April 24, 2013, night:

With Deadshot in jail, life in the foundry goes back to their normal as Diggle's tension and irritation fade away. Oliver resumes crossing people off the List, patrolling the streets at least every few nights. Felicity continues her research into the subway and the Undertaking and continues to find nothing. Together the three of them are working more or less seamlessly.

A week after the fight with Lawton, Oliver is the first one to get to the basement. Diggle's tension and irritation may have mostly faded away but they're not gone completely. Quickly changing into better workout clothes, Oliver considers the problem. More than once he's looked over at Digg and seen the slight regret on his face, the question of 'what if?'. He knows exactly what it is that Diggle's questioning, remembers Diggle's hesitant agreement that they would only show up to make sure ARGUS brought Lawton in.

But Oliver's done killing. It's been six months since Superman had given him an ultimatum. Oliver's made his decision. He's sticking with it. He can see the effect the Arrow is having on Star City - he might just be going after the symptoms sometimes, but he's also inspiring people to be better, and do better, and he's not neglecting the List in the meantime. Crime has dropped and, yeah, that might just be because the criminals are running scared, but Felicity can hack into more networks than just the police. Charitable donations across the board are up in Star City and unemployment has fallen (if ever so slightly) in neighborhoods that were once considered unsafe.

Even some of the rich of Star City are behaving better than before, afraid they're next on the Arrow's list. Oliver's been home for seven months now and the effect is starting to show.

And aside from all that, his relationship with Tommy is the best it's been since he's returned home. True, Tommy hasn't made his way back to the basement, but he smiles at Oliver each time he passes through the club, gives him an encouraging nod when he sees him. Oliver shudders to think what Tommy's reaction would be if he started killing again - he's not sure he could take seeing the hatred in his best friend's eyes a second time.

(Except Oliver knows he could. If he faced a choice like he had last time, if it was between Tommy hating him or something unspeakable happening to his best friend, Oliver would take the hatred every time.)

And then there's Superman. Despite the fact that he's working hard to keep from killing, Superman's original warning still lingers in the back of Oliver's mind. If he kills, he'll end up on Superman's radar again and that's not a place he wants to be.

At the thought, Oliver lets go of the bar of the salmon ladder and drops to the ground in surprise. Superman. Crap - he'd forgotten all about the superhero in the wake of the subway revelation and his trip to Gotham and the problem of Deadshot. He hasn't seen the superhero since they'd had their brief lesson on how to fight properly and he hasn't even mentioned the visit to Felicity and Diggle yet. He'd been meaning to, he remembers, but then he'd seen the glyph on his father's notebook and all thoughts of the caped hero had been driven from his mind.

Well, there's no time like the present. Both had said they could make it to the foundry that night so Oliver might as well tell them before he heads out to the streets.


Oliver spars with Diggle when he arrives, then puts their fight on hold when Felicity enters the foundry. Diggle's breathing hard and they're both sweating heavily.

"I have something I need to tell both of you."

Diggle looks slightly alarmed, Felicity worried, and Oliver reminds himself that in their line of work, perhaps that isn't the best way to phrase things.

"About a month ago I met with Superman," he continues, then pauses and gives them some time to process his words.

"Superman?" Felicity asks in shock. She hasn't even gotten the chance to sit down at her computers yet and she stares over them at Oliver, still standing on the sparring mats. "You mean, the actual Superman ? The alien, cape, flies at supersonic speeds?"

"He met with you again?" Diggle asks during a pause in Felicity's shocked questions.

That gets her to be quiet for about a second. "Again?!" she half shrieks. "What do you mean again? Have you been hanging out with Superman and haven't told me?! "

Oliver winces slightly. It is not at all what she thinks, whatever that may be. "He's met with me a couple times," he admits, not sure how Felicity will take what he's about to tell her. "The first time, he told me to stop killing."

Some of the excitement drains from Felicity's face. "Oh," she says blankly, still staring at him. "That… actually makes a lot of sense." She pauses, thinking. "So, you only stopped…"

"To get off Superman's radar."

But Diggle speaks up next, throwing a disapproving glance in Oliver's direction first (though he doesn't know what he's done wrong this time). "Oliver's met with Superman other times too," he says strongly, "before you came along. Seemed like they were getting along pretty well to me. Superman even asked Oliver to teach him how to fight."

Realization clicks in Oliver's brain. Digg had been upset that Oliver hadn't been giving himself enough credit. He'd been disappointed that Oliver had made it seem like his only interactions with Superman had involved threats for Oliver to stop killing. But Oliver's only being realistic - his later interactions with Superman don't change the fact that he'd only stopped killing for one reason. He's no less of a monster because of his association, however loose, with the superhero.

He speaks up before Diggle or Felicity can say anything more.

"Last month, right before we discovered the glyph, I ran into Superman again. We may have… exchanged a few tips on how to fight properly," he hesitantly admits.

"So, you've been working with Superman?" Felicity asks.

Oliver shakes his head. "It was only the one time. I just thought both of you should know about it."

He's given them a lot to think about, but that's enough of a conversation for Oliver. He steps off the mats, walking toward his uniform - it's time to hit the streets.


May 2, 2013, night:

In the foundry a few nights later, Oliver sets down his bow, then moves to Felicity and hands her the laptop he'd obtained going after another member of the List that night.

"Hmm. Let me guess - some bad guy missing his fancy new laptop," she says, studying it.

"Harold Backman," Oliver answers. "He's who Star City's worst call when they want to launder money in the Caymans."

"Shouldn't we turn this over to, I don't know, the IRS?" she asks, even as she opens the laptop, boots it up, and connects it to her system.

"We will," Oliver promises. "Just as soon as you return the money to the rightful owners."

Felicity starts going through the records but frowns when the screen flashes red. "Well, it sounds like a very nice idea. Backman's files are all protected with an asymmetric encryption algorithm."

"Really?" Oliver has no idea what that means (and from the look Digg gives him neither does he) but he has a vague idea that it's not good. Not something he could break, at the very least. "So it's gonna take a while to break in."

"Days, at least," she mutters, already lost in code.

"Better get started then."


May 4, 2013, evening:

The news comes a few days later, when it's just Oliver and Felicity in the club. It's still early and Tommy isn't in yet so Oliver is alone upstairs going through the bar's inventory. The quiet and stillness of Verdant before its opening is calming and Oliver wouldn't say he's in a good mood exactly, but he's oddly content. He'd never thought he'd reach such a point in his life, not since he surged up from the darkness of the ocean and swam for a life raft that would soon hold only him.

But he has friends in Felicity and Diggle, Tommy knows his secret and hasn't left him, and Oliver is actually enjoying his activities as a vigilante. His father's mission, as always, hums deep within him, a constant push to remind him why he came back and what he needs to do with the life that he's somehow managed to keep against all odds. His need to discover the truth about the Undertaking is strong, and never forgotten. And Oliver can never let go of the person he's become, of all the terrible things he's done or been party to.

Still. Oliver and Felicity and Diggle are slowly and methodically checking people off the List. They know more about the Undertaking than Oliver would ever have discovered alone. Star City calls him a hero.

Oliver checks a few more items off his clipboard, then crouches down behind the bar to sift through the bottles tucked underneath. Outside he can hear the cars driving by in the distance, a siren temporarily moving through his range of hearing before fading out again - but these sounds are faint and distant. Verdant hums quietly, electricity thrumming through its walls and into the appliances around Oliver, the kind of background noise that most people forget they're even hearing.

Felicity is downstairs, hard at work on Backman's laptop as she has been the past few days. She's taken his encryption as a personal challenge, spending quite a bit of time in the foundry. Oliver doesn't need to concentrate to imagine the sound of her furious typing or the look of concentration that's no doubt on her face.

He stands, checks a few more items off the clipboard. Looks like there's a few things he needs to grab before Verdant opens for the night. Oliver makes his way to the storeroom. Tommy had been right - that Verdant had been nothing more than a cover to Oliver. But with their renewed attempt at friendship, Oliver's honestly been trying. He wants Tommy to think of him as more than the killer he is. So when he's not working out or practicing his archery or on the streets, hooded up and taking down street criminals and the rich corrupt alike, Oliver makes a point to spend time above ground in Verdant, actually working at the club he owns.

In the storeroom, Oliver grabs an empty box, starts filling it with what he needs, and thinks again about how he's gotten to where he is today. Star City calls him a hero. It's not a title he feels he deserves but, for the first time, it's a title he wants to live up to. He'll never be able to, he knows, never be able to erase his past, or the fact that he started off killing days after he got back to Star City, but he also knows he'll never stop trying.

As he walks back to the bar, Oliver remembers again the disgust when Diggle had first discovered his secret and the pride when Oliver announced his intent to stop killing (at that point it had been to stay off Superman's radar only, but the point still stands). He remembers Felicity's reluctance to join up, her hesitance in the beginning each time he'd left the foundry with his hood up and her enthusiasm now as they stop good people from getting hurt.

He remembers the fear on Tommy's face. He remembers his best friend honestly believing that Oliver could hurt him, and his approval now each time he knows Oliver has returned for the night without killing anyone.

The bottles clink loudly in the silence of Verdant as Oliver puts them away, but it's still a comforting noise. He'd never thought he'd adjust to a large city again, not without always looking over his shoulder the way he had in Hong Kong, but he has. Certain foods still don't taste right, he has trouble sleeping most nights and sometimes goes without. Sometimes he wakes up and forgets he's made it back to Star City. Sometimes he looks at Thea and has to remind himself that this is his sister, five years older. He's still hypervigilant, perpetually unable to let his guard down or drop his focus on his surroundings, and he knows he has trouble connecting with people. He refuses to talk about what happened to him while he was gone. But despite all this, and more, he's in a far better place than he'd ever thought he'd be again.

Suddenly the door in the back bursts open and Felicity comes storming out. "Oliver, I need to show you what I found!" she proclaims loudly. There's pride in her words, excitement, and something else Oliver can't place. He knows instantly that she's decrypted Backman's laptop.

Mindful of the cameras in Verdant - never mind that Felicity has access to the footage - Oliver remains silent until they pass through the basement door.

"Tell me you got in," he says as the door shuts behind them.

"Better," she declares proudly. "I hacked Cayman Fidelity and put together a list of all the deposits Backman made last year."

Oliver frowns. That… had not been what he'd expecting. "Felicity, what good does that do us if we don't know whose money it was?" he asks as they reach her computers.

She hands him a printout. "Look at the biggest deposit Backman made last year. Bottom page."

Oliver sighs but decides to humor her. "Two million dollars on Decem-" he freezes, mind rapidly processing the information on the page before him. "December twelfth. That's the day Walter disappeared."

This is the something Oliver couldn't place in Felicity's voice. Finally, finally, a lead.


Unfortunately, by the time night falls and Diggle arrives, Oliver still doesn't have an idea on how to pursue his lead. Felicity connects a name to the deposit - Dominic Alonzo - but he runs the biggest underground casino in Star City and that's where the information Oliver needs will be. He can't walk in as himself, but the casino has its own private army so that makes approaching it as the Arrow equally as difficult. He's scoped it out before, making plans for taking Alonzo down, but none of those plans ever accounted for him needing information from the man first - it will be hard to get access to Alonzo's computer without setting off any alarms and Oliver wants to keep this quiet.

"What have we got?" Digg asks as he hurries down the stairs. It's clear that he'd caught on to the excitement and urgency of Felicity's call to him. As the door swings shut behind Digg the pounding of the music from Verdant, now open for the night, temporarily gets louder, then fades again.

"Walter," Felicity says in excitement, spinning to face Diggle. "Well, maybe."

"Backman had information about a two-million-dollar deposit on December twelfth," Oliver interrupts before Felicity can start babbling. "Felicity linked it to a name: Dominic Alonzo."

Diggle nods, absorbing the information. "And he is?"

"Alonzo runs the biggest underground casino in Star City when he's not busy kidnapping," Oliver continues. "I've scoped out the place before." He gestures to the schematics of the building Felicity's managed to find and Diggle moves closer, the three of them studying the computer screen.

With Diggle there, they start planning. Oliver speaks on what he remembers of entrances (windows, doors - anything he could fit through) and the private security that will be guarding them.

The few windows there are are immediately discounted - breaking through them from any of the surrounding buildings is impractical and too noticeable, and all the rooms with windows are almost never empty. The consider breaking in during the day, when the casino isn't in business, but the building is still full of armed enforcers at that time, counting their money from the night before. The back door leads straight to the extra security forces, lounging around when they're not on duty. The element of surprise goes a long way, but the casino practically has its own private army. Oliver just wants to get in and out again without anyone realizing it. Unfortunately it seems as if the easiest way into the building is through the front door.

If they had more time to plan… but it's been too long already, almost six months since Walter's kidnapping. Oliver won't wait longer than he has to.

"Those guys would make me the minute that I walked in there," Oliver says, frustrated. "Oliver Queen would never be caught dead in a place like that."

Diggle throws him a look at the use of the third person, which never sits well with him. "Not even irresponsible playboy Oliver Queen?"

Oliver levels an unimpressed stare at Diggle, who chuckles slightly, if without much humor.

"I could do it," Felicity offers suddenly, voice indicating that she is just as surprised by her offer as they are.

"No -"

Felicity cuts him off before he can say any more. "I can count cards. It's all probability theory and mathematics. Have you met me? Bottom line - I know my way around a casino."

She's babbling, nervous about what she's volunteering for. At his side, Diggle looks hesitant, as if actually considering it.

"Felicity, I'm not letting you walk into -" he tries again.

"The reason I joined you in the first place was to find Walter and for the first time we have a real chance of finding him." A pause. "You have to let me do this."

Oliver knows she's right, knows she's the one who would be best to infiltrate the casino, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. "Diggle…" he says hesitantly, turning to his other teammate.

Digg shrugs helplessly. He looks like he wants to argue but knows that he shouldn't. "Sorry man," he ends up saying. "Gambling's not my thing."

Oliver turns back to Felicity. He removes her personality from the equation, her lack of experience, tries to forget about the woman he's come to know, and thinks about the situation logically. This is their best option. For Walter.

"All right," he concedes, "but we do it my way."

At a nod from Felicity, they start planning.


It doesn't go off without a hitch - Oliver has to fight through the casino as the Arrow, thereby eliminating any subtly - but they get the information they're looking for. Walter is dead. Alonzo had heard the gunshot himself.

Felicity is devastated, Diggle shocked. Oliver lets them go home. Him? He's disbelieving. He's not an optimist by any definition and he's long since accepted that Walter might have died months ago, but the words Alonzo had used… Alonzo had only been the kidnapper, he'd only heard a shot from another room. And Walter's not truly dead until Oliver sees his body.

His mom is involved in this somehow, he remembers. She's always held out hope that Walter is alive. At least, Oliver had managed to convince himself that what she felt was hope. For the first time he lets himself consider her actions for what they might actually be instead: certainty.

He goes home himself and tells his family Walter is dead.


AN: And I missed my own self-imposed deadline again... Sorry about that to the people still reading this! Next chapter, Chapter 8: Time for a Plan, is almost done and should be up on May 5th.

I hope.

Thanks for sticking with me.