Arrow: the Two Archers

Chapter 3: the First Hunt

"You're sure you don't know them?"

Lydia shook her head. Laurel's father, Detective Quentin Lance, a middle aged man who seemed to perpetually have a frown on his face, had been called to question Lydia and Laurel about their kidnapping attempt. Lydia could tell he wasn't a man who smiled much, and she couldn't imagine him being very forgiving to any kind of lawbreaker. But so far he had been polite enough, if a little rough around the edges.

"No. They were wearing masks, we couldn't make anything out."

"Okay." Detective Lance said, turning towards his daughter.
"Is there any case you've been working on that pissed someone off?"

"Actually, I think they were after me." Lydia spoke up.
"They kept asking me about Robert Queen, about whether he made it to the island."

"I see. Any idea why?"

"No. I never met Mr. Queen, and I have no idea what these men wanted to know."

Detective Lance frowned, but he seemed to believe her.

"Well, we've got the guys in custody. Hopefully we'll get more out of these guys than the ones that snatched up Merlyn and Queen."

Both women's gazes darted to him in surprise.

"Oliver and Tommy got kidnapped too?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah. They said a guy in a green hood came in and killed the men that took them. ." the Detective said.
"Anyway, I'll get out of your hair. You think of something else, you let me know. And, uh, it was nice meeting you, Miss Rooke."

Lydia gave the Detective a small smile as he was escorted out of the apartment by his daughter. Oliver hadn't talked about him very often while on the island, but when he did it had always been some variant of a joke regarding his disapproval of Oliver and Laurel's relationship. Meeting him now... Lydia could see undertones of the man Oliver described, but she could also see something more. Quentin Lance was harsh, rough around the edges, but he was also a man fiercely dedicated to his job and family. In that aspect, he wasn't much different from her own father.

"So, are you gonna tell me where you learned that chokehold?" Laurel asked once she came back into the living room.

Lydia smirked.

"Sure, right after you tell me where you learned to fight like that."

"Cop dad. He made me take self-defense classes. That and... well, I had a lot of anger to work through these last five years. Getting into martial arts helped." Laurel explained, her smile faltering slightly.
"What about you?"

"Grew up in the Glades, remember? You learn how to defend yourself at a young age."

It wasn't the truth. It was not even remotely close to the truth. But Lydia didn't feel like this was a good time to reveal that she and Oliver had in fact not been alone on that island. And it would certainly raise a lot of questions if she tried to explain that she had learned that move from a now dead Australian secret service operative. Questions she was not ready to answer.

Luckily, Laurel decided not to press the matter any further and Lydia had no interest in digging further. Besides, the kidnapping already had her mind occupied enough. While she and Laurel had gotten away unscathed, it was worrying that someone had been interested in what she and Oliver might know. Enough to hurt innocents. That, combined with Oliver's testimony announcing the arrival of the archer in green, meant they were now officially on the clock. And Lydia, for the second time that day, found herself feeling slightly annoyed by Oliver Queen.

*

Lydia still wasn't quite sure what Oliver was planning when she found out that the location of what would become their base of operations was an abandoned Queen Consolidated steel foundry. She supposed it being in the Glades might help them reach their targets faster and would be easier to operate out of than the Queen Mansion. However, she wasn't quite sure why he decided to pick a place that was associated, even if only vaguely, with the Queen name. She supposed she would have to wait and see.