Chapter Text
“This city has been through a lot in the past few years.”
The crowd watching Oliver chuckled nervously. He wiped his hands on his suit jacket and glanced at Felicity and the others, then stepped back towards the microphone and continued.
“This memorial is just one of many places that have been destroyed. One of many places where people died.”
Felicity looked up at the broken brick walls behind him. Once CNRI’s twisted girders and rebar and concrete blocks had been just another bit of abandoned blight. But Rory had transformed them into something else. Some of the girders had become ghosts, half in the shadows of the walls, twisted in pain. Others leaned over them, wandering amongst the bodies. Mourners, grieving.
“My hope, in dedicating this place, is that Star City – my city – will finally have a place to mourn those we’ve lost. Not just in the earthquake that destroyed this particular building, but throughout the past five years and beyond.”
On one side of Felicity, Evelyn gasped out a sob and buried her face in Nyssa’s shoulder. On the other, Lyla wrapped one arm around John while JJ reached over to pull on Rene’s ear. Paul tugged Curtis’s face down for a kiss. Rory stood slightly ahead of them, acknowledging the applause for his work as the sculptor, while Helena hung back, smirking slightly, probably preparing another comment about the apparent sexual positions implied by some of the art. Felicity squeezed Roy’s remaining arm as he nodded grimly along with Oliver’s speech.
“Now, I’m not a therapist – in fact, some people have suggested that I could use one myself...”
Susan Williams laughed a bit too loudly at that.
“...but I think that it’s important to give ourselves time and space to grieve. But not just that – to let ourselves move forward. Not to fall into a cycle of vengeance, but to become the people, the city, that our loved ones would have wanted us to be.”
Felicity held her breath. Oliver had practiced the next part a hundred times, it had seemed, pacing beside their bed.
“I know a little bit about that. Most of you know that I lost my father ten years ago, and my mother three years ago. I know some of you have speculated about how those experiences turned a college drop-out into someone who could become mayor. Although, as you know, I ran unopposed.”
A laugh rippled through the crowd.
“What you don’t know is that those experiences didn’t just make me into your mayor. They made me... someone else. Something else.”
He looked to the side of the crowd and caught Felicity’s eye. She nodded back at him.
“By day, I have been doing the best that I can for this city. But sometimes, it isn’t enough.” He glanced at the reporters. “A lot of the time it isn’t enough, as many of you remind me daily.” He took a deep breath. “But by night, I continue trying to help this city. As the Green Arrow.”
A murmur ran through the crowd as cameras started to flash.
“And before that, I was the Arrow, and the Hood.” He glanced at Roy. “Other people have taken the blame for my actions over the past five years. But it is time... past time... for me to take responsibility for the things that I do, and the things that I have done.”
The crowd rustled impatiently.
“I realize that most of you didn’t mean to vote for a vigilante... if you voted at all.”
There was scattered laughter. Felicity had wondered whether the timing of that particular joke would work.
“And that continuing to serve as your mayor would be a conflict of interest. So today, I will be stepping down. Deputy Mayor Quentin Lance will serve the city until a new election can be held.”
Oliver stepped back to let Lance take the microphone as the media section erupted with questions. One question was louder than the others.
“Mr. Queen,” called the reporter. “What are you planning to do next?”
Oliver leaned back towards the microphone. “I’ll give the traditional response: I’m going to spend more time with my family.”
Felicity stepped forward as Oliver climbed down from the podium, and pulled him into a hug. “We’ll find Thea,” she whispered. “I promise.”