Summary: Oliver goes missing following a mission. What has happened to him? Someone has come back from the dead for revenge.

Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I'm only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this.

AN: Yes, yet another Ra's story. Yes, I know. If you have returned, I guess you don't mind yet another Ra's story. So…. I am VERY, very happy you are reading this. I especially like this premise, but I have been stuck with how to proceed…but I have figured it out, thus why I am posting this first chapter.

I am inserting this into canon, early season 4. Then I am going to change it.

Oliver looked around the empty warehouse. How could their intel have been so wrong? John Baker was a criminal they'd been attempting to track for a month without success. Tonight Felicity had finally tracked down a very viable lead. They'd been so certain...but they were wrong. No trace of their quarry was found.

After she had agreed to accompany him out of town to "find himself", Oliver and Felicity had ended up living in Ivy City for four months. Four glorious months until Thea and Laurel had arrived, asking for their help with what they were calling "shadows", criminals who struck without warning and then disappeared without a trace. Criminals who they were getting no leads on, as to their overall objectives or who were their leader. So they reached out to Oliver for assistance.

Since their return, Oliver and Felicity also had only limited success in gathering any further intel upon their mysterious quarry, while keeping an eye on the rest of the criminal underground. Thus their supposed tracking of John Baker and tonight's unsuccessful mission.

As Oliver debated what to do next, Felicity notified them of a burglary in process and they rushed out towards the building's exit. Diggle and Thea rushed out of the building, Oliver right behind them. However, as Oliver was about to follow them down the last hallway towards the exit, his world became dark.

Consciousness slowly returned to Oliver some unknown time later, bringing with it a humongous headache. Oliver squeezed his eyes tightly as a spasm of pain threatened to split his skull. He slowly opened them before he realized he shouldn't. His failsafe maneuver of checking out his environment before opening his eyes didn't occur to him this time. He found himself looking at his surroundings sideways, and realized he was lying on his side. Checking the location of his arms, he wasn't surprised to find them restrained behind his back. A wave of dizziness hit, leading him to close his eyes again. Slowly opening them once more, he saw a pair of feet appear in his line of vision. After making sure the dizziness had passed, Oliver slowly looked up to see the face of the man with him, only to slowly shake his head to clear any possible remaining haziness. The person he thought he was seeing…. was it really possible he was indeed there in the flesh in front of him? Oliver struggled into a sitting position, attempted to gather any remaining dignity, and glared at the other man.

"Ra's. Why shouldn't I be surprised?"

Indeed, Ra's al Ghul, at least the Ra's al Ghul Oliver had fought five months ago, and supposedly killed, was alive and standing in front of Oliver. Wearing a blue sweater and jeans, looking like an ordinary business man on Casual Friday. Not dead, as Oliver had left him on the bridge five months ago. And apparently holding him captive. Again.

"Why aren't you dead?" The question came out of his lips unbidden. Oliver pressed his lips together in disgust as he observed a small smile grace Ra's' own lips at Oliver's question.

"You really believed I would meet you on top of the dam without a contingency plan in place in case you beat me? You are the type of individual who would have spent the previous months training to beat me. Why wouldn't I be prepared in case you were able to kill me?"

"So, you lined someone up to steal your body away to your Lazarus Pit. How was that possible, with Merlyn becoming the new Ra's?"

"Oh, Mr. Queen, please allow me some secrets. Let's just say I have more than one pit available, and neither my current successor, nor my daughter, were aware of all of them. Or other secrets, as well." Ra's walked a few steps to the other side of the doorway, he said, "Interesting development, I must say. Bestowing my ring upon Al Sa-her. Why did you do that?"

"As payment for his part in bringing you down, Ra's."

Stroking his chin, Ra's nodded. "Yes, I thought that must have been it. It must have totally killed you to make a deal like that with him."

"It wasn't exactly the most favorite thing I have ever done."

"How easy your life would have been, if only you had accepted my offer. Instead, you've spent these past five months torn by moral dilemmas and experiencing the disgust from all whom you hold dear."

"That only shows what you don't know. My friends forgave me for my supposed betrayals."

"But it took some time for them to forgive you, didn't it? And of course, your road trip with Ms. Smoak. I hope you enjoyed it. I certainly did, for it gave me the opportunity to prepare things back here in Starling for your return."

Oliver didn't like the sound of that, not at all. And, because of his headache, he was quickly losing patience with Ra's' games. So he asked a question he probably should've waited on, but asked anyway. "What are you doing, Ra's? Why am I here?"

A slow smile spread across Ra's' face. Cocking an eyebrow, Ra's said, "Not now, Mr. Queen. I will reveal more to you later. Just know that for now, you will be enjoying my hospitality for some time."

Oliver knew he didn't like the sound of that at all.

"And don't count on your team tracking you. We've removed all of your trackers."

A moment of doubt crossed Oliver's mind. Felicity had been quite clever in developing all sorts of trackers for the team. Any normal criminal wouldn't be able to discover them all. However, Oliver admitted to himself amidst a sinking feeling Ra's was no ordinary criminal.

"Can you at least tell me if we are still in Starling?"

Ra's acted as though he gave consideration to Oliver's question. Shrugging, he said, "I suppose I will answer one question for you. Yes, we are still in your city. For the moment."

Oliver watched Ra's walk to the doorway and turn around. "I'll leave you here for now, Mr. Queen. We shall talk later. You occupy yourself with trying to get out of those restraints. Good luck with that."

As the door closed, the key turned in the lock, and Ra's' footsteps faded, Oliver wondered what Ra's did have in mind. Was it to become his heir again? Oliver had worried there remained unresolved issues from the first time Ra's was around, and so he wondered if Ra's would try them again.

Sighing, Oliver decided to attempt getting out of the restraints, even though Ra's had insinuated it were impossible. He could tell he had iron manacles tightly chained around his wrists. Usually not as easy to get out of, but he's had some luck with them in the past. But, even if he successfully removed the restraints, he'd still be in this cell, without any lock picking equipment. One thing at a time.

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

Diggle and Thea had spent the time after preventing the burglary discussing how much they were dreading telling Felicity Oliver was missing. Especially since they didn't have any answers whatsoever to give her. They steeled themselves for the battle as they entered the Bunker.

"Where is Oliver?" Felicity asked as she watched Diggle and Thea enter the Arrow Bunker without their leader.

"We don't know, Felicity. One second he was behind us, and then he wasn't when we reached the exit. We backtracked our steps, and we couldn't find any sign of him anywhere. Or who might have taken him."

"How's that possible?"

"If we knew that, Felicity, we'd know who took him."

Felicity turned back to her computers, her fingers flying as she accessed various cameras and surveillance systems, sending all information through her facial recognition programs. She then turned her attention to turning on the program to find Oliver's trackers. She received an error message from one to the next.

"Damn! Whoever took him found all my trackers."

Dig said with a grimace, "That could mean we're not dealing with just anybody."

Several minutes later, Felicity cursed, using a few words Diggle hadn't yet heard her use. "Damn, whoever took Oliver is good. They even sabotaged the traffic cameras near the warehouse you guys were at."

"So…we have absolutely no idea who took Oliver?" Diggle asked.

Leaning back in her chair, Felicity exhaled. "Well, not yet. I'm still running facial recognition on all cameras city-wide. But so far, not yet."

Thea asked, "Do you also have a program checking into releases of any criminals who might be after Oliver?"

Felicity looked down her nose at him. "Always, always amazes me that you guys keep underestimating me."

Thea turned a little red. "Sorry, Felicity, I didn't mean to…."

She smiled at him. "It's okay, Thea. Just teasing." She looked up at Diggle. "Well, mostly. But I forgive you because it's Oliver and we all don't want no stone unturned."

Diggle bit back a smile. "Thea, let's go do a patrol, and see if we can pick up any useful intel about who is behind this."

Thea nodded. Felicity said, "Be careful out there," as they left and turned her attention back to her scans and computers.

~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~

Three hours later, Felicity said over the comms, "Guys, it's been three hours. I think you need to come in and go home."

Silence met her comment. Felicity sighed and rolled her eyes. Stubborn vigilantes. "Guys, I mean it. I know you don't want to, but if you haven't found anything yet, there's always tomorrow." Still silence. "Guys, we all know this was a long shot. Come in, please." Felicity waited for a reply, but still nothing. "Guys? Are you okay?"

Diggle finally answered. "Sorry, Felicity. We are…we're just frustrated." Several seconds of silence, then he continued. "Yeah, we're okay, and we're coming in. See you in a few."

Felicity sighed again and returned to her screens. Nothing changed. She rubbed her temples and tried to take a few deep breaths. Oliver, where are you? What's happened to you?

Her attention was drawn to the elevator as she heard it descend. She watched Dig and Thea walk towards her, shoulders drooping, fatigue clearly showing on each of their faces.

"Absolutely no luck. No buzz out there about any strange traffic or newcomers in the area," Diggle said.

Thea asked, "Any luck here, Felicity?"

Worrying her lip, Felicity leaned back in her chair and shook her head. "Nope. What the hell, guys? No major player has escaped or been out of prison, we aren't on any specific case right now, except for Darhk…"

"No, it can't be him, Felicity. He has no idea Oliver is involved. You two have just returned to Starling; he barely knows you two. There is no way for him to suspect Oliver," Thea said.

"Are you sure, with your run-ins with him, he doesn't have any idea or clue about us, at all?"

Thea shook her head. "No. Mainly because we have only come across the ghosts. We barely even know about this guy Darhk as it is."

Diggle sat down next to Felicity, rubbing his chin, his tell that he's about to say something he views as "out there". Felicity turned to him expectantly and waited. He said, "I don't know…this will sound crazy…but, Felicity, why don't you run facial recognition on past criminals who are currently, or as far as we know, dead." At her scoffing sound, he said, "I know it sounds crazy, but…with our past, with how things have turned up for us in the past…the idea just popped into my head."

"Anyone I should start with in particular?"

Diggle sat in silence, shaking his head. "Yeah, I know, crazy, but…why don't you start with Ra's."

Thea scoffed. "Ra's? I mean, he is dead. Nyssa destroyed the Lazarus Pit."

Felicity looked at Diggle speculatively. "What are you thinking, Dig?"

"Well, among the stories I heard while in Afghanistan, there were stories about the League having multiple Lazarus Pits."

"What?" both female voices asked in unison.

"I know, I know. But…if we don't have anything else to go on, why don't you try that, okay?"

Felicity placed her hand on her forehead, scrunching her eyes tightly shut. "Urg. Why aren't our lives simple…just once?"

Thea shrugged. "Look on the bright side. It may not even be true."

Felicity shook her head. "Might not be. For once. But, something tells me, with the crazy world we live in, anything is possible." She breathed out a heavy sigh, straightened her shoulders and faced her computers. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she typed in the new request and then leaned back in her chair. Sitting back up, she said, "Well, if we are being crazy, I better put in the rest of the dead crooks as well."

AN: Well, there it is, another new story. We shall see where it goes. I think it could very well be another story of a confrontation between Darhk and Ra's, but we shall see. My muse has been kinda quiet regarding this story, so we shall see where she takes it, after telling all those other ones. Anyway, I thank you very much for taking time to read it, and sure hope you let me know by way of a review what you thought of it. Always most deeply appreciated!