It had been a crazy four months since he had become a member of Mystery Inc. Even when the traveling detective agency wasn't looking for a case one seemed to find them and none of the cases had been straightforward incidents where the perpetrator was easily identifiable. No, they dealt with nutjobs like Slade Wilson who'd dressed up like the Ape Man of legend and terrorized the movie set, The Ape Man of Forbidden Mountain, about said legend because the stuntman had been passed over for playing the lead in the movie. Or anti-technology wackos (Felicity's biggest pet peeve) like Sarah Jenkins who nearly destroyed Funland's amazing robot Charlie because she didn't think technological marvels should operate in a place visited by so many children – thankfully they'd been able to stop the malfunctioning Charlie without frying his circuits completely and Felicity had been able to reprogram him, retuning him to the cool guide and attraction Funland had intended. Then there were the weirdos like Mr. Pietro, a hook-nosed puppeteer who ran a counterfeiting ring that they managed to put a stop to with a little help; Harry the Hypnotist, whose zany machinations had him faking a ghostly clown (Tommy had learned on that case that coulrophobia was indeed a real thing, which he had) in a plot to get revenge for being fired from the circus trope he'd stolen from; and the bizarreness that was Big Bob Oakley aka Carlotta the Gypsy amongst others whose scam at Franken Castle had them confronting, sort of, the horror movie genre's biggest bads: Count Dracula, the Were-Man, and Frankenstein's Monster.
Yes, his life had certainly become colorful since joining Felicity's merry band, new tour bus he purchased for them and Great Dane pup – Roy had found the fawn colored dog along the road wet and trembling and wrapped him his trademark red hoodie, which is how he ended up being named The Hood – and all. Still it hadn't been the fake mummy or the not- so-undead-zombie that finally made Tommy declare that they needed a vacation. No, it was foiling a UFO scam, seriously UFOs!, his life was getting ridiculous and he needed – they all needed – a break from the insanity they never failed to find.
Plus, a ski vacation to Wolf's End Lodge allowed him to invite Thea, who he considered as much as his little sister as Oliver's, and Diggle's ex-wife turned qausi-girlfriend Lyla along. Though Tommy wasn't exactly certain if girlfriend was the woman's official status and he wasn't willing to dip his toe in that situation. Not with the size of John Diggle's arms.
They picked up their additional companions at the motely little airstrip located roughly thirty miles from Wolf's End with a fair amount of fanfare. There had been excited hugs from Thea for him and Oliver, not to mention a squeal of delight over The Hood. That was followed by a bit of an uncomfortable, for Oliver and Felicity, first official introduction between Thea and her brother's girlfriend; which may or may not have included a bit of inquisition from the younger Queen before her eye caught Roy. And well then a big brother's worst nightmare happened as they watched Thea flirt with a bashful – and who knew that was even possible – Roy.
Lyla's induction into their fold had been much more subdued. She and Diggle greeted each other with warm smiles and a tasteful kiss, before Felicity launched herself in the older woman's arms telling her how delighted she was see her again and how much happier Diggle had been since they had the opportunity to reconnect during their counterfeit case. Tommy wasn't exactly certain what agency Lyla Michaels worked for, but Mystery Inc. had stumbled upon their investigation and the two exes had immediately started making heart eyes at each other. Roy and Barry had bemoaned "not again" and commiserated with each other because they had lived through epic tension that was Oliver and Felicity. Felicity had shushed them and championed any move that had Diggle and Lyla together, particularly if it was alone together; wisely he and Oliver had stayed out of it.
For his part, Dig just shook his head and grinned fondly at the two women, who could not have been more different but had synced easily into friendship. It had also been pretty amusing to watch Felicity hide behind Lyla after Thea's attention finally left her for Roy. Honestly, for as intimating as John Diggle and his massive arms were, if there was anyone who could protect their blonde leader from Thea it was Lyla. The Amazonian like figure would not cower to the fierceness that Thea could throw out nor would she bow to the doe-eyed innocent 'who me' look that managed to quell even the most formidable of men. Basically, Lyla was immune to Thea Queen and was Felicity's best protection against being grilled all weekend.
With Dig and Lyla wrapped up in each other, Thea's focus still on Roy, and Oliver trying to sooth a nervous Felicity it was down to him or Barry to drive the bus – a job that was usually given to Dig or Ollie – but since Barry's sense of direction was non-existent, as he learned from the recounted tale of how the gang took on the Miner 49'er, Tommy gave the younger man Hood duties (the pup still got worked up whenever they first started out the road) and took it upon himself to drive them to Wolf's End Lodge. Tommy kept his ear on the buzz of conversation happening behind him, chiming in when he felt like it, as they trekked to the secluded lodge he'd come across on his internet search. Its web site had been buried at least twenty pages in the Google search he'd run looking for resort where a couple of billionaires and a fashion icon in-training wouldn't draw much attention. The quirky little lodge ten miles outside the teeny town that was its nearest neighbor, other than the saw mill that employed much of said tiny hamlet, seemed like an ideal spot where names like Merlyn and Queen wouldn't be recognized or if they were, wouldn't matter.
"Really? This is all your fault Merlyn," Roy groaned after the lodge's owner, Mr. Greenway, finished checking them in. The balding, paunchy man had first queried them about their desire to stay at the lodge instead of immediately registering them upon their arrival. Honestly, he seemed rather surprised to have guests and when Tommy confirmed that they intended to spend the weekend they'd then received a warning about needing to keep their doors and windows locked because of the Snow Ghost. Felicity's eyes had twinkled at that and Oliver whispered a promise to keep her safe, causing Roy to gag and Thea to ask who would keep her from harm. She had sent a flirtatious and somewhat lecherous look towards Roy when she spoke making his stomach turn. Thea would never not be little Speedy in his eyes, chasing after him and Ollie. He put his foot down before Oliver could, insisting she'd be bunking with him, leaving Roy and Barry to be roommates if they felt so inclined. Thea had huffed, but Oliver throwing his weight behind the suggestion left her little room to argue, though Tommy was certain he hadn't heard the end of it. In fact, he expected her to drone on and on in compliant until one of them passed out despite it.
Once the room keys had been distributed Mr. Greenway had all but disappeared, probably as a means to not be roped into helping with their bags, cuing Roy's statement. "What's wrong with a little ghost story?" Thea asked. "I think it adds charm."
"It never adds anything but aggravation," Roy replied his boyish face crinkled in somewhat mock despair. Tommy could hear what he wasn't saying, the story that was the life of Mystery Inc. – 'have mystery, will travel' was their unofficial slogan, but really it should have been 'travelling, will find a mystery' – always, without fail. He was beginning to think they were bait for it somehow, drawing whodunits towards them without meaning to.
Thea and Lyla laughed at his weary tone, but neither had experienced it before. They might have heard about it, but that wasn't the same and really his goal had been to escape for a weekend to recharge and have fun, not find a new mystery. Tommy was so set on that happening that he'd been just about to suggest finding someplace else to go when a ghostly apparition appeared in the window. Thea caught sight of it first and gasped, drawing their attention to the figure.
"Definitely Tommy's fault," Barry concurred, going slack jawed at the sight, allowing Hood to escape his hold. The pup barked three quick, threatening yips before racing towards the lodge entrance to make chase.
There was cacophony of cries, "Hood!" as Felicity raced after the pup, Oliver a step behind her and Thea so used to following her big brother hot on his heels. "Thea," Tommy called after her, but none of them stopped leaving him little choice but pursue them.
"Every time," he heard Dig grumble. There was a feminine chuckle, Lyla obviously, before the sound of pounding feet echoed. Rounding the lodge Tommy could barely make out the so-called Snow Ghost's form. The gusting winds swirled up the snow from the ground and met the falling snowflakes making for great camouflage. He could, however, see the bounding figure of Hood more leaping through the deep snow then running. Ollie had caught up with Felicity; his arm was wrapped around her waist as he adjusted his longer stride to her shorter one, and in step they trailed the pup calling his name. Thea wasn't far behind them and when he called her name again, she shot a quick look – her hazel eyes flashing with glee – over her shoulder and grinned madly at him. He'd heard the longing in her voice to join them on one of their adventures whenever they spoke and he knew now that they'd started one she wouldn't stop.
When Diggle and Lyla burst past him, Tommy huffed, and picked up his pace. A few strides in Roy flanked him on his left and Barry on his right. "I think we're cursed," Roy puffed out.
"And I think you're not wrong about that," Tommy countered. He lost a step to them as he spoke and because of that he continued their quest in silence to maintain his speed.
He'd just got around a curved bend in time to see the Snow Ghost soar into the air over the heads of Oliver, Felicity and Thea. Hood jumped back in their direction to continue shadowing the ghost and Oliver snapped him up in his arms. The dog whined and struggled against the hold as they all watched in astonishment as the Ghost glided into the woods and got lost in the trees and snow.
It didn't matter the amount of sensible objections thrown out – how cold it was, that the slowly petering out snowfall and wind could erase the tracks they wanted to follow, that they left their bags just sitting out in lodge – no logical reason was valid enough for Thea and Lyla. A vacation was a nice thought, but the duo wanted to know what their lives were actually like and they refused to pass on the golden opportunity which had been handed to them. Tommy managed to keep his grouse about head-strong women being the kryptonite of every male involved with Mystery Inc. to himself. But just barely.
Dig and Lyla took flanking positions around them, easily falling back into old habits, and once Hood realized they were following the Snow Ghost – again his life had become preposterous and they were so not after a real spook no matter what broken laws of physics they'd seen, Tommy had been on enough cases now to know there was always someone to unmask – he happily took up the lead, half dragging Roy since Barry had lost dog privileges for letting him escape in the first place. Thea used the march through the snow to quiz their resident experts on all things ghost related.
Felicity let Barry handle most of the questions, only adding or correcting something when dissatisfied with Zoinks's, as he once overheard Diggle referring to Barry, response. Since he was late to the whole nickname game Tommy often thought of his teammates – other than Oliver of course, his oldest friend would always be Ollie – by their most defining physical feature. Diggle was Humongous Arms, on a good day he thought of Roy has Chiseled Jaw but mostly it was The Chin, while Barry was Legs. He had settled on Roy's Blondie for Felicity but never dared uttered it in her presence as he could swear his ears were still ringing from his first experience with her Loud Voice after The Chin called her that at an inopportune moment.
Tommy figured biting her tongue was difficult for the usually loquacious blonde but having the full scrutiny of her boyfriend's sister was something Felicity was actively trying to prevent. Not that he could blame her. Thea was just as protective of the people she loved as her big brother was and Oliver was in the toughest place imaginable; stuck between a fierce and inquisitive Speedy and a nervous but equally capable Felicity. Who at least wanted to make a good impression, Tommy wasn't so certain Thea cared about that – not when she came to judge the woman who seemingly had her brother wrapped around her little finger for herself.
Still the whole pursuit attempt was going well which Tommy wasn't overly keen about. The tracks never got completely lost so they were able to continue to follow them up pass some of the lodge's ski trails, which had not been maintained – so much for that activity he silently bemoaned – and up one of the small mountains that dotted the picturesque skyline. "We're not actually climbing this," Roy challenged with a baleful tone as they paused at the base.
It mirrored his own sentiment, but Tommy knew that they would at least be tackling some of the summit when Thea snatched Hood's leash and headed up the moderate incline with a zippy comment. Thankfully, they had only gone about a quarter of a mile before finding that the tracks led into a cave.
Without any strategizing Felicity pulled out her cell, to use it as a flashlight, and delved into the cave leaving the rest of them to quickly follow her lead. They'd gone about a hundred feet or so into the frozen dark when they found a rough living area scattered with knickknacks. Barry immediately picked one up to examine it more closely. "Tibetan?" asked after a moment as he handed the piece to Felicity for corroboration. Lyla confirmed before she could, garnering a beaming, proud smile from both Dig and Felicity.
The moment was broken when a weak cough startled them all. Diggle, Lyla and Oliver reacted instinctively and took up a protective stance around them and Hood growled, bearing his teeth. The pup was trying for menacing but it came across more adorable because of his good natured personality. "Please don't hurt me," a voice called out as slim figure of man, hands raised above his head, appeared out of the darkness.
As he shuffled into the light cast by their phones Tommy noted that his face was gaunt and his dark eyes were weary.
The cave dweller turned out to be an aging eccentric by the name of Fu Lan Chi who had made his home there in hopes of appeasing the ghost of the Yeti, the so named Snow Ghost, he encountered back in Asia and accidently caused to die when trying to escape it.
"Yetis are a thing?" Tommy heard Lyla quietly ask Dig, her auburn brow arched with bemusement. Diggle shrugged his wide shoulders and offered back a murmured, "Probably not."
Thea had been caught up in the tale and even found them their next clue to follow by pointing out a bit of sawdust in the Snow Ghost's footprints. Barry's reminder of the nearby mill had them off in that direction after a short round of protests and a debate about Fu Lan. But since Hood, an excellent judge of people as they had learned, was happily licking the man's face they figured that no one needed to stay behind and keep an eye on him.
Which is how Tommy found himself partnered up with Roy and Thea to search the mill for more clues. Or at least they had been his charges, or maybe the reality was he and Thea had been in Roy's care, either way they had both ended up failing spectacularly: Roy by falling through a trapdoor and him by getting separated from Thea when the Snow Ghost appeared.
Losing Thea had caused his heart to clench, while finding her – strapped to a log headed for an engaged saw – inflamed quick palpitations that made it seem like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Her close call undoubtedly taking years off of his life.
His lifespan shrunk again when the Ghost's pursuit propelled them down one of the many chutes within the mill. An iced over lake at the bottom of it did little to appease his sense of doom, but it was a much friendlier sight than the log strapped with dynamite careering towards them. And what kind of 'ghost' used TNT Tommy wondered as he and Thea scrambled away from the oncoming danger.
The only good thing he found about being located so close to an explosion, had he stressed to himself enough yet how crazy his life had become, was that it made them easily findable by their friends. On a less than ideal note – as if wicked wooden splinters, sharp icy shards and drops of freezing water weren't noteworthy enough – it seemed that the ka-boom turned Roy into a ghost, of the ghastly white Snow Ghost variety. Or at least it appeared that it had until a startled Barry pushed him into the lake.
When a sputtering and quivering Roy leapt out of the freezing water cursing Barry, he was back to his usual color. Mostly. There was a faint tinge of blue to his complexion as Felicity and Thea rubbed his extremities to warm him and he explained about the powder he landed in.
Armed with the knowledge of just how the so-called Snow Ghost was fabricating one of its supernatural effects they started to plan how to capture their adversary.
The strange hollow thud from the log Felicity had maneuvered Roy to rest on gave them the motive behind the ghost madness. After easing him up, Felicity, Lyla, and Barry quickly tapped along the log to find entrance to the hollow compartment within it.
After locating it, Barry and Felicity began running through the pros and cons of just sticking a hand blindly into the narrow ingress they had uncovered. Lyla being a woman of action cast a quick look to Diggle, who as far as Tommy could tell gave no indication of any kind to her gaze, but she obviously saw what she needed. She nodded slightly, her green eyes going back to the hole in the log, and shoved a hand in. "Lyla," Felicity admonished, concern for the super-secret government agent flooding her face.
Her worry transformed into wonder as Lyla retrieved a handful jewelry from within the log, the gems gleaming a colorful symphony against the bright whiteness of the snow. Thea leaned in closer to peer at them, Tommy knew she knew her stones, and declared them top quality.
"And judging on where we found them, very stolen," Lyla drolly remarked. Again there was some silent communication happening between the auburn haired beauty and Diggle that he saw but could not discern.
"Which the Snow Ghost used to keep folks from tripping over what," Barry mused, his face twisted in his patented squinty egghead look, "an illegal transportation or fencing operation?"
Before any of them could offer an answer to his supposition Hood growled and Tommy felt the solid thud of a cold mass hit his shoulder. "Ow!" he howled turning to see more balls of ice being lobbed at them by the Ghost.
Diggle ordered a tactical retreat and as the gang fell behind a large pile of snow covered logs he overheard Lyla mutter, "I should have brought my gun."
Thea was the first one to form a weapon of their own; she shaped a compact snowball and hurled it at the Ghost, her lithe form tense as she threw the ball with all of her might. It was a surreal moment, watching his friends follow her lead and make snowballs of their own which they began flinging towards the Ghost, some with more accuracy than others. They were actually participating in a snowball fight, of all things, with a jewel thief/fence or some such that had ghost-ified himself. That was his life.
Not to be left out, Tommy began his own attack and the exchange of fire went on for a few minutes. Though the Ghost was out numbered he didn't need to stop and make his ammo – and who had a ready supply of ice balls? – so the battle could have gone on indefinitely, however, Hood managed to break free. The rangy pup charged the Ghost and latched onto its leg, refusing to let go. The distraction he created allowed Diggle and Oliver to rush the figure.
The snow bath they treated their adversary to removed enough of powder to make his hairy suit spot with patches of brown and Diggle removed a mask as they hauled him up making his visage discernable. "Mr. Greenway?" he found himself asking as the rest of team rushed forward.
The man ignored him as he struggled to kick free of Hood. When he finally managed to extricate himself with a yip of pain from the pup, he seethed, "Stupid dog!" The man's actions and words earned him an elbow in his solar plexus from Oliver.
As their foe struggled to suck in air Thea and Felicity soothed Hood, petting him gently, assuring him what a good, brave dog he was as they fussed over him. The others circled around the pup to do the same and Hood lapped up the attention.
"You can save your speech about how we foiled your perfect criminal plan," Diggle said, dragging the man back towards the mill. "I've heard some version of it more than enough." Tommy heard Greenway wheeze back a mumbled retort – something about them being meddlesome – as Diggle manhandled him, Oliver right on their footsteps to offer assistance if needed, while calling to report what they had uncovered to the police.
A shivering Roy ruffled Hood's head a final time before stepping back next to him. "You still owe me a vacation, Merlyn. Someplace warm this time," he insisted, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to keep his still damp form warm.
He rolled his eyes at Roy, none too pleased at the notion of the younger man getting a gander at Thea in a bikini; before he swooped in to give Hood some love himself.
This was indeed his life now and honestly Tommy wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.