A/N: Thanks guys for all of the favorites and follows. But special thanks has to go to babyshan211 and the guest for taking the time to leave a review last chapter.

If you guys get confused, ask me questions and I'll answer them to the best of my ability without spoiling anything—I don't bite so don't be afraid to do so.

Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, if I did it would be way different.


Death in the Family

Starling City, California

Felicity Smoak's House – August 4, 5:38 AM PST.

Felicity easily vaulted over the fence that separated her house and the one directly behind it and landed in a low crouch. She paused there as Percy quickly followed her over. The sound of her heartbeat thundering in her ears was the only thing she could hear in the otherwise quiet early morning. She could only hope that after two and a half years her neighbors still kept the same habits on Saturday mornings and they were all still safely tucked in their beds, not getting ready for another day of work.

"What are we waiting for?" Percy hissed at her. She gave him a sharp look and pressed a finger to her lips. He frowned at her but said nothing else.

A minute passed and then another and another but they heard nothing to indicate that they'd been made. Felicity let out a quiet sigh of relief and stood. "Come on," she whispered. They made their way across the yard until they stood by the back door. Felicity pushed the hood of her leather jacket off her head and unzipped it before reaching into the inner pocket and digging out a set of keys. She flipped through them before finally finding the one she wanted and unlocking the door.

Felicity quickly closed and locked the door behind them as Percy dropped into one of the chairs set around her small kitchen table. He unclipped his katana from around his chest and pulled his goggles from his face, throwing both on the table, before resting his head on the smooth surface.

"Is it safe?" he mumbled into the table, his voice muffled, as she pulled back the curtain of the window over the sink.

"For now," she said. Felicity walked across her kitchen until she stood next to her brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, grab your things. Sal said the cleaning crew had just come by a few days before we got to Vegas, so the guest bedroom should be made up." Percy made no move to get up so shook him some. "Percy, get up and grab your things. You can sleep upstairs, not here at the table."

He mumbled something unintelligible, but stood and grabbed his sword and goggles before following her up the stairs. Felicity pushed open the door to the guest bedroom and scanned the room. The curtains were drawn, blocking out the early morning rays, and the closet door was open, revealing the extra blankets and pillows that she kept on the upper shelf. The bed had fresh linens on it and not a single speck of dust could be seen on any surface just as Sal had promised. Satisfied that no one was going to jump out at them, she stepped back from the doorway and let Percy pass.

He dropped his things on the dresser before dropping face first onto the bed, not bothering to change out of his leathers before going to sleep. "Goodnight, Feliss. Or, good morning, since it's six am. Or whatever." He curled his arms around one of the pillows and snuggled his head into it, eyes closed. "Forget it – you know what I mean. I'm going to sleep now."

Felicity gave him a smile he didn't see and closed the door behind her as she made her way down the hall to her own room. She opened the door and gave it the same sweep as she did Percy's room before closing it behind her.

Unstrapping her quiver from her back, she placed it on the floor next to the bed within reach if something happened and put her bow on the nightstand. It was folded up until it was just big enough to fit in the palm of her hand. A push of the button and it would be at full size in less than a second, ready for combat. The design was similar to the bow she had made for him, or rather his was similar to hers, a fact that pained her every time she looked at it. But she didn't regret her decision to base his new bow off of her own because every time she looked at her own bow, it reminded her of the reasons why she and the others had done what they did in Gotham. Reminded her that Oliver was safe from the danger that was Ra's al Ghul.

She quickly changed out of her leather outfit and into something more comfortable before slipping beneath the cool sheets of her bed. The moment her head hit the pillow she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

August 4, 1:13 PM PST.

Felicity flexed her fingers over the keys before typing in more code.

"So, how do you know they haven't updated the system down there in the Arrowcave? It's been a few years, so you never know, Feliss," Percy asked, eating straight from the box of cereal he had found on top of the refrigerator. Sal had been nice enough to have the house stocked with food after their visit.

She shot him a look that clearly said that she thought he was stupid over the top of the screen and kept typing. A few keystrokes later she was in. "Three years ago I installed tech in my babies that wasn't released to the public until last month and I made sure that I made it very clear that they were to never mess with them unless it was mission related." Felicity turned the laptop so that he could see. "And as you can tell, I was able to get past my firewalls in less than two minutes, so they obviously didn't change anything while I was…you know—gone."

Percy shrugged and rounded the desk until he stood at her shoulder. "Just wanted to make sure, you know. So, who've they been tracking lately? I bet it's someone big, like the Joker or Scarecrow back in Gotham, since it is Starling," he mused, peering at the screen.

Her eyes quickly flicked over the screen before pulling up the police files that were flagged and skimming them. A frown pulled at her mouth at the name she saw at the top of the file.

"It looks like they're going after Laurence Crock, aka Sportsmaster. Says here that he's been placing explosives all over Starling at all of the major sports arenas and trying to blow them up," Felicity read, her frown deepening as she scanned the long list of offenses he had been arrested for.

"What's wrong? Did you know the guy?"

She shook her head. "No, but he was a hockey player for the Starling City Stars. I only know that because Roy had been completely obsessed with him before he disappeared from the sports scene. I wonder what made him turn to a life of crime…" she trailed off.

"Don't know," Percy sighed, perching on the edge of the desk. "But he did and now the Arrow is going after him. So where's Sportsmaster going to hit next?"

Felicity's fingers flew over the keys as she typed in a few commands and within seconds a map of the city came up with a blinking red light hovering over Papp Stadium. She pointed at the screen. "There." She typed in a new command and pulled up a list of police reports tagged with Crock's name. "Looks like he's been trying to blow them all up during games."

"Something needs to be done about him," Percy muttered angrily, shoving away from the desk and pacing the length of Felicity's small home office. "He's threatening the lives of a whole bunch of innocent people!"

She nodded in agreement. "I know, but we can't do anything about that, not without revealing ourselves before we're ready to. Leave the heroing to Oliver and the others—for now," she stressed, seeing that he was gearing up to start arguing with her, "and focus on getting Drew, Auggie, and Gabriella back home."

"You're right…you're right." He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his long hair as he rocked back on his heels. "While we're on that topic, you told me that one of Drew's old friends from his Irish mob days back in Boston – the one you said would know where he was – relocated here to Starling a few years ago. What does he have to do with this?"

Felicity peered at him over the screen of the laptop and shook her head. "Nothing," she told him. "I need to get into the foundry. If you haven't noticed, none of my supplies or gear is in the house – it's all down there. And I want to be able to go there without too much trouble or being seen by the wrong person. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"So you're basically saying that you want to tell one of them so that they can help us."

"Basically."

His brow furrowed as he stared at her. "And tracking Sportsmaster gives us a chance to talk to the person you want to tell," he guessed, expression turning sarcastic with his next words. "And – I'm totally going out on a limb here – that person isn't going to be Oliver Queen, am I right?"

She gave him a thin smile. "That you are, little brother." Felicity pulled up the map of the city again and turned the computer so that he could see. "Do you see how the stadium is in a gridded area of the city with all of these businesses and apartment buildings around it?" she asked, pointing toward the area she was talking about. "This can work to our advantage if we do it right."

Percy threw a handful of cereal into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully as he stared at the map. "With all those alleyways, it would be easy to separate one of them if you got them to chase you."

Felicity grinned. "Exactly."


Papp Stadium – August 4, 7:28 PM PST.

As far as she could tell, every seat in Papp Stadium was filled with avid baseball fans if the constant drone of voices and cheers was any indication. The Starling City Rockets were playing the Gotham Knights and it was obvious that the home team had more supporters here tonight than the visitors. They all sounded so happy, completely oblivious to what was going to happen soon. She could only hope they stayed that way.

"What's the score?"

Felicity blinked and glanced at the scoreboard. "Three-zero, Rockets."

She heard Percy's groan of frustration through the comm link in her ear. "C'mon, Gotham, you can do better than that!"

"They're only in the third inning so they can still make it up," she reassured. Four men wearing hockey masks suddenly stepped out of the stands, catching her eye. One was blonde and obviously the leader from the way he kept gesturing at the other three. It had to be Crock.

Percy snorted. "Yeah, right. The Knights haven't won a game in over ten years."

She watched as they pulled out what looked like metal hockey sticks and a bag of hockey pucks to match from underneath the vacant seats a few rows up before disappearing through the exit. "Then why are you even supporting them if you're so sure they're going to lose? For all you know they could win tonight."

"It's the principle of the matter, Felicity. While I was going to Gotham University I learned to love the city and all that it had to offer—despite all of its corruptness," he grumbled under his breath before continuing at normal volume, "—And that includes the Knights. Even if they completely suck ass all of the time."

"I've spotted Sportsmaster." He fell silent at her words. "I'll let you know if something's gone wrong," Felicity told him before temporarily cutting communications between them and dropping down from the ledge she was perched on. She silently landed in crouch in a largely unpopulated area of the stands with the closest person to her five rows away. Quickly glancing around to make sure no one saw her, she took off down the exit, dodging the occasional security guard, and made her way to the locker rooms. The sounds of fighting touched her ears long before she got there, causing her to slow to a stop.

Felicity silently crept down the hall until she stood in the open doorway and peered in. The Arrow had his back to her single handedly fighting off the four men on his own while Arsenal dealt with the bomb. She watched as Sportsmaster and his minions dumped the bag of hockey pucks on the floor and start to hit them, sending them flying through the air and forcing the Arrow to dive and take cover.

Arsenal glanced over his shoulder toward his mentor and Felicity saw the slightest hesitation on his face, like he wanted to step in and help, before hardening in resolve. He turned back and continued to diffuse the bomb without another backward glance.

The Arrow drew his bow and shot a trick arrow at one of the masked men. A cable exploded from the tip of the arrowhead and wrapped around him, forcing him down to the ground in a tangled heap. Felicity's gaze flicked up just in time to see Sportsmaster drop his hockey stick and barrel toward the exit while the Arrow was preoccupied with his other two henchmen. She backed away from the doorway and scanned the hallway. A quick sweep told her that she didn't have time to make it back the way she came. There was only one place to go and that was up.

What the hell, she sighed to herself. Felicity shouldered her bow and planted her foot firmly on the wall. Using that momentum she lifted her body off the ground and quickly spread her arms and legs as she held her body close near the ceiling.

She watched as Sportsmaster fled from the locker room, leaving his men to deal with the Emerald Archer. It seemed that was no honor even among criminals.

After she was sure he was long gone, Felicity dropped back down to the ground. But her relief was short lived as one of Sportsmaster's men came running out. Letting out a silent sigh of exasperation, she sidestepped the man before he could spot her and stayed out of his periphery as he ran off after his boss.

"Got it," Arsenal shouted suddenly.

Felicity stepped back into the doorway just in time to see him pull the last wire of the bomb and fully disconnect it while the Arrow was still preoccupied with the last henchman. Before he could turn, Felicity quickly loaded her bow and pulled back on the bowstring before releasing. A split-second later the arrow imbedded itself in the wall less than an inch away from his head.

Arsenal tensed before snapping around to look for the shooter and spotted her standing there. The corners of her mouth ticked up into a taunting smile as she gave him a slight wave and took off into a sprint out of the stadium.

August 4, 9:13 PM PST.

Arsenal quickly took aim and drew his arm back before letting the arrow fly toward its intended target.

The figure twisted at the last second mid-sprint and caught the arrow before it struck them in the back. He watched as the person pushed the hood of her leather jacket back to reveal a woman with long brown hair. She wore a mask that concealed her eyes behind dark lenses and her lips, one side ticked up into a smirk, were painted a bright fuchsia pink, the only splash of color other than the black of her entire outfit. Even the quiver strapped to her back and the compound bow grasped tightly in her other hand were black.

She shook her head and waved the red arrow in her grasp almost tauntingly. "This is mine now, Arsenal," she teased before tucking it into her quiver and taking off into a sprint toward the end of the alley.

He growled angrily under his breath and took off after the woman. Ha, he laughed to himself as she ran toward the dead end, I've got you now, bitch.

But Arsenal skidded to a halt and watched in shock as the woman kept running toward the wall. She leapt at the last second midstride and grabbed hold of the end of the fire escape ladder. Lithely, she swung her body up the side of the fire escape and climbed until she hit the roof and was out of sight within seconds.

Arsenal stood beneath the ladder and stared slackjawwed. It was impossible. No one could make a jump like that and grab onto the last rung. The ladder had been pulled all the way up and that was at least ten feet.

It was impossible.

But he had just seen that woman do it.

He shook his head and focused back on pursuing her. Without a second thought, he drew one of his trick arrows, aimed high, and let it fly. The grappling arrow locked onto the roof of the building next to him and after a quick tug of the cable, Arsenal pressed a button and he was moving skyward.

After a quick scan of the rooftops, he spotted the mysterious female archer moving north into downtown. Without a second thought he took off after her, jumping from rooftop to rooftop trying to catch up with her but she moved fast.

There was a crackling in his ear followed by the rough voice of the Arrow. "Arsenal. Where are you?"

"Heading north. I'm pursuing a lead on Sportsmaster," he reported just as the woman dropped down and out of sight over the ledge of one of the buildings ahead.

There was a pause before the Arrow spoke again. "Do you need backup?" he questioned.

Arsenal shook his head as he reached the same ledge as the woman. "No," he responded. His answer seemed to satisfy his partner because he didn't say anything more after that.

Movement below him caught his eye and Arsenal jumped onto the fire escape of the apartment building adjacent to him. He quickly made his way down to the ground and loaded his bow as he scanned the alleyway between the two buildings. Slowly, he walked toward the darkest part of the alley. The sudden sound of a can kicked across the ground caused him to pull his arm back and pivot on the spot.

A small gray cat with a blue collar around its neck slinked out from behind the dumpster. It meowed and stared pitifully up at Arsenal with wide yellow eyes.

He frowned and lowered his arm, placing the arrow back into his quiver. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?" he asked quietly, crouching low to scratch behind its ears. The cat purred and Arsenal smiled to himself.

"I should be the one asking that, Arsenal." He jumped to his feet at the sound of the voice and reached back to grab an arrow.

The young man loaded his bow and scanned the darkness before him. A glint of metal caught his eye and he let the arrow fly. The blade of a sword slashed out in the darkness and easily deflected the arrow with a ping, making it bounce off and hit the ground.

"Show yourself," he demanded.

A moment later the woman stepped out of the shadows followed by another hooded figure, this one armed with what looked like a samurai sword. The woman held her hand out as if to caution the second figure. A slow smile curved at her lips until it turned into a full blown grin. She turned to the person with her and at the slight dip of her chin the figure sheathed the sword on his back and pushed their hood away from their face to reveal a man with the same dark hair as the woman wearing a pair of high-tech goggles concealing his eyes.

"Who are you?"

The woman stepped forward, smile still in place, and pulled her mask away to reveal blue eyes. "You already know the answer to that question, Roy."

Roy stumbled backward as he stared at her in shock. He silently mouthed her name, unable to say it aloud.

"I'm surprised you were so keen on following me. Did you really think I had something to do with Laurence Crock and his latest attempt at blowing up one of Starling's sports arenas?" she continued.

"Y-y-you, you're supposed to be dead," he stuttered out, shakily pointing a finger in her direction. "You jumped off of Wayne Tower."

She sighed softly and crossed her arms. "I was dead."

His brow furrowed in confusion as he continued to stare at her. "I don't understand."

"Then let us explain."


The Foundry – August 5, 12:07 AM PST.

Oliver angrily threw a hard jab at Diggle, who quickly blocked and countered with a hit of his own.

"Calm down, Oliver," Digg ordered, holding the younger man in a tight headlock. "Roy's fine. If he needed backup he would have called for us through his comm link."

The former castaway clenched his jaw and flipped Digg hard onto his back down on the training mat below them before stalking off to spar with the training dummy. "I know that, Diggle," he growled. "But I can't afford to lose another member of this team."

The day that Roy had burst into his office was the day that his world as he knew it ended. The news that she was dead had rocked him to his core and skewed his perception. He thought he knew her, all of her, but it turned out that he didn't.

He asked himself everyday what could have possibly gone wrong in her life that she had to take matters into her own hands and take her own life the way she did.

Hours after the news of the five people who had jumped off Wayne Tower owned by the famous billionaire Bruce Wayne in Gotham City had hit, it spread like wildfire and became national news. And once people found out that one of the jumpers was the executive assistant of Oliver Queen, reporters and journalists from all over the country had swarmed Starling City asking for statements and interviews from the CEO of Queen Consolidated. But he virtually became a recluse in the wake of the news and was unable to be reached for comment.

Then came the video.

Some person with a Smartphone that had been standing outside Wayne Tower the day his world ended had uploaded a video of those five people jumping.

It happened so fast, but to Oliver it was a lifetime.

In the video those five people stepped off the ledge all at the same moment and they plummeted to the ground like speeding bullets. Their fall had lasted only minutes before they hit the sidewalk. Screams had erupted in the background followed by panic and the last semblances of Oliver's life had shattered.

In the months afterward he was unresponsive. He went to work at QC during the day, handled the club in the late afternoons, and went out as the Arrow at night. But when spoken to directly he gave one to two syllable responses and was rarely seen out in public unless his presence was absolutely necessary. Even then he would make his mandatory appearance and then provide an excuse to slip out almost as soon as he had arrived.

Roy had taken it upon himself to become his executive assistant after he had scared away the first five that had filled the position. The kid didn't know what he was doing, but he learned fast, over time learning to anticipate Oliver's needs and wants before he was asked to do something.

He wasn't as good as her, but he would do.

And if he didn't come back soon, Oliver was going to assume the worst.

Oliver paused his abuse of the training dummy at the sound of the security door unlocking and watched as Roy rushed down the stairs.

"Sorry," he rushed out, unclipping his quiver from his back. Roy turned so he was facing away from him and Digg as he changed out of his gear. "I chased the guy down for almost an hour before he tricked me and had me backed into a corner."

His jaw ticked angrily as he glared at the back of Roy's head. "Did you at least stop him?" he ground out through clenched teeth.

Roy paused as he put his bow back into the case and turned slightly to look over his shoulder, not quite meeting their eyes. "No," he said after a moment. "He got away."

"Why didn't you check in, Roy?"

The younger man froze as he pulled a fresh t-shirt over his head and avoided meeting his gaze. "My comm broke in the fight," he mumbled.

Oliver stalked forward and Digg was suddenly there between them. "That's a lie – your comm was turned off. Tell me the truth. What were you really doing?"

Roy quickly shook his head as he met Oliver's hard glare head on. "It doesn't matter, Oliver. I saw something and it freaked me out. Let's leave it at that."


Starling Metro Police Department – August 5, 12:25 AM PST.

Felicity sat on the ledge of the roof and stared off into the night, listening to the familiar sounds of the city. She removed her mask, placing it down on the ledge next to her as Percy settled down on her other side.

"Can we really trust him not to say anything? I got the impression that if he was pressed hard enough, he'll sing like a canary," he asked after a moment, pushing his goggles up to rest on the top of his head.

She sighed and turned to face her brother. "We can trust Roy, Percy. No matter how hard Oliver will try to get him to say something he won't. From what he told us, it sounds like even if he did tell Oliver, he wouldn't believe him anyway."

Percy flipped the small knife in his hand over and over again as he stared at her. "He's going to react negatively when he learns the truth, I hope you know that," he warned. "There's no way he'll react the same way."

The corners of Felicity's mouth tightened and her shoulders stiffened. "I'm prepared for the fallout."

"You should have just told him, Felicity, damn the consequences."

"I already got the same speech from Love before we left for London," she snapped. "I don't need to hear it again. Let's just get everyone home before thinking about any of that."

He held his hands up, palms facing her. "Fine, fine," he sighed, "Just know that I have faith. Faith that everything is going to be okay. You'll finally get your happy ending after all of the sacrifices that you've had to make."

Felicity nodded and gave him a small smile. She hoped that he was right.

After some time she stood, placing her mask back over her eyes. "Come on," she sighed, "let's go home and get some rest."

Her brother nodded and put his goggles back in place before getting to his feet. "It's funny, we're home, but at the same time we're really not," he mused on a yawn. Felicity nodded. Once they found the others, then they could really say that they were home again.

Felicity suddenly tensed and grabbed Percy's wrist before he could turn. He met her gaze and tilted his head back slightly, indicating behind them. She dipped her head once in confirmation. They weren't alone anymore.

"Slowly turn around and I'll consider not hurting you," a voice ordered. They did as they were told and came face to face with a masked blonde woman wearing a cropped leather jacket. She had a thin, metal bō staff clutched tightly in her hand at the ready.

A slow smile crept its way onto Felicity's face as she took in the newcomer. "Black Canary."


I hinted some more at what happened to make Felicity and her friends to commit suicide back in Gotham and you got to see some of what happened through Oliver's eyes too.

I'd love to hear what you guys thought of the chapter—reading your reviews literally make me squeal when I get them and they tell me if I'm doing this right. And if my idea isn't as crazy as I think it is.

If haven't already noticed, I updated my other Arrow fic You're Banging My Bedroom Wall, so check that out too if you want.