Thea, Designs, Bludhaven

[Queen Mansion, January 8, 7:15 AM]

Three people were awake in the house: Raisa, who rose early to attend to her responsibilities, Oliver who obviously never slept, and surprisingly… Thea. 

After crying herself to sleep yesterday, it seemed she had reached the limits of comfort and escape unconsciousness could provide.  Thus she had awoken, and now wandered around the house in search of it and answers.

This brought her to Oliver, the only one she could think of. He was the one who see their father last, and it's not like she could go to her mother. The woman didn't want to see her. 

Opening the door to her brother's room, a peculiar scene graced her sight. Her brother was drawing. But that isn't even what perplexed her the most. 

In his past life, Oliver never wore shirts indoors because he sweated a lot. As a result, he grew to love the cold, and now that he lived in a climate with lower temperatures, this habit of his had worsened. 

His markings were bare for all to see, and in this case, that meant Thea, who stood there flabbergasted at the unbelievable sight. The girl's shock didn't last long as her brother's voice reached her.

"Speedy, enter and close the door."

She proceeded in compliance and hurried to him, struggling with which question to ask first.

Seated on the couch, Oliver flashed a brief smile at her and patted the couch space close to him. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything," he said and shifted a bit as he held two pieces of paper side by side. 

After he returned and chatted with Moira, he meditated on both his mind and body throughout the night. This calmed and refreshed him, giving him the pristine state of mind needed to undertake this peculiar endeavor. 

Having obtained Lodai's location from Tockman, he needed to prepare the necessary specifications and requests to present to the man. 

In the original story, Lodai was the black market engineer who supplied his predecessor with the gadgets and trick arrows he used as a vigilante. He was the Lucius Fox to his forerunner's Arrow. Now that things had changed, the engineer would reprise his role much much earlier. 

Setting down the paper and pencil, Oliver turned to look at his curious sister as she poked at his pulsing markings. He held her hand and pulled it away gently, asking, "Did mom tell you anything?" 

At the mention of her mother, the young lady crossed her arms and reclined on the sofa with a frown. 

"How can she tell me anything when she stays in her room all day," the young girl harrumphed. If her own mother wanted to ignore her, she would do the same. Two could play at this game. Turning to her brother, she wondered why he changed the topic when he said he would explain everything. 

"Relax, I told mom everything so I thought she must've told you," Oliver said and let out a sigh. The woman still hadn't talked to her. 

"I'm not supporting mom's actions in any way, but you have to understand. She's been with Dad for a long time, longer than any of us. His death hurt her a lot. Again, I'm not saying she was right to ignore you. She made a mistake there. All I'm saying is try to understand where she's coming from. Okay?" 

Feeling her brother's warm hand on her shoulder, Thea pondered his words. She had never thought about it that way. If they were being technical, she had only known her father for twelve years, while her mother had known him for more than double that time. Her odd behavior now kind of made sense. 

The pain her mother felt must be leagues above her own. Perhaps she had a reason to behave the way she did. Maybe she needed to be more understanding of the woman. 

Sensing the spirits of his sister lower with her contemplation, Oliver acted fast and pulled her out of her thoughts, bringing her attention to himself. 

'An idle mind is the devil's workshop,' was an adage he believed wholeheartedly. As such, he couldn't allow her to wallow in her thoughts that could shift to Robert at any time.  That would just bring her more pain. That's why he wanted to give her something other than Robert to think about and focus on. 

"I have no idea where these things came from. When I woke up on the island, they were there."

Hearing that, she had no choice but to believe him. Her brother wouldn't lie to her. "Do they do anything?" the girl asked with renewed curiosity, her eyes going a bit wide. "Do you have powers?" 

Chuckling at her expression, Oliver nodded. "Yes." 

If his otherworldly knowledge had taught him anything, Thea was a rare breed. When his predecessor revealed his secret identity to her, she ran and hugged him, proud of the hero he was, a reaction he never expected to see from someone in her position. 

'That was the best secret identity reveal I've ever seen,' he thought, his mind conjuring up the scene with perfect clarity. 

However, even if he didn't know this about her, he would still take this course of action since he had no desire to experience the easily avoidable issues that came with an alternate identity. 

"I am fast, strong, and I can also see people and certain objects through walls," Oliver elaborated, his expression one of laughter as Thea's looked like she just heard something impossible. Well, his existence alone could be considered impossible so there was that. 

"Show me! Show me!" Thea practically screamed and jumped in her seat. 

Deciding that actions were louder than words, Oliver went ahead with a small demonstration. With a show of speed, he blurred from his position and reappeared at Thea's end of the couch in a crouched position. 

Thea, feeling the air shift behind her, turned just in time to see him straighten himself from a crouching position. Before she could make sense of anything, the couch came up with her still on it. 

She clutched it for dear life, letting out a short surprised scream that turned into a laugh. Her brother lifted the couch with her on it. He had superpowers! This same brother completed his demonstration and lowered her, his face matching hers of all smiles. 

She stood up right after and ran to him, grabbing him with stars shining in her eyes. She had so many questions, and wanted to see more. However, she heard him say he could see people through walls. What was that like? She wanted to know. 

"Where is Raisa? What about mom? Can you see her?" she spat out one after another, her excitement an all time high. 

Oliver, who didn't keep [Eagle Pulse] constantly active, activated it and encompassed the whole mansion in its radius. He quickly located the two women and gave his eager sister the result of the reconnaissance. 

"Raisa is in the kitchen. I think she's preparing breakfast." 

"Can you see what she's cooking?" the young lady asked, interested in what they'd be having for breakfast and how far his ability could go. 

Obviously, Oliver couldn't see what the woman was hard at work preparing, not with just [Eagle Pulse]. And so he used [Enhanced Synesthesia] alongside it, focusing on the spot where she stood. 

Pushing this combination of abilities to limits he'd never attempted, the first thing he detected was the sound of frying. Following right after was the aroma of fried eggs and bacon, however, it didn't end there. 

Ripples began to emanate from the tiny movements and collisions of Raisa and the utensils. It wasn't just two things hitting each other that produced these ripples. Something as simple as Raisa pulling her arm back produced these invisible concentric circles. 

They reminded him of the seismic sense used by Toph in Avatar. All these tiny ripples from different sources joined together to form an immaculate image of the head maid and her immediate vicinity. 

This image overlapped with her green hue designated by [Eagle sense], making her features inhumanly prominent. It was as though she'd been painted in the stuff used for green glow sticks. For Oliver, this experience was no different than him standing right beside her. 

However that wasn't his focus right now. He felt he could do more, thus, he pushed even further. Heeding his command, the ripples probed deeper and went beyond the oblivious woman's clothes. 

Beneath her garments, the shape, size, smell, and feel of Raisa's physical "features" became privy to him, like he'd personally undressed her and conducted the most thorough of inspections. 

Like a spark hit a trail of gasoline, his blood raged like a tempest and rushed to his lower body. 

Startled by both developments, he sucked in both abilities like a high powered vacuum and closed his eyes to focus. While he worked on calming himself down, Thea noticed his odd behavior and shook him. 

"Ollie?" 

She did it a few more times but a few seconds passed until she got a response, which was Oliver opening his eyes with a weak and depreciating smile. 

"Don't worry. I'm okay…," is what he said, but his mind, amidst the struggle to keep those intimate images and sensations, forced out these thoughts. 

'Since when could I do that?' 

This could not go on. He needed to run proper tests on his abilities and find out the limits, especially regarding the  ambiguous ones. What he just experienced with the oblivious Raisa was more than just voyeurism or regular porn. 

It was like super immersive virtual reality porn with 1000 percent realism. Right now he wanted nothing more than to jump into that memory and revel in those heavenly sensations again. It was just too enticing. 

But he desisted with all his will, reminding himself of his current guest and how disgusting it would be to indulge in such depravity.  Making a mental note to run thorough tests on himself and his abilities, he answered the question that brought on all of this. 

"She's making bacon and eggs."

"Okay….What about mom?" 

Thea asked, pleased with what she'd be having for breakfast and having no doubt that the woman was still asleep. Contrary to what she thought though, her mother was awake... and looking for her. 

"She just entered your room," Oliver informed as he gazed at a section of the wall. Thea's expression betrayed her inner conflict. Naturally, her mother looking for her made her happy. 

Even though they hadn't talked in weeks, making her a bit angry and resentful, she missed the woman. Her brother's advice tamped her anger down even further, so much so that she wanted to run into her mother's arms. 

However, she and Oliver were currently spending time together, and her desire to see his powers heightened after seeing these minor demonstrations. At a loss for what to do, Oliver, who easily interpreted her weak smile and conflicting emotions, solved the issue for her. 

"What are you waiting for? Go and see her already. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. I had mom call your school," he said with a big smile that mirrored hers. 

"We have the whole day to ourselves." 

Jumping on him, Thea gave him a tight hug and kissed his cheek before running off. With a huge smile on his face, he sat back down and blanked out for a bit before resuming work, his face slowly returning to its natural state of a frown. 

.....

[Blüdhaven, January 8, 2008 8:03PM] 

Right as night fell, Oliver bid his family goodbye and hopped on a train to this city. Lodai's workshop was located here, thus he had no choice but to sit still for the whole two hour duration. 

It was a good thing he didn't need to use a meditative pose during mind meditation practice or else the boredom alone might've killed him. 

Once he alighted, it didn't take him long to find the workshop. It was hidden inside a warehouse and made up of two parts, an inner and outer part. The inner part had a man sitting behind a table, probably tinkering with something.

'Lodai,' he thought. As for the outer part, several armed men milled about. 

'Bodyguards..' 

After a review of the whole site, he chose to use the method of entry Tockman provided for him; the secret code for those willing to do business with this shady individual. Not everything had to be by force. 

Nevertheless he didn't fail to mark the guards with [Master Tracker II] before sauntering over and knocking on the giant wooden gates. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Oliver watched one of the men move towards a door at the side to check who the visitor was, making him realize he stood in the wrong position. Speeding over to the metal door, a rectangular section of it slid back as he arrived. 

Noting his dark colored clothes and concealed appearance, the man at the door said, "Password." 

"Volcanus," came Oliver's swift reply. The section then slid shut as the sound of numerous locks being undone reached him. Upon entry into the place, the guy who let him in shut the door while two others approached him and gestured with their guns for him to raise his arms. 

He complied and they searched him, finding the contents of his backpack to his drawings and satellite phone. They made him leave the phone behind and allowed him to proceed into the inner section. There he came into contact with a man wearing some clothes with overalls. 

Stopping whatever he worked on at his workstation, Lodai turned to face him, revealing his goggles with red lenses and the severely burned right side of his face. "Connor is it? I heard you were interested in my services." 

"Yeah, I need you to make these things for me," Oliver responded and handed over the sheets with his drawings and specifications to the man. 

Lodai went through one sheet after another, taking less than a minute to understand what his customer worked the whole day on. Separating two of them as he asked, "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake with the weights?" 

"Nope. They're exactly as they need to be. Why? Will it be a problem?" 

"No," said Lodai as he held the sheets together and bundled them up. "As long you're willing to pay, you'll get whatever it is you want." 

"Music to my ears…"