Disclaimer: Yeah, we all know, Arrow is not mine, etc, etc.

Author's Note: Just in case anyone wonders at some point - I do not know the source comics for Arrow at all and I have no interest in reading them (as a medium, comics just aren't my cup of tea). This is an Arrow (TV) fanfic, and I will not be incorporating any comics material that isn't in the CWDCTV shows or associated universe in some fashion. I know a lot of Lauriver fans are, unlike myself, big fans of the comics, but we're not going to see some sort of comics loyalty here, in any fashion.

Also, if anyone is interested (I usually mention it once per fic or so) I have a tumblr, .com, where I make various commentaries on my fandoms and fandom in general and discuss, from time to time, my fanfics. If you ever wanna ask me about my fics, that's a good place to go for that.

Thanks again to WillOzSummers for beta-reading. Her tumblr is ravenclawjuliawicker.

Vigilantes' Dawn

By Kylia

Chapter 2: The Crusade Begins

There's a lot about this early period that's poorly documented, only told to people well after it happened, muddling up the historical record with all the flaws of human memory. Much of it can be corroborated, to varying degrees, with news reports and the like, but when the Arrow and the Black Canary began, they weren't exactly thinking about what people more than a hundred years later might wonder about them and their actions.

And so, much of our understanding of those early days, especially their first year in operation, requires a somewhat "Sherlock Holmes" approach to history, trying to piece disparate clues into a single, semi-coherent narrative.

Sometimes, we're not all that successful.

-Excerpt from "Age of Superheroes: The Dawn of the Vigilante," by Diana Queen, PhD Published by Starling City University Press, 2123.

Hallway, Queen Manor

October 10th, 2012

Laurel waited until they were in the hallway before she poked Oliver in the chest, not caring if she used a little too much force - not that Oliver showed any sign that he was bothered by it.

"Oliver, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Her voice was a low hiss. This was not how things needed to start out. Yes, she'd been surprised to see that Moira Queen had remarried, but after five years, it wasn't that hard to believe.

And unlike Oliver, she'd never had rose colored glasses when it came to his parents marriage - Robert Queen hadn't been the most faithful of husbands... and that marriage sometimes seemed to exist in name only anyway.

"I'm not going to just sit there and say nothing when my mother and my father's friend are-"

"What, remarried?" Laurel interrupted, not letting him finish. "How many women did you cheat on me with, before the yacht?" She didn't need to ask the number - not anymore, anyway.

"Laurel-" Oliver started, and she could tell from his tone he was about to apologize again. Laurel cut him off a second time.

"Oliver, I forgave you for all that," and she really did, even if she knew some of the friends she'd had before... before the Yacht would think she was crazy for doing so. But then, they hadn't lived the last five years she had, that Oliver had. "That's not why I'm bringing it up. And I know you won't again. But it does mean that you are the last person who has any right to get upset with anyone else over perceived infidelity!"

"Besides, shouldn't you be happy that your mom is happy? That she's found someone she loves and who loves her?"

"I..." Oliver opened his mouth, then shut it again, slowly. He let out a long sigh. "I just..." Then he shook his head. "I suppose it's not as bad as finding out your parents are divorced... Laurel, I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have - and... you're going to be seeing your mom tomorrow..."

Trailing off, Oliver just pulled her in for a hug, holding her close for a moment, and Laurel returned the gesture, resting one hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think it'll be easy, trying to handle the inevitable..." Laurel trailed off.

"Awkwardness?" Oliver offered.

"Awkwardness, that sounds right. And I - was I the reason they got divorced? Was there something lingering there, that I missed, or... after I was presumed dead, did-" Laurel shook her head, trailing off. Did I have my own rose-colored glasses for their marriage?

"You can't keep wondering about that," Oliver murmured, and Laurel nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. It would drive her mad, wondering about that, blaming herself for her parents' divorce. Just like driving herself mad about people she couldn't save, couldn't help helped no one - and would just make her crazy.

So much you just have to accept you couldn't stop, not all by yourself.

"I know... I know." She took a breath. "We should go back in, finish with dinner. And you need to apologize to your mom, and Walter."

"You're right. You're right," Oliver sighed and they pulled apart, Oliver taking her hand in his. Together, they walked back into the dining room, and Oliver looked at his mother and - well, technically his stepfather.

Taking a breath, Oliver said, "Mom... Walter... I - I just wanted to... apologize. I was just... thrown off, and... It's going to be something I'll have to get used to. I'm sorry for- reacting badly."

"It's okay." Moira replied after a moment, sharing a look with Walter, then sending a small, appreciative glance Laurel's way. "I don't want you to think we did anything to disrespect your father's memory. But-"

"You thought he was dead. He -" Oliver's voice broke. "He was dead. I understand. I-" He trailed off and looked at Walter. "I wasn't trying to make you feel uncomfortable." Laurel squeezed his hand supportively. This wasn't easy for Oliver, and it was probably going to take time for him to really be comfortable with this, but...

It was the right thing to do.

How am I going to feel when I see mom, and dad and see how uncomfortable they're probably gonna be around each other?

"It's quite alright, Oliver," Walter replied. "It's understandable that this," He reached over and took his wife's hand in his, "would be a surprise to you."

Tugging Oliver back towards his seat, Laurel sat down and looked around at the table. "Sorry about - about that. Where were we?"

Sara Lance's Apartment

October 10th, 2012

"And here's the kitchen. Tiny, I know, but I don't use it that much, so it balances out," Sara finished giving Laurel the five-cent tour of her cramped apartment. She didn't make a lot of money on a detective's salary, and she didn't need a lot of space.

I pretty much just sleep in here and that's about it. Okay, that wasn't entirely accurate, but she was working the long hours she'd seen her dad work growing up, and then some, being the new detective on the totem pole.

"I take it you haven't gotten any better at cooking, then?" Laurel offered with a small laugh that, to Sara's ears, sounded a little forced. Trying to act like she's doing better than she is. "I mean, you haven't burned the apartment building down, so..."

Sara winced, remembering the disaster when she'd tried to cook for mother's day one time when she was 16. The house hadn't burned down, but she'd just about destroyed the oven. "I haven't set off the smoke alarms. If we were to have breakfast before leaving to meet Mom at the airport. I wouldn't kill you, but..." She shook her head. "Not really."

"Sara, after the island, anything cooked in a real kitchen would be better." Laurel turned her head back to look through the doorway back to the couch in the living room. "Do you have spare blankets, or-"

"Laurel-" Sara started, then bit her tongue, making a guess. "I'm not going to be able to convince you to take the bed and let me have the couch for the night, am I?"

"Nope." The glint in Laurel's eyes was reminiscent of all those times when they were kids Sara hadn't been able to wheedle her older sister into doing this or that thing Sara had wanted her to do. Just... a little harder. More certain. "Not sure what I'd know to do with a real bed, just yet. A pillow alone would be amazing."

"Pillows in short supply on the island?" Sara joked, and Laurel nodded.

"You have no idea," Laurel responded. "But I'm not really tired just this second anyway. Catch me up on you. I didn't just miss five years of Superbowls and movies. I missed five years of my little sister's life." Laurel went over to the couch and sat down, and after a moment, Sara joined her sister on it. "You're a detective now, but... I mean, what else? Are you dating anyone? What's your life like besides the job and... I mean... I missed everything."

"I'm still the same annoying little sister I was five years ago, I promise... just... well, I had to learn responsibility. And-" Sara gave a humorless laugh. "Well, these days it doesn't feel like there's much of anything outside my job. I think I may have inherited dad's workaholic tendencies. Though you did too, so," She shrugged, smiling a little. "I knew it would be a lot of work, but I didn't - I dunno, I didn't realize all the... paperwork. The dull parts. It's like college, but occasionally you arrest someone."

This time, Laurel's laugh wasn't forced at all, though it was still a soft sound, as if she wasn't used to exercising the necessary muscles to laugh. Not that much chance for humor on that island, I'm guessing.

"As for... seeing anyone. No. Not since senior year of college." Sara bit her lip. Intellectually, she had absolutely no reason to believe that Laurel would have a problem with her being bi. She'd fought with her sister yeah, over stupid sibling stuff, but she'd never doubted that when it really counted, Laurel would always love and support her. And Laurel was pretty far from being homophobic, so...

But she couldn't pretend that, emotionally, she was a little worried. It could be a bit of a big thing to drop on her sister right after she's returned, but it was going to come up at some point or another, and probably soon.

"She - she didn't really like the idea of dating a police officer, so broke things off about halfway through the year." It hadn't been a super-serious relationship, at the end of the day. She hadn't been happy about it, but it was what it was. "I've just been too busy since for anything serious." A few hook-ups and flings was enough for her for the time being.

"She?" Laurel raised an eyebrow. "So..."

"I'm bisexual," Sara nodded, "Looking back there were some things - but I really realized it a little over four years ago." That tiny worried part of herself braced for any negative fallout.

There wasn't any, of course - Laurel gave her sister a quick hug, holding her tightly for a moment. It was just as awkward as the hug in the hospital, but it was the thought behind it that really mattered. Sara returned the hug, chastising that voice in the back of her head for being an idiot, and having a small mental sigh of relief.

"I love you," Laurel said, pulling back. Her sister must have seen that hint of relief in her face, because she went on, "Wait, did you think I'd have a problem with-"

Sara held up her hand, two fingers very close together but not quite touching. "A little tiny bit," she smiled ruefully as she said that. "Stupid, I know, but... it's like with mom and dad. They'd already divorced by the time I was ready to come out to them, so it wasn't at the same time or anything... both times I got all ready to have, you know, defend myself, the whole 'I'm not undecided', 'it's not a phase'... all the cliches. I didn't have to. I didn't really think I'd have to but... I was ready to... and..." She trailed off a moment.

"It was nice to have it confirmed." Sara confirmed.

"Well, it's good that I don't have to, to - yell at either of our parents for being terrible about it," Laurel commented, and Sara got the distinct impression that her sister had meant to say something other than 'yell' before she'd chosen that verb.

Sara Lance's Apartment
October 11th, 2012

The storm shouldn't have kept her awake, and it really wasn't what was keeping her from getting to sleep. It wasn't helping but...

Well, Sara was not looking forward to the meeting with mom and dad. She might have been closer with her mother in a lot of ways, before... the Queen's Gambit was lost, but after the divorce, after her dad ran to the law and Sara 'ran after him'...

I didn't become a cop just to be close to dad...

No. She'd done it because of Laurel, of wanting to feel like she was being a sister Laurel would have been proud of... and since, she'd come to realize that she... liked the work. Feeling like she was doing her tiny part to make the world a better place, despite all the bureaucracy and... scut work of being a detective...

And the challenge, too, when she could actually help bring a murderer to justice.

But her mom always felt like Sara joining the Starling City Police Department had been her 'picking her father's side.' It had... strained things between the two of them.

And of course there's just mom and dad being in the same room... But this wasn't about her, or even about mom and dad, really. It was about Laurel.

It was the dreading of the awkwardness that was getting to her, it was the... well, it was trying to wrap her head around everything.

All those injuries... did they just... happen from living on an island alone? They had to, they were alone there, on that island, but - what happened to them? What happened to her sister, what happened to Oliver? In all the years she'd known Oliver through him dating her sister, he'd never been so... serious, as she'd seen him there at that dinner.

Which makes sense but- Sara was pulled out of her thoughts by a crashing/thud sound in the living room. Laurel. Sara was up and out of bed in an instant, resisting her instinctive urge to grab her gun, but going into the living room all the same.

Laurel had fallen off the couch, tangled in blankets, struggling against... something in her dream - or nightmare - murmuring something over and over and over again.

"Laurel?" Sara tried to call her sister out of whatever nightmare she was lost in/having... but it didn't work. Crouching down, Sara put a hand on Laurel's shoulder, saying her name again: "Laurel?"

The reaction this time was immediate. Laurel's eyes snapped open and she lunged up, trying to grab Sara by the neck. It was only barely that Sara got out of the way, and the blow that landed on her shoulder hurt. Dropping back, Sara saw Laurel's widen as she realized where she was, and who she'd attacked.

"Sara! Oh god I'm- I'm so sorry..." She repeated her apology several times, but Sara shook her head, rubbing at her shoulder.

"Laurel - it's okay. It was - it was just a dream. You're safe." She went over to her sister and - carefully - pulled her into a hug. Laurel was too shaken to return it, murmuring another apology before falling silent.

What happened to her on that island?

Parking Lot, The Glades

October 11th, 2012

Oliver watched Laurel get out of Sara's car. To anyone else, Laurel's expression would have been unreadable, but to Oliver...

"That bad?" He asked, as his girlfriend drew closer.

"No... not bad... just... awkward. Very awkward. I'd really rather not talk about it." Laurel said softly after a brief sigh. She turned around and waved back to Sara, who nodded and drove off. Laurel look over at Tommy. "And how did the morning go for you two?"

"Showed him the new sights around town, caught him up on more. Then he wanted to drive by his dad's old steel plant on the way here. Why did you two want to meet down here in the Glades anyway? This whole section of the city's gone to crap."

"Less of a chance of paparazzi," Laurel said quickly, and Oliver was still a little surprised at how easily Laurel lied, and how well. Five years ago, even small lies had been unacceptable to her. But...

Two and a half years in the League of Assassins... everything we went through...

It was his fault she'd changed. She was still, at her core, the same idealistic woman she'd been but she was... harder. And all because he'd asked her to come on the yacht with him.

"I suppose there is that," Tommy agreed. "So where did you want to go then? It's only just past two, and all the best hangout spots are still closed for hours."

Oliver started to give an answer when he heard the screeching sound of tires turning hard into the mostly empty parking lot, then another car coming in from the other side of the lot - four men in identical red demonesque masks stepped out, two from each car - and Oliver felt the sting of a dart in his neck-

His hand flew to the dart, pulling it out, but it was too late - Laurel and Tommy were hit right after him and then-

Black.

Parlor, Queen Manor

October 11th, 2012

"So let me get this straight, a guy in a green hood and some blonde woman with a mask wearing all black just... flew in and took the kidnappers out? All four of them armed with guns?" Oliver heard the skepticism in Detective Lance's voice, but the hostility he'd long grown used to hearing from the man was gone.

I guess he meant it when he apologized, that he was willing to give me a second chance. That was... that was a relief. Quentin Lance had never liked him before, never thought him good enough for his daughter. Which, as far as Oliver was concerned, was true, but he'd never planned to stop Laurel from dating him if she thought he was worth it. Though she had given him a lot of second chances before the Queen's Gambit, he didn't plan on making her need to decide if she wanted to give him another. That had been his vow when they found each other again in Russia, and he had every intention of sticking to it.

"That's what happened, Dad," Laurel said quietly, squeezing Oliver's hand. "We're not lying."

"Not saying you are, but it's a pretty tall order to believe. I mean, who were they? Why'd they kill those guys but leave you three alone?"

"Find them and you can ask?" Oliver suggested. "I wasn't going to argue the whole 'leaving us alone' thing. The two of them... they killed the guys in the masks and then cut the zip ties and let us go. Didn't say anything."

"What about you, Merlyn?" Lance held up two sketches, one of a nondescript man in a hood, and the other a blonde in a mask who didn't much look like Laurel. "You see either one?"

Neither of them had planned on starting things so soon - they'd hoped to have a few months to get ready before they started the mission - started dealing with the list, and started addressing all the crime in Starling City. The people on the list weren't alone in making this city suffer. That was the deal he'd made with Laurel - they do both. Work together and separately to clean up the streets of all the city's criminals, as much as they could.

But they'd expected to have time to prepare, to separate the emergence of the vigilantes from their return to the city. The kidnapping - and the implication. It was easy to follow - someone else had known about the list. And they wanted it kept secret.

All but clear proof that what had happened to the Queen's Gambit wasn't an accident.

"I - I was still out of it. I saw movement, but everything was blurry," Tommy shook his head. "Sorry."

"Were you able to identify the men?" his mother asked Lance. The detective shook his head.

"No. Scrubbed identities, untraceable weapons. Pros, in other words."

"Kidnapping seems the most likely motive, given that," Lance's partner added. "We'll do more digging, but you'll probably want to stay careful, Mr. Queen."

"I'll do my best," Oliver said.

"If any of us remember anything else," Laurel added, "I'll let you know, dad. These two may have rescued us, but they're murders. I'm not okay with that." Oliver nodded in agreement, as did Tommy.

"Alright." Quentin gave his daughter a quick one-armed hug and a light kiss on the cheek. "You need a ride back to Sara's place, or-"

"I'll stay here with Oliver for a bit, at least," Laurel said after seeming to think it over for a few moments.

"Fair enough. We'll - we'll keep you all posted if we learn something more, much as we can." Lance turned back to Oliver's mother and Walter and gave them each a brief nod. "Mrs. Queen. Mr. Steele."

"Thank you, Detectives," His mother said as Lance and his partner headed out of the parlor, towards the front door.