Warnings: Coarse language, violence and adult content... and I mess with canon, a lot. Please note after August part 2, the rating will go up to M. I just wanted to allow those who have followed the story from day one to have answers.
Sera's Scribbles: I apologize for the insanely long delay, but this is a huge departure from my usual, as you can probably tell by the warning tag, so yeah... fingers crossed.
August
August 1
Since coming to Metropolis, Evie would often find herself eating her lunch in this park. It was peaceful, happy, and there was light and love no matter where she looked. Rain or shine, the view was always better than the break room at Metro because Evie had enough of small dark spaces to last a lifetime.
But today was different, even though she sat on her same bench like any other day. It had taken some work for Evie to find someone to cover her shift, but she had been successful. Even though the text had caught her off-guard, as did hearing his voice on the phone, she was really looking forward to seeing him again. After all, he was one of the few who knew who, and what, she really was. Yet despite her anticipation, Evie couldn't help but wonder why he decided to reach out now, but knowing him, he likely figured out what she was planning.
She looked up and caught his eye as he approached her from the opposite end of the park. Over five years had passed since Evie last saw Victor Stone, and he honestly hadn't changed much, besides the obvious healings of torture marks. Evie looked down at the make-up that covered some of her own scars, which only reminded her of the day it all changed.
It started like any other, but of course, that's how all these stories are. She had been coming home from soccer practice when she noticed the black SUV parked in the drive-way. Initially, she thought nothing of it, as her need for a shower overwhelmed everything else. But her mother called her into their living room before she had a chance to get upstairs and that's when Evie, or rather Emily, saw them.
Maybe because she had seen too many movies, but seeing two guys on the couch wearing suits and sunglasses seemed like a bad sign. Her mother told her that they were here to 'cure' her, like she was some sort of cancer to the family. Initially, she frantically tried to explain, glancing over towards her father, who just said nothing and looked away. Then, Evie felt grateful for her training from her Uncle Don as she fought them off, but a third man caught her off-guard and slowed her down enough for the men to overpower her.
Looking into her mother's eyes, tears running down her face, Evie remembered pleading with her.
"I'm fine; you don't have to do this."
She had expected some remorse, or at least a little eye contact, but both her parents looked away from her, and to this day Evie didn't know if it was disappointment or embarrassment. The only words she heard before the syringe entered her neck were her mother's.
"Get her out of my sight."
She was seventeen, just turned it the month before, and that was last time she saw her parents, and she never got to say goodbye to her brothers. LuthorCorp personnel fed the line to her parents that she would only be gone for a year, but weeks later, they told them she had died, and to the majority of the world, Emily Hopkins died as a result of a hit and run while vacationing in London. And even though she only faced the cruel reality of that world for six months, it was enough to take her away from the life she knew.
In March, Evie had returned to her hometown secretly. She had found the place where they had buried another person's body in her place, and she found herself crying, as that person would never receive the respect she, if it even was a she, deserved, and the flowers that lay next to it would never be for her. That's why when she placed the bouquet down, Evie found herself apologizing for everything.
It wasn't fair that it was this way, that she had been standing in her hometown and she couldn't tell anyone. She couldn't tell her childhood friend congratulations on getting engaged to her high-school sweetheart, she couldn't tell her brothers that she was alive and never wanted to leave. The saddest part of everything was that despite trying to seem inconspicuous, no one recognized her. Apparently longer hair, coloured contacts and growing an inch, maybe two was enough to disguise her as she watched her mother's funeral from a few rows down.
To make matters worse, just a day later, she returned to Anne Arbor, to Scott, to these words:
"I love you... but I can't do this anymore."
Those words broke her heart, but she should have known it was only a matter of time before something like that happened. After all, the biggest mistake she made was falling for him, but for just a fraction of time, she thought she had beaten everything she had been running from. But life always got in the way, and it was because she loved him that she couldn't fight for a second chance because now... now she was preparing to pick up her bags for real.
She had secretly booked a flight under a new alias and was set to begin a new life at the end of the month, before Lex had a chance to find her in Metropolis and ruin the happiness her friends deserved. It was that reason that she wanted to see Victor while she still could, to at least say goodbye to one of her friends.
Looking up again, she saw him standing over her, gesturing towards the empty space next to her. "This seat open?" he asked. While they weren't the ideal words after not seeing each other for years, they had to play this cool. Even though they had been aware of each other's existence for a long time, they couldn't risk getting caught over being nostalgic.
"Go ahead," Evie replied with a smile, but otherwise holding back how happy she was to see him. Once he had settled, she added, "We're clear?"
Victor nodded before turning his head towards her. "It's good to see you... I can't say I ever expected to see you on the other side."
That statement was met with a scoff from Evie. "Speak for yourself." Back then, she really thought that he was a goner after he risked his life to get her out. But after all, sacrifice, risks, they seemed to be common themes in her life... along with the uncertainty if even she could get through each day alive.
"So I have to ask, why did you choose Evie?"
Instead of answering, Evie fired back, "The better question is why you didn't change your name." It was something that never added up to her. Sure, she may have been the important piece, but Victor was essential to Lionel's plan as well, and if Lex was anything like she suspected, Victor would probably be more useful.
"I'm more valuable to him on the outside. The Blur got me out, and Lex wants him more than he'll ever want me, not to mention that he wants to narrow down Arrow's identity as well." Victor calmly shrugged before adding, "I'm still on Lex's radar, but for now, those connections keep me out of the cells."
Evie rolled her eyes. "Okay, I figured the Blur out through Lionel's constant bantering about 'The Traveller' and a yearbook photo, how hasn't Lex?"
"You never asked Chloe?" Victor asked with an eyebrow raised, implication not lost on Evie as she rolled her eyes again.
"Once I knew who she was, I figured I had a chance of normalcy and I took it, knowing that in case she found out that she'd be one of the few people that would understand." Feeling a sudden draft, Evie blew warm air into her hands. "I didn't want to jeopardize that by faking our friendship."
"Fair enough," Victor replied. "Of course, there's also the connection to you..."
"Which is why I'm wondering why you contacted me."
Not even fazed by her fake curiosity, Victor said easily, "Come on, Evie, we both know that answer."
After hearing those words, Evie looked down at her hands, which oddly had become a metaphor for her life. Working with coffee had its consequences, the steam drying out her skin, and as much as she tried to cover it with pleasant-smelling lotion... the cracks returned almost effortlessly.
For years, Evie had covered so much up, but she was getting too attached to this life, wanting nothing more to throw caution away and be honest. However, Evie hadn't because she thought it risked too much, and now the cracks in her demeanour were beginning to break through. "I have to go."
"And then what?" Victor replied almost instantly. "Get a haircut, make new friends, only to switch your money into a fake Swiss bank account five years later and run away again?"
"You've been tracking me?"
"Someone has to. No one else knows what you're doing."
"What do you suggest?" Evie asked as her gaze trailed to a family across in the park, playing together with smiles that almost lit up Evie's face before a frown promptly took its place. She had long accepted that not everyone got the happy ending that she desired, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. "You know it's only a matter of time before Lex finds me here."
"Then why come here in the first place? Please tell me that it wasn't to play Cupid."
It may have been part of the reason, but Evie replied honestly, "I wanted to hold onto what I had left for a little while."
Victor grabbed her hand, watching as her eyes found his, so he squeezed her hand harder. "So hold onto it, fight back. Bring down Lex and allow yourself to live again. You know who will win in a game of cat and mouse, and you can't let him Evie, not without a fight."
Evie bit her bottom lip, shaking her head as she retracted her hand. "I can't join you guys Vic, I lied to them. All this time..."
"You were protecting them," Victor finished. "Chloe was trying to move on from Clark, Oliver was hiding his alter ego, and you were hiding your past. Just because you knew all three doesn't make it worse."
"They'll probably hate me." Her argument at this point was as thin as her voice as she whispered the words, but Evie was genuinely scared. These friendships were stronger than she ever imagined, and even if it killed her to walk away, it stung more thinking that maybe there was a chance that they'd assume that everything had been a lie and walk away from her.
She knew Chloe and Oliver, she had no reason to doubt them, but Evie couldn't help it, and not surprisingly, Victor wasn't buying it.
"You said it yourself that they would likely be more accepting of you having abilities, and you know that they accepted me with open arms. I'm not going to lie... they'll probably be surprised, but don't they deserve the truth?"
When she didn't respond, Victor's gaze finally left Evie, staring around the park, seeing the appeal it held for his friend. If anyone understood what it was like to miss what they once had, it was him. He too couldn't hold onto the person he loved, the difference was that she knew his secret, but she couldn't accept him for who he had become.
He couldn't blame Katherine, there were days where he didn't accept what he was, and thought he deserved to stay dead with his family, instead of living as a cyborg monster. But Evie, Oliver, everyone he had met once out of 33.1 really, convinced him that he was worth something, that he could do some good in the world.
Sitting here now, Victor realized that it was his turn to tell someone their value; even if it was the last person he thought he'd tell it to. "You're smarter than you give yourself credit Evie, keeping yourself off the radar for so long, there's no reason you can't keep doing that."
Evie appreciated the comment, but she knew that she only did a portion of the work. "I still owe you thanks for Germany... for keeping that a secret from everybody."
Everybody, including her, an accusation that Victor didn't miss. "I'm sorry I had Bart lie to you." He had purposely kept her out of the loop, hoping that she'd let the whole thing go, but instead she seemed intent on taking the high road.
"I figured it out easily enough, but what exactly was the money for?"
It was Victor's turn to sigh, remembering something that haunted him for months. "The analyst found a single piece of paper with the SCU logo and a partial identification number that he hoped to restore to its original form. The reason it took so long to find was because there were five rooms of evidence from the fire. He had found it inside of a phone book, but he never relayed specifics to Lex because he didn't want to take any chances over the phone in case he was being tapped."
He smirked momentarily, trying to find optimism in what happened. "Lucky guess for him, but fortunately for us, I deleted any digital trace and Bart was able to intercept the packages so I could destroy the physical evidence... even though only one envelope had the correct piece."
"Where is he?" Evie whispered.
"The package was being sent to the Luthor mansion." Taking a single breath, Victor added carefully, "Are you sure that you can trust Tess?"
"What?"
"I know she's your inside woman. Nice deal you got after you found out Lex was using Tess to spy on the world."
Evie bit the inside of her cheek, realizing that Victor knew more than she thought. "I'm always cautious about trusting her, which is why she has yet to see me in person. However, she was the one put the device on his phone and she owes me for more than the cameras."
"I know," Victor said with a smirk.
"Of course you do," Evie replied, swallowing the lump in her throat, "I can't hide much from you it seems."
"Does it make you feel better that I had to work really hard to figure all this out?" It didn't, only because Evie was afraid that she hadn't been careful as she thought which Victor seemed to sense. "Lex has no clue, he's searching, but he's not onto you yet."
Evie shook at her head as her gaze finally moved away towards the other people in the park. "Why do you care Victor? Why risk yourself for my sake?"
He looked at her defeated expression as she eventually dropped her face in her hands. She wasn't crying, that much he knew, but he still placed his hand carefully on her shoulder, hoping to reassure her. "I seem to remember a girl who saved me from a few rounds of torture just to be tortured herself. Sure, the only way we saw each other was with our hands tied behind our backs, but you're still my friend. I think you deserve a chance to live a real life."
Evie replied skeptically, "And you really think I can achieve that by fighting back?"
"It's risky, but you can't keep running, especially when you've made yourself a life again."
"So what do you want me to do?"
Victor reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a card. "Show up at this address, top floor, at 9 am tomorrow. Pass-code is on the back."
"I'll think about it." Evie stared at the card, and while she had an idea of the location, she had no idea what he was planning. Tapping it against her fingers, she looked back up at him, "For what it's worth, it was good seeing you again."
At this point, Victor couldn't hope for much more, so he pushed himself up from the bench, turning his head back to say, "I hope to see you around Evie," before walking away.
August 2
Swinging his arm to hit the snooze button on his alarm clock, Oliver groaned as he rubbed his eyes awake. Sure, the view was great from his perspective, but the pestering sound he had just shut off meant that his view would change soon enough.
He heard Chloe yawn before she turned around in his arms. "Morning."
"For some of us," he replied as he kissed her forehead. "Go back to sleep."
Chloe frowned as she felt his body leave her. "Do you really have to go this morning?"
Oliver headed over to the closet, holding onto the resolve he had by a thread. Slipping on a pair of pants, he finally replied. "Victor said that he has something for me to see."
"Guy thing?" Chloe asked, wondering why she wasn't invited to Watchtower this morning.
"Beats me, but he insisted that I come without my better half." Doing up the final button on his shirt, he added, "His words, not mine."
"What? You doubt them?"
Grabbing a nearby tie, Oliver put it around his neck as he walked back over to the bed. Sitting down, he watched as she sat up to meet him halfway, so he leaned in and whispered, "Not for a second," before taking her lips to his.
Chloe was quick to deepen the kiss, a quick reminder of what he would be missing, and it seemed to work as Oliver backed away.
"You could always join me for a quick shower?"
She chuckled. "You're already dressed… and besides, the last time that happened was the most unproductive shower I've ever had." Seeing his expression sour, Chloe placed a finger under his chin while tilting her head to the side. "But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it."
Seeing his eyes darken before her, Chloe shook her head. "We have the entire day after you leave Watchtower... I can wait a couple of hours."
Kissing her one more time before standing back up, Oliver smiled at that implication. "I'll be right back."
~0~
Opening the double doors of Watchtower, Oliver announced, "Okay, I'm here...what's the big emergency?" Confused as to the dark state of Watchtower, he was about to fire up the main console, when he took another look around the main area. "Victor, you here?"
For a couple seconds, it was silence, but eventually a different voice called out, "Hi Oliver."
Oliver's head jerked back upon hearing her voice. "Evie? What are you doing here?" He looked up to see her calmly leaning against the railing on the upper level.
This was it, she thought, time to face it. "I have some... explaining to do," Evie replied as she lifted her arms over the railing and began to head towards the staircase. "And I couldn't exactly tell you what I'm about to say in a coffee shop."
"How did you find this place? We agreed to keep you out of the loop."
"That was before," Evie stated as she descended the steps. She would tell Oliver the truth, but she had so much to say that she couldn't start there. "I can't sit back anymore Oliver."
"What are you talking about?"
"Lex Luthor is alive."
Oliver's eyes appropriately widened at that bombshell, wondering how on earth the conversation had switched to the status of Lex, which only added to the mystery of Evie's presence in Watchtower. Based off her expression, she seemed confident, but there was also an air of anxiety in her body language, which meant whatever she had to tell him wasn't going to be easy.
When Evie figured that he had enough time to digest the news, she continued. "I have proof and I want to help you shut him down instead of hiding behind a computer screen."
She gauged his expression, less shock this time, but Evie noticed the wheels in his head were turning. Eventually, Oliver looked straight at her and stated, "You were our informant." Watching her nod in response, he began thinking over everything she had done, reminding of things that Oliver had chalked off to luck. "Then..."
Seeing where he was going with that, she cut him off. "I'll answer that later. First... throw something in the air."
"What?"
"Just do it." He obliged, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and tossed it. Interesting choice, she thought as she began her confession of sorts.
She flicked her fingers up, watching as the phone went higher in the air, stopping it about twenty feet up. Then she waved her hands back and forth, as the phone's movement followed her motions above her. Finally, Evie pulled her fingers back, and the cell phone fell, only to be stopped seconds from the ground. Leaning down, she grabbed the phone and peered up at Oliver's gaped expression before calmly tossing his phone back to him.
"Come on Oliver, you work with a guy who talks to sea mammals and a cyborg, telekinesis shouldn't surprise you."
Blinking back his obvious shock, Oliver shoved his phone back into his pocket. "I didn't..."
"No," Evie replied, pointing her finger towards him, "but you thought it."
"How haven't I noticed anything?"
She shrugged, striding around the room as she explained, "Years of training by my uncle allowed me the chance to be, well, normal."
"To me, this," Evie said, pausing to pull a pen that was lying on the main console across the room towards her hand, smirking as she caught it. "All this is like a light switch. When I need to use them, I can. Otherwise, well, I'm just like you."
Smirking, Evie turned and added, "Oh and to answer your incomplete question from earlier, Impulse is my cousin Bart. I'm responsible for the camera work, and the digital intelligence, but I can't run like him, so Bart did most of the field work, which includes dropping you off at the hospital back in March."
Surprise out of his system, Oliver just let out a single chuckle upon hearing that. If nothing else, it did explain how his identity wasn't revealed that night, but how she knew that was on his mind was a different matter. "So I take it you also have telepathy."
Evie playfully rolled her eyes. "Among other things."
"Like?"
"I'm getting there, but I suppose that I can tell you that I have excellent hearing."
Calculating all the information he had at his disposal, Oliver finally found himself catching on. "You and Victor go way back, don't you?" For once, there was surprise in her eyes, which Oliver had taken as an affirmative. "It's how you got up here, but it's also why he said that he couldn't track Bart down. He was protecting you."
Evie nodded. "People tend to do that."
"It really is a small world, isn't it?"
"You have no idea," she deadpanned.
"Is there a story attached to that statement too?"
After a quick purse of the lips, Evie pointed to the nearby couch. "You might want to sit down."
"I'm fine thanks."
"Well, I warned you." She took a deep breath, knowing this was the beginning of the tough part. "Germany wasn't a waste of time. Victor covered it up well, but... you're familiar with the name Emily Hopkins, right?"
"Sure, Victor told us she was an isolated subject in the Smallville facility...that she's known as the Anastasia of 33.1. After the first disturbance, it was unknown if she died or escaped. Why?" Evie pointed her fingers towards herself, waiting for him to realize what she meant. It didn't take long. "You mean that—"
"That as far as the world's concerned, I should be dead? Then yeah."
Shaking his head, Oliver did take a seat on the couch. Sure, there was a mystery to Evie, but this? This he had never expected. The sensation of his phone vibrating in his jacket pocket brought him back to reality, and without thinking he pulled it out, but staring at the caller ID brought a whole new facet to the problem, and Evie was quick to make that connection.
"Chloe right?"
He nodded, and although he wanted to answer, there were more pressing matters here, so he pressed ignore, hoping Chloe would understand. She would be affected more by this than he would, but for now, he had to listen to Evie.
Watching him put his phone away, she shook her head. "I feel like a hypocrite right now. All this time, telling you to tell her the truth, when I had the biggest secret of all."
"It wasn't like you didn't have a good reason to keep yourself hidden."
"So did you," Evie replied, knowing that Oliver wanted to protect Chloe just as much as she wanted to protect both of them. "But I got so used to hiding from people that I forgot what it meant it to trust someone. Keeping it from you two wasn't exactly something I'm proud of, but your friendship is part of the reason I want to fight back."
"So what really happened? Victor doesn't talk about his days behind the scenes. I always thought it was trauma-related, but now I'm almost convinced that it had to do with you."
Evie waved her head back and forth. "That's likely true. As you know, Lionel wanted to control all of us: metas, meteor freaks, cyborgs... it didn't matter. He kept the people he needed close to him, hence why we were in Smallville. Victor was created so they could control anything powered by machines: power and water supplies, along with any necessary database. Me, as you probably know... I can control people."
Finally taking a seat, Evie stared ahead as she continued to explain, "Torture only worked for so long, and bodies can build immunity to drugs, but mind control... not so much. At the time, I was too weak for them, but they would work every day to make sure I would be enough one day."
She found herself swallowing hard before turning her head to look at Oliver. "But then Lionel starting changing his mind, I suppose I have Clark to thank for that. Lionel began to second-guess the project and letting people go, but not us... we were too valuable."
"Yet you still got out."
Knowing what she had to say, Evie still bit her bottom lip. "Which is where this thing gets complicated for us... the death of Dr. Terrence Lee."
"That's impossible..."
"Because you met with him?" Evie finished with a raised eyebrow. "That was Issac, a fellow inmate, our resident shape-shifter whose purpose was to ensure Luthorcorp couldn't be framed for any of our activities. Dr. Lee had been given six months to live and decided to make a difference. He gave Issac a placebo medication so he could escort Vic and me out posing as the doctor and he also gave Victor the pass-codes to get out. Lex's, or rather, Lionel's goons saved the doctor a lot of pain."
"What went wrong?"
Closing her eyes, Evie was brought back to that moment, the adrenalin she felt as the escape took a turn for the worse. "The second last door triggered the alarm. Victor kept them at bay so Issac and I could escape. No matter how much it hurt both of us; we left and didn't look back. The rendezvous point wasn't far, so days later, feds set us up in California and kept the investigation notes at a minimum to keep us safe."
"So you were probably the reason... Issac met with me?"
Evie nodded. "I figured Oliver Queen wouldn't want to help a LuthorCorp project... your mutual hatred is well-documented. I mean, sure you could have had a competing project, but let's just say I noticed the man behind the image long before most of the world."
"Really?"
Allowing a smile to release some of the tension she was feeling, Evie explained, "When people focused on your questionable nightly exploits, I zeroed in on your hours spent at the children's hospitals and orphanages around Star City, not to mention your various donations to other charities. It was a hunch, but I was right."
That comment brought Oliver back to that night in January when Evie had outright stated that he was Green Arrow. At the time, her reasoning had made sense, but now, hearing everything she had gone through, it was clear Evie knew even prior to that. "That probably made Green Arrow easier to determine."
"Yeah," Evie replied, her smile getting wider, "I knew from your first event it was you, but that had more to do with Vic than anything."
"You were also the one who helped us track him down, weren't you?"
"Guilty," Evie said, chuckling as she raised her hand in fake defence. "I didn't know what you were planning, but from what I eavesdropped when you met with Issac, I wanted to trust you. Victor needed someone to keep him safe... you provided that for him."
"Why did Issac meet us as the doctor and not as himself?"
"The fed's only contact was Dr. Lee, he had to lie. I was too valuable, but they could have used Issac to testify against LuthorCorp. We all want to bring the Luthors down, but we also knew Issac was a dead man if he revealed himself."
It was tough for Evie to admit that maybe her and Issac could have stopped 33.1 years ago, but considering what happened with her, even the witness protection program had its flaws. As grateful as they were, they weren't about to risk their freedom that easily. "Once I had established my current identity, I forged some documentation so Issac could live as himself at that safe house you provided him in Italy."
Remembering the day that they parted, the last time she saw Issac's real face brought back the hopeful feeling Evie had in having a real future, a future that would took her places that she never expected. It had been years since she had spoken to Issac, but she knew he was safe, and that was enough. "You have no idea how much freedom means to him."
"What about your freedom? Why didn't you disappear to some island or something?"
It was then that Evie's smile faded and she dipped her head. "I wanted to risk having a second chance at a normal life here. So they set up my life in Star City, my handler training me in hacking, self-defence and current events. Once they figured that I was dead to the Luthors, he brought me to SCU, gave me a future to look forward to. He pulled a lot of strings to get me into SCU in time for fall semester."
"Your handler, you mean..." Oliver's face paled as a realization hit him. He looked to Evie, hoping he'd reassure him otherwise, but instead she sadly grinned at him, confirming his thoughts. "It's a coincidence... isn't it?"
Pulling a hand through her brunette locks, Evie sighed. "You have no idea how much I wish it was, but no."
"That's why... I can't believe it never dawned on me."
"Kane's a popular last name, and besides, I was one in a billion." Squeezing her eyes shut, Evie sighed again. "There's no way you could have known Oliver."
"I have to ask...the safe house?"
Out of everything she had to explain, this was the toughest thing to admit, which Oliver probably knew before he asked. But the blanks had to be filled, and after all, she was the one who brought up Germany. "You know that his cover was a social worker, and it was the place that he kept his clients, but I was a special case."
Wiping a tear from her eye, Evie added, "So special he had to burn it down so they couldn't make the connection. He burnt all of the evidence and then he stood in the centre of the house and watched it crumble to the ground with him still inside."
Gripping her fingers into her knees as tears continued to fall, she said softly, "I still don't understand why he did that, and even though it took me years to track down the stolen evidence... the evidence you saw in Germany, I'm still not sure it was worth it."
Oliver wanted to say something to make her feel better, but he just sat there, watching as tears streamed down Evie's face, as she no longer cared to stop them. Despite her emotions, Evie sniffled and whispered, "I'm fine Oliver."
"No you're not." Standing up, he added, "I think that's enough for today." He saw Evie shake her head, but he leaned over to put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't care, anything else can wait."
He thought that would be enough, but instead she met his brown eyes, more determined than ever. "Please... let me finish," were her next words and they cut right through Oliver. Despite his resolve, he dropped his hand and gestured her to continue. Taking a step back, Oliver realized that she had to get this off her chest, and he owed her enough to let her finish.
After seeing the gesture, Evie pushed herself up to face him straight on. "From there, I just tried to hide in plain sight. Pushing friends away, keeping a low profile until you and Chloe came along."
She pursed her lips as she walked around Oliver, looking out the window again to find peace within herself. "With you two, I took a chance, because I genuinely enjoyed being around you. Granted, I knew what you could do, but I prayed that I would never actually need it."
Rubbing the tear stains off her face, she sat on the ledge, finding a sense of calm as she looked across the city. "But your disappearance resulted in people caring more about me, being part of Chloe's entourage. I got nervous and took off to Michigan the moment I could... but also because I knew that she'd be okay."
"And then you decided to risk it all by being our source?"
It may not have been the brightest idea, but Evie didn't regret it. "I wanted to help, even if it was silently. Unfortunately, they started tracing my hacking in February, so I panicked and got out. March, as you know, was rough for me, and –"
"Germany in April, but if you were out, then how...?"
Her eyes firmly looking down, Evie stood up again. "You're not going to like this."
"Try me."
"Tess." Seeing Oliver about to lose it, Evie quickly added, "She doesn't know who I am or what I look like or how I know about Lex. And before you point fingers, I'd like to say that you owe your merger, also known as your alibi for coming to Smallville, to me."
Oliver wasn't necessarily satisfied with her answer, but he calmed down enough to ask, "So she's on your side?"
"She's... testing the waters. She won't tell me where he is, but she tapped his phone so I could keep you guys informed. You can't blame her for not being fully trustful, but she walks the line well." Oliver's expression didn't change so Evie reassured him, "I know what I'm doing."
"So what exactly changed to allow you to come clean now?"
Taking a few steps, Evie replied, "Everything was looking up, so I thought I'd disappear before things turned sour on my account. But then I saw Victor for the first time in ages yesterday and he reminded me of everything that I wanted when I started over."
She bit her lip before looking up. "I have it Oliver. Friends, a portion of my family, a job I enjoy, these are things worth fighting to keep. I think there's a reason our paths keep coming together, and if I ignore that... then I'm just being selfish because I'm forgetting the thousands of 33.1 subjects who are suffering."
Feeling her confidence returning to her, Evie's expression hardened. "Lex has to be stopped, and I'm willing to pay whatever price that takes."
After a few minutes of pause, Oliver broke it. "Is that it?"
"More or less," Evie replied, finding it in herself smile at the sentiment Oliver showed her. "The rest can wait."
"In that case," Oliver said, walking over to her, "on behalf of everyone, I welcome you to the team."
At that, Evie's head popped up in surprise. "Just like that?"
Oliver just grinned back at her, but he asked genuinely, "Do we have a reason not to trust you?"
She shrugged a shoulder. "Not that I can think of."
"Then allow me to point out that you'd have Victor's and Chloe's and my votes by default. And I don't see why the others would object, although I will have to contact them and get their say. But know that you're not the only one with a target on your back when it comes to LuthorCorp. It's risky work, but we all take care of each other."
"Thank you Oliver." She smiled again as she collapsed on the couch, relief coming across her expression.
With a chuckle, Oliver asked, "Feel better?"
"A little." She sprung up momentarily to add, "It's okay if Bart joins too right? He's been dying to join you guys."
"Seeing as we've been trying to recruit him for months, it's only fair."
Evie exhaled loudly, falling back hard on the couch again, letting everything sink in. He was alright with it. Even though she had lied, even though she had been a hypocrite during their friendship, Oliver didn't show her the door. Instead, he held his hand out to her, showing the undying support she had always seen in him.
In the end, Evie really did have a great support system here, and she couldn't believe she was willing to throw it all away yesterday. Victor was right after all, things would get tough, but it beat knowing that if she left, she would negatively affect the lives of people who cared about her so much, not to mention her own cousin, who was kind of alone in the world without Evie around.
Thinking of him reminded Evie thought of an important detail, one she dared not skip over before Bart and Oliver met. "Don't suppose I could ask a favour?"
"What is it?"
"He... Bart...kind of has a crush on Chloe." Evie raised a hand to scratch the back of her neck. "I love him, and he's completely harmless, but he uses every cliché in the book. I'll ask that she lets him down easy, but you..."
"I read you." Oliver headed over to the coffee machine that he had installed for Chloe. "It's cold, but do you want some?"
"Please." Even though she was the barista of the group, her reliance on caffeine had seriously increased since meeting Chloe and right now, a cup of coffee sounded perfect to Evie, no matter the temperature or blend.
"I have to admit it's going to be interesting working with both you and Chloe now." Lifting the coffee pot back up to place it back in the maker, he pulled out a glass for himself. Thinking about the call he had dismissed, he asked, "When are you planning on telling her?"
Evie almost wanted to say Never, as she never wanted any of her friends to share her burden, least of all, Chloe who had gone through so much already. Yet at the same time, if Evie was ever going to tell anyone, Chloe would be the top of the list, but she would also the hardest person to tell. After all, Oliver could relate to her situation and he at least knew a portion of the story. But there was no turning back now, Evie had closed that door the moment she entered Watchtower.
"Soon... just the jumping off point of confessions for me."
Oliver trickled his fingers under the tap as he filled the glass with water. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I know every member of your team," Evie replied with a wide grin.
"We actually just—"
It didn't take telepathy for Evie to know where Oliver was going with this, so she promptly interjected, "Dinah Lance was my roommate in first year."
Oliver raised an eyebrow as he passed her cup. "That roommate?"
"Thanks," Evie said with a chuckle. "Yep, that roommate. Although we actually did get along, she just had some questionable habits."
With that, Oliver started laughing, realizing how true his comment about it being a small world was. "Anyone else in my life that you secretly know?"
Initially, Evie shook her head, but upon taking her first sip of coffee, she changed her mind. "In case I wasn't clear earlier, I'm aware of Clark's super-powered skills."
Oliver held his glass out and smiled. "And on that note... to delivering justice."
Evie moved her glass to his and said, "Cheers."
Stay Tuned for Part 2
Sera's Scribbles: Yeah, I realize that cutting a chapter in half is unfair... but I figure that it's better this way so you can digest everything here.