Fic: Family Ties, Part 3 (DCU; HET)
Since I'm out after work this weekend and who knows when I'll get to a computer with internet before Monday...have a part 3!
Author's Note: This is more relation building than contributing to the plot. I always thought it odd that Roy was never formally/legally adopted by Ollie (at least not acknowledge in any comics I've read. Willing to admit I may have missed something). And I wondered why..then gave him a reason. Dick and Bruce eventually got their angsty father/son emotions out over adoptions and whatnot, but never really Ollie and Roy except in scattered piecemeal. Also, I'm sure there will be more quibbling over 'facts' as 'established' in whatever's left of the old canon. I stick with my adage "it's my story and I'm stickin' to it." LOL!
The next day, once Roy was calmer and rested, the group reconvened to discuss what to do. Nightwing gathered more information from Batman and other sources no one wanted to know about. The Gypsy circus acrobat had more than a few of his own secrets.
"So what's the running theory?" asked Hal as soon as he appeared on the Watchtower side of the slideways portal.
"They are going to target either a major facility of national importance to Britain, Ireland, Europe or America," began Dinah, rubbing her forehead as if to ward off the coming headache.
"Or?" prodded Hal with a grimace. That was a lot of potential, if obvious, targets.
"The Hall of Justice."
"Good Lord."
"And maybe the Watchtower."
"Sweet Jesus."
"Yes." Dinah slammed herself into the chairperson's chair after they entered the conference room and assumed a very Batman-like brooding face.
"Why aren't we calling in anyone else?" inquired Wally with fake casualness.
"Who would we call? Besides, we can handle it. Nightwing did the preliminary testing on the confiscated devices. We know they shipped either out of an Arabic country or western Asia, heading to Africa to rendezvous with the arms shipment. We also know that the devices were made to specific qualifications and took, at a minimum, three years to create. We know who commissioned the devices, what the gadgets can do and why, as well as how much money was paid and when. The only thing we *don't* know is where WWFI plans to strike."
Several people slanted Dinah questioning looks. She shrugged. "I can't even butcher how Roy pronounced it in Gaelic and saying We Will Free Ireland repeatedly is irritating. WWFI works in a pinch."
Wally suppressed a grin.
"The most important part, really, is when they plan on striking and the target." Ollie handed Dinah a cup of strong coffee, which she sipped gratefully.
"And Roy?" prompted Hal, as Mari stepped into the conference room, absently fingering her animal talisman. The item allowed to channel the abilities of various animals and their inherent abilities. If she wanted the night vision of an owl, she merely stated 'owl' and she assumed the owl's ability.
"He's taking the whole thing rather personally," Dinah told him with a dry smile. "Imagine that."
"He may not seem a deep thinker but his emotions do run deep as an underground river," Mari said.
Ollie frowned at the remark but made no reply.
"So, to rephrase my earlier question, now what?" Hal's Green Lantern ring glowed, producing a green clipboard and ballpoint pen. "Perhaps we should jot down places that this group would be interested in hitting the most. This is a lot of money they've sunk into the operation. They are going to have a strategic spot to hit, not just some random target."
"The United Nations," supplied Wally immediately. "Obvious."
"London, pick a building, any building, but my guess would be Buckingham Palace or maybe Downing Street." added Mari.
"If they are targeting America for some reason, the list is going to get very, very long," Ollie pointed out. The files from Roy's office sat on the conference table between himself and Dinah. Not once, Dinah realized, had Ollie expressed an interest in the contents of the files.
"Oliver," she said with a casualness she didn't feel, "did you read those files?"
He gave her a blank look. "Why would I want to do that?"
Hal looked at him with a startled expression. "What do you mean, why would you want to? Why *wouldn't* you want to?"
Oliver grimaced and, with a palpable reluctance he couldn't hide, he reached for the file with Roy's father's name. Suddenly everything became clear to Dinah.
"You knew." The words were a harsh accusation. Dinah stood up, her hands clenched into tight fists. "You've known all of this. For how long, Oliver?"
Ollie's expression remained blank. "Known what?"
"Oliver Queen!" The name rang out and echoed, fierce and strong, a hint of the infamous Canary Cry behind it.
"I don't know anything." Ollie brandished the files at his enraged wife. "*This*," he waved the files to draw her attention to them, "has nothing to do with my son."
"He's not your son," pointed out Hal, purposefully pushing the one button guaranteed to send Ollie into a tizzy. To Hal's utter shock, it didn't work.
"Yes, he is."
"You didn't adopt him."
"No, I couldn't."
"What do you mean you couldn't?" snapped Dinah, snatching the file out of Ollie's hand.
"The world court wouldn't let me." That pronouncement earned him wide-eyed, slack-jawed stares from the four other members in the room.
"I always wondered about that." Roy's voice drifted from the doorway. "Before I read my father's file, that is, and a little bit afterwards." Ollie turned to face his eldest boy, his expression sober. "I was a ward of the world court, due to my father's circumstances. They only let me stay with you and Raymond Begay because I had to stay somewhere." Ollie gave one, terse nod. "I know you, Ollie. You are like a dog with a bone. You chew on something until it's either gone or so mangled it's not worth the effort anymore. I remember how angry you were that my adoption was blocked and then a month later, it was like it wasn't an issue."
"So you *did* know!" exploded Dinah.
"No." Ollie shook his head. "Not all of it. Not what's in here. I was only told that Roy's father worked with the world court and Interpol on sensitive information, and in return for his aid, he and his son were given formal citizenship to the United States and new lives as part of the world court's witness protection arrangement with the United States. The nature of what Roy's father knew or what it involved they adamantly refused to discuss with me, and frankly, after assurances that Roy's safety was not likely going to be an issue due to it, I let the matter drop. They allowed me all the privileges they could *except*-" Ollie raised hand to forestall the sputter of outrage from Dinah. "-my name. He remained in my custody as a foster child legally until he turned eighteen. Because of who his parents were and any ties to terrorist cells Roy might have because of that, they would not release full custody to me and award me full legal guardianship."
"You couldn't adopt me because they wouldn't release their own legal bonds with me," clarified Roy, trying to understand. "But you made me your heir, even over Connor, who you did know about."
Ollie faced Roy squarely, almost reluctantly. "I've got a lot of faults. You, more than anyone in this room, know them best. You suffered as much if not more by my actions over the course of time. I can apologize until my lips fall off for all the wrong I did you, Roy, but I cannot change them. Nor will I change the fact that as far as I'm concerned since the moment you entered *my* custody, you were my son. End of it. Anyone who says otherwise is going to get a sock in the jaw, a kick in the groin, and I'm going to make their lives a living hell for the rest of their days and beyond if I can swing it. I didn't need a damned court to tell me you are my son. I don't need a blood test to find out whether we share a chromosome or DNA strand because I don't give a damn about that crap. YOU are MY son BUT you bear the name of the man who gave you life. That's all he is to me, all he's ever been to me. I can appreciate that he meant something to you, and that's how it should be. I don't know what memories you have of him, if any, but they are yours and I cannot and will not take them away from you. But I've given you memories too, good and bad, that I hope are of equal value in your life. I don't know if I was a better father than Will Harper would have been had he survived. None of us can know that but I can hope that you consider me your father in a way that Will Harper was unable to be because of his fate."
Ollie snatched the file from the table and the one from Dinah and threw them across the room. "I didn't need some court to tell me you were my son. I already *knew* that. I couldn't have complete control over your legal status, and I admit that caused me a lot of sleepless nights. What if something happened and they came to take you away? I couldn't stop them. I was just the place that they let you go for food, shelter, schooling and crap. If I gave you affection, love and a family, great. If not, what a shame. Just like any other foster situation."
Ollie paused and Roy, knowing Ollie required a response to that diatribe, gave a short nod of acknowledgment.
"I tried, Roy, as best I knew how. I didn't really have the best examples myself to base off of, but I did what I thought was best. It wasn't right sometimes, but those are the dice you roll. Either you win or you lose. But that doesn't change what you were...*are* to me. You are my son and that will *never* change."
Roy considered his fire-breathing mentor...no, *father*...for a very long minute and then smiled wistfully. "No, it doesn't change anything." Ollie relaxed but tensed once more when Roy said, "But."
"But?" snapped Ollie, his expression falling into concern and worry. "But what?'
"Was William Roy Harper his name? Is that really my name? Where was I born? WHEN was I born? I was told June 15, but is that the truth, or part of my new identity? I never had a name for my mother, Oliver. You, despite your disdain for your parents, have that tangible part of you, a link to a past that gives you anchor. You may think it unimportant, but try NOT having it. Or knowing what you do have is a lie, or the possibility of a lie."
Ollie's face thunderclouded. "Your name is William Roy Harper, JUNIOR. You are Roy. Who cares what's on a damned piece of paper in Timbuktoo or Constantinople? Call yourself Ooga Booga Man for all I care as long as YOU know who you are!" He threw his hands up in exasperation. "As for the rest, I don't know. I wasn't privy to anything more than what I just told everyone in this room. What I was told by the world court. They smelled I was getting ready to make a big stink about my inability to adopt you. It should have been a very easy, straight-forward process. They had to tell me *something*, so they spilled enough to satisfy me that their reasons were sound and they gave me what I wanted as much as they could without sacrificing the greater good. I got YOU, THEY got their secret. As far as I'm concerned, I got the better fucking deal!"
He began pacing in his agitation. Dinah glanced worriedly at Roy, only to find the younger archer watching Ollie in bemusement as the older man worked himself into a guilt-ridden tizzy. "As for your true date and place of birth, beats the hell out of me. Is it really that important? Sure not knowing where you come from is a bit disorienting but-"
"But you forget that I was partly raised by the Navajo and *where* you come from is equally important as where you are going," Roy finished for him, now getting angry at Ollie's attitude in this matter. "A link to the past is vital to knowing about yourself. You may think it incidental, but I find it highly important. Don't dismiss it as padding material in your grand scheme of things just because you don't think it important. It's ME we're talking about, not YOU, and you should know by now the store I set in such things."
The two archers faced off, nose to nose, but it was Ollie that eventually backed down. He was in the wrong there and he knew it. "Okay, all right," he admitted placatingly. "You're right, of course." He ran a shaking hand over his bearded face. "I just don't want you to think that I..." He couldn't finish.
"It's okay," Roy told him with an irreverent smirk and a mock punch to the gut. "Yer still my *old man*." Relieved, Ollie impulsively hugged Roy.
"Well, now that we have *that* cleared up," piped up Wally with an amused tone, "can we get back to the terrorists, please?"
"Yes," agreed Dick as he stepped through the doorway. He stayed in the hall during Ollie and Roy's confrontation. It was a little too much like the face-offs he and Bruce occasionally had for Dick's comfort. "Alfred, actually, managed to dig up some more intel using his own British contacts for us." He waved a file disk and headed for the computer to insert it. "Including their target."
"Alfred Pennyworth," Wally said in sepulchral tones, "is a frightening man. I'm not sure if he's more frightening that Batman though."
Dick grinned, pleased at Wally's interpretation of Alfred's reputation. "I knew Alfred was formidable, but you're right, Wally. Alfred *is* getting a bit scary."
Ollie and Hal groaned dramatically. No one paid any mind to the the one second long, red blur around the room, nor the neat reappearance of the two black files on the William Roy Harpers involved. The six costumed heroes got down to business.
Author's Note: This is more relation building than contributing to the plot. I always thought it odd that Roy was never formally/legally adopted by Ollie (at least not acknowledge in any comics I've read. Willing to admit I may have missed something). And I wondered why..then gave him a reason. Dick and Bruce eventually got their angsty father/son emotions out over adoptions and whatnot, but never really Ollie and Roy except in scattered piecemeal. Also, I'm sure there will be more quibbling over 'facts' as 'established' in whatever's left of the old canon. I stick with my adage "it's my story and I'm stickin' to it." LOL!
The next day, once Roy was calmer and rested, the group reconvened to discuss what to do. Nightwing gathered more information from Batman and other sources no one wanted to know about. The Gypsy circus acrobat had more than a few of his own secrets.
"So what's the running theory?" asked Hal as soon as he appeared on the Watchtower side of the slideways portal.
"They are going to target either a major facility of national importance to Britain, Ireland, Europe or America," began Dinah, rubbing her forehead as if to ward off the coming headache.
"Or?" prodded Hal with a grimace. That was a lot of potential, if obvious, targets.
"The Hall of Justice."
"Good Lord."
"And maybe the Watchtower."
"Sweet Jesus."
"Yes." Dinah slammed herself into the chairperson's chair after they entered the conference room and assumed a very Batman-like brooding face.
"Why aren't we calling in anyone else?" inquired Wally with fake casualness.
"Who would we call? Besides, we can handle it. Nightwing did the preliminary testing on the confiscated devices. We know they shipped either out of an Arabic country or western Asia, heading to Africa to rendezvous with the arms shipment. We also know that the devices were made to specific qualifications and took, at a minimum, three years to create. We know who commissioned the devices, what the gadgets can do and why, as well as how much money was paid and when. The only thing we *don't* know is where WWFI plans to strike."
Several people slanted Dinah questioning looks. She shrugged. "I can't even butcher how Roy pronounced it in Gaelic and saying We Will Free Ireland repeatedly is irritating. WWFI works in a pinch."
Wally suppressed a grin.
"The most important part, really, is when they plan on striking and the target." Ollie handed Dinah a cup of strong coffee, which she sipped gratefully.
"And Roy?" prompted Hal, as Mari stepped into the conference room, absently fingering her animal talisman. The item allowed to channel the abilities of various animals and their inherent abilities. If she wanted the night vision of an owl, she merely stated 'owl' and she assumed the owl's ability.
"He's taking the whole thing rather personally," Dinah told him with a dry smile. "Imagine that."
"He may not seem a deep thinker but his emotions do run deep as an underground river," Mari said.
Ollie frowned at the remark but made no reply.
"So, to rephrase my earlier question, now what?" Hal's Green Lantern ring glowed, producing a green clipboard and ballpoint pen. "Perhaps we should jot down places that this group would be interested in hitting the most. This is a lot of money they've sunk into the operation. They are going to have a strategic spot to hit, not just some random target."
"The United Nations," supplied Wally immediately. "Obvious."
"London, pick a building, any building, but my guess would be Buckingham Palace or maybe Downing Street." added Mari.
"If they are targeting America for some reason, the list is going to get very, very long," Ollie pointed out. The files from Roy's office sat on the conference table between himself and Dinah. Not once, Dinah realized, had Ollie expressed an interest in the contents of the files.
"Oliver," she said with a casualness she didn't feel, "did you read those files?"
He gave her a blank look. "Why would I want to do that?"
Hal looked at him with a startled expression. "What do you mean, why would you want to? Why *wouldn't* you want to?"
Oliver grimaced and, with a palpable reluctance he couldn't hide, he reached for the file with Roy's father's name. Suddenly everything became clear to Dinah.
"You knew." The words were a harsh accusation. Dinah stood up, her hands clenched into tight fists. "You've known all of this. For how long, Oliver?"
Ollie's expression remained blank. "Known what?"
"Oliver Queen!" The name rang out and echoed, fierce and strong, a hint of the infamous Canary Cry behind it.
"I don't know anything." Ollie brandished the files at his enraged wife. "*This*," he waved the files to draw her attention to them, "has nothing to do with my son."
"He's not your son," pointed out Hal, purposefully pushing the one button guaranteed to send Ollie into a tizzy. To Hal's utter shock, it didn't work.
"Yes, he is."
"You didn't adopt him."
"No, I couldn't."
"What do you mean you couldn't?" snapped Dinah, snatching the file out of Ollie's hand.
"The world court wouldn't let me." That pronouncement earned him wide-eyed, slack-jawed stares from the four other members in the room.
"I always wondered about that." Roy's voice drifted from the doorway. "Before I read my father's file, that is, and a little bit afterwards." Ollie turned to face his eldest boy, his expression sober. "I was a ward of the world court, due to my father's circumstances. They only let me stay with you and Raymond Begay because I had to stay somewhere." Ollie gave one, terse nod. "I know you, Ollie. You are like a dog with a bone. You chew on something until it's either gone or so mangled it's not worth the effort anymore. I remember how angry you were that my adoption was blocked and then a month later, it was like it wasn't an issue."
"So you *did* know!" exploded Dinah.
"No." Ollie shook his head. "Not all of it. Not what's in here. I was only told that Roy's father worked with the world court and Interpol on sensitive information, and in return for his aid, he and his son were given formal citizenship to the United States and new lives as part of the world court's witness protection arrangement with the United States. The nature of what Roy's father knew or what it involved they adamantly refused to discuss with me, and frankly, after assurances that Roy's safety was not likely going to be an issue due to it, I let the matter drop. They allowed me all the privileges they could *except*-" Ollie raised hand to forestall the sputter of outrage from Dinah. "-my name. He remained in my custody as a foster child legally until he turned eighteen. Because of who his parents were and any ties to terrorist cells Roy might have because of that, they would not release full custody to me and award me full legal guardianship."
"You couldn't adopt me because they wouldn't release their own legal bonds with me," clarified Roy, trying to understand. "But you made me your heir, even over Connor, who you did know about."
Ollie faced Roy squarely, almost reluctantly. "I've got a lot of faults. You, more than anyone in this room, know them best. You suffered as much if not more by my actions over the course of time. I can apologize until my lips fall off for all the wrong I did you, Roy, but I cannot change them. Nor will I change the fact that as far as I'm concerned since the moment you entered *my* custody, you were my son. End of it. Anyone who says otherwise is going to get a sock in the jaw, a kick in the groin, and I'm going to make their lives a living hell for the rest of their days and beyond if I can swing it. I didn't need a damned court to tell me you are my son. I don't need a blood test to find out whether we share a chromosome or DNA strand because I don't give a damn about that crap. YOU are MY son BUT you bear the name of the man who gave you life. That's all he is to me, all he's ever been to me. I can appreciate that he meant something to you, and that's how it should be. I don't know what memories you have of him, if any, but they are yours and I cannot and will not take them away from you. But I've given you memories too, good and bad, that I hope are of equal value in your life. I don't know if I was a better father than Will Harper would have been had he survived. None of us can know that but I can hope that you consider me your father in a way that Will Harper was unable to be because of his fate."
Ollie snatched the file from the table and the one from Dinah and threw them across the room. "I didn't need some court to tell me you were my son. I already *knew* that. I couldn't have complete control over your legal status, and I admit that caused me a lot of sleepless nights. What if something happened and they came to take you away? I couldn't stop them. I was just the place that they let you go for food, shelter, schooling and crap. If I gave you affection, love and a family, great. If not, what a shame. Just like any other foster situation."
Ollie paused and Roy, knowing Ollie required a response to that diatribe, gave a short nod of acknowledgment.
"I tried, Roy, as best I knew how. I didn't really have the best examples myself to base off of, but I did what I thought was best. It wasn't right sometimes, but those are the dice you roll. Either you win or you lose. But that doesn't change what you were...*are* to me. You are my son and that will *never* change."
Roy considered his fire-breathing mentor...no, *father*...for a very long minute and then smiled wistfully. "No, it doesn't change anything." Ollie relaxed but tensed once more when Roy said, "But."
"But?" snapped Ollie, his expression falling into concern and worry. "But what?'
"Was William Roy Harper his name? Is that really my name? Where was I born? WHEN was I born? I was told June 15, but is that the truth, or part of my new identity? I never had a name for my mother, Oliver. You, despite your disdain for your parents, have that tangible part of you, a link to a past that gives you anchor. You may think it unimportant, but try NOT having it. Or knowing what you do have is a lie, or the possibility of a lie."
Ollie's face thunderclouded. "Your name is William Roy Harper, JUNIOR. You are Roy. Who cares what's on a damned piece of paper in Timbuktoo or Constantinople? Call yourself Ooga Booga Man for all I care as long as YOU know who you are!" He threw his hands up in exasperation. "As for the rest, I don't know. I wasn't privy to anything more than what I just told everyone in this room. What I was told by the world court. They smelled I was getting ready to make a big stink about my inability to adopt you. It should have been a very easy, straight-forward process. They had to tell me *something*, so they spilled enough to satisfy me that their reasons were sound and they gave me what I wanted as much as they could without sacrificing the greater good. I got YOU, THEY got their secret. As far as I'm concerned, I got the better fucking deal!"
He began pacing in his agitation. Dinah glanced worriedly at Roy, only to find the younger archer watching Ollie in bemusement as the older man worked himself into a guilt-ridden tizzy. "As for your true date and place of birth, beats the hell out of me. Is it really that important? Sure not knowing where you come from is a bit disorienting but-"
"But you forget that I was partly raised by the Navajo and *where* you come from is equally important as where you are going," Roy finished for him, now getting angry at Ollie's attitude in this matter. "A link to the past is vital to knowing about yourself. You may think it incidental, but I find it highly important. Don't dismiss it as padding material in your grand scheme of things just because you don't think it important. It's ME we're talking about, not YOU, and you should know by now the store I set in such things."
The two archers faced off, nose to nose, but it was Ollie that eventually backed down. He was in the wrong there and he knew it. "Okay, all right," he admitted placatingly. "You're right, of course." He ran a shaking hand over his bearded face. "I just don't want you to think that I..." He couldn't finish.
"It's okay," Roy told him with an irreverent smirk and a mock punch to the gut. "Yer still my *old man*." Relieved, Ollie impulsively hugged Roy.
"Well, now that we have *that* cleared up," piped up Wally with an amused tone, "can we get back to the terrorists, please?"
"Yes," agreed Dick as he stepped through the doorway. He stayed in the hall during Ollie and Roy's confrontation. It was a little too much like the face-offs he and Bruce occasionally had for Dick's comfort. "Alfred, actually, managed to dig up some more intel using his own British contacts for us." He waved a file disk and headed for the computer to insert it. "Including their target."
"Alfred Pennyworth," Wally said in sepulchral tones, "is a frightening man. I'm not sure if he's more frightening that Batman though."
Dick grinned, pleased at Wally's interpretation of Alfred's reputation. "I knew Alfred was formidable, but you're right, Wally. Alfred *is* getting a bit scary."
Ollie and Hal groaned dramatically. No one paid any mind to the the one second long, red blur around the room, nor the neat reappearance of the two black files on the William Roy Harpers involved. The six costumed heroes got down to business.