Trust

Chapter 13

Me and Oliver are currently chasing after a man. "Oh my, God!" he yells. He continues to run. We end up cornering him. "No, no, no, no, no!" Oliver aims a arrow with a rope attatched to it at him. He fires at the man and the rope wraps around his leg before attatching to a ledge. He looks at us while hanging upside down. He groans. "Oh, come on, man!" I'm just trying to make an honest living!"

"You call selling drugs an honest living?" I ask.

"Who supplies you with Vertigo? Tell me now and you live." Oliver orders.

"Please! They'll kill me!"

"I'd worry about us more." I snap. 

"Okay, okay! We call him The Count, that's all I know. I swear to God!" Knowing that's all he needs we walk away. "Hey! Get me down from here!"

Diggle looks over at me and Oliver when we walk in. "Find what you're looking for?"

"Took down three Vertigo pushers tonight, Diggle. Last one finally knew a name. The Count." Oliver says.

"The Count? That's worse than The Hood. You're not going back out there."

"I'm not done for the night. Whoever this Count is, he has a lot of blood on his hands, and it is long past time he started paying."

"Well, slow down, I think you're missing the point here."

"What?"

"Thea. Her hearing's in a few hours. You think she cares more about some drug lord getting his just desserts, or you being by her side when she needs you the most?"

I sit in the courtroom. Thea turns to look at me. I give her a reassuring smile. She weakly smiles and turns back around. "Docket ending 1-10-5-6, People vs. Thea Dearden Queen."

"Possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Counselors, I understand you've reached a plea agreement." The judge says.

"We have, Your Honor. Given that my client is a juvenile, the people have generously agreed to probation."

"Juvenile? Says right here she's 18."

''She is 18 now, Your Honor, but at the time of arrest, she was still two days shy of her 18th birthday. Ms. Queen has no priors.''

"Well, just because Ms. Queen's family sweeps her priors under the rug, doesn't mean they don't exist. You get your client off, and you help your boss avoid dealing with the drug that's sweeping across our city like the plague. Everyone wins, except us, the people of Starling City."

"Your Honor, with all due respect--"

"Ms. Queen, like it or not, you are now the poster child for this menace. Maybe if people see that the Queen family can't get away with using Vertigo, they'll think twice before using it themselves. The plea arrangement is denied." The judge bangs the gavel. "This case will proceed to trial." My eyes widen and my jaw drops slightly.

Lian Yu
"I need to see just how good you are at fighting." I nod. He takes out a machete and tosses me another one. "You ready?" I nod.

Starling City
Me, Diggle, and Oliver stand outside. Oliver got a meeting with the count. We also had some Bratva contacts with us. "You should not be in such a hurry to meet this man." one of the contacts says.

"Thank you for this. But I'm not overly concerned about the SCPD." Oliver says. The count arrives and gets out of his car.

"Now, I understand you gentlemen," he looks at me "and lady wish to participate in the feel good business."

"Yes."

"And why is that?"

"Well, I am opening a nightclub, and I'd like my customers to have a little... something extra."

"Well, as it happens, I'm looking to expand my brand. A good wine's value is measured by its vintage. The number of years it took to ferment. Vertigo is measured in lives. 56 people died to perfect this high. Believe me when I say that they did not die for nothing." We hear ires squealing and sirens.

"The cops! We've been set up! Let's get out! Go! Go!" one guy tells.

"SCPD! Put your weapons down! Down!"

Me, Diggle, and Oliver try to run.

"Oliver! Hey!" Dig yells. The Count's men start to Get in the car.

"Get out of the car!" The SCPD yells.

"Keep it. Yeah, we got to go. Steps. Let's go." Dig says as me and Oliver make out way to the car. The count comes over and injects Oliver with a half a dose of Vertigo.

"Drink." he says before getting in his car and leaving. Oliver screams and me and Diggle get him in the car and leave.

Me and Oliver sit by Oliver when he starts to gasp. I snap my head to look at him. "How you feeling?" Dig asks.

"I feel like I'm getting the worst hangover of my life." "That's really saying something coming from you." I say.

"You think you can uncuff me? Not going to kill you. Promise." Oliver says. Diggle uncuffs him and Oliver stands up.

"Ahh. You're standing. That's pretty impressive. The Count only got you with half a dose, but you still sweated out a small swimming pool coming down." Oliver sighs.

"The Count. Any chance our friends in SCPD took him down?" I shake my head.

"None at all, but we did manage to get this. Think we should analyze it." Oliver Sighs again. "Listen, Oliver, maybe you need to give it a few hours. A near drug overdose isn't something you just walk away from." I nod in agreement. "Neither is Thea." Oliver looks at us panicked.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay with Thea?"

"This isn't about your sister, this is about you." Diggle says.

Later, after Oliver talks to Detective Lance he walks over to me and Diggle. "I'm so sorry for what I said." Dig says.

"I know, I know."

"Now what?"

"Like you said, we analyze the Vertigo. It's in liquid form, which means it contains water. So maybe we can trace back to where in the city The Count is... cooking up this garbage."