Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Roy Harper had been away from Starling City for a while now. He hadn't heard from anyone from Starling the whole time he was gone. Not Oliver, not Felicity, not Diggle, or Thea. He had met up with some other heroes and ran with them for a while. They called themselves the Titans. He remembered some of the horrors they faced, one of the worst being fellow member Raven's own father. He'd met an assassin named Cheshire whom he had a love hate relationship with. It was on hate right now. He wasn't sure if he'd ever completely get over Thea anyway.
And now? Now Roy was about to die in a foreign country where the liberated people became enraged at him for overthrowing their dictator. People had gotten mad at Roy for doing an assortment of deeds in the past, but most of them had been crimes that had landed him in jail... not trying to help them gain freedom.
The day before his execution, a priest showed up.
"You got five minutes to confess your sins," one of the guards spat at him.
To think, after everything he had been through, all the times he had almost died, even faked his death as he did for Oliver back in Starling, he was actually going to go out like this: executed. Before Oliver Queen, Roy always thought he'd die on the streets, beaten or stabbed to death in an alley. After Oliver Queen, Roy thought he would die in battle against some monster or villain.
He looked at the priest who had a set of eyes Roy found familiar but couldn't quite place. "I'd shake your hands, but…" his eyes trailed down to the large ball he was holding attached to the chains on his wrists.
"I am Pastor Beerback of the International Agency of Amnesty- and these conditions are deplorable. Rest assured, I'll be filing a complaint with the state department!"
"Trust me, there are a lot of locals that would happily put Arsenal out of his misery," the other guard said spitting on the ground.
"Might I request a moment of privacy for prayer?" the priest asked.
"So long as you're out in the open, I don't care if you pray to my left sock," one of the guards said.
The priest glared at the guard.
"Look, padre, I don't mean to be ungrateful but-" Roy started, about to tell the priest he had no desire to confess his sins, but broke off, when the priest opened his bible and showed Roy his bow collapsed in the cut out pages.
Roy's eyes widened. "Is that my bow?" he whispered to the priest.
"Yes."
"You're insane," Roy said. "I like you."
The priest smirked. "Amen!"
The priest suddenly gripped the strap of his overalls, pulling on it. "And in conclusion, as the Good Book says, "Go bold or go home!""
Roy heard a click, and Jason Todd clad in his costume as the Red Hood burst out of the disguise of the priest. A moment later, he shot the chain off the ball Roy had been carrying and tossed him his bow and quiver.
Oh yeah, the Red Hood was totally Roy's kind of crazy.
Several shots of arrows and bullets later and the two of them were escaping the prison.
"Please tell me you broke down and asked you old pal for the keys to the Batmobile," Roy said, though he was being sarcastic. Jason loathed Batman; there was no way he'd ever talk to him again without it ending in bloodshed.
Jason laughed. "I'll do that the day you go back to Starling City."
"Touché," the archer replied.
"Get in," he said, gesturing to a small, roofless car.
Eh, Roy had done crazier things in his lifetime. The two of them jumped in the vehicle and Jason started driving.
A few minutes later, Roy saw them.
"Tanks!"
"Don't mention it," Jason laughed.
"Wha- no! Real, actual tanks. In front of you," Roy said.
Jason smirked, though it was under his helmet so Roy couldn't see it. "Don't worry about that."
Before Roy could say anything else, one of his old partners from the Titans flew out and desomated the tanks. Starfire, or Princess Koriand'r as she was known on Tameran.
Kori landed in the back of the car with them. "Jason. Roy."
"Hey, Kori," Roy said. "Been a long time. You look good."
"I can't say the same for you," Kori replied. "You look as if you have been through one of Earth's meat grinders."
Roy laughed, remembering the guards beating him bloody while he was in their custody. "Feels that way."
"Eh, we all go through a meat grinder at some point in our lives," Jason said. "And the more meat grinders you go through the tougher you get."
That brought a chuckle from all three of them.
"So, where are we going?" Roy asked.
"Somewhere warm."
AN: This is just a brief take on something that might have brought Arrowverse Roy to the Outlaws. Now that he is apparently only going to be a reoccuring character on season 4, anything we imagine for the character is possible. While I desperately hope he goes back to Arrow or perhaps even to the new Teen Titans show I've heard things about, I'm not sure if that is going to happen, so I intend to write much fanfiction about things that might possibly happen in Roy's future as Arsenal. I'm considering writing something that shows everything that happened to him after leaving and then bringing him back in another fic to Starling, much changed and even stronger than he already was after everything he faced on his own, with the Titans, and maybe even with the Outlaws. Not sure yet. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this particular one-shot.
-DragonsintheMoonlight