The splattering of the rain against the window of an almost barren apartment on the edge of Moscow did not help Oliver Queen attempt to fall asleep any easier. He glanced up at the ceiling and huffed out a sigh. This late at night his mind tended to drift to his family. He wondered what they were doing, what they thought about, and if they were happy? Except those thoughts never went anywhere and weren't worth the time.

They were much better off without him there. Without his darkness to corrupt them. They wouldn't want to see who he had become within the past five years. Someone who could easily take a life without a second thought. No one needed someone like that around.

The only positive of his time away was that he had put a protection plan in place for his family. After his last mission on the island with ARGUS, he had made Amanda Waller put it into writing that if anything were to happen to Starling she would bring in his family as well as the Lances, Tommy Merlyn, and Felicity Smoak, and keep them safe.

Oliver knew that he couldn't always keep an eye on them and Waller owed him. He at least hoped she would honor the deal after he saved her life almost two years ago. Oliver may have met more men in the Bratva that had better morals than Amanda Waller, but he believed that she would keep his family safe. And if for whatever reason his family died he would go after her and there would be nowhere she could hide from him. Under Waller's own tutelage Oliver had gotten very good at hunting.

His mind couldn't help but drift back to Felicity Smoak. He had been friends with her since the beginning of high school when she tutored him in just about every subject. And they had remained friends four colleges he had dropped out of tended to be around Boston, where she attended MIT, which made it very easy for them to hang out. During one of the times that she had came and visited him at his dorm room after one of his numerous breakups with Laurel that he realized that he was in love with her.

He had tried to push down those feelings with even more alcohol and drugs than the copious amounts he ingested on a regular basis. It shocked him that that method hadn't worked. At some point he resigned to himself that Felicity was far too good for him and that she would never be in love with him. He got back together with Laurel, trying too hard to make something that was already broken work. And then he ran to the Queen's Gambit, with Sara after Laurel wanted to take them to move in together and he couldn't take it. All the while leaving a drunken voicemail for Felicity the night before they left, where he confessed his love for her.

Oliver shifted to his side and closed his eyes. He didn't need to keep dwelling on all of this. There was no use in thinking of his family and friends over and over again, when nothing he did would impact them anymore. He did not plan on going home any time soon. He wasn't worth it. With all of his incredibly illegal acts within the Bratva as well as his training with Talia Al-Ghul. They were both things that should never be around his family or friends.

The sound of his phone buzzing tore him out of his thoughts. Oliver felt around the floor next to his bed, which was really just a mattress on the floor. Once his hand enclosed around the phone he brought it over to himself and squinted at the bright screen. Someone from a blocked number was calling him and he had an idea of just who would call him from a blocked number.

Without putting too much thought into it, Oliver answered the phone.

"Amanda." He greeted coldly.

"Director Waller!"

Amanda Waller raised her head from the report she was reading over at the sound of her name being called from an analyst that had somehow made it past her assistant. God, couldn't her assistant do anything right? She had told him that she didn't want to be disturbed. Having an analyst run into her office was very disturbing. She had half a mind to fire her assistant for this.

"What?" Annoyance clear in her tone as she turned to the analyst, her glare threatening to turn the man to dust.

"Something big is happening in Starling City." The analyst said as he handed her a file.

Waller took the file with a little more force than what was necessary. She opened it and skimmed over the words. Her face paling only slightly, just enough that someone would notice if they were sitting closely to her.

If what this analyst had found was correct, then Starling City was in incredible danger. Which meant she had to contact Oliver Queen and round up his family and bring them in to the Starling City branch of ARGUS. God, she wished she had never made that deal with Queen.

So she could have some operative possibly investigate and she didn't have to give it another thought.

But, damn it, if she was keeping Queen's family safe, she might as well bring the man in himself. His skillset was unfortunately unrivaled to any of her operatives. And he could be used to get this over with quicker.

She was about to endure hell with bringing Queen back to work with her, if he would even do so. He seemed to resent working with her, even if he ended up using the same methods anyway. It was a moot point she didn't spend much time thinking about. There wasn't a point in trying to understand how Queen's mind worked.

"Jennifer!" Waller called out for her assistant. "Have some operatives bring in Moira Queen, Thea Queen, Walter Steele, Thomas Merlyn, Quentin Lance, Laurel Lance, and Felicity Smoak. Put them in conference room A and post an operative outside the door to keep them there until I get there."

Jennifer scurried off to do as Waller said.

Waller motioned for the analyst to leave and they left silently. She looked back at the file, and sighed as she pulled out her phone and dialed Queen's number.