During the drive home, his mother kept quiet, simply looking at him. But he could see in her eyes that she was asking herself what happened to her son.
Thea had stopped crying and spent the entire ride telling him how much she missed him.
He found himself smiling softly. Though he still dreaded the conversation they were about to have. He dreaded the moment they would start asking questions he couldn't answer.
For example, what happened to Ollie?
Ollie was dead. He died when he washed up on Lian Yu.
But he couldn't even tell them that. He had to stick to Waller's story.
The moment the car stopped he opened the door and took a deep breath of fresh air. As much as he loved his family, seeing them was overwhelming.
Entering the mansion he noticed that nothing had changed. Old photos were in the same places, the furniture was the same. It seemed as if nothing had changed during all these years. And that was the problem, because everything changed, starting from himself.
His mother's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Your room is still the same. I didn't have the heart to change anything."
He nodded once, and kept looking around.
Of course he returned here during the mission with Maseo. But then, he didn't have time to look around.
He then noticed Raisa walk in, so he walked over to hug her too.
"Raisa! I am glad to see you."
The elderly woman smiled kindly at him, like she always did.
"Welcome home Mr. Oliver."
Suddenly he heard another voice.
"It's damn good to see you Oliver."
He turned his head to the man that spoke. He was confused, but he masked it and pretended to be indifferent.
His mother sensed that he was uncomfortable.
"It's Walter Steel. Your father's…"
But he interrupted her.
"Yes, I remember him. I just didn't expect to see him here."
He pretended to be surprised at seeing Walter in the Queen mansion, but in reality he knew that his mother had married again. The news reached him in Russia. At first he was a bit angry, but then he realized that his mother was happy.
He noticed Thea biting her lip and looking awkwardly at their mother.
He then turned to face his mother and looked at her with innocent eyes. She let out a heavy breath before speaking.
"Walter and I are married. Your father is dead, and everyone thought you were dead too, and I …"
He smiled sadly.
"It's alright mother. I understand."
She returned the smile and hugged him again.
Then suddenly Thea spoke.
"Speaking of understanding… I don't understand who that woman was at the police station."
Their mother glared slightly at her.
"Thea… we agreed to not ask too many questions."
His sister only huffed in response.
"This is the first question that I'm asking."
Their mother was about to scold her further, but Oliver placed a hand on his mother's shoulder to stop her.
"It's alright. There are some things that I have to explain."
His mother nodded.
"Well, perhaps you would want to explain them at dinner?"
He shook his head.
"No, it's better to do it before dinner. I assume there will be guests at dinner, and it's better to do this in private."
Walter nodded shortly and gestured to the living room.
"We can discuss it here. And then you can settle in. Or we can do it the other way around."
Oliver looked around at the people surrounding him. If he went upstairs then he would be tempted to stay there and skip dinner and all conversations.
"We should discuss it first. There are some important things that need to be discussed."
Everyone nodded and began walking towards the living room, while Raisa left to begin preparing something to eat for him.
Once the four of them were sitting down, Oliver turned to his mother.
"What I am about to tell you is confidential. It's a long story, and all I ask is that you don't interrupt. You can ask questions at the end."
Thea moved closer to him while nodding. She ended up leaning onto his shoulder as though she was afraid he would disappear at any moment.
"Well, I'll start at the beginning. The gambit crashed, Father and I made it to the raft along with the captain. Sara also made it there. We floated there for days. The captain died first. There was no food and no water. Father followed soon after…"
He looked around, ensuring that his words were believed. They all seemed too emotional to catch up on the lies so he continued.
"Unfortunately during the sinking of the Gambit, Sara hit her head, and even if she was alive, she was unconscious. And when we were found, she didn't survive for long."
He clenched his jaw and glanced at his mother, knowing that the next part would be the most surprising for his mother.
"I was picked up by Argus. They are a government agency. Those 6 years I spent working for them. And I still do. That is why that woman was there. She is the director of Argus."
It seemed that his sister was more confused than shocked, probably not knowing what Argus was and what they did. Walter seemed a bit skeptical but remained quiet. His mother was truly shocked.
"Amanda Waller!? You were working for Amanda Waller these six years?"
Thea looked confused at their mother and then back at Oliver.
Oliver bit his lip.
"Mom, you know what Argus does. You understand why this is confidential. You should understand why I couldn't come home earlier."
His mother stood up.
"Argus is corrupt. They do assassinations, abductions, and torture, and work with terrorists. And you were working for them!?"
Oliver looked at the ground.
"I am still working with Amanda. It was my choice, I made a deal. As awful as their methods can be, they save people. They are willing to go to extreme measures to ensure National safety. As much as I hate Amanda, I cannot deny their usefulness."
Thea leaned away from him, seeming to not recognize him.
His mother huffed and turned away to hide her tears.
"A deal with Waller, is a deal with the Devil!"
Oliver shrugged.
"I have some things that could ruin her career. But she has more things to threaten me with. So as long as I am useful to her, and she is useful to me, we will cooperate."
Walter looked at him bewildered.
"And why would you choose to work with Argus?"
Oliver looked up at Walter.
"The only way to return home was to join Argus. Now I simply train new agents. I don't do any field work."
His mother narrowed her eyes at him.
"Training new agents?"
He bit his lip slightly.
"Yes. I train them. Amanda admires my skills greatly."
Thea seemed to finally catch up on what they were all talking about.
"Skills? Ollie, what skills?"
Oliver stood up and walked towards the exit of the room.
"The rest is confidential. I am officially an Argus agent, I cannot share more. The Police already know it, so now they can't touch me, or our family. Argus provides protection for our family starting today."
His mother dropped onto the couch beside Walter trying to process his words.
Oliver clenched his jaw, and looked sadly at his sister.
"No one outside this family can know. They can know that I work for Argus but no more than that. It cannot become public knowledge."
He turned away and began walking towards the stairs.
He knew that his mother knew what Argus was, afterall it wasn't as much of a secret agency as he used to think.
Walking to his room, he began thinking of what to do next. Tommy and Laurel would be allowed to know. He doubted that detective Lance would keep his mouth shut to Laurel. And he also doubted that Malcolm Merlyn wouldn't find out soon enough.
Oliver learned of Merlyn's connections to Bratva. Anatoly told him of meeting a rich american named Merlyn not long after he killed Konstantin Kovar. Spending another year in Russia, allowed him to personally meet Merlyn.
Anatoly kindly brought the new Kapitan to the meeting with Bratva's client. Malcolm was shocked to say the least, but his reaction was much better than what Oliver expected. He told Malcolm that he would be staying in Russia with his brothers and threatened him to ensure he kept his mouth shut near his family.
So now Merlyn knew that Oliver was part of the Bratva, and would no doubt learn of Bratva's actions all over America. He would hear about their expansion, and would know that it was Oliver. But if Merlyn found out that Oliver was working with Amanda Waller, then he would be quick enough to figure out that he was using Argus as a cover for his gangster activities.
Once he locked his door and looked around his old room, he took out his phone and dialed Anatoly's number.
"I'm home. It's time to put our plans into motion."
He heard the quiet smirk from his brother.
"I am glad. I'll inform Alexi Leonov to provide you with the location where you will meet with all our men."
Oliver smiled. According to his calculations, there were at least two hundred men all over America who were working for them now. And about a half were in Starling City.