Thread: Good Intentions { insufferable & Enigma_x }

Oliver Queen woke the next day with a pounding headache and an annoying stab of pain in his left arm right where he struck the first gangster he encountered the night before. He should have known that bare knuckle fights tend to result in more negative outcomes, but the adrenaline must have momentarily diverted his attention from the pain come the fights aftermath. However, it was now completely bruised and swollen, and the accompanying headaches were not doing him any favors. He hopped out of bed, feeling slightly irritated by his current state. He should have seen the damage done and remedied his previous state with a few packs of ice and proper bandaging sleeping only made his situation worst. He shed his clothing and stepped into the bathroom, standing underneath a scalding hot shower as he tried to flush the many conflicting thoughts out of his mind. He wasnt always the vigilante of Starling, but a recent development of sorts, stemming from his many years of isolation on that damned island of his. Five years alone on a deserted island in order to survive, he had to be broken down completely and built anew. The old Oliver Queen was no more, and he returned a changed man, vastly different than the simple playboy he once was. He had tried to be immaculate in his planning, with every possible contingency accounted for. But yet there were times when everything else just felt overwhelming his anger, his wrath, it suffocated him and he was drowning in pools of incessant black, where he could see neither start nor end. The journey he initially started, to rid Starling of its crime and corruption, seemed to have lost all its meaning, and was now nothing more than a personal vendetta a crazed man seeking vengeance. There was a thin line between justice and revenge, and he knew he was already stepping beyond the lines that separated the two. Years before, he would have been terrified at the thought of taking anothers life. Yet after all the lives that passed him by the dozens of murderers, drug dealers and gang members that he had encountered and executed, it became somewhat desensitizing, and he now felt nothing more between further torturing a criminal for information, and ultimately snapping their necks. He knew something inside him was broken, but he could live with that. He exited the shower, drying himself with a towel while studying himself in front of the mirror. Dozens of scars and injuries crisscrossed his powerful frame, some fading, others newer than most. He picked up a razor and started to groom himself a little his mother wanted him back in the company, and even though he was never in the office on time, he had to at least play and look the part of a returning son. Least someone else took another and closer look into his late night activities. A few short minutes later, he was dressed in an expensively tailored suit and on his way down to Queen Consolidated, arriving only after the city was graced by evenings touch. He wore a glove on his left hand, shielding his visible injury from any curious bystanders. It was drizzling lightly when he arrived at the office, and dozens of umbrellas paused as his vehicle drove up to the buildings entrance. Tessa greeted him in the buildings lobby one of the other secretaries his mother had hired, and the same person he pressed up against the windows on the eighty-ninth floor conference room just two weeks back. She was without a doubt, fun, but like most of the other females he encountered since his return from the island, she was just as empty and substance-less. To him, they were nothing more than physical distractions and reliable alibis there were no emotional connections whatsoever. She greeted him with a wink, and he returned one in similar fashion. However, before she could follow him into the elevator, her phone started to ring and she looked at him apologetically before heading off in the opposite direction. Alone, he was about to make his way up to his office when a hand slipped between the elevator doors and preventing it from shutting. He looked up and in stepped Moira Queen, CEO of Queen Consolidated, and his mother. They remained quiet as the elevator shot upwards, but he knew it was more than a simple coincidence. She must have seen him coming in and caught him in-between. Their relationship hadnt been the same since his return to Starling it felt thinly strained, even more so due to her obsession of keeping up their happy faade in public. The elevator dinged at his floor and the two stepped out together. Oliver, she put an arm on his previously injured shoulder - a knife wound not yet completely healed. Moira, he turned towards her impassively, his features unbetraying the pain that tore through his arm. I know youve not been in the office much, but I got you a secretary, she started to say before he interrupted her. Why? Really, Oliver? she sighed, look at your schedules, look at the time. Youre two weeks behind finishing the Wells Merger and youre only arriving at the office an hour before nine?! Before he could say anything else, she pushed open the doors to his office and pointed towards the young woman who stood suddenly at their arrival. This is your new secretary, Talia Hawthorne. He took a simple look at her, then turned back to his mother, completely ignoring the younger womans existence. I dont need a secretary, Moira. My decision is final, son , she said to him sternly, now, I have a dinner engagement, so Ill expect you to show her what is expected of her. He started to voice his complaints, but she cut him off immediately with a wave of her hand, before exiting the room in typical Moira fashion, leaving the two of them silently behind. He sighed, before crossing over the secretarys desk and entering his office, throwing his briefcase onto the table and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. As he finished his drink, he noticed that she had followed him in, and was now quietly waiting for him by the side. He turned towards her, taking a closer look for the first time his eyes caught her gaze and held it intently, his head tilting as he took a step towards her. She wasnt as pretty as some of the supermodels he had dated, but there was something almost appealing, and vaguely familiar about her. But then again, he expected nothing from her she was just another Tessa, placed here by his mother. He took another step, and he was suddenly standing before her, towering above her in close proximity. Miss Hawthorne, he said softly, his voice a seductive whisper. Do tell me the things you can do... for me.