Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or anything else you might recognize.
Now, it may seem like I'm grasping at strays with the whole 'Diggle puts on the hood' thing, and I did consider having Oliver do it or having Sara accompany him, but I ultimately decided that it was best, plot wise, to keep Oliver and Sara at the party. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Lian Yu, five years ago
Day
Oliver, Sara, and the man-whose name they had learned was Yao Fei- stood in the forest. Yao Fei aimed his bow and arrow at a small, dark grey rabbit before letting the arrow fly. The poor thing didn't even notice them before the arrow pierced it, killing it almost instantly. Oliver, who had killed the birds for himself and Sara, was mostly unfazed by this. Sara however, turned away in compassion for the rabbit.
"Dinner." Yao Fei said as he gestured for Oliver to go get it.
"Yeah, no. Hey, here's an idea: Why don't you let me shoot that thing and you go get the bloody, dead, disgusting animal?" Oliver suggested sarcastically.
Yao Fei looked at him in impatience before holding out the bow for Oliver. Oliver blinked in surprise before taking it, not really believing that Yao Fei would actually do it.
"Breathe everything breathe. Breathe, aim, fire. Here," Yao Fei said as he handed, Oliver an arrow before gesturing to a tree that was a few feet from them, "Aim that tree."
Oliver notched the arrow and took a deep breathe, trying to relax himself. After a few seconds of aiming the arrow, Oliver released the bow. The arrow soared through the air, but it completely missed the tree. Oliver lowered the bow, embarrassed, as Yao Fei muttered something in Mandurian.
"What does that mean?" Oliver asked beginning to get annoyed.
"You will die badly," Yao Fei said dryly, taking the bow from Oliver before pointing to where the arrow had gone, "get."
Oliver, deciding to keep his annoyance to a minimum, decided to just do what he was told. Oliver walked into the forest, out of sight range of Sara and Yao Fei, and spotted the arrow sticking out of a log on the ground. Oliver moved forward to get it when a black, gloved hand covered his mouth. Suddenly, he was surrounded by all sides by men in black as the carried him off into the woods. Oliver screamed, but it couldn't be heard because it was muffled by the hand on his mouth.
Police station
Morning
"Where's Sara?" Oliver asked Quentin as they sat in the interrogation room.
"She's being questioned by Hilton. We're not here to talk about Sara; we're here to talk about you. Now, care to explain the security footage of you and Sara at the UNIDAC auction building with a green hood and her with a wig?"
"We heard shots fired and ran into the stairwell. We saw duffle bags that we thought belonged to the shooter or shooters, looked inside and saw a hood and wig." Oliver told him.
"Really Sara, that story is weak on a good day." Hilton said exasperated as he sat across from Sara in another room.
"It may be weak but it's the truth." Sara insisted.
"Then where are they, you just take them home? And how do you explain the fact that Adam Hunt was harassed by the vigilantes' right across from where you and Queen were having your welcome home bash?" Hilton challenged.
"I admit it's pretty coincidental, but has it occurred to you that the Vigilantes are setting us up?" Sara challenged back.
"Maybe, but if it's not, all those coincidences start to look like evidence. You have to admit it's a little too convenient that these two vigilantes show up only a few days after you and Queen return home." Hilton told her firmly.
"And it's the perfect opportunity for the vigilantes to set me and Ollie up. If you're still not convinced, I'll take a polygraph." Sara said exasperated.
"A polygraph huh?" Quentin asked skeptically as he looked at Oliver with a matching expression, "you know those are inadmissible."
"I'll take it in front of you if I have to. I am not this psychopath, I am being set up." Oliver said insistently.
"…You're sure about this?" Quentin asked the barest hint of hesitation entering his voice.
"You set it up and I'll be here." Oliver encouraged him.
"Okay, be back here tomorrow at noon. I'll have a polygraph operator here and we'll go then. You're free to go for now." Quentin stood up before leading Oliver out of the room.
The pair walked out to the front where Moira and Walter waited for them. The pair stood up as Oliver and Quentin approached and that's when Sara showed up. With Hilton behind her, Sara stormed over and slapped her father across the face for all his fellow officers to see. You could hear a pin drop at the silence that stretched across the room as Quentin put a hand to his now red cheek, staring at Sara stunned.
"Just when I thought we were making some progress, you pull this. I knew you were obsessed with taking down the vigilantes, but I never thought you'd use me to do it." Sara hissed at him.
"Sara-" Quentin tried to talk but Sara held up a hand for him to be quiet.
"You know, Laurel told me how you became obsessed with cases, using the criminals as scapegoats to take your grief out on. I thought that would change since I was back…guess I was wrong. You can blame the vigilantes for a lot of things, but this is on you." Sara sneered at him before leaving with the Queens.
Queen Manor
Afternoon
"So why do they think you two are the vigilantes?" Tommy asked as he, Moira, Walter, and Thea all stood up and stared at Oliver and Sara who sat on the couch.
"My dad saw some security footage of me and Ollie finding two duffle bags with a green hood and blonde wig at the UNIDAC exchange building." Sara explained.
"We tried telling him we thought they were the shooter's, but he didn't buy it." Oliver shrugs in a 'what can you do?' manner.
"I'm going to increase security around the manor; the vigilantes have many people running scared. People acting in fear are capable of almost anything." Walter said grimly before walking out of the room after kissing Moira on the cheek.
"So what happens tomorrow?" Tommy asked curiously.
"Sara and I go back in, take a polygraph, and hopefully convince Mr. Lance and his partner we're not the vigilantes." Oliver shrugs nonchalantly.
"Well that'll be easy, these no way you guys are the vigilantes!" Tommy said as he plopped down next to Oliver on the sofa.
"Glad someone said it, now we only need to convince my dad of that." Sara said bitterly.
After a look from Oliver, the other three left the room and Oliver put his arm around Sara comfortably. She leaned into him, burying her face in his shoulder as he stroked her hair. Seconds later, Diggle walked into the room and the couple gave him their attention without moving from their position.
"You know, when I signed on with you two, I didn't expect you guys to get arrested quite so soon." Diggle mentioned dryly.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how we missed that security camera." Sara said sarcastically and Diggle blinked as the realization set in.
"You let yourselves get caught?" Diggle asked in disbelief.
"The vigilantes show up mere days after Oliver Queen and Sara Lance return home after five years away from civilization. It wasn't gonna take long for people to jump to that theory." Oliver told him.
"The only way to disprove it was to take it off the table, on our terms. The only thing we didn't suspect was that my dad would be the one to jump the gun," Sara wavered a little before continuing, "We have all the angles covered Dig, leave it up to us."
"Mr. Oliver, Ms. Sara?" the trio turned to see Raisa entering the room, "Ms. Lance is here to see you, Ms. Sara."
"Tell Laurel I'm not in the mood for a pity party." Sara said harsher than she intended.
"I'm not Laurel honey." Dinah Lance said as she walked behind Raisa, effectively stunning the ability to talk from Sara.
"…well, isn't this a surprise!" Oliver said as he and Sara stood up, "Ms. Lance, always good to see you. Dig, what do you say we give these two some privacy?"
Oliver and Diggle walked out of the room as Raisa went back to her duties. Sara almost asked Oliver to stay, but knew this was a talk she needed to have with her mother. Sara crossed her arms as she stared her mother down, a feeling of anger welling up in her chest.
"What are you doing here mom?" Sara asked with a sharp edge to her voice.
"I heard that you were in trouble." Dinah said and Sara scoffed at her mother.
"So in order for you to come see me, I have to get arrested as opposed to something simple like, I don't know, coming back from the dead?" Sara said bitingly and Dinah winced before carrying on.
"I know I should have come see you before, but I didn't know what to say. I had a…difficult time dealing your death and-" Dinah was cut off when Sara let out a bark of humorless, cold laughter.
"You know, you should go visit Dad and Laurel, set up a 'Poor me, have pity on me' club. You all had it easy compared to what Ollie and I went through, you went through cake compared to what we went through. If you just came down her to grovel and whine about how hard a time you've had, you can see yourself out." Sara spat as she walked passed Dinah.
Sara stormed up the staircase and up to Oliver's room. She burst the door open and Diggle jumped, looking at her surprised while Oliver, if surprised by her entrance, certainly didn't show it. Oliver gestured for her to come inside and Sara closed the door behind her as she walked over to the boys, noting that Oliver had a laptop out.
"How'd it go downstairs?" Oliver inquired concerned.
"Later, what's going on here?" Sara asked though she felt she already had a good idea.
"Briefing Dig on his mission." Oliver said before turning the laptop around to show a news article.
"Who's that?" Diggle asked curiously as he stared at the picture in the article.
"Leo Mueller. German arms dealer, suspected in the theft of over a hundred M249 automatic weapons." Oliver explained grimly.
"Last night, he arrived in Starling city to sell guns." Sara continued.
"You two are already under suspicion of being the vigilantes, don't you think that's enough trouble without you two going after this guy?" Diggle tried to reason.
"We do, but then we imagined what would happen if street gangs got their hands on these kinds of weapons." Sara said grimly.
"We imagined an all-out gang war on the streets that had massive casualties." Oliver told him bluntly.
"Okay, you've made your point but do you expect to go after this guy without arousing even more suspicion?" Diggle inquired.
"For now, we would just like you to shadow Mueller." Oliver told him.
"Think of it as reconnaissance, track his movements and report back. We need to know where the buy is happening." Sara told him firmly.
"And how am I supposed to track him?" Diggle asked idly.
"You know how we billionaire vigilantes love our toys. Do you remember that foundry I took you and Tommy to check out with me?" Oliver asked, a smirk beginning to cross his face.
Lian Yu, five years ago
Day
Sara and Yao Fei walked through the forest, easily spotting the arrow in the log. Sara was confused as to why Oliver would have walked passed it when she saw Yao Fei kneel down on the ground. She looked over as he moved some leaves, revealing some foot prints before looking over to where another set of foot prints, made by neither Sara nor himself, was. Yao Fei stood back up and looked at her with a grim expression that Sara was kind of expecting what he said next, but it didn't make it any easier to hear.
"Oliver not lost, Oliver taken." Yao Fei told her.
"Taken where and by who?" Sara demanded worry for her boyfriend clear on her face.
"Taken by mercenaries, we find one. He talk, we find Oliver." Yao Fei said before taking out his bow and shooting in what Sara thought was a random direction.
A scream of pain was heard from the direction the arrow had flown. Sara followed Yao Fei as he shot off in the direction and saw a man in a black mask, an arrow through his hand, pinning him to the tree. A walkie-talkie was on the ground next to him, dropped when the arrow went through his hand Sara realized.
"You tell us where camp at, a less painful death for you." Yao Fei said a little menace in his voice.
Queen Manor
Late afternoon
"Would you mind explaining to me why there are men on the front lawn setting things up?" Moira asked Oliver briskly from where he sat on the sofa with Sara.
"I'm throwing a party, prison themed." Oliver said cheerfully and Moira opened gapped at him before turning to Sara.
"Please tell me he's joking?" Moira pleaded but already had her answer by the amused smile that spread across Sara's face, "why haven't you tried talking him out of it?"
"Because the party is a great idea, it will send the message that Ollie and I aren't worried about getting arrested." Sara explained patiently.
"Well, that makes two of you." Moira said angrily before turning around and stomping out of the room.
Starling City police station, next day
Afternoon
Oliver was being hooked up to the Polygraph with his family's Lawyer seated next him and Quentin and the Polygraph operator across from them. Oliver was completely calm, knowing he could beat the machine. Beating it was never the question; the question was if he could get Quentin to believe that he wasn't The Hood.
"Is your name Oliver Queen." Quentin asked.
"You don't know who I am Detective?" Oliver asked sarcastically.
"The questions are to calibrate the machine. Is your name Oliver Queen?" Quentin asked a little more insisting.
"Yes." Oliver answered calmly.
"Were you born in Starling City May 16th, 1985?" Quentin asked.
"Yes." Oliver repeated.
"Is your hair blue?" Quentin asked to almost everyone's humor.
"No." Oliver answered in the same calm manor.
"Have you ever been to Iron Heights prison?" Quentin asked and everyone tensed knowing that things were getting serious now.
"Yes," Oliver said and everyone looked at him stunned, "in the eighth grade, I attended a fieldtrip there with my class."
Quentin nodded before pulling out a police sketch of The Hood, "Are you the man in this picture?"
"No." Oliver said after repressing memories of Edward Fryers.
After confirming that Oliver was telling the truth, Quentin tried a different tactic.
"Were you marooned on an island called Lian Yu for five years?" Quentin demanded.
"Yes." Oliver said managing not to grimace.
"How is that relevant?" Oliver's lawyer demanded.
"Because, if he is the man in the hood, then his time on that island clearly gave him a need to dress up like robin hood and go after millionaire bottom-feeders, " Quentin explained before turning back to Oliver, "the physician that examined you said that your body is covered in scared tissue, did that happen to you there?"
"Yes." Oliver said his face devoid of all emotions.
"When you and Sara came back, you told us you two were alone on that island. Are you saying that those scars were…self-inflicted?" Quentin asked sounding like he really didn't want to know the answer.
"No, we weren't alone. We didn't tell anyone what really happened because we weren't ready to talk about what happened." Oliver told him.
"Why not?" Quentin asked more out of curiosity then duty.
"Because the people that were there tortured us." Oliver said bluntly.
Everyone froze, shock and horror on their faces. Quentin was finally beginning to understand the torment and suffering that Oliver and Sara had gone through, but it was too late to back out now. Quentin cleared throat, a disguise so he could get control of his emotions, before continuing.
"Have you ever killed anyone?" Quentin asked his final question.
"No." Oliver answered in a detached voice.
Quentin looked over at the operator. The operator gave a look at the data before turning back to Quentin.
"I have to study it, but just eyeballing it, he's telling the truth." The man said and Quentin nodded.
"Okay, then we can all get out of this room," Quentin said as they all stood up, "I'm sorry about this Oliver but I have to follow every lead possible."
"It's not me you need to be apologizing to." Oliver said curtly as they exited the room.
At the same moment, Hilton and Sara walked out of their interrogation room. Sara took one look at her father before storming passed him. Oliver gave Quentin a pointed look before following after his girlfriend. Quentin stared after them, feeling like he had just dug himself a hole that he wasn't sure how to get out of.
"She passed with flying colors," Hilton said as he came up to stand beside him, "I assume so did he. Of course we can't use these in a court of law, but you already knew that. What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking…that I've made a pretty big mistake." Quentin said his voice full of guilt.
Queen Manor
Night
The party was in full swing, though the guests of honor were not in attendance. They were in Oliver's room, showing Diggle a phone that was linked to the GPS tracker Oliver had set up.
"Mueller's car has been parked in the Warehouse district of the glades for the last forty five minutes." Oliver explained to his body guard.
"Yeah, that's a good place to have an arms deal," Diggle noted dryly before getting down to business, "so what do we do, drop the dime on Mueller with the cops?"
"No, the vigilantes are going to stop them…at least one them is." Sara said with a tilt of her head.
"I thought we agreed it was a bad idea to make a move while you two were under suspicion." Diggle said looking at them like they were crazy.
"It doesn't have to be me in the hood." Oliver said with a pointed look at Diggle, who gave a humorless chuckle as he caught on to the plan.
"So that's why you two threw this ridiculous party, so you'd have hundreds of witnesses placing you here while I go around town playing dress up?" Diggle asked angrily.
"We thought it'd be good enough just for you to be seen in the hood. We didn't count on Mueller showing up and we didn't count on the glades being flooded with machine guns." Oliver argued.
"Look, I am the one person you two don't lie to. You may have gotten used to lying to everyone else in your lives, but not me." Diggle warned them.
"Your right, we're sorry John." Sara apologized and Diggle turn around and walked towards the door.
"So am I going to have suspicion on me a little while longer?" Oliver called out as Diggle paused.
"No, I have an arms deal to stop." Diggle said before walking out the door.
A little while later, Oliver was getting a drink when he ran into Quentin. Quentin was the last person he expected to see here, mostly because he hated these kinds of parties. Oliver had heard him more than once declare his distaste for Oliver's party lifestyle before Oliver had begun to leave it behind in the early days of his and Sara's relationship.
"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked curiously.
"Looking for Sara, you two are usually attached at the hip, where is she?" Quentin inquired.
"Someone spilled punch on her, she's changing in my room. I'll show you the way." Oliver said as he began leading Quentin threw the crowd.
Sara had just put on a black top when someone knocked on the door. Calling out to hold on, Sara put on a jacket before walking over to the door. Opening it, Sara was startled when the butler brought on the other side of the door pulled out a gun. Training and instinct kicking in, Sara grabbed the man's hand and forced the gun away from her before punching him in the jaw. She forced him into the room and knocked the gun out of his hands before the man began to fight back as he tried to retrieve the gun. In order to force him away from it, Sara tackled him over the sofa and the two ended up smashing the wooden coffee table to bits. After an exchange of blows, Sara tossed him to the door, only realizing she had tossed him to his gun when he picked it up. He rose to his feet and was about to fire when three shots rang out and blood sprayed across his chest. He fell to the ground as Quentin stood over him while Oliver rushed over to her.
"Are you okay?" Oliver demanded once he reached her side.
"Yeah." Sara said staring at her father as if in a daze.
Queen Manor, living room
Later
Oliver handed Sara a bag of ice, which she promptly put on her right hand which had gotten injured when she and her attacker went through the coffee table. Oliver sat down next to her as Quentin was talking to someone on his phone while Tommy sat across from the couple. Lance nodded at something the person on the other line said before hanging up and walking over to his youngest daughter and her boyfriend.
"So are you okay sweetie?" Quentin asked her concerned.
"I'm fine Dad, why were you here?" Sara asked with a slight edge to her voice.
"I was planning on talking to you about…everything that's happened the last couple days when Oliver and I heard the sounds of your scuffle with that punk. Guess all those self-defense classes paid off huh?" Quentin made a weak attempt at humor.
"Guess so." Sara said with a cool smile that let him know he wasn't forgiven.
"Are you two alright?!" Moira asked as she and Walter rushed into the room.
"Yeah, we're fine mom." Oliver assured as he put an arm around Sara.
"This all your fault," Moira hissed as she whirled on Quentin, "by making them suspects, you made not only Oliver a target, but Sara as well!"
"Do you have any idea who attacked Sara?" Walter said after a Quentin looked away in shame.
"We haven't identified him, but it must be someone with a grudge against the vigilantes obviously," Quentin said before turning his attention to Oliver and Sara, "I got a call from my lieutenant, the Hood was spotted by multiple witnesses breaking up an arms deal tonight. The Woman in Black wasn't spotted, but in light of this, I'm dropping my investigation into the two of you."
"Good, now would you kindly get of my property." Moira demanded icily.
"Sara, could I talk to you in private?" Quentin looked at Sara pleadingly but she just gave him a blank stare.
"We can talk tomorrow, when I come to pick up my stuff. I've decided that I'm going to stay with the Queens until Ollie and I move into our new place." Sara said briskly.
Lance apartment, next day
Morning
Sara came out of her room, dragging a roller suitcase, and saw her family assembled by the door. They were in the shape of a human shield, as though they were going to try and stop her from leaving. Sara almost smirked at thought, imagining the irony if she had to call the cops on her family.
"Sara, we need to talk." Laurel said in what Sara had since dubbed her 'Lawyer voice.'
"here's a better idea: how about I talk and you three listen for once in your lives," Sara said venomously and Quentin, Dinah, and Laurel were too stunned by the venom in her vice to say anything before she started speaking again, "since I've come back, all you three have done is whine to me about how hard it's been on you while I was gone. You act like I was on some freaking tropical island resort, well I wasn't, I was in hell. You know what was on that island? Mercenaries, landmines, psychopaths, and a hell of a lot more! The person I was, the girl I was, died when I washed up on that island. You had a piece of cake time compared to what I went through."
"Sara-" Quentin started but then cut himself off when Sara turned her glare on him solely as Dinah and Laurel slowly edged away from him.
"You know, when Laurel told me about how you began to obsess over cases, I blamed myself. For going on that boat, for getting stranded on Lian Yu, I blamed myself for all of it. But I realized something last night: it's not my fault, it's yours. I didn't make you crawl into a bottle; I didn't make you obsess over cases like the doll maker and the vigilantes, not caring who you hurt in the process of solving them. You did that all on your own. As a cop, you've done a fine job, but as a father, you've failed spectacularly. Congratulations dad, you've now managed to damage every aspect of your personal life." Sara said coldly as she walked passed her stunned family.
Lian Yu, five years ago
Day
Sara was back in the cave, pacing back and forth. After dealing with the soldier, Yao Fei had taken her back to the cave before he went to search for Oliver. It had unnerved her, the ease with which Yao Fei had taken a life, but now Sara was more worried for Oliver than she was for the lives of the people who had taken him. A noise alerted Sara to someone entering the cave and Sara whirled around. She was stunned and horrified to see Yao Fei helping the wounded Oliver into the cave. She sprinted over and the two helped Oliver over to the cot. Oliver laid down and Sara got a good look at her wounds. She was sickened by them, what kind of person could do something like that to another human being?
"I tell you, island dangerous, but you not tell them where to find me…you stronger than I thought," Yao Fei concluded before handing Oliver the pouch of herbs, which he took weakly, "I lead them off, you stay. Remember, breathe. You breathe, you survive longer."
"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Oliver said as he shot up but groaned in pain as he clutched his sides and Yao Fei rolled a rock in front of the entrance, effectively trapping the couple inside.
"You need to rest Ollie, you're in no condition to be moving around." Sara said softly as she handed him a bowl of water.
Doesn't mean I have to like it.." Oliver said grumpily as he took the bowl of water from her.
The foundry
Night
"So how much of it was real anger and how much was an act?" Diggle asked Sara as she and Oliver geared up.
"Most of it was real, but the moving out part was for the mission. I needed to get out of the apartment, they were getting to close." Sara explained.
"Sad thing is, I think you actually believe that," Diggle said as the pair turned to him, "I think things didn't go exactly as you planned. You didn't count on so many people doubting you guys, having questions. You have no idea what happens when you lie, especially when you lie to the people you love most. When you were stuck on that island plotting your grand plan to save the city, I don't think you two stopped to consider the effects it would have on the people in your lives. Or how it might hurt them."
"You're wrong Dig, we think about it all the time." Sara said softly.
"And just to be clear, not being able to tell our families the truth…it doesn't hurt anyone the way it hurts us." Oliver told Diggle firmly before the pair stood up and began walking away.
"Where are you going?" Diggle inquired.
"To break up another arms deal!" Sara called back.
"Sara-" Diggle began.
"He had his chance." Oliver said in a cold voice.
Ware house district
Later
The Hood and Woman in Black listened to Mueller make the offer before springing into action. The Hood jumped down next to the guard behind Mueller and knocked him out with a few precise punches when the shots rang out. The Woman in Black knocked a gunman out with a fierce blow to the head while the Hood incapacitated a few before killing another with his arrows. The pair before some back flips to avoid the barrage bullets and dropped out of site once the bullets stopped coming back out. The Woman in Black knocked out one before snapping the neck of another. She let his body fall to the floor as The Hood notched an arrow and aimed at the frightened Mueller.
"Leo Mueller, you have failed this city." The Hood said before letting the arrow fly and Mueller let out a scream of pain as it went right into his heart.