(T/N: There is now a p.atreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early release of up to 30 chapters edited smoothly. https://www.p.atreon.com/INeedRest)
T/N: Guys, please leave some reviews and comments.
Ps: We reached chapter 52 on p.atreon!
****
The cold, hard surface stirred Laurel awake.
Her consciousness was still hazy, but she vaguely felt that she was lying on the ground, staring up at a dimly lit ceiling.
"Where… is this?"
Laurel tried to get up in a daze, only to find herself unable to move freely.
Her hands were handcuffed to curved steel bars embedded in the floor, making it impossible to break free.
As her awareness returned, panic rose within her.
Her memory slowly pieced itself back together.
She had argued with her father and stormed out of the house.
She then wandered into a slum area and was about to be robbed by a man.
Then, another guy had suddenly appeared and saved her.
He moved like something out of a sci-fi movie, dodging bullets, and finally killed the attacker with a devastating punch that cracked the robber's head.
Then she fainted.
'What happened after, did he kidnap me after he saved me?' her thoughts wandered.
"You're awake."
Just as Laurel tried to gather her thoughts, a familiar voice echoed out.
A moment later, a shirtless man stepped up from the shadows.
It was that same man who had saved her.
"Let me go! What do you want?!" Laurel shouted, her voice rising in panic.
Allen walked over and squatted beside her, smiling.
"You should start with a thank you."
"Thank you? You kidnapped me and you want me to say thank you?" Laurel was stunned.
"Let me go! My father is a police officer." She quickly gathered herself and warned him.
"Quentin Lance. I know."
Allen casually brushed his hand against Laurel's hair as she struggled and yelled.
He continued with a calm tone, "First of all, I saved you. So, saying thanks wouldn't be too much, would it?"
"Second, your clothes are over there, I cleaned them for you."
"I did all this because I was worried that when you woke up, you might pass out again from the blood and smell that was on your clothes."
She was still wearing a shirt and pants, just the outer stuff was removed and folded neatly nearby as he had said.
"Then how do you explain this?" Laurel shouted, shaking her cuffed wrists.
She clearly didn't believe a word he was saying.
"I wanted you to stay still and listen to me," Allen replied with a sincere smile.
"And to teach you something important, if you pass out so easily and get caught, what happened to you today could've been so much worse. You were lucky it was me. If it had been someone else, you could've ended up dead, or worse."
"You killed a man and kidnapped me. You are the 'someone else' in this scenario!" Laurel said without missing a beat.
Allen chuckled, examining her like someone discovering something novel.
"So, if I had kidnapped you before saving you, then true, I'd be a bad guy, but since I saved you after he tried to rob you and do something possibly worse, does that not change things? If I hadn't shown up, do you know what would've happened to you?"
"Even if he didn't kill you, what could you have done afterward? Let me guess."
"Get him arrested and brought to justice?"
Laurel said nothing.
Allen continued, unfazed.
"How long would he have stayed in jail? Five years? Ten? If you're lucky, maybe a little longer. But people like that? They get out. And they do the same thing again. Maybe next time they kill someone."
"And then what? Arrest him again? Another trial?"
"What's your point? That killing him was justice?" Laurel was annoyed with what he was getting to.
"So, you really believe the law is the only way to serve justice?" Allen asked curiously.
"Definitely," Laurel said firmly.
"And people like you will face consequences for what you've done."
"I don't care to debate philosophies or morality," Allen said, shrugging.
"People cling to ideas of truth and justice. But in the end? The only thing that matters to me, is whether I am satisfied. Let me ask you this: what if the man who killed your sister was standing in front of you? You now have the chance to end him, would you kill him for revenge, or hand him over to the law?"
Laurel's expression faltered. He knows her way too much…
"He's dead." She still replied.
"You mean Oliver Queen? But are you so sure that the Queen's Gambit accident was really just that, an accident?" Allen asked with a smirk.
Laurel's eyes widened.
"What do you mean? Wasn't it an accident? What do you know?!" she had been thinking about this herself. So, when she heard someone else mirror her thought she grasped at the straws.
Without answering, Allen suddenly grabbed the steel bars restraining her and pulled hard.
Crack!
With a sharp groan of tearing metal and cracked concrete, the bars popped out of the floor.
Laurel stood up immediately, keeping her distance from him as she shielded herself.
Allen looked her in the eye.
"I know the man responsible, and he is dangerous. Even if you had evidence and brought him to trial, he wouldn't stay behind bars long. He might not even serve time at all."
"And when he's free? He'll come after you and your father. And others too. A lot of people will die."
"Who is he?!" Laurel asked. She just wanted to know desperately.
"That's for you to figure out. But you'll have a choice to make. Rely on the law… or take action and stop him yourself."
"When you've made up your mind, come find me… and then I'll tell you everything you want to know."
Allen turned and started walking slowly.
"Wait! Don't go!" but he didn't stop.
"Why should I believe you?! I don't even know your name!" Laurel called again.
"Allen."
His voice echoed back, faint and fading. It was clear he didn't care if she believed him or not.
Laurel stood still for a moment, then walked over to her clothes.
She dressed quickly, found her bag, and turned on her phone.
Ignoring the missed calls and text messages, she immediately called Quentin Lance.
Laurel had planned to tell her father she had been kidnapped.
But before she could say anything, his angry voice came through the phone.
"Damn it, you finally turned your phone on!"
"Listen, I don't want to fight with you, but you shouldn't have turned it off."
"Sara… If Sara hadn't turned her phone off, I would've found her. Maybe nothing would've happened then. So, remember, don't ever turn it off again, okay?"
"Hello? Laurel, are you listening?"
"...I'll be back soon," Laurel replied after a brief silence.