Green Arrow #18 (2013)

Oliver Queen has been hiding out in a shipping container, after being framed for the murder of Walter Emerson by an archer calling himself Komodo. He had been saved by a blind man named Magus. Waking from a fitful sleep, Oliver discovered a note from Magus urging him to leave Seattle for the Black Mesa, but first, he should search behind the bookshelf in Emerson's office for answers. Trying to keep a low profile, Oliver makes a call to Steve Trevor, begging for the chance to clear his name before the Justice League of America is called in. Trevor gives him just 48 hours. Elsewhere, Komodo returns to his home, where his assistant Mr. Kryp urges him to attend the Stellmoor industries board meeting. He has them patch in digitally, and asks them what the company's progress on the acquisition of Queen Industries is. Addressing him as Mr. Lacroix, they explain that the murder of Emerson by Oliver Queen allowed Stellmoor to buy up a majority share cheaply. Lacroix assures them that he intends to stabilize the company, and return it to the same greatness Robert Queen once strove for - after some rebranding. Q-Core, on the other hand, is beyond saving, and he orders it liquidated. The meeting is interrupted by his daughter Emiko, whose gymnastics lesson he promised to watch. Oliver makes his way to the New Dragon restaurant, seeking a man named Henry Fyff. The address had been listed as Fyff Communications, but in fact, he is currently just a delivery boy for the restaurant, and is staying at an apartment above it. The owner directs Ollie to Fyff's room and warns him that there is a new order, so he had better wake Henry up. Fyff is surprised to see Oliver there, given that it was Oliver who personally fired him from his job at Q-Core for stalking Naomi. But now, Oliver, explains, he needs Henry's help, because he was framed for Emerson's murder. Coming clean, Oliver admits that he is Green Arrow, and explains that since both Jax and Naomi were killed in the Q-Core explosion, he needs Henry to help him be Green Arrow, and hunt the people who killed them. At Stellmoor, Emiko begs her father to sit in on his next meeting, obligingly, he agrees, though he warns that it could get messy. In fact, he has both Jax and Naomi captive, and their deaths were staged. He warns them that because they are presumed dead, nothing can stop him from torturing and killing them now. As such, they must agree to work for him, or die. Unwilling to compromise his integrity again, Jax refuses, and true to his word, Komodo fires an arrow through his head at point blank range. He takes aim at Naomi, who immediately agrees to help find Oliver. Komodo warns that she had better find him within the hour, or his daughter will cut off her fingers. This exchange is overheard by Magus. Oliver and Henry take stock of what few assets Oliver has left to him, with just a few of his trick arrows left, and nowhere he can safely go to replenish them. Fortunately, Henry is already having ideas for new designs, but Oliver has other plans in mind. He needs Henry's help, first and foremost, in infiltrating Queen Industries unnoticed, so that he can find the clue that Magus hinted at. Henry admits that he will need to access the on-site computers, and so they had better start loading his truck. The truck, though, is a delivery truck. Henry points out that as much as delivering Chinese food is a waste of his potential, that was always what everyone had said about Oliver Queen's life, too. Shortly, Oliver is in Emerson's office, and it isn't long before he discovers a hidden button that opens a door behind the bookcase. Through it lies what appears to be a trophy room, but they are not just Emerson's trophies, they are Oliver's father's. A set of photos he discovers shows Robert Queen with Emerson and a third man whom Oliver does not recognize, though, in fact it is Lacroix. The beach in the background, though, is one Oliver recognizes all too well. It is the island on which he was stranded for a year. Elsewhere, Lacroix is informed by his daughter that Naomi has found Oliver Queen at the Queen Industries tower, and he prepares to finish Oliver off. Henry warns Green Arrow that someone else is in the room with him, and Oliver spins around to find Magus there. He warns Oliver to leave for the Black Mesa immediately, as the answers he seeks wait for him there - and if he doesn't leave, Komodo will kill him. Cryptically, he answers Oliver's questions about his father's room with another question: has he heard of the Outsiders? Oliver has not, and Magus warns that if Oliver does not leave, he will not be able to help protect him anymore. Before long, it is too late, and the police arrive. While they have been ordered to hold off on arresting Oliver Queen, Green Arrow is fair game, and he is trespassing at a crime scene. Eager to escape capture, Oliver fires his last grappling arrow - the same kind of arrow that killed Emerson - out the broken window, and uses his bow to slide across the gap. Halfway across, though, an arrow shot by Komodo cuts the line, and Oliver falls toward his imminent death.