The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 9

Malcolm escorted me to his car, a black vehicle cleverly hidden from the daylight. I felt like I was trapped although I was in control of my own feet, trapped behind the tinted glass of Merlyn's prison.

'Lets get down to business,' Malcolm smirked.

I rolled my eyes so he could see my hatred towards him. I know I was working for him, but I was going to make his life hell for what he'd done. His psychotic actions were inexcusable and would hurt me for the rest of my life.

'I will put you through an extensive Criminology course over the two next years,' Merlyn started. 'You should catch on quickly, seeing you are so smart.'

The problem was though, I knew I took my time to do coursework. How would I complete all my exams in two years? I didn't know anything about criminology or forensics and I'd never done it before. An obvious fail.

I didn't talk though or express my opinions. I couldn't talk to Malcolm or look Merlyn in the eye. I didn't even know whether to call him by his first or last name. I was so confused and upset.

'And then, you can work in the Starling City Police Station,' he continued, trying to catch my attention. My life sounded like it was going to be pretty dull for the rest of my life.

I took a sigh of fed-up-ness and looked outside. The surroundings looked beautiful in the morning, the trees twinkling in the frost and the grass glistening with dewdrops. I would sure miss this place. And my family. I didn't want Merlyn to know of them and their whereabouts- he was a ruthless killer who probably wouldn't hesitate in killing them if he had the chance. I couldn't risk their lives, just so I could see them a few weeks in a year. It probably would be best if they thought I was missing than them being missing instead. The university would probably tell them that anyway from previous events.

'Now that's settled, what to do about your family?' Merlyn asked slyly. My heart stopped. It was like he could read my mind.

'Just, don't harm them,' I said firmly but feeling down. 'It wasn't part of the contract.'

'What do you think I am, a ruthless killer?' he challenged. Yes, you took the words straight out of my mouth. 'I assure you, I only kill if it's necessary.'

'What, so killing Harper was?' I suddenly shouted hysterically. I was beyond sanity.

'She knew too much about me from the minute she saw me at her fathers' murder,' he said, his volume of speech matching mine.

'What did you do there?' I asked, annoyed. I always seemed to be annoyed lately.

'I was told... to take care of him,' he said slowly. So he was the murderer. The one who had ripped Harper's life apart.

Anger started bubbling up inside of me. I was getting angry a lot these days too. Due to my frustration of not getting the truth, or being told something too horrible to believe. My student life was supposed to be a fun and educational experience, not what had happened to me in the past few months.

'You bas-' I started.

'Leave it, Aria,' he said. 'I don't appreciate being sworn at.' I bet he got a lot of abuse, being an assassin. But then, he corrupted and abused many more people.

The journey to the airport was not an enjoyable one. Although we were near the airport and got there in no time, my feelings towards Merlyn ate me up inside, my urge to shoot him where he'd shot Harper consuming most of my thoughts. I even attempted it when we approached the airport car park, but he stopped my hand from reaching towards any arrows before I could harm him.

When we parked up in the private car park, Merlyn instructed me to get out first. I did and, although I felt like running away, I stayed outside the car, realising my legs were too tired, and that Merlyn got out the car before I could attempt to. Instead of being dressed in his assassin costume, he was clothed in a prestine suit, looking like a successful businessman. But I knew the man under the suit. His trickery made me feel sick.

Walking into the airport through an exclusive back door, we made our way through to a private jet, the words 'Merlyn Global Group' printed onto the metal shell of the plane. So he was a successful businessman after all, in Starling. I then realised that anyone could be a secret assassin, like Merlyn, their money and charisma able to conceal their real identity. People weren't always as they seem.

Shuddering at that thought, I continued into the airborne vehicle, noting that there would be no turning back after it took off. Giving in, I sat down on a first class seat, trying to enjoy it the best I could. If my life was going to be like this for the rest of my life, I needed to start getting used to it.

'What do you think?' Merlyn asked, referencing to his craft.

'Lavish,' I commented. 'Fussy. Excessive. Wasteful.' It wasn't like I didn't like it, I just kept trying to annoy Merlyn.

'I didn't tell you to insult my money,' he said.

'And I told you what I thought,' I answered back, flashing a fake smile. At least this was one thing that entertained me.

'I think you better start studying,' Merlyn said after an hour of silence. What a way to kill the mood even more than my current situation.

'Why?' I asked.
'If you don't pass your course, I'll have to... dispose of you,' he said, trying some sort of blackmail. But it worked. I didn't want to die just because I didn't revise.

One of his men handed me a bag of textbooks, paper and pens. and they were the finest pieces of stationery I had ever seen in my life. Merlyn seemed to have a lot of money to splash out on.

'The best in the country,' he said. 'The textbooks have been compiled so well you won't even need your class notes.' How helpful. One thing was for sure; Merlyn really wanted my help and knowledge.

'Thank you,' I said nonchalantly. Yes, I was going to be polite to the pyscho, but if I was going to spend most of the foreseeable future associated with him, I needed to cope and treat him as nicely as I could.

'That's an improvement to your mood,' he commented. Thanks, Mr Merlyn.

---

After hours of drawing colourful mind maps (complete with diagrams) of half of the first unit of the course, I decided to get some sleep. Merlyn said the flight would take about 11 hours altogether (arriving in 5 hours, after my very in-depth revision), and even though I didn't want to feel jet lagged, I was too tired and worn out to care. It was already 5:00pm; by the time I got there it would be 3:00pm in Starling, so hopefully it would feel as if I'd had a long nap.

I could see Merlyn the whole time, looking through his laptop or calling random people. Probably business partners. Or fellow assassins. I still couldn't believe who he was, businessman by day, assassin by night. The funny thing was, the plane had reminded me that a few months back, I had read an article in the newspaper about leading businessmen in America, Merlyn being one of them. That's why I recognised the name Starling. And I had thought that he must have spent all his time building up his business from scratch. And now, I see that wasn't the case.

---

A cold hand shook my warm body awake, causing me to violently jolt out of a bad dream. The problem with bad dreams was that I could never switch then off when I was asleep, and so someone had to wake me up to stop them. And this someone was Merlyn.

Then I became scared again. I had woken up from a nightmare about him. For a brief moment I had thought this whole escapade was a dream, but my wishes weren't answered.

As I walked out of the plane, I felt cold winter air hit my sleepy face and wake me up properly. Eleven hours with limited oxygen would make anyone nauseous.

Looking round at the place, I saw normal streets with American things and signs dotted around. The city even seemed it have it's own airport.
There were also a lot of skyscrapers. And I mean a lot.

'So, this is Starling,' I muttered.

'This isn't Starling,' scoffed Merlyn. 'We're in Central City.'