dead, and the other unarmed, threw the knife in my direction. 'Clever, but at the same time you have to have the aim to make it work.'

I easily picked up the knife he threw in my direction and threw it back at him, '' I think this is yours!''

He didn't have time to react and the knife hit him in the chest. He also had a look of terror on his face and slowly fell to the ground. 'I underestimated them... it only took me 30 seconds.'

I went towards the last guy, who was holding his arm after I kicked him earlier. He had clearly lost the will to fight, '' TELL ME WHERE IS THE GIRL YOU KIDNAPPED!''

' I spoke in my thickest voice but it came out too weird... well, it's the best I can do now.'

Well, seeing his friends die seems to have motivated him, '' S-he's on the top floor, apartment 302... please, d- don't kill me.''

"Thank you.'' I said that and punched him a few times until he blacked out.

'I didn't ask how many people are in the building because, honestly, I don't care how many people are in the building. I can handle it.'

After eliminating the threat in the room, I realized that if I did the same thing in the other apartments it would take too long, so I decided to speed things up.

'This is going to make some noise.' I picked up my pistol and checked how many rounds I had. '15 rounds, I think it'll be enough. I should have asked for a silencer...' 

I then left the apartment and started running and knocking on all doors on the second floor. 

All the apartments opened the door and everyone inside was confused, wondering who was knocking on the door. One of those people sent a message to the boss's right-hand man.

Some people looked down the hall and saw a hooded person staring at them. Finally, they noticed that it was a stranger, '' ENEMY.''

The one who saw it didn't hesitate and shouted, drawing everyone's attention. Most of the apartments had 2 or 3 people and they all went out to see this intruder.

A few braver people saw the bow in his hand and the quiver full of arrows on his back. ''Who are you and what do you want?''

At this point, everyone was already out of the apartment.

'There are 20 people and 15 bullets... and there's still the whole third floor. I should have taken the guns from the guys on the first floor.'

Wasting no time, I opened fire on the goons. I hit 15 out of 15 but I shot them in the stomach, maybe some of these guys will survive, but they are definitely out of combat.

The remaining five tried to run back to the apartments but I didn't let them. 

I took the bow and started shooting at them. Head, shoulder, chest, arms, and legs. This is where I hit these 5, varying from one to another. 

'I think most of the firearms are on the third floor because no one here had one.'

After leaving everyone on the second floor out of action, I headed up to the third floor.

'Thea, just a little longer! I'm coming to get you!'

 

With Thea

 

Thea also heard the gunshots and a small hope lit inside her, ' Maybe it's the police, and they're here to save me!!'

But then she remembered that the goon said it was only one person, and she lost hope again.

By the time she managed to compose herself, she noted that the gang leader was nervous, '' THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!! They said we only needed to hold the girl for a few hours and they would handle the other things...''

This surprised Thea, that by now discovered that someone else orchestrated this kidnap.

' So someone was after me, but why? I don't know anyone that would want to harm me... but what about Oliver or Mom? Maybe they kidnapped me to send a message or something like that...'

Thea's thoughts were interrupted when she heard people running towards the room where she and the leader were.

The door opened and 5 goons came in, armed but still scared, '' Boss, it's a massacre on the second floor! Everyone else is dead or out of action, we're all that's left. What do we do, boss?''

The boss looked scared but still, he said, '' A person will stay outside to let you know when the guy shows up. As soon as the person gives the signal, he will go in and we will make this room our defense. No one would be crazy enough to come in here knowing that there are people with guns.''

''What about the girl?''

The boss seems to have forgotten about Thea, '' Just throw her in a corner of the room. She's not important anymore.''

The boss has already asked his friends in the area and his 'boss' for reinforcements but he doesn't know if they will send anyone. 

''Ok, who would volunteer to guard the door? ''

The leader asked but no one answered. 

'...'

The room fell silent until the leader, very irritated, made the decision, '' Ok then! YOU, out of the room.''

The unlucky one who was chosen tried to protest but he noticed that all the other henchmen were pointing their guns at him.

Defeated, the henchman went to the door. Before he opened it, he heard the leader say, "Don't forget, as soon as the guy shows up, get back inside! Don't try to be the hero.''

The henchman felt strange, seeing that his cruel boss cared about him. What he didn't know is that the boss doesn't give a damn about him, but he knows he has strength in numbers.

As soon as the henchman opened the door, a fire extinguisher rolled into the room. Everyone looked confused without understanding anything until an arrow came from outside the room and hit the extinguisher, causing smoke to cover the entire room.

"Argh.

Thea, who was hand tied, could see almost everything from her point of view.

It looked like a green ghost, every time he touched one of the henchmen they would fall to the ground. Either dead or unconscious, she didn't know.

Thanks to luck or the speed of the guy who entered, the others didn't have a chance to shoot their weapons.

At the end, when the smoke cleared, all that was left was her and the guy with the bow.

The guy who started all this by kidnapping her was on the ground, bleeding from his mouth.

The guy with the bow came over to help Thea up, but she flinched.

Noticing her reaction, he tried to show her that he was there to help her.

Thea found the situation strange because for some reason this guy didn't speak. After a while, she noticed that he would do no harm and accepted his help.

First, he cut the rope that was holding Thea's hand and then helped her up.

Then he gestured for her to follow him. When they left the room, Thea could notice blood on his footprints. She felt afraid but continued to follow him anyway.

They took the stairs because the elevator was full of dead or unconscious henchmen. As soon as they reached the first floor, they saw that the police were about to enter the building.

Noticing the situation, the hooded guy gestured that he had to go.

Thea understood the situation and nodded. Before the guy could leave, Thea grabbed his hand.

The man didn't say anything but turned to her, "Thank you for saving me.''

His answer was a simple nod of the head. After that, she let go of him and noticed that he went up to the terrace.

After noticing that he was gone, Thea started shouting to call the attention of the police.

---

 

After saving Thea, I went to the terrace to choose my escape route. There, it seemed that the adrenaline finally ran out and I threw up a little.

'Maybe killing for the first time really got to me, but I don't regret it. None of these guys were good people.'

I looked down and saw that the police had almost the entire perimeter locked down. 

'Thank God I hid my bike far away...'

So I took a somewhat safe route down the building, jumping from window to window.

I picked up my bike and went back to my club, to put my uniform away.

As soon as I opened the basement, I noticed that Diggle was still there. I ignored him and put my uniform and gadgets back where they belonged.

After doing so and letting out a sigh, I turned to Diggle, "It's done. Thea is safe and sound and now I can answer whatever you want me to.''

Diggle was silent for a moment, '' Did you kill someone?''

I was silent for a moment before answering, '' Yes...I had a good reason for killing, but I think you have something to say about that.''

Diggle, who didn't look surprised continued, ''We can't be the judge, the jury, and the executioner. Maybe there were some good people among those you killed today.''

'' Look, I understand. Killing is bad for some people but it is also a form of defense and protection for others. Let's say the situation was different and you saw someone beating someone else to death, would you get involved?''

''Of course, but I wouldn't kill. It's not up to me to make that decision.''

''Now think of a situation in which if you didn't kill the person who was hitting the other, he or she would eventually, after you broke up the fight, come back and kill the other person anyway, and then other people. Would you still let the person go?''

'' .... Today's situation was different.''

''No, it wasn't. Let's say the police managed to save her without killing anyone, do you really think they wouldn't do something like this, or something even worse, later? Because whoever can do it once, can do it many times.''

Diggle looked conflicted so I continued, "I don't regret killing anyone today, because they were bad people. Maybe when I die I'll go to hell for killing, but I assure you I don't have a guilty conscience. Some people are too far gone.''

I came up to him and slapped his shoulder, "Look, you can go to the police right now and report me as a murderer. No problem, I won't stop you... BUT.''

I kinda yelled to get his attention, which worked, '' I might need some help on my new journey.'''

''What are you talking about?''

''After today I noticed that our city doesn't have any protection. You noticed how the police can't do anything about my sister's kidnapping, and she's one of the richest people in town. Now imagine the people who are poor, they don't have any protection. If they're kidnapped, God knows what horrors would happen to them...''

'' But I also know that I can't do everything by myself. '' I looked at Diggle.

Diggle already noticed that I was trying to get him to help me, '' But why now and why me?''

'' I didn't have a reason to step up before today. And why you, besides the point that you already know my secret identity, I also know you.'' This caught his attention.

'' I know your past and I also got to know you this past week. It may be surprising but I trust you.''

'' Because you read my file and spent a week with me?'' Diggle asked.

'' Yes.'' I responded and waited for his decision.

' While it would be bad for me if he really reveal what he found here, many people would not believe him, but I would lose my base and a good ally.'

'' To be honest, I thought a lot about this before you came back, and I already got my decision before, your talking just made it more clear for me. While I don't like killing, I do agree that some people are too far gone.''

'' So, to make you see another path, one where you don't need to kill everyone, I will help you.''

Diggle said and extended his hand for a handshake.

I looked at him and smiled, '' Welcome to the team.''

---

Author's Note:

Well, now the cat is out of the bag and our Oliver will become the Green Arrow for real. No more doubt and he will get all of his arsenal upgraded!!

A few more chapters until we see the formation of the Justice League.

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