Tip of the Arrow (1/2)

Another mundane day as a corporate drone. Entering data in Excel spreadsheets and replying to asinine emails. That’s the life of the standard employee of Queen Industries. One of Star City’s premier companies. An organization that predates the flashy tech companies of nearby Silicon Valley yet struggles to maintain its place in the cutting-edge tech markets. However, that is only a small problem since, like any good corporation, Queen Industries has a diverse market footprint. Shipping, hardware, IT services, foodstuff, and in the past some defense contracts. All under the watchful of playboy CEO Oliver Queen, who inherited the business from his father. But unlike his father, Oliver has a bleeding heart and a predisposition for helping the common man.

Jonah had just entered some recent data from an email when he heard a commotion from the other side of the open floor plan office. Walking down the rows of cubicles was none other than the CEO himself: Oliver Queen. Jonah stood up from his desk so that he might get a glimpse of the big boss. He wasn’t too fond of billionaires in general, but it paid to make a good first impression.

The man seemed humble enough, he spent time shaking hands and swapping a few words with his low-level employees. From between his ostentatious blond goatee-mustache, a glittering smile emerged which made his every word sound like an inside joke shared between just the two of you.

After not too long it was Jonah’s turn to meet with the boss. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to start the interaction, so he just stood and smiled and waited for the man in the expensive tailored suit to saunter to him.

“Good morning, Sir.” Jonah said, as the man approached.

“Please, I’m not the one who signs your checks. You don’t have to call me sir.” Queen chuckled.

“But your name is on the building.”

“Yes, I suppose you are right about that.” Queen scratched his goatee with a smile “So, tell me, how long have you worked with us?”

“Almost three months.” Jonah answered.

“Three months aye? And do you like it here?”

“Very much, far better than my last job.”

“Here’s hoping.” Queen rapped a nearby desk with his knuckles “What’s your name son.”

“Jonah.”

“A nice name, I’ll try to remember it.” Queen stuck his hand out to shake Jonah’s.

As the two hands clasped together in polite union the unmistakable sound of the Justice League alert comes from both of their phones simultaneously. Oliver Queen’s expression shifted and he gave Jonah a studied look.

“Quite a ringtone you got there.” he said, accusatorially.

“Must have come with the phone.” Jonah gave an awkward chuckle.

“You got a part-time gig son? Don’t worry it's not breaching your contract or anything.”

It was Jonah’s turn to study his conversation partner. There was a hidden meaning behind his statement. Was he also a member of the Justice League? Was that why they got the simultaneous alert? Wait a second! The goatee! He should have seen it earlier. Jonah felt silly now, of course Star City’s richest man was also its greatest hero: Green Arrow. Who else would have such ridiculous facial hair?

“You got me. I volunteer in my free time. Crime prevention.”

“Of course.” Queen nodded “How long left in your shift?”

Jonah looked at his watch “About an hour.”

Queen read the alert on his phone “How about you finish for the day? On me.”

“Yes si- I mean, thank you, Mr. Queen.”

“Ah, Green Arrow, I wondered when our paths would cross.” Jonah called to the Robin Hood-inspired hero as he entered the Star City boom tube center.

The Star City boom tube center was not an ostentatious thing. It was a room hidden at the end of an alleyway. It housed enough space for the boom tube machine itself and a sizable storage area which also could act as a bomb shelter. There were plenty of archery-related supplies around so Jonah guessed that Green Arrow had relied on his monopoly of Star City herohood to transform the space into his own.

“Porter, wasn’t it? I’ve seen you on the news since our last meeting. Glad to see another hero protecting this great city.” Green Arrow replied.

“You get the alert too?” Jonah referred to his phone.

“Yeah, looks like we will be on a mission together.”

“Looks like it.” Jonah gave a conspiratorial smile “Very inconvenient timing, I was just at work.”

“Oh? You work around here?”

“I can work anywhere but I wouldn’t tell you. It’s a secret.”

“Of course.” Green Arrow chuckled “Shall we proceed?”

“I think we shall.” Jonah replied, activating the boom tube “Oh, and nice goatee by the way. Very unique.”

Instead of the usual process of having a mission briefing in the Watchtower operations center, Jonah and Green Arrow were led to a hidden room deep within the featureless labyrinth that ringed the large satellite. Within the room waited Black Canary who was sitting on a plain metal table with her legs crossed. She gracefully kicked her legs off the table and approached the two men.

“Welcome boys, I see you’ve already gotten acquainted with each other.”

“In a sense.” Green Arrow said “What’s going on pretty bird? Why call us out here.”

“Porters the one I’ve told you about. You know the one I’ve been training.” Black Canary explained with a tone which hinted at a double meaning “So I thought that he would be a good fit on a mission I’ve been assigned. So that you can see what he’s made of. If he’s League material.”

Jonah tried to read between the lines but he couldn’t figure out where literalism blended with hidden messages for him or Green Arrow.

“What sort of mission?” Jonah asked.

“One that needs to stay off the records.” Black Canary moved to open a laptop on the table “It seems that one of our warehouses was raided, and a series of capture weaponry got into the hands of some gang members in LA. Needless to say, this could be a massive PR disaster if it gets out. We already have Batgirl working on figuring out how and why dangerous material was stored terrestrially in the first place. Our job is to retrieve said equipment, quietly.”

“If it's so hush-hush why is the kid coming? Aren’t you afraid that he’s going to leak it?”

“Don’t call me kid, I’m too old for that.” Jonah interjected.

“How old are you then?”

“I’m-”

“That’s not important right now.” Black Canary interrupted “Porter, listen to your seniors.”

Black Canary leans towards Green Arrow and whispers to him “If any of this gets leaked then we know it was him. But I doubt he’s that stupid.”

“I saw him under the mask you know. You’ll never guess where he works.” Green Arrow whispered back.

“Really? What’d you think.” Black Canary smirked.

“Still here y’know. Where are we picking up the trail?” Jonah said.

“Well then let’s get you working.” Black Canary said with a mischievous smile “Then we can all get dinner afterwards.”

“What?”

Nothing truly of note happened on the mission. The trio quickly found the gang that stole the weapons since they decided to brag about them on social media. Said post was quickly taken down by the tech experts in the Justice League but not before the location was discovered. Black Canary and Green Arrow did most of the fighting. An experienced pair, they fought together admirably, combining their moves and quickly taking down all of the gang members who happened to be in the safehouse where the weapons were being stored. Once again, it was Jonah who provided the lightning response, teleporting the three directly to the street that they needed to go to then back to Star City. Jonah couldn’t help but notice that Black Canary and Green Arrow were watching him intently during the entire mission. He was being tested but it felt like more than his fighting ability was being measured.

Black Canary wasn’t kidding about getting dinner after the mission. More so, she and Green Arrow invited him to Green Arrow’s penthouse apartment for dinner now that the cat was out of the bag when it came to secret identities. Jonah was sent home to “clean up” before dinner and that a car would pick him up.

After showering and getting dressed in his best business casual outfit, Jonah waited on his street corner for his ride. Not long after a sleek black town car pulled up beside him, its door opening automatically for him.

Once in the car, Jonah was treated with comfortable leather seats, cool air conditioning, and a silent ride through downtown Star City to the luxury condo building in which Green Arrow aka Oliver Queen currently lived.

“Come on in!” Black Canary called from the other side of the front door.

Oliver Queen’s penthouse apartment was the height of style. Floor-to-ceiling windows, exposed wooden beams, uncomfortable furniture made by depressed Europeans, and a square footage that put many suburban houses to shame.

“This is quite the place you’ve got here Mr. Queen.” Jonah said upon entering.

Jonah admired a display case filled with many artifacts and objects of great monetary and historical value. Oliver Queen may have been humble about his status but that didn’t mean that he didn’t have some of the rich kid habits still deep inside. He liked to show off when he could.

Jonah also admired Black Canary, who lounged gracefully on a plush chair and sipped a glass of white wine. She was wearing a deep V black dress which was tight in the waist and flowed down to the top of her thighs. She was showing plenty of side cleavage, but her large round breasts were able to maintain their shape due to the structure of the fabric. Not that Jonah knew anything about dressmaking, he just liked breasts.

“Ollie has always liked being close to the action. I imagine that’s why he spent so much money renovating this place instead of getting a mansion somewhere.” Black Canary strutted towards Jonah. She wrapped her arm around his and led him to the kitchen.

The kitchen was just as nice as the rest of the apartment with black marble countertops and flawless stainless-steel appliances. However, despite the circular open floorplan of the rest of the home, the kitchen, and other utility rooms, were hidden away in the center of the apartment.

“And it’s worth every penny.” Oliver Queen smiled as they entered the kitchen “Long time no see. I was just putting the finishing touches on the first course. I hope you’re not allergic to seafood son.”

“No Sir, I love seafood.” Jonah replied, painfully aware of Black Canary’s body pushing into his own as the group conversed.

“Please, you can drop the pretenses. I know who you are, and you know who I am. I’m not your boss, but a fellow hero out of the office.” Oliver took off his apron, revealing a maroon shirt with many of the top buttons left open “You can call me Oliver.”

“And you can call me Dinah, I guess.” Black Canary winked at Jonah.

“This young man is an employee of mine, and the Justice League didn’t even tell me. Can you imagine?” Oliver mused.

“Secret identities and all.”

“Of course, you’re right. I hope we haven’t overstepped Jonah.” Oliver ideally checked a pot of rice as he spoke.

“It’s quite alright. I don’t have the same worries as other heroes I suspect.”

“Well, it is an important decision, but the choice is yours. I come from a different generation of heroes. Back in my day, we didn’t have the public support we do now.”

“That’s enough about the old days Ollie. We don’t want him guessing how old you really are.” Dinah said while pouring herself more wine. She seemed different. Like she had turned off ‘hero mode’ and was just a normal woman trying to relax instead of a fighter ready to take on the world.

“He can just Bing it if he wants to babe.”

A chill ran down Jonah’s back. He knew that this earth had Google, he had used it already, and most of the internet was the same. But unironically ‘Binging’ something, that disgusted him in a way he didn’t expect. It was another reminder that he was far from home. The other thing that troubled Jonah was the nature of Black Canary and Green Arrow’s relationship. They weren’t married but they were definitely in a committed relationship. Yet he was sleeping with her regularly. This man was his boss and a trained fighter, and he was fucking his partner. Probably not the best idea. What was worse is that it seemed like Black Canary wasn’t hiding it the way she touched and looked at him. Another glass of wine probably wouldn’t help.

“Shall we Ollie?”

“Of course, pretty bird. Ready when you are.”

They ate dinner in the formal dining room; three plates aligned on a winding table that looked to be constructed of a single piece of wood. Silverware clinked and scrapped as Jonah ate an appetizer of some sort of crab-stuffed mushroom. He could see clearly through the room’s windows out onto the city and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. It was an indulgent view to match with an indulgent home.

Trying to fit into the rich ambiance Jonah declared “This wine is delicious Oliver, where’s it from?”

“Oh, it’s a 100-year-old Bordeaux.” Oliver swirled his glass of wine.

Jonah gasped slightly in surprise as the color flushed from his face. That’s got to be super expensive right? He hadn’t appreciated the taste or whatever at all. Now he felt like a total idiot on top of everything else. Black Canary stifled a laugh.

“I’m just kidding son.” Oliver relented “It’s a 2018 from Chelan, Washington. All my years around snotty sommeliers and I still can taste the taste the difference. This stuff is far cheaper, and I didn’t become a billionaire by wasting my money.”

“Yeah, you became a billionaire because your dad happened to also be one.”

“Besides.” Oliver ignored Dinah’s comment “I do have a 100-year-old Bordeaux in the cellar if you want some.”

“No, no, I couldn’t possibly. I can’t tell the difference either. Probably.”

Next up was the main course. The entrée that Oliver had prepared for them was a simple seared salmon in lemon zest seasoning with rice and asparagus. All are made from the freshest, highest-quality ingredients. A perfect midweek meal; delicious and not too much effort.

“…and that’s the third package that was stolen off her doorstep this week! She lives in a nice neighborhood; I don’t know how this keeps happening.” Dinah was finishing a story her friend had told her about the porch pirates in her neighborhood.

“Sounds like she should get a Ring Camera.” Jonah added, pushing around the last pieces of rice on his plate.

“Pardon?”

“A Ring Camera. You know, like a doorbell camera that connects to your phone and records footage of your porch or whatever.” Jonah explained the common phenomena to them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before. Ollie?”

“Me neither.” Oliver agreed.

“Really? Well, uh, where I come from it’s a billion-dollar industry and a relatively new one.” Jonah said.

“Queen Industries has a camera and surveillance department. Maybe we could meet and see if we could ‘borrow’ that idea. I’ll make sure legal checks out if it hasn’t already been invented over on our side of the tracks.”

“Sounds good to me!” Jonah had no qualms about stealing an idea from some episode of Shark Tank he watched. He just wished he had thought of this sooner. He was imagining the profit already, what other untapped markets could he exploit with the backing of a corporation like Queen’s?

Desert was a store-bought pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. Black Canary’s favorite.

“What do you think Jonah?” Dinah asked, licking the final remains of ice cream from her spoon.

“I can see why it’s your favorite Dinah.” Jonah answered truthfully.

“I’m glad. Ollie always insists on serving it when we have dinners like this.”

“Only the best for you darling.” Oliver teased.

“Thank you so much for the dinner.” Jonah started nervously “But I must ask, why? We don’t know each other too well.”

Oliver and Dinah shared a look then a nod.

“Jonah I think it's time we we’re honest with you.” Dinah started “Ollie here knows all about our ‘training sessions.” She leaned across the table to him, showing off her ample cleavage. “You see, we have an open relationship of sorts. He wanted to get to know you before…”

“Before what?”

“He likes to watch.”