A golden eagle soared through the open window. His most loyal and fearsome soldier stiffened and put his hand on his sash that held many a ninja star but he stayed his hand at a simple wordless indication from his Master.
Ra's arose from his knees and went to the perch that the bird had taken. His own familiar was out hunting this morning, so the stand was empty.
He knew whom this magnificent bird belonged to, in truth he had awaited its arrival long before now. The bird extended it's leg for the removal of the scroll it carried. His anger towards the man mellowed with each word he read. He knew that Malcolm could be manipulative, sly and cunning but to Ra's himself, the man had always been respectful and honest.
You are my Master.
I make no apologies for they will not be received and my Master suffers none.
The Undertaking was merely a tool, an instrument to carry out the will of The Demon. You charged me in my vows to vanquish evil. The Glades have not changed. What bought me to your door has never been far from my thoughts. For years I had forsaken all others, my son, my company, for the promise that I would have justice against those that killed my wife. Men, corporations, entire clans wiped out at your command by my hand, yet the Glades remained. It's evil spreading, infecting and dragging Starling City into its impoverish, corrupt and vile void. I took you at your word for you explained what motivated you. Your own loss and your desire to reshape the world. I was the Left Hand. The Hand exacting the will of The Head. Does not the hand often do the will of the Head without conscious thought?
I do not betray you or your secrets. Nyssa will tell you that I plan to destroy your sacred grounds. Merely a rouse to stay the impulses of a wounded lover. She will not hear me, nor does she wish for me to return to the League. The device does exist and I surrender it to you, to do with as you will.
Moira Queen kept my daughter from me all these years. I have trained her. I will continue to mentor her. All I ask is for her to be spared from my misdeeds and be given the choice to join us of her own free will, as you offered the same to your children.
I will meet with you. I await your bidding.
Al Sa-Her.
At a gesture, an inked brush and parchment were pressed into his waiting hands. He scripted a single line. The recipient would know what it meant.
Perhaps he was being soft. He knew that there was a time he had considered Al Sa-Her as a successor. He had no plans to abandon The Demon cause in life or in death but he knew he wouldn't always be the best to lead. He had hoped, but now he feared that Al Sa-Her was too deeply focused on vengeance. The trial would reveal if The Magician was strong enough to resume his place under The Demon Head.
::: ::: :::
Quarantine was over and they'd packed up all the equipment. They would be moving Oliver to an vacant A.R.G.U.S safe house, Lyla had arranged. It wasn't safe for Oliver to be anywhere known to Merlyn or the League until he was back up to fighting strength.
Diggle helped his friend stand and picked up the medical bag full of supplies the doctor was sending them off with.
Oliver leaned on the crutch with his good arm and felt his insides press against the support brace that was wrapped around his chest. He winced.
"Don't think I haven't noticed her absence. But I'll spare you the beating because you're already close to a body cast but if you need me to tell you you're an idiot. I will. Happily. As many times as it takes. We might have given you space but we all heard your send off. I thought I told you not to play your game on Felicity."
Oliver tensed and glared at Diggle. "That's the point. It's not a game. My life is a death sentence to everyone around me. If I could, I'd go back to the Island but my conscience won't let me. I'm needed here. But all of you, you'd be a helluva a lot safer if you stayed clear of me."
Digger shook his head. "Oliver, we care about you. Felicity wouldn't give up on you. She was working frantically from the moment you left and she planned for the worst. You would have stayed dead if it wasn't for her. That woman saved your life literally. She beat on you till your heart decided it wasn't going to get any peace in death so it started up again. You owe her your life."
"And I will spend what's left of it protecting her," he ground out, his voice hard but wavering with tense roiling emotion.
John shook his head slowly. "Talk to her, Oliver. Existing isn't the same as living. You don't seem to see it but every time you say you're protecting her, you're the one hurting her."
John walked to the door and held it open for Oliver pass. Neither of them said anything more.
::: ::: :::
Roy burst in just before midnight. Oliver had finally turned in after Diggle had convinced him that if he didn't, he would sedate him. He never met anyone who didn't understand the word rest. Sara was just about putting herself to bed these days. She would grab her favorite blanket and look at you expectantly, with those big dark eyes if hers. He really missed the nights he wasn't there to tuck her in. The pitfalls of working in the hero business. Police, emergency services, doctors, nurses, they all had shifts. It was a calling, what other reason would you sacrifice time with your loved ones but to help others or keep them safe? Dealing with a moody, wounded, stubborn ox of a man who behaved worse than his nephew with a ear infection, wasn't what he would call a dream job.
He knew they were in trouble the moment he saw Roy's face.
"Thea and Felicity are missing. I ran a trace program but there was no signal, so their phones must be off or damaged. I went to Felicity's office since that's where they were meeting and Palmer and Detectives were in her office. I didn't stick around. She hasn't got anything sensitive there, right?"
John shook his head. "No, she didn't keep anything there. It's all at the Foundry. But her phone could have sensitive information."
"The Arrow could call Captain Lance."
"Already done," Oliver said.
Diggle turned and glared accusingly at the appearance of the younger man. "We're handling it and you're supposed to be sleeping."
"I've slept three hours. That's more than enough in any one stretch for me," Oliver said argumentatively. "Palmer described he attackers and Lance thinks it's the League. He mentioned Nyssa visiting him and gloating over my death. He's relieved to hear I'm still among the living. Call came in awhile ago and police tracked them to the warehouse I met Ra's in but they only managed to capture one assassin. He killed himself before they could get him in the squad car."
"Do they have any more leads? What should we do?"
"Lance mentioned that there were two vigilantes on the scene. I'm counting on Merlyn being one if them. You'll need to access Felicity's system and check the recordings. I asked her to mirror Thea's phone after we learned that she was in contact with Merlyn. Nyssa would have expected him to come. We could try to run a trace on his number."
John nodded. "Do you mind if I bring Lyla in on this? I don't think we can afford to lose time while figuring out how to run the searches."
Oliver nodded. "Just keep me in the loop."
Both men knew how difficult this was for Oliver to sit out but he wasn't even on solids yet. His stomach and liver were still healing. The wound to his intestines was healing well now that the virus had been neutralized but he was still on a feeding tube. All he'd had so far was soups, fibre-free smoothies and water and those made him nauseated.
He was losing mass by the day and it was frustrating him as much as everything else he had no control over. He couldn't do his normal exercise regimen, he couldn't eat the foods he needed to keep up his muscle tone, he couldn't patrol, he really couldn't do much of anything but walk around and do light weights. He hadn't lifted the kind of weights John had given him ever in his life. The metal pole he used on the salmon ladder weighed more.
"I should be at the Foundry. I can sleep there and I can run the systems while you guys look into the League's movements and track down Merlyn."
John put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll see if Felicity left her remote tablet there. I'll check her home too, if the Defectives cleared out already. You should be able to access everything from here then."
"And if the police took it as evidence?" Roy interjected.
John shook his head. "I doubt anyone on Lance's system could break her security. And even though he's never said anything, we both know Lance knows who wears the Hood. He'll help us. If we ask, he'll release any personal effects they found."
"I'll call and let you know," Oliver said. "Roy, meet Lyla at the Foundry and find Merlyn."
::: ::: :::
Sarab bowed respectfully and passed Nyssa a note. She scanned it, her entire body rigid and her eyes icy cold in fury by the end. It wasn't a long message, it didn't even offer any explanations, just ordered her to leave Starling, release her hostages and return home. She didn't know what she expect more. There were never any explanations only orders.
"Where is Merlyn?" She refused to call him by his League name. He had betrayed their Master and she was certain he had killed Sara, whether by his hand or another's, he was responsible, she was sure of it.
"He killed three of our men before we lost him," Sarab told her.
"Release them. We leave Starling within the hour."
Her father might want to give Merlyn another chance. Or possibly kill the man himself, she smiled darkly. Whatever the case, she would watch The Magician carefully and one misstep and he wouldn't just lose his own life, she would make sure she took his daughter's in front of him. Just as he had stolen Sara from her. She would take what was most precious from him.
She cast a glance at the two women slumped against each other while tied to a thick cement column. Her men were removing the bonds. They lowered them both to the ground and then scattered from the industrial site.
::: ::: :::
Thea came too and felt cold grittiness against cheek. Her phone lay on the ground about an inch from her face. She turned it on and pushed herself up, crawling over to Felicity, while she waited for her system to start up. She dialled Roy as soon as it was active.
"Can you trace my location? I need help. Felicity might have a concussion but it looks like they left us. We're okay, Roy."
She set the phone on the ground and turned the speaker off. She wanted them to be able trace the signal but she didn't want anyone who might be listening, to hear what Roy might say or whom he was talking too. She had heard a woman's voice in the background and tried not to feel jealous. She had Roy hadn't been anything for a long time now. She gently lifted Felicity's shoulders and put her head in her lap. Roy was a nice guy and he was sweet when he wanted to be but he had hurt her with his lies. She wouldn't try to start anything with him, unless he was prepared to make some changes. Truthfully she hadn't been interested in relationships at all, save the ones she had with her father and Oliver. She frowned at the nagging headache that started up between her eyes. She breathed deeply. Maybe she'd gotten knocked around a little herself.
"Wake up, Felicity." Thea tucked back the strands of hair that had pulled free from her hair tie. She gingerly touched the blooming redness across her friend's cheek and jaw. It was already starting to swell and purple. It was going to look horrific tomorrow. She could see the bruises on her own knuckles from her fighting. Her wrists were weeping blood and it had smeared over her shirt and jacket. Felicity's wrists actually looked worse. She must have been pulling too much. Thea tore out her sleeves and bound Felicity's lacerated, bleeding wrists.
Sirens sounded and Thea hugged Felicity closer. "Were going to be fine, don't quit on me okay?"
She didn't think Felicity had suffered anything life threatening but head wounds were never anything to take lightly. Thea was surprised to see Captain Lance as the first on the scene but then she realized she shouldn't be. He seemed supportive of the Arrow now, he'd disbanded the task force. And she had seen him around Verdant a couple of times. He was close to his daughters. He had visited Sara when she had worked there. He seemed like a good man. A hardworking man, and a supportive father.
If he knew that it was the League that had taken them, he would want to know why. Laurel had said that he didn't know about Sara. Thea worried about what she was going to say when they were questioned. What did he know about the League? Did he know about Sara's connection to them?
"We'll need to take statements but I want you both looked at first. Is there someone you want with you?"
She wasn't a minor anymore, she didn't need a guardian present. She had nothing to confess so she didn't think a lawyer was necessary either. A support person might be nice though. There was someone she hadn't reached out to since her mom's confession. She felt ashamed for her mother and after learning that she was Malcolm's daughter she was worried about Walter's reaction. Her father had known. He hadn't cared but what about Walter. All their mother had done was lie to him; about Malcolm, about the accident, about his abduction, her involvement in The Undertaking, about Thea's parentage. Walter might have washed his hands of them.
Her heart argued otherwise though. He had backed Oliver's bid to try and get Queen Consolidated back. And that was after her mom had confessed to being an accomplice to a mass murderer. He hadn't held Oliver's biology against him. Walter had never given her any reason to believe he didn't see her for herself. He had tried to talk to her at her mother's funeral but she wasn't in a good frame of mind to talk to anyone.
"Your mother showed you how much she loved you, in ways that few parents can."
As much as she hated what her mother had done, she loved her. Every betrayal had hurt her to her core because she had felt so close to her mom but she realised that she hadn't really known her at all. That psycho Slade had called it right through, Moira Queen was a brave woman. She was the type of woman who could face an angry throng crying for her blood. She was the type of woman who could make nice with a room full of snobs who couldn't care less about her but came because her name still sold media. She was a woman who could stare down death without crying or cowering because she had courage and conviction.
She had chosen the wrong person to emulate. Malcolm couldn't teach her anything she didn't already know, qualities she already had. She had gotten them from her mother. She wasn't a Queen but there was no way in hell she was ever going to be a Merlyn either. From now on it was Thea 'Mia' Dearden. She would honour her mother's memory. The most courageous person she'd ever known. A parent who literally did everything to secure a future for her children.
"If you could call Walter Steele? He's my step father and he knows Felicity well too. I think she'd appreciate a friendly face."
Lance smiled encouragingly. "I will give him a call."
At that moment the ambulance arrived and soon medics where lifting Felicity into a gurney. They put a thermal blanket around her shoulders and she allowed herself to be led into the same bus as Felicity. She waved off their attention when they tried to look at her wrists.
"Just look after her. I'm okay."
The entire ride to emergency, Thea watched them work on Felicity with unblinking eyes. She felt numb. She was sure that Merlyn was behind the League letting them go. She didn't know what he'd negotiated, but she suspected that whatever it was the price would be high, possibly life ending but she could bring herself to feel anything more than mild relief about it. All she cared about that was they had been released. If they were left alone permanently she might bring herself say thank you. Although she wasn't sure she should even do that. It was his choices that had made them a target of the Assassins anyway. She absently rubbed her head. That prickling wasn't getting worse but it wasn't going away either.
