Post by Green Arrow on Aug 15, 2012 13:07:42 GMT -5
| [atrb=valign, top] In his more recent excursions out into the city, Ollie had reached the conclusion that he might not have the most up-to-date equipment that one could own. Not in every scenario, at the least, as his last arrow’s lack of prowess had shown him. Between he and a few thugs, lower class thieves, he nearly caught a bullet straight in the chest due to the fact that his nonlethal ‘taser’ arrow hadn’t performed to its highest caliber; something that he needed to speak to Jax about in the very near future. Until then, however, Queen knew the best tactic: seek out the best in that suggested field (high end technologies, he meant) that he knew and utilize their knowledge to create something more.. successful in his patrolling. That meant, unfortunately, that he had to rock the boat with his ‘superior’ once more, as the private jet was used to take a ‘business trip’ into San Francisco where he would meet with someone that led the pack in ultra electronics. “I’ll need you to pass a note along on your next visit to daddy’s house,” he spoke delicately into the Q-Phone propped up in his lap. Ollie took to the lap of luxury--he couldn’t lie about that, stretched out in Queen Industries’ private plane--but, that hardly meant that even this had anything at all to do with pleasure. “That is, if he calls.” Adrien put up with a lot, and Ollie knew it, but it was her fault. She stuck it out with the lower lot, even though she knew that Emerson couldn’t stand the stench of being born into wealth. Something that, sadly, Ollie wore with pride. He got it from his parents, however little they bequeathed to him throughout the years; namely whatever he lushly spent in hedonistic excess. “Don’t worry about what might happen to you. I’m what he’s after, not you.” That’s it, Ollie. Tie the noose tighter. You can still breathe, after all. It wasn’t fair to her, not to be thrown to the wolves like that. She fit in better up there, and Emerson actually listened to her. He spent more time burning holes through Ollie’s soul than to listen to him. “I can’t protect you forever, Ollie,” she stated firmly. He assumed it was meant to be firm, at least. So much context was lost over the phone; another fault of technology that impaired much conversation. “And I’m not going to. You have to take charge one day.” OK, so she definitely had went for firm. Stern, at the very least. “You’re right. I’ll take my spanking once I’m back in Seattle. For now, I have business to attend to.” His thumb hovered over the screen, prepared to swipe across it to end the call. “I’ll call once the meeting’s over.” She wouldn’t like that. He had to cut it off then and there, however. He had pressing matters to attend to. “Ollie--” On that note, he put an end to the conversation and switched over to his private, more secure line. “Naomi, I’ll be back in town soon. You remember that superhuman community that the toxic Romeo and Juliet kept talking about? Well, I remembered one contact that’s leading the research into adapting certain sonic and electromagnetic pulse technology. With luck, I might have a new edge soon. “I’m going white noise for a while. Gonna’ catch some sleep until I’ve touched down.” Truth be told, sleep hadn’t been in his main itinerary. He needed some alone time and, the more that he thought about it, Ollie realized that ‘alone time’ hadn’t been something that he got more often than not. It was pressing to throw everything into protecting not only one city, but the entire world, and he did his very best to make that attempt each and every night. Every hour, of every waking day, Oliver Queen and Green Arrow split their shift, rarely allowing for any time between the unorthodox duality that presented itself for a mere human. The more that he really thought about it, he was certain that Superman hardly had a reason to contend as someone like a reporter, or a chef, or some ridiculous alter ego. He probably flew out for a few photo ops, saved the entire Earth, and went home to rest. If he even needed sleep. Oliver Queen required more than that, however: rest, business meetings, time to speak to his tech people and keep up to date on the latest in the actual villain community. Villains that, in contention for blood, famine, popularity, attempted to destroy everything that the normal population ever knew and loved. King Leer had made top billing recently--psychotic, bloodthirsty, triplets that nearly put several bullets (and arrows) into him--destroying almost everything that Ollie had ever knew. He even foolishly fell in love for a fleeting moment, and got his heart mercilessly chopped in half. That, unfortunately, could only be his luck. Ever since his return from aforementioned ‘jaunt’ to the North, things have radically changed. His heart had been broken. He... Well, he had been declared legally deceased by Harold Emerson. Despite that, he stepped back into his role as Q-Core’s chief executive officer, trying his best to contend alongside the constant mud being slung in his direction by Hal, to try and overthrow his place as previously mentioned executive to his father’s tech division. Could he beat this? Could Oliver Queen overcome such adversity? It shouldn’t have been an issue, though that hadn’t taken priority to him. Upon his return, he had been enlightened to the fact that Green Arrow was replaced, Oliver Queen was dead, and his only two confidants had sought to resign. Great, all in all. Naomi had stayed on for the time being, but that time bomb could go off again at any time, he knew. Ollie couldn’t let everything about the situation weigh him down either, he also knew. Life wasn’t always simple, even for a billionaire, even for someone that declared themselves a ‘superhero’. For now, he had to focus on the task at hand, and that involved him seeking out the newest, the latest and greatest, to put him on even grounds with the rest of the hero community. San Francisco housed some of the greatest technologically sound minds on the planet, and S.T.A.R. Labs was his current destination for that. A Doctor Stone, according to many papers that he submitted, currently researched many advancements for the ‘better of mankind’; something that Oliver hoped he could persuade the man into sharing for the betterment of protecting mankind. Little could he have known how difficult that would be. The flight wasn’t long enough for him to actually capture any sleep in the midst of the constant pace that his mind raced through, and the moment that he got it to slow down, they had unfortunately touched down. Doctor Stone would be expecting him in the next hour, which meant that he had absolutely no time to rush off the plane and straight into Californian traffic; his parents often spoke of it, from their brief tenure in Star City. The traffic, they talked about, had been nightmarish enough to move an entire company up one state. A commitment that impressed him even to this day. “Mr. Queen--” Before the pilot could start, Ollie had already put a stop to that. “I’m not Emerson. Call me ‘Ollie’; it’s better to be informal, since I’m sure the two of us are going to see each other enough.” Uneasily, the pilot flashed his employer a smile and nodded once in understanding. “Sure thing, M-- um, Ollie. We’ve landed, and your limo’s outside. It’s been gassed, and it’s ready to go.” Oliver rose to his feet, offered his hand, and quietly made his way out of the tinny hatch to reach the pavement. It wasn’t completely as immediate as they had stated, but the stench of car pollution hit his nose almost the moment that he entered the city limits. How could anyone live like this? “OK, I need to be at S.T.A.R. Labs in...” Ollie paused to look at his watch, “fourty-five minutes. Can you do that?” The limo driver--it was evident that he had lived his time, and a few others, at nearly fifty years old--nodded his head once, offered a solemn ‘sure thing’, and opened the rear door for Ollie to sit in. “Thanks, uh...” He glanced at the man’s name tag. “Ralph?” Didn’t know that anybody had a name like that anymore. Despite the thought, Queen flashed a smile and patted the man on the shoulder. “I believe in you, Ralph.” Too bad Ollie missed the old man rolling his eyes. The drive lasted longer than Oliver expected it to. Often, his parents had complained about the extenuating amount of parked cars in the state, but he hadn’t planned on them being parked in the middle of the streets. The highway itself was backed up until Kingdom Come, and the most that he could see was a fading skyline off in the distance. He lifted a finger to press against the intercom and raised up to mutter into it, entirely deadpan, “... It’s always like this, isn’t it?” An answer didn’t come readily, but that could have meant the old man passed on in the middle of their travels. Which also may have explained the reason they hadn’t moved in close to twenty minutes. “Going to be late,” he mumbled to himself, drumming his fingers across the fine leather interior. Not that the chauffeur knew, or cared, the reason that Ollie fretted over being late. To him, this was a large paycheck that he already landed in the bank, and now it was only a matter of smuggling the man to the place that he needed to be. “Is there’s a chance that you know some back roads? Can this thing go off-road, maybe?” He doubted it--in fact, he knew it couldn’t--though, it never hurt to make the attempt. “Yeah. Have no clue why I even asked.” He closed his eyes and took the opportunity to finally have that sleep he needed. With no idea how long he actually slept, Ollie managed to stir himself awake at Ralph’s behest. More accurately, at the man’s incessant shoving on his arm to move out of the limo now that he had got him there. “C’mon...” He made several attempts to blink out the sleep from his eyes, swatting at the calloused, veined hand that pushed on his upper arm. “OK. OK.” Grumbling to himself, the billionaire stepped out of the vehicle and made it to his feet, looking around the immediate vicinity. “I’m up, I think. So, this is it?” It was impressive, if so. A massive building that stood several stories high, its outer frame was constructed of a bronzed alloy that featured its entire face lined with solar panels. Due to this, the facility was entirely powered by supposed clean energy, though its inner workings (according to other certain tabloids) housed more sinister dealings. Ollie let out a low whistle as he strode inside, sliding his hands within his pockets. “Not bad. I’ll have to talk to them about their solar energy campaign.” Even though it was a supposed testing facility, its security was no more thorough than a common airport. Two hulking guards stopped him near a metal detector, frisking him before pushing him through. “I’d appreciate dinner first. Thanks, though.” The bigger of the two pointed him toward the front desk where an attractive secretary sat, filing her recently manicured nails. He approached, with caution, and lifted a brow. “Ahem.” He actually received more attention from super villains than this lady. “I’m Oliver Queen. I have an appointment to meet Silas Stone.” | [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=valign, top][atrb=style, width:550px, bTable] |
