The Starling Saviour

Chapter 68

'What, he was just gone?' Felicity questioned us in surprise once we returned to the Arrowcave.

'No, not gone,' Oliver corrected her. 'Taken.'

'Looks like Nickel was on somebody else's list too,' Diggle assumed correctly.

'Well, after the fire last night, it's not entirely surprising,' Oliver said obviously. 'Felicity, I need you to get me everything you can on Nickel; focus on his tenants, anyone who might have filed a formal complaint against him or, people that lost something in the fire.'

'Well, it's gonna be some list,' Felicity complained as she stood by the computer desk. 'I mean, slumlords aren't generally known for their popularity, plus...'

'What?' Oliver demanded as she halted mid-sentence.

'Nothing, it's just, you went over there to be all 'grr, stop being bad or I'll arrow you' and, now you want to rescue him,' Felicity was thrown by Oliver's change of heart.

'I don't like the idea that somebody dangerous is out there,' Oliver explained, getting a look off Felicity at his hypocrisy. 'Somebody else. Because typically, they don't show my level of restraint.'

'So you're gonna cross Nickel off anyway?' Diggle piped up, wondering what Oliver's plan was.

'No, I'm finding somebody else who needs a talking to,' Oliver told him, before looking at me dutifully. 'We're finding somebody else.'

'Wait, wait, you're going out there again, Oliver, Aria?' Diggle questioned us in his serious concerned voice. 'Why don't you go home and be with your family, man? And Aria, you have a club to run, remember? I'll bet Tommy needs some help.'

'That's when the work is done, Diggle,' Oliver claimed, flicking through the List book while he talked.

'Okay, then, I'll take you out to dinner,' Diggle offered to Oliver.

'I'm not hungry,' Oliver protested.

'I'm not asking,' Diggle took the book off Oliver and stared at him until he gave in, then turning to me. 'Aria, you coming too?'

'I would, but as you said, I've got a club to manage,' I responded, remembering that I had another job to do after being a vigilante. 'That's if Tommy lets me.'

'Talk to him,' Oliver advised with a smile. 'He might be ready to now that he's had time to think about everything.'

And so I did just as I said, retiring upstairs once I had changed to my normal clothes and left Felicity to compile the list that Oliver had asked her for. Tommy was behind the bar, like he always was, preferring to serve the customers over anything else.

'I didn't think I'd be seeing you tonight,' he commented as I joined him, trying to appear as approachable as I could.

'Well, I'm here now,' I smiled, sounding as positive and open as possible.

'Sorry,' Tommy turned down his defensiveness at once, his face ridden with guilt.

'It's okay,' I showed him understanding at his behaviour. 'I don't think it would be that easy to be in your position, to find out that your two best friends have kept a huge secret from you for a pretty long time. And, if you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me, because I'm the person who left you to go on the Queen's Gambit, who kept secrets from you much longer than Oliver, and who then expected you to be okay with all of this.'