tamingthemuse | Prompt #115 - Cavort - Osmosis - Alex Foster

Title: Osmosis
Fandom: Smallville
Prompt: 115 - Cavort
Word Count: 893
Warnings: Spoilers for the episode Toxic
Pairing: Tess Mercer, Oliver Queen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by DC Comics and the CW. No money is being made and no infringement is intended.
Summary Preseries. Oliver Queen has left many women behind, but only one in an attempt to save her. Tess/Ollie

Keeping the arrow shaft held tightly between his thumb and forefinger, Oliver twisted the point of the knife and dragged the blade gently around the arrowhead. Wood, thinner than pencil shavings, curled around his fingers. Carving a notch just wider than his little fingernail, Ollie set the knife on the end table beside him.

In the dim light, he peered at his handiwork. It was try number one hundred sixteen and not a bad job considering the conditions, he decided. The glittering cityscape of Star City beyond the large picture windows provided the only light in his well-furnished penthouse. Sitting with his back to the impressive view, Oliver reached for a tiny silver device on the table.

Made from one of his companion’s wristwatch faces the prototype was one of his most clever inventions. If it worked, the possibilities for application were endless. Plus, with her expansive jewelry collection now his companion would never notice one piece missing.

Glancing up from his work, Oliver watched as Tess rolled over in her sleep. He didn’t blink as her arm reached blindly out, searching for his presence, before curling back against her side. She didn’t wake and he resumed working.

In the months since his spectacular return from the dead, star struck marine biologist in tow, Oliver had reshaped and redirected his family’s company into more charitable pursuits. He still had to pay some tribute to his old celebrity lifestyle though by attending parties and holding court with corporate fat cats. The Waynes and Luthors of the world needed a little push to open their checkbooks to the impoverished of the world.

With each event, however, Ollie found he had less and less of a stomach for it all. None of them really cared for the suffering in the world. Hell, if he dug hard enough he could probably trace most of it back to those companies. All Lionel Luthor cared about was power and these days Bruce mostly just cavorted around with one of his supermodels of the week.

Pushing the watch face with his thumb, Ollie snapped it and the device around it into place on the arrow. Smiling to himself, he spun the arrow between his fingers, testing the security of the instrument. Finding it tightly wedged, he picked up the knife again and used the point to set the clock at one minute. Tapping the set button he settled back into the overstuffed chair to wait.

Again he looked at Tess. In the beginning she was a great companion for him. She clung to him in the wake of what happened in Fiji and on his island. After two years on his own he was glad for the affection. She wasn’t like the spoiled rich girls in his past. She was smart and strong and had an inner flame like none he’d ever felt. But there were dark places in her too, he knew. Places that when exploited might yield something powerful. At night, when she didn’t know he was still awake, he knew she would touch the bracelet on her wrist that once belonged to her friend and cry.

He knew she hated feeling that way. It was also why he couldn’t stay with her.

At first the meetings with the world’s rich and mighty was just a means to an end. The reintroduction of Oliver Queen into high society. But he saw something change in her when she attended those parties with him. His Mercy had a taste of power—true honest to the devil rule the world type control—for the first time in her life. And it stirred something inside.

He knew better than anyone what power did to the soul. She argued with him that in the right hands the same control that destroyed people like Lionel Luthor could be used to save the world. She didn’t understand that all encompassing power corrupted mortal men.

The only true solution was to throw a wrench into the big machine and grind it to a halt. Spread the power out and let people take control. Anarchy was the only way to get anything done.

Tess’s watch hit the one minute mark and the top of the device popped open with a small click. Oliver smiled. With just one successful test of his timing mechanism and his mind already spun with the possible attachments he could add to arrows.

It was preferable to thinking about her.

His Mercy didn’t know it yet, but he’d already packed a bag and the Queen Industries jet was set to leave before sunrise. There were a few eco-terrorist groups in Australia that warranted his attention. A note left behind would tell her that the apartment was hers for as long as she wanted, and not to try searching for him.

Oliver Queen knew he should feel bad about leaving her behind, but Tess was something special. She would recover and do fine for herself. He was confident he would see her again and for her sake he hoped it was after she escaped the evil of the world he’d introduced her to.

End