From Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton by Ralph Dibney (pg. 40)
Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028
Alena Kacey Whitlock was born and raised in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on August 6, 1992. For most of her childhood, life seemed pretty stable until her older sister committed suicide in the winter of 2005. A few months later, her parents divorced, and Alena went to live with her father.
During her years at Templeton Secondary School, she became involved with the world of hacktivism. Eventually, Alena aspired to become one herself after learning of Felicity Smoak's cyber breach of the US Department of Education in 2009. After graduating in the class of 2010, Alena went on to study at the University of British Columbia.
During her college days, she joined and participated in a student-run hacktivist group that was actually a Canadian branch of the worldwide notorious hacktivist organization, Helix. Once graduating with a degree in Computer Science in 2014, Alena traveled to the United States on a work visa. At the time, she had been recruited by Helix's leader and founder, Cayden James, to pursue an internship at their office branch in Star City.
Following the end of her internship, Alena became a dual Canadian-US citizen. After settling down in Star City, she continued to work under the mentorship of Cayden James. Eventually, Alena became a skilled hacker known to the digital world as Kojo Sledgehammer and participating in procuring approximately eight petabytes of data from the NSA's information-gathering program ECHELON, in 2016. Helix stored this information in a flash drive, often referring to it by the name of Pandora. Alena used this information as a means to help Felicity Smoak after encountering her idol in 2017 not only to clear John Diggle from his predicament with the military but also to bring Felicity back to her hacktivist days.
That same week, Felicity accepted her offer to join Helix. For a short while, the hackers worked together until Helix was forced to go into hiding due to Felicity's connection with the Green Arrow becoming a liability.
Several months afterward, in November of 2017, Alena joined forces with Felicity Smoak again. This time, she asked her former associate to stop Cayden James from enacting a plan that would have resulted in a global casualty of approximately 300 million people.
Although Alena became an ally to the Green Arrow and his comrades, she was forced to go incognito once the Green Arrow revealed his identity to the world. For a few months, she remained hidden from the public eye until Black Siren, who had already reached out to Erik Needham and Kirk Langstrom by then, tracked her down. Once Alena met the Earth-2 assassin, she was given an offer that could not be dismissed.
"I guess you already know who I am." Alena shifted in her shoes uncomfortably. Both Thea and Felicity gave searing-hot glares at the hacktivist, gripping each other's hands so neither would lunge at the woman. They both wanted to unleash a stream of expletives on the woman who played a tremendous role in turning their son and nephew into a weapon.
Both Thea and Felicity knew better; finding William was far more crucial than losing both of their tempers at this moment.
They looked at each other, and they silently agreed that once William was found, both of them would have a nice and long chat with Alena.
"What are you doing here?" Thea barely spoke through a set of clenched molars, with her burgundy painted fingernails curling in Felicity's palm.
"I just came to tell you that we're just getting ready to leave for Hope Springs," Alena told them. "And that we're going to keep you guys updated up to the second. We'll move forward from there to the school and every place William has visited up to the time he came to Star City." Her words did nothing to soothe the silent storm brewing within the minds of the sisters-in-law.
"What happened to William," Alena continued. "No kid should ever have to go through that. And I can only imagine the kinds of questions you have right now." Felicity was barely able to stop her own body from shaking. "In the meantime," Alena pushed her glasses back towards her face. "Just try to keep an open mind, okay? That's literally the only thing I can say that will help you right now."
"Alena?" Roy came knocking at the door. "Time to go."
The hacktivist gave a small nod before looking over to her former friend. She opened her mouth to apologize to Felicity, but she knew it was futile. No apology would change the past, nor would it bring William back from wherever he could possibly be.
Without another word, she walked out of the medbay with Roy, and the door closed behind her.
Lyla Micheals switched off her headpiece once she ended giving orders to her agents to continue canvassing specific areas in the city. She sat in her office chair and lifted her mug up to her lips when she realized that she was out of coffee for the second time.
She walked to the machine near the door when Sara Lance opened it with a few card-sized packets in her hand.
"Hey, got a second?" Sara asked the woman.
"Yes, come in." Lyla rubbed the side of her head to ease the migraine from the meeting she had the other day.
"To be honest, I figured you were a hot chocolate person," Sara said to her. "But I asked John what your drink was, and he said you were a sucker for hot chocolate. So…" She laid out the packets in front of Lyla to her great relief and delight. "I come bearing gifts. It's from your favorite bakery down in Star City."
"Thanks, Sara." Lyla poured in hot water and mixed the powder in the cup. "I take it that you've been hitting a wall too?"
"You don't know the half of it." Sara chuckled, pouring herself a cup of hot chocolate. "When I got Barry's call, I tried to convince the Time Bureau to let us use the Waverider not only to find out what happened to the woman who looks like my sister, but to also find out where William could be."
"Let me guess," Lyla sipped her beverage slowly. "The board wouldn't yield to taking care of personal affairs?" Lyla lifted the hot drink and sipped it slowly.
"Something like that," Sara replied, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "I tried everything I could think of, anything that would get some kind of lead, but everywhere I turned, all I got was stonewalled."
"Even from Gideon?" Lyla asked.
"Especially from Gideon," Sara replied. "Ava tried to get some leniency with the Bureau and the rest of the Legends tried backing me up, but as soon as they did, the Time Bureau threatened to confiscate the Waverider if any of us tried to access any information from any time on the matter."
"Let me guess," Lyla said. "Time Bureau rules and regulations got in the way?"
"Yeah," Sara's fingers clawed against the mug sheepishly. "Technically speaking, the Legends can travel to any point in time, as long as it's for catching anachronisms or you know, preventing the end of the universe. But since this case has neither happening in its own little history, the Bureau wouldn't give an inch. So, I worked out a compromise with the Time Bureau, where I would leave for 2019 on temporary suspension while Ava took over for me as captain. As to when I'll be back, I don't know exactly, but I have no doubt that both the Legends and the Waverider are in good hands while I make sure my real sister's name doesn't get dragged through the mud."
"How is Ava doing, by the way?" Lyla asked.
"She's good," Sara said. "She's doing pretty well, actually. We're talking about the possibility of getting married once this whole case blows over. But enough about me," She set her mug down once more and moved closer to Lyla. "How are you holding up with this case?"
Lyla took a glance at the picture of her five-year-old son, JJ Diggle, whose smile became a knife directed towards her heart.
"You ok?" Sara asked.
The brunette shook her head and kept her eyes on the photo. "How could this happen? How could any of this happen?"
Sara brushed aside a loose strand of hair and grabbed her friend's trembling hands.
"I don't know," She said to her. "But you can't start thinking that it's somehow your fault. You don't even know the whole story yet."
"Perhaps not," Lyla said. "But these were kids, Sara. Our kids. They were both under ARGUS security, which meant I was protecting them. Or at least I was supposed to. And I couldn't even do my fucking job right."
"Hey." Sara laid a comforting hand on Lyla's shoulder. "You did your best."
Lyla's watery blue eyes bore into Sara's.
"But what if it wasn't enough?"
Oliver Queen walked across the basketball courtyard with his eagle-like eyes scanning across the field for any potential attackers. However, at the moment, he wasn't too concerned about anyone attacking him. No, he had to find a guard to speak to, someone to use his powers of persuasion on, so he could make at least a phone call to ARGUS - no, maybe two if the first time didn't work.
He walked up to a guard, whose name tag was spelled, Felton. He was a large burly man with a roadmap of stubble decorating his lower chin. He also had a large amount of gray splattered on both sides of his head.
Oliver didn't know Felton too well, but he knew that unlike many of the other guards, Felton didn't refer to the inmates by their number, but by their last name only.
Oliver usually avoided the guards regularly, considering his tumultuous relationship with Officer Yorke. However, at the moment, he couldn't afford to be picky. After all, it had been a few weeks since he had been released from solitary confinement. Not a single piece of news about his son's whereabouts had been brought to his attention since Ben Turner had passed Lyla Micheals' message to him.
Although Oliver wasn't impatient, he was getting tired of waiting. So he knew that what he was about to ask was a long shot, but it was worth it if it meant finding something new about his son's disappearance.
"I need to make a phone call." He told Felton.
"You don't have phone privileges, Queen."
"Well, I don't give a fuck about what I have and don't have at the moment." Oliver snarled back. "I need to make a call. Please, is there any way I can make one right now?"
"Look, I don't want to have to drag you to the hole if there's trouble around," Felton said. "So to save time, why is it so important right now for you to make a phone call?"
Oliver let out a hot breath through his nostrils, realizing that the guard in front of him was not fully aware of what was at stake.
"It's my son," Oliver confessed. "He's missing, and I'm worried that something may have happened to him." Oliver looked at Felton, who had a sympathetic twinkle in his eyes.
"I'm afraid you don't have phone privileges, Queen," Felton replied.
"Please, I need - no, I have to make a call" Oliver's knees began to buckle.
"I am very sorry about your son, Queen," Felton told him. "Unfortunately, even if I wanted to provide you access to a phone, I'm afraid I can't. It's entirely out of my hands."
"Felton, I'm losing my fucking mind here," Oliver ran his hand through his shaved head. "I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't even fucking think straight anymore,"
"I understand," Felton said to the former vigilante. "But unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to provide that for you. However, I am sure that your friends are all on it."
"No, you don't understand," Oliver pleaded. "My son is in danger. He's the -"
Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver saw Ben Turner standing at the corner. He was shaking his head as if indicating to the man that he should not reveal information people could take advantage of.
Felton, on the other hand, wasn't born yesterday. He turned around to see the robust martial artist staring at the archer, silently threatening him to keep his mouth shut or else. He backed away just by a few inches to get a full view of both of the prisoners at the scene.
"I'm not sure what your beef is this time," Felton warned the inmates. "But I better not catch you two starting anything, that's all."
"Yeah, whatever," Turner agreed as Felton left, but not before the guard gave both men one last eagle-eyed glare at both men before he left them alone.
"The hell was that?" asked the archer.
Bronze Tiger turned away from him, not interested in wasting his time trying to figure out what part of "keep your mouth shut" was not understood.
Alena's wrists brushed against each other, while her foot tapped impatiently against the car seat. Her glasses rested on the edge of her nose. Normally, she would have preferred to wear her contacts on a busy day especially like this. But she only had as much time as she did to get ready, especially when she was living under strict ARGUS custody and felt as though she had a million pairs of eyes on her, watching her every move, making sure she didn't try to escape.
Of course, at this moment, that particular set of eyes were actually the hawk-like gaze from one Roy William Harper Jr., Alena's ARGUS-employed "babysitter".
"So," Her somewhat nervous voice chimed, hoping to relieve some of the tension. "You like archery?"
Roy's steely gaze never wavered, but even he wasn't opposed to a friendly conversation once in a while.
"Yeah." He replied to the hacktivist. "It's something I do."
"As a hobby or for working out?" Alena asked.
Roy gave a nonchalant shrug with his shoulders. "Both, I guess."
The van's wheels screeched on the asphalt ground, letting each of the passengers inside know that their flight was quite literally around the corner.
Roy uncuffed Alena from the car door handle and placed the handcuffs on both of her hands as he dragged her out of the car and onto the runway where the jet was waiting for them.
ARGUS agents surrounded them, armed with weapons to protect the plane, and all of them circling the plane like sharks circling their prey.
Alena glanced warningly at Roy who in return flashed her a look that said to her, "Don't even think about trying to escape now."
The pilot escorted them to the passenger aisle of the jet where they saw Ralph Dibney scrolling through texts on his phone. He was about to reach for his Double-Shot Macchiato when he saw the other members of his team arrive.
"Ah!" He exclaimed. "And just when I was starting to feel lonely!"
"Nice to see you again, Dibney," Roy said to him. "This is our accomplice, Alena Whitlock, who I'm sure you've heard about through our briefing."
"Yeah, you're the typy-type one, right?" Ralph asked her.
"Kind of," Alena said to him. "I hear you're the guy who likes to stretch the rules."
"That's a very high oversimplification of things, but yes," Ralph said to her. "So, why don't we get this show on the road? Next stop, Hope Springs, Idaho!"
"Aren't there supposed to be four of us on this jet?" Alena asked.
Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Kimberly Rebecki, carrying a box of doughnuts. They were somewhat around 5'4 and wore a bright yellow shirt along with golden hoop earrings, both of which complimented their smooth coffee-toned skin flawlessly.
Kimberly was almost down the aisle when they tripped on their steps, but not before jumping to the floor to save the falling box of doughnuts from imminent destruction for all they knew.
"Yes!" The detective pumped their fist into the air with a victorious smile. "Sugar, One, Gravity, Zero."
Kimberly rose up, brought the box on the table, and opened it for all to see. Inside was an assortment of every kind of delicious doughnuts you could imagine from Krispy Kreme.
"You stopped for a box of doughnuts along the way?" Ralph asked while grabbing a powdered jelly doughnut.
"Are you kidding?" Kimberly asked. "Whenever I'm on the job, food helps out a lot more than caffeine. Especially if it's got sugar in it."
Roy put away his phone after he sent a reassuring text to Thea, and turned towards the detective, who was happily enjoying a doughnut that was frosted to resemble a particular flag – on that had a yellow stripe on top of a white strip that was on top of a purple stripe, which was on top of a black stripe.
"So, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you're the psychic Lyla called in, right?" Ralph said to her.
"Well, you assume right," Kimberly sharply replied. "Unless you figured out that I'm an extra flight attendant who picked the wrong pair of shoes today." They gestured to a pair of small boots with heels at the bottom, both of which were probably selected in a hurry that morning to make their taxi to the jet.
"But you're not a flight attendant," Alena said to them.
Kimberly held their doughnut up like it was a valuable china plate. "No, you're right, I'm not. I'm just the surgeon who came to steal all your intestines and sell them as sausages." Kimberly took a bite out of their doughnut before they started cracking up at the horrified looks on everyone's faces. "I'm just kidding! Allow me to introduce myself," They held out their right hand and said, "I know Lyla's probably told you about me, but please, I insist you call me Kim."
Felicity Smoak combed through the items collected from storage. They were mostly William's belongings with some of Felicity's effects mixed in there. The doctor had already run a bunch of screening and had determined that bringing items from the safehouse would stir some stronger and clearer memories.
"We kept some of these items as safekeeping," Lyla said. "Just in case you needed to go back into Witness Protection with William." She handed Felicity a tye-dye t-shirt that was splattered with a giant splotch of paint that resembled a combination of black vomit, along with purple frosting and yellow-green boogers.
"My favorite shirt, I almost forgot about this." Felicity held the shirt in her fingers while smiling warmly at the memory surrounding it. "William made this for me." She fought back tears as she remembered the day she first saw it as a present for her birthday.
"As per Director Michaels' instruction, all vitals will be monitored to prepare to deal with potential memory loss along with any pain that may associate from your injuries." Dr. Cole explained. "Both Sara and Thea will be on guard to protect you and provide emotional support while Director Michaels will be conducting the interview."
"This questioning will be conducted similarly to Zoe's." Lyla chimed in. "If at any point you feel as though it's becoming too much or that there's something you don't remember, just let us know and we'll see what we can do. If you need to stop, we can do that, just say the word whenever you need to."
"Thank you," Felicity said.
"We're all set," Thea said, finishing getting the tripod ready to hold the camera.
"Sounds good," Sara said. "Are you ready to go back to Hope Springs?"
The computer hacker looked at the t-shirt in her hands, holding onto hope with every fiber of her being, and looked at her friend with hope shining in her eyes.
"Let's do this."