Oliver Queen entered the facilities of the Quiver, having slept in a little after a late night of patrolling the Glades following his taking down Pollard, only to stop in consternation as he found himself not in the facilities but standing on the silver platform soaring through space where he and Barry had first met Mar-Novu. The being himself was standing in the center of the platform, as he had been the last time. "What is this?" Oliver asked. "You wouldn't bring me here and risk exposure except for good reason. What's happened?"
"What I warned you of, Oliver Queen, when I first set you down this path," Mar-Novu replied. "When you began this journey, I warned you that you may face opposition from Eobard Thawne or even those you considered friends. Your exposure as Green Arrow has caused a massive shift in the timeline, one that caused a large enough timequake to attract the attention of the Legends. They are even now seeking to trace the source of this change, and they will discover the other changes you have made throughout your time here."
"What am I supposed to do?" Oliver asked. "They're my friends. Maybe I can reason with them."
"Do you think you can convince them to allow themselves to be erased from existence as you continue to make changes?" Novu asked. "Because that is what will happen. There are two options I can offer. The first is to call upon The Spectre, again, and we send you back to the day you returned to Starling again, allowing you the gift of hindsight in your changes so that you do not alter the timeline so drastically now that you have had experience with it."
"And the other?" Oliver asked.
"There is only one other choice," Novu said. "You must erase the timeline the Legends inhabit completely, reset the world that you know. If you do this, then nothing will be the same. You will chart a course on your own. I will no longer be able to guide you, and your memories of the future will be obsolete, for that timeline will no longer exist. Anything will be possible in this new timeline, including your early death. But it also means that so many things that didn't need to happen will not. If you make this change, then Barry Allen will not become The Flash until 2020, as in the original timeline, before Thawne and the Council of Time Masters made their adjustments to history. The Crisis on Infinite Earths will not occur until April 2024 unless something happens to move it up again, giving you twelve long years to prepare the world for the Crisis."
"It also means that I could fulfill what Thawne once told me, that the history books said I lived to be eighty-six years old," Oliver said. Novu inclined his head. Oliver folded his arms across the chest. "Exactly how would I destroy the timeline I remember, if I chose that path?"
"There is one who is integral to it all, Oliver, one whose death will destroy that timeline and create this new beginning for the Golden Age of Heroism," Novu replied. "You know of whom I speak."
"Eobard Thawne," Oliver mused. "But won't the Legends detect my choice to go after Thawne? It will take me hours to get to Central City undetected and may be hours before I can kill Thawne."
"It is possible that they will detect your choice and move to stop you, yes," Novu replied. "But it is also possible that they will not detect your intention until it is too late."
Oliver turned and walked to the edge of the platform, looking out into the depths of space. "You give me two options," he said, "but you know in reality there is only one choice. If I take the other path and let you send me back in time, again, then this event will happen again." Oliver turned back to face Novu. "The truth is I am no longer the shadow that I used to be. I cannot keep myself divided any longer. Oliver Queen is Green Arrow, and Green Arrow is Oliver Queen. I can no longer deny my true nature. Which means there's only one choice. Thawne must die so that the future can live, even if it means that that future is unpredictable and unknown. All it'll mean is that I face the unknown with my grit and my bow, as I have done countless times over the years. Send me back." Novu nodded and raised a hand. In a flash of white light and black smoke, Oliver was returned to the facilities of the Quiver. He tilted his head, making sure Naomi wasn't in here. There were no sounds of occupation, and he breathed a sigh of relief, not that he had expected Naomi to be in here. Novu wouldn't want to risk exposing his asset in changing the timeline, after all. *1*
Oliver relieved himself, washed his hands, and splashed water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. It was six hundred miles to Central City. He was going to need to stop for gas along the way, and he might as well erect a neon sign over his head saying 'plans to do bad things' if he kept his helmet on at any gas station he stopped at. Luckily, he had prepared for this with one of his contingencies, he just hadn't activated it yet. He had created a false identity, Jonas Dearden, which had a bank account, credit card, even a license plate for his bike that could be used. He just needed to dye his hair, because Jonas Dearden didn't have dark blonde hair. He was black-haired, like Tommy, and he had brown eyes. Hair dye and a pair of color contacts would be enough to pass muster, and he wouldn't look anything like himself. Oliver opened the mirrored door of the cabinet in front of him and got out a pack of black hair dye and got to work. Once the hair dye had fully taken effect in his hair and growing beard, Oliver pulled out a pair of color contacts and put them in, then turned to look at himself. He didn't look anything like Oliver Queen anymore. Well, at least if he decided to stretch his legs and go get something to eat as Jonas Dearden, he could. That way he wasn't completely stuck in the Quiver.
Oliver exited the bathroom and headed downstairs to change into a set of clothes to go with his new persona, since the sweatshirt and sweatpants he was currently wearing wouldn't fit. He changed into a pair of black jeans, black steel-toed boots, a black muscle shirt, and a Kevlar-lined black leather jacket. After this was done, he headed back upstairs. As he entered the command level, Naomi spotted him. "Woah," she said. "What's with the new look?"
"I have to go out of town for a little while and I can't be looking suspicious at gas stations by keeping my helmet on," Oliver said, "so I'm activating the Jonas Dearden identity that you created for me." He went to the weapons locker and selected a high-powered pistol and a silencer; he twisted the silencer into place, then holstered it in his waistband behind his back. He didn't particularly like doing it like that, but Jonas Dearden didn't have a concealed carry permit (something he would have to remedy), so he couldn't carry it in a holster under the jacket. "While I'm gone, begin looking into Councilman Gregory Kullens."
"Got it," Naomi said. "Where are you going?"
"It's better if you don't know that, Naomi," Oliver said. "I'll see you when I get back." Oliver pulled out the bank card, credit card, and driver's license in the name of Jonas Dearden and put them in his wallet before heading for the garage. He attached the license plate assigned to the Jonas Dearden identity to one of the bikes (they were all black Ducatis, so it didn't matter which one) selected a simple black motorcycle helmet and began his journey.
*DC*
Dinah Laurel Lance was, as per usual, trying to drown herself in paperwork, as her sister would call it. But unlike most of the past couple of months, this particular drive to work was fueled by her anger and, in some ways, her grief. She was currently tallying all of the donations that had been given to C.N.R.I., musing over the fact that none but one had pulled out after Oliver was revealed as Green Arrow, and that had led her to think about what was currently going on. Her boyfriend was on the run and would probably remain so until he was captured, and if he was, he would spend up to twenty years in prison. The dreams that Laurel had had for her and Ollie's future seemed to have been dashed and combined with what Sara had revealed to her about their mother and their father's current attitude and actions, things were looking pretty bad in Laurel's life. The one bright spot, ironically, was her sister.
Sara, it seemed, was far more intuitive than she used to be, because she set the book she was reading (this time a random mystery book she had picked up at the library by a well-known author) down and turned to Laurel. "What's going on with you?"
"What?" Laurel said distractedly while also trying to deflect. "Nothing."
"It's not nothing," Sara said. "You usually have an energy about you, even when you're doing paperwork. This? This is lifeless. You're just going through the motions. So, what's going on? Is it Ollie?"
"Not entirely," Laurel said after a moment, "but that's definitely part of it." She was silent for a few moments, then said, "It's really not that important, not with everything that's going on. I'll be fine, Sara."
"No, you're not fine, and you won't be until you get this out there," Sara said. "You're feeling some pretty strong things right now, and you need to deal with them, not bury them. Believe me, I know. You making me go to that support group helped me realize that burying the stuff I'm going through isn't good. So, come on, talk to me. What's going on?"
"I don't know exactly how to describe it," Laurel began. "I just… I feel like there's this weight on me, stemming from everything that's happening. Ollie's on the run and if he's caught, he's going to jail, so either he stays on the run the rest of his life, unless he's right and he's got people who can get him a pardon, or he goes to prison. If he does get pardoned, we'll only have a short time together before he's back on the run, because I know Ollie, Sara. I know him like I know my own name. And he won't be able to stand by and watch whatever fallout comes from Merlyn going down. He'll want to help people, and he'll go out as Green Arrow again, and then he'll be charged again, and this time there'll be no reason for him to be pardoned. So, I'm looking at a future where the man I love either remains on the run or goes to prison, but either way, we'll never be together, not in the way that matters.
"Then there's everything going on with our family. What you told me about Mom has me wondering how I can forgive her. It's different with you. You suffered so much in your years away, more than anything I could've wished for in my darkest moments. But Mom? What did she suffer, aside from feeling your loss, if she even really felt that? She saw nothing wrong with indulging you and allowing you to blow up my relationship with my boyfriend and for what? Because you had a crush and you were her favorite, so all that mattered was you and your feelings? What about me and my feelings? Why didn't that factor into Mom's considerations at all? Why is it that both she and Dad have always favored you but if I do anything similar, I get shunned and punished?
"As for Dad, well, you've seen what he's like. The looming thing was new, but the vitriol, the bitterness, the way he treated me like dirt and now you because of what you told him… I'm trying really hard to remember a time that Dad said he loved us. I know he did, and I know a part of this is just him drinking, and drinking heavily, but it hurts every time he's like this. Every time he's lambasted me for my life choices, every time he's introduced me as 'the daughter who lived' in a way that tells me he wished I had died on the Gambit instead of you, every cruel word, every look of disgust… I'm having a really hard time remembering a time when our family was a family and I'm wondering if what's really standing in the way of our family being whole is-is me." Laurel fell silent and looked down at her hands, which were wringing together out of anxiety.
Sara had listened to everything her sister had said, and now she took one of Laurel's hands between her own and gave it a squeeze. "Look at me," she ordered. Laurel reluctantly looked up. "Ollie is going to get out of this, and while he might love being Green Arrow, he loves you more than anything else. If it came right down to it, he would choose you over Green Arrow. So, when he gets out of this, if he doesn't somehow find a way to still be Green Arrow, just ask him to stop. He will. He loves you, Laurel, and being away from you is as painful for him as it is for you to be away from him. What Mom did was wrong and cruel, and I'm making no apologies for her. She should have told you and Dad years ago, and I don't know why she hasn't come clean, why she's avoided you both for the past four years, unless it's because she feels guilty. But I don't know what she's feeling guilty about since if it was about ruining your life in a way, she should've addressed it while she was here in town after I came back. And as for Dad? He's not as disgusted with you as he is with me right now. I'm the one who's a murderer."
"Yeah, but I'm supporting you, and that's just as bad in Dad's eyes," Laurel said. "Maybe worse, because he and I have always been so alike, and seeing me support my vigilante boyfriend and my assassin sister isn't something he can understand. I guess the difference between Dad and I is that he pursues the law while I pursue justice, and I've learned the hard way that they're not always the same thing. Ollie gets justice for people by breaking the law, and so do you, when you've gone out. Hell, you saved me from a horrible fate, and I will always be grateful for that, just like I'll always be grateful for you teaching me how to fight so that I'll never be so helpless again as I was that night. Dad just doesn't understand how I could change, and when he's in this state, he's not going to be willing to acknowledge that I've always cared about justice, not the law."
Sara squeezed her sister's hand again. "Now, there she is," she said softly. "There's the version of my sister who's always ready to take on the world. You are not responsible for what's happening in our family. Mom and Dad are. I don't know what's going on with Mom, but Dad can't reconcile who we are with his idealized images of us. Until he can, nothing is going to be good between us, and that is not your fault. It's his. So, I'll say it again. Ollie will get out of this, and you two will be together. You are not to blame for Mom and Dad's choices. That's on them. So, stop beating yourself up, stop letting sorrow rule your life. That's no way to live, Laurel."
"I'll try," Laurel said after a moment.
"Good," Sara said. "So, what are you working on?"
"Tallying the pledges from the charity benefit," Laurel said. "Interestingly, none of them have pulled out except for one. Lex Luthor withdrew his pledge, and I'm sure it was just to spite Oliver through me."
"What a dick," Sara said.
"But everyone else is keeping their pledge," Laurel said brightly. "With the amount we raised, C.N.R.I. should be good for a few years."
"You realize Ollie is probably going to insist on doing this every year once he's free and clear, right?" Sara asked with a smirk. "He'll want to make sure you and C.N.R.I. are golden."
"I don't want him to do that," Laurel protested.
"He will," Sara said, continuing to smirk. "And he'll ignore any protests you make. Because he's Ollie."
"Yes, he is," Laurel sighed with a small smile. *2*
*DC*
Oliver waited silently, hidden from view, in the home of "Harrison Wells", musing over the fact that Thawne certainly thought well of himself, having a home like this. Oliver had used an A.R.G.U.S. override code to fool the security system, as he had when he confronted Ira Kane in his home in Starling City, and he had noted the designer furniture, the expensive scotch in the decanter, the paintings from well-known artists, all the trappings of a person who thought themselves a cut above everyone else. Based on his own limited experience with the man and the things Barry had told him over the years, Oliver supposed it made sense Thawne believed himself such. He was from over 100 years into the future, a time when science and technology had expanded beyond anything imaginable now, and to him, the science of this world was primitive, the people backwards. Oliver wouldn't be surprised if Thawne were to be diagnosed with a god complex, the same as Malcolm.
Oliver heard the front door open and close, the beep of Thawne disarming the security system, then him moving into the main room. The chink of glass-on-glass as he poured a glass of scotch was heard as Oliver moved out of his hiding place and behind Thawne. Without hesitating, Oliver fired twice, taking out the speedster's knees. He had no idea if Thawne would have access to his powers at this time, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Thawne screamed in agony as he collapsed, the glass of scotch shattering on the tiled floor, and moaned as he clutched his legs. Oliver moved into Thawne's view, silenced pistol raised. "It's too bad we can't have pointed discussions about things that go over my head, Eobard, but I'm afraid I have to move quickly. You understand, I'm sure."
"Queen," Thawne ground out. "So, that's what's happened. You've traveled through time, and like an amateur, you've been making changes without understanding the consequences. What fool gave a short-sighted vigilante like you the power to change fate?"
"A cosmic being," Oliver replied, raising his weapon to point between Thawne's eyes. "Goodbye, Professor."
Before Oliver could pull the trigger, however, there was a crackle of electricity and woosh of air behind him, and then a familiar voice shouted, "Oliver, stop!" Thawne, seeing who was behind Oliver, smirked in satisfaction. Oliver, meanwhile, turned to face the new arrivals.
They looked almost like they had when he had last seen them, when he had been dying on the gurney inside the Bunker after his last stand against the Shadow Demons on Earth-38, but he knew these weren't that version of The Flash and White Canary. These were from earlier in the timeline, before the Crisis began. But exactly where in the timeline were they from? "Barry, Sara," Oliver greeted evenly, and he saw The Flash's eyes widen.
"How did you know who I am?" The Flash asked. "You shouldn't. We haven't met yet."
"Not quite so accurate, at least in this timeline," Oliver said. "We didn't officially meet, but I did overhear a conversation between you and Iris a few weeks back. I hadn't realized that being a C.S.I. wasn't your first choice, Barry." Thawne snickered behind Oliver, who turned and kicked him in the chest, leaving the evil speedster wheezing. "Shut up," Oliver advised the megalomaniacal speedster before turning back to the heroes in front of him. White Canary had an amused grin on her face, despite the situation, while The Flash was shaking his head at his friend's propensity for violence, even if his lips were twitching at seeing Thawne kicked like a common criminal.
"How do you know who I am, though?" The Flash asked.
"I'll answer that question with another," Oliver said, fixing his gaze on The Flash. "Have you met Novu yet?"
"How- Yes, I have," The Flash said. "He recently put us through some kind of test. How do you know about Novu?"
"Because I'm not the Oliver Queen of this time, not exactly," Oliver said, "but nor am I the Oliver Queen you fought with during Elseworlds. I'm from a little further along the timeline. And Novu is the reason this is happening. He gave me a second chance." There was a choked gasp behind Oliver from Thawne, which he duly ignored. His focus remained on his friends.
"What? Why?" The Flash asked.
"First, you might want to explain to Sara who Novu is and what he did to us," Oliver replied, looking at White Canary, who was looking between the two in confusion. The Flash proceeded to give White Canary the rundown on the Elseworlds incident, shocking her, though she did mention her team had a similar thing happen because of something John Constantine had done. Once that was done, the two heroes turned back to Oliver. "What you don't know about that time, Barry, is how you and Kara survived what you were doing. You were both going to burn up doing it. I couldn't let that happen, because in the end, I was certain it would be the two of you who saved us, because you were the best of us, not me. So, I made a deal with Novu to save your lives. I swore myself to his service when it came time to prepare for the Crisis. In exchange, he ensured you and Kara lived."
"What did this guy have you do?" White Canary asked.
"For one, because of something Barry and his daughter Nora did, the Crisis was moved from April 2024 to December 2019," Oliver said, and The Flash's eyes widened. "According to Novu, Barry, it was something this asshole behind me had you do." Thawne snickered again, and this time Oliver kicked him in the face. "I said shut up." Oliver turned back to face his friends. "Novu came to me a few weeks after the birth of my daughter, Mia, and said it was time. I thought I would have years. Instead, I had mere weeks of knowing what it was like to have a family of my own before I was pulled away. I performed several missions for the Monitor in preparation for the Crisis, and in the opening battle, I stood against the enemy's forces on Earth-38 to give the planet time to evacuate to Earth-1. I saw both Earth-2 and Earth-38 wiped from existence in that time, and I died in that opening battle. I ended up in Purgatory, but Dig, Constantine, and my adult daughter who Novu brought from the future found me. They had resurrected me with a Lazarus Pit on another Earth. But before I could go with them, another being appeared. He was called The Spectre, and he asked me to go with him. I did.
"The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the hospital on the day I returned to Starling City. Novu came to me then and told me the awful truth. We wouldn't have beaten the Crisis. We simply weren't prepared enough. The Crisis would have wiped out the entire multiverse. The enemy would have won. This wasn't something Novu could countenance, so he worked with The Spectre to send my soul back in time, and he charged me with preparing the world's heroes for the coming Crisis, both those I knew, like the two of you, and those who remained hidden from me. I've already found one. Earth-1 has a Clark Kent, and I've been working on inspiring him to step into the light as Superman with my actions. Earth-1 could use a Superman for all that is coming."
"Oliver, changing time isn't something you should do lightly," White Canary said.
"Oh, believe me, I've realized that," Oliver said. "But it was unavoidable. Even the smallest change, like waiting to debut as Green Arrow, almost had fatal consequences. Laurel almost died four years earlier thanks to that choice. I have made the best choice I could in every situation since, and I will continue to do so. Now, Novu told me I wouldn't be able to reason with the two of you, said that there was no way that you would let me continue. Was he right? Will you try to stop me?"
"We have to, Ollie," White Canary said. "Don't worry. You won't remember a thing."
Oliver didn't reply, instead spinning and firing his weapon. There was a crackle of electricity, but The Flash's fingers just missed the bullet before it slammed through Thawne's forehead and punched out the back of his skull, splattering the floor behind him with blood and brain matter. Thawne fell back, eyes unseeing, and The Flash stared at the sight in numb disbelief. "Then I'm sorry," Oliver said into the silence that followed as The Flash stood, looking at him like he was a stranger. A similar look was on White Canary's face. "For the future to live, for the multiverse to have a chance, I have to continue my work, and since you won't let me, then Thawne had to die to erase your timeline."
"Oliver, do you have any idea what you've done?" White Canary asked even as cracks of light began to form on her body.
"Oh, yes, I know what I've done," Oliver said. "I've created a timeline where anything can happen, where we are no longer bound by the constrictions of fate as ordained by Thawne and the Council of Time Masters. I've created a timeline where the Crisis will not happen until 2024, giving me twelve years to prepare the heroes of Earth-1 for the Crisis. I don't know if we can stop the destruction of the multiverse, but I'll be damned if I don't make sure we go out fighting, with the best possible chance of success. I will assemble the largest team of heroes ever seen and I will make sure that every last one of them knows what's coming so that even if I die in this new timeline, heroes are prepared to stand against the Crisis. And yes, I know I have done this at the expense of the two of you. I wish it didn't have to be this way. You were both my friends, the closest ones I had after Laurel and Tommy died. I won't forget you, and I'll make sure these versions of you become the best versions of themselves. Goodbye, Barry. Goodbye, Sara."
The Flash and White Canary gave cries of pain as they began to break apart, and Oliver turned away, unable to bear the sight. Once the sound of his friends' cries of pain faded, he turned again, holstering his weapon in the waistband of his jeans like before, and left Thawne's home, heading for the nearby alleyway where he had parked his bike. It was time to get back to Starling City and the uncertain future that he had created with this act. *3*
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.
Chapter Notes:
*1* Now, I admit, I toyed with the idea *very briefly* of Oliver choosing the first option and being more careful with his changes to the timeline, but that would have meant rehashing everything that's happened and that would have been very tiresome. But I decided to keep that option included so that if I ever wanted to explore what could have been, I have a jumping off point for a spin-off. But if I ever *do* that sort of story, it's going to be a long time from now.
*2* I like writing Laurel and Sara being sisters and being close, in case anyone hasn't noticed. I've never understood this thing with fans of one sister decrying the other as a bitch or a shrew or whatever. That's no better than the Olicity fans saying the same things about Laurel and Sara themselves to prop up their favorite. At the end of the day, they're *sisters* and that means something most of the time unless you're a sociopath. Yes, sisters do fight and it can get ugly from my understanding, but they eventually settle their differences (most of the time).
*3* I decided I wanted to give Oliver the chance to explain his actions to those who were his closest friends by the time he died, which is what I've always seen Barry and Sara as since they understood the burdens Oliver carried, being the respective leaders of their own teams. Obviously, they were never going to allow Oliver to continue, but I felt Oliver deserved the chance to present his case and hopefully prove Novu wrong.