Chapter 59: Corruption
"–ver"
"–liver"
"Oliver!"
"Huh?" Oliver Queen was snapped out of his trance by the loud voice of Flash.
"You alright, man?" The speedster asked, curious about his fellow Justice League member's lack of focus.
"Y-Yeah," Oliver said, shaking his head off of the thoughts that were plaguing him, "What were you saying?"
Flash looked at his friend, aware that the man had something going on with him.
"It's about our new patrolling route," He said as he mused about Oliver's condition.
Batman had noticed this even before the speedster and it was the dark knight himself who asked him to keep an eye on Oliver.
'Make sure that he doesn't do something that he will end up regretting.'
This was what the Bat told Flash.
Sadly the Speedster wasn't sure what his leader meant.
"Oh," Oliver said as he slowly got attuned to the surroundings. "Where exactly are we supposed to be?"
Oliver already had a place to protect and that was his home city.
But Batman had different plans.
"Batman said that we should get adjusted to the turfs of others just as well as our own," Flash placed his hands over his head as the two heroes walked to their quarters.
Whenever a meeting was held at the space station, the heroes without an innate ability to teleport or reach earth without the aid of machines preferred to rest at the space station for a while.
And Green Arrow was one of those heroes.
"Who is going to look after Star City?" Arrow asked, uneasy about leaving his city to some other hero.
"It should be Hawkgirl–"
"No."
Oliver immediately expressed his displeasure at the mention of Hawkgirl.
"She might be experienced at dealing with space thugs and evils beings of her planet, but Star City is different," Arrow frowned, "Star City had suffered a lot and I do not want the people to go through another tragedy because of some space chick."
Flash sighed, "Look man, I know what you mean. I feel the same about leaving Central City to someone else but Batman isn't wrong."
Batman wasn't wrong.
Oliver knew that just as well as Flash.
Batman was rarely wrong.
While Oliver never expressed it, he respected Batman. But there were times where he felt the Dark Knight was the cause for a lot of trouble.
Trouble that affected everyone –including Oliver.
Flash did not see Oliver clenching his left fist with a force that nearly tore the glove that he wore.
All because of a certain memory.
A certain sour memory.
'It was Batman that underestimated that person… Jasper Hughes.'
"How troublesome that I have to go to another city and look after it for almost a month," Flash sighed but the archer didn't pay any attention.
Oliver had a very different thought plaguing him.
'It was Batman who made me make a fool out of myself. And it was that damned villain that ruined my reputation.'
But no.
Oliver wasn't going to let a villain ruin his reputation.
'No… I have faced the League of Assassins and survived. I have defeated Merlyn and I have even faced off against villains like Bizarro.' He assured himself, 'I will not let a new villain embarrass me in such a way.'
"Anyways," Flash said, "I'll rest in my room and you should too. We have been training for a long time and without rest our bodies won't be able to keep up with such stress."
Arrow nodded, but he was in no mood to sleep.
"Alright," Oliver gave Flash a smile of assurance, "I will rest as well."
"I'll see you after six hours then," Flash said before making gis way towards his room.
Oliver gave a chuckle as he moved towards his room as well.
Each hero had a room assigned to them and needless to say, those were some of the most luxurious rooms that anyone could ask for.
Unfortunately, Oliver was not interested in the rooms. As while he might have suffered a lot in the past, he was still someone with money that was able to indulge in luxury before and to a certain extent even after him going 'missing' for a while.
Closing the door, he leaned on to it.
The moment he was alone, his face morphed into a look of pain, disgust and fury.
He gritted his teeth and stomped on the ground, trying to find a way to vent his anger.
"All because of that damned man!"
He yelled, his voice echoing within the walls of his room.
"All because of him… I am in this situation!"
Yelling that, he slowly removed the glove that he had over his right hand –revealing a hand that was oozing pus– a hand that was rotting.
"Damn him…"
After his fight against Jasper, Oliver learnt that the injuries that he sustained in the fight had harmed him in ways that he didn't expect.
His wound became infected and no matter what he did, no matter which doctor he went to –they were unable to do anything.
They gave him a lot of medicine, went with different sort of surgeries but his hand had only been getting worse.
He thought of going to the other heroes for help, but there were very few that could help him with it.
And even then he did not go to them.
Why?
Because his injury was proof of his failure and he did not want to beg before he took care of Jasper Hughes with his own hands.
"I will destroy you… Jasper Hughes…" He swore, "I will destroy everything that you stand for."
He was drifting into a territory, a way of thinking which was anything but noble.
And a mindset that was the farthest thing from being a hero.
But he didn't care.
If he could destroy Jasper, he would be happy
"I will make you pay."
And he wasn't going to be alone in that mission.
``What if… I give you a 'gift' that would help you deal with the man?``
Because the voice that resonated around him had similar plans.
…
…
[[NYC]]
Standing at the terrace of one of NYC's most expensive restaurants, I enjoyed the cold breeze.
At this altitude, there wasn't any foul air that blew and only the fresh and comforting wind.
"Thank you."
I heard an unexpected expression of gratitude.
"I didn't even realize how much I needed this."
It was often that people didn't realize that they had been overworking till they got a break and could let out all the stress.
Or…
No.
I should not think about tragic things at a time like this. After all, we were here to relax.
"Jasper," she called out my name as she leaned on the balustrade –enjoying the view from up above, "Thank you for keeping your promise."
"Promise, huh?"
I walked closer, standing just a few inches away from the leaning Zatanna.
"It's too early for that," I reminded her, "We still have to find people to work at your circus."
"That we do," She smiled, a weird form of relief spread across her face, "That we do."
And with a confidence that surprised even me, she let go of the balustrade –falling straight over my chest.
"That was dangerous," I said without moving.
She smirked, "You were going to let me fall?"
"Of course not." I answered immediately.
"Then it's alright," She said before closing her eyes, "But just for a moment… Let us stay like this."
And that we did.
For way longer than just a moment
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