Prior Note: Re-edited to fix italicized areas

Damaged

A heartbeat went by when no one spoke or reacted to Artemis's words. After the little they had seen, it seemed unbelievable that Oliver Queen was dead. He had survived the island, and to hear that he was now dead… most weren't sure how to respond.

Standing silent, Thea felt like collapsing to her knees. She couldn't understand how or why this had happened.

Slade, on the other hand, couldn't hide the grin on his face. He wasn't sure if it was by his hand, but he didn't entirely care either. To him, the only downside to this news was that he wasn't sure how much the kid had suffered before his end.

Moira tried to calm her beating heart; somewhere deep inside, she had known this had to be the reason they were all brought here. It was the only thing that made sense the moment her daughter had revealed herself to be the elder archer. She had desperately wanted to believe Oliver had been alive like she had been told, but a mother always knows.

Laurel, Quentin, and Tommy were both torn on what to feel. They didn't want Oliver to be dead, on one hand, but they weren't completely sold on what he was doing either. Tommy disliked the murder, and Laurel had yet to forgive Oliver for taking away her sister. Quentin just hid behind his badge.

Malcolm steeled his face and glanced towards Slade. From the moment they were brought here, the business man turned assassin could tell that this Wilson was dangerous. He couldn't help but wonder if it was Slade that had taken Oliver from this world, and if that was true, that made the mercenary a serious threat. Currently, Malcolm was certain he, himself, could take Oliver in a fight, but no ordinary criminal could. From here on, Malcolm cautioned himself to tread lightly and avoid letting the mercenary know too much. To the Dark Archer, a sneak attack would be of most use.

For a moment, Artemis allowed everyone a chance to process this before continuing. She turned towards Slade and stated bluntly, "It wasn't you." She didn't want to see him smiling about murdering her brother. This was the man that took away her mother; she didn't want him acting gleeful over her brother's murder as well.

"He's dead," Slade said, accepting of this. He'd rather it have been him, but at the moment, he'd take what he was handed.

"As are you," Artemis grinned as she watched Slade's face screw up in disbelief. "Someone firebombed the Island… while you were on it." She tried not to think that her brother would do something so horrible, but the Justice League wasn't sure who else it could have been.

"Not you?" Slade said a breath later.

"I'm not a murderer," she easily replied. "Not anymore." She added these words on purpose; after all these years, she had never been able to wash the red from her hands. It didn't matter to her that Sara's death had been more on Malcolm's head then hers; she had still fired the arrow. Every day, she fought to try and make up for that fact.

Closing her eyes, Moira tried to imagine her youngest a murderer, and she simply couldn't. Thea was a lot of things, but not a murderer, never that. Thea grasped onto the words 'not anymore' and tried to reconcile with herself that it wasn't possible for her to ever kill someone.

Wanting to get the attention of what she would become, Thea took a harrowing breath and asked, "How did he die?"

Smiling sadly, Artemis responded, "Saving me… well, us" She referred to herself and Thea. "Someone killed him in our place." She wasn't about to say it was Ra's or that Oliver had given in, not died, to save her. She wasn't about to destroy the little progress they had made thus far as a group. If they discovered the monster Oliver was to become, Artemis was certain they'd never be able to look past that.

"I don't… understand," Thea growled. "Why me? Because of this?" She indicated Artemis's get up.

"I didn't wear a mask then… at least not this one." The mask she had worn had been one of normalcy when her life had been anything but. When she saw Moira was ready to interrupt again, Artemis decided to add, "This is why you're here. To change this. Oliver spent years saving Starling. It's only fair that we do the same in turn." Looking to each, including Slade, she continued, "These memories are the worst and best of him. We hope… The Justice League hopes that by seeing this, the truth and the consequences of your actions that perhaps Oliver won't…" She didn't want to say the word 'dead' again, not when it was still a lie. Technically Oliver Queen was dead and only Ra's al Ghul remained… but he was still her brother. "If you want to see what happens with the Gambit or the List, then I suggest we get you back." Waving over the elder Laurel, Artemis asked, "Can you return them to the room?"

Canary reluctantly nodded and began to try and herd them back down the hallway.

"Why did you tell us this to start?" Tommy asked before he was pushed into the hallway,

"Would you have believed me if I had greeted you on the transport pad?" Artemis asked, and she watched as Tommy accepted that and moved to follow his father.

Roy walked out from behind the pillar and moved next to Artemis. "You know I love you," he stated, grasping her hand. "But is lying to them worth what will happen when they find out the truth?"

"They won't," she said calmly. "They'll never see Oliver become Ra's al Ghul and forsake… everything." Including herself.

"And how do you propose we do that?" he asked, flabbergasted. He wasn't entirely shocked by his Thea lying about Oliver's supposed death; even he saw the once Hood as no longer alive.

"We show up to Oliver is almost killed by Ra's in his third year," she continued having thought this over. "We give them that, then we send them back with the hope that this can all be avoided." With that, she barely pecked him on the cheek and went to follow the group. The gap between them had been growing as of late, since she had gone after the League of Assassins and had almost died as a result.

Roy sighed and closed his eyes. Unlike Artemis, a part of him wanted to save Oliver, but a much larger part wanted to save her…

….

The Canary led the group back through the twists and turns, so that they could continue the memories. She wasn't thrilled by Artemis's explanation of what happened to Ollie, but she understood the reasoning enough. Having learned long ago to control her emotions and not let them rule her decisions, she kept her mouth shut for the moment on what actually happened to Oliver. However, she couldn't help but say, "It's not her fault. Artemis… the way she is."

The Canary noticed she had grabbed a majority of their attentions. "With the fires… and how we lost Oliver, it took a toll on her. One I think she never recovered from. She had to take on Oliver's mask immediately and help save the city, her city." Opening the door, the Canary ushered them back in. "She changed that day because she had too in order to survive." They all had; so many people had been lost that day. She had been so far away when she had seen what happened to Oliver and Thea, and it had crushed her unable to arrive in time to help except pick up the pieces of who Artemis had once been.

"What…" Laurel began when Artemis arrived and silenced everyone with a look.

"Are we ready to begin again?" she asked, shooting a glance towards the Canary.

"I should be going," Canary said with a nod, her gaze speaking volumes that she'd be back. "Ted will be waiting." Everyone heard the name, but only Laurel asked as the doors closed with them plus Artemis inside,

"Who's Ted?"

Artemis didn't reply but leaned, instead, silently against the door. Her hood hung down, and while her stance had loosened from earlier, her bow was still gripped tight. She was obviously expecting trouble as the memories went on and more questions. After all, no one had asked the imperative question 'Who killed Oliver?' and Artemis wasn't sure how she would respond to that yet.

Before anyone could properly sit or ask anything else, the memory began again.

The memory set opened with a recap of Oliver's arrest. The scene then flashed back to the Island. A rabbit stood in the distance in the forest- and was suddenly cut down by an arrow. Several yards away stood Yao Fei, bow in hand, with Oliver standing next to him. He indicated to the rabbit.

Thea tried to imagine a bow in her brother's hand in this past, and she found herself struggling even after seeing his older self do it with ease. Unlike herself, Oliver had never taken an interest in archery as a child. Up until he had disappeared, Thea had loved it. When he was gone, she had lost her heart in it; glancing at her older self, Thea couldn't help but scowl with the thought that apparently she had found it again. She didn't even want to dwell on the idea that she might have killed someone.

"Dinner." he said.

Oliver looked at him, and then groaned. "Ah, come- hey, I got an idea, why don't you let me shoot that thing and you can go pick up the bloody, dead, disgusting animal." He whined.

Wanting to comment, Laurel began to open her mouth to make a remark, but she found herself in a somber mood after everything that had occurred in the cafeteria. It terrified her in part to know she would eventually take up the mask, and she couldn't fathom why she would ever do such a thing. She believed in the law.

Yao Fei looked him over, and then indicated to his bow. "What?" Oliver asked, confused.

"Try." He said simply, handing the bow over. Oliver took it, unsure. "Breathe." Yao Fei advised. Everything, , aim, fire." He instructed. He handed him an arrow. "Here." He said, then pointed at a far off tree. "Aim that tree."

Oliver nocked the arrow and took aim. "Breathe." Yao Fei advised again, and Oliver took a slow, steadying breath. He released it, then shot the arrow-

That went wide to the right.

The Dark Archer wasn't all that surprised. He hadn't expected natural talent with the bow, especially with someone so unfamiliar to the weight required to pull back the bowstring. It was a tad off balancing to see how five years had so abruptly changed the young Queen, but when that thought crossed his mind, he reminded himself he was all too similar in that it had taken only two years with the League to transform himself.

"Nǐ huì sǐ de hěn cǎn" Yao Fei muttered.

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked, annoyed.

"You will die badly." He translated dryly. He pointed in the direction the arrow went. "Get."

It was a terrible thing to say given Oliver's situation, but everyone in the room shared a small smile, each for their own reasons, due to what Yao Fei had said. It helped to release some of the tension that had been building in the room. They obviously had a lot to all talk about, but Malcolm and Moira had no intention of revealing anything else unless the memories did it for them. Moira hid to protect her family, and Malcolm hid to protect himself.

Oliver sighed in annoyance, but walked off in search of the wayward arrow. He moved deeper into the forest, and he finally spotted it, sticking out of a fallen tree. He moved to get it, when suddenly a hand covered his mouth.

Thea gasped, and tried to think of who would grab her brother in the middle of an island and for what reason. Next to her, Tommy wrapped his arm around her and squeezed her tight. He would have preferred to comfort Laurel, but she was distant. Not that he blamed her, but he knew when to give the older Lance sister space and time.

Arms grabbed him and dragged him further into the trees. Soon his hands were bound in front of him, and he was led by three men in black tactical gear and ski masks to a pit covered by a makeshift bamboo grate. They opened the grate and shoved him into the hole. Oliver crashed down, barely able to break his fall, and turned over to see the men close the grate and secure it, locking him in.

"Wait, wait! You can't leave me here!" he cried out, grasping at the grate. One of the men smashed his fingers with the butt of his assault rifle. Oliver screamed in pain, letting go and falling back down. "Don't do this to me, please! Oh-oh! No! Please! I didn't do anything!"

The only detective in the room, but not on the Watchtower, shuddered to think of the fear Queen had to be experiencing. Even he would be taken back to be abducted then thrown into a cage without an explanation, and that was ignoring what had happened to the Queen boy thus far. He was getting a terrible feeling in his stomach that he wasn't going to like what transpired during this memory.

The scene flashed back to present as Oliver was led out of a squad car in cuffs and into the SCPD headquarters through a sea of reporters.

'The police think they know who I am.' Oliver's' voice sounded, playing over his booking. 'They think I'm the vigilante. The man in the hood terrorizing the city. They also think they have me trapped. That I have no way out. They're only half right.'

"Good to see five years on a desert island hasn't changed my brother's ego," Thea huffed to Moira's amusement.

"He did successfully get off multiple times," Tommy pointed out with a smile.

"Well I'd like to see him get out of this one," Quentin growled. He could already see mistakes he had made in his rush, but even with circumstantial evidence, he had met the burden of proof for the DA to take it to court. There was no possible way for Queen to escape this, in Detective Lance's mind.

"This is a mistake."

The scene had changed to an interrogation room, where Lance sat across a table from Oliver. Lance didn't even look up from his forms at Oliver's declaration.

"I'll be asking you a few questions, standard stuff for the report." He said. "Have you been arrested before? That's ok, I know the answer to that one, plenty of times." he put in sarcastically.

"Is that really the time to make jokes?" Moira asked, not appreciating how her family had been treated thus far in the memories. It might have been true that Oliver was the vigilante, but Quentin's rage was also obviously fueled by his hatred for the Queen name.

"He's a murderer," Detective Lance said with less malice as he had in earlier memories.

"And you've just painted a massive target on his back," Malcolm said. He could only imagine how his other self would respond, though he was certain he already had a good idea about that. He wouldn't allow anyone to get between him and the Undertaking- Robert's son or not. It wouldn't be a decision he'd make lightly though, but it'd be a necessary one; at least in this memory.

"Like I said, this is a mistake." Oliver repeated.

"Far as I can tell, the only mistake I made was not shooting you down at the docks when I had a chance." Lance snarled in reply.

"I am not who you think I am." He tried. Lance scoffed.

The young Merlyn couldn't help but agree. Oliver had been his best friend growing up, and now he didn't see anything but glimpses of his old friend in this new Oliver. No one really knew who Oliver was.

"Oh, you're exactly who I think you are." He stated. "You're a dangerous menace who doesn't care about who he hurts, except now you're doing it with bows and arrows instead of trust funds and yachts."

"You know," Thea said thoughtfully. "My brother has actually done a good job keeping those not involved out of the way. I mean… without him at the auction, how many more people would have died?" In the corner, Artemis smiled; she really loved her brother.

Laurel couldn't agree more. "Oliver isn't a dangerous menace. He's helping people, even if you can't see it." She wasn't sure if she saw it yet, but she was beginning to notice a difference. Taking out the triad made the vigilante a serious threat to any criminal.

"He's only helping people this List has wronged," Quentin argued back, ignoring the Deadshot incident.

"For now," Artemis added.

Oliver sat back in his chair. "Detective, you hate me. I get it. But that doesn't make me a vigilante." He reasoned.

"No." Lance agreed, and then pressed on. "The security camera footage of you at the UNIDAC auction with a green hood does that pretty well."

"And as I said again, I ran into the stairwell once I heard the shooting." Oliver stated, leaning forward. "I saw a duffel bag that I thought maybe belonged to the shooter. I grabbed it, looked inside and saw a hood." He finished.

"And what- you took it home with you? 'Cause we can't find it." Lance retorted. "And what about harassing Adam Hunt? That just happened to take place right across the street from your little homecoming bash."

"Those were coincidences." Oliver argued.

Groaning, Laurel covered her face. "That's a terrible argument." She could admit that while what he said was true, the jury might not see it that way. Circumstantial evidence was more than enough for a conviction, and given the current DA, Laurel wouldn't put it past that woman or the ADA to pursue the death penalty… or a mental institution.

"No. When they pile up like that, it becomes evidence." Lance replied. He began to work on the forms again when a patrol man opened the door.

"His parents are here." The cop announced.

"Tell them to wait." Lance ordered.

"I want to see my son." Moira demanded, storming into the room with Walter right behind her.

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation here!" Lance yelled, getting up from his chair.

"You would not keep me from my son," Moira, of present, said with a glare. She'd do it again, hands down, or for the first time since these events hadn't occurred yet.

"Detective Lance," Moira started, fury etched on her face, "I know you hate my family, but I had no idea that you'd go so far to arrest my son without any grounds whatsoever!"

"I have solid grounds, and I have evidence." Lance argued coldly.

"Which you can present to Mr. Queen's attorney when he gets here." Walter countered. "Until then, this interrogation is over, Detective."

Lance looked at Moira and Walter, then down at Oliver, still seated at the table. "Sure." He said finally, walking out of the room "You have fifteen minutes." He closed the door, leaving the family alone in the room.

"Detective Lance appears to be on some personal vendetta." Walter noted.

Malcolm and Slade considered Sara's involvement in such a hatred. The death of a child was something that a mark on someone's soul. Neither expected the Detective to ever fully forgive Oliver, but Slade was thoroughly enthralled with the idea that this Lance would see what actually happened to his daughter. He would very much enjoy the Lance's face then; Sara had always been a thorn in his side, and Slade blamed her for Shado's death as well… just not as much as he blamed the kid.

"He is." Oliver agrees, looking at the man. "He blames me for the death of his daughter. He also thinks that I dress up in a green hood and shoot people with arrows." He finished dryly.

"The important thing is not to say anything until your attorney gets here." Walter advised.

"Fine." He agreed. "I want Laurel."

Quentin growled under his breath trying to calm his thoughts at what this would do to him. "He's only picking you to antagonize me."

"Oh I'm sure," Laurel scoffed. "Good." She'd listened to older self, but it would take a bit more time for her to actually forgive her father for his controlling behavior. She could protect herself and make her own decisions; she needed him to see that. For now, Laurel planned to sit back and enjoy this memory in full.

Both Moira and Walter scoffed. "Brilliant." Walter muttered.

"Oliver I don't think your ex-girlfriend can be counted on to be objective here." Moira argued. Oliver looked at her, unflinching.

"She knows me better than anyone. She knows that I could never be this guy." He reasoned. He looked to his stepfather. "Walter, you say Lance has a vendetta?"

"Yes." He replied.

"I think Laurel can get him off of it." Oliver continued. "He raised her to do the right thing. That includes representing an innocent man. So Mom," He looked to Moira. "Please." He asked plainly. Moira sighed.

"I will," Laurel confirmed.

"Except he is the vigilante," Quentin argued.

"But that's not why you arrested him," Laurel said knowingly.

The scene changed to CNRI. Moira entered and looked around, finally finding her target. "Laurel." She said, walking up to the attorney that was busily reading a file. Laurel looked up in surprise.

"Mrs. Queen!" she exclaimed, confusion on her face. "What are you-"

"It's Oliver. Something's happened." She began. Laurel looked at her sympathetically.

"I know." She glanced at a TV that was re-airing Oliver's walk up the precinct stairs. "It's been all over the news."

Malcolm shot a knowing look towards Quentin, who did have the capability of looking embarrassed. The Detective could now see how big of a target he had just painted on the Queen scion. He wanted the vigilante to face courtroom justice, not a criminal looking to get revenge or get a name for himself.

Moira sighed. "These charges are ludicrous." She stated.

"I know." Laurel agreed, walking them back to her desk. "Can I ask you, who's representing him?"

Moira looked at her awkwardly. "Well, that's why I'm here." She looked at the younger woman. "He wants you to represent him."

"Me?" Laurel asked in confusion.

"Yes." Moira replied, slightly embarrassed. "I told him it was a bad idea, but to be frank, I am desperate. He says if you don't represent him, then he doesn't want any attorney."

Tommy glanced towards Laurel and couldn't help but joke, "You're going to be his lawyer."

"Oh I am?" she huffed.

"Mhm," he grinned. "You and I both know Oliver, then and now, is stubborn enough to go through with that threat. Which means you'll be his lawyer to save his hide."

"Like always," Thea finished.

"Mrs. Queen," she began slowly, "my father is the arresting officer."

"Yes." Moira agreed.

"And I don't think it's a good idea for me to represent someone who I've been involved with." she finished with a sympathetic look. "Listen, I am sorry for what your family is going through-"

"No apologies." Moira interrupted with a smile. "Your idealism, I think, is why my son, for all his mistakes, is so smitten with you." She sighed. "Regardless, it was a bad idea on his part, and I am sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

Malcolm was beginning to see why his son was also attracted to Ms. Lance. She seemed to have strong ideals, so similar to Rebecca. However, he could see how this attraction would end badly for his son. Even if the memories didn't directly address the tension, there was an obvious discord between the memory versions of Laurel, Tommy, and Oliver.

The scene shifted to the courthouse, where Oliver was being led into the courtroom by an officer.

"Docket 81941, People vs. Oliver Queen." The bailiff intoned. Oliver walked past his family, and Tommy, to sit at the defendants table. "Murder, aggravated assault, assault with intent, menacing and trespassing."

"How bad is this...?" Thea asked. She had seen inside of the courtroom a few times with her brother was the defendant, but he had always gotten off.

For a moment, Laurel considered downplaying it as she was certain Oliver would find a way out of this, but she didn't want to lie to the youngest Queen. "It's bad," she confirmed. "Depending on who the state decides to have try this case will change whether they look for life or the death penalty." She shuddered to think that perhaps this was how Oliver died, but based on everything she had seen in this tower, she doubted that this was how he ended. There seemed to be so much left to do, but she couldn't help but worry.

Thea nodded but didn't answer otherwise. Instead, she leaned back and curled up partially. She wanted the ability to hide her face if needed.

Judge Moss looked at Oliver, then looked around "Where's your attorney, Mr. Queen?" she asked.

"I'm representing myself, Judge." He stood and replied calmly.

Tommy pointed knowingly to the screen, and Laurel tried not to sigh.

"I'm not sure that's the wisest course, Mr. Queen." The Judge argued.

"I think it is." He countered. "I'm innocent."

"Then we'll consider that your plea." Moss said.

"Thank you." Oliver said sitting back down.

"Now, as to bail-"

"Your Honor," said District Attorney Kate Spencer as she stood to address the Judge."Mr. Queen's family owns a pair of private jets, and, well, on the subject of their wealth, I would point out that there is virtually no bail amount that can guarantee his presence at trial." She argued.

"And what will she do?" Thea asked, referring back to her earlier question.

Laurel was relieved to see DA Spencer. Compared to the ADA at this time, things could have been substantially worse. "She'll be careful. People see the vigilante as a savior of sorts, and the evidence might not guarantee a conviction with a jury that could be sympathetic. I'll say she tries to make a deal."

"So then I guess it's a good thing that the people's case is so circumstantial." Heads turned and Oliver allowed himself a satisfied smile as Laurel made her way into the court. She walked past Oliver's stunned family, and her even more stunned father, to stand next to the defendant's table. "Dinah Laurel Lance, Your Honor." She announced. "I'd like to file my appearance on behalf of the defendant."

"You're going to defend him?" Quentin growled, but when she turned to scowl at him, he backed off quickly. He could see that perhaps in this memory he had rushed to judgement due to past actions- correct gut or no.

Oliver gratefully slipped over to the second chair so Laurel could take her rightful place at the table. "Mr. Queen's wealth should not deprive him of the right to be released on bail while under the presumption of innocence." She argued.

"He is a flight risk." Spencer countered.

"Then minimize the risk." Laurel reasoned. "The defendant is willing to submit to home confinement and electronic monitoring through the wearing of a UKG45 administrated ankle device."

The smile fell completely off Oliver's face. "No, he wouldn't." he argued.

Slade cocked his head, curious to see how the kid would weasel his way out of this one. Prior to the anklet, he could tell the playboy had had a plan, one that would now need to be adjusted. However, Slade knew from old experience how easy it could be to trick those monitors or cut them off. Both options posed a huge risk if caught though, something the kid had to know himself.

"Sold." The Judge said, ignoring him.

"Your Honor-"Spencer tried to argue, but the judge cut her off, too. "Bail is set at $15 million. $5 million bond." She announced. "Defendant to see probation for the fitting of a GPS device." She banged the gavel to close out the hearing.

Oliver leaned back in his chair and looked at his ex-girlfriend. "I knew you couldn't resist saving my ass." He said with a smile.

Sighing, Laurel tried not to imagine how much she was going to regret this. Based on the evidence her father had in the memory, Laurel was certain her other self would have little to no trouble getting the charges thrown out. It was only a matter of creating reasonable doubt if this even went to trial.

"I can't believe you're defending him," Quentin muttered. "Just to spite me."

"Yes Dad, just to spite you," Laurel responded, barely glancing his way. "And the fact it looks like you're targeting Oliver because of what happened to Sara."

"But he is the vigilante!"

Laurel sighed, and next to her, she felt the rumble of Tommy hiding a laugh. He was getting amusement out of the irony of this situation. The Detective was completely right, but everyone else seemed to think that this was all a vendetta.

"You're going to make me regret this, aren't you?" she asked wryly.

"No." he denied. "It's going to be like old times."

"Fortunately for you with the legal case, there's no way that you're this vigilante." She noted, closing her briefcase.

"I agree."

She looked him dead in the eye. "Because he's actually trying to make a both know that's not really your style." She stated, rising to leave. She didn't see the hurt look in his eyes that he masked almost immediately.

Unable to help herself, Laurel cringed at her own words. She could see all that pent up rage in her other self, and she was beginning to understand why her older self had warned them to let go of it all. If she had looked past her anger and the mask Oliver wore, she might actually see the truth that he was the one dressing up at night to save the city.

"Harsh," Thea commented.

The scene changed to Queen Manor later that day, where Oliver was getting fitted with his ankle bracelet as Moira, Walter, and Tommy looked on.

"Mom." He said calmingly to his mother, "It's not that bad."

The cop finished. "Okay. This device has a direct line into the on the property, you're golden." He instructed. "Any questions?"

"Yes." Oliver said immediately. "I'm having a sizeable get together here tomorrow evening, and there is a better than likely chance it spills into the outdoor pool." Tommy and Moira looked at him in disbelief.

The cop didn't bat an eye. "Pool deck's fine." He said. "Step on the grass, they're sending a SWAT team to forcibly subdue you." He finished wryly.

"I'm getting the feeling he could take a SWAT team," Tommy added trying not to imagine Oliver in the middle of a party taking out multiple police officers.

Malcolm didn't add his two cents, but he could only agree with his son. The skill Oliver had would easily outmatch anyone the SCPD could throw at him. Only someone of equal skill would have a chance at removing the vigilante from Starling City.

"Thank you, officer." Oliver said. The cop showed himself out.

"A 'sizeable get together'?" Moira asked in disbelief.

"I'm confined to this house for the foreseeable future. I might as well make the most of it." He announced. He looked over at Tommy. "And this party is going to be themed." He decided. "I'm thinking prison, uh, burning man meets 'Shawshank Redemption'. The invite says, 'come before Oliver Queen gets off'."

Mouth hung open, Thea stared stunned at the screen. "We're worried he's going to go to prison, and he wants to throw a party?"

"Classic Oliver," Laurel said, not to be harsh but impressed as that's exactly what they'd all expect.

Moira was beginning to think that perhaps she needed to ban parties at the mansion; they only seemed to attract trouble. It irked her to see her son, playing a charade or not, to act as so inconsequential about the circumstances. She was terrified here, and this hadn't even come to pass yet.

"Maybe a party's not in the best of taste, you know, considering the circumstances." Tommy said, trying to be the voice of reason as he sat down next to his friend.

"Tommy, the circumstances are why we're having the party in the first place." Oliver said. He looked at the three of them. "I want people to know that I'm not worried about any of this."

"Well, that makes one of us." Moira said archly.

Slade tried not to smirk as he put the pieces together. As long as Diggle went along with it, Slade was certain he had figured out how Oliver planned exactly to get all charges dropped. It was rather ingenious and a good way to throw off future blame. If the police were discovered to have gone after the kid due to a personal vendetta, they would do anything possible to stay as far away from him afterwards.

The scene changed to Laurel's apartment, where Quentin was having a 'conversation' with his daughter.

Quentin and Laurel glanced at each other from across the room. They were both getting the odd sensation that this was about to devolve as it had in the cafeteria.

"Before you start yelling-"

"Why would I yell?" he asked harshly. "You're only defending the man that killed your sister."

"He did not kill Sara," Laurel snapped, turning towards Quentin. In the corner, Artemis flinched; after all, she had been the one to fire the arrows that ended Sara's life all those years ago. "Sara made her own choices, and she was the one who got on the boat."

"Because he asked her too!" Quentin argued. "He broke your heart and killed her. He's nothing but trouble, and that's ignoring how he spends his nights dressed up."

"Sara did not need to be asked to get on the boat," Laurel said a tad more calmly and sadly. She remembered the rebel streak her younger sister had had. It wouldn't have taken more than a look to convince Sara onto that boat, and deep down, she felt that perhaps she had drove Oliver to run away. "She made her own decisions, and you're punishing Oliver for it."

"He killed her, and he is the vigilante," Quentin growled.

"But you only arrested him for the former reason," Laurel frowned before turning back to the television. Reaching up, she wiped a few stray tears that had begun to accumulate in her eyes. She noticed that Tommy had saw her, and while she shot him a small smile and mouthed that she was alright, she could tell he didn't believe it for a second.

"Oliver did not kill Sara!" Laurel exclaimed, exasperated.

"If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have been on that boat." Quentin shot back.

"Have you considered the possibility that that's the reason you're trying to make him out to be this-this menace?" Laurel reasoned hotly.

"No." Quentin denied. "It is the videotape, it's the suspicious timing, that is the reason!"

"This is Oliver Queen we're talking about." Laurel exploded. "He wrecks fancy cars and he dates but he doesn't kill people."

Slade smirked with the knowledge that Oliver Queen was very much a killer. He wondered how this Laurel would take seeing the kid kill a few people in practically cold blood or how he had let Shado die. The people Oliver had killed on screen thus far, to Slade, had deserved everything coming to them, but there had been people on the island, he was certain they would see as less-so deserving of what the kid would do to them.

"No, he just uses them, like he used Sara and like he used you, and he's only asked you to be his lawyer to get at me." Quentin stated angrily.

"No, he asked me to be his lawyer to get through to you." Laurel explained.

"You hate the Hood and you hate Oliver, and you want more than anything for them to be the same Oliver isn't the reason why Sara the reason mom left." She added.

Quentin huffed and wanted nothing more than to block out what his oldest daughter was saying in present and in the memory… however, he could see how right she was. The video evidence was flimsy at best, and he was grasping at straws to make Queen pay for what had happened to Sara. He could tell that his other self didn't think Queen had suffered enough while away on the island, but he didn't realize how wrong he was just yet.

"I don't have to listen to this." Quentin said, storming past her.

"And by the way," she added, "You're not the only one who misses them."

Quentin sighed, and then left as Laurel looked on sadly.

Tommy reached back over and touched Laurel gently on the arm. She leaned into his shoulder and allowed him to wrap one arm around her. Right now, she wanted the additional comfort. She missed her mom every day, but similar to how she felt towards her father, she hated her mother for practically running away from everything that had happened in Starling.

The scene changed back to Queen Manor. Oliver was in his room, working on his laptop and looking through the notebook when there was a knock on the door.

"Yup?" Oliver called. Diggle opened the door and walked into the room. "Thank you for coming." Oliver said, and then added quietly "Shut the door."

Diggle did so and walked over to Oliver. "I guess it was just a matter of time before the police caught up with you."

"Except they didn't."

"Oliver, they got you on video." Diggle protested.

"I knew the security camera was there, just like I knew the police would review the footage and arrest me." Oliver explained. "All part of the plan."

"He let himself get arrested?" Thea asked, unable to mask her shock. She would do anything to avoid being caught by the cops, but apparently, her brother was just that insane.

"Smart," Malcolm said with a shake of his head. When he noticed a few others were staring at him inquisitive, he decided to elaborate. He wanted to keep up the charade that all of this had nothing to do with him, but he didn't want to completely isolate himself out of the group. There was a lot he could learn. "Someone was bound to question the vigilante's timing and Oliver Queen's arrival back in Starling. He's working to erase suspicion by allowing himself to be publicly accused before getting all charges dropped."

"And how is he going to do that?" Quentin asked, not liking how it looked like he was tricked.

Malcolm only indicated back to the memory where Diggle stood.

"So you wanted to get arrested?" Digg asked, confused.

"Well, I returned to Starling City and a few days later, the vigilante appears." Oliver reasoned. "Sooner or later, somebody was going to make the connection."

"So what part of serving yourself up to the cops will help you avoid going to prison for the rest of your life?" Digg demanded.

Not wanting to meet Malcolm's smug gaze, Quentin kept his eyes on the memory. He scowled with the knowledge that the only evidence he had gotten against the vigilante had been handed to him by said vigilante. His bruised pride said it all.

"There's more to it."

"Well, there better be, for your sake, because your family is freaking out downstairs." He said, and then added "Oliver, your mother and your sister just got you back, and now you're going to put them through a trial, maybe even worse? Don't you care?" he pleaded.

"Of course I care." Oliver stated, looking at the man. "The mission comes first." He leant forward and turned the laptop around to show a news article, complete with photo, to Digg.

Thea and Moira looked as though they had been slapped. Both were ecstatic to have Oliver back or knowing they would soon enough, at the very least, but to hear Oliver flippantly blow off what they were feeling for the List was something else. To Thea, she felt crushed, but to Moira, she felt a small sense of pride. His father would be so proud to see his son trying desperately to change things.

"Who is he?" the bodyguard asked.

"Leo Mueller." Oliver started explaining. "German arms dealer. Suspected in the theft of a hundred M249 Squad Automatic Weapons."

"Ok." Digg said.

"Last night he arrived in Starling City to sell the guns." Oliver finished.

Groaning, Quentin tried not to imagine the Glades flooded with military grade guns. The city would be on fire, and he was sure that no one in SCPD had any idea that Leo Mueller was in town. Thus the only thing standing between these gang members and guns was the vigilante, who had an anklet on. He was beginning to see Oliver's plan, but he wasn't sure if Mr. Diggle would go for it just yet.

"Oliver, don't you imagine there's enough trouble you're in this week than to go after this guy?" Digg argued.

"I imagine what would happen if a street gang got their hands on military-grade hardware. I imagine our city's streets turned into a war zone." Oliver stated bluntly.

"But you're under house arrest, Oliver, which means you can't just go after this guy." Digg pointed out.

Thea's mouth formed an 'O' as she figured out exactly what her brother was planning. Tommy had finally caught on too while Laurel only sighed and shook her head. Slade was content to see that he had been right since the beginning of the memory. Glancing towards Artemis, he noticed that the archer switched between staring at him and staring at Malcolm. When she noticed his gaze, she focused back on him, bow raising an barely noticeable inch.

"Look, for now, I would just like you to shadow Mueller." Oliver said. "I would like you to track his movements. I want to know where the buy is happening."

Digg sighed. "Ok." He agreed. "And how am I supposed to track him?"

Oliver smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Well, you know us billionaire vigilantes" he said. "We do love our toys."

"How many billionaires are actually vigilantes?" Thea asked unbelieving. When she and the others heard Artemis snort, she spun and said, "Seriously?"

"You have no idea," Artemis responded with a grin thinking back the last few years… the two most note-worthy rich vigilantes after Oliver had to be Batman and ATOM. Both of whom were retired or semi-active at this point in the League.

The scene changed to the Foundry. Digg flipped on the lights, illuminating Oliver's lair. He took his first clear look at the space and stared in wonder. He walked over to one of the work tables, stopping by a row of arrows that Oliver had made. Hesitantly, he touched his finger to the tip of the arrow. "Ow!" he shook his finger, then started looking around. Finally he found what he had been looking for, a small black case. He hefted it up onto a nearby table, then opened the lid. "Oooh." He said in admiration at the three magnetic GPS transponders. He pulled one out and turned it on, testing it. It beeped happily at him. "Oh, well, that's sweet." He said.

"How do you think he hides all those charges?" Thea asked, tilting her head.

"Oliver does have control of his own credit cards," Tommy said thoughtfully.

Moira tried not think on what the credit card bill had to look like 'arrows, arrow heads, leather…' She hoped he did most of his purchases in cash or used a subsidiary to do all the purchases thus keeping his name off the books.

The scene changed to Queen Consolidated. Josiah Hudson, the head of security, entered Walter's office.

Malcolm shifted in his seat, nudging Moira just barely to show that he was, in fact, paying attention now. Moira masked her fear and hoped that Walter wasn't what she thought he was doing. Malcolm wouldn't hesitate to take out another one of her husbands if he felt threatened enough, and she couldn't allow that to happen.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked Walter, who was standing behind his desk looking out the window. Walter turned and looked at the man.

"No, I didn't." he said, giving the other man a meaningful look. "In fact, this meeting isn't taking place." Hudson nodded, and Walter indicated the seat in front of his desk. He took his own seat. "How long have you been head of security at Queen Consolidated, Josiah?" he asked.

"Going on seven years now, sir." Josiah replied.

Walter nodded to himself. "Sounds about right." He noted, leaning forward. "But what I'm about to tell you will test the bounds of your discretion." At the other man's nod, he continued. "You're aware of the 'Queen's Gambit', Robert Queen's ill-fated yacht?" he nodded again. "Well, I found it."

Malcolm glanced towards Moira, who refused to meet his gaze. If he wanted to berate her later, he was more than welcomed to, but she wasn't about to start here. She'd defend herself and Walter. There was more than enough dirt for her to expose to get Malcolm to back off. Shooting a glance towards Artemis, she had to wonder if the elder archer knew all of this. If so, why did Artemis want her to reveal Thea's true heritage? To her, Thea didn't need to know that she came from a monster.

Josiah blinked. "Sir, the boat went down in the North China Sea five years ago."

"Which is why my discovery of its remains in a warehouse downtown was unexpected, to say the least." He handed the man a slip of paper with an address on it. "I want you to transfer those remains to a secure location. Can I count on you?"

Josiah nodded and chuckled. "What's going on, sir?" he asked, half concerned, half amused. Walter gave him a look that killed his amusement.

"That's very much what I'm trying to determine." Walter said, ending the meeting.

Malcolm glanced towards Moira and whispered, "Stop him." The 'Or' was left out, but Moira got the message. His dark enforcer would end this witch hunt if she didn't end it first. That terrified her to no end; she had leverage over Malcolm but nothing to stop his enforcer… save maybe her son.

The scene shifted to SCPD. Laurel and Oliver made their way into the integration room, where Detective Lance and Kate Spencer were waiting for them.

"Thank you both for coming." Spencer said as the two sat down across the table.

"No, thank you." Oliver replied glibly. "It's nice to get out of the house."

"I'll cut right to it." Spencer glanced at Quentin, and then leaned forward. "Detective Lance arrested your client without consulting my office first. So congratulations. I am willing to consider a plea in this case."

"A plea?" Thea asked, not realizing at all what had just transpired between her mother and Malcolm. She was still unhappy about the fact her mother had Oliver kidnapped, but even she could see something larger at play. For now, she held her tongue and waited… only because she didn't want to keep interrupting the memories that might yield the answer as to how she became the archer in the corner.

"Absolutely not." Oliver replied at once, garnering a look from Laurel.

"He spent five years in seclusion on a deserted island, cut off from civilization." Spencer went on. "It is quite possible he's suffering from some form of post traumatic stress." She sat back. "Given that, we would support a plea of insanity." She offered. Oliver scoffed, even as she continued. "Conditional on a period of indeterminate incarceration at a psychiatric facility."

"What they mean is life," Laurel sighed. Any time a time period wasn't predetermined, the chances of someone actually leaving plummeted to nothing.

"So life in a jail cell or life in a padded cell?" Thea asked not liking her brother's choice.

"Better than death," Tommy pointed out before he realized his words. He immediately went quiet as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that Oliver in this time was, in fact, dead.

"No, thank you." Oliver said again. "I'm not crazy."

"Finally something we agree on." Lance muttered. "He's not a nut, he's a killing machine." He glared at the younger man.

"Seriously Dad?" Laurel asked incredulous.

"Well I'm right," he said. He didn't care that if his motives on arresting Oliver weren't pure.

"Actually, I'm neither." Oliver replied.

"There is nothing you can say to me that I would believe." Lance declared, giving Oliver an idea.

"I'll take a polygraph." He offered.

Laurel leaned back. "Uh, polygraphs are inadmissible." She told him over her shoulder.

"Why are they inadmissible?" Thea asked, innocently enough.

"Because Ms. Queen," Slade answered, "some people are capable of controlling their body's reactions to anxiety and stress. They are easy to manipulate."

"But my brother…" she said trailing off. She couldn't argue that Oliver would not be able to do that. He had held his composure against gunfire, after all.

"In front of the jury." Oliver agreed. He nodded at Quentin. "I'll take a polygraph in front of him. He's the one I need to convince."

"I'm going to need a minute." Laurel declared. The other two left the room, with Quentin shooting his daughter a look that she chose to ignore. When the door closed, she whirled around to Oliver. "You're looking at life in prison." She announced. "What Spencer just offered you is a gift."

"Life in a padded cell does not sound like a gift," Thea growled.

"For him, it might be," Laurel offered weakly.

"I'm not crazy. I am innocent." He reiterated. "I kind of want to take the polygraph." He added cheerfully, and then said "And if I take it and I fail, then I will consider making a deal."

Slade couldn't help but be curious as to what questions would be asked. He could tell that the Detective was unable to hold his composure in either times; he did not expect the man to follow a list of approved questions before Lance went off track to prove something, anything right.

Laurel looked at him and saw the sincerity in his face. "Fine." She said. "I'll set up the poly. And I will tell Spencer that we're not pleading out; but Oliver, you have a .People who actually care about you." She reminded him. "So don't, for one second, think you're the only person with something to lose here." She paused for a moment, then let out a long breath. "I'll be right back."

Moira, for one, prayed her son could beat the polygraph. She'd rather have her son free then spend any sort of time in a cell. Then there was the worry of what would happen if he was convicted. She didn't think he'd last a night in prison where he had helped put away a few criminals. That wasn't including what Malcolm might do to her son given the suspicion.

The scene flashed back to the island. Oliver, his hands still tied, was being led into a military-style camp by two masked soldiers. He was guided into a large tent and pushed up against the support pole. He winced as his bad shoulder shit.

Before him, seated behind a table, was a man in the same black uniform as everyone else, sans the mask. He was middle-aged and blonde, and when he spoke it was with a British accent.

Slade was all too obvious when he growled loudly. Everyone wanted to ask who this man was, but no one wanted to tempt Slade's rage at the moment. If there was anyone Slade hated more than the kid, it was probably Fryers. It was because of that man that he had lost Wintergreen, and without Fryers, Shado never would have been on the Island to start.

"Please, sit." The man said, indicating a chair. "You're making me feel rude." Oliver dropped heavily into the chair. "I do apologize for my men's treatment of you." He continued, opening a soda and pouring it into a glass with ice. Oliver eyed the drink longingly. "They're trained to view any stranger as hostile.I'm Edward Fyers, by the way." He introduced himself. "And you are?"

"I'm Oliver Queen." Oliver said after a moment. "I was shipwrecked here. I don't know for how long. My family has money." He said suddenly, desperately. "They have lots of money you would be you'd be really well compensated for my rescue." He assured him.

"Well, I look forward to that." Fyers replied casually. "But for the moment, let's just talk."

Moira did not like where this conversation was going. She had never been contacted once about Oliver being alive, so whoever this man was, this conversation was not going to end well for her son. She just prayed that Oliver would find a way to escape.

"About what?" Oliver asked tiredly.

"Well, for instance this gentleman." Fyers reached behind him and pulled a photo off a crate. He showed it to Oliver. "Do you know him?"

The picture showed a younger and much cleaner Yao Fei, dressed in full PLA uniform. Oliver recognized him almost instantly, and for a second thought about saying so; but something about Fyers, his men and this whole camp was setting off alarm bells in the back of his mind.

"No." he said after a pause.

Cocking his head, Slade hadn't realized the kid had lied about knowing Yao Fei when he had first been captured. He had thought that perhaps the kid had just refused to give up the cave's location, so Slade had to give the kid some acknowledgement that he was protecting a man he barely knew.

"Why didn't he just tell him yes?" Thea wondered.

"Because it wouldn't have mattered," Artemis answered. "The truth here would not have helped Oliver."

Laurel and Tommy wanted to ask why, but they got the feeling that Artemis wouldn't be very forthcoming. The elder archer had tiptoed around a lot of information, only sharing when she thought it was necessary. That told them they'd get their answer soon enough they figured.

"No?"

"No." he repeated firmly. "Who's he?"

Fyers smiled tightly. "You're a poor liar." He declared. He sat back in his chair and crossed him arms. "I've been polite. I'll offer you one more chance before my manners leave me."

Desperately, Moira wanted her son to tell this man the truth, but she could see it in her son's eyes that he wouldn't. Her son was a lot of things, back then, including loyal to friends. He had always wanted to protect Tommy; it seemed to be only Laurel that he had constantly broken.

"Hey, hey…I don't know this guy." Oliver again argued. "I thought I was on this island all by myself."

"Do you know what this island is named?" Fyers asked. Oliver shook his head, and he continued. "We're on Lian Yu- Mandarin for 'Purgatory'," he leaned forward, his gaze boring into Oliver's eyes, "and I can make it feel like hell."

Malcolm leaned back in his chair, gaze steely. He didn't need to be told where this was going quickly, and he felt terrible for the Queen scion. However, he couldn't bate his curiosity about how this version of Oliver would deal with the pain in his future.

Fyers got up and walked around the table so that he was standing by Oliver. "I don't know why you're protecting him." He said, looking down at the boy. "You're young, you don't know why, either." He considered, then in a harsher voice, "Think on that when you're begging for death." He walked out of the tent. As he went through the flap, he called out "He's yours now."

Oliver turned to see a large man, dressed in black body armor and a balaclava that was half gold, and half dark blue. He carried an uzi in his hand, wore a bandoleer across his chest with M433 grenades, a knife in his boot, and a sword slung across his back. Oliver wasn't paying attention to the weapons, however, he was looking at the man's eyes, the only human part he could see- eyes blacker than the body armor he wore.

It felt like a life time since Slade had last seen Wintergreen, and all these years later, he only felt utter hatred for his once partner. Given the chance, he'd be more than willing to kill Wintergreen over and over again. That man had almost been the reason he had never left the Island and see his son again.

The scene flashed back to Queen Manor. Workmen were busy setting up for the party. Thea was sitting out on the pool deck starring absently at the Hōzen Oliver had given her, lost in thought.

"Hey, Speedy," Oliver called, poking his head out the door. "One of the workers left a keg too far from the you ask them to move it please?" he smiled and lifted his leg a bit, shaking the ankle monitor. "I got the ankle thingie. I don't want to set off a SWAT invasion." He joked. Thea gave him a devastated look. "Hey!" he said, coming out and sitting in the chair next to her. "All this stuff? It's going to be fine, I promise." He said sincerely.

"How could he say that?" Thea muttered. "He is going to die."

"Not that day," Artemis added, seeing the sullen sink of her younger self's shoulders.

"But he does," Thea argued. "You told us, and because of what he does… because of me." She whispered the last part, unable to wrap her head around what she could have done exactly to force Oliver to save her. It terrified her to think that she had killed her brother in some small way.

"Yeah, well, when you and dad left on the yacht, you promised me I'd see you in a few days." Thea pointed out sadly. "Which didn't happen."

Moira glared at Malcolm, who smartly did not meet her gaze.

"This is different than that." He countered. "I didn't do any of this stuff, you know that." He paused, seeing her hesitancy. "Right?"

"You're out all the time." She said sadly. "You have those scars, and since you've been back, you've been acting really weird."

"None of this makes me some Robin Hood wannabe."

"And you get me this." She lifted up the Hōzen. "I mean, it's an arrowhead."

"Oh, man." He sighed. "Thea, I bought that in the gift shop of the Beijing airport." He lied. Oliver smiled. "Now I'm sort of happy I didn't buy you the shot glass with the panda on it, 'cause then you'd be worried I was panda man." He joked, finally drawing a smile out of Thea.

"Why do I get the feeling that is not where he got it?" Thea sighed.

Tommy and Laurel smiled reassuringly at the younger Queen. They were whiplashed from watching this, but they couldn't imagine how the younger girl was feeling. After all, it was her older self standing watch over them, bow in hand, ice running in her veins.

"You know, I knew you couldn't be this person." She chuckled. "I-I just… I can't lose you again."

"Deal." He agreed.

Artemis closed her eyes trying not to focus on the fact on how she did lose Oliver. She had been forced to watch that night, fire draping the horizon. She had underestimated the League of Assassins and they dislike for being manipulated. It should have cost her her life; instead, it had taken her brother… then there were the others they had lost that night. Too much blood had been spilt that night.

The scene changed to downtown Starling City. Moira walked into an office where Malcolm Merlyn sat, signing papers at his desk.

Malcolm was beginning to get the distinct feeling that his lack of appearance in these memories was about to change. The thought of people seeing the real him excited him and made him nervous all the same. He had spent years honing his own mask, and he'd hate to see all that work for nothing…

"Moira." He said pleasantly, putting down his pen. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Would you please make this quick?" she asked, "I'm in the midst of somewhat of a family emergency."

"Yes, it's all over the local news." He chuckled. "Possibly even national."

"Well, I know what you're thinking." Moira began.

"Do you?" he replied, the smile still on his face but an edge to his voice.

When Moira moved to accuse Malcolm of what he planned, Artemis took a step forward, effectively silencing her. The end of the memory would reveal all, and Artemis wanted it to be seen first. Otherwise people would be less believing of the fact Malcolm Merlyn was a cold hearted mastermind.

"My son is not the man targeting the list." She assured him. "The charges are preposterous."

"Not according to the district attorney, assistant district attorney, investigating detective in the police department that filed charges against him." He said harshly.

"That detective has a vendetta against my family." Moira argued.

"Why? Is there something untoward about your family?" Malcolm asked. Moira's eyes flickered to the second man in the room, Malcolm's bodyguard. Then she returned her gaze to Malcolm. "If so, something really needs to be done about that." He finished.

"Did you just threaten my family?" Detective Lance practically roared. He reared to his feet in time for Artemis to shove him back down.

"Enough fighting," she growled.

"He!" Quentin began.

"I know, believe me, I know," Artemis reassured. "But this will get us nowhere." She would have let Detective throw a few punches if she hadn't known that Malcolm would practically respond a thousand times more vicious.

Malcolm glanced over towards Artemis and Quentin and shot the Detective a cold smile. Lance twitched with anger, but this time, he held himself in check. He was starting to see the real outline of Malcolm Merlyn and why this man was here.

"That List is yours isn't it?" he asked.

Without even glancing towards the Detective, Malcolm answered simply with, "Yes." Tommy's head swiveled towards his father, but he wasn't sure what was more shocking: the face his father had threatened someone or that this dreaded List was his.

The scene changed to the SCPD, where Oliver was hooked up to the polygraph. Laurel was seated beside him, while Quentin and the polygraph tech sat across the table.

"Is your name Oliver Queen?" Quentin asked.

"You don't know who I am, Detective?" Oliver joked.

"The questions are to calibrate the polygraph. Is your name Oliver Queen?" Quentin demanded.

"Yes."

"Were you born in Starling City May 16th, 1985?"

"Yes."

"Is your hair blue?"

"No."

"There was that one time," Tommy offered trying to break the tension. Artemis now leaned up against their couch, her eyes shifting from one person to the next looking for trouble.

"Have you ever been to Iron Heights prison?" Quentin asked, looking at Oliver.

"No." Oliver replied calmly. Laurel looked over at him, surprise registering on her face for a moment before she schooled her expression.

"We went there on a school trip," Laurel muttered, suddenly trusting wholeheartedly that Oliver could beat this polygraph.

Quentin pulled out the sketch of the Hood. "Are you the man in this picture?"

Oliver flashed back to his interrogation on the island by Fyers and Bill Wintergreen. "Where can I find the man in this picture?" Fyers demanded of Oliver, who was tied with his arms above his head to the support post in the middle of the tent. The masked man loomed menacingly behind him.

"Please no," Moira whispered in fear.

Back in the present, Oliver answered "No."

Quentin looked at the tech, who nodded, showing Oliver was telling the truth. Lance licked his teeth, then tried a different approach. "You steal 40 million dollars off Adam Hunt?" Quentin demanded.

Slade grinned knowingly. He hadn't expected any less from the kid; if one could hold their tongue during torture, one could fake their way through a polygraph test.

"No, I didn't." Oliver answered.

"Were you marooned on an island called Lian Yu for 5 years?" Quentin asked.

"Yes."

"How is that even relevant?" Laurel demanded, cutting in. Quentin glared at her.

"I don't need to show relevance, but since you asked, whatever happened to your client on that island turned him into a cold blooded killer."

To Slade then, they needed to show the moment Oliver chose Sara over Shado. At least if the Detective wanted his answer they would need too.

Oliver thought back to his torture on the island, of Wintergreen's sword cutting into his flesh as he screamed in pain.

Thea cried out while Moira stifled her tears at the sight of her son being torn apart. Laurel buried her face into Tommy's shoulder, who only closed his eyes praying silently for a mute button. No one wanted to watch this except for maybe Slade.

As an ex-League member, Malcolm understood such pain all too well. For someone untrained and unexpecting, the pain would be impossible to block out. It showed how much more the young boy had gone through since this first scene. To learn to look past the pain and focus through it required years of training and mental honing. It was the only way to survive… but everyone still had their breaking point.

Quentin wanted nothing more than to look away, but this was his fault. He had asked the question, so he forced himself to watch it. No one deserved this…

"The physician that examined you reported that is covered in scar tissue." Quentin stated coldly. Laurel glanced at Oliver in shock, the looked back to her father.

"The machine won't work unless you ask a question." She said.

"Did that happen to you there?" Quentin asked bluntly.

His mind still on the torture, nevertheless Oliver managed to answer calmly, "Yes."

"Have you not done enough?" Thea said, her body shaking, tears running down her face. However, she hadn't shouted this at Quentin but at her older self. "Have we not seen enough? We get it. We don't need to see this."

Without breaking eye contact with the screen, Artemis answered cooly, "Yes you do." A crucible was needed if any change was to be expected.

"When you came back, you told everyone that you were alone on that island." Quentin noted. "Are you claiming that your scars were self-inflicted?"

"No." Oliver admitted. "I wasn't alone. I didn't want to talk about what happened to me on the island." He said.

"Why not?" Quentin asked.

In the present, Quentin had the sense to look ashamed. He should have realized what the scars had meant, and perhaps he had. In his anger, he had purposely poked at a sore wound; he had wanted to hurt Queen… never realizing what that might entail.

Oliver looked at the man steadily. "Because the people that were there tortured me." He admitted, to both Laurel and Quentin's shock.

Thea curled in on herself, trying to forget her brother's screams; her hands were pressed firmly over her ears. She blocked out the world around herself. For the moment, Artemis allowed it. Her younger self was still so young and naïve.

"Have you killed anyone?" Quentin asked.

Oliver paused for a long moment, before looking back up at Lance. "Yes." He admitted.

"He wouldn't just confess…" the Detective said slowly, thankful that the memories of Oliver being tortured seemed to have passed. He wasn't sure how much more he, himself, could take. However, that made him wonder exactly what Oliver would be opening up about if not the murders in Starling City.

Quentin's eyes flickered towards Laurel, satisfaction clearly evident in his eyes. He looked back at Oliver. "When I asked your daughter Sara to come on my father's yacht with me." The young man finished brokenly, the very tenuous grip on his control slipping briefly. "I killed your daughter." He admitted again. He tore the sensors off his body, ignoring the look of rage and pain on Quentin's face and the look of sadness on Laurel's as he stormed out of the room.

"He blames himself, isn't that not enough for you?" Moira said, still choked up over her son tied up and bleeding. "Has he not suffered enough?"

"Moira," Quentin said slowly. "I didn't know… I wouldn't…" He wanted to defend himself, but the fact was he had never stopped to wonder what had happened in those five years. He had only focused on what had happened to Sara.

After the door closed, the Tech looked at Quentin. "I'd have to study the data, but just eyeballing it, he's telling the truth." He stated. Quentin hummed noncommittally.

"Can I assume that you'll be recommending Ms. Spencer to drop all charges against my client?" Laurel asked, rising from her seat. Quentin shook his head.

"No." he said. "I know a guilty man when I see one. He is guilty, whether you can see it or not." Laurel glared at her father, and then stormed out of the room, leaving Quentin there with his thoughts.

The older business man was getting the impression that the Lance's would have to be dealt with in order for the Undertaking to proceed. The Detective was too stubborn to let things go, and had he caught wind of the Undertaking, Malcolm was certain that Lance would not stop until it was completely exposed. Something the Dark Archer could not allow. He shuddered to think how Ra's al Ghul would respond to his plan to level the Glades.

The scene cut to Queen Manor later that night, and Oliver's party was in full swing. Oliver himself came out, dressed in a faux prison jumpsuit, and hopped on top of the small stage that had been erected. He mimed to the DJ to cut off the music, which she did promptly.

At the sound of the music, Thea looked up to see her brother in a jumpsuit and laughed. "I'm glad to see he has a sense of humor about this," she mumbled. She rested her head back down on her knees, but this time, she kept her eyes on the screen.

"Hi, everybody!" he yelled. The crowd yelled back in Lance looked up from the crowd in thinly veiled disgust. "I'm very touched that you came to celebrate with me before I am sent up the river! Closest neighbors are six miles away, so don't worry about the noise." He paused. "Actually, on second thought, let's wake those losers up!" The crowd roared and the DJ turned the music back on.

"He does know how to throw a party," Tommy said with a small smile.

Laurel groaned, "He's going to get himself arrested for a noise complaint."

"Least of his worries though," Tommy jokingly replied. It was made in a half-attempt since he didn't find the other charges all that amusing.

Oliver jumped down and walked through the crowd, careful to stay on the pool deck lest Lance have a reason to arrest him (again). He walked over to Diggle.

"If you think this is what prison's like, you are in for a rude awakening." He joked as the two headed back inside.

Secured in Oliver's room, he showed Digg his phone, which was tied into the GPS tracker. "Mueller's car has been parked in the warehouse district of the Glades for 45 minutes." Oliver stated.

"Yeah, that's a good place for an arms deal." Digg noted. "Ok, since this is going down tonight, what do we do, drop a dime on Mueller with the cops?" he asked.

"No, the man in the Hood." Oliver announced. "He's going to stop them."

Moira smiled seeing how this was going to go now. She thanked Oliver for having a plan, something to erase doubt of him being the Hood. Slade and Malcolm weren't shocked; they had been waiting the entire memory for Oliver to ask Mr. Diggle to put the Hood on.

"Great," Quentin grumbled seeing how he was about to lose his case.

"Oliver, you can't leave the house." Diggle argued.

"It doesn't have to be me in the hood." He replied, giving Diggle a significant look. Diggle chuckled, more out of annoyance than amusement.

"That's why you threw this ridiculous party? So you have a hundred witnesses placing you here at the house while I'm supposed to be across town dressed as a vigilante?"

"I thought that it was going to be good enough just for you to be seen in the hood." Oliver explained. "I didn't count on Mueller showing up and I didn't count on the possibility that the Glades could be flooded with machine guns." At Diggle's glare, he softened his tone. "Look. I promise, it was never my intention to put you in harm's way." He said apologetically.

"Will or won't he?" Tommy asked Laurel with a smile.

"Obviously will considering where we are sitting," she responded, glad that no one was currently at someone else's throat.

"Oliver, I didn't think joining your crusade was ever going to be risk-free." Diggle said after a moment. "I just don't like being played. Now you might have gotten used to lying to everyone else in your life, but I'm the one guy you don't lie to." He told him sternly. Oliver nodded in acceptance.

"You're right. I'm sorry." He said sincerely. They stared at one another, and then Diggle walked past him. "So am I going to jail?" Oliver asked, a little desperation creeping into his voice. Digg turned to him.

"No, man." He said. "I got to stop an arms deal."

"And there goes my case," Quentin growled in frustration.

"You didn't expect Oliver to be that easy to catch, did you?" Artemis asked amused. "He gave you the evidence you used to arrest him, after all."

The scene changed to Queen Consolidated, where Walter was working late. His phone rand and he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Sir ," the voice on the other end of the call said, "I'm sorry to bother you, is Mike Vogel down in security. I'm afraid I have some sad news for company's head of security, Josiah Hudson, was in a car accident 's dead, sir." Walter stared at the phone in shock.

Shifting slightly, Moira glared at Malcolm, who knowingly smiled. He could tell when something was his work, and it was easy to set up accidents when needed. It didn't always have to be his enforcer out, putting arrows into people. He did try to avoid it since the cause of death seemed to be a tad more extravagant that way; then again, with another archer in town, it would be easy to place blame on Oliver while using his Dark Archer to clean up a few less savory members of the List or those part of the Undertaking that were getting cold feet.

Back at Queen Manor, Oliver was getting a drink at one of the bars set up in the foyer. He turned around to see Laurel walk in the door

"Hello." He said pleasantly. "Do we have a legal meeting or something? Because I have friends over."

Laurel looked around in bemusement. "Do you think maybe you can tear yourself away from this inappropriately themed rave for a couple minutes?" she asked wryly.

Oliver led her up to his bedroom "Wow." She remarked upon seeing it. "I can't remember the last time that I've been in this room."

"I can." Oliver replied instantly. "Halloween, were getting ready for Tommy's party."

"Ah, Yes." She remembered, walking into the room. "I wore those horrible fishnets."

Roy unable to help himself said into Artemis's ear pierce, "Can I inform her what her newer costume looks like?" Artemis ignored him and pulled out the communicator for the moment.

"I thought you looked good." Oliver remarked, closing the door. They both smiled at the memory.

"Listen," Laurel began, turning to face him. "I just wanted to come by and apologize for my father's behavior the polygraph."

"You don't have to apologize for him." Oliver said. "He has a right to feel any way that he wants."

"It wasn't just Sara, Ollie."

"What do you mean?" he asked. Laurel took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"After Sara died, my father threw himself into his work.I think that's part of the reason I'm an attorney. He ran to the law and I followed. But my mother couldn't." she explained. "So she left him." She sighed. "Left us." She stepped closer to him. "Look, I'm not trying to tell you this to make you feel bad, or worse. I just-I really want you to understand him."

"Why don't you hate me?" Oliver asked plaintively. "You should."

"Oh Oliver," Laurel said sadly. She might hate what he did, but she could never hate him. She had been in shock when he had returned, and she hoped given this second chance she could make him see that she could forgive his actions. There were too many years between them for her to just throw away for a stupid adolescent mistake. Five years on that island, no man deserved punishment such as that.

"I did." Laurel agreed. "For so long, I did, after today, I realized that I was so focused on what happened to my family that I didn't even stop and wonder what could have happened to you." She exhaled loudly. "I didn't know about the torture, or your happened to you on that island was far more than you deserved. And I was wrong that I didn't ask you before, but I'm asking you now. I need to know .I need to see." she pleaded.

Tommy cringed at the thought of how the Laurel on screen was beginning to fall for Oliver again. He could tell that she saw him as he kept saying he was: wounded. She had always been soft for those in need or in his case those with less than savory reputations. Tommy understood this and had loved Laurel for it, but he didn't want her to get hurt again.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes." At her answer, he slowly undid the buttons on his shirt, but he couldn't bring himself to open it. Laurel did that, reaching up hesitantly and gently parting the shirt halves to reveal the scared tissue underneath. She gasped softly. "How did you survive this?" she asked softly.

"There were times when I wanted to die." Oliver said truthfully. "In the end there was something I wanted more."

There were two things Malcolm could see that that to be: Ms. Lance and his city. Things like the former could be exploited if necessary. The Lances were a thorn, but perhaps for Malcolm, it would be better if he only took care of the father then used the daughter to control Oliver. Or… he glanced towards Thea. It was obvious that the boy would do anything to protect his sister, and the Lances would probably be too much of a hassle to keep alive. The sister would do well. Malcolm smiled to himself.

Slowly they came together, until finally they were kissing. It was at once both sweet and desperate, a fulfillment of a longing both had long ago resigned to the past.

Laurel was the one to finally break the kiss. "No." she gasped, backing away, shocked by her own actions. She practically ran past Oliver. Grabbing her purse from the ground as she opened the door.

More than anything at first Tommy wanted to scowl then cheer. However, he didn't think Laurel would appreciate either, so he kept his arm wrapped around her and made no moves that he could help. Thea, on the other hand, could see right past Tommy's false bravado and tried not to roll her eyes.

"Laurel, you don't have to go." Oliver said, pain and sadness creeping into his voice, but she was already gone.

The scene flashed back to Lian Yu. Oliver as hanging by his wrests limply, blood oozing from several deep cut inflected by Wintergreen.

Crude but effective, Slade couldn't help but think. Nonetheless, the kid had held on to what he knew and hadn't given up Yao Fei. Slade couldn't help but wonder why here Oliver had the strength to hold on here but not when it had come to Shado.

"You don't seem to like that man," Malcolm noted towards Slade. He had watched the mercenary scowl whenever the torturer had been on screen.

"He betrayed me," Slade growled unwilling to let the businessman think he had poked nothing more than a healed wound. "Godfather to my son, and he betrayed me." As Oliver had.

Artemis thought back on Joe Wilson. The last time she had seen him, they had been on opposite sides of the fight. Joe had taken up his father's mask, and she had run into him only a few years after Oliver had vanished from their lives. They had clashed, and she had done her best to get through to him. A small part of her had considered putting him down that night, if only to avoid the trouble Slade had given Oliver, but she had decided against it. She hadn't seen him since, but she had heard the rumor that he had switched sides after a brutal fight with Nightwing.

"Amazing." Fyers said. Oliver forced himself to open his eyes, glaring weakly at the man. "You have resolve I didn't credit you for." He complimented, then considered. "Or perhaps he truly doesn't know should put him out of his misery." He told his masked assistant. Wintergreen moved forward-

Moira gripped the couch armrest, hoping for a miracle.

Then suddenly Yao Fei was there. He took down one guard and Fyers, fired one arrow that severed the rope holding Oliver up, sending him crashing to the ground. Then he shot an arrow at Wintergreen- who caught is mere centimeters from his face. He snapped the arrowhead off with his thumb and drew his sword, and the two went back and forth furiously for several minutes. Yao Fei was able to use his bow to block the sword, and finally managed to get one good hit in on the masked man's face. The Asian then pulled up Oliver and dragged him out of the tent.

She loosened her grip now that she had seen Oliver was out of that evil man's grasp. Moira did not know where this Yao Fei was in their time, but she at this point needed to thank him desperately for saving her son so many times.

The scene shifted to the present. Down at the docks, Mueller was showing off his merchandise to a couple of gang bangers.

"It's an M249 machine gun." He described, taking the weapon in question from his assistant and showing it off. "Gas-powered, air-cooled, fires up to 800 rounds per minute." He tossed it to the gang leader, who whistled in appreciation. Suddenly, the lights went out. Mueller looked around in alarm. He grabbed the gun out of the teen's hands. "We need to move, now!" he shouted, just as The Hood came out of the shadows. He took out the three gangbangers with fists and feet, finally catching the third in a chokehold and holding him until the boy passed out. Mueller and his men sped off in a Mercedes, leaving the tuck and his merchandise behind. With three gang members on the ground, Diggle looked around, satisfied.

Tommy couldn't help but look a tad impressed. He hadn't thought Mr. Diggle would handle himself so well- ex-military or not. He had run into a few old soldiers that couldn't hold their own in a fight like that.

"You should probably hire Mr. Diggle anyway," Malcolm said towards Moira, who was still being cold towards him. "If only to give Oliver the necessary back-up."

The Detective tried to think of a few ways that perhaps he could arrest Mr. Diggle to prevent this, but he had begun to see that he had already used his badge irresponsibly enough.

The scene changed to Queen Consolidated. Walter was sitting behind his desk, steeling himself for the conversation that was soon to come. He looked up as Moira walked into the office.

"I'm not accustomed to being summoned to the office in the middle of the night." She began, putting her purse down on a chair, "Well, what was it that was so important that I had to race down here?"

"I found the 'Queen's Gambit', Moira." Walter said without preamble. A look of panic and fear flitted across her face. "I know you secretly had the boat salvaged." He went on. "I wanted to move it to a more secure location before confronting you about it. In fact, I sent Josiah Hudson to the warehouse for precisely that purpose." He took a breath. "But he died mysteriously in a car accident." He looked at his wife. "I hope you now have a better understanding of why it is I've been so distant of late." He continued as she took a seat. "It's very disconcerting to discover that the person with whom you share your home, your bed and your heart has been lying to you so convincingly, and I would be a fool not to consider all the things that you have told me were lies."

Malcolm leaned in to say something when Thea spoke up, "What do you two keep whispering about?" She scooted to the edge of the couch. "You're always talking to each other… about what? The List?"

"Thea," Moira said, her voice tight. She didn't want her daughter and Malcolm speaking; she didn't care what Artemis said. Her daughter didn't need to know where she came from. Moira had to protect Thea at any cost and that included letting her think that Robert was her father.

"Walter, you're my husband, I-" she tried, but he cut her off.

"Yes, I am." He said coldly.

"Walter, please." Moira stood. She looked pleadingly at her husband, "You've got to stop looking into this, it's not safe. You'll be-you'll be upsetting people, people with influence. You are very far out of your depth." She warned.

"And now Walter?" Thea snapped. "Are you going to have him kidnapped next?" She eyed Mr. Merlyn hesitantly, but she didn't hide her scowl.

Slade was starting to see how this pathetic young girl would eventually turn into the archer in the room. The girl may have lacked a bit of courage, but she had a spine and some bite. That's all that was needed sometimes.

Back at Queen Manor, Oliver was still holed up in his room when his phone rang. He answered it.

"Man in the hood, one, gangbangers, zero." Diggle said.

There was a knock at the door. "Hang on." He said to the phone, then put it to his chest. "Yeah?"

"Mr. Queen," outside the door, Malcolm Merlyn's bodyguard, dressed as a bartender, was quietly attaching a silencer to his pistol. "If you're entertaining guests upstairs, should I have some drinks sent up?" he called through the door.

Whatever fight was about to transpire between Moira and her daughter ceased the moment the gunman came on the screen. While no one else might recognize that man, Malcolm and Moira did. She didn't hesitate this time in turning and slapping Malcolm as hard as she could muster. "You bastard! You will not have my son killed!" Not expecting a violent reaction, he hadn't stopped her, but the moment she went to try again, he snatched her wrist.

"Enough," he growled in warning. He felt the tip of an arrow pressed against the back of his neck.

"Let her go," Artemis snapped. "Or I sever your spinal cord… and unlike Slade, you won't recover from that." Across the room, the mercenary watched with piqued interest.

Malcolm could estimate the angle of the arrow based on how it was pressed against him, thus he could theoretically dodge it and snatch the bow away. That would reveal his skill though, and like Artemis had predicted, he let Moira go and held up his hands innocently.

"Dad," Tommy said in shock. He didn't want to believe his father would hire a hitman to kill his best friend.

Malcolm ignored Tommy though and addressed Artemis. "Are you going to lower the bow?"

"No," she snarled as she took a step back. This way Malcolm would have to cross more space to disarm her; she had made her point.

"No." Oliver responded, getting up to rejoin the party. "It's just me up here and I'm on my way back down." Into his phone, he said quietly. "Good job. Now get back here." He went to open the door as he hung up his phone, and he was briefly startled by the bartender that was standing there. He was even more startled when the man brought his gun up. Acting on instinct, he grabbed the gunman's hand, forcing the gun away from his face, and punched him solidly on the jaw. He dragged the man into the room, quickly disarming him, but soon the man fought back. The two flew over the love seat and crashed through a coffee table, smashing it to bits. He tossed the killer across the room, inadvertently right to his gun. The man got up and was about to shoot Oliver when suddenly he was shot from behind by a charging Lance. The two men looked at one another in shock.

"Thank you detective," Moira said truthfully, her glare never once leaving Malcolm.

"I put a target on his back," Quentin sighed. "Whether I was right or not, I'm sorry about that."

The Queen matron nodded, happy for the apology even if it took her son almost dying to get it.

Later downstairs, Oliver and Thea were sitting on one of the couches in the sitting room, Oliver with an ice pack in hand. Tommy sat across from them in a chair. Lance was busy talking on his phone.

"Yeah." Lance grunted into the phone. "Yep." He hung up and looked over at Oliver.

"How did you know I was in trouble?" Oliver asked curiously.

"Because when the guy was fighting you, he broke the ankle monitor." Lance responded truthfully.

Just then, Moira and Walter walked in briskly. "Are you all right?!" she asked her son, panicked.

"I'm fine."

"Oliver…"

"Mom. I promise." He assured her. That fear aside, she whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at Lance. "This is on you." She practically snarled. "By accusing my son publicly, you've made him a target."

"Do you have any idea who attacked Oliver?" Walter demanded.

"Apparently my father," Tommy growled, and with Laurel shooting Malcolm a glare, she took Tommy's hand and pulled it into her lap. She wanted to reassure the younger Merlyn that she was here for him just as he had been here for her.

"We haven't identified him." Lance admitted. "Though it must be someone with a grudge against the Hood, obviously." Lance moved towards Oliver and removed the ankle monitor.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked as he did it.

"I got a call from my lieutenant. An arms dealer was attacked across town tonight." He paused, and then said reluctantly "By the vigilante. Multiple witnesses put him there." He turned to Moira. "In light of that, all charges against your son are being dropped."

"I'm truly sorry for what's happened to your family, Quentin." She said softly, and then her voice hardened. "But would you kindly get the hell out of my house." It was an order, not a question.

"Mr. Lance," Oliver called out. "Thank you." He said sincerely. Lance nodded in reply, and then left.

Laurel smiled at the sight of her father and her ex getting somewhat on more even ground. They were a far way from being okay with each other, but the truth of what Oliver had shared during the polygraph had helped to bring some closure to the Lance's in the memory and the present ones.

The scene changed to the next day. Moira entered Malcolm's office as he was preparing to leave.

"Moira." He said pleasantly. "Did we have an appointment?"

"No, but I decided to screw propriety after you tried to have my son killed." Moira shot back.

Malcolm smiled slightly at the fire in her voice. "I'm sure you understand, I was justified in suspecting your son of being the vigilante targeting our associates." He explained calmly. "I had to take steps."

"You bastard," Tommy shouted. It was one thing to see Moira accuse his father, but to now hear it being true. He wanted to finish what Mrs. Queen had started, but the sight of Artemis, arrow notched at his father, kept him from moving. He wasn't sure why, but seeing an older version of Thea being so careful about how she stood created a pit in his stomach.

"And now that you know your steps were taken in error; that Oliver is not your enemy." She asked. Malcolm chuckled.

"I offer my sincerest apologies."

"Like hell you do," Moira growled as she forced herself to stand and move away from Malcolm. She glanced towards Artemis and tried to understand why Thea would even want to know the truth.

Over on the couch, Thea scooted over giving Moira just enough room to join them leaving Malcolm alone on his side of the room with Artemis keeping guard.

Moira glared at him. "I know you found out I had the yacht salvaged, just as I know you had Josiah Hudson killed." She said pointedly.

"Well, accidents tend to befall people who are too curious." He replied, equally pointed.

"I've been the good soldier." She shot back. "I've done everything you asked. But if any member of my family so much as gets a paper cut, I will burn your entire world to ashes." She threatened, turning and walking out of the room. Malcolm smiled as she left.

"I'm sure you would Moira," Malcolm said glancing towards the older woman. He had leverage still though- both her daughter and her husband. Both of which he was more than willing to exploit for his end goal.

The scene changed back to the Manor. As Oliver was picking through the wreckage in his room, he found the small leather pouch that contained his healing herbs. He sat back down on his bed and stared at the bag, remembering.

Flashback to the island, where Yao Fei helps a struggling Oliver into the cave. He laid him down on the cot.

"I tell you, island dangerous, but you not tell them where to find me." He said in admiration, "You stronger than I thought." He held out the leather pouch containing the herbs. "Take it." He said, and Oliver did so. "I lead them off, you stay." He moved to the cave' entrance. "Remember, breathe." He called back. "You breathe, you survive here longer."

Oliver struggled to get to his feet. "No! I'm coming with you!" he called out, just as Yao Fei triggered a large rock to fall in front of the entrance, hiding it.

"Why… why help him then trap him?" Thea asked, her gaze less on the memories and more on Artemis.

"Because he's injured and only a hindrance to Yao Fei," Slade explained, feeling in a giving mood. "At this point, the kid's practically useless in a fight."

Back in the present, there was a knock on Oliver's door. It opened to reveal Laurel.

"Rough party." He joked.

"My father told me what happened." Laurel said. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He assured her.

Laurel held up a white envelope. "These are your polygraph results." She said, stepping closer. "My father asked you if you'd ever been to Iron Heights." She continued. "It's the prison where the vigilante saved me last week. It's also where you and I went on our eighth grade field trip." She added. Oliver kept his face blank. "When you said that you had never been there, I thought maybe you were just nervous, or that you'd forgotten. But then I looked at your results, and there is a slight flutter in your answer to that question. And if you lied on one, you could have lied on others." She finished.

Slade wanted to mutter stupid kid; this girl was going to be the reason he was discovered if he wasn't more careful. The people closest to one were usually the most dangerous. It was why Slade planned to go after them first when he made his way to Starling.

"What happened to me being too selfish to be a masked crusader?" he asked coldly.

"Oliver! I saw your scars!" she exclaimed. Oliver looked away, and then moved to stand right in front of her. Though he didn't look at her; instead he kept his eyes on the ground.

"Do you want to know why I don't talk about what happened to me there?" he asked. He finally looked right at her. "Because if people knew; if you knew… you'd see me differently. And not as some vigilante guy. As damaged." He sighed. "I don't sleep. I barely eat. I can barely sign my name, let alone aim a bow and arrow." He said emotionally, only partially lying.

"Why can't we see the truth?" Laurel asked. "We all expect him to be the same old Oliver, but that would make no sense after five years."

"You see only what you want to see Ms. Lance," Malcolm said, appreciating the ease at which Oliver was keeping his cover. He watched as multiple people tried to stare daggers into him, but he ignored them with ease. The only person who had his attention besides the memory was Artemis behind him. With her stepped back, it would take considerably more skill to disarm her if necessary.

Laurel took a breath. "After last night clearly we're still attracted to one another." She said. "Oliver. Nothing can ever happen between us." She stated.

"I know." He replied. She handed him the results, then turned and left.

The scene changed to the lair. Oliver was moving his munitions crate to the top of one of the work tables.

"So you lied to her." Digg said, then added, "Or maybe you just gave her a version of the truth."

"I told her what she needed to hear, Diggle." Oliver argued. "She was too close."

"Sad thing is, I think you actually believe that." Digg countered. "I think things didn't go down exactly how you planned."

Diggle's voice continued as we see Thea, seated at her desk in her room, looking over an article about Oliver. She looked over, then picked up the Hōzen, studying it.

"You didn't count on so many people having questions, doubting you. You didn't think about what happens when you when you lie to the ones you love the most."

"He doesn't have to be alone," Thea said. She couldn't imagine trying to keep up this charade and do everything her brother did.

"He's not now," Laurel said reassuringly. "And I don't mean with just Mr. Diggle." She looked over at the youngest Queen and smiled. "He'll have all of us." When she felt Tommy twitch, she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yes he will," Tommy echoed glaring at his father as he did so.

Walter was in the Foyer, pulling a wheeled suitcase that he handed over to his driver. "Thank you, Chris." He said as Moira, clad in her pajamas, ran down the stairs. "Walter?" she called, stopping halfway down the stairs. "What is this?"

"Business trip." Walter announced. "I decided it's long overdue for me to inspect our holdings in Melbourne."

Moira read between the lines. "And how long will you be?" she asked, trying to reign in her emotions and failing.

"I don't know." He said sadly, then walked out to his car.

Closing her eyes, Moira tried to shut out the pain of losing her husband- not in death but in another way. At least in this way, he would be safe from Malcolm. Next to her, Thea cuddled closer, and Moira hugged her daughter in thanks.

Diggle's voice continued. "When you were stuck on that island plotting your grand plan to save the city, I don't think you stopped to consider the effect it would have on the people in your life."

The scene cut to a bar, where a very drunk Lance sat slumped over the bar, chewing on a straw. Laurel came in, spotted her dad, and walked over to him. "Let's go." She announced, helping him to his feet. Lance grunted drunkenly. "You're ok. No, no, no." Laurel said as Lance reached for his drink, downing the last of it before he allowed her to guide him out of the bar.

Looking ashamed, Quentin lowered his head. He had hoped he had gotten over this by now, but the memories of Sara had obviously struck him deep. Even in this time period, he wished he had a drink to try and deal with the anguish he was feeling now.

Back at the Lair, Diggle finished. "Or how it might hurt them."

"You're wrong." Oliver denied. "I think about it all the time. And just to be clear, not being able to tell my family the truth…it doesn't hurt anyone worse than it hurts me." He finished, opening the case and pulling out the hood.

"Where are you going?" Diggle asked worriedly.

"Mueller still has to sell those guns and I have to stop him." He said coldly.

"Oliver-" Digg called out.

"He had his chance."

The scene changed to another warehouse down by the docks. Mueller was pitching his deal to another gang.

"28 crates, four guns in each crate, $250,000 cash. Take it or leave it. That's the deal." He said. Then suddenly, The Hood- the REAL Hood was on them. He managed to take out the guards and the gang in under a minute, disabling them all with arrows and stiff blows. He finished and drew the bow back once more, his eyes locked on to Mueller's.

"Leo Mueller, you have failed this city." The Hood intoned, and then let loose an arrow, right into Mueller's heart.

Everyone in their own way was thankful that the memory had ended. They understood now why Artemis at every turn had left them with so little information. If they hadn't seen it, they wouldn't have believed it. Especially Tommy, he couldn't grasp how his own father could commit murder… but then again, he knew so little about his father as it was.

"Are you done holding an arrow to me?" Malcolm asked, cooly.

"Depends," Artemis shrugged. "You done plotting how you're going to kill the Lances and use my mother and myself against Oliver?" She could tell whatever he as planning to say was nothing but a lie in how he held himself. It was something she had learned all those times she had trained with him; it had been in hindsight of course, but she had learned it.

Lowering her bow, Artemis released her arrow into the back of the couch barely missing Malcolm as it came through the other side. He didn't react as she expected. "What did I say about keeping an open mind?" she growled.

"I am trying," he said truthfully.

"You two," she said towards Malcolm and Slade. "Try harder." With that, she pulled out her arrow and placed it back in her quiver. "Or know you'll meet the same fates as you do in these memories."

Notes:

Phew this took some work, but hey here it is. Next chapter will be up within a week (I'm hoping to treat you guys special and maybe get one up sooner… but no promises)
Now as for special guests, those come and go. I'm sure some of you can guess a few while others I'm hoping to surprise you with. Have fun guessing