Smoakless World

by olicityhooked

After a mysterious accident at STAR labs Barry Allen finds himself in a very different Starling city. In this world Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen never met, which lead to a much darker future for the emerald archer as well as for his favorite IT girl. Join Barry as he sets on a journey to uncover secrets behind his accident and safe his life as well as lives of his friends.

CHAPTER I

Starling city

Present

It was a quiet night in Starling. Skinny cat was carefully sneaking through an alley near 23th Lemire avenue trying to find something to eat. At one point she stopped, pointing ears forward in expectation. Wind suddenly changed direction and quickly gained in force. Flash of light and deafening „bang" ruptured midnight silence. Cat fled in terror as someone in red suit flew out of the white flash in great speed and hit the ground hard, tumbling through the mud and dirt, landing on his stomach.

Silence settled down as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened. With a loud moan stranger in red slowly turned on his back revealing bolt shaped symbol on his chest. His suit was teared up on a few places and it seemed burned a little.

„Well, that didnt go as planned." Barry groaned with a little smile as he stood up.

„Caitlin, are you there?" he asked lightly while inspecting damage done to his suit.

„Cisco is going to be so pissed." Barry mumbled to himself while trying to put teared up pieces of fabric from his suit back to its place. Soon realizing how hopeless his effort was he took a moment to look around.

„Huh." Barry exhaled confused and made a few steps forward to get a better glimpse of his surroundings. He wasn´t in STAR labs anymore but he was in a city. Question was, which one? And how did he get here in the first place?

„Caitlin?" Barry asked again with undertone of worry in his voice.

No answer.

„Cisco? Caitlin, are you there?"

For a few seconds he listened in silence, hoping that familliar voices would come through the ear piece. They didnt.

Barry touched the emblem on his chest to activate suits AI.

„Gideon, if you´re working, run diagnostics."

Computers metallic voice answered him. „Dimensional rupture detected. Unable to detect STAR labs commucation frequency."

Dimensional rupture ... that couldn´t be good.

Barry touched mini display on his forearm, activating Gideons user interface. He quickly went through all the available channels just to find out that he cant connect to any of the STAR labs satelites.

„Okay ... this is getting wierder." said Barry mostly to himself as he looked up from screen. Wherever he was, he needed to get back to the lab and find out what happened. Barry turned around to run up on the nearest building to get his bearings, but something was wrong. He couldn´t do it, he couldn´t speed up.

Panic was starting to creep into Barrys voice as he commanded the computer.

„Gideon, run bioscan."

Computer was crunching through data for a few seconds before giving him the bad news.

„Dark matter particles not detected. Speed force catalyzation process at 0.00%"

Barry needed to take a while to process this information. He lost his speed once, but his team found a way to jump start him again. But this was different. This time it seemed like Barrys DNA wasnt even altered. Like he was just ... a normal guy.

„Gideon, find medical records for Barry Allen."

„Medical records not found."

Barry frowned.

„Find any digital records of Barry Allen."

Gideon was silent for a few seconds. This operation was taking much longer than it should.

„Barry Allen not found."

„Thats impossible." Barry immediately countered „Search again through every subdatabase."

„Barry Allen not found."

Barry turned to his forearm screen and hit the internet on his own. He was searching through everything he could think of. No facebook page, no twitter account, no registration at Central city police department.

„Thats not possible ... its like I dont even ... exist." words were slipping from his lips almost involuntarily as he was frantically searching through web.

This was turning out to be either one hell of a prank or some serious Twilight Zone level nightmare. With his luck the second option was much more probable. Barry was weighing his options for a while, than he got an idea. There still was one place to look for traces of his identity.

„Gideon, search for Barry Allen in ARGUS internal database."

„Acces denied."

„Manual override, Flash 0231"

„Override unrecognized."

Something moved in the shadow far to his right. Barry tensed, fixing his gaze into lightless part of the alley but didnt see anything. He tried to persuade himself that it was just a cat, but he wasnt sure.

„Gideon, use ARGUS emergency override." he continued in a tensed much quieter voice.

„Unauthorized to proceed."

Barry silently cursed in desperation. He was banned from ARGUS network, STAR labs satelites were gone, his speed was gone ...

„What the hell happened." he whispered to himself, trying to recall his last memory of STAR labs.

Cisco, Caitlin, Harrison Wells and Barry were experimenting with speed. They had a theory that could help Barry defeat the Reverse Flash. He couldnt beat him in fair fight, man in yellow was too fast, but if he would be able to harness enough speed force, he should be able to move so fast that he´d be basically teleporting through space, which would give him the edge he would need to capture the Reverse Flash. Barry recalled that he was on the treadmill, running faster than ever before, then something or someone hit him and last thing he remembers is falling through some sort of portal ending right here in this alley.

„You have 5 seconds to tell me what I just saw and who you are." rough woman voice echoed from somewhere above the alley.

Barry recognized that voice, and suddenly knew in which city he was.

„Laurel! Its me, Barry!"

No respond. Barry was trying to catch a glimpse of her in the shadows between rooftops but he didnt see anything. Uneasy feeling settled in as Barry suddenly realized how vulnerable he is without his speed. Laurel was a friend and Barry knew she wouldnt hurt him, but she could be ... overzealous sometimes.

„I need to talk to Oliver, something happened, Im not quite sure ..."

But he didnt finish that sentence. He didnt even hear the attacker sneaking up on him. Before he realized what was going on, strong arm twisted around his neck with crushing pressure. Barry grabed forearm of his attacker with both hands and pulled down, trying to lesser the pressure, but the grip was steele-like.

„Wait!" he wanted to say but he didnt have enough air to utter those words. Locks of blonde hairs fell over Barrys face as he slowly lost consciousness.

Engine roared somewhere near Barrys head. He was moving. Opening his eyes Barry suddenly realized a few unsettling things. He was on the motorcycle, bend over backseat with hands tied behind his back and he had a gag in his mouth. Quiet terrified he watched road running rapidly away under him. As he tried to lift his head up to see the driver, bike suddenly stopped. His kidnapper got off and lift him up from the bike. Barry recognized this alley, they were at Verdants.

„Mhmmhm." he tried to utter through gagged mouth.

„Save yourself the trouble and dont make me break your arm." said Laurel as she grabbed Barry by arm and was dragging him to the secret doors in the side of the building. He wanted to say something. Why was Laurel behaving like this, did the loud explosion of white light wiped out her memory somehow? Or was it even Laurel or someone who looked exactly like her? But all these thoughts were forgotten as soon as they entered Arrow cave.

This wasnt the cave Barry used to know. In fact it didnt look like any version of Arrow cave he had ever seen over all these years he was friend with Oliver. It was ... dark. Bright blue lights were replaced with a few industrial lamps with green tint. Gone were elegant bright metal chairs and tables with computers, instead the place was filled with array of deadly weapons. Spears, swords, axes and other weapons were put on a display casting sinister shadows over the whole cave. Spot where Felicity and her monster computer used to be was now occupied by a crude wooden table covered with stains that Barry realized looked a lot like dried blood. This wasnt home of a hero ... it looked more like a lair of a serial killer. Something was terribly, terribly wrong here.

Laurel pushed him hard and he stumbled and fell on his knees. Then he heard second footsteps before him. He lifted his head and realized that things still could get worse.

Tall in his dark archer attire with mask covering his face Malcolm Merlyn was looking at Barry with his cold eyes, bow and black arrow ready to fire.

Laurel loosen the gag, leaving Barry with his only defense, reasoning.

„Look, I dont know whats going on here, but something is seriously wrong, I need to talk to Oliver."

Merlyn didnt even blink.

Barry knew that Oliver once used to work with Merlyn, but that was long time ago and as far as Barry was concerned Merlyn was supposed to be locked up in Supermax right now, so there was no good explanation for why he was here if Oliver wasnt, unless ...

Barry put all of his resolve into his question.

„What have you done to him Merlyn? Where is Green Arrow?"

For a few long seconds Barry was looking at Merlyn with the deepest resentment, prepared not to give archer any satisfaction, but then he noticed small, almost unpercievable change in the eyes of his probably-soon-to-be-executioner.

Merlyn slowly put his bow down. Barry exhaled with relief much more visibly than he planned but soon tensed again as Dark Archer made a few quick steps towards him and grabed him by the neck. Barry watched as man before him took his mask off, but it wasnt Merlyn hiding under the black hood. It was Oliver Queen.

Starling city

4 years ago

„Oliver Queen is alive." said news anchor as archive footage of deceased billionaire playboy run on the background. Petite girl with blonde ponytail and thick rimmed glasses was glued to the screen of her tablet, watching this breaking news. She shined with bright colors with her yellow flower shirt and pink skirt, absentmindedly chewing blue colored nail on her thumb.

„Billionaire playboy, son of Robert Queen who was lost at see five years ago ..."

„Ms. Smoak! How´s the optimalization going, is it done already?"

Older man in suit entered the room as Felicity quickly tapped the hide button on her tablet.

„Mr. Perkins!" she yelped. „Yes, I mean no, I mean it almost done but there were some, eh, errors I had to go through, but Im 100% focused on it ... sir" she added after she neurotically tried to hide tablet under yesterdays newspapers. Mr. Perkins watched her with skepticism.

„Just have it by tonight, we need to put the system online today or we will be behind the schedule with updates."

„Sir, yes sir." she tried to mimic army salute with a shy smile.

Perkins didnt crack even the slightiest smile, instead he was watching her with furrowed brows, obviously bothered by something.„Put the report about the optimalizations on my desk when you´re done, hmm and maybe try to dress a little more .. formal alright? We have a very high professional standart here at QC and you look like you just run away from circus." he told her blutnly, cast a dissaproving look on her entire office and left.

It took Felicity few seconds to realize what just happened and flush with embarressment and anger. She wanted to storm out of her chair to find Perkins and tell him what she thinks of him, but she didnt do it. Instead she looked on her yellow shirt with flowers and pink skirt. Anger slowly turned into that hopeless feeling she sometimes tend to have.

She took her tablet, using it as a mirror to inspect her own reflection. She always liked bright, pastel colors. There were optimistic, warm colors. She went full goth on the college, trying to change her image, but it didnt stick. Her hand touched the piercing she had on her right ear. It brought a lot of memories from the good old days at MIT, when she was relatively happy. She had Cooper, she loved him, he loved her ... Felicity smiled a little at that memory, even if it was memory tainted by tragedy. After Cooper she went back to her bright optimistic self, even if it was just to mask troubled feelings inside. Insecurity, loneliness, these were the feelings that Felicity struggled with from time to time, recently more than ever before. Looking at her reflection, she wasnt surprised she didnt have a decent boyfriend since Cooper. She wasnt exactly a catch, with her bright clothing, nerdy personality and glasses. She kind of hoped that moving to Starling and working at QC would change things, that she would meet someone ... special. But time went by and no one showed, no one real or attainable at least.

Felicity turned tablet on and unpaused news channel. Her mind wandered off as news anchor mentioned name of Olivers Queens mother. Felicity was once upstairs, in Moira Queens office and she saw a picture of Robert and Oliver Queen. She may kind of talked to the picture of then deceased Queen junior, which was probably one of the most wierd things she has ever done and she was gratefull no one witnessed it.

Oliver Queen was a celebrity in the city, exactly the kind of celebrity that stupid girls moon over all day long, imagining how he will take them on a white horse to the Queen manison where they would live happily ever after in luxury with a handsome billionaire. Felicity always laughed at the naivity of these girls. She kind of hated that she became one of them. But it didnt feel like just a crush she always told herself. There was just something about this man that fascinated her, she just didnt know what it was. But she was sure that it wasnt just his physical attractivness or his family name.

She hit replay on the news. Oliver Queen was alive. There was no rational explanation for it, but just hearing that sentence made her heart flutter. She never talked to him, never even seen him in person, but somehow the fact that he was alive made her life feel more ... whole.

Weeks went by and Felicity was starting to notice a pattern in her life. She wasnt excited about work anymore, turth be told, she wasnt excited much about anything these days. It felt like something was missing. She always felt like she could do something more, but she never knew what would this „more" be. She thought that maybe in Starling she would find this new direction she so deseperately needed. She tried to work at a dog shelter to fill her need to help, but it didn´t satisfy her as much as she hoped. She realized she was slowly becoming depressed.

Felicity was in her office, chewing her red pen when it happened. She thought she heard someone enter her office so she turned around, but there was no one there. And than it finally hit her. Nothing will change. If she doesnt do something, this will be her whole life, waiting for some miracle to change her life out of the blue. And this miracle will never come.

„I quit." she put her ID card on the table before confused Perkinson. Of course he tried to persuade her to stay, even offer a raise, but Felicity has already made her mind.

It did took some time to solve a legal issues, but a few days later she was standing in the entrance hall of Queen Consolidated with a box of her personal belongings in hands. It felt wierd, suddenly she wasnt sure she was doing the right thing. But than she realized that she had the same feeling before moving here. It was time for change, she had to do this. Felicity took a deep breath and stepped outside. Cab was waiting to take her to the airport.

A few cars behind Felicitys cab parked silver Bentley.

„It shouldn´t take long." said Oliver looking at his familys company building.

„Do you want me to come with you?"

„No Dig, you can stay in the car, I promise I will come back." winked Oliver at his bodyguard, who smiled a little.

„Like I would belive you ... Mr. Queen."

Oliver took Deathshots notebook and headed for entrance. As he was getting closer he noticed a small blonde carrying a box, probably a fired employee. Oliver was at the door but instead of opening them he turned around to take a closer look at the girl that he just missed. She seemed somehow familliar. He watched her as she got in the cab and drove away. Oliver suddenly felt strange frustration, like he forget about something and was trying to remember it but couldn´t. He stand there for a while before he realized why he has come here. Lifes were at stake. He dismissed his strange feelings and shifted his focus back on the mission.

Back in the cab Felicity turned around to look at the place of her former employment for the last time. She was doing the right thing, she told herself.

„Fired?" asked the cab driver looking at the box filled with her things.

„No, actually I quit." said Felicity still loking at QC building.

„Why quit from such a fancy job?" asked cab driver as Felicity turned around on her seat, leaving mixed feeling and QC building behind her.

„Nothing was waiting for me there."

CHAPTER II

Starling city

Present day

Oliver sat down on the bed, casting a quick look over the room. It used to be an iron storage back in the day when the foundry was still running, now it served as a makeshift apartment. It wasn't fancy living, but it served its purpose. When Oliver and Laurel decided to put their personal lives aside and fully embrace their calling, there was no place for exquisite or impractical. There were no flowers, no paintings, not even a carpet on a concrete floor. Pair of chairs, wardrobe, table and a mirror, that was all the luxury they needed. Small fridge and kitchen were in the hallway, same as a toilet and a bathroom. It didn't even take that much effort to set it up. All the moving was done during the night and Oliver made sure that all of the holes in the surrounding fences were patched up and hidden cameras set up to warn about any uninvited guests. Black Arrow and Black Canary hid themselves pretty good, it was much harder however, to hide Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance. It cost a small fortune and a very skilled hacker to create a fake story involving secret wedding and moving to Australia, where Oliver Queen and Laurel Queen bought a small ranch in the middle of the desert and lived their dream life right now as far as anyone else was concerned.

Oliver almost smiled at that image, as if Laurel could ever settle for this kind of life. She always had a fight inside her and when Oliver told her his secret during the undertaking, he somehow knew, that it was only a matter of time before she would end up on the same path as he did.

The incentive was Sara. Slade Wilson, the man who Oliver thought was dead, came back to Starling with a terrible promise and Laurel's younger sister was the first one to find herself in Slades crosshair. No matter how trained Sara was, no matter how much was Oliver trying to protect her, he couldn´t save her, just as he couldn´t save his mother after that. Bonded in grief, Oliver and Laurel somehow found a way into each others arms and with the help of Diggle and Roy prepared themselves to face off against Slade and revenge their loved ones. Maybe it was there, on that night of the Siege, when Oliver made the first step to become the person he was today. Oliver closed his eyes as the memories came flooding back.

The city was overrun with mirakuru soldiers and the situation seemed hopeless when Nyssa, daughter of Ras Al Ghul came with a battalion of warriors, offering cure as a gift from the Demons head himself. With a small army at his back and arrows laced with cure Oliver and his team quickly dispatched most of the mirakuru soldiers only to find out that even through all of the Olivers efforts, Slade found and captured Laurel. When Oliver reached the power plant Slade had a blade on Laurels throat, using her as a shield, making it impossible to shoot him with a cure.

Oliver knew what he promised Laurel he would do. Whatever it took. With jaw clenched as well as heart he draw the bow to the point of almost cracking and shot the arrow through Laurels shoulder as well as through Slades chest. Laurel moved quickly away from her captor as Deathstroke dropped on his knees, coughing blood, surprised by the fatal blow. When Tommy died, Oliver vowed that he would never kill again, but that was before Sara. After the funeral Oliver made a new promise to Laurel. A promise that he will do whatever it takes to make sure Slade won't hurt anyone ever again.

Oliver slowly put on another arrow and draw the bow, aiming at Slades head.

„People of this city might think of you as a hero, but we both know who you are, kid." whispered Slade in his menacing voice, ignoring the blood spilling from his mouth, staring Oliver dead in the eye.

„You are right Slade..." said Oliver with detached voice, casting a quick look at Laurel before looking back at Slade.

„I am no hero."

To this day Oliver remembered that faint smile on Wilsons face when arrow went straight through his head, killing him instantly. Oliver hated that smile, he wanted to wipe it from his memory, he wanted to forget how Slade looked at the moment of his death. There was no defeat in Slades expression in his final moment, he smiled with content, as if trying to tell Oliver one last thing „I won kid."

Coming back to the present Oliver abruptly opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and clenched his hands in fists to make them stop shaking. That night something began to break inside him.

Oliver slowly raised his head and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His skin was pale, lips locked tight in tensed grimace and eyes empty and dark, whispering silent promise of death. Was it then when he began to change into this... ghost? His eyes slid to the little glass vial hanged around his neck on a leather lace. Green liquid was quietly resting in the vial, calling to Oliver - this is how it will end, this is death.

Velvet dream, poison of choice for the league. Every warrior of the league had a vial like this. A gift to choose an honorable exit from life rather than to live in disgrace. This vial was always reminding Oliver how his life will end. For him, it will end with death. No happy ending, no family and no real friends either, just a quiet service to the league and greater good. It should fill him with pride, that he devoted his entire life to this honorable cause, but for some reason it didn't. If he felt something it was emptiness. That was the reason he had a box that belonged to his mother hidden in the wall and that was the reason he couldn´t stop thinking about the story that the boy in the red suit told him. There was something warm about the world Barry described, and Oliver suddenly realized how much he misses ... warmth.

Bed he was sitting on was covered by black sheets. Oliver looked at them with a sad smile, sliding his hand over the smooth fabric. These sheets were reminding him so much of Laurel. She was his closest ally, his friend and his lover, but there was just something... detached about her. Her scars run too deep, not just the physical ones, and Oliver knew that. He knew that they were both too deep in the dark and to scared to be alone and so they were together, wrapped in these black sheets, trying to hold on to love that was long gone.

Laurel was right trying to keep Oliver from falling for Barrys crazy story, she was keeping her head straight, but Oliver didn´t want to keep his head straight, he wanted to see the hope, he wanted to believe and he needed something to help him believe.

With this realization he got an idea. There was a way to test Barrys story. Oliver cast a quick look over the room, took a paper box from the table and started to chaotically fill it with small items from the room.

Arrow cave was drowning in darkness except for a bright blue light coming out of the cage. Here was Barry Allen, sitting with his back against the bars, using his forearm screen as an improvised light source to inspect makeshift bandage on his leg. Cisco would kill him if he saw that he teared up the sleeve of the suit to make a bandage out of it, but desperate times calls for desperate solutions.

Barry carefully checked the bandage, making sure it was wrapped tight before turning attention back to his computer. For the last hour he was searching the internet, trying to absorb as much information about this new world as he could. Barry couldn´t find Harrison Wells and it seemed like STAR labs didn't even exist, but It wasn't all bad. Caitlin and Ronnie were happily married and lived in Tokyo, while Cisco was working for CERN in Geneva. Barry had to smile at the pictures he found of Cisco, Caitlin and Ronnie. They seemed happy, living their lives without him just fine. Barry exhaled with a heavy heart. He wanted to talk to them, but he knew that they wouldn´t recognize him, these people were not his Cisco and Caitlin, not mentioning the fact that they were both on the other side of the planet right now, which made them impractical allies to say at least. There was only one person Barry could think of that knew enough about dimensional traveling to help him out of this mess.

Professor Martin Stein.

Barry was able to follow his digital footprints up to the time two years ago. It looked like Stein was supposed to start working on some secret project for the military before disappearing from the grid.

Barry decided to try his luck and use his limited knowledge to hack into army database to try to dig out more about the project professor was supposed to be part of. After a few relatively harmless firewalls he got through.

„Project Eye?" Barry whispered to himself with furrowed brows. The Martin Steins name was listed as one of the people working on it, but something didn't add up. According to the dates, Stein joined the project one month after his disappearing. Barry wanted to keep on digging, but before he was able to find out more he was blocked out by another firewall, much more sophisticated than the last one.

„System compromised, triangulation process in progress." announced Gideon with his metallic voice. Barry quickly realized what was going on, someone was trying to track him down.

„System compromised, system shut down recommended to prevent loss of private data." Gideon was babbling in the background as was Barry doing his best to try to hide his location and fight off the attempt to break his firewalls. His fingers were flying over the touch board, creating additional firewalls, trying to push back somehow, but whoever was after him was good and Barry was no Felicity. With a quick tap he at least deployed a remote trojan before hitting the reset switch on the forearm.

Cave darkened as Gideon shut down, taking blue light of the screen with him. Barry exhaled in relief. Getting tossed in jail for hacking government database would certainly not improve his chances. Whatever this project Eye was, someone was really protective about it and Stein was somehow involved.

Display on Barrys forearm flickered as Gideon rebooted himself back to life. Barry quickly went through the interface to check the logs. His trojan managed to come through, revealing the identity of the attacker. It was ARGUS. Barry shook his head in amusement. Of course it was ARGUS. Kidnapping Stein, mysterious project Eye, military involvement, who else would it be? His smile soon froze when he realized one crucial problem.

He needed Steins location, but there was no way he could hack that deep into ARGUS, not even with Gideon. But someone could do that.

With a few quick taps Barry reopened the folder he gathered on Felicity so far. She quit Queen Consolidated the same year Oliver came back from Lian Yu, which explained why they never met. After QC Felicity moved a few times, finally settling in Coast city, taking a job at Kord Industries where she worked ever since.

„Get out of here, find Felicity, rescue Stein, solve this mess, get home." Barry repeated to himself as he stood up to figure a way to get out of the cage. He was about to inspect the lock when he heard footsteps near the foundry entrance to the Cave. Barry tensed as the lights turned on. Oliver in his black leather with the hood down was coming down the stairs, carrying a paper box. Barry instinctively made a step back, unsure of what would follow. Oliver stopped a few steps before the cage, put the box down, and kicked it to the bars. Barry cast a quick look at the box than quizzically looked back at Oliver.

„You wanted to make me believe your story." Oliver begin, his voice strong and even. „I'm giving you the chance to prove it."

Coast city

3 years ago

Glass door opened as secretary entered luxurious office in the highest floor of Kord Industries. Here behind the big modern desk was sitting an older man in an expensive suit. Forehead underneath his short black hair was wrinkled by troubled thoughts, but his dark eyes were sparkling with energy. He was rubbing his black goatee, lost in thoughts, gazing through the huge glass window to his left.

„Ehm." secretary cleared her throat to get mans attention, but he didn't look at her, just waved his hand asking. „Are these the reports I asked for?"

„Yes." secretary nodded, looking through the files once more to make sure. „I pulled out a whole assessment of our software division, just as you asked."

„Good. Put it on my desk." answered her boss absent-mindedly with eyes still fixed on the view behind the window.

The secretary put files on the desk next to the glass name plate.

Theodore Kord, CEO of Kord Industries

As was secretary leaving the room, carefully closing glass door behind her, Ted turned away from the window and with interest opened the files. Faint smile washed over his face as he started to read through software designs created by his newest employee, Felicity Smoak. QC made a huge mistake letting her go, he thought to himself as he went through other projects she worked on. He asked the head of the IT department to test her capabilities with some difficult projects right from the start and her results were ... impressive. Ted rubbed his goatee as he went through Smoaks CV. Masters degree from both software engineering and cyber security at the age of 21, Ted had to admit that he was impressed and that didn't happen often.

The phone rang, interrupting his focus. Ted cast an annoyed look at the machine and pushed the button while turning his focus back to the file.

„What is it?" he barked while trying to find the part of the file he was just reading.

„Sir, your ten o´clock is here." answered his secretary nervously.

„I don't have a ten o´clock." countered Ted annoyed.

„You do now." answered a woman's voice from the door. Ted raised his head from the file. Two huge men in suit were holding the door as a tall black woman in a black blazer and pencil skirt entered the room.

Ted closed the file and watched confused as this woman took a seat across his desk, crossed her legs and folded her arms. Her bodyguards closed the door and joined her, one standing at each side, forming an intimidating wall of muscles. Ted looked over them, feeling strangely under powered inside his own company.

„You will need to schedule a meeting." said Ted towards his visitors.

„No, we won't." assured him the woman coldly before introducing herself.

„My name is Amanda Waller and I need your assistance in a very delicate matter."

Ted smiled about the absurdity of this whole situation.

„Look, I don't know who you think you are, but you can´t just march in here like you own this place, making a demands." he explained with soft smile only to be met with cold gaze of Ms. Waller.

„I might not own this place, but believe me I have friends in very high places." she said while pulling out her ID card. Ted took a closer look and groaned. She was ARGUS.

Realizing what this whole thing was about Kord waved his hands in surrender.

„Great, so what does Uncle Sam need now?" he asked annoyed.

Instead of answering Waller put the black folder on the desk with Top Secret written over it in red letters. Ted cast one last annoyed look at her before opening the file. The more he read, the more his expression darkened.

„You see, this project is of a crucial importance to us, and we need specially qualified people for the job." said Waller while watching Kord with interest. When Ted didn't say anything, she continued.

„We already have two additional members for the team, but we probably won't be able to move forward without Ms. Smoak."

Ted finished reading and closed the folder, pushing it towards Waller.

„She will not agree to work on this." he said with conviction.

Waller countered with a cold voice. „She will not know what she is working on. We will mask the project as one of Kord Industries standard software development programs. You will task her personally with developing a prototype, dealing with any ... unnecessary curiosity from her side."

Ted smiled bitterly, casting a quick look at the folder before looking back at Waller. „I don't have a choice in this matter I suppose."

„You suppose correctly." she assured him. „We will contact you in the next few days with additional information about your involvement,"

Waller stood up and smoothened her pencil skirt. Her bodyguards made their way to the door, opening them for their boss.

„There is one more thing Mr. Kord." Waller mentioned as she was preparing to leave.

„There always seems to be." countered Ted bluntly.

„We can't have Ms. Smoak down in the IT department while she will be working on such a highly classified project." Waller continued, ignoring Teds remark.

„So you will hire her as your new personal assistant. That way we can make sure she won't have the opportunity to chat about her new assignment with other employees."

Ted was looking at her partially furious and partially in disbelief. He cast a quick look at his loyal secretary sitting in the next room.

„You can't force me to make a personal decisions like this." he hissed, trying not to be heard in the next room. Waller looked at him without compassion and bend a little over the desk so it was only Ted who could hear her.

„As long as you don't want my agency to pull out all the crap we have on your company, I can make you do almost anything." she whispered, looking him dead in the eyes. „Make sure to remember that, Mr. Kord."

With these words she straightened up, smoothen her blazer and walked away. Glass door closed as Wallers bodyguards walked away with her, leaving furious Kord in his office.

Waller with her henchmen entered the elevator and as soon as the doors closed behind them, she took her phone and called a hidden number.

A rough mans voice answered. „So?"

„Ms. Smoak was acquired." announced Waller.

„Did Kord give you any trouble?"

„No, he knows what we have on him."

„Good, I have just been informed that Mr. Kuttler and Ms. Gordon were acquired as well. Project EYE is a go."

Starling city

Present day

Inside his cage Barry was looking at Oliver, confused by what he just said.

„What do you mean prove it to you?"

Oliver took a few seconds before answering.

„You said that item that would seem out of place could appear here as a result of the wormhole you fell through." began Oliver explaining as he took a chair and brought it closer to the cage.

„I filled this box with random items I found in the foundry, but one item doesn´t belong there." Oliver put the chair down and took a seat.

„If you find which one it is, it would make me more inclined to believe your story." he finished, folding arms on his chest.

Barry looked at the box and then back at Oliver, weighing whether to believe him or not. Oliver noticed Barrys hesitation and added. „I didn't put a bomb in it."

Barry cracked a tensed smile.

„That's very comforting to know, at least something about you didn't change."

Oliver cast a questioning look.

„Oliver I knew had that same kind of dry humor." Barry explained as he rubbed his hands against one another in a nervous gesture.

„Okay." Barry carefully kneeled down, reached for the box and dragged it closer to the cage. It really was filled with what seemed like a chaotic mixture of random items collected from all over the foundry. Oliver watched, much more tensed than he was letting on, as Barry went through the box. After a while Barry cracked an honest smile, shaking his head in disbelief.

„I'm not even surprised." he said amused as he pulled thick rimmed glasses out of the box. Oliver kept his expression without change, but he could feel the tension in his whole body lessen as a spark of hope ignited somewhere deep inside his chest.

„So did I pass?" Asked Barry with a boyish grin.

Oliver was looking at the glasses with a blank expression, silent. Smile on Barrys face slowly faded away. He blinked a few times, confused.

„I had to pass, right?" asked Barry again, taking a second look at the glasses.

„How did you know?" Oliver finally asked, barely concealing his amazement.

Barry smiled again as he saw Olivers baffled expression.

„Well, these glasses belong to Felicity and you two didn't meet in this reality, so there is no rational explanation for why would they be here. Easy target among all this junk." Barry said as he picked up an old toothbrush from the box.

„I hope you are not using this one." he asked with disgust before tossing it back in the box.

But Oliver didn't pay attention to him, lost in his thought he was trying to come to terms with the possibility that somewhere out there might be a world Barry described to him. Oliver straightened up in the chair and started to massage his temples in an attempt to sort out his thoughts.

„My Oliver was doing this as well." Barry pointed out in a good mood.

Oliver stopped and lay hands back on his knees, casting an intimidating look at Barry.

„Ok..." stated Barry with careful voice, noticing the struggle Oliver was going through.

„This must obviously be a lot for you to digest right now."

Oliver slightly shook his head.

„This Felicity, you said she was my ally in your world." he said to Barry with an unreadable expression.

Barry slowly nodded.

„How..." for a moment Oliver froze, unsure of what he wanted to ask, but then he collected himself and finished with strong voice.

„How close were we? Me and Felicity."

Barry swallowed, not sure how to answer. When he was telling Oliver and Laurel his story, he thought it best to leave out some of the personal details. Like the detail that Felicity was not only Olivers ally as the Arrow, but also his wife.

„You were, eh, really good friends." Barry answered, unsure of how much should he tell.

Oliver nodded and stood up, taking a few steps around the Arrow cave. Barry was watching him in silence for a few moments, before speaking out.

„So ... will you let me out of this cage now?" he asked hopefully.

Oliver didn't answer him and went to the wooden box he brought back from Lian Yu. He opened it and searched for something for a while.

„Oliver ...?" asked Barry again, not even sure if he was being noticed.

Oliver closed the box and throw something into the cage. Barry bend over to pick it up. It was leather satchel and inside was sewing needle and a thread.

„Sew your leg." said Oliver as he sat again on the chair.

„So you will let me go?" Barry asked hopefully.

„No." Oliver answered with a calm voice.

„Oh come on, but you at least believe me now, right?"

„Very slowly getting there." Oliver admitted with a slight nod.

„You know you always had a trust issue." Barry pointed out while inspecting the needle. „And by the way, making me sew my own injury is rude."

Muscles in Olivers cheek twitched in amusement.

„I'm not the most hospitable person in town, besides I'm not risking you running away or stealing something."

„You see? Trust issues."Barry said as he sat down and unwrapped bandage around his leg.

„What is your plan?" Oliver asked pragmatically.

„Not to bleed out is a start." countered Barry and cast an amused look at Oliver, who didn't seem amused at all.

Barry wiped a smile from his face, shifting his focus back on the sewing and continued in a more serious tone. „There is this professor, Martin Stein, if someone can help me figure out what happened, it's him."

„Where does he live?" Oliver continued with the questioning, ignoring Barrys silent groan as he pierced the skin with needle.

„Well, he lived in Central city, but things got complicated."

„How complicated?" asked Oliver with concern.

Barry answered with pauses, shifting his focus between talking and sewing the wound.

„ARGUS probably kind of ... kindapped him to work on some ... secret project... something called EYE." There were no follow up questions from Oliver which made Barry lift his head.

Oliver was looking to the ground with tensed expression. When he lift his head and met Barrys gaze, his jaws were clenched and eyes were filled with anger.

„You have to stay away from ARGUS." Oliver said in the most serious voice.

Concerned, Barry stop sewing and put the needle and thread aside.

„Why do I have a feeling that there is some kind of history between you and ARGUS that I don't know about?"

Oliver looked aside, the muscles in his jaw flexing as Barry waited for any word to come out. Olivers eyes wandered to the big wooden table on his left, where they stayed.

„ARGUS is after us." he said, still looking at the table.

Barry was confused. „What do you mean after ´us´?"

Oliver stopped staring at the table and looked back at Barry. He took a deep breath and pointed out to Barrys chest.

Barry looked at the bolt shaped symbol on his suit and then understanding hit him.

„ARGUS is after vigilantes." Barry whispered, looking back at Oliver.

Archer nodded in agreement.

„Ok, now things are starting to make a little more sense. Did ARGUS kill Roy and Diggle?" Barry regretted saying these words as soon as they left his mouth.

Oliver immediately tensed and started to rub his thumb against his pinkie as his expression darkened and eyes filled with memories of blood.

„Not exactly." said Oliver, trying to hide the pain in his voice.

Barry, seeing Oliver struggle, decided not to ask any further. Whatever happened must have been too terrible to go back to.

„Look..." Barry began as he stood up and took a few shaky steps towards cage door. „I don't know what happened with you and ARGUS, but I can't find and rescue Stein without you."

Oliver cast a warning look, but Barry continued. „With your help I can bust him out of whatever cave their holding him in and find out what happened with my world."

„No.." said Oliver ignoring Barrys desperate look. "...here we are safe, if I would step out in the open like this it would put me and Laurel in danger."

Barry took a deep breath.

„Oliver, you are the best fighter I´ve ever known, I saw you took on a battalion of ARGUS soldiers before. Please, I can't do this without you."

Oliver let a few moments past by in silence, looking at the floor, sorting his thoughts out. When he raised his head, his voice was strong and decision final.

„No, my place is here in Starling."

„Dammit Oliver!" Barry punched the bar in frustration.

Olivers eyes widened in surprise at this outburst of anger.

Barry clenched his teeth in silent curse as he massaged his hand, obviously hurt by the punch.

„Look Barry, I know you are desperate and confused, but I will not aid you in rushing to ARGUS and getting yourself and me killed for something I'm not sure I even believe in." Oliver told him with a loud voice.

Barry was looking at him like he would give anything for the opportunity to punch him. Oliver exhaled and lowered his voice in a compassionate manner.

„I'm sorry Barry, but I can't help you."

„No.." Barry countered with a bitter smile.

„You can help me, but you won't. You know I can see that whatever happened to you here changed you, but I would never think, that there could be a world where you would become a coward." Barry said in disappointment as he sat down in the corner of the cage.

Oliver clenched his jaw and stood up, taking the chair back to its place.

„So you are going to keep me here until I die of old age?" Barry barked at Oliver, poorly concealing his anger.

„I don't know yet." Oliver countered as he walked past the cage to the doors leading to the back alley. Oliver put his hand on the handle, but stopped as he looked back at Barry.

„Sew your leg." Oliver ordered him and then stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

Coast city

Present day

Felicity stopped before the glass doors to Kords office, nervously tapping her fingers on a thick stack of papers she was carrying. She took a peak, her boss was behind his desk, doing some research on a laptop. Even after two years Felicity was still kind of nervous around him. She took a deep breath while smoothing her black pencil skirt and entered the office. Kord raised his eyes from the laptop, exasperated.

„Here are the files you requested." said Felicity with a slightly forced smile.

„How are the schedules for tomorrow lecture coming along?" he asked without thanking her as she handed him the files.

„Schedules are set, I also managed to squeeze in a little time for refreshment after the first block." Felicity said, kind of proud of what she managed to do with the scheduling hell that was Coast City Tech Expo.

„Mhm." Ted murmured as he opened the file, looking through it while rubbing his goatee.

„Yes, the numbers seem solid on this one. Bring me a cup of tea." he ordered Felicity, showing no signs of gratitude or respect. Felicity just swallowed disappointment and made her way to the kitchen in the hall.

With Mr. Kord it was always like this. No matter how much Felicity tried to impress him, he always seemed angry with her for reasons she didn´t understand. Felicity was starting to believe that someone forced him to hire her as his assistant at gunpoint. After all her promotion was a little unusual, when she thought about it while searching for the right flavor of tea.

She made a good impression in the IT department, she knew that, but becoming a personal assistant of the CEO after a few months of performing regular tasks as an ordinary IT girl seemed suspicious at the time.

Mr. Kord explained to her, that he needed someone with technical know how as his right hand, which Felicity accepted as a reasonable explanation, too busy at the time to think about it more. It was a good job after all. Felicity knew her coworkers were envious of the opportunity she has been given, but Felicity wasn´t that thrilled. One part of her felt humiliated every time she had to bring her boss cup of coffee or took his suit to the dry cleaner.

Felicity pushed the button on the pot and watched as water started to boil. There however was a brighter side to this job. After a week on her new position Mr. Kord come to her with a difficult assignment. She was supposed to work with two of the best software engineers from different divisions of Kord Industries to develop a prototype of a universal tracking algorithm for one of the largest social network company in US. It didn´t sound fancy, but programs able to quickly sort through terabytes of data and come with specific information had a huge value on the market right now and the algorithm Felicity was developing was supposed to be cutting edge piece of software for the next generation of computers. Security measures alone were enough to point out how advanced this software was.

The whole project was anxiously guarded so any communication between Felicity and her two co-workers was done strictly through notes and exchange of codes. Every once in a while, her work station received a new file with notes on the matter and Felicity did her best to solve the presented problem.

It was exciting to work on such an important project and only thanks to this assignment, she was able to stay in her position of the PA, as much as it humiliated her sometimes.

Pot beeped. Felicity poured a hot water into the cup and carefully added the right amount of honey, making sure she made the tea exactly the way her boss wanted it. When she came back to the office Ted was standing before the big window, staring into the distance. Felicity didn´t say anything, just carefully put the tea on his desk, turning to leave.

„There have been an update on the algorithm, I have resent it to your workstation. Start working on it immediately." Ted told her as he turned his head and looked at her.

„Right now I am still working on the new security protocols as you told me to." Felicity objected.

Kords eyes narrowed, telling her non verbally that this was no matter of discussion.

Felicity swallowed the objection as she shook her head and offered a slightly shaked smile.

„Of course, workstation, I will get right on it. Sir." she added and made her way to her desk in the next room, leaving Kord with his thoughts and his tea.

She was kind of grateful for the update on the prototype. It meant that she would work on it for hours a day and wouldn´t be disturbed by other humiliating requests. The fact that Kord didn´t want anything after Felicity when she was working on the algorithm just showed her how much this project was important to him as well as the company.

Felicity took a seat and turned on the workstation. It was this big, sophisticated encrypted computer that only she and Mr. Kord had access to. Felicity was very protective about it and even secretly named it, but she would never tell a living soul how. Naming a computer with the same love other people normally name their pets already seemed too much.

The screen turned on and instantly showed her new updates on the code she worked on for the last three months. Additional notes from her co-workers were attached to the sides, hand written text in orange and blue. Felicity had to smile to herself. She felt like some kind of secret agent. A project she was working on was guarded so anxiously that even her two co-workers had to use a nickname, so Felicity wouldn´t know who she was working with, thus minimizing the risk of leaks. Felicity Smoak, Calculator and the Oracle. It sounded like one of these hero teams from one of the comic books Felicity used to read when she was younger. Too bad there were no superheroes in the real world.

Felicity chased away melancholic thoughts and before she started to work on the prototype she launched her new security protocols for testing on her second computer and started the download of her favorite show, multitasking like a pro.

After a few hours Felicity had to take a break. She straightened her back, twisting her head to stretch muscles in the neck. Security protocols on second computer were still running tests so Felicity just sat back and relaxed for a while. As she was looking at her workstation quietly running a sad feeling washed over her. She had a good job, but she still lived alone, still without boyfriend and although she was quite accomplished in comparison to other woman her age, she didn´t feel like it. It almost felt like nothing changed in these three years after she quit QC. Somewhere deep inside she was still convinced that she could somehow do more and be more.

For reasons she stopped trying to understand a long time ago image of a man came into her mind. Gorgeous billionaire who survived 5 years on a deserted island only to tragically lose his mother in the terrorist attack on Starling city two years ago. Felicity pondered how his life looked like right now. The last thing she read about Oliver Queen was that he married the woman he was in love with since high school and moved with her to Australia. They probably had a few kids right now, living the dream as they say. Felicity smiled at that thought. A man who suffered through so much deserved all the happiness in the world.

Suddenly she froze, looking absent-mindedly at the code before her. Out of the blue she got an idea. There was one last remaining issue with the prototype that needed to get sorted out before the program could launch and she and the rest of the team were struggling with a solution for the past month. Now her eyes widened in realization as solution appeared in her head. She started typing the code, replacing whole sections in seconds, her eyes glowing with excitement. When she finished, she took a deep breath and hit the control button to analyze the code. The percentage was slowly counting on and when it reached 100% with green message „code accepted" Felicity yelled out loudly and bumped her fist in the air.

She did it!

Felicity couldn´t believe that the prototype was finished. Three years of work, three years of work Felicity put into this project and now it was done. It made her feel almost like a proud mother, or a co-mother at least. She hit the send button and a sense of happiness and accomplishment washed over her. Broad smile was dancing on her lips as she sat back in her chair, tapping on the desk of the table with her red pen in a good mood.

Her moment of victory was soon interrupted by warning sound coming from her second computer. Felicity took a look, her smile slowly fading away and her brows furrowing as she read the analysis her new security protocols just produced.

„Thats weird." Felicity whispered as she quickly moved from her workstation to her second computer tapping the keyboard quickly. Message on the screen said ´security breach´.

Felicity flew through all the firewalls, but couldn´t find anything. She bit her lip as she moved her chair even closer to the second computer, fully focused on the matter. Felicity ran the protocols again, this time watching the logs closely, trying to spot anything unusual. Most of the people wouldn´t notice a small shift in the IP adress in one of the firewalls, but Felicity wasn´t most of the people. She focused her investigation on the unusual part of the network and soon found out that someone was remotely accessing a computer in the Kord Industries.

Felicity´s fingers flew across the keyboard as she almost instantly deployed her security bots, pulling out the information about the attacked computer. Her mouth slightly opened when she found out that it was her workstation that was being breached right now.

She cast a quick look at the code for the prototype she just wrote and then focused herself back on the screen of the second computer, quickly typing commands into the interface. It seemed like someone deployed a virus that mimicked Kord Industries internal program design. The data she just sent didn´t go to the main hub and to Kords personal hard disk, someone only went through a lot of effort so it would seem like it did. With a confused expression Felicity followed the trail of data back to the ARGUS headquarters.

„Argus? What the heck." she asked herself quietly and cast a quick look through the glass wall to the Kords office. Her boss was focused on his laptop, ignoring anything happening in Felicitys part of the room as usual. This time she didn´t mind.

Felicity stopped typing and bite her lip, weighing what she should do next. She shouldn´t dig too much into this ... but she just hated mysteries and once again her curiosity got the better of her. With much less effort than Felicity expected, she breached ARGUS firewalls and file on the project EYE appeared before her eyes. Felicity´s eyes widened as a realization of what she was part of hit her in full.

Program Felicity helped develop was using an advanced search algorithm to sort through data gathered from every satelite, mobile phone, computer or street camera on the planet to create a pattern which would find a location of almost any person on the planet. Felicity heart started to race when she realized how potentially dangerous tool like this could be in the hands of an agency like ARGUS.

A few years ago ARGUS confiscated almost all property of Ray Palmer and said inventor disappeared shortly after. There were rumors in the dark corners of the internet that Palmer was working on some kind of weaponized suit that ARGUS wanted for themselves, so they created a fake trial in which they made Palmer into terrorist working against US, taking away all of his assets and his company in the process.

Felicity was half way through reading about project EYEe when she noticed that the data of the algorithm were already activated at ARGUS HQ. She moved into another sector of their database breaking through one firewall after another.

ARGUS was using the algorithm right now.

Felicity watched horrified as a list of names started to appear on the screen. Some names had ´terminate´ written beside them. ARGUS has already started some kind of sick cleansing using her own creation.

Felicity tried to fry the program from the inside, but copies were already at every ARGUS facility in the world. Genie was out of the bottle. Felicity wanted to run to the Kords office and tell her boss everything, but then she noticed that his name was listed as one of the ARGUS associates.

That slimy, two faced gru knew about this whole thing.

Felicity cast a disgusted look at her boss. If she can´t stop it maybe she could at least somehow warn the people on the list. Felicity let her bots to automatically pull out the first target.

Files filled with information and pictures appeared on the screen. Felicity looked closer. Pictures were badly blurred, clearly pulled out from a security camera from the street, but she could still recognize the archer in black leather and woman with blonde hair and a mask. EYE prototype just finished the evaluation, showing the position of the woman somewhere in Starling city. Before Felicity could think of her next step both of her computers instantly shut down. Felicity looked up. Theodore Kord was standing in her office, thumb pushed on a button of a small device.

„I was really hoping to avoid this Ms. Smoak."

Straling city

Present

The Glades were shrouded in rain. The lights of the few working street lamps were reflecting from the wet facade of old, graffiti covered buildings. The handful of people still out at this late hour were running to their homes or looking for a shelter against the rain in one of the abandoned buildings. Disfigured shadows of homeless people danced on the walls and sidewalks projected by the bright light of fires contained in a metal barrels. High on the roof of one of the tallest building, so high that no one could notice, a shadow was lurking.

Laurel crouched at the edge of the roof, looking over the Glades with disgust. Smell of disease and bad hygiene reached even this high. How many criminals were hiding in the empty buildings, how many fires were serving them as an ally when they shouldn´t have any.

Raindrops falling on the Canary did nothing to cool down the bruning anger inside her. She always felt this frustration, this fire, but it wasn´t until after Saras death that she realized who she really was. A dark retribution for anyone who reveled in the pain of others. In her eyes people acting against the code, criminals like Slade Wilson, deserved nothing but death.

Laurel recalled the first day when Demons head begun with her training.

„Criminals always counted on the mercy of the society, but League of Assasins isnt offering any." Rases calm voice echoed through the halls of Nanda Parbat.

Laurel smiled to herself. She was scared and weak, but she remembered how mesmerized she was in that moment by the power coming out of this man. Thanks to him, thanks to his code, she found a new family for the one she lost and one person went through all of this with her, always by her side.

Laurel cared for Oliver in a way that was hard to describe to someone who didn´t deal with as much tragedy as they did. It was he who protected her and trained her when Slade came back to their lives. It was he who consoled her after Sara and her dad died during the Siege and so Laurel felt obligated towards him, following his lead even when she wasn´t always agreeing with him.

He told her to talk with the people from their inner circle to find out from where did this Allen character got his information. Laurel already checked almost every person from the list and was now waiting for the last suspect.

Laurel looked down at the entrance to one of the local bars to check if someone came in or out, but her target was nowhere in sight and so her thoughts circled back to the man she was fighting alongside for the past 3 years.

It seemed to her that Oliver wasn´t himself lately. As the Black Arrow he was sharp as ever, but sometimes Laurel woke up only to find out that he wasn´t in their bed. Instead, she found him in the foundry hall, sitting near one of the broken walls, lost in his thoughts.

Laurel knew that this conflict between the league and the branch of the government called ARGUS was getting more serious by the minute, but she stood by Oliver through a lot of tough conflicts and he never seemed lost or depressed, not until recently. And then there was that thing when he told her not to inform the Demons head about the whole Allen situation.

This boy in red suit was a threat. No matter how he knew the things he knew, he was making both Laurel and Oliver, as well as the league, vulnerable. She expected Oliver to kill Allen after finding out how well informed he was but Oliver spared him and didn´t even told her the reason why he did it.

Laurels train of thought was interrupted as bar doors opened and Sin stepped outside into the rain. Laurel was about to launch down by the rope, but when she turned around, she faced an unexpected visitor.

Member of the league was standing on the other side of the roof.

He took off his mask and Laurel smiled a little at the sight of the familiar face.

Maseo didn´t return the smile, but nodded in silent greeting.

„Seraph ... what are you doing here?" Laurel yelled out so that rain wouldn´t silence her question.

„Im bringing grave news from Nanda Parbat." Maseo answered loudly.

„What happened?" Laurel asked with concern as she took a few steps forward, closing the gap between them.

Maseo took a few slow steps forward as well, pulling out a piece of paper from his vest as he walked. With letter in hand, he stopped two steps from Laurel, his voice shifting from shouting into dire whisper.

„Our enemy set his eye on a dangerous weapon, an electronical device that could lock on to our position anywhere on the world."

Laurel wanted to ask more, but Maseo raised the hand with the letter and hastily continued.

„There are three targets that need to be claimed if we want to stop this threat, Inside this letter is the name of one of them."

Laurel nodded and took the letter. Maseo gently touched her shoulders with both hands and was looking straight into her eyes.

„We must not fail or the tip of the scales will fall in the favor of our enemy." He whispered with unusual urgency.

„I understand." Laurel confirmed, touching Maseo shoulder in return.

„Whoever it is, he will be claimed." she promised with strong voice.

Maseo smiled a little and then let go of her shoulders.

„I have the second name and I´m heading to Gotham right now. The third name will be delivered to the Arrow as soon as we find out who it is." Maseo said and watchfully looked around the surrounding roofs before asking.

„Did you witness anything out of the ordinary this evening?"

Laurel blinked and her mind wandered toward the stranger in red suit currently locked up in the cage under the Foundry.

She slightly shook her head.

„No, nothing unusual." Laurel lied, looking at Maseo with a blank expression.

Seraph nodded and squeezed Laurels shoulders one more time.

„Be careful Canary, we don´t know how far away they´ve come with this machine, it´s possible that agents of the enemy are sweeping the city and searching for you as we speak."

Laurel nodded and watched as Maseo turned around, put his mask on and jumped onto the next roof, vanishing in the dark.

Laurel looked down on the street. Sin was long gone, but it didn´t matter, she wasn´t a priority right now. Laurel hid the letter inside her cleavage and jumped to the next roof same way Seraph did, making her way back to the foundry to inform Oliver.

Laurel was down in the back alley getting closer to the place where her Suzuki was hidden when she stopped. After a year with the league one learns how to distinguish silent changes in the surroundings when he is being followed. For example the cat that was every night sitting by the open window to Laurels left was now gone, which meant someone the cat wasn´t used to was in the alley right now as well. Someone beside the Canary.

Laurels reflexes kicked in as she jumped sideways behind dumpster dodging some kind of metallic projectile.

Laurel pushed her back to the dumpster and pulled out both of her knives. She heard the charakteristic whiz as something flew around the dumpster in the opposite direction than the projectile she just dodged. It was a sound that was hard to mistake with anything else and Laurel suddenly knew against whom she was fighting.

Metallic boomerang found his way back to the hand in a black leather glove. Digger Harkness was standing on the other side of the alley, looking at the dumbster before him with slight amusement as he pulled out another boomerang, arming both of his hands.

„What a night, ey?" Harkness yelled out with his typical accent.

„Why won´t you come out of there and make it easy for me and my boys, would ya?" he asked with a faked smile as man in kevlar gear with ARGUS symbol on their chests appeared on the other side of the alley, blocking the only escape route.

Laurel was listening closely, she guessed five to seven enemies including Harkness.

„Ya know, Uncle Sam is not so thrilled about the way you go around killing people these days." Harkness said as he gestured other soldiers to start surrounding the dumpster.

„So big heads started to looking for a team to bring you and your archer friend down and ya know how happy I volunteer for a job like this." Harkness almost sang with satisfaction as he started to slowly approach the dumpster.

„I still have the scar you gave me back in Central city, pretty bird." He whispered intimately, licking his lips as he prepared one of the boomerangs.

„Now I´m here to clip your wings!" Harkness yelled out and throw the explosive boomerang right on the dumpster. Power of the explosion threw the dumbster aside, and set the cables on the nearest building on fire.

Digger made a few quick steps with second boomerang ready only to find out that Laurel wasn´t there. Instead, there was a small blue device lying on the sidewalk.

Digger´s eyes widened as he screamed out. „Cover your ears!"

But the warning came too late. Sonic scream filled the alley and made Harkness cover his ears and cringe with pain as loud sound buried its claws into his brain. He fell on his knees with clenched teeth and swollen veins, trying to hold on to the boomerang with shaking hands.

Like a spectre, Black Canary jumped out of the shadows and hit Harkness with her knee, breaking his jaw with a loud crack. She landed on all four and used the momentum to swiftly turn around and threw both of her blades with precision on sixty feet, hitting two soldiers in the neck. Before the attack unit realize what hit them Laurel dropped a smoke bomb and disappeared again. Sonic scream ended and Harkness coughed as he stood up, turning around in the white smoke, confused. He saw a movement to his right, so he turned around and threw a boomerang without second thought. The weapon went straight through the neck of one of Harknesses own man. Digger cursed out loud, forgetting about his broken jaw and had to shut his eyes with tears as pain attacked him without mercy.

On his left one of the soldiers screamed only to be shut silent shortly after. Harkness blinked to get rid of tears and swallowed the pain. He prepared two boomerangs and was slowly stepping backwards, making his way out of the smoke. Metallic sounds, occasional shots and screams of his soldiers were the only sounds coming from the smoked part of the alley.

Then sounds suddenly stopped and scary silence fell over the alley. Digger wiped out sweat from his forehead with a sleeve and waited, all his senses on high alert as he stared into the white fog. Soon he could hear footsteps. First only a slow walk, but then a walk turned into a heavy sprinting and it was heading straight towards him.

Digger panicked and threw both boomerangs as spirit of vengeance herself emerged from the smoke. Covered in blood, Laurel held her sword high when she launched onward, her eyes glimmering with animal fury as she swing the cold steel. She deflected the first boomerang, but the second one cut her arm. Ignoring the wound Laurel used the weight of the sword to turn around and swing the sword again. Harkness bent backwards, dodging the deadly steele and hit back with his left hand, pounching Canary in the head, throwing her off balance.

On one of the floors above the alley man leant a long rifle against the window frame. He was completely invisible in the shadows, aside from the red glow coming out of the place where other people would have a left eye. He watched as Harkness disarmed the Canary only to be paralyzed by a punch to the jaw and locked in the grip with no escape. Digger was desperately waving his hands, trying to get free, but Laurel had her cobra grip trained from Ras Al Ghul himself, at this point no one could get free from it.

Harkness was clenching his teeth with pain as Laurel pushed against his neck with all her might. Only a few more moments and she would break it.

A shot echoed through the alley as the man in the window pushed the trigger and the bullet hit Laurel in the shoulder. Force of the impact cast her backwards and she landed on her back, confused by the sudden blow.

Laurel soon realized what happened when she saw blood coming from her shoulder. She remembered her training and fight the shock as she quickly pulled herself up and put the pressure on the wound. Laurels sword was on the other side of the alley near Harkness, who was still catching his breath, and up there, above the alley in the window, silhouette of a sniper with one red eye was pointing a rifle at her, preparing to finish the job.

Laurel quickly dropped the second smoke bomb and ran out of the alley, leaving her sword behind. She had to fight against the time, get to the motorcycle and to the foundry before she would lose too much blood. She went through passages and open basements no one knew about, making sure the attackers didn´t follow her. While running she reached for the satchel on her waist and grabbed a hand full of herbs from Lian Yu, stuffing her mouth with it. When she finally reached the motorcycle she has already chewed all of it, but poison on Deadshots bullet was already starting to affect her anyway. She put the helmet on and with the rest of her power pushed the gas.

Oliver lifted his head up to the sky with his eyes closed and let the raindrops freely fall on his face. He took a deep breath, inhaling moist air and swept some of the water off with his hands before lowering his head back. Pools of water were quickly forming in the alley as rain thickened. The drops were bouncing off the black leather and Oliver stood there, ignoring the discomfort, recalling what Barry just called him.

Coward.

Oliver made a lot of choices throughout his life. He always strived to do what was best, always choosing the option which seemed the most rational.

Killing Slade was the most rational thing to do.

Joining forces with Ras Al Ghul was the most rational thing to do.

Letting go of dreams about normal life to fully embrace the Arrow was the most rational thing to do.

He made all of these choices to protect the people he cared about, he was fighting for the people he cared about and Barry was calling Him a coward? What did he know about him, about his life and his struggles?!

Anger boiled over as Oliver kicked the nearest empty can with all his strength. Can flew in the air and with a soft ping landed on the other side of the alley. Oliver was breathing heavily, anger twisting inside him like a rattled snake, but he calmed himself when the truth began to dawn on him. The truth that the person he was truly angry at wasn´t Barry, he was angry at Oliver Queen.

Somewhere deep inside him, under all the rational thinking small voice was always talking to him, whispering really.

You are not a hero, and if you are not a hero, who you really are?

He always knew the answer, but today for the first time he had the courage to say it out loud.

„Coward." Oliver whispered in answer, clenching his hands as painful emotions flooded his chest. Archer clenched his jaw and blinked as a single tear came down his cheek, mixing with the rain.

Oliver turned his head, looking at the door to the cave.

He couldn´t commit Barry to Arkham. Whoever the boy was he was not as crazy as Oliver originally thought. However the boy knew too much and it was too dangerous to let him run around with this kind of knowledge. Rational thing to do right now was to get rid of Barry, send him to Nanda Parbat for questioning or silence him personally. Rational thing was not to believe his story about different worlds and different futures.

Oliver sighed, swiped the tear from his cheek and looked at the main entrance to the Foundry. He once wanted to made it into a night club, but he pushed the idea aside, because it was not the rational thing to do. He pushed aside a lot of things ...

Felicity echoed through Olivers mind as he recalled how fast and without a single doubt Barry passed his test with the glasses and hope suddenly didn´t let him do what was rational. Oliver clenched his fists, strange flame waking up inside him. He didn´t want to do what was rational and what seemed right, he didn´t want to feel like a coward anymore, for once Oliver wanted to do what actually felt right.

The sound of a familliar engine echoed somewhere nearby as Oliver turned around, watching the corner of the alley. Laurel was coming back. A black Suzuki turned around the corner and Oliver watched bike getting closer, but something was wrong. It looked like Laurel couldn´t hold the motorcycle steady. The front wheel was twitching to the side as if she was unable to hold the handles straight. Suddenly Laurel hand slipped from the handle, making the bike turn sharp to the left. Laurel managed to grab the handle again, but pulled too aggressively, making the bike go into a slide, laying it on the side. Sparks flew of the framework as it clashed with the concrete, filling the alley with the sound of scraped metal. Laurel let go and fall of the bike, tumbling away until she stopped, hitting an empty trash can.

With much effort Laurel managed to take the helmet off and turned on her back, trying to lift herself up as Oliver rushed to her.

„What happened?" were the first words to left Olivers lips as he kneeled down to her. There was blood, a lot of blood. Laurel had a deep cut on her forearm and a bullet wound in the left shoulder. Oliver didn´t wait for an answer and lift Laurel up, taking her into his arms.

„Ollie.." Laurel whispered, her face covered in sweat and blood.

Oliver walked forward, his whole body tensed with both anger and fear. He kicked the back door open and carried Laurel straight into the cave. Barry stood up in his cage with rattled expression.

„What happened?" he asked anxiously, taking few steps forward.

Oliver didn´t waste any time answering him and carefully put Laurel on the big wooden table in the centre of the cave.

„Law ... Lawton." Laurel uttered before slipping into half-consciousness.

Oliver quickly gathered medical supplies he had in the cave and brought them all on the table.

Barry watched horrified as Oliver prepared pincers, hammer, needles and other equipment which seemed more likely developed for the purpose of torture rather than surgery.

Without warning Oliver slapped Laurel so hard in the face that her head turned sideways, hitting the table with other cheek.

„What the hell are you doing?!" Barry yelled in shock.

„I need to keep her conscious." Oliver explained, his voice calm and clear of emotions as he hit her again this time on the other cheek.

Laurel blinked a few times and coughed as she caught her breath.

Oliver quickly detached wooden handle of the hammer and put it before Laurel.

„Bite on it." he ordered while searching for the right sized pincers.

Laurel bit into the handle as an obedient patient and closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself.

Barry watched from his cage, squeezing the bars, his eyes dancing between Laurel, Oliver and his instruments.

„You need to give her some pain medication!" Barry shouted out as Oliver grabbed horribly looking pincers and was about to try to pull the bullet out of the wound.

„Whoever attacked her might have tracked her here, I need her with a clean head." Oliver said with a cold voice as he stuck pincers into the wound.

Chocked screams filled the cave and Barry made a step back, holding his head in desperation. Laurel wasn't exactly friendly toward him, but hearing her suffer like this was making him sick to his stomach.

Oliver was holding her down with one hand and searching for the bullet with the other, pushing the pincers deeper inside Laurels shoulder. Blood was gushing from the wound and Laurel screamed with sheer agony. Olivers face lost even the little bits of color it had, now attacking the color spectrum of bright white. With clenched teeth and his right hand almost out of strength he finally pulled the pincers out, holding a small piece of metal between them.

„I have it." Oliver whispered exhausted and close his eyes for a brief second. He let go of Laurel who closed her eyes in exhaustion, breathing heavily.

Bullet rang as Oliver tossed it onto the metal tray. Barry was almost as pale as Oliver, shaking from the whole experience.

Barry folded his arms tight round him and watched quietly as Oliver started to clear Laurels wound while she spit out the wooden handle.

„You slapped me." Laurel uttered with exhaustion, her eyes still closed but her lips twitching with amusement.

„You deserved it, you were planning on taking a nap." Oliver countered, now fully focused on sewing the wound. Laurel slowly opened her eyes and looked at Oliver.

„Ollie, it was ARGUS." she whispered in a serious voice.

Oliver looked back at her in silent understanding before focusing back on the wound.

„How did they find you?" he asked quietly.

Laurel swallowed and furrowed her brows, slowly collecting memories of the whole night. „I was out, talking to the people as you told me when I ran into Seraph."

Oliver stopped for a second, casting a quick look at Laurel.

„What did he want?" he asked with concern.

„He gave me a name for the claim. One of the three people who are supposedly working on this secret weapon for ARGUS, some kind of device, a program maybe, that can track our movements, making it impossible to hide almost anywhere in the world."

Olivers expression tensed as he got back to sewing the wound. Laurel looked up and could see what Oliver was thinking about.

„I didn´t tell Seraph about him." she said, nodding her head in the direction of the cage.

Oliver looked at her and slightly nodded in silent thank you.

„Seraph warned me that the device could already be working and that ARGUS might be searching the city for us right now, shortly after that I ran into Digger Harkness and a few ARGUS soldiers." Laurel continued with a stronger voice, regaining her strength remarkably fast.

„One of the soldiers did this?" Oliver asked as he finished the last stitch.

„No. Ollie, I think it was Lawton." Laurel looked at him, receiving a doubting look in return as she expected.

„That's not possible, I killed him, I shot an arrow right through his heart." Oliver reminded her. Barry listening to the whole conversation looked at Oliver in disbelief.

„You killed Deathshot?" he asked, his voice uneven and surprised.

Oliver turned around and looked at Barry „I´ve killed a lot of people."

Barry swallowed, having nothing to say in response.

„Are you sure no one followed you?" Oliver asked as he looked back at Laurel and helped her to sit.

„I'm positive, I was careful."

„We will need to move." Oliver said as he gathered the used medical supplies and carried them back to the cabinet by the stairs.

„I don't think we have to." Laurel called out to him as she inspected her wound. „It seemed like they patrolled the area I often go through, but I doubt that they had my fixed location. If they knew about this place they would already be here."

Barry was looking at the bullet Oliver pulled out from Laurel, his brain was trying to tell him something.

„We are safe here for now." Laurel finished and slowly moved her arm, figuring how much muscle control she lost.

„We´re not." sounded Barrys panicked voice from the cage. Both Laurel and Oliver looked his way, Barry was pointing at the bullet on the metal tray.

„You need to get rid of it, now!" Barry shouted in Olivers direction, eyes still fixed on the bullet.

Laurel slowly stood up as Oliver made his way to the cage with a few quick steps.

„There is a tracker inside that bullet, its the same tech general Ihling used on me back in Central city, you need to get rid of it before they track it here!" Barry quickly explained.

Oliver didn't waste any second and grabbed a sledgehammer from the corner. He picked up the bullet, threw it on the floor and took a wide swing with the hammer. Impact smashed the bullet and left small cracks in the floor. When Oliver picked the hammer back up, he saw a spark of electricity fly out of the bullet.

„Did I stop it?" Oliver asked, casting a quick look at Barry.

„Yeah, probably, I'm not an expert on this." Barry answered apologetically.

In unison, all three of them lift their head as a number of footsteps sounded above their heads, releasing clouds of dust from the ceiling.

„They are already here." Laurel whispered and moved backwards with her back to Olivers as she carefully watched the ceiling.

„Maybe they don't know we are down here." Barry whispered as well, casting an anxious look at the entrance door by the stairs.

Barry almost jumped out of his skin as a huge impact almost ripped the door out of the hinges.

„We´re going!" Oliver yelled out as doors took another hit, probably from a ram.

Laurel quickly armed herself and ran to the back of the cave. Barry shook with the locked door of the cage.

„You need to let me out, now!" he shouted at Oliver, who just put his black hood on and armed himself with quiver and bow. Barry wanted to shout at him again when he saw a movement to his left.

Doors to the back alley slightly moved and Barry noticed the shadows moving under them.

„Oliver! They are behind the second doors too!" Barry called out, pointing to the doors to his left. Oliver clenched his jaw, put the bow around his shoulder and pushed the big wooden table Laurel was operated on against the alley door.

„It's ready." Laurel announced as she got back from wherever she just was. Barry watched as she stepped closer to the cage.

Barry expecting her to open the cage stepped closer only to jump back when Laurel pointed a loaded crossbow right at his heart. Barrys hands flew up in defense as he yelled.

„Wow, wow, hold on! Oliver!" Barry called out with his back against the bars.

Oliver turned around, casting a quick look at Barry and then at Laurel holding the crossbow. Laurel looked at Oliver, expecting the order.

„He is coming with us." Oliver said, his hand squeezing the grip of the bow, whole body tensed.

Laurel just looked at him in disbelief. „Ollie with everything he knows we can´t risk ARGUS getting to him."

Olivers eyes dangerously narrowed, his voice shifting into angry growl. „He is coming with us."

Laurel opened her mouth, but in that exact moment explosion bust the alley entrance open and broke the wooden table in half. The force of the explosion threw with Barry against the bars and he collapsed on the floor, shaken by the impact but conscious. When he looked up pieces of flaming wood were raining on the floor. Barry blinked a few times to clear his vision, ignoring the loud beeping in his ears.

Laurel was knocked down by the blast, but Oliver was already on his feet, his black leather covered in dust. Gas can landed on the floor and released the cloud of white smoke that enveloped the part of the wall where the alley entrance used to be. Oliver cursed and took a few steps back before he sent two arrows into the smoke. Judging by the scream at least one arrow found its target. Shots were fired in response. Oliver took cover behind one of the weapon stance and Barry covered his head as he crawled closer to the cage door and grabbed a keys that dropped out of Laurel suit. Hopefully one of them could open the lock. When shooting stopped Barry quickly stood up and was about to start looking for the right key when another loud sound made him cringe. Door to the foundry got ripped out of its hinges. Oliver quickly turned around just as another gas can flew inside the cave. Oliver growled and flipped two remaining tables over to form a barricade.

Barry managed to open the cage at the same time Laurel regained consciousness.

„Grab him and get out! I will cover you!" Oliver shouted out as he jumped from behind his cover and fired a flash arrow to the entrance by the stairs. Laurel groaned in disbelief at her own action and grabbed Barry by the forearm, dragging him away from the fight. Oliver turned around to face the attackers from the alley as two boomerangs flew out of the white smoke. Oliver bent backwards, dodging the first one, but getting cut on the cheek by the second one. In angry response he fired three arrows into the fog.

Laurel dragged Barry to the far corner of the Arrow cave where a hole was dug in the ground. It looked like a homemade tunnel.

„Get in!" Laurel commanded, and pushed Barry impatiently inside.

Oliver meanwhile hid behind one of the tables and pulled out the explosive arrow. He quikcly peeked out. Ten Argus soldiers with shields were coming down the stairs, Oliver took a deep breath and stood up, swiftly releasing the explosive arrow. It found its target as explosion teared the stairs apart same as some soldiers who happened to be too close to the point of impact. Too busy to care for collateral damage Oliver turned around, draw another explosive arrow and aimed at the support beam above the alley entrance. With a second long hesitation, he finally let go and covered behind the table. The explosion tore a critical hole in the structure of the whole ceiling.

This place will cave in in a few seconds just as Oliver planned. He quickly reached for the box near the cage to get Felicity glasses and put them safely in his inside pocket. When another boomerang flew in and ended in the floor two feet next to Olivers leg, he jumped from behind the table and shot three arrows into the alley entrance as he run around it. With one hand covering his face, he ran through some of the smoke, evading falling debris as best as he could. The whole arrow cave was collapsing. Oliver heard crumbling of a concrete wall behind him as he jumped forward and slide on his stomach into the tunnel before a massive piece of concrete fell on it, sealing it permanently.

Oliver landed on his back in the mud followed by the dust and pieces of concrete.

Laurel was there as well as Barry, both covered in mud but seemingly unharmed.

Oliver stood up and took his hood off, casting a vengeful look in the direction where his former home used to be.

„Ollie, we should move." Laurel reminded him as she touched his forearm.

Oliver stared in the direction of the foundry for a few more seconds before he realized the touch and turned to Laurel.

„And we need to decide what to do with him." she whispered, casting a sideways look at their companion in red. Barrys body tensed as he looked at Oliver with defiance, mentally preparing to fight if he had to.

„We won´t hurt you." Oliver promised as he looked at him, his voice somehow softer than usual.

Laurel looked at Barry and then back at Oliver, her voice now louder than the whisper.

„You want to keep him alive? Okay, your call." she sounded like a mother negotiating with her son about a dog. "But he has to go his own way, we need to move quickly to claim the names and return to Nanda Parbat to regroup and he would slow us down." Laurel said, her hand dangerously sliding over the handle of her new knife as she cast a threatening look at Barry.

„Slow you down - said the woman who is shot and still poisoned with curare." Barry countered with irony as he pierced through Laurel with an angry look of his own.

„She is right." Oliver interrupted him with a tired look.

„We will need to move quickly now and you would be a liability, I already told you I can't help you. I'm risking enough as it is when I'm letting you go."

Barry gazed at Oliver, making a step forward.

„You said you wouldn't help me because your place is here in Starling." Barry began, his voice filled with hope.

„Now ARGUS is after you, the foundry is gone and I can help you out if you help me." he looked at Laurel who repaid him with a mocking smile.

Barry ignored her and continued, looking straight at Oliver.

„Felicity Smoak, she lives not far from here, she is a brilliant computer expert, like really really capable. She can hack into ARGUS and help me find Stein."

Laurel looked quizzically at Oliver, unfamiliar with Steins name.

Oliver noticed her reaction and lifted his hand in a gesture signalizing that he would fill her in later.

„How would that help us?" Oliver asked, intrigued but suspicious.

„Felicity can hack into ARGUS, she can find out what they have on you, she can help hide your tracks, believe me, you won't be able to imagine your life without her after you meet her." Barry slightly smiled at the last sentence and Oliver repaid him with a suspicious look. Laurel was looking from Barry to Oliver, sensing something unsaid hanging in the air.

„How do you know she will be willing to help us?" Oliver asked as he put his hood down.

Barry nervously licked his lips.

„She will, you just have to believe me on this." he said, trying to convince Oliver as much as himself. Laurel noticed his nervosity and narrowed her eyes, turning to Oliver.

„I don't like this Ollie. We should move on with the task we´ve been given and then flight straight to Nanda Parbat."

Oliver took a few seconds to think it through, then he looked at Laurel with the same kind of look he always had when he wanted her to do something that she would hate.

„He has a point, if this Felicity is as capable as he says we might use her, maybe even neutralize the search device ARGUS have."

Laurel cast a suspicious look at Barry, her teeth clenched as if her whole body was opposed to the idea, but when she saw Olivers decisive gaze, she exhaled and closed her eyes in sign of resignation.

Oliver slightly nodded and looked back at Barry, who was grinning with relief and excitement.

Archer exhaled and put his bow around the shoulder as he said:

„Ok Barry, lets go find this Felicity Smoak."