AN: I cannot even begin to tell you how sorry I am for the delay between chapters. I have had so much going on and I am sorry that I made you wait.
WolfofHiddenMoons - Thank you always for your beta help!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Arrow.
REMINDER: As Season 4 of Arrow and Season 2 of Flash have begun please keep everything spoiler free for anyone that has not seen the episodes! Thank you!
I look outside one more time and yawn. I rub my eyes and when I open them again I see someone outside the train. It's the Flash! He smiles at me and waves before he runs away.
Maybe things will be okay. Maybe the Flash and the Arrow will help make Mommy smile again. I lay down with Green Arrow on Mommy's lap and close my eyes. I fall asleep. I dream of the Arrow, and of my Mommy, and I think that maybe, just maybe, I'll get a Daddy soon too.
Chapter 8 - Briefing
Tommy watched the group in the lair. Roy, Thea, Sara, and Diggle were training on the mats while Oliver and Felicity went over everything that had been sent for the meeting planned for this evening. The Team still had a couple of hours before they had to change to go so Tommy was enjoying observing everyone. Suddenly a realization hit him.
"Laurel?" Tommy asked quietly as he watched Oliver.
"Yeah?" Laurel turned to face the man next to her and saw him staring at Oliver.
"What did you guys do for Ollie's thirtieth birthday?" Tommy replied as he finally turned to meet her eyes. He was surprised at the look of confusion on her face.
"What do you mean?" Laurel asked curiously.
"Oliver's thirtieth birthday... it was May sixteenth. What kind of party did you guys throw him?" Tommy asked quietly.
"We didn't..."
"You didn't throw him a party?!" Tommy questioned, stunned.
"We didn't think about it. Everything has been really crazy since he's come home. Between the Undertaking, his mom's trial, your dad coming back, Slade...we haven't had much time to breathe, let alone throw a party." Laurel admitted quietly, feeling really bad for not thinking about the fact that Oliver had turned thirty this year, much less the fact that he had even had a birthday.
"That's gonna change." Tommy muttered as he looked back to his friend. "He deserves a party."
"I agree. What do you have in mind?" Laurel asked, recognizing the look on Tommy's face as one that meant he was about to be up to no good.
"I'm not sure yet. Give me a day to think about it." Tommy answered as he smirked at Laurel.
The conversation between Tommy and Laurel shifted to what steps Tommy needed to take next in regards to coming back to Starling City. They knew he would need to go before a judge as they had declared him dead. Tommy also knew that he and Thea would need to discuss what was going to happen with Merlyn Global since his dad had probably left everything to her. The thoughts about everything he would need to do in the coming weeks was starting to stress him out.
Shortly after Tommy and Laurel had finished discussing what he would need to do next a gust of wind blew through the lair, sending the loose papers on Felicity's desk flying. Tommy gasped as it felt as though electricity was flowing through the room. He practically jumped out of his chair when a man in red suddenly appeared.
"Hey guys."
"What...who are you?!" Tommy asked, mouth gaping from shock.
"This is the Flash." Felicity laughed as she turned to Barry, a smile on her face. "He's a friend from Central City."
"Don't worry. He's safe." Oliver commented as he clapped Barry on the shoulder, letting him know that he was okay to reveal his identity to Tommy if he so chose. His friend wouldn't say anything. "Tommy's been a lifelong friend of mine, and was a friend of the Hood." Oliver explained.
"Gotcha." Barry smiled before pulling his hood back. "Names Barry Allen." He offered his hand to Tommy.
"Tommy Merlyn." The men shook.
"Wait, as in the son of Malcolm Merlyn, Tommy Merlyn?" Barry asked, surprised.
"Yes. But he is not his father's son." Felicity answered as she placed a hand on Barry's arm. "He's a friend, and a good one at that."
"Cool."
"Is the rest of Team Flash coming too?" Thea asked with a smile. She loved hanging out with the guys from Central City. They brought an air of light and fun with them whenever they came.
"Yeah, they're on the train." Barry smiled.
"Not as lucky as you then." Roy laughed as he shook Barry's hand in welcome.
"Nope. They should get in within the hour. They'll head straight here." Barry informed the group. "Joe is going straight to SCPD though."
"I should head that way then." Laurel commented as she stood, gave Tommy a small kiss, then headed out the door. She would be able to relay anything that she heard at the police department back to the Team.
"So, Oliver, welcome back. How was the honeymoon." Barry asked as he turned to look at Oliver and Felicity, arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face.
"It was good. Thanks." Oliver couldn't help the face splitting grin that crossed his face.
"You know, someone once told me that guys like us don't get the girl." Barry raised his eyebrows as the saw the recognition in Oliver's face at the words.
"Yeah, well, he was wrong." Oliver answered softly as he pulled Felicity closer to him.
"Don't tell him that. He's got a pretty big ego and doesn't like to be told he's wrong." Barry teased.
"Okay boys! Break it up. I don't want to have to listen to Diggle and Cisco discussing who would win in a fight between you two...again!" Felicity stood between then, glaring at them both.
Felicity's computer beeped and everyone's attention was drawn from Oliver and Barry.
"Team Flash arrived sooner than anticipated." Felicity commented as she opened the door for the rest of Barry's team from her computer.
Cisco and Caitlin loved coming to Starling City. It was great to get out of Central every once in a while and it was a breath of fresh air getting to spend time with others who also put their life on the line to protect their city. Cisco was especially excited as he hauled the case down the stairs with him. Coming back to Starling always gave him an excuse to upgrade things!
"Hey guys!" Felicity smiled at the newcomers. "Welcome back to the Arrow Cave."
"We don't call it that!" Oliver growled playfully in her ear.
"Yes we do! I've heard you use it so don't go all Arrow growly on me Mr. Queen!" Felicity narrowed her eyes at him.
"Guys, you won't believe what I've worked up this time!" Cisco beamed, ignoring the looks everyone else was sharing. "I've had so much fun with this! I can't wait to see what you think Oliver!"
"Cisco." Oliver greeted the man through clenched teeth and with a tight smile. It was a look that said it had better not be something stupid.
"Caitlin, Cisco, welcome back." Felicity greeted Caitlin with a hug and a smile.
"That's for letting us barge in again." Caitlin answered. "We have everything ready if you want to go ahead and start the briefing." Caitlin told them.
"Please." Oliver commented as he kept an eye on Cisco, making sure the man didn't touch anything he wasn't supposed to.
Caitlin and Felicity moved to the computers and uploaded the information to the big screen as everyone gathered around. Tommy couldn't help but think that the Lair was getting really crowded and that they needed more room. A thought hit him and he decided that now was the time to step out. He had work to do.
"Oliver, I'm going to head out. I need to get some meetings scheduled so I'll catch up with you later." Tommy told his friend.
"Okay, see you later Tommy." Oliver gave his friend a quick hug before Tommy left.
"We're ready to start the briefing." Felicity told Oliver as he came to stand next to her. He gave a nod to her and Caitlin indicating that they could begin.
"We've been working with Batman from Gotham, and the Green Lantern from Coast City the past few weeks. The people that are coming here have already been through Gotham, Coast, and most recently Central. The only way we connected the crimes is because of their M.O." Caitlin said.
"I've been working with Andrew since he left a couple of days ago. He's only been working in Gotham for a little while but he had some useful information to send our way. He almost found the head honchos but hit a dead end when he couldn't find any form of electronic communication. It's as if they're passing instructions on paper or something." Felicity commented.
"We ran into the same thing." Barry piped up. "And no matter how fast I moved I never could find the person in charge. It's as if they have a whole network of people and only someone at the top of the chain knows whose in charge. No one has met anyone other than the one person that gave them information. I just ran out of time with them in Central."
"Well, hopefully we can help with that." Felicity smiled.
"Did you get any new information since you sent us the data?" Sara asked curiously.
"Not really, we sent you everything that we had except one last file from Coast City. It won't help much though. It just says the same thing that we just told you." Caitlin shrugged her shoulders.
"Whoever these people are have worked really hard to cover their tracks." Diggle stated.
"Did you find any notes or written instructions on any of the guys you apprehended?" Thea asked curiously.
"I think Joe has them with the evidence." Barry commented. "Why?"
"Did you run an analysis to see if it was the same handwriting?" Sara asked, knowing where Thea was going with this already and smiling to herself.
"Yes. An examination of the handwriting forensics proves categorically that there were two contributors to the samples." Caitlin answered. "That's why we think we're looking for a pair."
"Is there anything connecting the victims?" Diggle asked for clarification.
"No. At least not that we've found." Cisco piped in. "We've had three different techs looking at this so far and we've found no connection, no clues as to who it could be or how anyone is connected."
"It's very frustrating." Barry added.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do." Oliver stated, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "Caitlin, Cisco, you stay here and work with Felicity. See if the three of you can't find a way to get us a suspect list and find a connection to the victims. We'll get the notes from Detective West tonight. Everyone else suit up. We're going to meet with the Police Departments then meet back here to come up with a plan of attack."
"Where are you guys meeting?" Barry asked as he turned to Oliver. "I can go ahead and case the place to make sure there are no surprises waiting for us."
Oliver, Barry, Diggle, and Sara moved to a map of the city to note where they were meeting the officers and coordinate things for the teams.
Once everyone was finally suited up Felicity ensured that they were all connected through the comms, including Barry's suit thanks to a bit of frequency help from Cisco, and everyone was ready to go. They were all ready to find these guys and add them to the collection of criminals in Iron Heights!
AN: Thank you all for sticking with me and coming back for more. I hope you liked this chapter and will leave me a review with your thoughts :)
Also, Part of the reason an update was so long in the making is because I've been working on finishing my very own, very first book. I would love for you all to check it out when it hits Amazon. I'll keep you updated with the progress.
