Chapter IV

A/N: Having a lot of fun on this story! Earth 1 is definitely less complicated that Earth 626. Italics are werewolf mode. This is a connecting chapter to where I have been looking forward to. Looking forward to seeing what you all think.

Erika, in one of her rare moments of being nice to Tommy, was helping him pack up his apartment that his father had kicked him out of. She had been surprised at the news, since Tommy had not done anything particularly stupid lately.

As she was clearing off the shelves, there was a crackle of noise underneath a lamp. And it was definitely not a natural noise, almost electrical.

"Hey Tommy, do you have anything electrical left?" she called out.

"No, why?" he asked, coming into the room.

"I just heard something, almost like the crackling of a radio," she replied.

"The radio is already packed. Why don't we go check it out?"

Since it was unlikely to be anything dangerous, the pair of them went combing through what was left in the apartment. Nothing seemed to be out of place, until Erika heard the crackle again.

"Over there!" They both moved towards the lamp. Tommy got there first, lifting up the lamp, "Is that a bug?" he asked.

Taking a better look at it, she replied, "Yes, I believe it is. The question becomes, who put it there?"

"You don't think my dad would have had it put there, do you?" he asked, even though Tommy still thought that his dad might have had it done.

"Possibly. But there's only one thing to do now. Destroy it!" Erika took the zip drive sized bug, dropped it in the sink, turning on the garbage disposal as it fell down!

Both of them could not help but yell in unison "Goodbye little bug!"

Alfonso yanked off the headphones to the bug as it screeched through the garbage disposal. Why his boss had bugged his son's apartment was beyond him. Though if it had been available at the time, Alfonso's own father likely would have done the same thing to him, controlling bastard that he had been.

Fortunately even his father's bones had long since turned to dust by now, and could not cause him any more trouble, having been dead for centuries. Though his current boss gave him a run for his money.

There were some days when Oliver wondered truly how Erika's mind worked. Her being nice to Tommy, giving him temporary sanctuary, was not something that he was used to seeing her do. Now that they were driving back from the mansion he asked, "Why'd you help him?"

"He was in a situation that happened with very little warning, if any. It was the right thing to do, also it pissed Laurel off more than a little bit. That was a perk," his middle sister replied with a grin.

Oliver had the feeling that Erika was not telling the whole story. "Is there more to the story? I know you."

Grumbling under her breath, she continued on with, "Also, it is the start of me returning the favor to him. After the shipwreck, I was pretty messed up. I focused entirely on my coursework at UNLV, barely taking any breaks for sleeping or eating. The first time he popped up was a few days after my 21st birthday. I had completely forgotten about it. He made sure I celebrated it and kept an eye on me. Same thing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It became something of a tradition with us. He showed up, then we celebrated in whatever city we happened to be in. If not for that, I am not sure how I would have dealt with it all."

"So you and Tommy are actually getting along now?" Oliver had trouble suppressing a snicker.

Side-eying him, Erika replied, "We still bicker plenty Ollie. And do not even *think* about going down that road!"

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," he responded. Which earned him a solid smack upside the head.

Oliver had forgotten that Erika could pack a wallop despite her being only 5'5.

Amira walked through the doors of the Blue Moon, a 24-hour diner in Nexus Square. They had the best Monster Platter, which was loaded up with carbs and meat, therefore it was perfect to eat before the full moon. The rest of the pack would be arriving soon hopefully.

Erika, though she usually was the first one to arrive, would likely be the last one. She now had a more difficult time getting away unnoticed now that her brother was back from the dead and more observant among other things.

Jason and Darius would likely arrive together. Jason would be driving, since Darius had a deep-seated dislike of cars.

What she didn't know was whether the new werewolf in town would show up. Alfonso was likely busy at work. And werewolves of a certain age range could ignore the sway the full moon had over their forms. Darius was also one such werewolf. Even so, he still shifted most full moons. The wolf could and would make the human's life… unpleasant. Not that she, Erika, or Jason could pull that off just yet.

To her surprise, the other three were arriving together. Jason was currently razzing Erika about Tommy Merlyn. Judging by the look on her face, Jason was going to get a beating once everyone had recovered from the full moon.

Sure enough, everyone made their orders and once the food had arrived. Today instead of the Monster Platter, Erika had gone with the dinner portion of the Chile con Carne, extra meat.

Finally she was free of her human. For the time being anyway.

The smell of pine and running water coursed through her senses, she took off at a run. Upon reaching the river, she looked down.

A good sized dark grey female werewolf looked back at her. The only hint to who her human was the gleaming green eyes looking up back at her from the reflection. She scented another of the pack nearby. The one who talked too much.

It was time for a chase. Her golden wolf-friend could use some exercise for annoying her human, even if she agreed with him. Her human would not listen to any sort of reasoning on the subject.

With a leap the chase was on. This was going to actually be a good moon!

Oliver was waiting at the Denny's off I-90 that was nearest to Erika's house. She had really moved out a ways, but was still close enough that speeding would not be necessary in case of an emergency.

She had sounded exhausted on the phone; she had stayed up all night working on a research paper of some sort for her field. Erika had studied cryptozoology in college and it had given her free reign to study myths and legends of creatures that did not exist.

His sister arrived about fifteen minutes after he did, her bones crackling as she sat down.

"How was work last night?" Oliver asked after they ordered. Erika had ordered French Toast. A lot of girls over the years had always been jealous of his sister's ability to eat just about anything.

"It took a while. I was up all night. I probably have more coffee in me than anything else at the moment. After this, I will be going back to my place, and sleep until I wake up next. Which probably won't be anytime today," she replied through a yawn.

Their food arrived shortly after that, during which there was no talking due to the desire to eat their food. After they paid and were on their way out, Erika handed him a card saying, "This is a way to get ahold of people that can contact me if you need anything."

Ever since the Vigilante and the Grey Ghost had visited him, Adam Hunt's life had gone down the tubes. He was now camping out in a seedy hotel just outside the Nexus Square area.

Turning around while arguing with someone on the phone, his blood turned to ice. "I'll call you back," he said before hanging up the phone to snarl, "What? You come back for another pound of flesh? You're going to be disappointed pal, I-"

The body of Adam Hunt hit the floor, with three black arrows sticking out of his chest.

A/N 2: And now we are where I want to be. I have a lot of plans now!