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Chapter Text

As Oliver Queen looked up at the newly formed world above him, along with Barry and Sara, both of whom were looking down at him in tear filled eyes, he let out a sigh of relief that his fight was finally over. He could rest now. Everyone he loved would live again. Even if that meant that he couldn't.

With that thought in mind, Oliver closed his eyes as he felt his journey finally come to an end. Or so he thought.

About a minute later, Oliver Queen did the very last thing he ever thought he'd do again. He opened his eyes. A minute later, he shot upwards, breathing heavily, wondering how it was possible that he was even breathing at all. Dead people don't breathe.

"What the hell is going on here?" Oliver asked as he tried to get his bearings, but everything that was happening now made no sense to him.

"You looked surprised Oliver Queen. I cannot blame you." Konstantin Kovar said as he entered the room and now Oliver became aware of where he was. He was somehow back on Lian Yu as Kovar's prisoner.

"How is this possible? You're dead." Oliver said, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Nothing ever truly dies." Kovar said.

"You will." Oliver said as he quickly began working his way out of the restraints Kovar had him in.

"Big talk coming from a man in chains." Kovar said.

"Listen, before you do whatever torture you have planned for me, can I offer you some parting advice?" Oliver asked.

"What?" Kovar asked.

"When you restrain a man, always make sure all of his limbs are accounted for." Oliver said as he jumped up and kicked Kovar in the chest, then flipped as he freed his hands.

"Impressive. But inconsequential." Kovar said as he raised his gun, only for Oliver to quickly knock it out of his hand and hold Kovar in a chokehold.

"You were saying?" Oliver asked as he prepared to snap Kovar's neck yet again, though he honestly had no idea why he was doing this, since if he was dead, it shouldn't matter if Kovar tried to kill him. But then again, all factors led to one clear truth. He wasn't dead. He'd figure out what was going on later, right now, he needed to get off the island.

"Do you really think that you will be able to get off this island alive Mr. Queen? Even if it is not me who gets you, there are others who will." Kovar said.

"And they'll end up the same way you have. Dead on the ground." Oliver said.

"But what of Ms. Lance?" Kovar asked, making Oliver halt.

"What?" Oliver demanded, thinking that they'd also captured Sara somehow.

"Do you honestly believe that you can find where my men have hidden your beloved before the boat arrives to take you home?" Kovar asked.

"Where is she?" Oliver demanded.

"Why would I tell you that. You and Ms. Lance caused me a great deal of trouble back in Russia. What better way to repay you than to make sure you never get home. You kill me, my men will kill her." Kovar said.

"Your men are likely already dead." Oliver said, though he wasn't as confident about that as he would like to be, since now he had no idea what was going on.

"You honestly believe that woman could kill my best men on her own?" Kovar asked.

"You'd be surprised." a new voice that surprised both Kovar and Oliver for different reasons as they turned to see not Sara, but Laurel Lance standing there, her appearance rather ragged, but ultimately, it looked like she'd come out the victor of a few fights.

"Laurel?" Oliver asked, trying to figure out what the hell was going on here.

"What are you waiting for Ollie, the boat will be here any moment." Laurel said and Oliver nodded as he then proceeded to snap Kovar's neck.

"And this time, stay dead." Oliver said, still wondering what was going on, since he had no idea how any of this was happening.

"His men are dead, but we need to move now or we'll miss the boat and I don't know about you, but I've had my share of island life." Laurel said.

"Let's go." Oliver said as he followed Laurel out the door, but to his surprise, he did not find himself on Lian Yu, but in a place he despised almost as much.

"So, you're alive again." Oliver said to Mar Novu.

"As are you Mr. Queen." Novu said.

"What the hell is going on here? Why am I back on Lian Yu and why is Laurel here with me?" Oliver asked.

"It would appear that a force even greater than myself has decided that your journey is not yet complete Oliver." Novu said.

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked.

"Instead of dying, you have been reborn in the new world you have created, as have the paragons." Novu said.

"I don't understand." Oliver said.

"It would seem that the land of the living is not yet done with you Oliver. So, instead of dying, you have been given a fresh start. You have been returned to the day you returned home from Lian Yu so that you can correct your mistakes and save those you could not before." Novu said.

"Like Laurel." Oliver said and Novu nodded.

"Indeed. It would appear that the universe has decided to reward you by giving you a chance to be with your true love, for while you loved Felicity Smoak greatly, you never did love her the way you did Laurel Lance." Novu said and Oliver couldn't even deny it.

"So does that mean that everyone else I love is back too? Tommy, my mother, Samantha, Quentin, Emiko?" Oliver asked and Novu nodded.

"Yes. You have been given a second chance to save the world Oliver Queen. I recommend you use it wisely." Novu said.

"Is there any chance that you could give me a crash course on everything I've missed?" Oliver asked and Novu chuckled.

"Of course. I will have to do that for all the paragons, except for Lex Luthor, who's memories I will be erasing now that he is no longer of use." Novu said and Oliver nodded as Novu waved his hand and suddenly, Oliver felt the memories of a life he'd never lived enter his mind and he now saw the changes in this reality. In this universe, he'd taken Laurel and Sara on the Gambit, though it was only because Sara had wanted to hitch a ride to China with them and since Sara had finally gotten over him, Oliver, Laurel and Robert hadn't seen the harm in letting her tag along. However, when the gambit went down, they'd been separated and while the rest of his and Sara's history had gone about the same as before, Laurel had been found by the League right after the Gambit had gone down and had thought he was dead, even after Sara joined the League, until they'd met up by pure accident in Russia where Oliver had convinced her to come back with him and now, he was planning on going to Nanda Parbat to get Sara her freedom too.

"Before you go after Sara, I caution you to wait until after you have met with J'onn J'onzz, since he and the other paragons will remember the truth of what is going on as well, so he will be very helpful in helping you build your team." Novu said and Oliver nodded in understanding as Novu returned him to his new life in this brave new world.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you got all of Kovar's men?" Oliver asked as he and Laurel rushed to where the crates with the gear Anatoli had prepared for them were hidden.

"Yeah. I also shot down his chopper while you were taking a nap." Laurel said.

"He wanted me personally." Oliver said as they reached the crates and they both quickly made it appear like they'd been on the island for years.

"Whatever. Come on, we've only got one shot at this." Laurel said as Oliver nodded as he grabbed his bow, lit the arrowhead and shot it at the pyre, causing it to ignite, just like before, as he and Laurel ran towards the beach to find the boat approaching.

"We're going home." Laurel said.

"And once we're there, we'll find a way to get Sara to come home with us." Oliver said and Laurel nodded, right as the boat reached the shore and two chinese fisherman were standing on the boat.

"You lit the fire?" one of the fisherman asked and Oliver nodded.

"Please, we've been stranded here for 5 years. Can you help us get home?" Oliver asked and the fishermen nodded as they helped Oliver and Laurel board the boat, though neither of them noticed the looks the two fishermen shared.

After the two of them had gotten as comfortable as they could be on the boat, Oliver thought about all the things he was going to do differently, especially after J'onn restored the memories of the rest of his team. The first thing he was going to do was bring his team back together. Starting with his brother in all blood, John, along with Roy, Rene, Thea if she wanted to and even Felicity. And this time, he was going to make sure that the team did not disband. There was also a reason he was bringing Rene in and it was the same reason he had been harder on Rene than he had any of the others. It was because out of all of his recruits, Rene was the one who reminded him the most of himself, which was probably why they'd clashed so frequently. But Oliver knew that Rene was a good man and out of all of the recruits, he was the one Oliver could trust the most, since even though he had betrayed him once before, Oliver understood his position, since honestly, he likely would've done the same thing if the roles had been reversed.

Then he started thinking about how he'd approach his villains differently. Malcolm, Ra's, Darhk, Diaz and Dante, they were all dead as soon as he got them in his sights. Slade, Chase, Emiko and even Cayden James, they were different stories. While Oliver knew that Slade had done some terrible things, he also knew that the only reason he had done them was because he had the mirakuru in him. Oliver knew that underneath the mirakuru was still a man he called his brother and he knew that he had to try to get him back, since who knows, maybe if he prevented Slade from becoming the terrorist Deathstroke, maybe it could prevent his sons from going down the same path. Chase, while Oliver knew he was insane, he also knew that the main reason he'd attacked Star City was because Oliver had killed his father. Which was why Oliver was simply going to put Justin Claybourne in prison instead of kill him, though he also needed to have Chase committed for life, which he was sure Lyla could help him with, though he had no intention of dealing with Chase until after he'd put Waller in the ground, since this time, he wanted to be the one to do it. Emiko, well, Oliver was hoping that after J'onn restored her memories, she'd remember who her real family was and turn on the Ninth Circle, since he'd made it clear to her that despite her thoughts, he did care about her. As for Cayden James, Oliver knew the only reason James had become a real threat was because Diaz had been pulling their strings, so he figured that by killing Diaz, preferably as painfully as possible, he could prevent those events from taking place.

Anyways, Oliver finally pulled himself out of his thoughts as he thought about a phone call he needed to make.

"Hey, do you have a phone? I need to make a call." Oliver said.

"I'm sorry, but that is not happening." one of the fishermen said and Oliver quickly went into attack mode.

"Wait, what?" Laurel asked, her eyes widening.

"Did you really think that you could get away with betraying the Demon Al Nnaji?" One of the fisherman asked.

"Wait no." Laurel said as they both realized what was going on, but they were both injected with knockout agents before they could do anything. However, none of them were expecting what happened to Laurel after she passed out.

When Oliver came too, he groaned as he found himself back in Nanda Parbat.

"Welcome back to Nanda Parbat Ollie." Laurel said from where she was chained to a column next to him and he found himself similarly restrained before her words fully registered with him.

"Wait, welcome back?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, I remember everything thanks to some big guy with head ridges appearing while I was unconscious. He explained everything to me and restored my memories of my old life." Laurel said.

"Wonder why he'd do that." Oliver said, since Novu never did anything without a reason.

"Beats me, though I have to admit, while my old life may not have been as painful as this one, I kind of prefer the life I had on this earth." Laurel said and Oliver looked at her like she was crazy.

"You're kidding? You prefer the version of your life where you got on the Gambit with me and then spent 5 years as a League assassin?" Oliver asked.

"I know it sounds crazy, but yeah, since for one thing, at least now I'll have a real shot in the field, since I do plan on joining you in the field again as the Black Canary, but more importantly, now I feel like I understand you in a way I didn't before. Plus, now I know that we're going to live through this." Laurel said.

"Maybe, we'll talk more about all this once we get home. But there is one more thing you need to know." Oliver said.

"And what might that be?" Laurel asked.

"Since Sara was at the dawn of time with me, she also remembers the way the world used to be, so she also knows how this is going to end, which is probably the only reason she didn't object to us being brought here." Oliver said and Laurel nodded as the door to the chamber they were being held in opened and Nyssa walked out of it.

"Look how you've fallen." Nyssa said to Laurel.

"How'd you find out I was alive?" Laurel asked.

"It was your sister wasn't it?" Oliver asked.

"So, you know of Talia's relation to me? Excellent. Then you know why she betrayed you." Nyssa said.

"Yes and I plan on repaying the favor once I'm done here." Oliver said.

"You truly are arrogant if you think you will be allowed to leave this place alive." Nyssa said.

"Can you just take us to your father already. If I'm going to die, I'd like to get it over with." Laurel said and Nyssa nodded.

"Very well. Take them." Nyssa said as more assassins appeared and took them to the throne room.

When they arrived, they found Sara waiting with Ra's.

"Al Nnaji, how could you betray me like this? I took you in, I made you strong." Ra's asked Laurel.

"I was never truly one of you and neither is my sister." Laurel said.

"Maybe, but still, you betrayed me and for that, you must pay the price." Ra's said.

"Wait. Laurel told me of your customs, including a trial by combat." Oliver said.

"You wish to fight me?" Ra's asked incredulously and Oliver nodded.

"Laurel only deviated from the League's path because I persuaded her too. This is my opportunity to make amends." Oliver said.

"You are truly delusional if you think you can beat me boy." Ra's said.

"And by refusing my challenge, you look weak to your followers." Oliver said.

"Well played. I accept your challenge and after I kill you, I will kill her and both of your families will pay the price for your defiance." Ra's said.

"But if I win, you will be the one who dies and Laurel and Sara Lance will both be set free." Oliver said.

"I agree to your terms, not that it matters, since you will die." Ra's said.

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Oliver said as his chains were removed and he and Ra's both removed their shirts before they were given swords and circled each other.

"Begin." Nyssa said as she and the whole League watched the unfolding spectacle.

Oliver struck first, as Ra's expected him too, but to his surprise, it was not the sloppy and undisciplined charge attack Ra's was expecting from him, but rather, a swift and precise hit that the Demon's head had to move quickly to dodge.

"You are more skilled than I thought." Ra's admitted.

"First thing I ever learned was that underestimating my opponent was the first and greatest mistake a warrior can make." Oliver said.

"Wise words. Pity they will not save you." Ra's snarled as lunged at Oliver, who blocked and parried with ease as the two began their duel, their blades clashing so quickly that to the untrained eye, they were just two blurs and the only sign of them clashing was the sparks that flew from them. However, every member of the League had their well trained eyes set on the battle and all of them were impressed, since none of them had ever seen an opponent as skilled as Oliver fight Ra's before, since it looked like he was not only fighting the Demon's head he was beating him.

Both Laurel and Sara had to stop their grins, since they both knew how this fight would end, but that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy the show, since after all the pain Ra's had caused them in both realities, they were very pleased to watch him be beaten by Oliver.

"Where did you learn such skill?" Ra's asked as he now found himself in an impossible situation. He was actually being forced on the defensive while Oliver pressed the offensive and he was doing a very good job of kicking Ra's ass.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Oliver said as he used a quick trick to disarm Ra's and held both blades crossed at his opponent's throat, the entire league shocked by this turn of events.

"I will offer this only once. Yield." Oliver said.

"Never. I would rather die than live with the shame of having been defeated by the likes of you." Ra's sneered.

"So be it." Oliver said as he then proceeded to separate Ra's head from his body, stunning the entire league into silence as Oliver pried the demon's head off of Ra's finger.

"Kneel before the new Ra's al Ghul." Oliver said, his tone cold and dark as the League reluctantly did so, except for Nyssa.

"No, I will not accept an outsider stealing my birthright." Nyssa said as she charged at Oliver, who simply tossed her over his shoulder and pinned her to the ground.

"I have no desire to rule the League. I only wanted to save my life and the lives of the only two people in this room I care about." Oliver said, though that wasn't completely true, since he did care about Nyssa, but not as much as he cared about the Lance sisters.

However, he was pulled from his thoughts when he heard someone else enter the room.

"How did you find this place outsider?" a league member asked as Oliver looked up without losing his focus on keeping Nyssa restrained and he was relieved by what he saw.

"I'm a friend of the new Ra's al Ghul." J'onn J'onzz said.

"Leave us." Oliver said as the league members, aside from Laurel, Sara and Nyssa left them.

"How'd you find this place J'onn?" Oliver asked.

"Not easily. But I think you know why I'm here." J'onn said and Oliver nodded.

"Only person you need to do it for is Nyssa here." Oliver said and J'onn nodded.

"Do what?" Nyssa asked as J'onn restored her memories and Oliver released her from her death hold.

"My apologies." Nyssa said to Oliver.

"It's fine. But Nyssa, you know I never wanted to be Ra's." Oliver said and Nyssa nodded.

"I know and honestly, neither do I, but after speaking with Talia, I've come to realize that the league is necessary. And maybe she and I can work to make it something better as she did before." Nyssa said and Oliver nodded.

"I will give you the ring on a few conditions." Oliver said.

"And they are?" Nyssa asked.

"You use the League's resources to help me find Ricardo Diaz." Oliver said.

"Done." Nyssa agreed immediately.

"And also, Al Faith's sword, it belongs to Thea." Oliver said.

"On that we agree." Nyssa said.

"Okay uh, can we go home now?" Laurel asked and Oliver nodded as he handed the ring to Nyssa.

"You may be my friend Nyssa, but if you make me regret this, I will take this ring from you as easily as I gave it to you." Oliver said and Nyssa nodded as she turned to Sara, who'd stayed surprising quiet during this whole ordeal.

"I suppose it would be foolish of me to hope that you'd stay here with me?" Nyssa asked her.

"I wish I could say yes Nyssa, if only to spare you the pain, but we both know that I can't. We both want different things and while I loved you once, I've found someone else that I love even more. And I can't be in a position to find her if I'm here. Besides, you deserve someone who loves you as much as you love them and that isn't me anymore." Sara said sincerely.

"I know, but I had to try, since you will always be my beloved." Nyssa said.

"I know. But Nyssa please, try and move on. Don't stay hung up on me forever." Sara said, since she knew that Nyssa had never truly moved on from her.

"I will try." Nyssa said.

"So, how are we getting home?" Sara asked.

"Well, the original plan was scrapped due to the League showing up, but I think J'onn might be able to help us out." Oliver said.

"How so?" J'onn asked.

"You can shapeshift into one of the fishermen who found us on Lian Yu and get us to Hong Kong in the boat we came on." Oliver said and J'onn nodded, since that did sound like a good plan.

"But before we go anywhere, Sara, I'm kind of wondering why you haven't spoken to me yet." Laurel said to her sister.

"Because I've been trying to convince myself that this is real." Sara admitted as she finally walked towards her sister and hugged her tightly.

"I missed you so much." Sara said as she cried tears of joy at the thought of having her sister back.

"Now you know how I felt each time it happened to you." Laurel said as she hugged her sister back.

"Let's make a deal, no more dying till we're too old to lift swords." Sara said and Laurel laughed.

"Deal, now let's go home." Laurel and Sara nodded as they, Oliver and J'onn left Nanda Parbat to return home.

Chapter Text

After J'onn got Oliver, Laurel and Sara back to civilization, specifically the coast of China like they'd originally planned, Oliver gave him a list of people in Star City to restore the memories of when they returned. But while he did that, Sara decided that she and Laurel needed to have a talk about all the tension she could sense coming off both her sister and Oliver the entire boat ride back.

"What's up?" Laurel asked after Sara pulled her aside.

"We need to talk about the emotional tension I felt between you and Ollie on the entire trip back to civilization." Sara said.

"What are you talking about?" Laurel asked.

"Please, I could see you two practically undressing each other with your eyes." Sara said.

"Sara, please, do we have to do this now?" Laurel asked.

"Yes, because I do not want to have to deal with that tension on the plane ride back to Star City. Especially since it'll be best if you and Oliver spend that time working it out. Laurel, do you still love him?" Sara asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah I do, but he probably doesn't feel the same way. After all, I hear he eventually married Felicity." Laurel said.

"I think that the only reason Ollie did that is because he thought that you didn't want to be with him. He was just trying to respect your wishes." Sara said.

"Maybe. But that doesn't change the fact that I lost him once and since there's a good chance that Oliver is going to ask J'onn to restore Felicity's memories and I don't want to get in the way of her and Oliver." Laurel said.

"Still, I think you need to talk this out with him. The sooner, the better." Sara said.

"I know. I just don't know how to bring it up." Laurel said.

"Laurel, you told him on your deathbed that he was the love of your life, I think that is a pretty good way to start the conversation." Sara said and Laurel sighed, since she knew Sara was right.

About an hour later, Oliver, Laurel and Sara found themselves on the private plane Oliver's mother had hired to bring them home, since she didn't trust a commercial plane to bring them home and while she was eager to see her son, she decided that it would be faster for everyone to just hire a plane that was already in China instead of sending the Queen Family's private jet from America to China and back, not that any of them minded, since honestly, they just wanted to get home. Moira had also wired them enough money to get decent clothes so that they wouldn't be returning wearing rags.

Anyways, Sara was currently taking advantage of shower that was in the bathroom of the plane and Oliver and Laurel had actually let her have first dibs on it, since in this reality, she was probably the one who'd had to go the longest without running water.

Oliver was currently sitting in one of the comfortable seats of the plane, holding a glass of scotch and savoring the taste of it as he sipped it, since he honestly never thought he'd be able to enjoy things like this again.

"That looks good." Laurel said as she sat down across from him.

"You want a glass. You're not an alcoholic on this earth." Oliver reminded her.

"Thanks, but I'll pass. Don't want to push my luck, though I guess I do have better coping skills now than I did before." Laurel said.

"So, is there anything in specific you wanted to talk about?" Oliver asked, though he was pretty sure he knew what it was.

"Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about what I said when I was on my deathbed." Laurel said.

"Oh, you mean how you told me that I was the love of your life?" Oliver asked, since he'd never forgotten those words.

"Yeah, that. I'm honestly wondering if telling you that was a mistake. Especially since now I know that you did get back together with Felicity and you married her." Laurel said as she started to ramble, only to be stopped by Oliver kissing her.

"Okay, not that I'm complaining, but what was that?" Laurel asked when he pulled away.

"That was me telling you that it wasn't a mistake. The only mistake was that I didn't have a chance to tell you that you were wrong when you said that you weren't the love of my life. Laurel, the only reason I moved on is because you told me too. You said we couldn't be together." Oliver said.

"And I was wrong about that. But by the time I'd realized what a huge mistake I had made, you were falling for Felicity." Laurel said.

"You could've told me. Maybe if you had, things would've gone differently." Oliver said.

"Maybe. But Ollie, on this Earth, we have a chance to undo our regrets. I need to know, do you regret loving her?" Laurel asked.

"I don't regret the time I had with her, but at the same time, I do regret that I didn't spend that time with you instead. Even after you died, I was shown signs that you and I were meant to be and I still didn't listen because you were dead. In my mind, that meant there was no point in trying. So I pushed those feelings down." Oliver said.

"And now?" Laurel asked, though she was very happy with what she was hearing.

"I've lost you too many times already. I'm never gonna lose you again." Oliver said and Laurel smiled as they kissed again this time much more passionately, right as Sara exited the bathroom, fully dressed in new clothes and while she smiled at the sight of her sister finally getting the man she'd always loved, she knew she needed to put a stop to what was going on before she saw something she did not want to see. To that end, she cleared her throat, causing them to break apart.

"Sara. I didn't hear you leave the bathroom." Laurel said.

"Yeah, I could tell you were a bit preoccupied." Sara said with a smirk.

"Is there something we can do for you Sara?" Oliver asked, a bit annoyed by her smug look.

"Well, you could not do something right in front of me, but I was just letting you guys know that I was done in the shower and that one of you guys can hop in, though maybe you'd both prefer to just jump in together." Sara said with a smirk as she took a seat on the other side of the aisle from them, put a pair of headphones on and started listening to music.

"You know, that's not a bad idea." Oliver said to Laurel.

"You read my mind. Just promise me you'll be gentle. It's been awhile." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"No promises." Oliver said and Laurel squealed in surprise and joy as he swept her into his arms and carried her into the bathroom.

By the time the plane landed in Star City, Oliver, Laurel and Sara had all gotten cleaned up to the point that if people didn't know better, they wouldn't know that they'd ever been shipwrecked. After they got off the plane, they were quickly met by an ambulance to take them to Starling General, since while they appeared to be alright, as far as the world knew, all three of them had been stranded on an island in the North China Sea for the past five years, so they needed to be checked out by doctors and their families would be meeting them there.

After they'd arrived at the hospital, they were each given their own hospital rooms as they were examined by doctors.

Laurel was currently looking out at Star City, thinking about how peaceful the city was when she heard the door open. She turned to see her father standing there and he looked more teary eyed than she'd ever remembered seeing him.

"I didn't want to let myself hope that it was true, because I didn't want to risk the disappointment and despair I'd feel if it wasn't and I lost you again." Quentin said as he walked up and hugged his daughter.

"So, you remember everything?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah, the martian guy restored my memories and not just mine. He also restored the memories of Moira, Thea, John, Felicity, Roy, Tommy and two of Oliver's newer recruits, Rene Ramirez and Dinah Drake." Quentin said.

"Dinah huh. Sounds like Ollie kept his promise to me." Laurel said.

"Yeah, he made sure you weren't the last canary." Quentin said.

"Well now I'm going to be the Black Canary again." Laurel said.

"The only reasons I'm going to act like I'm okay with that is because I know that you'll do it regardless of what I think, but more importantly, now you have the same training as Oliver and your sister, which means that you're a bit more prepared." Quentin said and Laurel nodded.

"Speaking of Ollie, there's something I need to tell you." Laurel said.

"You do know that Sara squealed that you're dating him again right?" Quentin asked with a chuckle.

"Of course she did. Are you okay with that?" Laurel asked.

"I am actually. I know that originally I hated Oliver, but that was before I got to know the man he's become and that man is one that I'd be proud to call my son-in-law should it get to that point." Quentin said and Laurel smiled.

"So, when can I get out of here. Honestly, I've had more than my fair share of hospitals to last a lifetime." Laurel said.

"As soon as Dr. Lamb arrives with your discharge papers since he said that all your tests came back clean, really you now just have a similar case to what Oliver and Sara both had when they came back from the dead." Quentin said and Laurel nodded.

At the same time as Laurel's reunion with her father, Oliver was staring out the window of his hospital room, taking a look at how peaceful Star City was right now. Malcolm's undertaking had been what had started the process that had begun reducing the city to the state it had been and now he was armed with the knowledge he needed to stop it. Star City would not fall again. He would not fail again.

Anyways, he was driven from his thoughts when he heard the door to his room open and he turned to see his mother enter the room.

"Oliver?" Moira Queen asked and Oliver felt a ton of weight be lifted off his shoulders at the sight of her being alive.

"Hi mom." Oliver said with a smile as Moira rushed up and hugged him.

"My beautiful boy. You came back to us. Again." Moira said.

"So J'onn delivered." Oliver said.

"Yes, but honestly Oliver, I would've preferred if you'd left me in the dark, so that way I could sleep at night instead of having to worry about the danger that both of my children seem to want to constantly put themselves in. However, I am happy that I now remember how proud I am of the man you've become. The hero." Moira said.

"I couldn't save you though." Oliver said.

"That was not your fault Oliver. I made a choice to sacrifice myself for you and your sister and it paid off, since it gave you the strength you needed to save the city. Besides, it was the only way I felt I could truly do my penance for the Undertaking, which is not going to happen now. I've already spoken with Ms. Smoak about anonymously releasing everything regarding Malcolm and his undertaking to the public, but I wanted to wait until you returned, since you're the only man who stands a chance at stopping him." Moira said and Oliver nodded in agreement, since he was the only person who'd ever managed to beat Malcolm Merlyn more than once.

"I'm guessing the reason Thea isn't here is because she's setting up a welcome home party for Laurel, Sara and I at the mansion." Oliver said.

"Not just her. All your friends, though I can't help but notice how close she is with that Roy character." Moira said and Oliver chuckled.

"I thought you liked Roy." Oliver said.

"I do, but still." Moira said.

"Mom, Roy is the only man who's actually gained my approval to be with Thea for good reason. He loves her more than anything and the only reason things ever went south between them is because of his commitment to me and the mission. But that's not an issue anymore." Oliver said.

"I have to say, I'm not sure how I feel about Thea joining your world. I at least took some comfort in knowing that only one of my children was putting themselves in life threatening danger." Moira said.

"Look, I wasn't thrilled about it either, but Thea is a hero. She proved herself in the field and while honestly, there are very few people I trust to watch my back as much as I trust her too." Oliver said.

"Well good. It's nice to know that despite all my mistakes, I did something right, since both of my children grew up from spoiled brats into selfless heroes." Moira said with a smile as she hugged her son and Oliver decided that he could wait until tomorrow to confront his mother about her lies regarding William and Emiko. Today, he just wanted to enjoy having his mom back. He just wished that he'd gotten his father back as well, but he supposed that would be too greedy.

"What are you thinking about?" Moira asked.

"While I'm glad I was able to save you, I just wish I'd been able to do the same for dad. I mean it sounds like I was able to change everything else. Your death, Tommy's death, Quentin's death, Laurel's death, but I couldn't save his." Oliver said.

"Oliver, I think I know why you couldn't bring Robert back. You could only change the things that wouldn't change you and if it weren't for what your father did for you, you never would've been able to become the man you are today and I don't think Robert would want you to give that up just to bring him back." Moira said.

"I know, but still." Oliver said.

"Oliver, you can't live for your father. You need to live for yourself." Moira said.

"I know and I think I've finally managed to let go of my guilt for dad's death." Oliver said.

"Good. Because while I do miss your father, I also know that he would not want you to blame yourself for his choice." Moira said.

"So anyways, think we can get out of here soon? I've honestly had my fill of hospitals for a while." Oliver said and Moira smiled.

"I'll see what I can do." Moira said.

After Oliver, Laurel and Sara had been discharged from the hospital, they, along with Moira and Quentin, rode in the limo back to the Queen Mansion and Oliver had to admit it was nice to see how peaceful the city looked right now. Before Malcolm's undertaking had caused the city's slow descent into hell.

"It's refreshing how peaceful the city is right now isn't it." Quentin said.

"Yeah and hopefully it will stay that way, since this time, I'm not going to let the Undertaking of any of the rest of the hell that came to this city happen again." Oliver said as the limo pulled up to the mansion.

"Good. Now, I believe you have some people waiting to see you again that we've put off long enough." Moira said as they all got out of the limo and after getting their things out of the trunk, they headed inside the mansion.

"Welcome home Mr. Oliver, Ms. Laurel and Ms. Sara." Raisa said with a smile as she hugged Oliver before leading him, Laurel, Sara and Quentin into the parlour, where they found that a whole party had been set up, complete with a welcome home banner and Thea, Roy, John, Lyla, Felicity, Tommy, Rene and Dinah were all waiting for them, glasses of champagne in their hands.

"Welcome home." they all shouted in unison and Oliver laughed as Thea ran up and hugged him.

"I told you you'd find a way to cheat death. Again." Thea said.

"No need to gloat Speedy." Oliver said with a laugh as Thea let him go to have a reunion with Laurel while Oliver turned to John.

"John, I already know what you're going to say and don't. What happened was not on you." Oliver said.

"I should've at least been there for you Oliver." John said.

"John, you risked a trip to purgatory to bring me back, I think that makes up for it. Besides, what's important is that I came back and I'm not the only one." Oliver said as he looked over to Laurel before he was interrupted.

"Yeah and I appreciate the second chance man." Tommy Merlyn said with a grin as he hugged his best friend.

"I missed you man." Oliver said with a smile.

"What, life wasn't the same without me?" Tommy asked.

"More like I couldn't bring myself to move past your death and my guilt about it." Oliver said.

"Oliver, it was not your fault. If I had just listened to you, I would've been fine. However, I'm guessing that I should not bother going after Laurel this time around." Tommy said with a smirk.

"What gave it away?" Oliver asked.

"I can tell by the way you look at her. Does she know?" Tommy asked.

"We got back together on the flight back to the states." Oliver said.

"Then I think that you owe someone else a chat." John said, nodding in Felicity's direction, especially since she seemed to be avoiding him.

"Yeah, excuse me." Oliver said as he walked towards her.

"I was really hoping that we could do this later." Felicity told him.

"Felicity, I think we both know that if we did that, we'd put this conversation off until things got to the breaking point." Oliver said.

"Just another sign that we were not meant to be." Felicity said.

"Really." Oliver said.

"Oliver, despite what we told ourselves, our marriage was not like Barry and Iris's. Half the time we weren't even on the same page and even when we were, it felt like we were on different parts of it." Felicity said.

"That is true. But Felicity, what I felt for you, it was real." Oliver said.

"I know and what I felt for you was real too. But at the same time, I think I always knew that no matter how you felt about you, you loved her more and I can't exactly blame you, since Laurel is more your type." Felicity said.

"Meaning?" Oliver asked.

"Badass in leather who knows her way around a weapon." Felicity said and Oliver chuckled.

"You were the exception to that." Oliver said.

"Look Oliver, I don't regret the life we built together and I could try and fight for you, but that wouldn't be fair to either of us, since you'd be in love with someone else and I'd be with someone who didn't want me as your first choice, since honestly, I never was to begin with was I?" Felicity asked and Oliver took a deep breath.

"No, you weren't. You were the safe option. A girl who knew my secret, but also didn't come with a bunch of baggage from the past." Oliver said.

"And honestly, I think I was more attracted to the danger of the idea that came from dating the bad boy vigilante." Felicity said.

"This talk is not as awkward as I thought it would be." Oliver said and Felicity smiled.

"I think that's because we're not involved with each other anymore. I think we both know that while we have loved each other in some way, we worked better as friends." Felicity said and Oliver nodded.

"Friends then." Oliver said, holding out his hand, which Felicity shook.

"Friends it is. Oh and one more thing, I am now the CEO of Queen Consolidated." Felicity said bluntly, taking Oliver for a loop.

"Okay, I did not see that coming." Oliver said.

"See what coming?" Thea asked.

"Felicity being the CEO of Queen Consolidated?" Oliver asked.

"Mom didn't tell you about that?" Thea asked.

"No she did not." Oliver said.

"I wasn't sure how you'd react." Moira said as she joined them.

"I think it's a great idea, since Felicity is the most qualified for the position." Oliver said.

"Something we agree on, considering the fact that Queen Consolidated's profits have tripled since she took over for mom last year." Thea said with a grin.

"Wow, so many things about this world are different." Oliver said and Moira nodded.

"I have a feeling that we've only begun to see the changes. But for now Oliver, let's just enjoy the moment." Moira said and Oliver nodded.

At the same time as Oliver's conversation was going on, John went to talk to Laurel.

"Welcome back Laurel." John said as he hugged her.

"Thanks and Dig, Ollie told me how you reacted after my death and it wasn't your fault." Laurel said.

"Laurel, if I hadn't had trusted Andy, Darhk never would've gotten that piece of his idol back and he might not have been able to kill you." John said.

"John, I don't blame you for what happened. I never did. But if it will help you move on, I forgive you." Laurel said.

"I just wish I could forgive myself." John said.

"What's important now is that I'm alive and now we know better than to trust Andy when shows up." Laurel said and John nodded.

"Andy is my brother in blood only. My real brother's name is Oliver Queen and I trust him with my life." John said.

"We all do." Laurel said as she looked over at her boyfriend, only to be greeted by her ex-boyfriend.

"Hey Laurel." Tommy said.

"Tommy, I'm so sorry for what happened." Laurel said.

"Don't be. I was the one who made the choice to go in to save you and I would make it again in a heartbeat." Tommy said.

"Doesn't make it any easier to live with." Laurel said.

"But you have. And Laurel, just so you know, if you want to be with Ollie, I support that, since honestly, you always loved him more than me." Tommy said.

"But I did love you." Laurel said.

"True, but not as much as you did him." Tommy said and Laurel nodded in acknowledgement of that.

"So, what have you been up to while I was gone. Still partying?" Laurel asked.

"Actually no. I decided to follow in my mom's footsteps on this earth. I'm a doctor now." Tommy said.

"Huh, Dr. Merlyn, sounds like some kind of Grey's Anatomy character." Laurel said and Tommy laughed.

"Maybe, but I was thinking that maybe that could be my contribution to Team Arrow, since I don't have the same combat skills as the rest of you, but from what I hear, you guys never really had a fully trained doctor on the team." Tommy said.

"That's something you'll need to talk to Ollie about." Laurel said and Tommy nodded.

"I'm glad to see you both here." Oliver said to Rene and Dinah.

"I was surprised we got the brain dump, especially since you got your OG squad back." Rene said.

"And especially since you've got the real Black Canary back, since I was never truly worthy of the mantle." Dinah said.

"The only reason everything happened the way it did is because I did not trust you two the way I should have and Diaz took advantage of that. But you two have proven that you deserve the level of trust I should've given you to begin with. And while Dinah, you may not be the Black Canary anymore, since you're right, that mantle is going back to Laurel and honestly, there should only be one Black Canary to avoid causing confusion when we're out in the field, but I do want you two by my side." Oliver said.

"What about Curtis? Why didn't you have J'onn restore his memories?" Rene asked.

"Because honestly, a majority of what Curtis can do is covered by Felicity and he was never really that effective in the field." Oliver said.

"You're not wrong about that." Rene said and Dinah nodded her head in agreement as the party continued.

"I'd like to call a toast." Oliver said towards the end of the party as everyone turned to face him.

"A toast to everyone here, myself included, who has been given a second chance at life." Oliver said as he looked from Laurel, to Tommy, to Moira, to Quentin.

"And to the new future that we will build together. One where our city is not destroyed by the Undertaking or the Siege or anything else. One where Star City remains intact and becomes the shining jewel we all think it could be. To the future that we will do everything in our power to ensure is a bright one." Oliver said as they raised their glasses.

"With speeches like that, you might as well start your mayoral campaign now." Thea said, only half joking.

"Funny, though I am planning on running for mayor again and this time, I'm gonna deal with Ricardo Diaz before he can get me impeached." Oliver said and they all nodded in agreement as they said cheers and took sips from their drinks.

Chapter Text

"So, why are we here again?" Laurel asked as she, Oliver and Thea arrived at a deserted building in the Glades, finding Lyla waiting for them.

"Not sure. Lyla texted me last night and asked me to get the team together at this address, but she didn't say why." Oliver said as John, Roy, Felicity, Tommy, Rene and Dinah joined them.

"John, you have any idea what this is about?" Oliver asked.

"Man, I'm as in the dark about this as you are. All I know is that Lyla said that she had a surprise for us." John said.

"And I promise that it will be worth all the secrecy." Lyla said.

"Okay, so why did you want us to meet you here?" Oliver asked.

"Because I thought I might help you guys establish a new bunker, since I don't think that the foundry or the basement of Queen Consolidated is going to be big enough for all of you. Both of those were barely big enough for the team when it was just Oliver, John, Felicity, Laurel and Thea or Roy." Lyla said.

"Lyla, if you're offering us an Argus base, I appreciate that, but you know how I feel about Amanda Waller." Oliver said.

"That's why she doesn't know about this and besides, this place is a former Argus base. It was shut down due to budget concerns, you'd just need to fix it up, but it'll meet all your needs." Lyla said.

"And you still know that Waller will find out and while there is a simple solution to that, I'm not sure how it would play out." Oliver said.

"You want to kill her." John said, not at all surprised. In fact, everyone who'd met Waller understood that sentiment.

"You know Waller is too dangerous to be left alive. Plus, I don't want to risk her doing the same thing to me that she did to Maseo." Oliver said.

"You think she'd bring William into this." Felicity said and Oliver nodded.

"I don't think she'd bring William and Samantha into this, I know she would. That woman would gladly hold them both hostage just to keep me on her leash. Not to mention the fact that she thought it would be a good idea to create something like Rubicon. She has to go." Oliver said.

"I figured you'd say something like that, which is why ever since J'onn restored my memories, I've been working on putting together a dossier of all of Waller's crimes to justify her death." Lyla said.

"I'll help with that." Felicity offered.

"I was hoping you would, since you're the only person I know of that I trust that's ever been able to crack her firewalls and encryption. Though Cisco probably could too." Lyla said.

"Who's William?" Tommy asked.

"He's Oliver's son and the one person he'd do anything for." Laurel said.

"Okay, I know I said I had a problem with you killing, but considering the fact that I'm cool with you killing my dad, I guess I can add this bitch to the list too." Tommy said, since while he was still uncomfortable with the idea of his best friend being a killer, he was slowly beginning to understand the necessity of it.

"Plus, once Lyla is made director of Argus, we can begin rooting out the Ninth Circle and get to Emiko." Rene added and Oliver nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we should check this place out before we call in Cisco to upgrade it." Dinah said and they all nodded as Lyla led them inside.

"Okay, I'm not that impressed, since this is just a single story building." Tommy said.

"Where's the secret elevator?" Oliver asked.

"Right this way." Lyla said as she moved a light fixture on the wall to reveal a hidden scanner, which she then placed her face in front of as it scanned her.

"Identity confirmed, deputy director Lyla Michaels." The AI said as the wall panel slid away to reveal the hidden elevator.

"We'll authorize the rest of us once Felicity has this system disconnected from Argus's." Oliver said and they all nodded as they stepped into the elevator and took it down to the abandoned base.

"Well, I think that we can definitely work with this once we get Cisco to upgrade it to our needs." Oliver said as they entered the dusty base.

"It's got everything you'll need. Meeting room, control hub, armory, training room, garage, plus a few upgrades like a real medbay, an actual R&D lab for Felicity, since if I remember correctly, you're just about as good of an inventor as you are a hacker." Lyla said.

"At least in this universe. Thank goodness I kept that expertise when J'onn restored my memories." Felicity said, since she was now a tech genius in addition to being a computer expert and excellent business woman.

"Along with a lounge area and also gives you access to service tunnels under the city." Lyla said.

"Okay, no offense, but this is way better than our old bunker." Rene said.

"None taken, you're right and the reason for that is because the old bunker was really what we threw together from Sebastian Blood's old lair. Now we're taking over a former government base. It offers several perks we didn't have before." Oliver said and they all nodded in agreement.

That night, Amanda Waller was walking through Argus HQ and she was only slightly concerned when she saw her agents on the ground with arrows in them.

"Tranq arrows. You're losing your touch Oliver." Waller said as Oliver dropped down, dressed in his hood garb.

"Not really. Just not interested in killing agents who are only guilty of following orders. You on the other hand. I'm going to take great pleasure in making your death slow and painful." Oliver said as he notched an arrow.

"You're bluffing. You wouldn't risk me exposing you." Waller said.

"Except that Agent Michaels helped an associate of mine get past your firewalls and get rid of everything you have on me." Oliver said as he fired an arrow into her knee, making Waller fall back in pain as Oliver walked up to her and twisted the arrow, making her wince in pain.

"You have to know that you have this coming. Akio's death could've been avoided if you hadn't brought him and Tatsu to China and don't give me any of your BS, we both know you'd let as many kids die to complete a mission as necessary. Why they ever allowed you to remain in a position of authority this long or at all is beyond me, but now that mistake is going to be corrected and you're going to pay for every single one of your crimes. And you're not going to prison." Oliver said.

"If you do this, you're a criminal." Waller said.

"Not when a dossier of your crimes has already been leaked to every law enforcement agency in the country. Including Task Force X. The way I see it, I'm making sure that you can't escape justice ever again. If you want to beg for your life, now's the time." Oliver growled at her.

"Even if I thought it might work, we both know that I wouldn't." Waller said.

"I know. I just wanted to see if you'd do it before I did this." Oliver said as he then proceeded to jam an arrow in Waller's skull, since honestly, he was not convinced that this woman had a heart.

"That was for the Yamashiros." Oliver said as he then proceeded to remove the arrows from Waller, arrow that Felicity had made to resemble bullets, then fired a cable arrow into the vents to escape and honestly, that was one kill he'd made that he actually enjoyed and would not lose any sleep over since Waller was a sociopath who should not have ever been allowed to become the director of Argus. Now Lyla would be able to take over and Argus would be able to become the organization it was always meant to be. One that actually helped the world.

Chapter Text

"Should we really be toasting you killing someone?" Felicity asked as Team Arrow gathered around the table in the conference area of their new bunker.

"Normally I'd say no, but considering this is Amanda Waller we're talking about, I think it's something worth celebrating, since the world is so much better without her in it." Oliver said.

"Says someone who doesn't have to deal with the fallout." Lyla said as she entered the bunker.

"Sorry about that Lyla, but you know that she had it coming." Oliver said.

"I know, but still, I forgot how annoying it was to have to deal with cleaning up all her messes." Lyla said.

"Not to mention also removing the corruption that comes from the Ninth Circle." Dinah said.

"Speaking of which, John, any chance you could reach out to your stepdad, ask him if he'd be willing to help out with that?" Lyla asked.

"We'd need real proof of the conspiracy first." John said.

"I can't have you removing the Ninth Circle from Argus yet anyways." Oliver said.

"And why's that?" Lyla asked.

"Because right now, Deputy Director Bell is my only way of getting in touch in Emiko." Oliver said.

"You think you can change her mind? Bring her over to our side?" Rene asked.

"I did it once, I can do it again. Though preferably without her dying shortly afterwards." Oliver said.

"Yeah, I'd like to meet my sister this time around since honestly, while you're great Ollie, I've always wanted a sister." Thea said and Oliver chuckled.

"None taken. It was nice to have a sister who actually gave me a challenge when we sparred." Oliver said.

"Not fair, you and Emiko both have several more years of training than I do. Though technically, I have just as much of a right to the mantle of Ra's al Ghul as Nyssa." Thea said.

"Wait, what?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah, in the old reality, Thea beat Nyssa's old sister Talia and won the sword of the first Ra's al Ghul, which is basically the same thing as winning the demon's head ring. When I restored Nyssa's memories and gave her the League, it was on the condition that she returned the sword to Thea, since it's rightfully her's." Oliver said.

"Yet she doesn't have the sword." Laurel said.

"Because it's currently hidden in a tomb that Nyssa has yet to find and we did not have time to retrieve it before we left Nanda Parbat. But she will get it eventually." Oliver said.

"Yeah, but first I need to get back into shape, since my 17 year old self, while I do enjoy not having all the scars and bruises, this version of my body isn't exactly in the best condition to be swinging from the rooftops." Thea said and Oliver nodded.

"We'll get to that. But for right now, we should focus on getting up and running, since I'd like to start crossing names off my list, starting with Malcolm and this time, I'm gonna make sure that he stays dead." Oliver said.

"What about Slade?" Laurel asked.

"I'll talk to Caitlin, see if she can remake the mirakuru cure like she did before so that I can cure him, but if all else fails, I'll kill him if I have too. I'm not betting mom's life on that again. Especially if Slade finds out that I have a son." Oliver said.

"Maybe we should keep a similar play in our playbook." John said.

"Meaning?" Rene asked.

"Slade has two sons, both of which are psychopaths, but he still cares about them. Slade goes after William, we counter with Joe or Grant. Your choice." John said.

"Not a bad idea, but let's hope it doesn't come to that." Oliver said, since while he knew that both of Slade's kids were even worse than Slade himself, he did not want to have to stoop to those levels on a man that he still considered to be his friend.

"What about the Team's other big bads?" Rene asks.

"Ra's al Ghul is already in the ground and his replacement is a trusted friend and ally of the team. Cayden James should not be a problem so long as his son is not brought into this fight, which will not happen because I've got Nyssa searching for Diaz as we speak and he's found, I will kill him." Oliver said.

"I think we can all agree that the sooner that happens the better." Felicity said and everyone who'd met the bastard agreed and the others, Laurel and Tommy, decided to take their words for it.

"As for the others, Darhk is going to be used for target practice, since his magic is the only real advantage he has over me. As for Chase, he only became a problem because I killed his father and while I will still be sending Justin Claybourne to prison for the rest of his life, I am also going to be doing everything I can to get Chase committed to mental institution for the rest of his life. I'm also going to be speaking to Talia to make sure that she doesn't try to take revenge on me again, since I killed her father in League combat, just like before." Oliver said.

"Well, it's nice to know that we have a plan for all that, but none of it can work if we don't have our gear, which currently does not exist yet." Dinah said.

"I got in touch with Cisco, he said that the Wells Imposter has him working around the clock on some big project, but that he'd get that stuff to us as soon as possible. However Dinah, there is something we need to talk about." Oliver said.

"My new codename." Dinah said and Oliver nodded.

"Having two Black Canaries in the field at the same time is a risky gambit, since it could cause confusion. We got lucky when it was you and earth two Laurel after she took on the Black Canary mantle." Oliver said.

"And that's why I want my new codename to be Black Siren." Dinah said.

"Are you sure?" Felicity asked.

"I think it's time that the name is put to good use, besides, the Laurel Lance I knew may be gone, but she's not forgotten. This is how I choose to honor her memory. By taking her old mantle and using it for good." Dinah said and Oliver nodded.

"Black Siren it is then. I'll call Cisco, see if there's any way he can speed things up." Oliver said.

"Pun intended?" Felicity asked and Oliver chuckled.

"No, just a happy accident. I'll also see if it's anything you could potentially help with." Oliver said and Felicity nodded.

"Actually, I'm heading to Central City tomorrow to visit my mom, since she couldn't be bothered to come back to Star City to see either of her daughters after they come back from the dead. Why don't you come with me." Laurel said, not even bothering to show her annoyance with her mom, which none of them could blame her for.

"Actually, I'm trying to avoid going to Central City for as long as possible." Oliver said.

"Why, I thought you'd want to see William?" John asked.

"It's not William I'm avoiding, it's Barry. He was not exactly thrilled when he found out about the deal I made with Novu to save him and Kara." Oliver said.

"Can't say I blame him." Felicity said.

"I don't regret the choice I made and I'd do it again in a heartbeat to save my friends." Oliver said.

"But Oliver, you were wrong about something you told Novu." John said.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"You told me that you told Novu that Barry and Kara were the best of us but you weren't, but honestly Oliver, that's a lie. You've always been the one to lead the charge and the deal you made proved that you are the best of us. You're the one who brought us together. And I don't just mean Team Arrow. You inspired both Barry and Sara to be heroes and assemble their teams and you're one of Kara's closest friends. You've impacted all of us in some way." John said.

"He's right Ollie. This world needs you." Thea said.

"It will always have the Green Arrow." Oliver said.

"I'm not talking about the Green Arrow. I'm talking about Oliver Queen." Thea said.

"Oliver, remember Earth two? That was a world that was specifically worse because you weren't in it. Thea was dead and Tommy, Rene and Dinah were all bad guys." John said.

"Really? How bad was I?" Tommy asked.

"You were Earth two's Dark Archer." Oliver said.

"Wait, I was as bad as my dad?" Tommy asked, horrified by the implication.

"Except for the fact that Oliver was able to talk the you of that universe down. Though one perk is that Chase was a good guy." John said.

"How good?" Rene asked, finding that incredibly hard to believe.

"He was Earth Two's Green Arrow." Oliver said.

"Okay, now that I find that hard to believe." Dinah said.

"Imagine seeing it in person." Oliver said.

"Anyways, back on topic, you coming with me to Central City?" Laurel asked, trying to wrap her head around everything she'd just learned.

"Yeah, might as well get the talk with Barry over with and also find out why there haven't been any reports of the scarlet speedster yet." Oliver said and they all nodded in agreement.

Chapter Text

"You didn't have to come with me John." Oliver said to John as they walked through the suburbs of Central City.

"I'm your bodyguard Oliver. I go where you go." John said.

"John, what is going on with you? Ever since I got back, you've constantly been at my side and while I don't mind, this feels like more than you just doing your job. So what's up?" Oliver asked.

"It's nothing." John said, but Oliver was pretty sure he knew what was going on.

"John, what happened wasn't your fault. I was the one who made the deal with Novu. I knew that it would end in my death and I made my peace with that. But everything worked out in the end, since I'm alive and we've been given a do over." Oliver said.

"I know, but Oliver, I promised you I'd be there for you till the end and I wasn't. And that's not the only time I failed you." John said.

"John, you never failed me." Oliver said.

"But I did Oliver. Ever since you went to prison, one thought, one question, has kept haunting me. Would you have had to do it if I hadn't abandoned you." John said.

"John." Oliver said, but John cut him off.

"No Oliver, I did the very thing that I got so angry at my stepdad for. The only difference is that I actually did it. I broke the first rule of the corp and abandoned my brother when he needed me the most." John said.

"John, Diaz was manipulating us, he knew exactly how to push your buttons. I don't blame you for that. And as for me going to prison, that was my choice." Oliver said.

"A choice you only made because you were left with no other option. And the only reason you were put in that position is because I let Diaz play me and I let my own issues blind my judgement. Looking back on it now, I can't believe I actually voted in favor of rescuing Vigilante, since when I was in the army, the call always would've been the one to save the most people. You made the right call, as usual. Just more proof that I'm not the man that should be wearing that hood. You are." John said.

"John, I never held any of that against you. You were suffering from withdrawals from a drug that Diaz was supplying you with, he knew you were on my team, which is why he got you hooked. It's not on you." Oliver said.

"And some part of me knows that Oliver, I really do, but at the same time, it seems like my mistakes have the biggest consequences." John said.

"That's not true John. Not by a long shot." Oliver said.

"Really? My trusting Andy got Laurel killed, my addiction led to you being wrongly incarcerated with Diaz taking over our city and when you died, I wasn't even there man." John said.

"John, my mistakes have always had larger consequences. My inability to believe that my mother was up to something led to me being unable to stop the Undertaking, Slade was able to kill my mom because I didn't act fast enough to stop him, I nearly destroyed our friendship when I kidnapped Lyla while I was undercover with the League and the only reason Darhk was able to kill Laurel is because I didn't kill him when I had the chance and a whole town paid the price for that. So John when it comes to mistakes and consequences I've got you beat by a long shot." Oliver said.

"Still. Oliver the first job of a bodyguard is to make sure that the client doesn't get killed. I think I failed on that miserably." John said.

"I'd agree if I was still your client, but I think we passed that a long time ago John. It's not an employer/employee between us anymore or even friends. We're brothers." Oliver said and John smiled.

"Yeah we are. And unlike my blood brother, you're the one I would do anything for." John said.

"Then forgive yourself for what happened, because I never blamed you for it. And honestly, I think we both knew that as long as I was wearing the hood, there was a good chance I was going to go down fighting." Oliver said and John nodded.

"I guess I just deluded myself into thinking that you could survive anything." John said.

"No one can survive anything John. One constant about everything in the universe is that every living thing dies eventually. Which is why I'm asking you now that if I do die again, don't bring me back. We've messed with the natural order of things enough time already and I don't think we should push our luck." Oliver said and John nodded.

"Okay then." John said.

"But John, I need to know something right now. When Andy comes along." Oliver said.

"I'm gonna put two in his head without any hesitation." John said.

"Good." Oliver said as they stopped near a house.

"You sure you don't want to actually see him?" John asked as they watched two people leave the house.

"No. Not yet at least. As much as I want to be a part of his life again, now is not the right time. I have to do what is best for William and right now, that means keeping my distance from him." Oliver said.

"Still, can't be easy. He's your son." John said.

"Keeping my distance is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but for now it's what's best. Especially considering the psychopath that's still on the loose in this city." Oliver said.

"We're working on taking him down by the way." Barry said as he joined them.

"Barry." John said as they shook hands.

"Hey Dig. You're looking good." Barry said.

"You too." John said.

"Oh, before I forget, you both are invited to my wedding." Barry said.

"You and Iris are already engaged?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah we are. And hopefully this wedding goes by a lot more smoothly than our old one did and hopefully we'll be the only ones getting married that day." Barry said, looking at Oliver.

"I am sorry about that Barry, but to remember, that wasn't technically my idea." Oliver said.

"True. Also, if the news is anything to go by, then I don't think that will be happening again." Barry said.

"Yeah, Laurel and I are back together in this reality. She's visiting her mom now." Oliver said.

"You know I've been keeping tabs on him ever since I woke up in this reality?" Barry said.

"Thank you Barry." Oliver said.

"The least I can do for the Spectre." Barry said.

"Don't call me that. That's not me anymore." Oliver said.

"It shouldn't have had to have been you in the first place." Barry said.

"Barry, I don't regret making the deal I made with Novu, since we both know that you would've made the same call I did. Besides, becoming the spectre was always my destiny. Though I'm hoping I won't need to become it again." Oliver said.

"We all do." Barry said.

"Anyways, I'm also here because my team needs our suits and I'm wondering why you haven't put on yours yet?" Oliver asked him.

"Because while Cisco is able to get your suits done in the cover of night, we have to be careful how he responds to creating my suit, since it could raise unwanted questions from Thawne about how Cisco had the Flash suit already waiting before I even got my speed." Barry said.

"Looks like you've finally learned the benefit of slowing down." Oliver said.

"For the first time ever, I finally have the upper hand on Thawne. For once he is playing my game, not his. And I am going to enjoy ending our race once and for all." Barry said.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Oliver asked.

"He took my daughter from me Oliver. I watched my daughter blink out of existence because of what Thawne did. Tell me, what would you do if it were Mia or William?" Barry asked.

"I'd make whoever was responsible wish they were never born before I finally put them out of their misery." Oliver said, since he understood Barry's anger, since Lyla had told his team about Barry's future daughter being in the present.

"We're working on another potential way to deal with him, but honestly, I doubt it will work, since there's only one way I can ever truly win against him." Barry said.

"You're gonna kill him." Oliver said and Barry nodded.

"I let him go once and it cost me my daughter. There's no prison in the universe that can hold him." Barry said.

"Look Barry, I get that, but at the same time, are you sure that's the kind of hero you want to be?" Oliver asked.

"It's the kind of hero that you are." Barry said.

"Yeah, and every time I've taken a life I've had to work hard to prevent it from chipping away at my humanity. But Barry, you're not me. You've never drawn your strength from darkness like I have. You're light. And call me sentimental, but I think you should stay that way." Oliver said and Barry smiled.

"See, you're still the all knowing mentor." Barry said.

"Nice to know some things haven't changed. Now, when can I meet with Cisco?" Oliver asked.

"Come by my apartment tonight, I'll have Cisco join us there." Barry said and Oliver nodded as they went their separate ways for the time being.

Chapter Text

Roy was surprised when he answered the door of his, for lack of a better word, house, to find Lyla waiting there.

"Lyla, is everything alright?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, at least, for me. Things between Johnny and I could not be going better, Oliver is back and no longer in any more danger of dying than he usually is from his line of work and I'm working on reforming Argus, though leaving the Ninth Circle alone as per Oliver's request. I'm more concerned about you." Lyla said.

"I'm fine. Truly. Could not be better." Roy said as he walked away from her.

"Yeah, why don't you try telling that to someone who doesn't lie for a living." Lyla said as she noticed the state of Roy's home.

"I'm fine." Roy repeated.

"No, you're not. You're still beating yourself up for something that happened in another reality. Actions that don't even exist anymore and never will." Lyla said.

"Yeah, you'd think that would make me better, except, when J'onn restored my memories, he also reminded me of everything I've done. Every innocent person I've killed. I thought that rejoining the team, being Arsenal, would help me, but it doesn't. I still see them when I close my eyes." Roy said.

"Is that why you haven't tried to patch things up with Thea? It doesn't take a genius to see that you still love her." Lyla said.

"She deserves better than me. She's a hero. I'm a monster." Roy said.

"You seem to be forgetting that Thea has the same demons as you. She's dealt with them. Having killed someone without being aware of it, the bloodlust, she's been through that too. And unlike you, she has the blood of one of her closest friends on her hands." Lyla reminded him.

"Yeah, I know. And honestly, I'm envious of how easily she's been able to move past it. That's something that I am still struggling with. Though I will admit that being with the team did help. It's just not enough though." Roy said.

"You don't feel like you're doing enough to atone for your actions." Lyla said.

"Not really. And I'm not sure I ever will." Roy said.

"Well, I think I may know something that will help with that." Lyla said.

"What?" Roy asked.

"I find myself in need of an agent. Preferably one who's very loyal and is a very good shot. Sound like anyone you know?" Lyla asked.

"We both know Oliver's not interested in working for Argus." Roy said.

"True, but we both know I wasn't talking about him." Lyla said and Roy chuckled humorlessly.

"Yeah, right. You really want me to be an Argus agent?" Roy asked.

"Yes I do. After Johnny killed his brother and was arrested after he'd been framed, he didn't want to leave because he felt like prison was his way to repent for killing his brother." Lyla said.

"From what I hear, Andy had it coming." Roy said.

"I agree with that. But my point is that John felt like he needed to atone for what he did and Oliver convinced him to do it as Spartan." Lyla said.

"Yeah well, I've tried doing my penance as Arsenal. Hasn't really given me the closure or peace I needed. Not enough of it anyways." Roy said.

"I know. But I think that being an Argus agent will." Lyla said.

"And what about the team. I can't just pick up and abandon for missions across the country, overseas. They're counting on me." Roy said.

"What's this really about? Because you've left before." Lyla reminded him.

"Because I had no choice." Roy said.

"I wasn't planning on sending you overseas, not unless your particular skill set was necessary. There's plenty of work that can be done here in Star City." Lyla said.

"You really think that this will help me?" Roy asked.

"I do. Everyone has a darkness inside them, Oliver is proof of that. You just need to find a healthy way to release it. Everyone deals with it in a different way. Being Arsenal isn't enough for you, but I think that this will." Lyla said and Roy thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"When do I start?" Roy asked and Lyla smiled.

"Come by HQ tomorrow morning. We'll get everything settled then. But a little advice." Lyla said.

"This will be good." Roy said.

"Talk to Thea. I think you owe her a conversation." Lyla said.

"Is that an order?" Roy asked with a slight smile.

"No, just some friendly advice. Another thing that might help you is if you don't keep pushing her away. You're miserable enough as it is dealing with the darkness in you. Don't make yourself any more miserable by pushing the person you love the most away." Lyla said.

"Yeah, I'd love too, but I'm pretty sure Thea would rather put an arrow in me than give me another chance and frankly, I don't blame her." Roy said.

"Still, I think you owe her a talk. Among other things." Lyla said.

"Might as well do it while her crazy, arrow shooting brother is still in Central City." Roy said.

"I think we both know that Oliver is not the one you need to worry about." Lyla said.

"Fair enough." Roy said, knowing that Lyla was right.

"I didn't think you'd come." Roy said the next time he opened the door to find Thea waiting for him.

"I almost didn't. But then I figured I'd hear whatever explanation you have before I turn you over to Ollie." Thea said and Roy sighed.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did. Hell, I am amazed that you haven't put any arrows in me yet." Roy said.

"I'm honestly more partial to taking your arm off." Thea said and Roy actually chuckled.

"Well I deserve that. And probably worse. But Thea, I didn't ask you to come here to beg for forgiveness, I know I don't deserve it and I probably don't even deserve you. But I do feel that I should at least try and explain why I did what I did." Roy said.

"What, you mean ghosting me. Again." Thea asked.

"I know. I thought that I needed to deal with my actions, my demons alone." Roy said.

"And you forgot that I know a thing or two about them. I've dealt with the bloodlust, I've dealt with having killed people who didn't deserve it because I was drugged by one of Oliver's enemies. I know the dark places that it can take you. I could've helped you if you'd let me." Thea said.

"I didn't want you to see me like that." Roy said and Thea sighed.

"You saw me when I was at my lowest point. And you helped me through it. I could've done the same for you." Thea said.

"I have a harder time asking for help than you do." Roy said.

"Even so, I could've helped you." Thea said.

"I know. I just, I didn't want to pull you down with me." Roy said.

"I wouldn't have let you. I could've pulled you back up. But you never even gave me a chance to try." Thea said.

"I know. And for that I'm sorry. I'm not expecting forgiveness, but I thought I should at least offer you an explanation, not that I'm expecting." Roy said, only to be cut off by Thea kissing him.

"You talk too much." Thea said with a smile as she pulled away.

"That was not how I saw this conversation going." Roy said with a smile.

"I just wanted to hear why you did what you did. But, I need to know now before we go any further, will you bail on me if something like this happens again?" Thea asked.

"No, this time, I promise you, I'm in this for the long haul." Roy said.

"Good. Because if you do bail on me again, I'll kill you myself. Understood?" Thea said.

"Loud and clear." Roy said.

"Good." Thea said as she kissed him again and this time, she let things progress.

Chapter Text

Before leaving Central City, Laurel decided that there was one thing she needed to do, whether she wanted to or not. She needed to have a talk with her mom, since it sounds like she was even worse in this reality than she was in the old one and the only reason she thought that is because at least in the old reality when she'd left, her father had still had Laurel with him to help him. This time however, she'd left him to grieve for both of his daughters on his own and she couldn't forgive that. Hell, the only reason she hadn't been pissed at Sara for running off with the Legends after she died in the old reality, since she knew that her mother likely wouldn't be there to offer support is because she knew that her father had Donna Smoak to comfort him, not to mention the Queens. That reminded her, she needed to talk to Felicity about potentially setting their parents up again in this reality, just to see if they were still compatible.

Anyways, since Oliver was talking to Barry and Cisco about the input she and Thea had given for their suits, since neither of them had ever had a Cisco made a suit for and they were kind of jealous, since they all knew that he did the best work. Though the guy who made Kara's Supergirl suit was also good, they didn't have his number. In fact, unlike everyone else on her team besides maybe Roy, Laurel had never even met Supergirl and she was still waiting for Oliver to introduce her.

Anyways, while Oliver and John were occupied with that, Laurel decided that she couldn't keep putting off having this conversation with her mom, since it was honestly overdue, since not only had she walked out on her dad when he needed his wife the most, but she hadn't even bothered to come back to Star City this time around when both of her daughters returned from the dead.

So, with that in mind, Laurel took a deep breath as she stood outside her mother's apartment before knocking on the door.

After a few minutes of waiting, the door opened to reveal her mother and namesake, Dinah Lance, was waiting for her.

"Laurel." Dinah said with a grin as she hugged her daughter.

"Hi mom." Laurel said, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to come and see you or your sister yet, though she did visit me a little while back. I've just been so busy here for work." Dinah said.

"Yeah, for work. Being a professor is so much more important than seeing the daughters you thought were dead for 5 years. Nice to know where your priorities are mom." Laurel said angrily.

"No Laurel, it's not like that." Dinah said.

"Really, then what was it like huh? And also, how could you just abandon dad like that. He'd lost both of his daughters just like you did and yet, you ran. You promised that you'd be there for him in good times and in bad ones. Did you actually mean it when you said those vows?" Laurel said.

"Of course I did." Dinah said, a bit surprised at how upset Laurel was about this.

"Really, because you have a funny way of showing it. I mean you couldn't even be bothered to come to take some time off from work to see your daughters that came back from the dead. I'm sure the university would've understood your desire for time off. But you decided that your work was more important. Dad has a lot of faults, but he always puts his family first. Something that I'm glad I got from him." Laurel said, glaring at her mother intensely, since no matter how she thought about it, there really was no way to justify her mother's actions. In either reality honestly.

"Laurel please." Dinah said.

"I only came here so I could get your reasoning behind abandoning your family when it needed you the most, but honestly, there isn't any reason for it. At least no good reason for it. Honestly, you should go back to using your maiden name, since honestly, you're not a Lance anymore." Laurel said, despite still hearing her mother try to excuse her actions, but honestly, all they did was make Laurel angrier and honestly, she could feel herself needing to get outside before she did something she regretted, though she wasn't sure if that was her assassin side talking or not. All she knew was that something was building up inside her and she needed to get away before it was released, since while she may be angry at her mom, she didn't want to kill her. Not enough to actually do it anyways.

"I need to go." Laurel said, since despite her best efforts, whatever it was that was inside her, it was building and she couldn't stop it, no matter how hard she tried. She needed to get outside before she hurt her mother or anyone else for that matter.

"Laurel, please." Dinah said, but it was no use as her daughter rushed away from her, though Dinah didn't know what the real reason was, she just assumed that her daughter was disgusted by her actions and after Laurel had confronted her about them, Dinah had to admit, she couldn't exactly blame her oldest daughter. She decided that the best thing to do would be to wait for Laurel to calm down a bit and then she'd go to Star City and at least have a talk with Quentin, since she knew she owed him that, since Laurel was right, there was no excuse for her abandoning Quentin when he'd needed her the most.

As Laurel rushed outside the building, she felt her head begin to pound as she felt flashes of memories enter her head, like she had when the Monitor had restored her memories, but this was different. She didn't recognize any of what she was apparently remembering from either reality. That was something she'd have to figure out later.

Anyways, she barely managed to make it into an abandoned alleyway when whatever was building inside of her finally became too much and she could stop herself from screaming and to her shock, she released a burst of sonic energy from her mouth that did some serious damage to the alley and and actually sent her flying back a few feet.

"What the hell was that?" Laurel asked herself as she suddenly felt strange, like a stranger in her own skin. She knew she needed to tell Oliver about this now, along with Team Flash, since if anyone could figure out what was going on with her, it would be them since they were the metahuman experts.

"So, you're sure Thawne won't get suspicious?" Oliver asked Barry as they and Cisco stood in Cisco's workshop.

"Benefits of having the upperhand on Thawne is that now we're able to blind his surveillance system. For once we're ahead of him. Right now Caitlin has him checking out a lead on Firestorm, so he shouldn't bother us." Barry said and Oliver nodded.

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't attacked him yet." Oliver said.

"This is one fight I can't speed through. It's hard, but I know that I have to do this the long way, or else I could end up losing my shot." Barry said.

"Plus you want to enjoy the case of role reversal where we're playing Thawne instead of the other way around." Cisco said.

"True." Barry said.

"Anyways, I think that these plans should satisfy your bunker needs very easily and I've got a majority of your suits done." Cisco said.

"Great. Star City needs the Green Arrow now more than ever since everyday we get closer to the Undertaking and I want to put Malcolm in the ground before he has a chance to do anything. Plus, just like how Thawne killed your mom, Malcolm got my dad killed. I need to pay him back for that." Oliver said and Barry nodded.

"Yeah well, I think that my suit might need a little adjusting." Laurel said as she joined them.

"Laurel, what happened to you?" Oliver asked as he rushed to his girlfriend's side.

"I just discovered I was a meta, though I don't know how since I was with you in Russia when the accelerator blew." Laurel said.

"Okay, we'll need Caitlin to run some tests on you to see if we can determine the cause." Cisco said.

"What kind of powers do you have?" Oliver asked, though he had an idea and based off the look on Barry and Cisco's faces, they had the same one.

"Let me guess. Sonic cry?" Cisco asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Laurel asked.

"Because every one of your doppelgangers from other earths that we encountered in the old multiverse had that power." Barry said.

"Look, I wish we had time to stay here for the tests, but I think it would be better if you had Caitlin send her notes on the testing to Felicity, since not only do we need to be heading back to Star City, but I don't want to risk tipping Thawne off to you being onto him, since I'm sure that the moment he sees me at least, he'll know he's made and speed off." Oliver said and Barry nodded.

"That's probably the best course of action right now. I hope you understand Laurel." Barry said apologetically to her, but Laurel brushed him off.

"Don't worry about it, I need to get back to Star City for the Bar Exam, since while I finished law school before the Gambit went down, my license has likely been revoked or expired, so I need to retake the exam and get my legal license back before I can get a job as a lawyer." Laurel said.

"You passed the mental exam? No offense?" Cisco asked.

"None taken, I understand your skepticism. But one of the perks of having my memories from the old world is that I was able to pass the mental and psychological exams with ease, since I never went through anything that traumatic before." Laurel explained and Cisco nodded since that made sense. At least in their line of work it did.

"Great, let's get going." Oliver said.

"I'll be by next week with your suits and also to help Felicity with upgrading your new bunker." Cisco said and Oliver and Laurel nodded as they headed out, ready to grab John from wherever he was and go home.

Chapter Text

"So, why'd you call us here?" Rene asked as he, Dinah, Thea, Roy, Felicity and Tommy entered the bunker to find Oliver, John and Laurel waiting for them.

"I wanted to show you the latest improvement we've made to the bunker." Oliver said as he typed a few buttons into the console, causing a few lights to switch on revealing mannequins each one bearing a different suit on it, in the following order from left to right. Wild Dog (though it looked like Cisco had made some improvements, since while Rene was partial to his OG Suit over the one Cisco had made him, it looked like Cisco had taken that combined the two, making Rene's OG suit more protective), Spartan, Green Arrow, Black Canary (which looked like Earth Two Laurel's suit since Laurel had decided that suit was likely more protective than her homemade one and like Dinah, she wanted to honor her counterpart's memory, even though she'd never known her), Arsenal, a silver suit that looked like an updated version of Speedy and finally, Black Siren (which was basically Dinah's Black Canary suit).

"Damn, Cisco does fine work." Rene said as he walked up to his suit.

"That he does." Oliver said as he looked at his own suit, which Cisco had made to look exactly like the one he'd worn on the lost battle for earth 38.

"Question, why is my suit the wrong color?" Thea asked.

"I realized that having everyone call you Speedy was a bad idea, since it's a dead giveaway to anyone who knows you. I was thinking that maybe you should be the one to get the mantle of Artemis, since I have a feeling that you'll put it to better to use than the last person who had it." Oliver said.

"You mean the traitor." Felicity said.

"Hey, go easy on her." Rene said, the guilt from his own betrayal still eating at him.

"Rene, you are different then Evelyn, it was two completely different situations and now that I've taken the time to calm down, I see that. Rene, while what both of you did was a breach of trust, but unlike Evelyn, you did it for the right reasons. You were doing what you had to in order to get your daughter back, while Evelyn sold us out for her own selfish reasons. That's why I chose to forgive you and bring you back into the fold. I trust you Rene. And so please, stop blaming yourself. Especially since it's for something that will never happen again, since as soon as I find him, I'm putting Diaz so far into the ground even though he won't be able to find his way back out." Oliver said.

"Still, we should do something about Samandra Watson." Dinah said.

"One problem at a time." Oliver said they all nodded.

"Why does it sound like you already have our next problem in mind?" Thea asked.

"Because you know me Speedy." Oliver said.

"What's up?" John asked.

"Before this team can get out into the field, we need to address a problem within it." Oliver said.

"What problem?" Tommy asked.

"The problem is that while certain members of this team are comfortable fighting alongside each other the only people who've actually worked alongside every member of this team are myself and Dig. Roy has worked with us, along with Laurel, Rene and Dinah, Laurel has worked with myself, John, Thea and Roy, Thea has only worked with John, Laurel, Roy and I and Rene and Dinah have only worked with John, Roy and I. If this team's going to work, then we all need to be able to work in concert. If we're going to stop all the threats to Star City, both old and new, we need to be fully united. So, this team is going to start training together, both down here and in the field until we're able to work in perfect sync. Like we did before." Oliver said.

"Agreed, but Oliver, I think that you're the one that needs to suit up first, since from what I hear, you're kind of behind everyone else." Dinah said.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"Come, Sara, Kara, Kate, they've all suited up already and Barry is likely not that far behind. You're supposed to be the first vigilante, not the last." Dinah said and Oliver rolled his eyes as he turned to his suit and they could all see his thoughts moving away from them.

"Where'd you go there?" Laurel asked her boyfriend as she snapped him back to reality.

"Sorry, just thinking about something that Corrigan told me while I was in Purgatory." Oliver said.

"What?" John asked.

"Before I went to the Vanishing Point to pick up Barry, Sara and the others, he had me relive all of my old battles, basically my greatest hits. Malcolm, Slade, Ra's, Darhk, Prometheus, all of them." Oliver said.

"Why would he do that?" Laurel asked.

"To show me that all those fights, every battle, every scar, every victory, every defeat, was to prepare me for something greater." Oliver said.

"Becoming the Spectre." John said, remembering what Corrigan had told Oliver before he'd sent himself, Constantine and Mia back to Earth One.

"Yeah. And I just can't help but think that maybe I'm going down the same path again." Oliver said.

"Oliver, becoming the Spectre was your destiny in the old reality. The anti monitor is dead. There's no reason for you to become the Spectre again. And even if you do, well, that's something to worry about in the future. You don't need to be the Spectre now. What you need, what the whole city needs is for you to be the Green Arrow." Felicity said.

"Careful Felicity. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to make a move on my man." Laurel said with a smile, though it was made very clear that she was only half kidding.

"Relax, I'm not gonna risk the wrath of the Black Canary." Felicity said, making it clear that she was over Oliver, which was true, since honestly it had become clear to her that while Oliver had loved her once, it was never the he loved Laurel. Not that she could blame him, since Laurel was far closer to Oliver's type than she was.

"Good. But she's right Ollie. Star City needs the Green Arrow. Don't worry about that whole Spectre thing. We don't need that right now. We need the Green Arrow." Laurel said and Oliver smiled, since he knew that they were right.

"Let's suit up. Time to let Malcolm know that his days are numbered. And Tommy, I hope you don't mind that I'm going to kill him when we lock horns." Oliver said.

"If you didn't, I'd kill you myself Oliver. I know I had a problem with it before and as a doctor, I probably still should, but my dad died when my mom did. You'll be doing us all a favor by putting the man who replaced him in the ground, just make me a promise." Tommy said.

"Name it." Oliver said.

"When you kill him, make sure he stays dead." Tommy said and Oliver nodded.

"Trust me, that is the plan." Oliver said.

"Why aren't we going after him now?" Rene asked, more curious than anything else.

"Because right now Malcolm is still an honored citizen of Star City. They have no idea that he's a criminal. We need to expose him as the maniac he is before we take him out, otherwise we'll have another police problem on our hands." Oliver explained and Rene nodded.

"Now, let's get to work." Roy said and they all nodded as they moved to suit up and make their mark on Star City.

Chapter Text

"Overwatch, you sure this is the place?" Green Arrow asked over the comms as he stood on a building overlooking the Star City Port.

"Yep. All security camera footage confirms that this is Somers' office and he's in there right now. But are you sure that this is how you want to get started again? The same way you did last time, by crossing names off your father's list?" Overwatch asked.

"I need to get Malcolm's attention and draw him out as the Dark Archer and the best way to do that is to target the members of his organization." Green Arrow said.

"Fair point. But what if Somers has Triad backup?" Overwatch asked.

"Then it's a good thing I have my own. The rest of you in position?" Green Arrow asked.

"Copy. Spartan in position." Spartan said from his view on the next building, using the sensors Cisco had built into his helmet.

"Wild Dog ready." Wild Dog said from his sniper position.

"Artemis and Arsenal ready." Artemis said from where she and Arsenal were waiting outside the office.

"Black Canary ready." Black Canary said from her place on the other side of the building.

"Black Siren in position." Black Siren said her perch on the roof of the office.

"Good. Now, let's do this." Green Arrow said as he pulled back his bow.

"You have my money?" Somers asked the Triad representatives.

"As agreed." the thug said as he handed Somers a case filled with money.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Somers said, right as an arrow flew through the window and knocked the case out of his hand.

"What the hell." Somers asked as the Green Arrow shattered his window.

"Martin Somers, you have failed this city." Green Arrow said as he fired an arrow into Somers' hand, pinning it and him to a wall as he screamed in pain.

"Whoever you are, you just made a big mistake." the thug said.

"Not a chance. Now tell me, where's your boss?" Green Arrow asked.

"You're looking at him." the lead thug said as he and goons pulled out their guns.

"Since your hair isn't white, I don't think so. Where is China White? I have a score to settle with her." Green Arrow demanded.

"So you know about her huh, congrats. Then you know that we're not going to tell you a thing about her right?" the thug said smugly.

"Okay then, I guess we'll do this the hard way." Green Arrow said.

"Overwatch, what's the status of things inside?" Spartan asked since Green Arrow had gone silent the moment he'd entered.

"Well, I'm currently recording Oliver kicking the asses of those low level Triad goons who made the mistake of not telling him where to find China White." Overwatch said.

"Please tell me you'll show it to us when we get back." Artemis asked.

"Oh trust me I will." Overwatch said as Green Arrow came on comms.

"While this is amusing, I got something and yes they're all still alive. Overwatch, can you hack into Somers' computer and send all the incriminating information on it to the SCPD?" Green Arrow asked.

"Of course I can and I am currently doing so, along with tipping them off to Triad activity here now." Overwatch said.

"Good. Now let's go deal with the triad once and for all." Green Arrow said.

"Specifically before Helena tries to ignite a war between them and her father." Black Canary added.

"We'll deal with the Bertinelli's later. Right now, the Triad is our concern." Green Arrow said.

"Copy that." Spartan said as they all moved from their positions to meet up at their next objective.

China White was currently going over some plans for her latest mission when suddenly, the alarms sounded.

"What is going on?" China asked as looked at her underlings as they heard gunfire outside.

"The perimeter has been breached. We're under attack and it's not the SCPD or a rival gang. It looks like a bunch of people in costumes." one of her thugs said.

"Interesting, deal with it." China said as her men nodded and moved to the door, only for all of them to be struck down by very familiar arrows to White as the Green Arrow jumped through the window.

"Chien Na Wei, you have failed this city." Green Arrow bellowed as he aimed his bow at her.

"Nice entrance. Very dramatic. I see you've gotten some upgrades since the last time we fought." White said and Green Arrow wasn't even surprised that she knew he was the same person she'd fought 3 years ago.

"You shouldn't have come back to my city. Last time I let you live to deal with a bigger problem. This time you won't be so lucky." Green Arrow growled.

"You should've killed me when you had the chance." White said smugly.

"I could say the same thing to you. But I think we can both agree that while my team deals with your associates, there's nothing to get in the way of me correcting my oversight." Green Arrow said.

"I don't remember you being so chatty last time." White said and Green Arrow smirked.

"It pays to be unpredictable." Green Arrow said as he let his arrow fly and White barely had enough time to dodge.

"Well alright then. Let's do this." White said as he pulled out her knives and the two clashed yet again.

"I'd forgotten how much this is." Artemis said as she fought off Triad thugs.

"You have a very strange definition of fun." Arsenal said as he put an arrow in another one of White's thugs.

"Same could be said for you." Artemis said.

"Cut the chatter between you two. Stay on mission." Spartan said as he shot another one down.

"Come on hoss, you can't deny this is fun." Wild Dog said with a grin.

"There's fun, but then there's also work. Make sure you don't get too caught up in the moment again." Spartan said, right as a sonic cry filled the warehouse and knocked several Triad thugs back as Team Arrow turned to see Black Canary standing there.

"Long story, but for now, let's stay on mission. We need to buy Green Arrow as much time as we can." Black Canary reminded them.

"I can't help but notice how quickly you guys are working together. Even in smaller teams, it's like this team has cliques in it. Our archers, Artemis and Arsenal are paired up, our gun users, Spartan and Wild Dog are paired up and our two apparent metahumans, Black Canary and Black Siren have partnered up. It's kind of cute." Overwatch said.

"You forgot yourself, Tommy and Green Arrow." Black Siren noted as she took out another triad goon with her bo staff.

"Tommy and I don't leave the bunker much since I'm tech and mission control and he's the doctor and Green Arrow, well, we all know that sometimes he works best alone, though he also works well with everyone in this team. I was talking about the smaller groups not including him, since right now he's going solo." Overwatch said.

"Enough. Overwatch, now is not the time." Spartan reminded them, since he was their leader while Green Arrow was taking care of White.

China White knew that she was in trouble. This hood figure, whoever he was, had gotten better since the last time she'd fought him last time. Still, she wasn't going to let him take her down without a real fight.

"You've gotten better." she admitted when he finally disarmed her.

"You haven't. Your fighting style is the same as it was before. I'd offer you some advice, but you won't be around to use it." Green Arrow said as he fired an arrow directly into her heart.

"That was for Akio and everyone else who died because of you." Green Arrow said as he walked away from her corpse.

When he arrived at where the rest of his team was, Green Arrow smiled when he saw that his team had taken care of everything and he was reminded of why he was glad he had a team, because they'd taken out all of the Triad's forces, or at least the ones at this base.

"So, did you finish your mission?" Spartan asked him.

"Yep. Now let's finish ours." Green Arrow said.

"Charges are planted, let's get moving." Black Canary said and Green Arrow nodded as the team made their way out, right as the charges were planted and the entire base up in flames.

"It's good to be back." Green Arrow said with a grin as they headed to return to the bunker.

Chapter Text

"So, you're a meta now?" Thea asked Laurel as they gathered in the bunker after their mission.

"Yeah, still not sure how that happened. Caitlin ran a few tests on me before we left Central City but we had to leave before they got the results." Laurel said.

"Yeah, I just got the results back." Felicity said.

"Well?" Oliver asked.

"According to these test results, Laurel's DNA patterns are now identical to the ones from her Earth Two counterpart." Felicity said.

"How is that possible, I wasn't anywhere near Central City when the particle accelerator exploded?" Laurel asked.

"Wait, hold on a second." Felicity said as she typed a few things on her computer.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked.

"Working a very vague hunch, but then again, I've worked off less." Felicity said.

"So, what exactly are you looking for?" Laurel asked.

"I'll tell you once I know if I'm right." Felicity said as she continued typing before she finally found what she was looking for.

"What are you looking for?" John asked.

"A sample of Laurel's DNA from before the Gambit." Felicity said.

"Why?" Laurel asked.

"Because in order to test my theory, I need to compare the sample that Caitlin sent to me with a sample of Laurel's DNA from before the Gambit, since honestly, I think that's the only time of your life where I can be sure that your DNA wasn't altered in anyway, since that's back when your life was normal." Felicity said and Laurel nodded as Felicity finally found something.

"That's interesting." Felicity said.

"What is it?" John asked.

"Well for starters, the piece of DNA that I've found for Laurel is from the SCPD archive. Something you want to share?" Felicity asked with a grin.

"Let me guess, from 10 years ago?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah." Felicity said.

"That was my fault. Laurel just happened to be an accomplice to one of my many acts of stupidity and her father cleared it from her record since he said that her only crime was dating me." Oliver said and Laurel chuckled.

"Surprised he didn't leave it there to teach you a lesson." Thea said, amused.

"Oh he wanted to, but mom talked him down to probation." Laurel said, honestly chuckling at the memory.

"Anyways, what did you find?" Oliver asked, getting them back on subject.

"This is a sample of Laurel's DNA from 10 years ago and this is the sample that Caitlin sent to our system. The key difference is that in the older sample, Laurel's DNA shows no trace of the metahuman gene, but her more recent sample shows her possessing it." Felicity said.

"So what does that mean?" Rene asked.

"It means that just like in our old universe, our Laurel never possessed the metahuman gene, which means that she shouldn't have powers. And yet somehow she does. So either there's something wrong with the test or something or someone has drastically altered Laurel's DNA." Oliver said.

"Yeah, but who or what could do that I don't know." Felicity said.

"Well, I can think of one person who'd be able to do that and it wouldn't be his first time messing with people's lives like this." John said.

"Novu? John, we haven't seen or heard from him since the universe was reborn. Besides, he wouldn't just give Laurel powers without an explanation. He's a lot of things, but being generous is not one of them and I highly doubt he'll just show up for questioning." Oliver said.

"Well that depends on the question." a new voice said and Oliver turned to see the Monitor himself standing there.

"Okay, that was uncanny." Roy said.

"I know, was he waiting for an entrance line or something?" Felicity asked, only for all of them to be silenced by the look on Oliver's face.

"I'm guessing that the fact you're here proves that you have something to do with Laurel's powers?" Oliver asked and Novu nodded.

"Yes. Consider it another way to honor your fallen comrade, the Laurel Lance of Earth Two. Since she could not be here, I gave her abilities to her counterpart of this earth." Novu said.

"But why? You never do anything like this out of the kindness of your heart. So cut the crap and tell me what's going on here." Oliver asked.

"Do I really need to tell you Oliver? I'm surprised you of all people haven't figured out what your survival means." Novu said as a horrifying thought crossed Oliver's mind.

"If I survived the big bang, then that means that." Oliver said.

"Yes, unfortunately, Mobius survived too. And he will attempt to return to finish what he started." Novu said.

"So Crisis part two." Dinah said.

"Fortunately, there is time to prepare. Oliver, the only reason you survived is because your consciousness was able to transfer itself into the body of your counterpart from this Earth. Mobius does not have that benefit since he is the only entity in the multiverse that does not have a single doppelganger." Novu said.

"Meaning that while he'll recover, he'll have to do it the old fashioned way and considering the magnitude of that blast, it'll take awhile for him to heal and recover his strength." Oliver said.

"So let's go and get him while he's still weak." Rene said.

"No. Even a weakened Anti Monitor is more than we can handle right now." Oliver and Novu nodded.

"I gave Laurel Lance the powers of her counterpart in order to better your chances of defeating Mobius and once and for all. How and when you will do that, I don't know. However, I must ask you to keep this information a secret for now. The others will be informed when the time is right. Especially since there are still those who have yet to reveal themselves." Novu said.

"So you expect us to keep the fact that the crisis is still coming to ourselves." Oliver asked.

"Your team has proven to be able to multitask and not allow information like this to stop them from focusing on the here and now. The others, they would likely focus too much of their attention on preparing to fight Mobius and therefore could end up losing focus on more immediate threats." Novu explained and Oliver nodded, since Novu did have a point there.

"Okay then, is that all?" Oliver asked.

"One more thing. Oliver, when you restarted the world, you changed your role in it. In addition to being the Spectre, you have also become a paragon." Novu said.

"Wait what?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, in fact, I have to believe that you always were one, it was just kept hidden." Novu said.

"Well Oliver, it does make sense that you're one of the paragons now. So which one is he?" John asked.

"Oliver Queen is the paragon of life, for that is the role of the warrior who dies to give life to everything else. A role that only you can fill Oliver." Novu said.

"You said that I'll need to become the spectre again?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, but do not worry, you will not need to die again, for the spectre's power is still within you. However, it must remain dormant until the time of the crisis arrives, for if you use it now, your body will become dependent on it and I can foresee that the remaining energy you have left will be depleted in the Crisis, whenever it should come and if that happens while your body is dependent on it." Novu said.

"I'd die and I'm guessing this time I can't come back." Oliver said.

"That is correct." Novu said.

"Okay then. If that's all, we have work to do." Oliver said and Novu nodded as he disappeared.

Chapter Text

Malcolm Merlyn was growing more and more concerned by the day. This new vigilante who'd appeared in Star City, the Green Arrow, as the media had dubbed him, was becoming a threat to his plans, since he'd started crossing names off his list. At first Malcolm had dismissed it as a coincidence, since there were a lot of corrupt businessmen and women in Star City, but he now realized that literally every target he or one of his associates had hit was someone on his list. While it could still be a coincidence, Malcolm had come to believe that whoever this vigilante was, they knew about the list and were crossing names off it. This Green Arrow posed a clear threat to his plans, however, he wasn't sure that he was willing to get his own hands dirty yet, since that could bring Ra's al Ghul onto his doorstep, a fate he was desperately trying to avoid, since if the League caught wind of what he was up to, he was finished, since while he may be good, he was no match for Ra's al Ghul.

"Have you found anything on this Green Arrow?" Malcolm asked Athena, the leader of his own version of the League of Assassins, the Thanatos Guild and to the public, his assistant at Merlyn Global Group.

"No, but we have discovered something just as important to you." Athena said.

"And that would be?" Malcolm asked.

"There has been a new development in the League of Assassins." Athena said.

"What kind of development?" Malcolm asked.

"Ra's al Ghul has been defeated and his daughter now rules the League in his place." Athena said.

"Impossible. Nyssa does not possess the skill needed to best her father in combat." Malcolm said.

"It appears that she did not, but an outsider did and then handed the League to her in exchange for the freedom of two league members." Athena said.

"Do you know the identity of this outsider?" Malcolm asked, while trying to keep himself from chuckling at the irony of the mighty Ra's al Ghul being felled by an outsider.

"All I know is the name they call him. Al Sahim." Athena said.

"The Archer. It sounds like it's the same person as this Green Arrow. See if you can find anyone in the League who might be able to give us a real name on this Al Sahim." Malcolm said and Athena nodded, though she could tell there was still something on his mind.

"What is it?" Athena asked.

"I have a theory I want to test." Malcolm said.

"What theory?" Athena asked.

"We didn't have any of these problems until Oliver Queen returned from Lian Yu. He's the right size and build to be this mystery archer and there is a chance that Robert told him something before the Gambit went down." Malcolm said.

"You think Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow? How could he have learned to fight to a degree that would allow him to be able to defeat Ra's al Ghul if he was on a deserted island?" Athena asked.

"One of the many questions we will answer once he is no longer a threat." Malcolm said.

"If he even is who you think he is." Athena said doubtfully.

"Perhaps we should arrange a trap to test my theory. Abduct someone close to Oliver and see if the Green Arrow comes running." Malcolm said and Athena nodded.

"Do you have someone in mind?" Athena asked and Malcolm nodded.

"We'll kill two birds with one stone. I've begun to suspect that Moira can no longer be trusted. We'll abduct her and then kill both her and her son if he shows up to rescue her." Malcolm said and Athena nodded, though they had no idea that they'd been overheard.

"Good thing Malcolm still hasn't discovered the bug Tommy planted in his office." Felicity said.

"Dig picked a hell of a time to go to Freeland." Roy said.

"Roy, you and Dinah are our current connections to law enforcement. I want you two to get my mother to an Argus safehouse, since right now she's the only family member that's in immediate danger, since Thea can take care of herself and he won't go after any of your families since abducting Laurel's father would draw too much attention as a member of the SCPD and her mother is in Central City and he's got no reason to suspect the rest of you." Oliver said and they nodded.

"What about the rest of us?" Rene asked, eager for action.

"We're going to war with the Thanatos Guild earlier than expected. Malcolm is mine, but the rest of you can handle his warriors, though I'm giving Thea an additional mission." Oliver said.

"And that would be?" Thea asked as Felicity handed her a device.

"Plant this spy hacker on any of the Merlyn Global Servers so that I can access them remotely and get proof to expose Malcolm for who and what he really is." Felicity said.

"Would you like some additional assistance?" Nyssa said as she and some of her warriors entered the bunker.

"From you against this, absolutely. But remember, Malcolm is mine." Oliver said and Nyssa nodded.

"Agreed. You're the only one who stands a chance against him. But I did bring something as we agreed." Nyssa said as she snapped her fingers and one of her assassins brought forth a sword. One that both Oliver and Thea recognized.

"The sword of Al Faith." Thea said as she took it.

"It is rightfully yours as you earned it once." Nyssa said.

"Thank you Nyssa." Thea said, since while she had no desire to join the League, she did like having the sword.

"Okay then, let's get to work." Oliver said.

"My warriors will help Mr. Harper and Ms. Drake escort your mother to safety, since while they may be good." Nyssa said.

"Some League backup would be appreciated." Roy agreed and Oliver nodded gratefully.

"Let's suit up." Oliver said as they moved towards their suits.

Chapter Text

Malcolm Merlyn was standing in his office, waiting to hear confirmation that his plan was in motion, when suddenly, the lights went out.

"Well, this is a surprise." Malcolm said as he heard someone drop down from the vents behind him.

"Malcolm Merlyn, you have failed this city." the Green Arrow snarled.

"Really, and how can I have possibly done that?" Malcolm asked as he turned to face the Green Arrow.

"I know everything about you. I know you were once Al Sah Her, one of Ra's al Ghul's Horsemen. I know that you were released from the League under the condition that you followed it's code and I also know that you have done nothing to follow that code. I know about your Undertaking, about how you blame the Glades for the death of your wife and plan to destroy it all with an earthquake machine to get revenge. But this won't bring Rebecca back." Green Arrow said, since while he knew it was vain, he had learned from Earth 2 Tommy that it might be possible to consider talking Malcolm down.

"I know that. But I'm not trying to bring her back. I just want to make the people who killed her suffer as much as I have." Malcolm said.

"One man killed her. Think about all the innocent people you'd be killing." Green Arrow said.

"Innocent, you're dumber than I thought. I would hardly call anyone in the Glades innocent. And while one man may have done the deed, the rest of them couldn't be bothered to help her. They deserve the same fate as her." Malcolm said and Green Arrow sighed.

"What would she say if she were here right now?" Green Arrow said, giving it one last shot.

"That's funny, I don't know. The dead have nothing left to say. Now, if you're done trying to appeal to my humanity, let's get this over with." Malcolm said.

"Figured I'd tell your son I tried to save you." Green Arrow said as Malcolm dropped a flash bomb, forcing the Green Arrow to look away, but when the light died down, Malcolm was gone.

"Flash bomb, really?" Green Arrow asked.

"Well, I didn't feel properly dressed for the occasion." Malcolm said as he jumped down, now dressed in his Dark Archer garb.

"You have some nerve to wear League Armor while dishonoring it." Green Arrow said.

"And you have some nerve coming here alone." Dark Archer said as members of the Thanatos Guild surrounded them.

"Who said I came alone?" Green Arrow asked as he activated his new earplugs, right as a loud sonic cry pierced the air, shattering the windows as Black Canary, Artemis, Wild Dog, Nyssa and several League members entered through them.

"I'm guessing talking it out didn't work." Black Canary asked.

"Figured it was a long shot, but I had to try." Green Arrow said.

"Now we can please get to the part where we send them all to hell?" Artemis asked.

"Remember, Merlyn's mine." Green Arrow said and they nodded.

"As long as I get Athena." Artemis said as they charged.

"Overwatch, is the hacker in place?" Green Arrow asked.

"Yep, while you were getting chatty with Merlyn, Artemis did her job and planted the bug in the Merlyn Global servers, I am currently going through the data now, I'll let you know when you're cleared to kill Malcolm without being turned into a public enemy." Overwatch said.

"Good." Green Arrow said as he engaged Dark Archer, their moves were perfectly timed as his bow clashed against Merlyn's sword.

"You're good. It's a shame you had to follow this path. We could've been allies." Dark Archer said.

"I've tried being allies with people like you. Never ended well. And I would never side with you." Green Arrow snarled, since he'd never work with Malcolm again and honestly never would've to begin with if he'd had any other choices in the past.

"So be it." Dark Archer said as they fought each other, only for the Dark Archer to quickly begin to realize how outmatched he was.

"You dare to wield that sword you vermin?" Athena asked Artemis as the two of them sparred.

"I earned this sword, not you'd believe it. It's time to take you down." Artemis said.

"It's funny, the woman who named herself after the archer goddess uses a sword over a bow." Athena said.

"I adapt to the situation and I want to do this up close and personal." Artemis said as they fought, sparks flew as their blades clashed, but it quickly became clear that despite her being named after an archer, Artemis was the superior swordswoman and she disarmed Athena before holding her blade at her opponent's throat after knocking her to the ground.

"Go on, beg for mercy." Artemis said, her anger at what this woman had done to Roy in the old reality surfacing.

"Never." Athena said.

"Okay then." Artemis said as she drove her sword through Athena's chest, taking great pleasure in doing so as she did.

"Good riddance." Artemis said as she turned to join the rest of the fight.

"Well?" Green Arrow asked Overwatch as he continued to fight Dark Archer, but honestly, he was starting to get bored of toying with him.

"Just leaked all the evidence to the SCPD and the FBI, excluding anything regarding your mom or Tommy of course. You're good to kill him now." Overwatch said.

"Finally." Green Arrow said as he finally stopped stalling and quickly disarmed Malcolm and used his own sword against him.

"I'm impressed, Oliver." Dark Archer said.

"So, you know my name. Good. Now you'll know who killed you and why. This is for my father." Green Arrow said as he proceeded to decapitate Malcolm as a precaution to ensure that this time, there would be no coming back for him.

On seeing both Malcolm and Athena dead, the surviving members of the Thanatos Guild knew they were beaten and quickly used smoke bombs to escape.

"The League will pursue them to destroy Merlyn's villainous legacy once and for all." Nyssa said and Green Arrow nodded.

"Let's get out of here." Green Arrow said as he and his team vanished as they heard the SCPD already approaching.

Chapter Text

"So, Malcolm's dead." Felicity said as the team regrouped at the Bunker.

"Yep. And it felt way more satisfying this time since I know that this time, he'll stay dead, since he may be a cockroach, but even those bugs still need to have their heads attached to their bodies in order to survive." Oliver said.

"So, you actually killed my father this time." Tommy said.

"Tommy." Oliver said.

"Oliver, the man you killed was not my father. I didn't see it before, but I do now. My father died when my mother did. The man who came back was someone else. Someone that the world is better off without." Tommy assured him.

"Good. Now, what's the status of exposing Malcolm's plans so that we don't look like bad guys for killing him?" Oliver asked Felicity.

"Just finished sanitizing the evidence of anything that can incriminate your mom, since if she goes down, my company could go down too, no offense." Felicity said.

"Hey, you're thinking like a CEO and I agree. Also, I think it might be time for a name change." Oliver said.

"Wait, are you actually giving me permission to change the name of the company from Queen Consolidated to Smoak Technologies?" Felicity asked eagerly and Oliver nodded.

"I think that the only one of dad's kids, by birth or legally that wanted to run the company was Emiko and I think that she sort of gave up her claim when she decided she wanted to kill us, not to mention when she blew up the building." Oliver said.

"Fair point." Felicity said, since Thea also agreed with Oliver on that.

"Besides, Queen Consolidated is the past and I for one would like to focus more on the future." Oliver said.

"Especially since that future should show you in the mayor's office." Rene said.

"I don't know about that Rene." Oliver said.

"Why not? After all, the only reason you were impeached is because Diaz set you up to fall." Rene said.

"He's gotta point Ollie. Plus, the only reason you didn't get off to a great start is because you were going solo and now you've got a whole team with you. And this time, we're not going anywhere." Thea said.

"I hope not. Especially since my second in command is in Freeland right now." Oliver said.

"John's gonna be so pissed he missed his shot to help take down Merlyn." Felicity said.

"Why is he in Freeland again? I thought that was Black Lightning's turf?" Rene asked.

"It is, but apparently one of the differences between this reality and the old one is that John has a sister." Oliver said.

"Please tell me she's better than his brother." Felicity said and Oliver chuckled.

"From what he told me, she is. She's actually General Stewart's daughter, so she's John's stepsister, but she's also Black Lightning's ex-wife according to him. He went to help his family, which I understand." Oliver said as Nyssa joined them.

"While I enjoyed watching Merlyn's death immensely, it is time for me to get going." Nyssa said.

"I know. The League needs you to keep it on the right track." Oliver said.

"Actually, I had something I want to talk to you about before I go." Nyssa said.

"And that would be?" Oliver asked.

"I think we should bring my sister into the fold, though I'm honestly surprised that you have not done so already, since Talia has likely learned of father's death and she'd likely learn of your role in it, Oliver." Nyssa said.

"So what you're saying is that she's likely going to come after me unless I get her on our side and you're right. She's a problem I should've dealt with a while ago, especially if I want to keep her from creating Chase or helping Diaz." Oliver said.

"That is not the only reason I wish to bring her into this world." Nyssa said.

"What else is there? Don't tell me you actually want a relationship with her." Thea said.

"Of course not. Talia and I are sisters in blood and name only. We are not a real family. But when I look at you and Laurel, Thea, then I see my sisters." Nyssa said and Thea smiled.

"Some bonds are deeper than blood." Thea agreed.

"It's true. And Nyssa, while you and I may not have always seen eye to eye in the past, you are family, though not my wife." Oliver said.

"Nor do I wish to be, since it is nothing personal against you, but I'd prefer someone a bit more my type." Nyssa said with a smile.

"None taken, but anyways, where are you going with this?" Oliver asked, getting them back on track.

"For so long all I desired was to be the leader of the League of Assassins, but when I finally got it, I realized something." Nyssa said.

"You hate it." Oliver guessed.

"Yes, very much so. I do not wish to remain Ra's al Ghul, but I know Talia would and she'd honor the traditions of the League and would corrupt it like Merlyn did." Nyssa said.

"You want to give Talia leadership of the League so you can get your freedom from it." Oliver guessed and Nyssa nodded.

"I was free once. I wish to be free again." Nyssa said.

"We'll find her." Oliver said.

"Good. In that case, I shall take my leave of you for now." Nyssa said and Oliver nodded as she walked out.

"Is it weird to say I'm going to miss her." Felicity said.

"Considering everything you told me about her, yes." Tommy said, causing Oliver to roll his eyes at him.

"She grows on you over time. But she is right. Talia is a problem we need to deal with now as opposed to later." Oliver said and they all nodded in agreement.

"However, there is a more immediate thing to deal with. Tommy, you know that with all the bad publicity that is going to come with this, Merlyn Global Group is going to go under." Felicity said, the businesswoman in her coming out.

"I don't care. I never wanted anything to do with that company." Tommy said.

"Yeah, but that company was what was funding your clinic, which was your mom's before you. If Merlyn Global goes under, then your clinic does too." Felicity said.

"What are you getting at?" Tommy asked.

"Whether you like it or not, your father's shares of his company likely pass to you, which makes you the majority shareholder. However, it sounds like you want nothing to do with it, am I right?" Felicity asked.

"You are. That company is nothing but a reminder of my father and I want nothing to do with him. It's why I went into medicine after my mom instead of becoming a businessman like my dad." Tommy said.

"Then sell your shares of Merlyn Global to me. It can become a subsidiary of Queen Consolidated, soon to be renamed Smoak Technologies." Felicity said.

"Works for me." Tommy said, since he had no problem selling his shares of the company to Felicity, since he wanted nothing to do with Merlyn Global Group again.

Chapter Text

Oliver took a deep breath as he approached an old monastery in the mountains in Siberia.

"Time to get this over with." Oliver said to himself as he pulled the sword he had strapped to his back from its scabbard as he opened the door and rolled his eyes and he found Talia up to her old tricks with a bunch of wannabe assassins sparring each other, only for them to turn to face him.

"Identify yourself intruder." one of the students said.

"I'm someone who needs a word with your leader. She and I have unfinished business." Oliver said.

"You'll have to get through us before you get to her." another of Talia's students said.

"If you insist." Oliver said as the students charged at him, only for him to cut through them like cake.

"Hold." They heard Talia's voice shout and Oliver turned to see his old teacher walk down the stairs.

"Leave us." Talia said to her students and those that could move nodded and walked away.

"You need to get better help." Oliver said and Talia chuckled.

"Well it's not everyday they fight Ra's al Ghul." Talia said.

"So you know then." Oliver said.

"That you killed my father, yes." Talia said.

"He left me no choice. It was league combat. I offered him a chance to surrender, he refused." Oliver said.

"I know. However, I would like to know how you got so skilled, since even I could never beat my father and you never stuck around to complete your training." Talia said.

"I thought you'd be angrier." Oliver said.

"If my father was still the man I remembered as, I would be, but the whole reason I left the League is because the pit had corrupted my father, turned him into a monster." Talia said.

"You couldn't beat your father, so you left the League to find someone who could." Oliver said and Talia nodded.

"I wish you'd had this attitude in the old reality." Oliver said.

"What are you talking about?" Talia asked.

"You'll know in a minute." Oliver said as before Talia could do anything, Oliver pressed the memory device Cisco had given him to her arm and restored her memories.

"Was that really necessary Oliver?" Talia asked as Oliver held out his hand to her to help her up, which she accepted.

"I had to make sure that you wouldn't be an enemy again Talia. You know I only killed your father because he left me no choice. In both realities, I offered him a chance to surrender, to live." Oliver said.

"But he refused to live knowing he'd been bested by an outsider. That man and his pride, I always knew it would be his downfall." Talia said.

"However, this does provide an opportunity for you." Oliver said.

"Meaning?" Talia asked.

"Nyssa wants out of the League, since now that she knows what freedom from it feels like, she wants it back. However, she won't leave it unless she's sure it will be in good hands and she wants to give it to you." Oliver said.

"I would accept that, so long as your sister keeps the sword of Al Faith, since she earned it." Talia said.

"Nyssa personally delivered it to Thea." Oliver said.

"Then I will gladly take over the League, release Nyssa from her obligations to it and I promise you will have no issues from me." Talia said.

"Good. Because you and I both know that I can kill you as easily as I killed your father." Oliver said.

"I know. But you won't have any problems with me, since there is no need for me to aid Prometheus, however, I do suggest that you don't kill his father in this reality." Talia said and Oliver nodded.

"I'm planning on putting both of them in cells. Though Chase is going to a mental institution." Oliver said and Talia nodded as she held out her hand.

"It is good to see you again Oliver." Talia said.

"You too. Let's keep it that way." Oliver said and Talia nodded as he left the monastery.

Laurel had to admit, she was impressed as Oliver took her out to dinner the night after he returned home from Russia.

"So, what made you decide to finally take your girlfriend out to dinner?" Laurel asked him as they were shown to their table by the host.

"Well for starters, I realized that I'd been so focused on my life as the other guy that I'd been neglecting my girlfriend." Oliver said.

"Very true. I'm not sure if I preferred it when you were cheating on me, since at least then you still paid attention to me." Laurel said with a smile and Oliver chuckled.

"I know I was putting a lot of hours into being the Green Arrow, but Laurel, you and I both know that it was the Undertaking that caused this city's downward spiral." Oliver said.

"Plus, Malcolm is the only bad guy who gets in your head better than Slade does and that is saying something." Laurel said.

"The difference is that there is a good person inside Slade, but Malcolm is a sociopath. One that needed to be put down. But now that he is, I feel like I can finally take a step back and start living my life again." Oliver said.

"Does that also include moving out of your mother's house, since no offense Ollie, since I love your mom and Thea, but I'd really like to not have to worry about them busting us, since while I know that we're grown ups, at the same time, I feel kind of awkward." Laurel said.

"I get it and I am looking for my own place, but I'm surprised that you're not doing the same, since aren't you sleeping on your dad's couch when you're not staying at my place?" Oliver asked.

"Well unlike you, I don't have access to billions of dollars and the legal bar is being incredibly slow and stubborn about renewing my legal license, so I can't exactly find a job yet." Laurel said.

"You're perfectly fit mentally and psychologically." Oliver said.

"Yeah, I know that, but you know bureaucracy." Laurel said.

"Yeah I do. And I also know that it moves faster when it's given some incentive." Oliver said.

"Ollie no. I don't want to get my law license back simply because my rich boyfriend paid someone off." Laurel said.

"I get that Laurel, but back on topic, while I am looking for my own place, maybe you should help." Oliver said.

"I know I'd be spending a lot of nights over there, but." Laurel said, wondering if Oliver was saying what she thought he was.

"I know we just got back together Laurel, but I know that I love you and I want to fix what I broke all those years ago. I want you to move in with me." Oliver said.

"Are you sure? Last time I brought that up, you cheated on me with my own sister." Laurel said.

"I know, but I wasn't ready for that step back then, but now I am." Oliver said.

"I have to admit, the idea is appealing." Laurel said.

"So is that a yes?" Oliver asked.

"Yes it is." Laurel said and Oliver smiled as their waiter brought them a bottle of wine.

"Uh Ollie, recovering alcoholic here." Laurel said.

"You're not an alcoholic in this universe, Laurel." Oliver said.

"I know, but I don't want to take any chances." Laurel said.

"I figured, which is why I made sure that this wine is non alcoholic. I figured we should at least be able to celebrate in some way." Oliver said.

"In that case, bottoms up." Laurel said as she let Oliver pour her a glass of wine.

"You sure you want to do this Rene?" Dinah asked him as they walked towards his apartment.

"Look, as much as I loved Laura, it's clear that she'll never give up her drugs and I can't risk her putting Zoe in danger again." Rene said.

"Don't you put her in danger every time you go out there with us?" Dinah asked, not unkindly.

"The difference is that everything I'm doing is to make this city a better place for her and I wear a mask to keep the bad guys from knowing who I am. Laura is only thinking about herself and addiction. As long as she does that, I can't allow her around Zoe." Rene said and Dinah nodded.

"I can agree with that." Dinah said, right as they noticed that the door to Rene's apartment was opened and they both reached for their guns before heading inside.

"Who's there?" Rene shouted.

"Hey, back off." the drug dealer said as he walked into the room, holding Laura Ramirez at gunpoint.

"Thank god Zoe is sleeping over at a friend's house tonight." Rene muttered.

"SCPD, you're under arrest." Dinah said.

"You really think that will work when I have a hostage?" the dealer asked.

"You're outnumbered." Rene said.

"And I have back up on the way." Dinah warned.

"Look, just give me the money this bitch owes me and I'll be on my way." the dealer said.

"I don't think so." Rene said as he was now behind the dealer and shot him in his hand, causing him to drop his gun and let Laura go, right as Dinah walked forward and arrested him.

"Thank you Dinah." Laura said, only to be surprised when Dinah placed the cuffs on her next.

"Laura Ramirez, you are under arrest for possession of drugs." Dinah said as she read Laura her rights.

"Rene, can't you do something?" Laura asked him, but he shook his head.

"Even if I could, why should I? You lied to me Laura. You told me you weren't using, and yet here we are and you could've put our daughter's life at risk. You need help and until you're willing to get it, I can't allow you around Zoe." Rene said, truly feeling guilty about this, but he knew that he had to do what was best for Zoe and right now, this was it.

Chapter Text

Felicity Smoak was currently sitting in her office at the recently renamed Smoak Technologies, she was very happy that Oliver and Moira had given her permission to change the company's name, going over some important files when her secretary came on over the PA system.

"Ms. Smoak, there's a Detective Drake here to see you, even though she isn't on the schedule." her assistant Marsha said.

"Send her in and Marsha, make a note, Dinah Drake, Oliver Queen, Thea Queen, Laurel Lance, Rene Ramirez, Roy Harper and John Diggle are to be allowed in here immediately, as long as I'm not in a meeting." Felicity said.

"Understood." Marsha said as the door to her office opened and Dinah walked in.

"Well this is an unexpected surprise." Felicity said with a smile.

"Yeah well, not exactly used to seeing you sitting behind a desk for your day job." Dinah said.

"Believe it or not, I did do this occasionally when I was the CEO of Palmer Tech. Although to be fair, I really only spend 50 percent of my time in this room and that's only because I have to." Felicity said.

"Let me guess, you spend the other 50 percent of your time playing with all the cool toys you no doubt have in your private lab." Dinah said with a smile.

"You know me so well. But anyways, what can I do for one of my favorite police officers." Felicity said.

"One of, not your favorite?" Dinah asked, raising a playful eyebrow.

"Just in case Quentin is around." Felicity said and Dinah nodded.

"So, anyways, what can I do for you?" Felicity asked.

"I need your help tracking down Vinnie." Dinah said, not really surprising Felicity as she typed a few things into her computer.

"What are you doing." Dinah asked, right as Felicity turned her monitor around to reveal some kind of tracking program.

"How does an algorithm that's been searching every database both on and off the internet for any trace of Vincent Sobel or ski mask wearing vigilante sound?" Felicity asked and Dinah smiled.

"Like it's exactly what I was looking for." Dinah said and Felicity smiled.

"Glad to know. And you're still coming to girls' night tonight right?" Felicity asked.

"Of course. It's me, you, Laurel and Thea tonight right?" Dinah asked.

"Yep with wine for you and me and club soda for Laurel and Thea." Felicity said.

"Really?" Dinah asked.

"Hey, Laurel's a recovering alcoholic and Thea is technically underaged right now and since she's trying to get her life back on track, getting pinched for underaged drinking is not advised, especially if it gets out that she did so while at the home of the CEO of a major tech company." Felicity said.

"I'm sure she's thrilled about that." Dinah said.

"Oh she isn't." Felicity said as she turned off the cameras in her office.

"Which is why she is still going to be having wine with us tonight, since honestly, now underaged drinking is probably the least of her worries when it comes to less than legal activities." Felicity reminded her.

"My thoughts exactly. Plus, at least she's not going out and partying like she used to." Dinah said, since she'd heard about Thea's party girl phase and was very glad that she'd never had to see that side of Thea, though honestly, she'd rather see that side of Thea than the one she did back before Thea left town.

"You're thinking about how to not screw things up with Thea aren't you?" Felicity asked.

"Well, the last time she saw me, we weren't exactly on the best of terms." Dinah said.

"You mean with you being hellbent on revenge for the death of a man who'd killed at least a dozen people, not to mention the fact that you blamed her brother for making the choice to save everyone in Star City instead of saving him?" Felicity asked and Dinah flinched at the reminder.

"Yeah, not my finest moment. And I mean, I made amends with Oliver awhile back, but I never really had a chance to do so with Thea, since I'm pretty sure that the only reason she works with me is because I managed to earn Oliver's trust back." Dinah said.

"Which is no small feat in itself, since that man has more trust issues than anyone else we know. You're lucky he gave you a chance to earn his trust back, just like how he earned your back." Felicity said.

"I know, but still, I feel like it's only a matter of time until the other shoe drops and she stops tolerating me and Rene." Dinah said.

"Actually, from what I hear, she and Rene are pretty close, probably because he's besties with Roy." Felicity said.

"So Rene earned her trust back." Dinah said.

"He did, because he did the work and Thea did understand his position, since he was doing what he thought he had to get his daughter back." Felicity said.

"Yeah, me, not so much." Dinah said.

"Look Dinah, even if Thea doesn't trust you anymore, she does trust her brother and she knows that Oliver wouldn't have brought you into the fold." Felicity said.

 "At the same time, there's also Laurel to worry about, since not only did I kind of dishonor her legacy, but I attacked her father, who had a heart condition at the time." Dinah said.

"Okay yeah, but if she was going to hold that against you, she would've done so by now. Dinah, Laurel and Thea are not out to get you. Besides, they wouldn't do anything with a witness there." Felicity said.

"Thanks, I feel so reassured." Dinah said.

"Dinah, seriously, you're worrying too much." Felicity assured her.

"I hope that's all it is." Dinah said.

"So, you're really planning on moving in with Oliver once you two find a place?" Quentin asked Laurel.

"Yeah, no offense dad, but sleeping on your sofa, while it is comfortable, it's not exactly where I saw my life going, in either reality. Only difference is that in this reality, Ollie and I are both ready for that step." Laurel said.

"You know I still hate the idea of you having to go through anything like he and Sara did. I feel bad enough that both of them have to deal with that kind of past." Quentin said.

"Really, there was time when you would've thought that Ollie deserved it." Laurel reminded him.

"That was before I truly understood him. Now Laurel, now I think of him as a son." Quentin said.

"Well, you were probably a much better father figure to him than his own dad." Laurel said.

"I don't know about that. Robert Queen did have his faults, but he did love his children and he did one thing right." Quentin said and Laurel nodded in agreement, since she knew what her father was talking about.

"He gave Oliver a reason to become the man, the hero, he is today." Laurel said and Quentin nodded.

"Anyways, I need to get over to Felicity's for girl's night, which should be interesting." Laurel said.

"You know I don't blame Dinah for anything that happened right?" Quentin asked and Laurel nodded.

"The fact that she managed to get Ollie to trust her again says a lot about her." Laurel said, right as there was a knock on the apartment door and Quentin smiled when he opened it to find his other daughter waiting.

"Sara, what a nice surprise." Quentin said as he hugged her.

"Yeah, I had something I needed to talk to Oliver about anyways, so I thought I'd come by and say hello, especially since there's something important I need to tell you both." Sara said as she then moved to get a hug from her sister.

"What's going on?" Laurel asked.

"It's nothing bad. Or at least, this situation isn't. I just wanted to tell you guys that I'm engaged." Sara said and she was not surprised when Laurel started chuckling.

"Wait, you're serious. You, the infamous Sara Lance, the girl who can't be tied down and sleeps with anyone she wants, is actually getting married?" Laurel asked and Sara nodded.

"Yeah, I am. You remember the Ava Sharpe I told you both about." Sara said.

"Wow, you really fell for her didn't you." Laurel asked.

"Well, the circumstances of getting her back were complicated to the point where I wasn't sure if I ever would. Fortunately, the Monitor actually gave me a solution and when he gave me back my Ava, I realized that I didn't want to be without her, especially after having spent a month without her after the Anti Monitor wiped out the old multiverse. So, I asked her to marry me." Sara said.

"Well congratulations. Where is my future daughter-in-law?" Quentin asked.

"Back on the ship. We can't leave the Legends completely unsupervised." Sara said as she received a new round of hugs from her family.

"Does mom know?" Laurel asked.

"She does, only because I went to get her ring to use to propose to Ava with." Sara said.

"Never thought you were that kind of person." Laurel said, now teasing her sister.

"Hey, watch it or I'll ask Thea to be my maid of honor." Sara said.

"You're bluffing and we both know it. And of course I'll be your maid of honor." Laurel said and Sara smiled.

"Good. And dad, I want you to walk me down the aisle." Sara said.

"I never thought I'd hear you say those words to me." Quentin said and Sara laughed.

"Anyways, Sara, you are now definitely coming to girl's night, since you know you'll always be a part of Team Arrow right." Laurel said.

"I know and that is the plan since my team is staying in the present overnight." Sara said.

"Great, let's go." Laurel said as she dragged her sister out of the apartment.

Chapter Text

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Laurel said to Oliver with a smile.

"What, looking to move out of our parents' houses? Honestly, we've waited too long to do it." Oliver said with a smile of his own.

"You know what I mean. Actually looking for a place together. Last time I suggested we do that." Laurel said.

"I know, this whole adventure started." Oliver said.

"Then I guess in a way, I'm the one who's really responsible for you becoming the man you are today, since if I hadn't had pressured you to move in, you never would've gone on the Gambit and become the man you are today." Laurel said and Oliver chuckled.

"I guess in a way you are. But this time, I'm actually ready to take that step, not to mention, those party days are long behind me." Oliver said and Laurel said.

"You mean aside from parties you have to go to as either member of the Queen Family for your company or as the mayor right?" Laurel asked, since she knew that her boyfriend was still planning on running for mayor.

"Of course. I mean those wild crazy parties that always left me with a hangover and sometimes in bed with a woman I didn't remember or you." Oliver said.

"Yeah, honestly, I still can't believe I never got pregnant considering how many times that happened." Laurel said.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Oliver said.

"You thinking of William again?" Laurel asked him, realizing that comment might have been a bit insensitive.

"I can't help it. There's nothing I want more than to go see him and be a part of his life, though I know that he's better off without me in it." Oliver said.

"If you were still the same man you were when he was conceived, I'd agree with that, but now, you couldn't be more wrong Ollie. Your son needs you." Laurel said, even though she knew it was futile, since she, Thea and Felicity had been trying to get Oliver to go see his son for months with no luck.

"No he doesn't. Because the second I go to my son, the second any of my countless enemies will try to use him against me. It's already happened too many times. The best thing I can do for him is to stay out of his life and hope that no one ever finds out about him." Oliver said, making it clear that he didn't want to discuss it anymore and Laurel, knowing that this conversation was over, so she dropped it for now.

"Anyways, we're here." Oliver said as he pulled into the lot of the apartment building of the penthouse they were looking at.

"Well, the building certainly looks nice on the outside." Laurel said.

"Yeah, but I think we both know that looks can be deceiving, let's check out the actual place." Oliver said and Laurel nodded as they got out of the car and headed into the building, where they found the realtor waiting for them.

"Mr. Queen, Ms. Lance, glad to see you both." the realtor said.

"Thank you Ms. Jennings, why don't you show us the penthouse." Oliver said and Ms. Jennings nodded as she led to the elevators.

"Since the previous owners were very protective of their privacy they had this elevator put in as the sole means of getting in or out of the penthouse, so it's the only one with access to the penthouse and will only work with a special keycard. Like this." Ms. Jennings said as she pulled out said card and slid it into the slot above the buttons, which then glowed, signalling that the elevator was now working as she pushed the up button, causing the door to open and the three of them stepped in it.

"Welcome to the penthouse." Ms. Jennings said as the elevator doors opened and Oliver and Laurel were both impressed by what they saw.

"Wow, and here I thought those pictures we saw in the ad were just photoshopped." Laurel said and Ms. Jennings smiled.

"No, if anything, we toned them down because we thought that otherwise, it might look too expensive. The previous owners really went all out on renovating this place. Not that it really mattered since they ended up moving to Midway since they deemed it safer." Ms. Jennings said.

"Well, one of the perks of being a Queen is that money isn't really a problem." Oliver said, very glad that in this universe, his family had been able to retain it's fortune, something he was sure would continue since Felicity was in charge of the company and if her past track record was any indication, she'd lead the company to greatness.

"Which is why I was very excited when I got your call saying that you were interested in this place. Honestly, the price is so high I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever be able to sell it." Ms. Jennings said.

"Hold on, the deal isn't done yet. Why don't you give us a tour, since I'm not letting Oliver write a check for anything until we've seen every bit of it." Laurel said and Ms. Jennings nodded.

"Of course. Follow me. Let's start here with the living room." Ms. Jennings said as she led them from the foyer into the very spacious living room.

"This place looks bigger than my dad's entire apartment." Laurel said and Ms. Jennings smiled.

"Well, considering who you're dating, I'd say you should've been expecting a place like this." Jennings said and Laurel was beginning to get the idea that this woman was one of those people who thought that she was only dating Oliver for his money, when that had never been the case. She was with Oliver because she loved him and always had.

Oliver, sensing a potential fight, immediately moved on.

"This looks more than large enough for our needs, if we get this place, would we be allowed to renovate it further?" Oliver asked, since he was already planning on having Felicity and Cisco upgrade the security system to keep people like Slade Wilson out.

"Of course. As you can see, there's plenty of room for any furniture you want in here, along with a bar area in case you two ever want to throw any cocktail parties." Ms. Jennings said and Laurel calmed down, glad her boyfriend had diffused the situation before she'd said something she'd regret, or probably wouldn't, but might cost them this very swanky penthouse, since she had to admit, she could see herself living here.

"Nice, what else is on this floor?" Oliver asked.

"The kitchen is right over there, which would allow for perfect line of sight for any future little ones you two might have." Ms. Jennings said.

"Let's not go crazy." Laurel said, since while she did want to have kids with Oliver eventually, she knew that they weren't ready for that yet. At least newborns.

"Right, also on this floor is a half bathroom, laundry room and 3 additional rooms that you can make whatever you want. As you can also see, this penthouse also comes with it's own balcony." Ms. Jennings said, pointing out to the couple.

"It's a nice view." Oliver admitted.

"What about upstairs?" Laurel asked as they followed the realtor through the house.

"There are a total of 5 rooms upstairs, including the master bedroom and three additional bedrooms, all of which have en suite bathrooms, along with an additional full bathroom in the hall." Ms. Jennings said as she showed them upstairs.

"Could we have a few minutes to discuss this?" Oliver asked after the tour was complete and Ms. Jennings nodded as she left them alone.

"I have to admit, while this place does seem a bit extravagant, it is nice and it certainly seems like the kind of place that would be home to the future mayor of Star City." Laurel said.

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves on that." Oliver said, since while he was planning on running for mayor, he didn't want word to get out about it yet, since he was trying to catch Slade off guard, which would not be easy.

"Whatever, but still, I think that one of those extra rooms would be perfect for me to turn into a home office." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"I was thinking we could turn another one into a den or something and then use the last one for storage." Oliver said.

"So we're definitely getting this place?" Laurel asked and Oliver nodded.

"Once we close the deal though, we'll need to have Cisco or Felicity upgrade the security system to something a little more secure." Oliver said and Laurel nodded her agreement as they walked back over to the realtor.

"We'd like to make an offer." Oliver said and Ms. Jennings grinned as they began to discuss the terms of the deal.

Chapter Text

To say Oliver was surprised when Sara told him that her plan had worked was an understatement, that was why he had insisted on seeing it for himself, which was why Sara was bringing him aboard the Waverider where he smiled at the sight of Darhk locked in a cell.

"You're looking very smug Oliver." Darhk said.

"Only thing I don't like about this scenario is that you're still alive." Oliver said.

"Didn't Sara tell you I've reformed?" Darhk asked.

"Excuse me if I have a hard time believing that the man who crippled Felicity, killed Laurel, abducted my son and tried to nuke the world has changed." Oliver said.

"Oliver, I told you, once Darhk truly realized the cost of what his ambitions would get him, he did reform." Sara said.

"I don't care. The last time I made the mistake of letting him live, Laurel died. I'm not willing to run that risk again." Oliver said.

"What's this really about?" Darhk asked him.

"You should know, since you're a parent." Oliver said.

"This is about your son." Darhk said.

"Yeah, the one thing about you that I somewhat respected was that you were a family man. You cared about your family and even turned on Machin when he abducted a mayoral candidate's daughter. But you didn't hesitate to bring William into this. You brought my son into this world and it nearly got him killed, since once you brought him into this, other criminals came after him. So tell me, how can you, as a father, justify what you did to William?" Oliver demanded and Darhk sighed.

"I never intended to truly hurt William." Darhk said.

"That's funny. You threatening him if I didn't do what you said didn't give me that impression." Oliver said angrily.

"Look, I know there's nothing I can say to make you believe me, but I am truly sorry for what I did. I crossed a line back then and honestly, I am amazed that you didn't try to capture Nora in response." Darhk said.

"That's because I have honor. Something that you clearly don't possess, which is why I still can't believe that you were ever a member of the League of Assassins, since despite their flaws, at least they did believe in a code of honor. You don't. You never cared about anyone but yourself and you didn't care who you had to hurt or kill to get what you wanted." Oliver said.

"You're right. Until I was finally forced to face the consequences of my actions. My wife was dead and I'd convinced my daughter to sell her soul to a demon just to bring me back to life. I was a terrible father." Darhk said.

"Ollie, he actually apologized to me for killing Laurel. I think that somewhere, he does have a heart, the only problem is that he let his ego get in the way of it." Sara said.

"Then prove it." Oliver said.

"How?" Darhk asked.

"Take down Hive and then give up your powers. Prove to me that you really do want to live out the rest of your life in peace." Oliver said.

"Done. I'll even send you my supply of Lazarus water and my idol for you to do what you please with them." Darhk said.

"I have one more request." Oliver said.

"And that would be?" Darhk asked.

"Andy Diggle. He's mine to kill." Oliver said.

"I'll make sure he finds his way to you." Darhk said.

"I'll have members of the league monitoring your every move. If you keep your word, I'll consider letting you live." Oliver said.

"Considering you're the only man in history who was ever able to kill me, I actually know that you can follow up on your threat, unlike all the others." Darhk said.

"Remember that." Oliver said and Darhk nodded.

"Send me home." Oliver said to Sara, who nodded as she used her time courier to open a portal back to his apartment, which Oliver stepped through.

Laurel took a deep breath as she got out of the cab in Central City, bracing herself for what she was going to do. Oliver thought that she was only in Central City to visit her mom and Team Flash, but that was just a cover for what she was really planning on doing. The only other person who knew about her true intentions was Felicity and that was only because Laurel had asked her to track down her target for her and Felicity did agree with her that what she was planning needed to be done. She just hoped that Oliver would understand why she was doing this and forgive her for it.

Anyways, she was drawn from her thoughts as her phone rang and she saw it was Felicity.

"Hey, I thought you'd call sooner." Laurel said.

"Just wanted to check in, since you know it's not too late to chicken out and actually do what Oliver thinks you're doing." Felicity said.

"No, you and I both agree that this needs to be done." Laurel said.

"I just want to be sure, since you know that once you do this, there's no going back." Felicity said.

"I'm aware, but I know that while Oliver will most likely be mad at me for this, he will understand and eventually be grateful." Laurel said.

"Yeah, but what about you? Are you sure that you're ready for the changes that doing this will bring to your life? After all, considering the fact that you're living with Oliver, this will affect you too." Felicity said.

"I seem to recall you warning me against living with Oliver." Laurel said with a chuckle.

"Just warning you due to my personal experiences from it. But you're the one who chose not to listen to me. But Laurel this is different. What you're about to do, that will have repercussions not only for Oliver, but also for you. You need to be sure that you're ready to face them." Felicity said.

"I appreciate the advice Felicity, but if I didn't think I was ready for this, I wouldn't be doing it." Laurel said.

"Just making sure, since you do have a history of rash decisions without thinking about their possible consequences first." Felicity said.

"Do not." Laurel tried to deny it.

"Really, keeping Sara's death a secret from your dad seems like a big one to me." Felicity said.

"Did you really need to bring that up again?" Laurel asked.

"Sorry, but you know I'm right." Felicity said.

"Okay, I admit in the past I've made questionable choices, but honestly, who on this team hasn't?" Laurel asked her.

"Fair point. Anyways, I'll let you do this then, just making sure that you were prepared for the consequences." Felicity said.

"And I appreciate that, but at the same time, I actually thought this one through." Laurel assured her.

"Then good luck." Felicity said as she hung up.

"Thanks. I'll need it." Laurel said as she took a deep breath and walked up to the house and knocked on the front door.

"Laurel, what a surprise." Samantha Clayton said when she opened the door to find Laurel waiting on the other end.

"Hi Samantha, sorry for dropping in at the last minute." Laurel said.

"It's fine, but what are you doing here?" Samantha asked.

"You'll know in a minute. I'm sorry about this too, but it needs to be done." Laurel said and before Samantha could ask what she meant, Laurel tapped the memory ring to her arm, giving Samantha a killer headache.

"Which Laurel are you? The one who was my friend or the one who tried to kill me and my son?" Samantha asked as she recovered.

"The one who's boyfriend you slept with." Laurel said and Samantha laughed, relieved as she hugged her.

"It's so good to see you alive Laurel." Samantha said.

"You too. I guess we have something besides Oliver in common now." Laurel said and Samantha nodded.

"I'm guessing you're not just here to restore my memories?" Samantha asked, trying to wrap her head around this.

"William needs his father and he deserves to know who his father really is." Laurel said.

"I'm guessing that Oliver doesn't know about this trip?" Samantha asked.

"No, he thinks that William is better off without him in his life, but he's wrong." Laurel said.

"And I agree with you. It was wrong of me to keep William from Oliver in the first place. It's a mistake I am going to fix now that I realize how wrong I was to make it. But are you sure that William needs to remember all that stuff?" Samantha asked.

"It's the only way to make sure that all past mistakes don't happen again. I'm sorry." Laurel said.

"Fine." Samantha said as she called William downstairs.

"Who's this mom?" William asked.

"You'll know in a second, sweetheart." Samantha said as she reluctantly allowed Laurel to restore William's memories.

"You're one of dad's friends aren't you. But not the same one who tried to abduct mom and I?" William asked when he recovered and Laurel nodded.

"Ollie said you were a smart one. And exceptionally perceptive. And I'm actually your dad's girlfriend now. Things between him and Felicity didn't work out." Laurel said.

"You seem cool too." William said and Laurel chuckled.

"I appreciate your vote of confidence." Laurel said.

"So where is dad? I thought that he would've come here with you?" William asked.

"He doesn't know I'm doing this here, he thinks I'm just visiting my mom. He thinks that you're better off without him in your life and honestly, considering the way you two left things in the old reality, I can't say I blame him, even though he's wrong." Laurel said.

"What does that mean?" Samantha asked, looking at her son with a raised eyebrow.

"I asked grandma and grandpa to let me come live with them and then never answered any of dad's calls." William admitted.

"William, I asked your father to raise you. It was my last request to him and it sounds like he did his best." Samantha said.

"I know, but, I wanted a normal life and since I knew that dad couldn't stop being the Green Arrow, I thought that moving away from him was the only way I'd get it." William said.

"You still didn't have to freeze him out, especially since if anything, he was the one who should've been mad at you, not the other way around, since he did everything he could to be a father to you, but you refused to try. We'll talk more about this when your father is with us. Which reminds me, we're going back to Star City with Laurel to start looking for a place there and while we are there, I expect you to apologize to your father." Samantha said and William nodded, knowing that he did owe his dad an apology and that he probably had been a bit too hard on him.

"Let me know when you guys are ready, now I'm going to go visit my mom after all." Laurel said and Samantha nodded as Laurel left the house

Chapter Text

"Hey, how was Central City?" Oliver asked Laurel when he heard the elevator door open from where he was making dinner in the kitchen.

"It was good. I even brought something back for you." Laurel said as she entered the kitchen and hoped that Oliver wouldn't kill her for this.

"Really, what is it?" Oliver asked.

"Turn around and find out." Laurel said and Oliver nodded as he stopped chopping vegetables and turned around, only to be stunned by who he saw standing next to Laurel.

"Hi dad." William said nervously to his father.

"William, Samantha, what are you two doing here?" Oliver asked as he realized what Laurel had done.

"Ollie, before you get mad at me, I know how much you missed William and it wasn't right of you to keep him and Samantha in the dark." Laurel said.

"I was trying to keep you both safe." Oliver said.

"I understand that Oliver, but we both know that as long as you know that William is your son, one of your enemies will no doubt find out about him and since that is going to happen, I'd like to know that you'll be able to help him. Just like you always did." Samantha said.

"William, I thought you wanted a normal life." Oliver asked him.

"I did. But I also never wanted you to leave it completely. It was grandma and grandpa who cut you out of my life and made me think that you didn't want me." William said.

"Of course I wanted to be a part of your life. I just thought that you didn't want me to be a part of it." Oliver said, since he can't exactly tell William that he met his future self. Especially when that version of William no longer existed.

"Samantha, you and I both agreed that the best way to keep William safe was to keep him out of my life. Out of this world." Oliver said.

"More like I forced you to make that choice and I was wrong. Oliver, William needs his father. Especially one who can set as good of an example for him as you." Samantha said.

"You mean a killer?" Oliver asked.

"No dad, you're a hero. One of the best." William said.

"Oliver, William and I are moving to Star City." Samantha said and Oliver sighed.

"Are you sure you want me in his life?" Oliver asked.

"If I didn't, I never would've asked you to take care of him before I died. He's your son just as much as he is mine and I think that I should support that. Especially, since every kid wants their dad to be a superhero and in William's case, it's actually true." Samantha said and Oliver relented.

"Okay then. You guys can stay here in the guest rooms until you find work and a place to stay." Oliver said.

"Thank you." Samantha said as she took William upstairs to get unpacked.

"You should've told me what you were really doing in Central City Laurel." Oliver told her.

"You never would have agreed to it and I'm not apologizing for it. Every kid needs their dad and I could tell how much you missed William. I know you thought you were protecting them, but honestly, all keeping your distance from William did was make it even harder for you to protect him and I could see how much you missed him." Laurel said.

"Of course I did. He's my son." Oliver said.

"And I know you were trying to keep him safe, but let's face it, ever since you found out about William, he's been involved in this world. The best way to keep him safe is to keep him close, so that if something happens, you can get to him quickly." Laurel said and Oliver sighed.

"You know I'm still not happy that you did this behind my back." Oliver said.

"But." Laurel said hopefully and Oliver smiled as he walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"But I know that your heart was in the right place and you were right about it." Oliver said.

"So once again I was right." Laurel said smugly.

"Don't get too cocky." Oliver said.

"Why not, we both know that in this relationship, I'm going to be the one who wins the arguments." Laurel said and Oliver chuckled.

"In our relationship, yes. But when it comes to work, I'm pretty sure I'll win my fair share of arguments." Oliver said.

"That's because as team leader, it's your job to boss the team around so we don't get ourselves killed. In some cases, again." Laurel said, referring to herself in that.

"True." Oliver said.

"But remember, as your girlfriend, it's my job to boss you around." Laurel said with a smile and Oliver chuckle.d

"If I do forget, I'm sure you'll remind me." Oliver said.

"Well, I'd remind you now, but we have company." Laurel said.

"And who's fault is that?" Oliver asked playfully.

"Maybe the guy who offered to let them stay here?" Laurel reminded him.

"Fair enough." Oliver said.

"I told you. You'll never win an argument with Ollie. You never have and you never will." Laurel said.

"You also said you'd never take me back and yet here we are." Oliver reminded her.

"Don't be a smartass." Laurel said as she kissed him.

"And here I was thinking seeing you kiss Felicity would take some getting used too." William said as he came back downstairs.

"William, how much of that did you see?" Oliver asked as he and Laurel pulled apart.

"Enough to know that my mom and I should find some other place to stay." William said.

"Well, I'm sure Moira wouldn't mind putting you two up, actually getting a chance to spoil the only grandchild she has right now. Especially when she has so many years of it to make up for." Laurel said as Samantha joined them.

"I called her while we were upstairs and she was more than happy to host us, since I had a feeling that we might be intruding." Samantha said.

"You sure you don't mind?" Oliver asked.

"Honestly Oliver, while William staying here is one thing, I think it's kind of awkward if I do too while you're living with another woman." Samantha said.

"That's fair." Oliver admitted.

"I hope my life is nowhere near as complicated as yours is." William said.

"Which is exactly why you'll be staying with your mother a majority of the time, so she can give you a normal life so that your's doesn't become as complicated as mine is." Oliver said.

"I don't know, I think there are some parts of your dad's life that you might want to try." Laurel said.

"Yeah, no." Oliver said, since he knew the part Laurel was thinking of and it was not the hero part and Oliver already knew that William would not be interested in having parties with hot girls.

"Well, I guess I better go get ready to meet my grandma Moira." William said.

"Trust me, my mom will love you. She's always wanted grandkids." Oliver said.

"Then why didn't she want you to know about William?" Samantha asked.

"Well for one thing, she knew I wasn't ready to be a dad, but more importantly, she was worried that having a son out of wedlock with a woman that wasn't Laurel, who I was dating at the time, would be bad for our family's image. Too bad I'm not the one who ruined it." Oliver said.

"William's not going to go to the same prep schools you and Thea went too right?" Samantha asked.

"Of course not. Maybe if my mom had let Thea and I go to public school, we would have turned out differently. William will go back to attending Star City Junior High." Oliver said.

"Is that where Zoe goes?" William asked.

"Yeah and I will talk to Rene about restoring her memories so that you have someone your own age who can relate to your experiences, plus she was a lot more supportive of Rene being Wild Dog than you were of me being the Green Arrow." Oliver said.

"Who's Zoe?" Samantha asked and Oliver chuckled, since it was clear that Samantha had not realized a certain fact about William and he made a note to talk to her about it when he got a chance.

"She's just a friend. Honestly, she was the only person I could really talk to since like me, her father is a vigilante." William said.

"I remember Rene from Lian Yu." Samantha said.

"Rene is one of my trusted friends and I think he might be open to the idea about restoring Zoe's memories so he doesn't have to lie to her about what he does." Oliver said as they continued talking.

Felicity was surprised when Thea entered her office the next day.

"Thea, what a surprise. What brings you here?" Felicity asked.

"I was wondering if you'd already started making plans about renaming the company?" Thea asked.

"Not yet, I've been a bit too busy to even propose the idea to the board. Why?" Felicity asked.

"Because I don't think I want you to change the name from Queen Consolidated." Thea said.

"Why not?" Felicity asked.

"Because I've been doing a lot of thinking and I want to take over the company after I finish school." Thea said, surprising Felicity.

"Wait, what? I thought you wanted nothing to do with this company." Felicity said.

"Honestly, I think I only told myself that because I didn't think I'd have any chance of actually running it." Thea said.

"What are you talking about?" Felicity asked.

"Dad refused to even consider letting anyone but Oliver take over Queen Consolidated for him." Thea said.

"I'm well aware, it's one of the reasons Emiko is the way she is now." Felicity said.

"But he also never even considered me for it. He spent so much time trying to force the company on Oliver he never thought that any of his other kids might want it. But honestly, Ollie can feel connected to dad through his crusade, but this company, that's I can carry on dad's legacy." Thea said.

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that you like bossing people around." Felicity said, raising an eyebrow.

"That goes without saying. But come on Felicity, I've run a club, I was Ollie's chief of staff, I know how to run a successful business and technically, as a member of the Queen Family, I have the right to take over once I finish school." Thea said.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait until you finish college?" Felicity asked.

"Ollie never finished college and look what he did. I never even went to college and what I did." Thea reminded her and Felicity chuckled.

"Okay. I always knew that my role as CEO would likely be a placeholder. Once you graduate from high school, I will make an announcement that you will be taking a role in Queen Consolidated and once you've learned the ins and outs, I'll hand over the reins." Felicity said.

"You sure you're okay with this?" Thea asked.

"Yeah, honestly, I never really loved all the business aspects of this job. You know me, I prefer to be actually building things, creating. Not just sitting in boring meetings." Felicity said.

"Then how does the title of CTO/Head scientist sound to you? That way you can handle all the tech stuff you love and leave the business aspect of Queen Consolidated to me." Thea asked.

"Sounds perfect. And who knows, maybe once I'm no longer a CEO, I might find time to actually get a date." Felicity said.

"That I can help you with now." Thea said.

"Yeah no, if I wanted a flawed matchmaker, I'd use upswipez." Felicity said.

"I'll ignore that." Thea said.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership and finally, I'll have one with a Queen that doesn't feel like a roller coaster." Felicity said as she held out her hand to Thea, who smiled and shook it.

"I look forward to working with you Ms. Smoak." Thea said in a fake professional tone.

"As do I Ms. Queen." Felicity said as they both laughed before Thea left her office.

Chapter Text

"So, William's back." Rene said after Oliver brought him up to speed.

"Yeah and he was very excited to find out that he'd be going to school with Zoe again." Oliver said.

"I still can't believe Laurel thought it was a good idea to restore his memories." Rene said.

"Just to be clear, he doesn't have the memories of his future self, only the memories of his counterpart up until his current age, since that future version of William likely no longer exists." Oliver said.

"Since when do you understand so much about time travel?" Rene asked.

"Two of my closest friends are time travelers. I've learned a thing or two." Oliver said, since Sara was a Legend and Barry was a speedster and both of them had experience in time travel.

"Fair enough, but you want to bring Zoe into this?" Rene asked.

"She's already involved and honestly, I think she deserves to know the truth, plus, she and William both need someone they can relate to, that's their own age. They were friends before, they can be again, especially since Zoe was very proud that her dad is Wild Dog. Plus, it will be easier for you to protect her if she knows the truth." Oliver said and Rene nodded.

"As much as I wish I could protect Zoe from the truth, I also know that I'm not setting a good example to her by lying to her all the time, especially since her mother is currently in rehab for her drug use." Rene said, since that had one condition that Rene had given his now ex-wife that was unshakeable. If Laura ever wanted a chance of seeing her daughter again, she'd need to get clean and stay clean. And that didn't just mean going to meetings, since both Laura and Quentin had shown him that in some cases, those weren't enough. So he'd insisted on her going to rehab and Laura had agreed, if only so that she could get a chance to see her daughter again, since she knew that no judge would grant her custody or visitations to her daughter right now, especially since her drug problem had almost put Zoe in danger.

"At least you got her to go." Oliver said.

"Only because I told her that if she didn't, she'd never see Zoe again. I feel bad enough that my life at Wild Dog puts her at risk, but at least wearing a mask means that I can keep the bad guys from knowing my face. Or at least the ones that aren't our yearly big bad. But Laura knew that continuing with her drug problem would most likely end up putting Zoe in harm's way but she did it anyway." Rene said.

"We can't control other people Rene, believe me, I've tried. Mainly with you." Oliver said and Rene chuckled.

"At least now you trust me to go off book." Rene said.

"And I always should've." Oliver said.

"Hey, water under the bridge man. After all, you forgave me for worse. Speaking of, we are going to be diving into Samandra Watson right?" Rene asked.

"Felicity's working on that as we speak. Something tells me that her obsession with taking me down was personal. Plus, there is the fact that she went through what had to be illegal sources of information to get her intel." Oliver said.

"Glad we agree on that." Rene said.

"And I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's glad that we're back to the way things used to be. Operating from the shadows." Oliver said.

"Yeah. I mean our arrangement with the SCPD was great, but honestly, it feels a lot better to not have our hands tied by those rules and regulations. After all, the whole point of this is to protect people in ways the cops can't." Rene said.

"True, plus there's also the benefits of keeping our secret identities secret, which means that there's a smaller chance of our loved ones being pulled into the line of fire." Oliver said and Rene nodded.

"Speaking of which, when are we making a move on Slade, since he's got to know that you have a kid to bring into the line of fire, since we both know that as long as he has then mirakuru in him, he won't care about bringing an innocent kid into this." Rene said.

"Trust me, I have Argus pulling double shifts tracking him and all his known associates down." Oliver said.

"And what happens when we do find him?" Rene asked.

"Depends on if we have a Mirakuru cure available at the time. If we get that, then I'll use it on Slade and lock him up to give him time to sober out." Oliver said.

"And if we don't?" Rene asked.

"Then I'll finish what I started back on the Amazo years ago." Oliver said.

"Just wanted to be sure, since I don't want to risk Zoe getting caught in his crosshairs." Rene said.

"She won't." Oliver promised.

Isabel Rochev took a deep breath as she entered her boss's office. Though not her boss at Stellmoor International. The boss that she actually did listen too.

"What brings you here at this hour? It could be seen as suspicious." Her boss said when he noticed she was there.

"This couldn't wait till morning. There's been a new development in regards to your special project." Isabel said.

"I'm listening." her boss said.

"We've recently learned that Oliver Queen has a son." Isabel said.

"Show me." Slade Wilson said with a smirk as he took the file from her.

"Very interesting. I can't say I'm surprised the kid has a kid of his own. And that will make my revenge all the more satisfying. Establish surveillance over him." Slade said.

"Right away Mr. Wilson." Isabel said as she walked out of his office.

The following night, Isabel was working late in her own office when suddenly, the lights went out.

"What's going on?" Isabel asked, right as someone jumped through her window.

"Isabel Rochev." Green Arrow said with a grin as he aimed his bow at her.

"What do you want?" Isabel sneered.

"You have failed this city. Now where is he?" Green Arrow demanded.

"Where's who?" Isabel asked.

"Don't play dumb. We both know you're working for Slade Wilson, so where is he? Where is that coward hiding?" Green Arrow demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Isabel said.

"Try lying to someone who hasn't been trained by Amanda Waller and a daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Now where is Slade?" Green Arrow demanded.

"If you know who he is, then you know he'll kill me if I tell you and you won't kill me." Isabel said, a lot more confidence in her voice then she felt.

"How sure are you of that?" Green Arrow asked.

"If you kill me, you'll never find him." Isabel said.

"Maybe, but that's not why I'm letting you live. I'm letting you live to deliver a message to him." Green Arrow said.

"What might that be?" Isabel asked. Trying to keep some fear out of her voice.

"Tell him that I know he's alive and that I'm coming for him before he comes for me. And also tell him I know where his son is. If he wants to fight me, tell him do it like a man and come at me himself. Unless the Mirakuru has turned him into a coward." Green Arrow said, knowing that Slade wouldn't be able to resist a challenge like that.

"I'll let him know so you can dig your grave." Isabel said as the lights flickered and the Green Arrow was gone, leaving Isabel's heart racing.

Chapter Text

Thea was looking down at the letter in her hands, trying to figure out what she was going to do.

"Hey sis, what's up? I thought you'd be out celebrating being done with high school for good this time. By the way, congrats on getting straight As and graduating with honors. I didn't think either of us would be able to say that, really just because we never put forth the effort." Oliver said as he entered the kitchen as Thea hid the letter.

"Party's tonight and it's easy to pass classes when you've already taken them." Thea reminded him.

"What's that you're trying to hide?" Oliver asked as Thea looked at the letter and sighed as she handed it to him.

"This is my acceptance letter to Ivy Town University." Thea said with a sigh.

"Ivy Town. I thought you were going to stay local." Oliver asked her.

"So did I, but honestly, Ivy Town University is one of the best schools in the country, hell, it's where Ray graduated from." Thea said.

"Thea, I don't have a problem with you going to Ivy Town University. Besides, you'll come back." Oliver said before he realized where she was going with this.

"Except you don't want to do you?" Oliver asked.

"Look Ollie, I love you and I love Team Arrow, but honestly, one of the reasons why I was so eager to go off with Nyssa was because it meant I could finally get out of your shadow. All anyone here, including you, really sees me as your little sister, a second stringer to the great Green Arrow." Thea said.

"And you want to step out of my shadow. Become your own hero." Oliver said.

"I hope you understand Ollie." Thea said.

"I do Thea. Though am I hurt that you thought I wouldn't. I get it. Honestly, I know that you've always felt like you were in my shadow in one way or another." Oliver said.

"Yeah, as both the Queen heir and a vigilante. Honestly, I think that after I graduate, I'm going to relocate Queen Consolidated's headquarters to Ivy Town, since honestly, even if it does have a crime problem, it's probably not as bad as it is here." Thea said.

"What makes you think that Ivy Town even has a crime problem?" Oliver asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure if it does, but I won't know that until I get there." Thea said.

"You sure you want to do this?" Oliver asked her.

"Star City is my home Ollie and I love it and I love you and mom and the team. I just think that I'm ready to leave the nest. I know you won't leave Star City and you shouldn't, because this city would fall apart without you. But with Laurel, John, Rene, Roy and Dinah, you've got more than enough manpower here, plus Felicity running comms. You don't need me anymore Ollie." Thea said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be down another teammate, since we both know that while Roy is loyal to me and the team, his loyalty to you comes first, as it should, since if he's gonna be your boyfriend, you should be his first priority." Oliver said.

"I'm not even sure if Lyla will let him." Thea said.

"Please, Lyla shouldn't have a problem since we both know she likes us way more than she does her job." Oliver said and Thea chuckled.

"True. But that doesn't mean that Roy will want to come along." Thea said.

"Thea, we both know that man would follow you to the ends of the earth and would jump off a bridge if you told him too." Oliver said.

"Very true. But are you sure you're okay with this?" Thea asked her brother.

"I'm gonna miss you, but it's not like you'll never come and visit and I can come visit you in Ivy Town whenever I need to. Besides, phones and the internet exist for a reason. It's not like we'll be completely absent from each other's lives." Oliver said.

"True, I mean I'll definitely be here to be a bridesmaid when you and Laurel get married." Thea said.

"Really?" Oliver asked and Thea smiled.

"Ollie, I've seen how much happier you've been since you and Laurel got back together and I mean, come on, your oldest friends are getting married. Barry and Iris, hell even Sara is getting married. Sara Lance." Thea said.

"Trust me, I'm still concerned that there's an apocalypse coming about that." Oliver said.

"You and me both. I never thought I'd see the day that Sara Lance willingly walked down the aisle wearing white." Oliver said and Thea nodded.

"But still, think you and Laurel will ever get there?" Thea asked.

"Eventually. But not yet. But anyways, have you given any thought to how this might affect Felicity, since I doubt she is going to leave Star City." Oliver said.

"And I'm not going to ask her too. We'll still have a Queen Consolidated office here in Star City for her to run, it just won't be the main headquarters." Thea said.

"Fair enough. Sounds like you've got this move all planned out." Oliver said.

"Yeah, honestly, I just need a place to live, since I can't live in a dorm room and be a vigilante at the same time." Thea said.

"Aren't all freshmen required to live in a dorm room their first year?" Oliver asked.

"Normally yes, but one of the good things about still being rich is that we can make donations to the school in exchange for certain perks, like an exception to that policy." Thea said and Oliver chuckled.

"So when are you planning on looking for a place?" Oliver asked.

"This weekend." Thea said, surprising him.

"So soon?" Oliver asked.

"I want to get out there as soon as possible so that I can start setting up a base of operations and everything." Thea said.

"Fair enough." Oliver said.

"But?" Thea asked.

"But you should talk to Roy first and make sure he's on board first before you make any commitments." Oliver said.

"Good point." Thea agreed.

"So, Thea is really leaving?" Laurel asked as she, John, Rene, Felicity, Tommy and Dinah all sat in the bunker as Oliver told them about Thea's decision.

"Yeah, she wants a fresh start where she can be a hero outside of my shadow." Oliver said.

"Which means that Roy is likely going with her." John said.

"If Lyla approves of him transferring to Ivy Town." Oliver said.

"She will. Whole reason she gave him that job was to give him a reason to stick around for Thea and she'll more than happily transfer him to Ivy Town." John said.

"And Thea's really going to be a hero in Ivy Town? All by herself, since let's face it, Roy won't exactly be around all the time since honestly, even now he spends a lot of time abroad for missions." Felicity said.

"She can handle it and besides, just like how I inspired Rene and others to become heroes as the Green Arrow, I'm sure Thea will do the same in Ivy Town." Oliver said.

"Though hopefully she won't be so stubborn about recruiting people." Felicity said.

"Please, she's half Queen, half Merlyn, stubbornness is her DNA." Tommy said.

"He's not wrong." Oliver agreed.

"Still, she should at least have someone to run the computers and tech aspect, since I'm planning on staying here." Felicity said.

"Good point. She is going to need a genius to run comms and create gadgets and all that sort of stuff." Oliver said.

"Wait, I think I know someone who can help. Someone we already trust to keep all this secret." Dig said.

"And that would be?" Dinah asked.

"The Paragon of Humanity, Ryan Choi." John said.

"Right, the guy's a genius and like John said, he's one of the paragons, we can trust him and he already knows our identities." Oliver said.

"So, you're really planning on moving?" Roy asked Thea after she told him.

"Actually, I was hoping that we'd be moving." Thea said.

"You want me to come with you?" Roy asked.

"If you want to. I'd understand if you want to stay here with the team, but honestly, I could use all the help I can get." Thea said.

"Thea, you know I'll follow you anywhere. I just want to make sure." Roy said.

"Roy, I'm completely serious about this, I'm ready to step out on my own and out of my brother's shadow." Thea said.

"Then I guess Artemis and Arsenal are going to Ivy Town." Roy said and Thea smiled as they kissed.

Chapter Text

"I have to admit, this is much nicer than my last going away party." Thea said as she, Roy, Oliver, Laurel, Dig, Lyla, Rene, Dinah, Felicity, Tommy, Moira, Quentin, William and Samantha all stood in the Parlor of the Queen Mansion for Thea and Roy's going away party.

"Plus we got invited this time." Dinah said to Rene.

"Rene was in the hospital and can you blame me for not inviting you Dinah?" Oliver asked.

"True." Dinah agreed.

"Anyways, have you guys thought about what you're going to do when you get to Ivy Town?" Felicity asked.

"Well, there's an Argus base that I'll be working out of, since I'm still technically still an Argus newbie, so she can't exactly give me control of the base without it seeming like favoritism and I don't want to be in charge anyways. I'd rather leave that to the Queens." Roy said, looking over at Thea.

"Well, I for one am going to start settling into the apartment we found in Ivy Town and then start looking for a place to set up a base of operations. After all, I won't have access to the Arrowcave anymore." Thea said with a smile.

"You know I hate it when you call it that." Oliver said.

"Too bad. And I don't know why you hate it, since Arrowcave sounds much cooler than the Bunker." Thea said.

"Because Arrowcave is something out of a comic book." Oliver said.

"Oliver, I'm not sure if you haven't noticed this, but our whole lives are basically out of a comic book at this point." John said.

"Enough. This is supposed to be a party and I am celebrating that I actually have a child that wants to finish college." Moira said as she hugged her daughter.

"And I intend to stay at the same school for all four years of college." Thea said.

"Very funny." Oliver said.

"Thanks, I thought so." Thea said.

"So, no plans to get a job?" Felicity asked Thea.

"No point in it when we're rich again. Besides, between studying and being a vigilante, I doubt I'll have much time to work." Thea said.

"At least you'll be studying and not partying." Moira said.

"Okay, I think it's time to end the party if it's just going to be more throwing jokes at my expense." Oliver said.

"Besides, this party is supposed to be about Roy and I." Thea said.

"Should we be expecting a certain announcement any time soon?" Laurel asked with a smirk.

"Are you kidding, don't you think I'd be missing an arm right now if that were the case." Roy asked.

"He's not wrong." Oliver agreed, making it clear that he'd severely hurt Roy if he proposed without first getting his permission.

"Ollie, be nice. You've already threatened Roy with every weapon known to man and a few things that I didn't even know could be weapons." Thea said.

"And that means I approve of him being your boyfriend. If I didn't, he'd be in the hospital or maybe a body bag." Oliver said.

"Okay, everytime I think I'm forgetting how scary your brother is, he finds a way to remind me." Roy said.

"Except if he hurts you, I hurt him. After all, he's not the only one with League training." Thea said, right as there was a knock on the door.

"I didn't know we were expecting any other guests." Moira said.

"Neither did I." Oliver said as Raisa entered the room and to their surprise, Nyssa joined her.

"Nyssa, please tell me you're not here to ruin Thea's going away party." Oliver said.

"Again." Roy mentioned.

"I'd like to point out that the problem did not arrive until after the party last time. But no. This time I am simply here to join in your celebration and also, to offer my services." Nyssa said.

"I think we're good on manpower." Oliver said.

"Not to you Oliver. It is nothing personal, but like you just said, you have all the teammates you need. I was talking to your sister." Nyssa said.

"Me?" Thea asked.

"We were good partners once while we were destroying the Lazarus Pits and since it sounds like you're planning on beginning your own crusade, perhaps we could be again." Nyssa said.

"You want to join us?" Roy asked.

"Protecting a city is not something that two people can do alone and the three of us already work well together. It makes sense." Nyssa said.

"What about the League?" Thea asked.

"Let me guess, Talia." Oliver said and Nyssa nodded.

"She has promised not to interfere in your affairs again, mainly because she knows she is no match for you or for Thea, since you've both bested her in combat." Nyssa said.

"Good. At least she'll bring some honor back to the League." Oliver said.

"And she also requested I bring you something as a token of goodwill. Something she said belonged to you Thea and I agree." Nyssa said as she produced a sword.

"The sword of Al-Faith." Thea said.

"You claimed it in battle once before. Talia and I both agree that you are most worthy to wield it. She also wanted me to let you know that should you choose too, you'll have a place at her side turning the League of Assassins into a League of heroes." Nyssa said.

"I think I'll pass on that, but I do appreciate the offer. I will take the sword however and Nyssa, if you're sure about it, you're more than welcome to work with us in Ivy Town." Thea said as she took the blade from Nyssa.

"Excellent." Nyssa said.

"Okay then, let's get back to the party." Oliver said as the party resumed.

Chapter Text

"So, why did Oliver go to Russia instead of Ivy Town with Thea, Roy and Moira?" Tommy asked.

"I could ask why you stayed here instead of going with them, since isn't Thea your sister too?" Laurel reminded her ex-boyfriend.

"Yeah, that's something I'm still getting used to. Especially since she flirted with me." Tommy said.

"Let's not talk about that. For all our mindsets. It's just a good thing that she never did that here. But on a similar topic, I haven't noticed you flirting with your fling of the month." Laurel said with a chuckle, which Tommy shared.

"Yeah well, now that I remember that I am capable of being in a serious relationship, I kind of want to try it again. Only problem is that the only girl I could see myself with is currently living with my best friend." Tommy said and Laurel sighed.

"Tommy, I think we both know that even if we had gotten back together, it wouldn't have been fair to you, since honestly, you were right all along. Even though I did love you." Laurel said.

"You'll always love Oliver more." Tommy said.

"It's nothing personal Tommy. It's just, with Ollie and I, there's this spark that we never had." Laurel said.

"Plus he's a hero." Tommy said.

"Hey, you've saved a fair amount of lives yourself Dr. Merlyn." Laurel reminded him of his medical degree, since one of the main reasons Tommy was on the team was to serve as their medic.

"It's not the same. Honestly Laurel, part of the reason I broke up with you was because I knew that Oliver would eventually tell you his secret and I knew that when you found out, you'd choose him. Though from what I hear, he chose someone else." Tommy said.

"Yeah, though that was really my fault." Laurel said.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.

"After you died, Oliver spent a few months in exile on Lian Yu. When he came back, I told him that we couldn't be together, since it would feel like we would be dishonoring your memory. Honestly Tommy, your death sent me down a very dark path because I blamed myself for it. The only reason you were at CNRI was because I was too stubborn to listen when you both told me not to go to the Glades. You died because of me." Laurel said.

"Laurel, it wasn't your fault. We both made our choices that day and I'd make that choice again in a heartbeat. Though Oliver probably would've been able to save you and get out alive." Tommy said.

"But he wasn't there Tommy. You were." Laurel reminded him.

"Laurel, we both know that the only reason Oliver wasn't there to save you was because he was trying to stop my dad from destroying the city." Tommy said.

"True." Laurel said.

"But anyways, Laurel, all I've ever wanted was for you to be happy, even if it meant you wouldn't be with me." Tommy said.

"I know. It just took me awhile to realize that." Laurel said.

"But are you sure you're ready to be a mom, since if you and Oliver get married, you'll be stepmom to his kid." Tommy asked her.

"That's still some time away." Laurel said, though privately, she could see herself being a stepmom to William. Someday that is.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? He's a madman." Dante asked his boss as they arrived at an undisclosed location.

"Who shares the same goal as we do. To destroy Star City once and for all." Emiko Adachi said to her subordinate.

"And it's not because he shares the same vendetta against Oliver Queen that you do." Dante asked.

"That's just an added bonus. Plus, if we launch our attack in conjunction with his, then the world will just think it was all his fault and keep the eyes off us." Emiko said.

"Okay, I can see how that is beneficial. I guess your vendetta hasn't made you completely blind to your loyalty to us." Dante said.

"I can multitask." Emiko said.

"If you're done bickering, let's get down to business." Slade Wilson said as he joined them.

"Mr. Wilson. Or do you prefer Deathstroke." Emiko asked.

"That depends, do I call you Ms. Adachi or Ms. Queen." Slade asked her.

"I see you did your research on me. Impressive, since as far as the world knows, I don't exist." Emiko said.

"I always like to make sure I know exactly who I'm working with. The last time I trusted someone blindly, they blinded me." Slade said, referring to his eyepatch.

"Yeah, I heard you used to have two eyes. What happened to the other one." Dante asked.

"Why don't you ask her brother." Slade asked, only to find a sword at his throat.

"Oliver Queen is not related to me in any way other than blood. He and his whole family will pay for what they did to mine." Emiko said.

"No one kills the kid but me. And that's not up for debate." Slade said.

"Perhaps before we discuss terms like that, we should make sure that we'll both find this partnership beneficial, what do you have to offer to us?" Dante asked, since honestly, while he'd trained Emiko personally, he also knew that with the mirakuru in his system, Slade Wilson might be an enemy she couldn't beat, so he was trying to play peacemaker.

"I have spent years preparing to crush the kid's city, even before I knew he was alive, since I wanted revenge for what he did to me. I've already begun plans to begin Star City's downfall, starting with inserting my own puppet as it's mayor." Slade said.

"Then why haven't you started?" Emiko asked.

"Because somehow the kid is onto me. He knows I'm alive and he's already looking for me." Slade said.

"Sounds like a bit of a snag. But do you still think your plan could work?" Emiko asked.

"With the right distraction to lure his attention away from me, yes. And I've already started making moves since he's out of town right now." Slade said.

"You have surveillance established on him?" Emiko asked.

"And all his loved ones. His sister Thea actually just moved away from Star City." Slade said.

"Send an agent after her, but make sure they remain discreet." Emiko said and Dante nodded.

"What about you? You know what I can offer, but what about you? I don't need your money." Slade said.

"Well how about influence." Emiko said.

"What kind of influence?" Slade asked.

"Does moles inside Argus count?" Dante asked.

"Depends on how high up they are." Slade asked.

"How about the deputy director of Argus." Argus Deputy Director Bell said as he joined them.

"I'm impressed. To infiltrate Argus at that level, I think that this will be very beneficial." Slade said.

"So, are we in business?" Emiko asked.

"We are." Slade said.

"Then tell your guard dog to stand down." Dante ordered.

"Stand down." Slade said, holding up his hand and a man wearing black leather assault gear with two red lines on his chest that intersect to form a V with an orange ski mask, which seemed like overkill, and a gun, joined them.

"Can you blame me for the precaution. I'm sure you have the place surrounded." Slade said.

"Fair enough. Let's talk business." Emiko said, though they were completely unaware that they'd been overheard.

Chapter Text

When Oliver arrived in Russia, he immediately headed to the bar he knew the Bratva was based out of. However, he was surprised when he found that Anatoly was nowhere to be found.

"Kto ty i chego khochesh'? (Who are you and what do you want?)" one of the members who was there asked in Russian.

"Ishchu anatoliya knyazeva (I'm looking for Anatoly Knyazev.)" Oliver replied.

"Zdes' net nikogo s takim imenem. (There's no one here by that name.)" The same member replied and Oliver rolled his eyes.

"YA znayu, chto ty lzhesh', i ya znayu, chto on Pakhan iz Bratvy. (I know you're lying and I know that he is the Pakhan of the Bratva)." Oliver said as he watched them ready weapons.

"Kak tebe eto? (How do you know that?)" the member asked.

"Because he is Bratva." Anatoly said as he walked out of the back room.

"Chto ty imeyesh' v vidu, chto on Bratva? On amerikanets? (What do you mean he is Bratva? He's an American?)" The Bratva underlings said.

"You did not tell them who you are?" Anatoly asked Oliver.

"They didn't give me a chance." Oliver said with a shrug.

"And you wanted to beat up some of my men. If you wanted to do that, just ask, I have no shortage of people I'd like you to hurt." Anatoly said and Oliver chuckled.

"I wasn't planning on a fight." Oliver said.

"Who is this man?" Another member asked in English.

"I am Kaphusion." Oliver said and the way they all looked at him changed immediately.

"Now you can hit them." Anatoly said and Oliver chuckled.

"It's good to see you alive and well my friend." Oliver said and Anatoly smiled.

"And you too, my favorite American. But what brings you to Russia?" Anatoly asked him.

"I wanted to talk to you, make sure that you were still holding the same ideals you had when I left. About bringing the Bratva back to its roots." Oliver said as Anatoly waved his underlings off.

"I appreciate your concern. So far we have." Anatoly said.

"I remember what you said about how you were concerned about what you'd become without me. And while I'm abandoning my home, I will be checking in to make sure that the man who was my friend doesn't become what Gregor was." Oliver said.

"And I appreciate that. But I know you did not come all this way for a simple check up. What is it?" Anatoly asked.

"Slade Wilson is still alive." Oliver said bluntly and Anatoly stilled.

"That is not possible. You killed him, did you not?" Anatoly asked.

"I put an arrow in his eye, I thought he was dead, but he also had the mirakuru in his system. It must've kept him alive." Oliver said.

"So you came here to warn me." Anatoly said as Oliver slipped the memory ring on.

"And to do this." Oliver said as he used the device to restore Anatoly's memories.

"And also to remind you not to trust Ricardo Diaz." Oliver said.

"A listen I won't soon forget. And now I also know that only member of Bratva I can trust is sitting next to me." Anatoly said.

"You thinking about getting out?" Oliver asked him.

"No. You know better than anyone how Bratva responds to brothers leaving it. Besides, this way I can make sure that brotherhood never loses its honor again and this time, you will always be an honored member of it." Anatoly said and Oliver smiled, right as his phone buzzed.

"John, what's up?" Oliver asked as he listened to his other brother talk.

"Capture him and start interrogation. I'll be back as soon as I can." Oliver said as he hung up.

"What was that about?" Anatoly asked him.

"An issue concerning the Ninth Circle. From what John told me, it sounds like they might be in league with Slade on this one." Oliver said.

"Then go. And remember, any Bratva resources you need to help you are at your disposal and I'll make sure that Leonov knows that you are his boss and he will do what you ask without requiring something in return or he will be replaced with someone who knows who to treat my most trusted captain." Anatoly said and Oliver nodded in thanks before walking out.

Chapter Text

"So, your dad decided it was a good idea to restore your memories?" William asked Zoe as they studied together at the Queen Mansion.

"Yeah, since mom is not allowed near me under any circumstances for a while, dad decided that the best way to explain his not being around was by just reminding me that he's Wild Dog, especially since I'd figure it out eventually." Zoe said.

"Well I'm glad he did. It's nice to have someone my age to talk to about this stuff." William said.

"Yeah, how are you holding up with your dad being the Green Arrow? I remember hearing that you weren't thrilled about it originally." Zoe said.

"Honestly, the fact that my mom is still alive helps a lot, though she keeps trying to pair me up with girls." William said and Zoe chuckled, since she was the only person William had already come out to. At least, as far as they knew, since they did not know about their future selves and their parents had no intention of telling them about that.

"I'm guessing you haven't told her yet?" Zoe asked.

"No. Honestly, I have a feeling that dad already knows somehow, but mom hasn't noticed yet." William said.

"You could tell her." Zoe said.

"I'm not ready yet. Honestly, I'm glad that if I'm right about dad knowing, he's waiting for me to feel comfortable telling him." William said.

"Well, from what I remember, your dad shouldn't have any problems with that." Zoe said.

"I know. Honestly, the bigger adjustment is not only having my mom back, but also meeting my Grandma Moira and also knowing that instead of being with Felicity, my dad is dating the doppelganger of a woman who tried to kill me, though from what my mom says, this Laurel Lance is a very nice person and from what I've seen, she is." WIlliam said.

"How is life with a rich grandmother?" Zoe asked.

"It's awkward, since apparently she never wanted dad to know about me in the first place." William said.

"Ouch." Zoe said.

"Yeah. Though honestly, she seems to enjoy having a grandchild to spoil now that I'm here." William said.

"What about your dad's dad? I know he's dead, but did they ever tell you any stories about him?" Zoe asked.

"Honestly, all I really know about him is that without him, my dad wouldn't be the hero he is today. I overheard my grandmother talking to my aunt and she thinks that the reason my grandfather wasn't brought back after dad reset the world was because he could only change the things that didn't change him and without my granddad doing what he did for my dad, there'd be no Green Arrow, which means that there would be no world right now." William said.

"It must be nice to know that your dad will go down in history as one of its greatest heroes. I wonder if my dad will." Zoe said.

"I'm sure he will." William said.

"Great. So, think that any of your dad's enemies will come looking for us?" Zoe asked.

"Dad had Argus establish a perimeter around the mansion and I have Argus agents shadowing me every time I leave. I'm sure you have the same security." William said and Zoe nodded.

"Probably." Zoe agreed.

"Mom's annoyed by all the security, but it could be worse." William said.

"How?" Zoe asked.

"Last I heard, the leader of the League of Assassins owes dad more than a few favors. I'm sure if he asked, she'd provide us with League bodyguards." William said.

"Yeah, I think I'll take Argus." Zoe said.

"Me too." William agreed.

"You think our parents will ever go public with their identities again?" Zoe asked him.

"I doubt it. Only reason dad revealed his identity is because he had no other option when he wanted to free the city from Diaz. Who hopefully will never see past whatever prison cell he's in now." William said.

"You ever think that someday, we'll pick up where our parents eventually leave off?" Zoe asked.

"Not really. Honestly, if I ever did take up that kind of life like dad has, it would probably be more of a techie position like Felicity. I'm not really the kind of person who wants to get in on the action." William said.

"Right, you're the brainy nerd. I, on the other hand, am my father's daughter and I'm the brawny jock who wants to get in the field." Zoe said and William rolled his eyes.

"Guess we know who the dumb one in this dynamic is then." William said.

"I walked right into that one didn't I?" Zoe asked.

"Pretty much." William said and Zoe laughed.

"It's too bad you and I are attracted to the same gender. Otherwise I think we would've worked well together." Zoe said.

"Maybe on a different Earth and it is so weird to think that there's a good chance that some other version of us actually exists in the multiverse." William said.

"Yeah, I don't really understand any of that and please don't explain it to me. There are some things about this world that I don't want to or need to understand. As long as someone else does." Zoe said.

"Hey to be honest, I don't really understand it much myself. I only know as much as I do from overhearing Felicity talk to my dad's friends in Central City." William said.

"I still don't understand why you knew the truth about your dad the whole time you lived with him and I had to find out the truth about mine from overhearing my dad talking to his teammates." Zoe asked.

"Two words. Adrian Chase. The only reason I knew is because of him, and trust me, it wasn't worth it." William said.

"Fair enough. That guy is also the reason I almost lost any chance of living with my dad again." Zoe said.

"Hey, at least now you'll never get taken away from him again." William said.

"Very true." Zoe agreed.

"I have to admit, I have missed talking to you like this in person. Especially since you ghosted me after you moved to Central City. Not cool by the way." Zoe said to him.

"Yeah, not proud of that. Though to be fair, that was partially my grandparents' fault." William said.

"Buddy, you can't blame that on them, since you're the one who wanted to live with them in the first place." Zoe retorted.

"I'm never winning that argument am I?" William asked.

"Since I heard that your mom grounded you for a week after your dad told her about that stunt, no, you're not." Zoe said.

"I am sorry about that Zoe." William said.

"Look, it's behind us now and besides, technically, it hasn't happened yet, so let's just forget about it, I just wanted to give you a hard time about it once." Zoe said.

"Fair enough." William said as they continued talking.

Chapter Text

"Okay, this place is nice." Laurel said as she, Oliver and John helped Thea and Roy move their things into the new penthouse Thea had bought in Ivy Town.

"Thanks. I have to admit, it does remind me of the loft I had in Star City before I got stabbed." Thea said.

"Right, then you downgraded to staying at Laurel's old apartment. No offense." Oliver said to his girlfriend.

"None taken, you're right. Considering the way she grew up, I was surprised she didn't just buy a new penthouse." Laurel said, jumping on the teasing Speedy train.

"Very funny." Thea said.

"So, where's Nyssa?" John asked, changing the subject, since they knew that the former heir to the demon had also moved to Ivy Town to help Thea and Roy.

"Getting her own place set up. I offered to let her stay with us, but something tells me that she's going to be enjoying her freedom from the League in a way that we don't want her doing here." Thea said.

"Sounds like her." Oliver agreed.

"How is she affording things, since while I know that the League funds her, she'll still need a cover, since she can't just sit around all day." John asked.

"She's starting her own private investigator office." Roy answered.

"That's actually a good idea for her, since we all know how effective she is at finding out information." Oliver said.

"Yep." Roy said.

"So, how often do you think you'll actually be here, since aren't you still working for Argus?" Oliver asked Roy.

"I talked to Lyla and she agreed to keep me local. I've honestly had my fill of world travelling for a while." Roy said.

"I don't blame you. But doesn't that mean you're pretty much stuck on desk duty." Oliver said and Roy shrugged.

"Even so, I have being Arsenal to get that action packed adrenaline rush." Roy pointed out.

"Fair enough." Oliver said with a chuckle.

"Have you guys picked out a base yet?" John asked and Thea nodded.

"I'm taking a page out of Sara's book, using an abandoned clock tower as my base of operations." Thea said.

"And do you have a genius to run it yet, since I can't really spare Felicity and I doubt Barry will send you Cisco." Oliver said.

"Funny you should mention that." Thea said as the elevator in the apartment went off and Ryan Choi walked out of it.

"Dr. Choi." Oliver said.

"Mr. Queen. It's nice to see you again. Especially since now you actually sound like a normal person. Though that Sith look you had going on was pretty cool." Ryan said and Oliver chuckled.

"Never mention that around Cisco Ramon or Ray Palmer. I'll never hear the end of it." Oliver said.

"He's not wrong." John agreed.

"Sorry. But you do look better than the last time I saw you." Ryan said as Oliver held out his hand, which Ryan shook.

"Comes with actually still being alive. And I was hoping that you'd agree to be Thea's tech support." Oliver said.

"Honestly, I have to admit, ever since I helped reboot the universe, just being a simple professor has gotten kind of boring." Ryan said.

"I figured as much. That's why I told Thea to reach out to you when she told me she was moving to Ivy Town." Oliver said.

"Well thank you for that. But I really hope that you have someone else to design a base, since that's not really my area of expertise." Ryan said.

"Already reached out to Cisco on that." Thea assured him.

"Good. No one I trust to build a superhero base more than him." Oliver said, right as his phone rang.

"Hey Felicity, what's up?" Oliver asked as he went to a separate part of the apartment.

"The Dragon is free." Felicity said simply.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Our system just got word that despite our best efforts, Diaz has been released from prison." Felicity said.

"Do you have him under surveillance?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, and I've already caught him meeting up with one of his associates from the old universe. Lydia Cassamento." Felicity said.

"The Quadrant. Maybe we can make this work for us." Oliver said.

"What do you mean?" Felicity asked.

"We use him to track down the rest of the Quadrant and take them down, since honestly, they are way too dangerous to be allowed to remain active like they did before." Oliver said.

"To be fair, they went underground after Diaz failed to keep control of the city and then we were busy with you being in prison and the team going their separate ways and then you got out and the team got deputized and we started fighting the Ninth Circle, they kind of fell through the cracks." Felicity said.

"Make sure Dinah, Rene and Quentin are all made aware of this." Oliver said.

"They're all running down leads on Diaz now." Felicity said.

"Okay, John, Laurel and I will be back as soon as we can." Oliver said as he hung up.

"Everything okay?" John asked as Oliver reentered the room.

"We need to get back to Star City now." Oliver said.

"What's going on?" Thea asked, since she thought her brother and his team would stay a bit longer.

"Just got a call from Felicity. Diaz is free." Oliver said.

"How the hell is that possible?" John asked.

"I don't know, but we need to get back so we can put his ass in the ground where it belongs." Oliver said.

"I'll call Lyla, see if she can get us any more details." John said.

"Let me know if you need any help. I still owe Diaz from when he had his cops work me over." Roy said.

"No one kills the bastard but me." Oliver said, making it clear that it was final.

"Okay, I can't wait to finally meet the bastard who did what my dad has been dreaming of doing for years. Getting Ollie locked up for life." Laurel said, trying to lighten the mood, since she'd heard about Diaz and she knew what a problem he was.

"As if we didn't have enough going on with Slade and Emiko being in Star City." Oliver said.

"Go. Roy and I can finish unpacking and I'll explain things to mom if she gets upset." Thea said.

"Where is she?" Laurel asked.

"Helping Nyssa design her apartment and her new private detective office." Thea said as they nodded before heading out.

"You want to stick around and help us unpack?" Thea asked Ryan.

"Love too, but I really only came by to meet your brother, but I need to get home, especially since I doubt my wife will approve of me just showing up at one of my students' homes, especially since you're not a physics student." Ryan said as he walked out too.

"So, now that they're gone, shall we break in our new apartment properly?" Roy asked as Thea smacked his chest.

"While I like you're thinking, get your head out of the gutter, since my mom could walk in at any minute, since I doubt she wants to walk in on one of her kids having sex. She got enough of that with Ollie." Thea said.

"Fair point." Roy admitted.

"Don't worry, there's always tonight." Thea assured him as they resumed unpacking.

Chapter Text

"Well, look who's back to his true glory." Lydia Cassamento said as Ricardo Diaz made his way into the Quadrant's headquarters.

"Yeah, it took a lot longer for you to get me out of that hell hole than it should've." Diaz said angrily as he walked past her.

"Some members of the Quadrant's council felt that getting you released was a waste of time. Not me of course. You know my loyalty to you is strong." Cassamento said and Diaz actually stopped and turned to face her.

"Don't worry, I know you wouldn't betray me like that. After all, you're the only one who was smart enough to back me willingly." Diaz said.

"Well, you made quite an entrance when you took over the Quadrant and I have to admit, despite my initial misgivings about you at first, you proved yourself to be a very competent leader, since the Quadrant's profits did increase significantly once you took over." Cassamento said and Diaz grinned.

"Nice to know at least one of you remembered." Diaz said.

"So, how are you going to handle the traitors?" Cassamento asked.

"First, I'm going to give them a chance to explain themselves. Then, once they've hung themselves, I'll kick the chairs out from under them." Diaz said.

"I'm hoping I'm not on that list?" Cassamento asked.

"Relax, you're safe." Diaz assured her, though his assurances did little to actually assuage her fears.

"You should know that I got in contact with the Ninth Circle. It turns out that they're interested in meeting with you as the leader of the Quadrant." Cassamento said.

"I like the initiative. Have you set a meeting yet?" Diaz asked.

"Not yet. They would only speak with the man in charge and since you were in prison when I made contact, I didn't see fit to the others in case they saw it as a chance to take you out permanently." Cassamento said.

"And that brain is the reason you're not gonna be dead. Get in touch with the Circle, tell them I'm happy to meet whenever and wherever is most convenient for them." Diaz said.

"Yes Mr. Diaz." Cassamento said as they entered the council room, where the other members went silent.

"Ricardo, it's nice to see you alive my friend." One of the members, Remy Cartier said.

"I'm sure it is. Since now you have to face me and your choice to let me rot in prison for life. Tell me, what on Earth made any of you think that was a good idea? You had to know I'd get out eventually and that I wouldn't be happy. The only one in this room whose loyalty is not in question is Ms. Cassamento and that's because she's smart enough to know how to keep the boss happy." Diaz said angrily.

"Except you shouldn't be the boss in the first place." Another member, Cyrus Broderick, said.

"Excuse me?" Diaz asked.

"This organization has operated since this country was founded, being run by four of its most influential families. Then you came in, a nothing, a petty crime lord from Star City, and practically insisted that we roll over at your command." Broderick said.

"And the Quadrant has flourished under his leadership. We've amassed more wealth and power than ever." Cassamento pointed out.

"Enough. You know, I'm glad I finally know what you really think of me Broderick." Diaz said.

"Really?" Broderick asked.

"Yeah, because now I won't wonder what you really thought of me when you're dead. Not that I'd do that, but still." Diaz said.

"What are you talking about?" Broderick asked, only to start gasping and choking, as did the other members besides Cassamento did as well.

"What did you do?" Cartier asked.

"Did you really think you'd survive doublecrossing me? I had you all poisoned before you even arrived here today." Diaz said with a grin as his former subordinates fell to the ground, dead.

"Time to pick up where I left off. Make contact with the Ninth Circle. It's time to take Star City back." Diaz said and Cassamento nodded as she walked off to do exactly that.

Chapter Text

I did not think I'd be doing this, but I am putting the brave new world series up for adoption. A new series will be up soon, but there will be some changes. For starters, I will not be doing another Black Lightning story, just because I was never into that show the way I am the others. Instead, I'm going to be focusing on the other shows and my Artemis story, since i'm not abandoning that. I hope you guys understand and hopefully, this will be the last time I do something like this until after I've finished the new series. Let me know if any of you are interested in this series and finishing it. I'm sure someone is.