Previously on Arrow…

The Arrow just stared at him uncomprehendingly as his body went numb, brain barely registering Caden's exit or the way both Roy and Felicity declared his rapid and unbelievably easy escape over comms. Only her worried and somewhat frenzied cries over the link brought him back to the present.

"Oliver, what happened?"

"I…he…" He scowled. "He knows," he growled. "He knows who I am."

10 minutes later

Queen Industrial Manufacturing

2 months after the Siege

Silence. The near-complete absence of any form of noise or sound. The tension in the room was so thick one could cut through it with an arrow. A quiet word from Felicity seemed to be tantamount to an earthquake in such a void-like environment.

"How?"

Oliver didn't even look up at her. "I don't know," he said in a near-whisper.

"I was listening in on part of your conversation and…for what it's worth, I don't think he wants us to be enemies."

Oliver took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "He knows who I am, and I have no idea how or why."

Roy shrugged. "Well, least he's not Slade."

Blue eyes stared at the younger man. "True. That I know of." He paused a moment before turning toward Felicity. "Felicity, you said he goes after criminals and terrorist organizations, right?"

She nodded.

"Which ones specifically?"

Her eyebrows furrowed as she rolled back to her computer and started typing, bringing up the ARGUS file within moments. "Looks like…oh wow."

Oliver's ears pricked up. "What?"

"Says here he's responsible for intelligence that led to the capture of at least a dozen terrorist leaders connected to the Bratva, Al Qaeda, and Triad groups in at least four countries…within the last year alone."

Oliver's eyebrows shot up.

"Even went after Intergang at some point, though after this one sting operation, he kinda dropped off the grid for a while."

Roy's face scrunched up in confusion. "Intergang?"

"It's an organization of international criminals that uses advanced technology to stay ahead of the authorities," Oliver explained.

"After Isabel revealed her true colors," Felicity added, "I had a suspicion she may have been using Stellmoor International to fund and supply them. Tried to find a connection, but…couldn't turn up anything that stuck."

"So," Roy started, "by all indications, he's been at this longer than you."

Oliver glared at the monitor and tensed his jaw. "Longer than I've been in Starling, maybe, but it all started back on the island, so I think I've still got a few years on him." A long moment passed. "He was right about one thing, though. We need to know each other better before we exchange secrets."

He started changing into plainclothes as Felicity kept her focus on the monitors, her bottom lip vanishing into her mouth as she propped her chin on her palm, eyes reading intently.

"Woah," she said after a minute.

"What's woah?" Roy asked, approaching her.

"Says here one of his first confirmed sightings occurred in London. He sent information that led to the dismantling of an international network of terrorist cells."

"Sounds like that's pretty commonplace for him, though."

"Yeah, but get this. Apparently, he sent the info directly to Amanda Waller…on her personal computer."

Both archers' eyebrows made a valiant effort to join their hairlines.

She shook her head and sighed. "So he's a hacker, spy, and soldier, all wrapped into one." Her shoulders shrugged. "Go figure."

Oliver sighed hard, grimacing slightly. "Yeah," he agreed, "go figure."

Four days later

Felicity had been wearing stiletto heels since the beginning of her days as an IT girl in college. Granted, even after all those years, she still had trouble taking particularly tall stairs…like the ones leading from this particular alley to her regular coffee shop. She wasn't quite sure why she decided to take this route instead of her usual. Maybe it was the wind chill that buffeted her more on the main roads than back alleys. Whatever the reason, she was forced to take this particular set of stairs rather slowly, focusing nearly all her energies on not toppling over, an occurrence she'd been particularly self-conscious about since the debacle the morning she met Nathan.

Granted, that one had turned out okay. A smile came to her face at the reason. Still, she hadn't seen him around lately and doubted if anything like that happened today, he would just be there to catch her, so…better safe than sorry. Of course, completely zoning in on the stairs and forgetting to mind her surroundings proved to be equally hazardous to her health, as she didn't even notice the three men stepping out of the deep morning shadows until one of them wrapped a hand around her mouth from behind. She tried to scream into the appendage, but all that came out was a strangled whimper, her eyes widening in alarm when the other two came at her front, one of them openly carrying a knife.

Her hands, as she'd immediately noticed, were left free, which served to her advantage, but she played the part of the helpless victim until the moment the knife-wielding mugger closed to about four feet. And then the man holding her found out that a woman with stiletto heels can be as dangerous as a man with a stiletto knife. As he yelled in pain from three broken toes, Felicity pulled a Taser from her purse and fired it off nearly point-blank, the cables shooting out and attaching directly to her second attacker's center mass. The third man rapidly closed the distance, and before she could yank the cables from the device to make it work at close range, he'd tackled her into a wall.

The Taser fell to the ground with a plastic clack, and a firm grip went around her throat as she clawed at his hands. Black spots swam in her vision after a few seconds, and she scowled slightly as she drove her shin as hard as possible between this man's legs. He screamed openly as he doubled over, yelling even louder when she slammed one of her heels into the side of his knee. The mugger with the broken toes had recovered at this point, and was hefting a broken pipe from the alley floor when Felicity started running as fast as her heels would allow. Of course that would be the exact time one of them decided to break.

Stumbling onto her hands and knees, the blonde tried to recover but the loud, rapid steps from behind told her it was too late. She curled up into a ball to try and mitigate the damage, but a familiar tenor voice interrupted the incoming assault before it could begin.

"Oi! Jackass!"

Her eyes snapped open and head left the safety of her position to see the leather jacketed form of Nathan Gray, his dark eyes aflame with emotion that was both reassuring and terrifying at once. She'd only ever seen that kind of intensity in Oliver Queen.

"Why don't you try someone your own size?" he taunted, waving the thug forward.

The swung pipe never even got close to its target. Gray had ducked under the strike and fallen into a sharp boxing stance, countering with a hard left hook that she was sure had broken something. Still, the man kept going. Another swing was dodged when Nathan withdrew, then angled his body to give a thrust kick maximum distance. His leather-soled running shoe collided with the man's solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of him and causing him to drop the pipe almost instantly. Felicity assumed the fight was over right then, so it was a surprise when Nathan snarled and elbowed him in the face, then linked his arm with the man's and cartwheeled over his back, throwing him a good six feet into a concrete wall.

He didn't move after that, but the rough rise and fall of his chest showed he was still breathing. Belatedly, after a long look at her attackers, Gray turned to her and gave a concerned smile.

"Are you all right?" he asked with an outstretched hand.

She gulped a little and nodded rapidly, taking it and allowing herself to be hauled to her feet before swaying uncontrollably upon remembering she had a broken heel. Once again, his strong arm hooked around her waist, keeping her from toppling, and her face filled with color.

"I swear," she began, "I'm not trying to make this a regular thing."

He cocked his head and smirked bemusedly. "Make what a regular thing?"

"You. Saving me."

He shrugged and waved his free hand dismissively as he let her find her footing. "Ah, you had 'em handled. Just a bad stroke of chance that tipped the odds in their favor." He smirked. "I gotta say, you've got some fight for a normal IT girl."

She shrugged. "Well, you see the kind of neighborhood I live in. Girl's gotta learn to take care of herself." She smacked his arm playfully. "Not everyone has a strapping consulting detective to watch their back."

Gray chuckled warmly. "Well, I appreciate the compliment, but I hardly consider myself as good as Sherlock Holmes."

Felicity laughed with him as she half-stumbled her way toward the stairs, taking care to avoid the unconscious or writhing bodies in her way. "But, that is pretty much your job description, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…" His voice trailed off as he looked at her concernedly. "Are you sure you can get through the day with a broken heel?"

She shrugged with a sweet smile. "I've been through worse," she said just as sweetly.

His concerned expression melted into gentle amusement and genuine warmth, but to her it seemed almost like it was unnatural on his face, or at the very least unpracticed. Whatever the case, it suddenly struck her that he was almost inhumanly cute…in a young, college graduate kind of way. Reining her thoughts in quickly, she reached the top of the stairs and kept walking a few more steps before realizing he'd had a point. Cringing, she took the shoe with the intact heel off and walked in her stocking for a few moments when a lightly tanned hand laid on her bare forearm.

"If I may," he said, motioning to the shoe in her hand.

She looked confused, but handed it over to him anyway, eyebrows shooting up when he smacked it hard against a nearby wall—breaking its heel off. A small grin came to her face as she slipped it back on, noting the smug, self-satisfied expression he was trying hard not to show. "Quite a gentleman," she teased lightly.

He just chuckled and followed her to the coffee shop, dark eyes scanning the streets periodically. When they entered the place, he seemed to visibly relax in a way so subtle, she wouldn't have noticed if she didn't work with the Arrow. Her light blue eyes narrowed a little, lips parting slightly in thought. He must have sub-consciously noticed her staring, because he coughed discreetly a moment later and motioned toward the waiting cashier.

Felicity blinked rapidly and turned to the eager woman behind the counter, placing her order and noting Nathan's concentrated expression in her peripheral vision. A sly smirk came to her face as she walked to the side to wait for her coffee. "So what was that?"

He turned to her. "What was what?"

"That…face you made, just now."

He scrunched up his face in confusion.

Her smirk widened. "Were you…memorizing my order?"

"W-What?" He tilted his head down and looked up at her. "Now why would I do such a thing?"

She turned from side to side girlishly. "Oh, I don't know, probably the same reason you found me in that alley."

His mouth opened for a moment, but no words came out until his expression shifted to alarm. "Now wait a second, I swear I'm not trying to st—"

The rest of his sentence got cut off when she erupted into peals of laughter, the musical sound growing louder as he blushed and rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. "I know. That's why it's hilarious to see your reaction."

He looked up toward the ceiling and huffed loudly. "Women," he grumbled.

She giggled again and reached over the counter to take her cup, preferring to sit in a window-aligned booth this particular morning. "You know what they say. Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em."

He slumped into a seat next to her, right hand holding a triple espresso she hadn't even noticed him ordering. "So they do," he said almost bitterly, frowning into his drink.

Felicity turned her head sideways. "What'd I say?"

Nathan looked up at her and gave a strained smile. "Nothing. Just some rather unpleasant memories is all."

Out of reflex, she put her empty hand on his, winning a brief but genuine smile in return. "We've all got our share of those." Her own smile faded somewhat as she remembered the roller-coaster conversation from two months before, right there in the foyer of the Queen Mansion.

"—he took the wrong woman. I love you."

Her palms slicked as he covertly pressed a syringe into her palm. "Oh," she breathed, the lack of air the only thing hiding the abject hurt in her voice.

"Do you understand?"

She gulped a little harder than was necessary, dutifully focusing on the feel of the device in her hands in order to ignore the painful grip around her heart. Felicity nodded stiffly and tucked the syringe in her pocket, staring at his retreating back as the door closed behind him.

She hadn't even noticed she'd zoned out until a lightly calloused hand waved in front of her glasses. Blinking rapidly, she pushed them up onto her nose and rushed to apologize.

Nathan just smiled and shook his head. "How about we stop focusing on bad memories for the rest of the morning, huh?" He motioned to the wide windows. "It's a beautiful day in Starling City, one of the first I've seen."

Her blonde eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

He blinked and snapped his attention back to her. "Oh, didn't I mention that? I'm a recent arrival, just shipped in from DC."

"Work thing?"

Nathan cocked his head to the side. "You could…say that. What about you? Lived here long?"

"Just a couple years."

"After two major terrorist attacks and a whole slew of masked characters flying through here, I'm surprised you stayed." He smirked wryly. "After all, this town's too rough and dirty for a nice girl like you."

She put a hand to her chest and leaned back in incredulity. "You think I can't get dirty?"

This time he was the one suppressing a grin at her sudden and almost complete blossom of color. "It really does happen to you all the time, doesn't it?"

She groaned and shut her eyes. "Yes," she whined, "unfortunately."

He tapped her shoulder lightly, grinning from ear to ear. "Well, like you said, don't sweat it. We're all friends here."

An eyebrow rose. "Friends?"

Gray shrugged. "Why not? Felicity, I'm the kind of person who doesn't see all that much wisdom in a multitude of counselors, if you get my drift. Instead, I rely on a small circle of close friends. Since I'm new in town, I gotta start my circle somewhere and…" he smiled, "you seem like the kind of person I'd love to know better."

Her eyes brightened subtly and small traces of heat filled her cheeks as she broke his gaze and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I think…I can do friends."

He grinned. "Perfect." He pulled a device from his pocket that took Felicity a few seconds to recognize.

"Is that—?"

"Your phone? Yeah. Kinda fell outta your purse when you tried to run." A few taps later, and he handed it to her. "My number's on there."

Felicity took it slowly, eyebrows knitting together when she saw it was locked. "How did you—?" The question died on her lips when he gave her a Cheshire grin and mimed finger quotes.

"'Consulting detective,' remember? If I couldn't figure out four little digits, well, what kind of detective would I be?"

She bit her lower lip in what he thought was an attempt to hide a smile, but was actually hiding a grimace. If he could figure out her phone that easily, what else could he get into? Forcing her expression to change, she released her lip and tucked the phone into her purse. "Thank you for noticing. The phone, I mean. I'm…kind of in between jobs at the moment, so…can't really afford a new one."

A dark eyebrow rose. "Really? Someone with your expertise?"

She turned her head sideways. "My expertise?"

He cringed and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before speaking. "Okay, this is…really not gonna help my 'not-stalker' image, but…over the last few days I looked you up. Felicity Smoak, former head of Queen Consolidated's IT department and executive assistant to Oliver Queen himself."

She shrugged her shoulders and eyebrows. "Look how that turned out," she muttered in between sips of her coffee.

"Not your fault, I'm sure. Stellmoor International was always on my bad books when it came to major corporations. When Rochev performed that takeover in the wake of a Queen family crisis, I knew somethin' was off." He cocked his head. "Didn't expect her to be a terrorist though." He shrugged. "Though I suppose I should have."

Her eyebrows knitted, body leaning forward on her elbows as her chin propped up on her palm. "Why do you say that?"

He raised an eyebrow at his coffee and chewed his lip. "Let's just say I've got some…interesting experiences with powerful Russian women."

Felicity smirked. "Psycho ex-girlfriend?"

Nathan looked down and chuckled darkly. "You've got no idea…"

She stared blankly out the window for a while before checking the time on her phone. "Well, Nate—it's all right if I call you Nate, right?"

"Of course," he smiled. "We're friends."

"Right," she breathed. "Well, I've gotta go to work—God help me—so I will…see you later."

He nodded with a wink. "Count on it."

Surprisingly, he was the one to leave first, vanishing mere moments later and leaving her alone as she walked the six blocks to Tech Village.

9 hours later

"On your left."

Oliver rolled sideways away from a semi-automatic round and sprung upright a moment later, arrow already nocked and ready. The release preceded a yell and a wet thunk of impact, followed by the grunts of a close-quarters fight as another armed thug got too close for comfort. Arrow smacked the barrel of his shotgun aside with his bow, jabbing with his empty left hand and staggering him with a bow punch with his right before thrust-kicking him in the chest. He dashed forward and spun in a crouch, one arm of his bow outstretched as it hooked around the handle of the shotgun and yanked the weapon away.

The twang of a different bowstring alerted Oliver to another presence, and he snapped his eyes briefly to the right to see another thug drop to the ground with a red arrow in his gun arm. A small smile quirked his lips before he spun counterclockwise and swung his metal bow with two hands, the extended arm smacking neatly into his opponent's head. He fell over unconscious a moment later, and Arrow put a hand to his chest.

"Where to, Felicity?"

"There should be a subterranean access tunnel twenty meters to your right. It'll take you straight to the dock warehouse, right under the guards' noses."

"Copy that. Roy—"

"On your six, boss."

The red-clad archer strode behind Oliver, bow raised slightly in front of him in readiness for any enemy contacts. Arrow took point, one arrow nocked as they entered the tunnel. The journey through the dark concrete pipe was tense but quiet, leaving Oliver with the feeling something was off. If both buildings were occupied by these mercenaries, it only made sense they would communicate, and if they knew about the adjoining tunnel, why hadn't they sent anyone?

"Keep your head on a swivel," he ordered, quietly but firmly.

Roy nodded and went back to back with Arrow, drawing back an arrow and pulling it back, scanning the area just beyond, the pipe approaching the exit door. As Oliver drew within eight feet, a muffled thump came from the other side. He exchanged a look with his partner before drawing an impact arrow and nodding Roy forward. The younger man approached the door and slowly turned the handle before Oliver nodded sharply. The metal portal was yanked open almost instantly, and Oliver tensed when an unconscious body tumbled through the door.

Another glance was exchanged before both archers strode through the doorway and made their way into the warehouse beyond, turning a corner and finding a half-dozen mercenaries strewn around, two of them leaking from bullet-holes. Slight whimpering noises came from an adjacent room opposite from where they were, and both vigilantes sprinted toward the source, drawing back arrows only to stare at the scene in front of them. At least ten teenagers, girls and boys, were gagged and tied in huddles, most shivering violently, though from the cool of the warehouse or fear neither of the archers could tell. After the initial moment of shock, Oliver's blue eyes were drawn to one girl who wasn't gagged.

And the black-clad figure kneeling in front of her.

Even at this distance, Oliver could hear the gentle hum of a bass voice speaking to the girl in question, gentle gloved hands reaching for her slightly lacerated wrists and waiting for her to nod before a familiar knife was drawn, cutting the rough cords and freeing her. Caden got to his feet and started moving from person to person, cutting all of them loose in quick succession and ushering them toward the Arrow. Caden's masked face turned to Oliver, and his voice was surprisingly affected.

"Can you get these people to safety?"

Oliver blinked hard at the deep concern in his voice before turning to the side. "Roy."

The masked youth nodded. "I got it." He strode toward the troupe of kids and halted a safe distance away to not frighten them. "Follow me. I know a way outta here." Roy gave Caden a dubious glance, then looked to Oliver, who nodded once, silently ordering him to go. "Let's go," he shouted to the group, waving them toward the tunnel.

Arrow slowly turned back to Caden, who was leaning back against a nearby wall, hands pressed to the metal at his back. His eyebrows, the only visible features apart from his eyes, were scrunched up tight, and the skin around his eyes looked wrinkled. If Oliver had to guess, he was grimacing behind that mask. A ragged breath escaped his body before he spoke in a near-whisper.

"Thank you for that."

Oliver tightened his jaw resolutely. "No one gets treated like that in my city."

Caden let out a humorless chuckle. "Thanks anyway."

Arrow nodded slowly, staying silent a while before pulling his mask down. "How did you find this place?"

A moment later and the spy was all business. "I have my resources, you have yours. As for why I was looking, well…let's just say Doctor Death and I have a history."

Oliver cocked his head to the side. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I know who he is, and what he's planning here in Starling." Caden pulled a device from his jacket and turned it on, revealing a PDA with a…holoprojector? The projector emitted images of badly mangled bodies with injuries not matching any weapon Oliver had ever seen, followed by the image of a bearded man in a lab coat bending over a test tube. "Doctor Death, AKA Doctor Karl Hellfern. Ph.D. in chemical engineering with a focus in nasty. Uses his knowledge to develop chemical weapons like one ARGUS tracked down here in Starling a few years ago. Something called Omega."

If Caden noticed Oliver's sharp intake of breath, he didn't let on.

"More recently, he's been dabbling in the effects of certain chemicals on the human body in a more…beneficial sense, if you could call it that."

More images came up that made even Oliver's lead stomach clench: bodies of men and women that were less mangled than deformed, limbs misshapen, appendages extended or shrunk, organs expanded.

"Genetic splicing. He's attempting to create a formula that will effectively shoot human evolution forward centuries, which, normally, I'd be okay with…except for the fact that he's maimed, tortured, or otherwise harmed over two-hundred of his test subjects so far, with no end in sight. 90% of them didn't survive his procedures, much less in one piece…or one good piece."

The pit in Oliver's stomach grew. "Then what is he doing here in Starling? Looking for more test tubes?"

"No. He's looking for an additive." Caden tapped the screen of the PDA and projected a large, twisting chemical formula. "DS-209. It's something Queen Consolidated was working on before its psycho CEO took a dive into hell." He gave Oliver a glance. "Its…most recent CEO, I mean."

Oliver arched an eyebrow at him. "Obviously."

Caden coughed discreetly. "Anyway, it was supposed to be a protective agent against Ebola and several other major pathogens, but they could never get it to work with the immune systems of their lab rats. Officially, the project was shelved…in QC's R&D warehouse." He gave Oliver a distinct look. "Rochev wasn't exactly lying when she said that building contained technology that could've been used to better mankind, but potential is different from actual use. In all likelihood, that woman was planning to use the serum to enhance her toy soldiers even more. After all, with their superior physiology, they might've been the only ones capable of surviving."

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed. "You said it was stored in that warehouse, though. It went up in flames, so what exactly is Hellfern looking for?"

"I said it was officially shelved. Rochev had other plans." Caden pulled up a schematic of an artificial island just off the coast of Lake Michigan. "Stellmoor built this place as a secret research facility for its…less legal projects. The 'Island,' as it's called, quite generically, I might add, is under constant watch by several dozen guards around its perimeter, not to mention various automated defenses, alarms and such."

"I don't get it. Rochev is dead, and Stellmoor stock plummeted because of it. How are they still in business?"

"She was funding and supplying terrorism for years. It would make sense that some of her old associates would see her demise as an opportunity for a covert takeover."

"Any idea who specifically?"

"None. Which is why we need to get there first."

Oliver stared at him from beneath the hood. "We?"

Caden sighed. "Yes, we."

"Thought you said we needed to know each other better."

He nodded. "Before exchanging secrets, yes, but…based on the months of research I did on you prior to coming here and your actions tonight, I think it's safe to say I can trust you to act in the interests of your city." His arms crossed as he closed down the PDA. "At present, they just so happen to coincide with mine."

"And when they don't?"

"As long as you keep making the right choices, to protect the innocent and punish the wicked, you'll have no issues from me."

Oliver's eyebrows shot up. "That's it?"

Caden shrugged and pocketed his PDA. "That's it. That is my sole purpose in life, my mission. As I understand it, that's something we share." He started walking toward the nearest exit. "If we have a deal," he called, "meet me on the docks of Chicago tomorrow night at six."

Oliver cocked his head and felt alarm run through him a moment later. "Caden, that entrance is—"

"Currently unguarded." He stopped at the doorway to look back at the Arrow. "I made sure when I came in." Caden stepped out the door and almost instantly vanished into the night.

1 hour later

Felicity turned the key of her apartment door and stepped through with a contented sigh. The wind chill from earlier in the day had worsened when the sun went down, and the only thing she wanted to do was take a nice hot shower and fall into bed, not even bother getting dressed. The day had been good, generally speaking. This Caden character was proving to be quite the mystery, but she had a good feeling about him. The mystique surrounding him and the limited record ARGUS had of his list of kills were frightening, to be sure, but she'd felt the same way about Oliver when she first learned his secret.

His outspoken stance on protecting innocents was yet another commonality he'd actually pointed out, and when Oliver had asked her opinion on teaming up, she was hard-pressed to find a reason not to. Roy had concurred with the both of them, but she suspected that was just because he was following the lead of his seniors in the hero business. Pushing those thoughts aside, Felicity sighed in satisfaction as she dumped her purse and jacket on her couch and pulled a set of clothes from her bedroom before practically collapsing into the shower. The warm water revitalized her body, and she felt just enough energy return to get her clothes on and drop onto her common but comfy mattress with some semblance of dignity.

A rhythmic rumble from her night table alerted her to a new text, and she reached over to smile at the ID and the message attached.

'So tomorrow, coffee at the usual place?'

Felicity's small thumbs eagerly tapped out a response. 'Love to, but I have to go into work early.'

The response was prompt. 'No sweat. Guess I'll have to save you another day.'

A small laugh escaped her damp lips. 'Another day,' she agreed.

'Sleep well, Felicity.'

'You too, Nate.'

She'd settled under the covers and burrowed into her pillow when her phone vibrated again.

'P.S.: hope it's not creepy for me to wish you a good sleep instead of a good night.'

She grinned at the screen. 'How many times do I have to say it?'

'All right all right. :P Sleep well.'

'You too.'

A pair of dark eyes swept over the screen of a phone and lit up in amusement briefly before their owner clicked it locked and pocketed the device. His eyes drifted upward to the walls, one hand reaching for his hip and drawing a chrome-plated Sig Sauer, popping the magazine free and ejecting a single .45 caliber round from the chamber before pushing it into the clip. The weapon itself was mounted on a rack filled with similar pistols, and the magazine tucked into a box with a dozen others. His knife belt was hung on a stand in the center of the room, and his hybrid polymer-Kevlar jacket followed.

His gloves went on a hook sticking from the stand's side, and his bare, lightly calloused hands reached up to pull off the last element of his disguise. A black balaclava found its place on the top of the stand, its empty eyeslit seeming to stare back at him before he turned away. His hand pressed against a false panel on a nearby wall, the surface giving way and allowing him exit from the secret room. As he stepped out into a warmly lit, roomy penthouse suite, he stared out into the lights and bustle of Starling City, hands stuffed into his pockets as he reflected. Dark brown eyes drifted up from the crowded streets to stare into the glass at his head's level, the light from inside his room greater than the light from without.

And a small curve came to his face, the reflection of Nathan Gray smiling back.


AN: Hope the big reveal wasn't too obvious before the end of this chapter. Subtlety isn't exactly my strongest suit. Hope you've enjoyed these two initial chapters and are looking forward to more next Wednesday. From this chapter forward, in the spirit of the show, I'll be giving short previews of the next chapter.

Next chapter on Assassins and Queens: Oliver, Roy, and Caden investigate Stellmoor International's "Island" complex and race to find DS-209 before Doctor Death can retrieve the formula and add it to his ECM (Evolution through Concentrated Mutagens) serum.

P.S.: Please review, at least once per chapter. I need to know if I'm writing this correctly and I can't figure that out without feedback. Thank you for everyone who has favorited, followed, or otherwise shown support for this story thus far.

Musical Inspirations:

Arrow (Season 1) – Damaged: "On your left" to the appearance of Caden