Disclaimer:I don't own it.

No Oliver POV scenes in this chapter - I didn't plan it that way, but things just worked out like that.

The Siege of Starling City

By Kylia

Chapter 3: Secrets

In the annals of serial killer history, I don't think anyone has had quite as humiliating a beatdown as Barton Mathis did in late October, 2013.

-Buzzfeed's "Top 10 Most Hilarious Serial Killer Fails", posted July 10, 2021.

Residential Suite
Merlyn Global Headquarters, Starling City

October 23, 2013

"I'm sorry I couldn't come by the day you called," Sara let out a long sigh as Tommy let her into the 'little' apartment he'd been living in on the top floor of Merlyn Global.

Malcolm Merlyn, being the workaholic he was in addition to being a murderous bastard, had a whole well-appointed apartment on the same floor as the top office, so he could stay there on days he worked too late for it to be worth going home. Tommy had been staying there, since his home was still given over to housing refugees from the Undertaking, and it was safer up here anyway.

"It's okay." Tommy assured her. "You've got... a lot on your plate. I heard about that woman who escaped. Killed a cop."

"She's not the only one who escaped prison after..." Sara shook her head. "Anyway. I also come bearing gifts, which I know both of you need." She looked around, expecting to see Joanna. The two of them stayed pretty close together most of the time.

"Joanna's a couple levels down, working on how to fend off the array of impending lawsuits... or at least, not let them completely cripple the company." Tommy explained, guessing why she was looking around. "I told her she didn't have to, but... well, she's one of the few lawyers still working here, and she refuses to quit, even though I gave her the chance."

"Of course she won't quit, she loves you, you idiot," Sara gently punched him in the shoulder, watching the mock expression of pain on his face as he 'recoiled' from the blow. She held up the beg with two bottles. "Wine for you, and vodka for Joanna." It wasn't a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and she couldn't get Joanna's absolute favorite brand of vodka, but even as a well-paid lawyer at Merlyn Global before... recent events, she'd only bought sparingly, and from what Sara gathered, she'd enjoy this one as well.

"This... yeah, these will be put to good use. Which reminds me," Tommy led her into the small kitchenette, opening the fridge and pulling out a beer, which he handed to her. "You'll need this."

Sara looked at the beer. Then back at Tommy. "Okay, now I'm worried. What's going on? What do you need to talk to me about."

"I need to show you a recording Dad left for me to watch in his will," Tommy explained. "Took me months to stomach opening it, and I had to break open a bottle of Dad's favorite twenty year old scotch after I did." Tommy hated scotch.

Okay, no, that wasn't true. Tommy hated drinking Scotch for enjoyment. Scotch was his drink of choice when he wanted to forget something, or just wanted to get absolutely smashed.

Sara looked down at the bottle in her hand, then back to Tommy. He looked... god, he looked so fucking exhausted. Redness in the eyes, worry lines across his face. He'd given her a small smile just a minute before, and now his expression was looking like he'd never smiled in his entire life.

Anything to do with his Dad, especially now, had a tendency to bring Tommy down, but this... even under the circumstances...

"How bad?"

"I... I don't even know." Tommy admitted. "Over here," He led her over to a table where a laptop was sitting, and a video file paused and ready to play, Malcolm Merlyn's face at the center of the view, standing in front of a chair.

Tommy gestured for her to sit down in front of the laptop. Sara looked at him pointedly, then took a breath and sat down. Tommy moved the Mouse, and pressed play.

After a moment, Merlyn on the screen started speaking. He sounded... unusually earnest for the usually flat and soulless bastard she'd come to know and expect.

"Tommy, if you're watching this... I'm dead. I don't know what happened, or when. But... if you're watching this, then... well, we never really had a chance to..." Merlyn paused, then inhaled. "I know you... I know we don't... things have been tough between us, for years. Ever since your mother died. And I know I'm terrible at showing it but... all I've ever really wanted, was for us to be close."

Well, there's a fucking lie. Sara knew there had clearly been more the bastard wanted. She looked over to Tommy, who was watching stone faced.

"But there's been things. Important things I've been trying to do. If you're seeing this they didn't work... but that doesn't matter. There's something else you need to know."

"After your mother died, I was lost. I was furious at the world. I shut myself off from everyone, even you. In the six months between Rebecca dying..." He trailed off a moment, then went on. "In those six months, I put everything I could into finding the man who killed her. I killed him."

Sara inhaled sharply. I mean, I knew Merlyn was a murderer, but I didn't know he started before...

"I shot him in the back. I don't regret giving him what he deserved for a moment," Big surprise there, Sara resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "But... it didn't take the pain away. It didn't bring your mother back. Nothing did. That's why I left, eventually. But before I did, I did something else, something I'm not proud of."

"I slept with Moira Queen."

Sara blinked. Then she stared at the screen. Before she could look at Tommy, or process what the recording was saying, especially in light of Thea's theories once that Merlyn and her mother were having an affair...

"Robert... Robert Queen was many things. But being faithful to his wife was not one of them. Moira... she bore up under it, most of the time, but for a few weeks, in April '94... she was tired of it. She was angry with Robert, and I was grieving, angry and, well. We had an affair. It was two people, looking for comfort. I hope you won't think less of me for it Tommy." Merlyn admitted, and to Sara, that was the first thing that sounded like genuine emotion from the man, really, his voice almost like it was approaching choking up for just a split second.

I think Tommy has too many other reasons to think less of you for this one to really register. Sara could understand why Tommy would want to show this to her. Sitting on something like this? There was no way he could show it to Oliver or Thea, not right now, and if there was any evidence of this affair that the DA's office could find...

Shit.

If the DA even got a sniff of this, no matter how well the defense argued the truth, that Moira Queen had been afraid for her life and that of her children... Sara turned back to Tommy, about to say something, but Tommy just shook his head.

"Keep watching," Sara turned her eyes back to the screen, where Malcolm Merlyn was already speaking again.

"But then Moira returned to her life with Robert and I... well, I left. Two years I was gone. Never gave you an answer about why, or where... I went to a place, in the Hindu Kush, to find a man. A man I'd heard stories about, who could help someone... find meaning. He helped me become who I am today, gave me the strength to do what needs to be done, for this city. But... while I was gone... Moira and Robert had a daughter. Thea."

No. He's not...

"She was born 9 months after Moira and I had our affair. Nine months." Malcolm actually leaned a little forward, closer to the camera."Thea Queen is your sister, Tommy."

Sara immediately paused the video. "Are you - is he- this-" Sara closed her mouth before she took a breath and started again, looking at Tommy. "This - this can't be real."

"Dad claims he got a DNA test done, in the recording," Tommy said. "And... there's the results of that test, on the same drive." Tommy shook his head. Sara couldn't believe Tommy would lie about it, but she opened the drive and looked at the included DNA test results...

"Maybe he faked them... but... I don't even see why he would. Even after what he did I can't... what does he gain by lying?" Tommy asked. He pulled out one of the other chairs and dropped into it.

I mean, unless he wanted to ensure that Moira went to prison after he died... or got executed. But from the start of the recording, it sounded like Malcolm thought this recording would only reach Tommy if he died before completing his 'Undertaking'. So that didn't make much sense.

Sara looked at the beer Tommy had handed her and twisted the cap off, downing what could only be called a gulp quickly, taking another breath.

"You can't show this to Thea," Sara said immediately, the first really coherent thought she could grab onto. "It'll destroy her."

"I know." Tommy agreed, voice soft. "God... God knows I know that. She practically worships her dad - her actual dad, in every way that counts. Even knowing that he was a serial philanderer... she still... and to find out that... my dad..." Tommy shook his head, dropping his head into his hand.

He took a breath and looked back up at her. "I had to show someone, and I couldn't show Oliver, couldn't show Thea... maybe Laurel, but of the two Lance sisters, you're the one I'm closer to these days... and I'm still not really ready to be face to face with either of them alone."

Sara reached out and put a hand on his wrist gently, "Tommy..."

"I'm not angry at them... I don't know. I'm something. And... I just need time. But this..." he gestured to the computer, to the DNA test results. "I love Thea like a sister, but in every way that counts, she's not my dad's kid. But..." He shook his head. "I can't unlearn this. Any of it."

"I wouldn't ask you to. Thea still looks up to you..." she grimaced, "I think she had a bit of a crush on you at one point."

Tommy smiled wryly, "What's not to have a crush on?" He laughed, though it was more than a bit forced, the humor in his 'arrogant playboy' routine dampened by the circumstances. "But yeah... I noticed. Didn't do anything to encourage it," he held up a hand, "and thankfully she's very happy with Roy now. But yeah... that..." He trailed off, unable to find the words.

Sara withdrew her hand, "I don't even have the slightest idea of what to do with this information, you know that right?" She chuckled, equally hollowly when she saw the 'well duh' expression on his face. "Right. Well... first thing - we can't let the DA find out about this..."

"I'm not planning on handing this over to anyone," Tommy promised. "I've got... I've got more than half a mind to just erase it all now, now that you've seen it, just in case somehow I get served with a warrant that includes it. I mean... there might be ways to prove the affair, or imply it, and if..."

"I don't see what purpose keeping it serves," Sara admitted. "Unless you want to show it to Thea someday, but... I'll hurt you if you do, you do get that, right?" She raised an eyebrow. Granted, it would just be punching him in the stomach a few times, or maybe just slap his face depending on the circumstances...

"Pretty sure Oliver would hurt me more, if I showed Thea," Tommy pointed out, "And that's not even counting his... nighttime activities." He looked at her, mouth half open for a long moment. "How can you-" He started, then cut himself off. He swallowed and started again: "Just... you're a cop. How do you... how do you justify working with them to yourself? I mean, I know you'd never turn in Laurel, but there's not turning in and then there's actively helping." Tommy asked,

"Because the city needs them right now," Sara admitted. "The SCPD failed Starling City - we'd never have had even a tiny inkling of what Merlyn was up to without them. And there's so many other things they've been able to do, without being held back by red tape and bureaucracies and-"

"Red tape and bureaucracies like... trials? Evidence? Right now, all it takes is Oliver deciding you're guilty and you get killed without -" Tommy interrupted, starting to raise his voice, but then Sara cut him off in turn.

"The last person the Arrow killed was your father, Tommy. And no, I'm not comfortable with that. I'm not comfortable with any of this." Sara stood, then took a long drink from her beer, taking a breath herself. "It's necessary, right now, but I don't like that they're judge and jury and yeah, if they wanted, not much else could stop either of them from being executioner. But they are right. And I know them both. You know them both. The rules exist for good reason, but there's a reason that the founding principles of the legal system's structure can be boiled down to 'better ten guilty men go free then one innocent man be imprisoned,'" Sara quoted, though even as she said it she was pretty sure she'd gotten the phrasing wrong.

"And when you have an SCPD that doesn't give a shit about the Glades most of the time, and a DA's office that's overworked and can't be bothered to deal with a lot of shit anyway... Starling City needs them."

She looked down at the ground, swallowing a moment. "At least, that's what I tell myself, every time I think about it. And so far, I've kept believing it."

"Sounds about right," Tommy murmured.

Starling City Police Department

October 24th, 2013

"Sara, you got a minute?" Sara looked up from her desk, seeing her father standing there. Even after a few months of it, it felt wrong to see her father in an officer's uniform, no detective shield, nothing. Busted down to beat cop, and looking the part.

Sara quickly closed the case file in front of her, but from the look on her dad's face, he saw the crime scene photos-

"Dad-" Sara started, trying to come up with something to say and her father shook his head.

"I thought Hilton was on that case." Her father almost growled, and Sara bit her lip. Her father didn't berate her often, but he did sometimes, and it seemed like this might be another time of that, if she couldn't find a way to defuse this.

Thank you so much Lt. Pike, this is exactly what my life needed right now. She had enough on her plate between helping Oliver and her sister, being a detective and now dealing with knowing something about Thea that she had to keep secret from fucking everyone - and while she appreciated Tommy had had to tell someone and she was the best option, she was not totally thrilled with him about telling her - and now, now,she had a Serial Killer case and her dad was going to give her grief over it. And probably try to run his own investigation.

A small, traitorous part of Sara's mind reminded her of all the times she'd given her dad an ulcer over her own not totally authorized investigations. She tried to push that thought away.

"Pike asked me to help him on it. The faster it gets done, the faster we get Mathis off the streets." Which was true. But there were other detectives. I should be flattered he thinks I can handle a case like this, but I'm not convinced this isn't some trap. Whether for her, or for her dad, she couldn't tell.

"That's my case," Her father shot back, voice low. "You can't just lock me out-"

"I can, and I will, Dad. Same reason Hilton is. You're not a Detective anymore-" Sara bit her lip even as she said that, given that she was the reason he wasn't a Detective anymore. To his credit, her father didn't take the opening to even hint at it. "And last time you worked this case, it nearly destroyed you."

"We both know that's not why I went over the edge," Her father countered, and Sara bit her lip to stop herself from arguing the point. Yes, part of it had been the fact that Laurel had just 'died' and her mom was probably going to divorce him as he dove head first into drinking and the job and...

Sure, all those were things, but Dad, I watched you. Mathis got inside your head.

"Dad, please. Don't get involved, don't try to - don't try to run your own investigation, don't try to -"

"Don't try to what, reach out to people outside?" The question cut right through Sara and she pulled up short, unable to come up with a counterpoint, especially not since they were here in public, so going into detail was not a great idea.

"Dad..." Sara started, then trailed off. She shook her head. "If they catch you getting involved, they will arrest you for obstruction."

"Hilton said as much," her father shook his head dismissively. "It's not gonna happen." He sounded far too confident of that for Sara's taste. And while Sara wouldn't arrest her dad if she could avoid it... Hilton would. Hilton would hate it, but he would.

I'm not rolling in favors, but if he does... I might be able to use a few... She'd have to, because she wasn't going to let her Dad

She knew this was going to happen the moment Pike gave her the case, but at the same time, she couldn't help but be annoyed at how insistent he was against letting her do her job. I'm a Detective, same as you Dad, and I'm damn good at my job!

"You know, if I was in the mood to be resentful, Dad, I'd think that maybe you don't trust me to handle this case," Sara glared at him.

Her father shook his head, but didn't protest her interpretation of things. "Nobody knows this case better than me, Sara. Nobody. I got Mathis last time, and one way or another, I'll get him again." Sara opened her mouth to try again, even knowing it would be futile, but he held up a hand. "Save it." He turned around, walking away, and Sara dropped back into her chair, rubbing at her forehead, letting out a long breath.

She looked back at the file.

Mathis had no one in his life. No friends, no family, no known associates. The only person he'd corresponded with while in prison was...

His attorney.

If Mathis was smart, he wouldn't reach out to Toby Daniels now that he was free - attorney client privilege didn't cover crimes in progress, such as being a prison escapee. And Daniels was a criminal defense attorney, so he wouldn't be just handing out information about his clients. Even the disturbing ones, like Mathis.

Of course, if I implied to him that Mathis has an issue with him... wants revenge for failing on his defense and appeals...

It was underhanded and dubiously legal - to put it mildly - but the only other options she could think of were even less legal.

Alleyway, The Glades

October 25th, 2013

"Sin," Laurel said, dropping in behind the teenage girl - who immediately turned around, but didn't drop the bag of fast food she was carrying.

"Are you this dramatic in your real life?" Sin asked, shaking her head. "Always walking up behind people and trying to scare them?"

"Just trying to keep you on your toes," Laurel offered with a small smile. She raised an eyebrow as she watched Sin do a double-take. "What?"

"What do you mean what? You've got yourself a new superhero suit." Sin gestured to her. "Gotta say, I'm loving the whole 'tight black leather' look. Much sexier than the last one... though you still looked good in that."

Laurel smiled wryly. She really should have expected something like this from Sin, and yet. She had had some misgivings about the new outfit, now that it was finally ready - but despite how it looked, it was actually a better option for her. Made of more advanced materials - not exactly bulletproof, but she would have a lot less trouble with grazing shots - and she could even manuever just a little bit better, though it wasn't as if the League's uniform was that much of an impediment.

But one thing it was was very different, visually, from the last outfit. If not for the blonde wig, her mask being the same and probably the fact that she used all the same moves, people might think she was someone else.

"Really? I'm almost twice your age." Well, close enough anyway.

"I'm not flirting with you, I'm just saying, your boyfriend probably dropped his bow when he saw you in that," Sin grinned, and Laurel chuckled a little. Because... well...

Oliver had stared for quite a long moment when she'd first put on the new outfit.

The guy who made it was Henry Fyff, a somewhat asocial nerd who worked at Queen Consolidated's R&D department. Laurel had had Felicity check the online activities of anyone who worked in R&D to see who might be amenable to helping her with a new suit, and Fyff spent a lot of time online singing her praises and defending her from critics. She wouldn't say he was obsessed, but he clearly considered himself the President of her fanclub. It had made her a little hesitant, but the man was brilliant, and after approaching him at his place a few months ago about designing her a new suit...

Well, after he'd recovered from realizing- in his words - 'Holy shit The Black Canary is asking me for help!', he'd pursued the matter quite seriously. The end result was what she was wearing now. She'd told Fyff that their budget was no real concern - it wasn't - and he'd designed a suit that did the job and then some.

She'd already considered asking for his help working on a few other tricks, but she hadn't decided. Asking for help once, even on a big project, was one thing. But any more, and you risked bringing him in full time, which was all well and good in theory, but the less people who knew, the better. Especially since she was seriously considering giving into Roy Harper's request. He really did have promise, and he had taken her words to him seriously, from what she'd heard and seen from Thea. Give him another month, maybe have him get some information for her, see if he could follow through and follow orders...

Plus, if she asked for Fyff's help again, he might just have a heart attack out of excitement.

Sin chuckled again, then she let out a long breath. "I heard something," she started. "About the 'Mayor'."

"Is he planning another trap?" His last one had been pretty amateurish, but he'd at least had the brains to put together a trap that might have worked, if she'd been hit in the head with a brick first/

"Well, I'm sure killing you is his plan, but right now, he's got guns coming. Word is, a lot of guns. He seems pretty confident about just how much firepower he's going to be getting." Sin warned. "And his people are shaking down people a lot more than normal in his turf."

"So he's trying to get more money quickly, in other words." Laurel considered. "He still wants to expand his operations across the Glades then." Laurel wasn't that concerned, though that did depend on just how much firepower he was expecting. She'd have to see what they could find about arms thefts nearby, or arms dealers that might be on the movie. From the way Sin said it, it sounded like the Mayor didn't have the guns now, but he would soon.

How soon was the question.

"What about Brick?" Laurel was most concerned about him. He was still the most formidable and clever gang leader she'd run into yet, and he'd pretty much gone to ground since the ambush Merlyn had arranged for them. Which only had her worried.

"Nothing," Sin shook her head.

Maybe I can see if Roy knows anyone who knows anything... the kid might be on the straight and narrow now, but he had known people in his previous life of crime. He might be able to be a little more direct, rather than Sin, who just kept her ear to the ground...

"Damn. He's not the type to just sit quietly and do nothing. He has to have a plan..." She shook her head. "Thank you. You know you don't have to do this-"

"I want to," Sin cut in. "And you know that too. The Glades needs you, and you need information."

Apartment Building Near the Bisque Museum

October 26th, 2013

It had taken Toby Daniels the better part of a day to stew in his own fear and obvious disgust for Mathis before the lawyer had decided to give up something that might actually have been useful - Mathis' favorite place in the city, the Bisque Museum.

Getting a warrant on that information was harder. But she didn't need a warrant to see if Mathis was there, and then she could worry about the niceties. A quick flash of his picture at the desk had confirmed a man that at least looked like Mathis had rented a room for the week, in cash. It was one of those sorts of apartment buildings, but at least she'd been willing to answer Sara's questions.

Sara kept one hand on he handle of her gun, ready to pull if if she needed to as she approached room 52. You know, I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should have asked Laurel or Oliver to have my back...

But the two of them had other things to deal with, like rumors of a fresh influx of heavy arms into the Glades soon and enough other crap on their plates.

Sara knocked on the door... only for it to swing open under the slightest of pressure - it had been unlocked, and not even closed properly.

Sara pulled out her gun as the door swung open, expecting a trap... and instead, she saw a doll, porcelain, 'holding' a newspaper's front page, the very one from when Mathis had been arrested, her father pushing into a cruiser, the headline blaring for all to see that the Dollmaker had been brought to justice.

So much for that.

Sara reached for her phone, ready to call it in - she could get a warrant on this place now. If they were lucky, Mathis had left something behind, some clue.

But given that the whole thing wasobviously a setup to mess with her dad's head... probably not.

Sara stopped mid-dial when the rotary phone below the doll started to ring. Sara pocketed her phone and held her service pistol in both hands, stepping into the apartment, looking for a camera, or any sort of-

Keeping her pistol ready, Sara reached for the phone, answering it on the fourth ring.

"Detective Sara Lance." She'd watched the interrogation footage after the man's arrest. It was Mathis on the other end of the line. "I was expecting your father, but I suppose you'll do fine."

"My dad has better things to deal with than you," Sara said coldly. She cursed in her head, wishing she'd thought to at least ask Felicity to be available. But that wouldn't be admissible either. You do have to at least look like you're doing this right. And now she had a phone call she couldn't even try to trace.

Cradling the phone against her shoulder, she texted Felicity with one hand, hoping that maybe Felicity could trace the call anyway, despite not having any warning, but she didn't have a lot of hope.

"Oh Detective, I'm hurt." Mathis mocked her.

"If you were capable of feeling anything, I might actually care," Sara countered. "You got caught once, and that was before you had time in prison to lose your edge." Sara saw a text back from Felicity - she was trying to trace the call. Sara hoped it would work as Mathis kept talking.

"Lost my edge? Why don't you say that to my guest? They'd like to say hello to you anyway..." there was a brief pause, "say hello dear." The muffled screams of someone unable to speak made it clear Mathis already had a second victim... Sara's heart pounded in her chest as she kept hearing the girl whimpering in the background as Mathis spoke more. "You'll have to forgive her, she's a little inarticulate." Sara watched her phone, biting her lip, but nothing from Felicity, no trace...

She had to keep him talking...

"I'm going to be there when they give your injection, Mathis. No life sentence for you this time," Sara growled.

"What, no pleading for me to let her go, let her slip away and fade into mediocrity?" Mathis sounded almost confused there, and Sara shook her head, even if he couldn't see her.

"You're going to kill her whatever I do, so I'm not interested in playing your twisted little game," Sara could only pray Felicity got a trace before she had to hear the girl die, hear him fill her throat up...

"Well, Detective, then I suppose I'll need to try harder next time," and before Sara could say anything else, the call ended, giving her a dial tone - and a text from Felicity, saying she hadn't been able to make a trace.

Sara dropped the phone on the table, her whole body shaking as she held back from screaming, or throwing the phone against the wall - not at Mathis, but at herself.

If I'd just kept him talking, if I'd played his game... Damnit Sara! You know better than that! If she'd just kept the call going, maybe, maybe she could have made that girl's death mean something...

Instead, she was back to square one. Or worse.

Queen Consolidated Parking Garage

October 27th, 2013

Laurel had expected that taking over the Queen Family Charitable Trust would be a time consuming and exhausting project, mentally and physically. She'd been right, and then some. But at least since the benefit with Blood, things were looking up - still the same amount of work, but it felt less futile. She was organizing another event in a few months to help pick up where the last one went, after several national charities reached out to her after the success of the first one.

And, on short notice, she was putting together a proposal for a gun buyback - if the Mayor was about to flood the Glades with guns, then maybe they could get a few out of the neighborhood before he did so. The trick would be funds. The Charitable Trust wasn't exactly rolling in money, and the Queen Family's actual liquid assets right now were pretty limited. If they were going to hold more benefits, keep the interest coming on the endowment... if she'd had a bit more time, the gun buyback could be funded, but the idea was to do it soon.

Maybe I can convince Rochev to agree to have Queen Consolidated fund it. The benefit, despite not being run by Queen Consolidated -all the company had done was rent out the space at cost - had given the company's stock price a bit of a rally, and maybe she could convince Oliver's co-CEO that this could help too, if they attached their name to it and provided the funds.

I suppose it can't hurt. Laurel pulled out her phone and made a note in her notesapp to talk to Rochev first thing tomorrow as she approached her car - and pulled up short. Crouched by the driver side door was a man, hunched over, wearing a foul-smelling, ratty looking coat, shaking and murmuring like he was either high, or going through withdrawal.

"Sir?" Laurel asked, but she didn't get closer. She couldn't place it, but something seemed off, out of place. "Are you alright?" The man didn't say anything, muttering something about 'lies' and 'christmas lights'.

Wait.

This parking garage wasn't exactly free access. Some homeless person couldn't just wander in..

Laurel slowly stepped towards him, keeping her voice 'calm' and 'concerned'. "Sir?" She 'asked' again. "Do you need a doctor?' She got just close enough to reach and gently touch his back - then immediately she was jumping back as the man spun arond - he was blonde, with glasses. She didn't recognize him, but she did recognize the taser he tried to hit her with - Laurel was able to avoid it with ease.

Allaena, she swore. The man tried to come at her again, but Laurel kicked out at his hand, getting him and sending him staggering back as his taser went out of his hand. He's just one man - I can afford to not let him win this time. With Vanch, he'd had a whole gang of goons with him, but Laurel could take on one guy.

And if anyone asked, she could say her last kidnapping had made her get more self-defense training.

"Who the hell are you?" Laurel demanded, then she lunged, getting him in the stomach and leaving him doubled over in pain. She stepped back, watching him, as he straighted up and dove for his taser - Laurel got there first, punching him in the jaw - and then, as he reeled back and spun, falling to the ground, she recognized him.

Barton Mathis, the Dollmaker. One of the guys her dad had put away while she was gone. But wasn't he supposed to be in iron heights?

Mathis tried to get up, pushing himself into a sitting position as he tried to rise - Laurel didn't give him a chance - she kicked him in the face, hearing his nose crunch under the blow, and then he was reeling back, blood all over his face, and Laurel took a step back again, eyes on him - Mathis fell over, onto his back, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

Fuck.

Laurel pulled out her phone and dialed 911, then slowly approached the Dollmaker's unconscious body, rolling him over onto his side - which took a bit of work to do one-handed.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"I'm at the Queen Consolidated Parking Lot, 4th floor. I was attacked - I broke his nose and he's unconscious..." Laurel made her voice sound shaky, as if she was rattled, but not afraid. "I -"

"Ma'am, ma'am, are you okay, right now, are you safe? Are you hurt?" The operator interrupted.

"I'm not hurt, I As long as he doesn't wake up before anyone gets here..." Laurel trailed off, playing her role to the hilt.

"Police and an ambulance are on their way. Is there security in the building?"

"There should be, on the ground floor, I - should I go down?"

"Is your car available?"

"It's right here,"

"Get inside and lock the doors. Police should be there in less than three minutes. I'll stay with you on the phone until they get there."

"Ok-okay," Laurel took a deep, shuddering breath and made a show of loudly fumbling with her keys, unlocking the car door and getting inside, locking it. "I'm inside, it's locked." Laurel kept talking to the operator as she started working on exactly what she'd tell the police - shouldn't have to lie, much. She'd felt something was off, been careful, the guy had tried to tase her, she'd fought back.

He must have been trying to get revenge on Dad by coming for me?

First someone coming after her over Sara, and now over her Dad.

Who would have thought her civilian life would be more dangerous than her work as a vigilante?