More Arrow random thoughts because this is the most inspired I've been in a while sorry mutuals who have no clue what I'm talking about. I'll add a keep reading here for you guys 💕 (content warning: suicide and general violence typical of S1 Arrow but with more emotion than S1 😞)
Current thought of the day is, I don't think Oliver ever willingly told anyone about how his father died. Now, I don't remember the show perfectly and more or less stopped actually watching about halfway through season 3 (though I was involved in fandom and some friends continued to relay plot info to me) so I might be wrong but it feels correct, and no I don't count the whole slabside thing.
But of all the five year lore that has been revealed to the people around him (plus those he met during the five years), I don't think Oliver would have ever spoken about his dad killing and committing suicide in order to let Oliver have the resources on the life raft (and how long was that period, because if there's one thing that drives me nuts it's trying to figure out how long the periods between flashbacks are).
I still cannot believe that this moment isn't discussed more because I think that most of Oliver's attitude can ultimately be traced back to that moment, and I think that it includes his keeping silent in his trauma, because maybe he told Shado and Slade but I don't think he would. They might figure it out based on context clues, maybe he lets it slip that his father was on the boat and made it to the life raft. Maybe he tells them where his father's grave is, so they know he didn't die directly from drowning.
Just like, Oliver's first true trauma is a both a betrayal and loving gesture from his father and I don't think he would ever tell anyone, and I feel like the few of us left that stil think about this show need to do more with this.
🗡 or in this case an arrow used as a dagger by Oliver Queen
Depending on the timeline. Lionel also not be afraid but very very tired. And you KNOW that's a bad combination.
Oliver: If I stab you will you bleed son of a.bitch
Lionel: If you stab me it probably means I'm still fired.
Jor-el joke even in the face of danger. Then again....it's Lionel
Dagger - Oliver Queen
Metropolis never sleeps. It was much like my own city or any major city for that matter. There is always someone awake doing something either legal or not. The latter was more commonly encountered in the dark recesses and hellish cesspits that no sane person would dare venture.
Only criminals lurked in these shadows.
Criminals and myself.
The green archer sat crouched on the ledge of a low-rise building, the sleek and contemporary architecture that was the city’s signature style was a stark contrast against his green and black leathers. Kohl lined blue eyes watched the streets below, the reflection of golden light from the nearby Daily Planet’s globe was almost like a second sun in the night. A beacon of truth and hope that stood out in the dark shadow of its looming neighbor, LuthorCorp.
He raised the tiny binoculars to his eyes and looked out across the plaza he had been watching, waiting for something to happen or someone to step out of the building.
LuthorCorp. One of the leading companies on the tech market these days despite its early history being knee deep in shit. Founded on the sweat, blood and dirt of those who toiled away to bring the company it’s first fortune, its founder, no doubt, making it literal whenever someone decided not to deal with him or deal under the table with a rival.
I know his hands are stained with blood, even if the justice system decided that his were clean of at least his parents’ own blood. Hmph. Justice. There is no such thing these days. Men like Lionel and Lex Luthor have a terrible habit of breaking the law and blaming it on some poor sap who was in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Someone else always took the fall for their misdeeds.
Someone like my parents.
He lowered the binoculars and replaced them back on his utility belt before reaching up to grab the compound bow on his back. He knocked a special arrow, one with a rubbery and flat tip, and waited as a limousine slowly pulled up to the plaza.
Lionel Luthor. His hands are the dirtiest in his family. Murdered his parents to build his fortune on. Stole the fortunes of others and made rivals and competition disappear through a series of hostile takeovers or unfortunate accidents perpetuated by his childhood friend, Morgan Edge. He might as well be a crime boss in his own right, one who stood on the legal side of the law because he had enough money and power to make Justice truly be blind to what he was doing.
All it would take was one good arrow and he would pay for the many crimes he has committed over the decades, but it would not give me the satisfaction and peace I desire. He murdered my parents, the other Lionel Luthor had confessed to it and I took the time to make sure that it was true.
I am not a man who would just react because someone said so. Even Lionel Luthor deserves a chance to prove his innocence, however little of it he has left. So I followed the trail and took the hint the other Luthor had given me and found the truth of what had happened to my parents. The paper trail was thin, but it was there. Morgan Edge had covered his tracks well and that is perhaps why Luthor always fell back to him when he wanted someone gone.
But it was there and it led to LuthorCorp and ultimately to Lionel Luthor himself. The only problem, the only answer I could not find was why? Why did he have my parents killed? What dealing or business did my father have with LuthorCorp that he wasn’t willing to yield to its founder?
He watched as the businessman stepped into the limousine and then waited for the driver to do the same before he let loose the arrow. It sailed through the sky and with a quiet clunk, latched onto the bumper of the vehicle before the shaft fell off, leaving behind the tracking device.
Oliver watched as the car drove out into traffic before turning to the handheld now in his hand. The signal was strong and he began to follow his target, parallel on the rooftops. It didn’t matter if he failed to keep the limousine in sight. He would not lose track of his prey tonight.
I could find no reason as to why Lionel would want my parents dead. There had been no business between LuthorCorp or Queen Industries, nor any possible future business down the road. Our families were also friends and on good terms with each other. Every summer they would come together along with the Teagues and Swanns to enjoy the outdoors and discuss business and astronomy.
I know I am missing something and tonight I intend to find out what that is by directly confronting the only remaining source.
The man himself.
Lionel Luthor.
The tracker led him to another rooftop, this time in front of a luxurious apartment complex. He knew this was where Luthor lived now that the manor in Smallville had been destroyed by a fire.
Ever since the other Luthor had confessed to me what he had done, I had spent weeks hunting this man and the truth behind it all. I know for a fact that it will take him six minutes and twenty-two seconds to depart from his limousine in the underground garage and then ride the elevator up to the penthouse floor at the top. Another half-minute to find his keys and unlock the main door, longer if he has been drinking.
It would be twenty-six minutes and two seconds before he would make his way from the door to his study then to his bedroom and finally retire in the living room where he will enjoy himself a glass of brandy, classical music and either a book or business papers.
It is in the living room where I intend to ambush him. But first I need to get to the roof of the building undetected and before he reaches the penthouse.
He reaches into his quiver and removes another arrow, this one with a much wider head that has claws in a closed position. He connects it to a rope and then knocks the grapple arrow and lets it loose, watching as it soars through the air and lands on the rooftop of the other building. It catches on a safety rail and the coil of rope becomes taut.
Oliver pulls it tighter and attaches his end to a pipe before he takes his bow and uses the motors to zip line up to the roof.
Sneaking into a building has never been a problem for me. It's once inside that things become more difficult. Patrols and security cameras, and whatever other measures of security I would need to be cautious for. But this apartment complex wasn’t LuthorCorp and although I’m sure Luthor had spent a decent amount of money to secure his penthouse, there would always be a weak point in its security.
A weak point that was the sunroof over the private pool.
Cutting into the glass without tripping the seismic sensors would be child’s play. The things couldn’t tell the difference between a pigeon landing to preen and someone maliciously cutting into the glass. It was always a waste of money and something I have tried to tell my own security not to bother in investing. If I can bypass it, so can someone else just as clever.
The Green Arrow stood over the sunroof, looking down into the pool room and at the illuminated waters of the pool itself. It was an Olympic size pool for a man with an Olympian size ego. Kneeling down he takes out a pen-sized tool and begins cutting into the glass with a laser a sizable hole large enough for his hand and arm to reach through. The glass pane falls through but he manages to catch it before it could land in the water below and alert the guard making his round through the area.
I check my watch and see that I have one minute to get this latch unlocked before Luthor steps onto his floor from the elevator. I want to be inside observing him while he goes through his nightly rituals. It will also give me the chance to take care of his security before he realizes that he’s missing them.
The latch is easy to pick and rerouting the security wire was equally problematic. I watch as the security guard makes his way past me before raising the hatch and lowering myself into the room.
The pulley was silent as it lowered him into the pool room and the smaller crossbow made only a quiet twang as it shot out a grapple rope to help pull him over to the edge. The sounds he made had been no louder than the fountain that spilled into the pool from the far end. He sends the rope back up to the roof and silently crouches on the deck.
The guard is unaware of my presence and I wait until he makes his report that all was well in the pool room before I strike. The blow to the back of the head was more than enough to cave in the man’s skull if I had chosen to strike at the pressure point that would have been fatal. He went down like a sack of potatoes and dragged his unconscious body to hide him behind the water fountain.
When the others realized he was missing, they won’t find him right away. But I do not plan on letting any of them realize he’s missing until it was too late for Luthor.
Carefully I make my way to the door and quietly open it to check down the hall. There was no one but if my source was correct, there would be a patrol down this hall in five minutes. By now Luthor will be in the penthouse and beginning his habitual ritual in winding down from a long day in the office. I have less than twenty-six minutes to neutralize his entire security force without alerting them or him of my presence.
I patiently wait for the patrol down the hall and when the man comes, he does not know what had struck him. He will be sleeping with his partner behind the fountain. Moving on, I follow the mental map I have of the penthouse and where each of his security was going to be.
I can hear him when I reach the common area of the penthouse. He’s talking to someone on the phone. I cannot tell who it was but it is a change in his routine that I do not like. I do not know if it will cause him to forego some of his habits or speed them up, or change them entirely.
With a frown, he risks taking a peek through a door to see where Lionel Luthor was and spots him just outside of his study with a cellphone to his ear and a briefcase in hand. He hadn’t gone inside yet, but whoever he was talking to, they had his attention.
It would be so easy to knock and loose an arrow into him right now. He would never know of the threat until it struck him in the heart. But whoever it was that he was talking to, he seemed rather happy in speaking to them. I know he isn't talking to his son. He and Lex have been at odds with each other ever since the man had fallen out of his own office years ago. Clark was the only one who seemed to know the truth of what had happened considering he had saved the man from certain death.
It really didn’t matter to me why or who had tried to kill him. It just meant that I now get the chance to avenge my parents and make this man pay for his crimes. But it concerned me that there was someone he was actually eager to have a pleasant conversation with. I decided to listen for a minute to see if I could figure out who would make this man feel anything other than malicious and ruthless cruelty.
”… glad that you were able to convince the committee members to see things your way,” Luthor gave a quiet chuckle. “No, no. Don’t undersell yourself, my dear. You are a force to reckon with on the Hill and they all are beginning to realize how much of a threat or a boon you can be.”
The Hill? Committee? There was only one person I know that Lionel would be speaking to who had anything to do with politics and my blood boiled at the idea of Luthor getting his filthy hands on her. Martha Kent did not deserve to be corrupted or touched by this man.
This revelation changes everything.
I had heard rumors of Senator Kent and Luthor. Rumors I did not like and I know Clark liked even less. If they were true—and by the sounds of it they were—Luthor was going to be on the phone for a lot longer than I anticipated him to be. All I could do now was continue with my plan and hope he hangs up soon.
I make my way through the rest of the penthouse in search of the last security guard. A young man who should have been giving Luthor his money’s worth by monitoring the cameras that his job description required. Instead he was enjoying a takeout of ramen and watching a football match between Germany and China. Had he done his job, he would have noticed the guards missing at the very least.
Taking him out was easy, so engrossed with the game that he hadn’t heard the door open. Once he was incapacitated and safely tied up against a cabinet, I sat down at the desk and started going through the cameras.
I found Luthor in his study still talking on the phone with the Senator. He had poured himself a drink and sat down at the desk near the fireplace. He was relaxed and I could see that he was enjoying the conversation with Clark’s mother.
What she saw in him to even consider being acquainted with him, I did not know. I once thought maybe she had been using him for political gain or had been a puppet of his to get him back into the political circle after his acquittal. I had quickly learned she wasn’t corrupt and that she was a genuinely honest person. But that had been before she became a U.S. Senator.
Now though? Who knows what the influence of Congress has done to her? Who knows how much control Luthor really had over the woman. It angered me to think about him using her for his own gain. I decided that not only would I avenge my parents, but I would also free Martha Kent of Lionel Luthor’s influence.
I left the security room to make my final preparations. I doubted that the man was going to leave his study any time soon which put a wrench in my plan for him. The confrontation was going to have to be in the study before the guards awoke or someone like Tess showed up.
I can hear him beyond the door, his laughter is loud as he found whatever Senator Kent had said amusing. The hard part would be getting the phone away from him, both to keep him from calling for help and to keep the Senator from hearing what I plan on doing to him. Even though I dislike the idea of them being friends, he was her friend and the Senator is loyal to her friends. She didn’t deserve to hear him suffer and die over the phone.
Entering the study silently was a lot easier than I had anticipated. The man had turned on his sound system and was playing a gentle piano sonata. It wasn’t loud enough to drown out his conversation with the Senator, but it was just enough to hide the click of the door’s lock. The last thing I had seen on the monitor was Luthor’s back to the door, so I had nothing to worry about him seeing the door open on its own.
He was oblivious to the intrusion, so enraptured by the Senator he was. It would be so easy to approach and kill him, but there would be no satisfaction in a quick death. The man didn’t deserve a painless and quick one. My parents certainly hadn’t been given that luxury when their plane went down and crashed into the mountains. It also would not give me the answers I was seeking.
He was the sole person that knew why my parents had to die and he would tell me before I killed him.
Quietly he drew his bow and knocked a normal arrow. The Green Arrow was renowned for his accuracy, one of the reasons why he was often compared to Robin Hood. Besides his tendency to rob the rich and give back to those they had stolen from, he could split his own arrow as easily as breathing.
The arrow flew across the room and Luthor cried out in surprise and in pain as the point struck his phone and pinned it to the mantle of the fireplace in front of him. He scrambled to his feet in surprise and then shock as he realized who had attacked him.
”Mister Queen!” Luthor exclaimed with hands held up in peace, the one that had held the phone bleeding from where the feathers had sliced him. “What is the meaning of this?”
The bastard had the gall to look unafraid by the fact that he was being held at arrow point by a vengeful archer. It was no surprise really that he would keep his dignity in face of danger or being murdered. The man was too proud to do anything less.
”You know why I am here,” the archer growled out and stepped further into the study. His bow followed Luthor as the man tried to move away from the desk.
“Whatever it is you think I may have stolen or done,” Luthor began but he was cut short as the arrow was let loose and struck him in the shoulder. He screamed from the shock and pain, collapsing to a knee as his other hand gripped at the shaft buried deep into his left shoulder. “Oliver…” he gasped and looked up at the archer. “Please, don’t do this.”
”Begging is beneath you, Lionel,” Oliver tells him as he approaches. He was already knocking another arrow and aiming. “But before I am done, you will be begging for death.”
”Oliver…”
”Shut it! I want answers and I want them now,” the young man demanded. “Why did you kill my parents?!”
I should have let loose the arrow and finished him off. The look of surprise and regret that flitted across his face was more than enough confirmation that he had done it. I hadn’t expected the regret though. I had imagined him to be as sinister and conniving as his doppleganger from the other reality. I had expected him to boast about his misdeed and tell me how much of a fool I had been.
I didn’t expect him to be actually remorseful in what he had done.
”Telling you the truth won’t change your mind in killing me,” Luthor acknowledged, a wince of pain as it shot up from his shoulder broke his stoic expression. “The truth won’t be something as simple as a failed hostile takeover or a business deal gone wrong. It would be simpler if it had been just that.”
”I don’t want your lies, Lionel.” He lowered the bow and let the second arrow go. It struck the man in the thigh and he howled in pain while doubling over and onto his side. “I want the truth!”
”That’s what I am trying to tell you!” Lionel shouted angrily, his voice strained from the pain.
There. There is the fear I wanted to see in his eyes. He’s afraid now. He knows I will kill him and I know him well enough that he will try and delay it for as long as possible.
“Talk or the next one is the other leg,” he warned even as he pulled back on the bowstring.
”Robert,” Lionel desperately gets out between pained breaths. “Robert was the target, your mother was just collateral. She wasn’t supposed to be on that flight!” He screamed again as the third arrow became embedded in his other thigh. “Stooop! Please!”
”Why did you want my father dead then!” Oliver snarled as a fourth arrow was knocked. “Answer me or this one goes through your heart!”
I had no intention of ending him right then and there. I would still aim for the area, pretend that I missed but it would get the message across that I will kill him if he doesn’t give me my answers!
”The pendant!” Lionel cried out. “I needed his pendant!”
Pendant? What pendant? My father didn’t… Wait no, he did have a pendant. A golden locket he kept on himself. I had seen it a couple times while he was getting dressed for work. What was so important about some keepsake that Lionel Luthor was willing to kill my father for? I asked him as much.
”It was a key to a lockbox in Zurich.” I could see him struggling to stay conscious. He didn’t have much time before he passed out from blood loss. “It involved the Traveler.”
The Traveler? But that was just some fable our parents talked about sometime when they came together every summer. Surely Luthor didn’t actually believe in that nonsense? Surely he hadn’t killed my parents over a fairytale?
I wanted to let loose the last arrow but to do so now would leave me with more questions than answers.
”The Traveler is just a story!” he snarled. His arm strained with holding the drawstring back.
“The Traveler is Clark!” Lionel flinched from imaginary pain as the arrow was accidently let go and the point embedded itself into the expensive Persian rug next to his head. “I was power hungry back then! I wanted Clark to myself and I was willing to kill for it.”
I believe him. It was so atypical of the man. So desperate was he to find and obtain power and wealth, that he would believe in a story about a spaceman coming to Earth to save us all from the apocalypse. That he would be willing to murder and tear apart whole families just so he could get a taste of the power the spaceman offered.
My parents died because this man was too greedy and didn’t know when enough was enough. I could feel the rage building inside of me. I wanted him to suffer some more before he died. I wanted to tear him limb from limb, stab him over and over again with an arrow so he would know my rage and my pain for what he had done.
I grew up without my parents. I grew up no longer knowing what their love felt like. I had a score of birthdays and Christmas without them. Every important moment in my life was missing their presence. I donned the mask and the bow in memory of them, to avenge their deaths one day and do something good with myself because I thought they would be proud of me for doing so.
They died because Lionel Luthor wanted power.
Something in me snapped. The rage finally released and I could see myself kicking the billionaire repeatedly. I refused to listen to his pleas for me to stop, his begging for mercy. All I could feel was the rage and the desire to make him feel my pain.
I screamed out my rage and he had stopped begging for my mercy. His whimpers of pain only made me ever more angrier. I wanted him to beg, I wanted him to plead for his life. I wanted to hear him scream as he died by my hand. Not this quiet refusal to give in and to take the beating I was giving him.
Something, all of a sudden, stopped me and I found myself sprawled across the room. By the time I gathered my wits enough to look up at what had struck me, my assailant was standing over me.
”Clark,” he breathed his friend’s name in wary surprise. Oliver scowled behind the mask he wore, clearly displeased at being interrupted. He cast his gaze past the superman at the prone Lionel. The man was still alive and groaning in miserable pain, but he dared not move any more than he had to. “Don’t interfere, damnit!”
”Ollie,” the farmboy spoke his name with a sadness he hadn’t been expecting. He can stand there looking righteous and just all he wants. I don’t want his pity. The bastard had to die and I wasn’t going to let this alien get in my way. “This isn’t the way to settle this.”
”He murdered my parents,” the Green Arrow snarled as he slowly started to get up.
“Then let him be tried for it,” Clark tried to reason with his friend.
A trial would never find him guilty. The paper trail I had found was paper thin and if he can get acquitted for his own parents’ murder, then he would find a way out of mine. No. Lionel Luthor had to die now if I was to ever get justice for my parents.
“You know that won’t stick,” he argued while slowly reaching behind him for the special container he kept on his utility belt. “I won’t let him escape justice. Bad enough he’s managed to avoid it for this long.”
”Your parents wouldn't want you to do it this way.”
What did he know what my parents wanted? Even I am not certain they would have condoned this. How could I? I was nine when my parents died. I lived my entire childhood without them. I only remember their love and the faces frozen in time through pictures of them. I did not know my father’s personality or the interests of my mother. Whatever advice they would have had for me came in the form of potential advice from my caretakers as they knew my parents.
”I don’t care,” Oliver popped open the canister he had grabbed and exposed the kryptonian to its contents. Immediately Clark doubled over and started to back away from the Green Arrow. “I want him dead. I want justice.”
”You want revenge,” Clark groaned, moving to try and keep his distance from the meteor rock that was clearly in the canister.
“Revenge, justice,” the archer scoffed with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter in the end. My parents will be avenged one way or another and this way guarantees it.”
”Robert and Laura would not want you to become a murderer,” Lionel weakly spoke, his eyes half-lidded from the pain and exhaustion of the beating.
“Don’t you dare claim you know what my parents would have wanted!” Oliver shouted and dropped the canister to the floor as he swiftly approached Luthor. He grabbed the man by his mane and pulled him up. Lionel cried out and tried his best to support his own body as he was manhandled into a sitting position. “You don’t know them!”
”But I do!” He took a rattling breath before continuing, “We spent years together on the belief that we would herald in the beginning of a new era for mankind with the Traveler. Robert wanted to protect the boy and he was willing to put the full weight of Queen Industries behind that belief. The very boy you are hurting right now.”
Leave it to Lionel to find a way to make me question what I am doing. Damn him for actually knowing my father. If I hadn’t read his journals to figure out why this man would want to murder him, I would not have believed him. There had been entries discussing how his company could help the Traveler find his destiny. My father was as fanatical about believing in the Traveler as Lionel Luthor had been in wanting to control him.
I let him go in disgust and took satisfaction in his quiet whimpers. I wanted to kill him but being forced into conversation with Clark and the target of my rage, had caused my temper to cool to a simmer. I gave him one more swift kick to the ribs before walking back to pick up the canister and spare Clark further pain.
”Thank you,” the farm boy said as he slowly straightened now that he wasn’t being irradiated by his homeworld. “Lionel should face trial for what happened.”
”It wouldn’t give me what I wanted,” Oliver reluctantly yielded. No, a trial would not put him behind bars. The prosecution would not take it to court without anything solid. I should have brought a recorder to get his confession out of him. Maybe then he would receive a conviction that could stick this time.
Clark looked over at the billionaire, “No, but he has the right to face his accusers in the court of law. If we are going to help those in need and bring justice for the wronged, we cannot take things into our hands. We have to trust the system and provide everything that is needed to get the convictions we seek.”
”Truth, justice and the American way?” Oliver pursed his lips at the words. His mother’s words. Words to live by. Words that Clark has taken seriously as Superman. Words that my parents would have agreed with. He turns to reach down for the bow that had been knocked out of his hands and he can see Clark tensing and Lionel grimacing in fear. Let the man tremble in fear of me. I may not get what I wanted tonight, but he’ll live to wonder when I am going to send the law after him.
”Fine, we’ll do it your way, Clark,” he sheathed the bow onto his back and stepped over to the murderer. “As for you, try and skip the country and I’ll finish off what I started. You will have your day in court, but on my terms. When that day comes, Lionel, I will have the evidence I need to put you behind bars for the rest of your miserable life.”
”Noted,” Lionel hoarsely replied and then tried to scramble away from the Green Arrow. Oliver reached down and grabbed the arrows by the shaft and pulled, taking satisfaction in the man’s screams.
”Oliver!” Clark hurried over as the last arrow was removed from his shoulder.
“I want my arrows back.” Oliver glared, daring him to do something about it. He won’t. Clark will be more concerned in getting Lionel to a hospital than to reprimand me for torturing the man some more. I might get an ear full later, but I don’t care. I didn’t get my justice tonight and the Justice League can go fuck it self.
He walked out of the study and didn’t look back when Clark knelt down beside a passed out Luthor. He didn’t wait to see when Superman took the billionaire and flew him off toward Metropolis General. He didn’t wait for the security guards to wake up and realize that their boss was missing and injured.
I will have my justice though. If Clark won’t help me get it, then perhaps Batman will. The man is a better detective than I and I’m sure he could find the evidence I need to get a conviction.
The Black Canary (Dinah Lance) learned about Green Arrow's (Oliver Queen) secret son (Robert) in Green Arrow 37, cover date September 1990. Robert was created by Mike Grell and Rick Hoberg. This especially upset Dinah as she knew she was physically incapable of baring any children for Oliver. Shado, Robert's mother, assured her that Oliver didn't know of the child and that he was conceived when she raped Oliver while he was delirious with fever. Dinah convinced Shado to search for Oliver while she acted as a Decoy to throw off the searching F.B.I. ("The Black Arrow Saga Part Three: Quarry" Green Arrow 37, DC Comic Event)
