Notes:
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This chapter is in 1st person (and the epilogue will be too), but the rest will be in the standard 3rd person past tense.

. . .

"I love you

For all that you are

All that you have been

And all that you will be."

~ Anonymous

. . .

2030 – Starling City

"This isn't the world I was born into. This isn't the world that my children were born into. This isn't the future that any of us had seen coming or had planned on living through. It's dark and full of despair. It's hard to keep living and today, like so many days before, I've found it hard to keep going."

As I stare out at the city, I keep wondering why we're pushing forward. I can see the remains of all of the skyscrapers that were once large companies. I used to work in one of them. I can easily identify most of them, but Queen Consolidated, Starling National Bank, and the building that was once Merlyn Global stick out to me. The buildings were once more than shattered glass and steel. Sometimes I miss that. It makes me sick to just stare at Starling City around me in ruins.

No one lives here anymore.

I used to be an executive assistant to the CEO of Queen Consolidated. I hated it at first and now that seems so stupid because I would give anything to go back to that time. I would happily sit at my desk and make online reservations for the boss, who could easily do them from his desk with his computer. I would happily do everything for him…I would even bring him coffee everyday as many times a day as he needed…and even for the board meetings.

If only I could turn back the clock and make the world right again.

Life wasn't about daily survival, at least not in the way it is now. At least not in a way that wasn't voluntary. Sometimes I would offer to be bait during an Arrow mission, but that was something I did willingly. In this chaotic world I'm not safe. I run for my life and I hide in the shadows.

"You know way back in two thousand and thirteen, we thought that the world wouldn't be the same. There was this thing…called the Undertaking. It destroyed half of the Glades and nobody really wanted to rebuild it afterwards. Five hundred and three people died… That seemed like so many deaths. A year later, Slade Wilson built a Mirakuru army and tried to set this city on fire… I honestly thought that was the end… I didn't think that I was going to live past those days…"

I brought my hand up to cover my mouth as I thought about it, my head slightly bowed. "And yet Starling City stood… The Arrow was our hero, like a guardian angel…but not even he could protect us for what happened. I still can't believe how many people died… They took people into the streets and killed them…"

Tears fell from my eyes and I shook my head as my eyes squeezed shut at the memories. Horrible, horrible memories that are etched into my mind and I just wish I could forget. It might be easier to live in this world if I didn't have to think about all of those horrible, dark, dark days… The days that I wish never were.

"The only reason that all of those people…and all of the people everywhere have died is because of fear," I said as I turned around. I opened my eyes and turned around. The woman standing there was older than I was and I've just met her, but I feel like I can trust her. I HAVE to trust her. She's the only hope I have right now. "Fear has gotten us to this point. It turned the world hateful and dark…it sucked every last drop of happiness from our world…from our lives…"

I paused for a moment as I thought about my words. They were all true, but I wonder how this other woman is taking them. Does she believe me? Will she trust me? Will she HELP me? Will she help ALL of us? I don't know if I can wake up tomorrow knowing that the world looks like this still.

"It's stupid really," I told her as I tried to keep more tears back. "This whole thing started because ONE person didn't understand…and didn't have the ability to look at the world in an open minded manner. That's WHY the world changed. This one man. An anthropologist. How could he have so much influence? How could he not see the beauty in everything that he ended up destroying?" The tears came anyways, but I pushed forward.

"Do you remember his name?" the woman asks for the first time.

"Doctor Bolivar Trask," I tell her. "I don't know anyone who doesn't know his name… I think everyone knows the story."

"They probably don't know the whole story," she tells me.

"No one ever does," I whisper. "I know that he thought that his invention would save humanity… The problem with it was that he damned us all… His invention and their guidelines just changed and changed and soon enough…they weren't detaining people that were a danger as they saw to the population…they were killing every single person that MIGHT be a danger to those in charge. They killed children in the street for being out past curfew…"

It was quiet between the two of them as I wipe tears away from my eyes once again. I don't know how not to be emotional. I've tried. I know that it would be easier to turn cold and unemotional like others I've seen, but no matter how I try…I can't be that person. This woman, she seems to have her emotions under check. She looks so perfect against the chaos. Her dark hair is pulled back and neat, unlike her hair that even though it's pull back into a ponytail I know that it's messy. Her clothes are clean and neat and mine are whatever I could find that seemed clean enough as I tried to get out before anyone could notice that I was leaving. The metallic logo on the shoulder of her jacket shone in the light. It was some kind of cropped bird and I keep thinking an eagle in the circular logo.

"Why did you think that I could help you?"

"People say that you're who I need to contact in order to talk to the person who might be able to help us prevent all of this," I explain honestly.

"Who do you think can do that?"

"His name is whispered everywhere. That he has a team. That his inventions and innovations were always ahead of everything else," I tell her. I'm quiet before finally saying his name. "Tony Stark."

"Tony Stark and his family are all dead."

"Aren't we ALL dead?" I ask. This seems to have amused the woman. I don' t understand, but I let out a sigh. I have no idea if she's just testing me or if she's telling the truth.

"I'll be in touch."

"How?" I ask. Before, everyone could be easily kept in touch with when there were cell phones and e-mail. Now none of them used that. She ran her fingers from her right hand along the inside of her upper left arm unconsciously where the scar removing the chip they'd implanted in her had once been. It still creeped her out.

She was a fugitive.

Her home was a place that they liked to think that no one could find.

"I'll find you," the woman told her as she turns her back to me.

I suck in a breath and hope that my wait won't be long. I hope that Tony Stark is alive and hiding. There were other people that they'd heard at one time or another was dead and then there had been reports that that person was actually alive. "Can I ask you your name?"

She laughed and looked over her shoulder. "I guess it doesn't matter if you know it or not. We're all dead already, right?" There was a brief moment of silence before she continued. "Maria Hill, Ms. Queen. I WILL be in touch."

"Thank you," I whisper and for the first time in so long I allow myself a small smile as Maria Hill disappears.

A loud humming sound suddenly hits my ears and I know that it's time for me to disappear as well. I know that I shouldn't be out on the streets, especially not on a rooftop and especially not in Starling City proper. Sometimes I just like to go there, though, and remember the way things used to be. It's normally hard, but I have so many good memories from years before.

"Time to get home and face the million questions," I mutter before making myself disappear.

The sentinels were coming.

I wouldn't let them take me again.

I might actually have something to live for again…

. . .

TBC…