Unlimited Legends #4 (Featuring Green Arrow)

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Unlimited Legends #4
Robin Hood
Part 1:
Marooned in the Past!

Featuring...

Written by Nikolai Peter Fomich
Edited by Daniel Dyer

The sea roars, untamed, showing no sympathy. The water callously throws about a young man, no older than 22. Perhaps the sea took pity, or perhaps it decided to reject the body of the young man, but no matter the case, he is thrown to a shore nearby. Gasping for air, he soon vomits, his water-filled lungs adding to the pain of an already bruised body. Looking for a moment at the island before him, he faints, unable to grasp anything at this moment other than his need for perpetual sleep.

^

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Hours ago...

Smeared lipstick on his face, Oliver Queen looks at the girl in his bed, trying to remember her name. As he turns on the lamp to put on his clothes, she stirs. Gently, he moves his hand through her long, red hair. “Shhh, go back to sleep.” Placing a glass of water near her, Oliver wonders how it could be so hot. Grabbing a pack of cigarettes, he leaves the room. As he walks toward the boat railing, Oliver can’t help but look up at the night sky. Beautiful stars sprinkle the air, with broken waves of careless freedom. Sighing, Oliver thinks of his mother, and wonders what she would look like now. Lighting a cigarette, his thoughts turn briefly to his father, and then the company. Queen Enterprises was more trouble than it was worth, as far as Oliver was concerned. He had put up with the business school, and the lectures, and the public spotlight. He would like to think his father would have been proud, but he knew better. Queen Enterprises was once a benevolent establishment, more about organizing funds than anything else. But the days of the name ‘Queen’ being synonymous with ‘charity’ died with his father. Despite his best efforts, Oliver could not keep the company under control, and now men like John deLeon were undermining its very purpose. And, damn his soul, Oliver Queen had stopped trying. Oliver Queen had lost faith.

^

[Spider-Man Beyond]

This shouldn’t be too hard. Like a wraith, a man in black walks cautiously across the ship, his target in view. His silence is uncanny; not even the sandals upon his feet give him away. It had not been difficult to sneak aboard the Kristina, and the ease of the job just seemed to grow. His target was close, closer than he would have liked. But, the small man supposed, not everything is meant to be a challenge.

^

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Over the railing, Oliver looks at the sea. Peaceful. Quiet It would be so simple, so easy to just get away...to just..... But no. The sea was stirring now, appearing more mysterious than before. Looking up at the night sky, with its endless barrage of parading lights, Oliver Queen thinks again of his mother. Sighing, he turns around to head back towards the cabin. As he turns to leave, he steals a glimpse of a shadow, which disappears as soon as his eyes set upon it. Walking slowly towards the corner where he thought he had seen the shadow, he suddenly feels cold. Shaking away any fears he might have, Oliver turns to see...nothing. Exhaling a breath of relief, Oliver laughs a little, feeling a bit foolish at his momentary apprehension.

“Hieya!” A small figure pounces upon him, immediately cracking Oliver’s leg as he kicks it in and flips him.

Caught by surprise, Oliver Queen is overwhelmed, and falls to the ground. Scampering towards the railing, Oliver tries to catch his breath. “Aghh! Who are you? Wha-” The small, goateed man ignores Oliver’s protest, instead leaping a few feet in the air toward the railing where Oliver is leaning against. Oliver blocks his assailant’s foot out of the way, his few years of Karate paying off as best they could. But this man is a professional. An assassin. Hands reaching for his throat, the young multi-millionaire looks over his shoulder at the crashing waves below. The hands close in at rapid speed, now the choking the life from him with the help of a strong, long cord. Finally, Oliver manages to push his attacker away with his right leg, but at the same time flipping over the railing. Managing to bring his attacker with him, Oliver grabs onto the lowest of the bars of railing with one hand, while grabbing the cord around his neck with the other, trying to prevent himself from chocking to death. Looking down upon him, his assassin smiles, but only for a second, as he suddenly crushes Oliver’s fingers, and lets him plunge into the depths of an uncaring and unburdened sea.

^

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Now...

Sitting alone on the sandy shore of the island, Oliver has not moved for quite sometime. When he first awoke his head thundered, making it difficult to think in general, let alone concentrate on what had led him here. But that was hours ago. Now Oliver Queen was content- strangely at peace with what had happened. Despite the pain his body was in (his right hand’s fingers and his left leg in very bad shape) he felt more than capable to think. The man who attacked him…it must have had to do with the company. But who would hire an…an assassin to get rid of me? And why? Even though John deLeon was scum, this seemed far beyond anything he would ever do. Sighing, Oliver looks across the ocean, and realizes that none of that concerns him now- because the assassin had succeeded in his job. Oliver Queen was ‘dead’. Perhaps forever.

^

[Spider-Man Beyond]

After three days of building camp (or had it been four?), Oliver notices some wood of particular interest, a hard, springy branch- young spruce, perhaps. The shape and feel looks just about right… thinking of what he could possibly use for the second part of his devise, Oliver smiles suddenly at the irony. Coming back to the shore, he picks up the cord that had been used to try and kill him. It would be his salvation.

Working day and night, it took quite some time and a lot of hard work to make the bow. But after over a week of work, it was ready, along with the arrows. Just in time too- he was getting sick of all the grubs. But holding the bow- it felt a bit strange. It was strong and sturdy, yet flexible. Stranger still were the memories of his childhood- being introduced to archery at a young age, and thrilling to the adventurous stories of Robin Hood; his father teaching him how to hunt in trips to South Africa, but Oliver refusing to kill the animals. Things were different now: Oliver was hunting for survival. He only hoped that he had learned enough from his father to endure. Looking into the water, Oliver grins. The remains of his green pajamas from the night of his ‘exile’, along with the bow and his small, makeshift quiver full of wooden arrows- it was like looking into the reflection of Robin Hood himself.

^

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Dawn...

He had been tracking the deer for quite some time now. When he had begun to hunt, he was not sure what kind of animals he would come across, but apparently the island was much more diverse than he had previously thought. Slowly approaching the animal, he aimed. He waited another seven minutes before releasing the animal. It struck. Looking around the trees and creatures around him, Oliver Queen felt at one with nature. But looking at the stars, he only thought of his mother.

^

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Years pass by. Oliver was now more content than he had ever been before. His life had once been full of emotional baggage and a feeling of un-belonging. He had ruined his father’s company. He had driven people he cared for away with his hot-headed (and sometimes all-too selfish) actions. It was not that he hadn’t cared for others. He just had never known how to accomplish any good in a world he felt was ruled by crooked businessmen and a system he didn’t understand. But here, alone on an island he had never even bothered to give a name, and without the distractions and mundane living he had once endured, he feels at peace.

Oliver awoke from his dream with a start. It had been a strange dream, about the city he had once lived in, Star City. But even stranger was the sound that had awaken him: the alien sound of a motor near the shore. Full of enthusiasm yet still managing to approach cautiously and without a sound, Oliver hears something so amazing, and so familiar to him, he cannot help but become thrilled. It is the sound of a voice.

“Yes, tell Luthor I have the shipment. He can pick them up in Seattle…I’ll be waiting there.”

Immediately Oliver knows this is no ordinary man… he has a dark, olive cloak, light blonde hair, with an almost beige-like quality to it, and he stands with the air of a man akin to royalty. But this was no prince- the mask covering his face told Oliver that much.

“You don’t need to worry about where I’m calling from- trust me, it’s safe. If Luthor wants these super-weapons, he’ll deal on my terms. Fine.”

Luthor? As in Lex? What does he mean by "super-weapons"? Closing the cell phone, the strange figure strides toward the boat, to inspect the cargo within. Oliver feels a surge of anger as he sees what is inside the cache: a number of strange looking devices, each different, each deadly. A gun-runner. Smiling arrogantly, the strange, twisted looking man closes the box and heads back for the boat. But before he can go any further, Oliver fires an arrow, hooking the man’s cape to the outside of the motor boat. “Buddy…I don’t know who you are, but you won’t be delivering those anytime soon.”

The man looks perplexed, but than snickers, as if Oliver was hardly worth his time. Pulling the arrow out, the twisted looking man opens up his cloak, revealing strange spirals, and suddenly Oliver feels dizzy as the world spins around him. Falling to the ground, and feeling sick in his head, Oliver takes a good look at his tormentor, who proceeds to snap Oliver’s arrow in twine. “A native, eh? Well, Mr. ‘Arrow’, let me introduce myself: Men call me Vertigo, but you can call me- death!”

To be continued...