Hold on, we can't have a proper meal without breaking bread. In some countries such as Portugal, having bread before having a meal is a way to affirm trust amongst the dinner table. It also has carbohydrates that leave you wanting more ;)

Disclaimer (cover your ears) I DON'T OWN ARROW OR ANY OF THE CW CHARACTERS!


When I said I wanted to be invisible, I meant it for school and not literally! Even though he was literally unseen, William was pretty sure he was red in the face from total embarrassment.

He was also completely and utterly confused. Part of him was hoping this was some sort of dream but the cold wave of reality would hit him every time he would think so. Another part of him was his curiosity in overdrive-how was it that he had these powers? And why was it they showed up on his birthday?

Was this some sort of genetic thing? Like the X-Men? Or was this some part of puberty some kids got (also like the X-Men)?

If so, William was feeling a little proud of himself; some guys had to shave, while he got superpowers. Or in this case, ghost powers, like Danny Phantom (which in William's opinion was one of the best shows ever).

But suddenly, he started to panic, what if he had actually become a ghost and would never be seen again? Never able to give his step-mother a hug again?

Wait, how the fuck am I gonna explain this? William had no idea what to do at that point. He could call Felicity or Diggle, but he couldn't just say, "Hey guys, come help me, I'm a ghost for no apparent reason." And then he had an idea, The Flash. Maybe he could help him. The problem was, he didn't exactly have his phone number.

It was at that point, William decided he didn't need to ask for help. These were his powers, which meant it was his problem. You want something done, you gotta do it yourself.

So he closed his eyes, and concentrated, breathing in and breathing out in slow takes. It seemed like forever but the tingling feeling returned and William jumped a little from the sudden feeling. He looked at his hands to find them transparent, but at the very least he could see a faint outline of his creamy skin.

So he concentrated more and the tingling spread all over his body, like crawling ants. The more he relaxed, the more visible he became, until he looked less like a spirit and more like a living person.

He opened his eyes and blew out a huge breath of air. "Thank you, thank you."

But when he tried to take a step forward, he felt a chill creep up his right leg and it sunk into the floor.

"You gotta be kidding me." William muttered irritably. When he tried to lift himself up by using his left leg as support, his left leg also sunk into the floor, leaving William halfway sunken in the floor. When he tried to wiggle out of the floor, he only sunk deeper. It was like being stuck in quicksand, the more he struggled, the further he sunk until he was left with only his upper chest and his arms.

William pinched his nose, breathing out a hot steam of air. I've heard of your foot getting caught in bear traps, but this is ridiculous.

Using all of his strength, he pulled himself up with only his arms, bringing his legs up with him. "Come on, William. Come on." Bringing his knees up to his chin, William finally pulled his toes out of the floor and set them down on a solid floor.

William gingerly touched his legs, then his arms, then his hands, just to make sure they were solid flesh. He smiled a little but then he realized, someone would notice he hadn't returned from his trip to the bathroom. They would probably be looking for him by then. So he had to get back up a floor to the bathroom. But how?

If I'm have ghost powers, maybe I can fly! He bent his knees and then jumped up, only for gravity to pull him back down. Maybe I'm not doing it right. He jumped a few more times, and a couple of attempts actually resulted in him landing on his back and his side.

"Ow." He groaned, clutching his hip. Obviously, this was safer in his head. When he surveyed the room to try to find another way, he saw the metal shelf he had crashed into was still intact. That would certainly work.

So he climbed up the shelf and it was only when he got to the top that he realized he didn't know how to activate his powers.

"Ok, think William, think." He even knocked on his skull for emphasis. He shut his eyes trying to concentrate but he never felt that familiar chill go up his spine.

No fair, Kitty Pryde and Danny Phantom, for making this look easy! He tried to peer into his mind, trying to find some sort of "on" switch for his intangibility. But it wasn't working, so he had to find another way and fast.

So he pondered for a couple of minutes before it hit him: William had ghost powers and if he was gonna use them, he had to think like a ghost.

That was easy enough. Ghosts were see-through, spirits of the past and they were practically light as a feather.

If there was a light bulb floating over William's head, it would have blinked very brightly at that moment-he knew what he had to do.

"Think light." He whispered to himself. "Think light. Think light." Suddenly, the icy chill went up his spine and and he jumped up into the bathroom. Of course his foot was stuck for a bit but William fixed that already.


"William!" Once he made his way back to Lyla's office, he was immediately crushed by the arms and worry of one Felicity Smoak. "Where have you been?! You had me worried sick! You're not hurt, are you?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." He said calmly to his stepmother. "Look at me, I'm fine."

"I went to check for you in the bathroom." said Felicity. "Well technically, John went cause I'm a woman and obviously it would be completely inappropriate but I was too worried so I kept asking him every 2 seconds if you found him and-"

"Felicity, please." William shut her up. "You're doing the thing again."

"Right excuse my babbling." Felicity brushed her jacket and regained her stern composure. "Where have you been?"

"I-" No William. His conscience interrupted him mid-speech. What are you doing? If you tell her you have ghost powers, she'll get worried and that'll compromise the mission. Remember, Dad needs you. "I got distracted by something so I kind of wandered around."

"Next time, don't wander around." said Felicity. "Now come on, we're about to start the tour."

They went inside Lyla's office to find her discussing something with John. From the way the scene looked, they had just finished their talk so there wasn't much to draw from to figure out the subject of the conversation.

"Sorry about that." said Lyla. "I have to attend a briefing so it's John who's gonna be taking you on the tour. Felicity, could you help me with something on the database?"

"Sure." said Felicity. "I'm sure William is in good hands."

"You ready, little man?" John asked.

William rolled his eyes. "I'm not that little."

John chuckled while Lyla shook her head. "I'm already afraid of the day my boy becomes William's age."


Once Lyla and Felicity left, the first place the boys stopped by, was the elevator.

"Pick a floor, any floor." John gestured to the control panel. In nonchalance, William pressed number 15 (there were 40 floors in the building). After a few stops with ARGUS agents coming and going, they reached their destination.

"You've picked a good place to start." John announced. "This is the Hall of Weapons and no, I did not just make up the name."

"I wasn't gonna ask that." Left and right to William were doors covering rooms of tasers, swords, AK-47's, 22 Calibers, nunchucks, bows, arrows, and any kind of weapons one could imagine.

"I already imagine you're tired of hearing this." John looked at William closely. "But don't, touch, anything. Lyla will have my head on a pike if another incident happens."

"What incident?" William asked curiously.

"One time one of our agents brought in their wild child." John explained. "Thought he could straighten her out, but he lets her touch one laser and it's chaos everywhere." He didn't show the physical pain of reminding himself of that day. "Bad for business."

William immediately "Ok, no touchie."

"Exactly." said John, walking him down. "We have technological weapons, traditional weapons. Most of our agents use ballistics since they served in the army. But we like to keep our eyes open for what's out there. There are still 10 bows for your dad, in case he ever needed them. Back when he used to work for Amanda Waller."

"Who's Amanda Waller?" William asked once they stopped in front of an archery room, which coincidentally happened to have green lighting inside.

"A ruthless woman who used to run ARGUS, who might have been Agent Watson's cousin." Diggle explained meticulously.

"That sounds like the most terrifying thing next to Adrian Chase." William breathed out.

"Yep." John replied. "Since we're at this room, do you want to go inside?"

William nodded and John took out his key card, swiping it on the panel and placing it in his front pocket. With a hiss, the door slid open and the young teenage was starstruck by the amount of Green Arrow weapons displayed in front of his eyes. His father's Arrowcave (it always irked his father to no end when he called his dad's hideout that) was stocked up with every kind of weapon there was, but here, there were arrows, arrows, arrows. It was like a candy stash for an archery nut-(aka his dad)

"Not bad for the first stop eh?" John asked.

"This is awesome!" He was tempted to pick up a bow and arrow imitate his father using his catchphrase: "You have failed this city."

"There's more Team Arrow memorabilia in the next room if you wanna see it." said John. "This is for your dad in case he decides to stop by ARGUS again."

John led the teenager out into the next room. It turned out that John's keycard could open any door as long as the person held it on their person. If they didn't, they couldn't get in or out.

"Here we are." The door opened with another hiss and what William saw was almost a museum collection of Team Arrow members past and present. Suits were neatly displayed in bulletproof glass cases, weapons were arranged by a neat and precise order. There were even copies of suits, masks, and everything anyone on the team needed when suiting up for a mission.

"I talked to Felicity about your dad's suit." said John. "She said she wanted to keep it here for safekeeping. In case Diaz somehow finds her and manages to blow up the house."

"That's pretty smart." William commented.

"Your step-mother is badass smart woman." said John. "But when you're done looking around, are you ready to see the real badass stuff?"

After a few minutes of looking around and taking as much detail as he could possibly absorb, William nodded at John.


Around the building John took him to designated spots specifically suited for William. Places like where the prisoners were being held or briefing rooms were off limits. John stuck with him at all times, even when he had to use the bathroom. They saw armories (where they had bulletproof vests in every size you could imagine), communication rooms, gyms, medical centers, everything that made ARGUS headquarters seem like the spy museum to end all spy museums.

At one point, William pointed to the blinking devices in the corner facing the ceiling and asked, "What are those for?"

"Metahuman power dampeners." John explained. "Those are in case some intruder with powers decide to come looking for trouble. They're in the hallways, rooms, anything with important stuff."


At the mention of metahumans, William began to ponder on his own abilities. Was he a metahuman? But at that point, he decided that he didn't have time to question his sudden newfound powers. This was more reason to pursue his mission. If any of Team Arrow found out he had powers, they would be freaked out and lose their sights on at least finding some trace of Ricardo Diaz.

Still, part of William felt lonely in isolating himself from his family. They knew the Flash, so at the very least William would have someone to talk to about his sudden developments.

No. He told himself. You can't let yourself be distracted by a lack of friends. The mission comes first. The city comes first. Dad comes first.

He then decided to be like one of his idols, the Flash. He had powers and used them to help people. In William's case, he could use his abilities so Ricardo Diaz literally wouldn't see him coming.


Whilst on the tour, they walked around some more, and William was having the time of his life, and learning so much. It was only when they got to the computer systems (where Felicity was fixing a glitch) that Diggle had to literally restrain William from touching the high tech tablets. The only other person he had ever seen this excited about technology was Cisco Ramon. (Although Felicity would have to her step-son meet the inventor sometime).

It seemed like the tour would never end, but it did, when they got to the 20th floor, back to where they started. But when William asked John for any food, the man led the boy into a small kitchen where he opened a secret compartment in the fridge. Inside, lay about a dozen sodas ranging from Fanta to Diet Pepsi.

"I know Agent Daniels loves his secret soda stash, plus he's happy to share them with anyone's kids." said John. "Lyla doesn't want anything too messy in this building so, best not to say anything."

"About what?" William gave a small wink at John.

"Oh, you're good." Diggle chuckled. "Come on, you can take one. Felicity's got a surprise waiting for you."


When William entered the empty conference room, he found a TV in front of the table. In front of the seat facing him, was a black shiny remote, placed next to a note that said, "TURN THE TV ON".

William did as the note instructed, putting his Diet Coke and the TV flickered on, showing Oliver Queen's face. It was the last thing William expected to see but he saw grey concrete walls behind him and William braced himself, for whatever bad news his father would give.

"Hello William." Oliver spoke through the screen. "If you're seeing this, that means it's your birthday and I'm really, really sorry I couldn't be there for you." William cast his eyes down to the floor. "But I can say that I could not be more proud to hear of you growing up into your teen years. You have grown so much in just a year and I'm still so proud of you I could just go on for hours about how proud I am of you." William smiled a bit. "Just a few things to remember; French Fries are not breakfast please keep your room clean, and don't use your electronics in the dark." At the French Fries bit, William rolled his eyes. "But more importantly, never, ever forget how much your family loves you. So whatever you do, whatever you say, we have always got your back. Especially me, William. You are the greatest part of me and I'm always with you here." Oliver pointed to his heart. "Happy Birthday, son. I love you."

The recording shut off and just when William was about to get up, he was comforted by Felicity Smoak.

"Are you ok?" She asked him comfortingly.

"Yeah." William nodded.

Felicity hugged him tightly. "I am so proud of you for being so brave with this." She looked at her step-son with great admiration, amazed at someone so young and so sweet being so tough when he had just spent a month with his father being in prison.

"I'm guessing that was the surprise I was told about?" William guessed.

Felicity smiled. "Oh don't worry. That was just part one of the surprise." As if he was listening, John Diggle came in and sat down next to William. "William, John and I have talked about this and…" She looked at her friend, hoping for him to finish.

"I'm gonna teach you how to fight." John finished for her.

William's azure eyes widened to the size of bowling balls and his eyebrows had already reached the ceiling.

"Uh, come again?"


Now this was the surprise Felicity was talking about! The details of Diggle training William will be revealed in the next chapter so hold onto your hats! Oh and speaking of the next chapter (insert evil laugh) there's a reason why I briefly mentioned the metahuman dampeners and John Diggle's key card. A VERY good reason.