"So let me get this straight" Felicity said as she stitched up the wound on Oliver's side. "You saw two suspicious figures on top of Kord, so you engage. Turns out at least one of them is a member of the league and the other one who shot you was something else".

Oliver bit his lip and nodded "I'm not sure where she is from. Her sword, bow, armor, and moves were different from anything I've seen; here and during the five years I was away".

Felicity cut away the extra suture and put a cover over the wound before speaking. "I can look into street cameras and other things, but you might have to keep your eyes open for anything else".

-(=+=)-

Sterling and Zalam arrived back at the safe house and were met by Nyssa, who was in her league armor. "Sterling! Where were you! You've been gone for over four hours without any word!" Nyssa said as she dropped her bow on a table.

"I'm sorry Nyssa, me and Zalam went for a run through the city. Everything's fine" Sterling said as she started walking away.

She was stopped by a hand grabbing her arm, which made her drop the bow she was carrying. "Nyssa, what the-" Sterling said before she was interrupted.

"You ran into Oliver Queen on your run" The demon's daughter said.

Sterling stammered for a moment before answering "What makes you say that?".

Nyssa, still holding her arm, replied. "I had an assassin follow you and they seemed to report correctly. Now Oliver Queen is going to come seeking me, my father, and the league!".

Sterling jerked her arm free and picked up her bow. "I can take care of it tomorrow. Now I'm going to bed so I don't tumble off a roof from exhaustion tomorrow when I'm chasing down Mr. Queen" She said as she walked up some stairs and met up with Zalam.

"Sterling, are you alright?" Her husband asked. She let out an annoyed sigh before nodding her head and they both walked into the bedroom.

Zalam went to take off his armor while Sterling just fell onto the bed face first. Her husband walked back into the room and saw his wife asleep on the bed, still in her armor. He chuckled a little as he slowly removed her quiver and sword before lying next to her and putting a blanket over her body.

-(=+=)-

Sterling woke up the next morning and found her husband lying on the bed next to her. She noticed she was still dressed in her armor and got up to take it off when Zalam woke up.

"Good morning Sterling" He said to her.

"Remind me to never sleep in my armor again. I feel like a sore weight!" Sterling replied. Zalam nodded and they both got ready for the upcoming hunt.

Zalam went to grab his bow and they were met by Nyssa, who was dressed in a normal attire.

"Where are you two going? It's a bit early for a midnight stroll" Nyssa said to the two of them.

Sterling laughed slightly and replied "I'm doing what you recommended, fix the problem with Oliver Queen".

"Sterling, if you are going out there, you need to have a fake identity. I recommend developing one before making contact with anyone outside of the league" Nyssa recommended. Sterling and Zalam nodded before walking out the door.

-(=+=)-

"You've got a boot dagger right?" Zalam asked his wife as they walked down the street hand in hand.

"Yes I do, and I also have some sleeve, belt, and other hidden ones. Just as a bonus, I got a collapsible bow and a few arrows too!" Sterling said with a smirk.

Zalam let out a slight laugh and replied "I don't even want to try and figure out how you can hide a bow and arrows in that outfit. So what's your cover story?".

"Sterling Jackson, seven teen year old girl who dropped out of high school after her parents died. I was taken into the foster system but ran away after the first couple turned out to be criminals. I learned some hand-to-hand fighting styles to defend myself. Now I am just looking for a way to live with my best friend who has been helping me along the way. How about you? What's your fake story?" Sterling asked him.

"Dante Sheron, eight teen year old guy who is looking for a part time job in order to help support my best friend, who was abused in the foster care system" Zalam said "Why are you keeping your same name? Couldn't that put you at risk?".

Sterling looked over to him and smiled "I have only one name to be known by. Multiple names get confusing and annoying".

Zalam smiled back at this and pointed to a small cafe nearby and spoke up again. "Want to get a small bite to eat for breakfast?". Sterling nodded her head and pulled him into the shop without talking.

-(=+=)-

"What is your deal with hot cocoa? That has been your thing ever since grade school" Sterling said to her husband, who was busy downing the warm chocolate.

Zalam looked up at Sterling, then went right back to drinking. "Sterling, you would know why I love hot chocolate if you just walked away from coffee" Zalam responded.

They both continued eating their breakfast and were heading out the door when a lady who was also in the shop stopped them. "Lenora…? Is that you?" The woman asked.

Sterling turned around and was surprised to be met by the eyes of her mother, which were glimmering with tears of hope. A nervous fire started burning inside her, wanting to say yes and hug her for ages, but the thought of her getting hurt stopped her. She turned around and faced Zalam, who gave a slight nod.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not the one you seek. My name is Sterling Jackson, not Lenora" The girl said.

The woman gave Sterling a defeated look and walked away with her head down. "Sterling, you know who that was...right?" Zalam asked her.

The assassin looked up to her husband and nodded then, both of their phones started ringing. "It's Nyssa, she wants to know if we want to join her for practice with some other assassins at the old air strip" Sterling said while reading through the text "Should we get going?".

"Sure, it will give me the chance to beat you at target practice" Zalam said as they walked off towards the air strip.

-(=+=)-

The two assassins arrived at the air strip, where they saw Nyssa, dressed in normal attire but with her quiver and sword, with an arrow pointing to a target about thirty feet away. Nyssa fired the arrow and it landed in the ring just outside the center, then she turned around and met eyes with the assassins that just arrived.

"Glad you decided to join. I brought both of your weapon sets with me. They're both over there" Nyssa said pointing to a small table nearby.

Sterling and Zalam grabbed their quivers and sheaths, then proceeded to the practice area. "Nyssa, this is how you fire an arrow" Sterling said as she nocked an arrow. She aimed and fired at the same target that Nyssa shot at. The blue and black arrow landed in the dead center, a couple inches away from Nyssa's red arrow.

"Are you mocking me?" The demon's heir asked.

"Of course not.." Sterling said with a smirk "I'm just showing you how to shoot properly".

Nyssa rolled her eyes and turned back towards the targets, but not before shooting an arrow at Sterling. The assassin caught it before it pierced her heart.

"Wow Nyssa, I didn't think you would go that low even when I am just a teenager" Sterling replied with a laugh.

"Why is it that you always play that card? Are you expecting me to give you sympathy for becoming who you are really meant to be?" Nyssa asked.

"Stop complaining about the inconvenience and start shooting with me!" Sterling called back to her friend as she fired some arrows into a target.

-(=+=)-

"I can see if my schedule will allow that time. Yes. Alright, see you then" Oliver said as he hung up the phone.

It had been a busy day at the mayor's office and as the Green Arrow. Felicity had finally tracked down the creators of the newest street drug called atuatuvale, which was Samoan for adrenaline. The drug had been created by the Samoans to give people a kick start when they needed to accomplish a task that seemed impossible to them; however, some had recreated it into something addictive and now it was in Star City.

Oliver was inside his office when the doors flew open and Diggle walked in.

"Afternoon Dig, what are you here for?" Oliver asked his brother in arms.

"C'mon man, you really forgot?" Diggle asked, creating a period of silence. "You, Thea, Lyla and me are all going out to dinner tonight at seven. It's four and I wanted to make sure you didn't forget".

Oliver leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry Dig, I did forget but I can still make it" He admitted.

Dig nodded and walked out the office, leaving Oliver to get back to his work. Mayor Queen went back to reading over some files before his phone started to ring.

"What do you need Curtis?" Oliver asked as he picked up the phone.

"Alright Oliver, I believe I figured out how to take down the dealers tonight!" Curtis started before interrupted.

"The annual selling had been cancelled tonight and moved to tomorrow so we can't hit tonight and besides, I've got a dinner tonight" Ollie started "But I'd love to hear all about it after the dinner. Sound good?".

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later. Sorry for interrupting you while you were at the office" Curtis said before hanging up.

-(=+=)-

Nyssa, Sterling, and Zalam had finished their training and it was getting dark out.

"We should stay out longer and do a blackout battle" Sterling recommended. A smile crept up Nyssa's face before she responded.

"That would actually be really fun! I know a great warehouse we can try it in!".

"Wait, what is a blackout battle?" Zalam asked.

"In all your years of being around me, you never learned or saw a blackout battle?" Sterling asked her husband.

He shook his head and his wife went on to explain. "We eliminate all light in a large area with several obstacles so that the room is pitch black, no way to see. All the people in the room must rely on their senses to make it out safely since everyone in that room has access to all their weapons. Sometimes teams are created if there are enough people, but not in this case".

"Sterling came up with the concept actually, and it has proven most useful in league training" Nyssa pointed out. "So are you in Zalam?".

"Hell yeah! It will be my first blackout battle!" Zalam responded enthusiastically.

"Great, I brought our armor sets just in case. Your guys' are in the blue and black bags over there" Nyssa said as she put her own armor on.

-(=+=)-

Oliver and Thea walked up to the restaurant, where they met Diggle and Lyla outside.

"Nice to see you showed up this time Oliver" Diggle said as he slapped his friend on the back.

"Dig, it only happened twice" Oliver replied.

"Yeah, since you've become mayor, which leaves almost four more years of absence from family get togethers" Thea said with a laugh.

"Not helping speedy" Oliver said to his sister before turning to Dig and Lyla. "So what is this place and why did you pick to come here?".

"John and I found this place when we started dating again. Despite being in the glades, it's an amazing place to come and let your worries slip away as you eat a well-cooked steak!" Lyla replied.

They started walking inside to get their reservation when Oliver noticed a run-down warehouse across the street.

"Hey Speedy, that old warehouse could be good for another restaurant, maybe you could open one that focuses on mom's lasagna recipes" Oliver suggested.

"Ollie, we both known I can't cook for my life" Thea said as she laughed with her brother.

-(=+=)-

"Alright, the warehouse lights are out and we can start!" Sterling said as she approached Zalam and Nyssa with a flaming arrow in her hand, being used as torch.

"Alright, extinguish your arrowheads and then scatter. There is a twenty second grace period, then you can go after others. In order to take someone down, you need to completely cover your opponent in the glowing paint with the arrows in your quiver" Nyssa explained before blowing out her arrow and putting it back in her quiver "Ready...set-".

"Wait! Can we team up with other people?" Zalam asked hopefully.

"If you can convince them to help out, then yes" Sterling replied before blowing out her own arrow.

"...Go!" Nyssa called.

They all ran into the darkness and took their positions among the old crates and material. Sterling climbed up to the sky walk pathways to get a better view of the other two assassins.

Through the darkness, she immediately saw some metal in the distance moving. The top of a hood popped out from the metal and Sterling recognized it as Nyssa's. She drew a painted arrow and fired it at the woman. It hit her on the side of the head and glowing blue paint splattered on her hood.

"Damn it Sterling…." Nyssa said under her breath, just loud enough for Sterling to hear from above. The blue and black assassin pulled her bow down and ran across the sky bridge, dodging painted arrows Nyssa was shooting at her.

One tagged her boot and was covered in glowing red paint. "Going to have to do better than that Nyssa!" Sterling taunted as she ran off into the darkness.

Zalam was on the ground and saw Sterling running above. He pulled a paint arrow from his quiver and shot it at Sterling. The first few missed, and some of them flew out the windows, but the last one tagged her back. A large splatter of glowing orange paint revealed her position, meaning she had to take out Zalam.

Sterling jumped down from the bridge and rapidly fired arrows at Zalam. He didn't have enough time to dodge and was covered in Sterling's paint from head to toe. "You're out Zalam! Now you can join my team or observe" Sterling said as she ran off into the darkness.

The blue assassin came into an open spot and looked around for Nyssa. Little to her knowledge, Nyssa was up in the rafters looking down on Sterling with her bow loaded and ready to fire. She shot down one arrow and it collided with the assassin's shoulder. Sterling whipped around but couldn't identify where the arrows were coming from.

More and more flew down until she finally spotted Nyssa crouched on a rafter. Sterling pulled arrow after arrow out and shot it up to Nyssa. Because the red assassin was using the metal for cover, none of the paint hit her. Sterling, however, was one more shot away from losing so Nyssa drew the last arrow out of her quiver and aimed for Sterling's chest. The arrow went flying towards her but she caught it right in the nick of time.

Sterling looked down at the arrowhead, then back to Nyssa who was jumping down from the rafters. "Uh Nyssa, were you trying to kill me? Because this is a normal arrow, not a painted one" Sterling asked with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, my bad. You alright?" Nyssa asked as she put her hood down and walked towards Sterling.

"Yeah, no problem. Let's get going back to the safe house before someone comes inside after an arrow flew out the window" The blue assassin said.

Even though it was almost pitch black, Sterling could see Nyssa's eyes widen at the mention of a stray arrow. "Arrows went out the window?! You need to go get those back before someone sees them. They have the league's crest on the fletching!" Nyssa called out "Zalam, you will join me in making sure all the arrows inside the building are taken back while Sterling gets the ones outside".

Zalam nodded and joined Nyssa, and Sterling ran outside, still in her armor. She tried to stay in the shadows because lots of people were inside the restaurant across the street.

The assassin spotted two arrows lying on the ground and reached for them. "Nyssa wasn't lying, they did put the crest on them" Sterling said to herself as she put the arrows in her quiver. She then went around the building looked for more arrows to pick up.

-(=+=)-

Thea, Lyla, and Diggle were talking about possibilities of Thea becoming the direct babysitter for John Jr, leaving Oliver to stare out the window in silence. He was watching the people move outside when something or someone caught his eye.

A figure that looked like the woman who had shot him only a day ago was moving in the shadows a bit further away, picking up some arrows. They looked up and caught Oliver's gaze. The figure's eyes widened and ran back into the warehouse, out of sight.

"Hey, I need to make a quick phone call while you guys finish up the plans, I'll be back in a moment" Oliver said as he got up from the table.

He walked outside and ran across the street, following the path the figure took. Oliver spotted her walking at a fast pace between buildings towards and ran after her.

"Damn it, not again Queen!" Sterling said under her breath as she picked up her pace to a run. The arrows in her quiver and sheathed sword bounced in place as she ran. Her bow was in her left hand and she didn't have any other choice but to land a shot at Queen.

Sterling turned around into a backwards run and nocked and arrow, then fired it at Oliver. He ducked down and caught the arrow, but continued after Sterling. She turned back so she faced forward and increased her running speed, but Oliver was too quick for her. He threw the arrow in his hand at Sterling and it collided with the back her shoulder.

The blue assassin cried out in pain as she yanked the arrow out, but kept running. She nocked another arrow, but pointed it up to the rooftops. She shot the arrow up and pulled herself up and continued running back to the safe house.

Oliver watched as she took off towards the sky, but then noticed a small pool of blood on the ground with the arrow next to it.

Oliver pulled out his phone and called Diggle. "Dig, I had another run in with the blue assassin. It's definitely a woman with league training. I was able to get a hit on her with one of her arrows and some blood was left behind. I'm taking it back to the bunker for analysis" He said before hanging up. Oliver then proceeded to call Felicity and give her a heads up.

-(=+=)-

Once Sterling was sure Oliver wasn't on her tail, she stopped on the roof to assess the damage of the arrow. The arrow didn't go completely through, but left a deep gash. Sterling tore her sleeve down and saw that stitches would be necessary. She bent down and used a dagger to cut off some strings from her boot laces and used them as stitches.

About ten minutes later, the wound was stitched and her sleeve was sewn back with the extra threads. It was a poor excuse for a stitch job and would leave a scar, but it stopped the bleeding.

Sterling gathered her things and ran back to the safe house, trying to make up for lost time.

-(=+=)-

Sterling arrived back at the safe house and quietly made her way up to her and Zalam's bedroom. She walked inside and was met by her husband, who was pacing around the room frantically.

"Where have you been?! I've been waiting here, praying you weren't dead for the past two hours!" Zalam cried out as he brought Sterling into his arms.

She winced in pain as he pulled her in tighter and he obviously noticed. "Sterling, what's wrong?!" He asked her.

Sterling looked up into his amber eyes and pulled down her sleeve, revealing the arrow wound that was reopened and bleeding.

"I went to get the arrows like Nyssa instructed, but Oliver Queen was in the restaurant and spotted me. He chased me down and used an arrow I fired at him to give me this. Before you ask, I'm fine and I just need to re-stitch the wound" Sterling explained.

"Here, let me help you with that" Zalam said. He directed Sterling to a chair and removed the top part of her armor. He then started re stitching the wound, which stopped the bleeding. He cut off the excess thread and put a wrap around the wound.

"There will be a small scar, but you'll be fine" Zalam said to his wife as he put away the med kit.

Sterling looked up at her husband and gave him a tender kiss on the lips. "Thank you, for everything you have given me since we got into this mess". Zalam kissed her back and pulled her waist closer to his body.

He pulled away for a slight moment and looked into Sterling's dark blue eyes. "You never have to thank me for anything, I am your husband after all" He said.

Zalam picked Sterling up bridal style and slipped her under the blanket on the bed. He crawled in next to her and wrapped his arms around her. Sterling snuggled closer to him and fell asleep quickly, with Zalam following shortly.