Oliver arrives on Earth-38, and finds out there has been a big change since he was last here...
As soon as he was on the other side of the breach, Oliver was met with a familiar sight… A contingent of DEO agents with Alex Danvers in the center of them, all aiming their guns at him. Alex dropped her gun and sighed in relief when she saw him at the center of the breach. Oliver had spotted J'onn standing behind them, who also immediately relaxed when he saw that it was Oliver.
"Stand down" said Alex, throwing Oliver a mixed look of happiness and annoyance.
"Oliver. It's good to see you again" said J'onn as he walked over toward Oliver.
"You too, J'onn" replied Oliver as they shook hands.
"What's wrong, do you need our help?" asked Alex, automatically assuming that something was wrong. Then again, he was still in his suit and was carrying his bow with him, so it was not a surprise that he gave that illusion.
"Nothing. I just thought I'd pop by. As a friend."
"Well, then I gladly welcome you back to Earth-38", Oliver recognised the high-pitched voice immediately, turning around to see Winn smiling like a geek.
"Good to see you too Winn" replied Oliver, shaking Winn's hand as well. Within a second, the sound of a whoosh came from the balcony of the DEO, as Kara landed.
"Oliver!" she called out, almost running towards him and giving him a hug which he gladly accepted. A hug that he needed right now, "I'm so happy to see you."
"Me too. Hey, where's Mon-El? Is he not here at the moment?" asked Oliver. He was confused when he spotted the reserved looks of everybody around him, particularly the look of sorrow on Kara's face. The awkward silence pestered for several seconds before Alex broke it.
"It's a long story, we can tell it to you another time" said Alex, drawing a nod from Oliver. Her words implied that Mon-El wasn't dead, but the looks on their faces said otherwise. Suddenly, the red alert light started flickering and a beeping sound emanated through the room. A grayscale digital map popped up on the large monitors of the DEO, with a blue dot flickering across multiple locations on the map, "What's happening?" asked Alex.
"We've been monitoring all suspected and confirmed members of Cadmus since they went into hiding a few months ago. We've just picked up Hank Henshaw's digital cyborg signature", replied Winn.
"Hank Henshaw is here in National City?" replied Kara.
"Makes sense. We've been hitting suspected Cadmus warehouses pretty hard since they went dark. He could be here to check up on assets for Lillian" replied Alex.
"Could be, but why expose himself now? He and Lillian have been off the radar for several months" asked Kara.
"Wait, why is it doing that?" asked Alex, as the blue dot of Henshaw's location continued to change and move between various locations in National City.
"He's trying to mask himself by corrupting his digital signature, making it appear that he's in multiple locations" replied Winn as he typed into his computer, "He's definitely in the vicinity of National City, we just don't know exactly where."
"Can you find him, Agent Schott?" asked J'onn.
"Yes but it's going to take me a while. Cadmus' IT department aren't slouches anymore" joked Winn.
"Well, when you find his location, let us know" said Oliver.
"Us?" said Kara, out of surprise.
"I know I just came here to visit but if this is a chance to deal a devastating blow to Cadmus, I'll gladly help" said Oliver.
"Supergirl-Green Arrow team up? Awesome" remarked Winn with child-like joy, drawing a half-smile from Oliver.
20 minutes later, and still no change. Winn was working hard to try crack the disruption code Cadmus had put in place, and although it was taking him a while, he remained calm and patient. Oliver studied Kara for several minutes as she stood on the balcony of the DEO by herself, just like how he'd seen her do several months ago when Lena was framed. Team Arrow may have told him that he liked to brood down in the bunker, but the balcony of the DEO seemed to be the place where Kara languished in her thoughts. He was sure she was probably thinking of Mon-El. He left Winn's side and walked over to the balcony.
"You know, I'm usually the one who does the brooding, not you" joked Oliver as he walked up beside her.
"Sorry. Just got a lot on my mind" she replied, forcing a smile on to her face.
"I don't want to be insensitive… but what happened to Mon-El?" asked Oliver. The look of sorrow on Kara's face as she glanced over at him was one that he had never seen before from her. He'd seen such a look before, one on people who had suffered tremendous losses… it was a look he saw often when he looked at himself in the mirror.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before replying to him.
"About four months ago, Mon-El's mother, the Queen of Daxam showed up. Long story short, she basically wanted to take over Earth and turn it into New Daxam. So she launched a full-scale war, starting right here in National City. The only way to stop the Daxamite invasion was to dispense lead into the atmosphere to drive them away, and that… affected Mon-El too…" Oliver closed his eyes momentarily and clenched his fist, knowing exactly where this was headed, "I had to choose between the lives of… everyone… or my love for Mon-El. We sent him on a pod to outer space, and we tried tracking it, but it's disappeared. That was the last we saw of him" finished Kara, as she wiped the tears that started to form in her eyes.
Oliver too was feeling extremely dejected and disappointed. Not only was the whole situation extremely disturbing, but he was actually hoping to see Mon-El when he decided to come here. He wanted to see how much more he'd grown, and not only that, Oliver enjoyed his company tremendously. Mon-El had the playfulness and charisma of a younger version of him, but too had the will and desire to make a meaningful difference just like Oliver does now. Now, he was God knows where in the cosmos. He didn't like the thought of it, but it was possible that he was dead.
It hurt Oliver even more to see how the situation affected Kara. He knew that they both truly loved each other. The pain of having someone you loved being ripped away was almost unbearable. It had happened so many times to Oliver that he thought he'd become numb to it, but it hurt just as bad every time. He hated to see Kara, a paragon of hope and light standing so broken in front of him. He didn't know how to comfort her, but he tried anyways, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Kara… if you need me, I'm here for you" he said.
"Thank you" she replied, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes. Suddenly, they heard Winn scream in excitement. He cracked the code.
"We've supposedly tracked Henshaw to this government facility a few miles out from the city" said J'onn, as Oliver, Kara and Alex stood with J'onn at the control hub of the DEO.
"Supposedly?" asked Kara, out of confusion.
"It's an old abandoned facility, out of service for years. It's unlikely that there's anything there that will be of use to Cadmus," explained J'onn, "Which begs the question, why is he there?"
"It was an old research facility. Maybe he's looking for something really specific. Blueprints? Files? Equipment?" suggested Alex.
"It doesn't matter why he's there. If he's there, then we have to take him out. Why do you seem so apprehensive J'onn?" asked Kara, slightly surprising Oliver with her bluntness.
"I don't know. Something about it seems odd."
"What do you think Oliver?" asked Kara, causing all of them to turn towards him.
"I think you're right. If he's there, we have to strike" replied Oliver. J'onn contemplated Oliver's words before making his final decision. He clearly respected Oliver's intuition and gut, and was taking it into consideration here.
"Alright then. I'll prep Strike Team Alpha. We roll out in 15 minutes."
They all turned around to move their separate ways and ready themselves for the raid. Oliver started to walk away, but Kara quickly caught up to him and called his name.
"Hey, Oliver" she said as she came up behind him, causing him to turn around and face her.
"Yeah" he replied as he turned to face her.
"I have something I want to show you" she said. Oliver followed her as he walked with her upstairs. They entered the conference room, where there was a flat, trapezium-shaped metal case placed on the table, "It's just a little gift I had Winn make for you."
"What is it?" asked Oliver, despite having already guessed what was inside due to the shape of the box.
"Open it" said Kara, who was practically bubbling with excitement as Oliver took a step towards it, and unlatched the hinges. Kara couldn't help but grin as Oliver placed his Oneida Kestrel compound bow on the table, and picked up the new black recurve bow.
"It's lined with Nth metal" said Kara, as Oliver inspected every inch of it, from the riser all the way to the tips of the limbs. The design of it made it look every futuristic, almost as if someone had taken his first recurve bow and made it better in every conceivable way. He twisted it around in his hand, and moved it to his side. It was perfectly balanced, "What do you think?" asked Kara.
"It's perfect."
Author's Note: Kara gifts Oliver a new bow! It's basically the bow he used in S6 and S7, the only difference being the Nth metal composition. We're already heading into action in the next chapter, and we're going to meet the big bad of the story!
Also, I know some of you may be confused by the story cover image with the face and man in the middle. Some of you may have recognized the face as Charlie Hunnam, and it is him. Basically, he has the perfect look and demeanor to represent an important character in the story, and the hooded masked figure behind him is the big bad! Maybe try guess which DC character he is ;)
Please also leave reviews guys! It will be much appreciated! :)