Weeks ago, Ra's watched as the shell that once housed the man known as Oliver Queen was being molded as per one of the League's traditions. One of his horsemen wielded a long wooden staff, and asked the shell who he was, and would receive a beating when he answered incorrectly, and be corrected, before being thrown into one of the smallest and darkest cells in the dungeons.

The man known as Oliver Jonas Queen was dead, he perished somewhere in the mountains. The man in front of the now was someone else, something else, he was Wraith Al Ghul or at least will eventually become after his training.

But now was the time for his ascension from a mere footman in the League, to Heir To The Demon. He watched with a careful eye as Al Sah-Him approached the small dais as he gripped the leather strands from the device above him.

He took the hot iron from the brazer, "Any remains of Oliver Jonas Queen shall be incinerated by fire. As they metal burns into your flesh, as do any old remaining morsels of Oliver Queen loyalties. You will eventually rise to the title of Ra's Al Ghul, The Demons' Head but for now only The Arrow, Al Sah-Him remains, The True Heir to The Demon." He then held the brand to the man's shoulder blade, hearing the metal hiss, and watching Al Sah-Him's body tense. "Who do you serve?"

"Ra's Al Ghul, and the tenants of The League." Al Sah-Him grunted out of pain.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Siobhan Smythe and her fellow agent watched Daniel Brickwell eat his pizza with a knife and fork. She scoffed as she saw the strange sight, "Who the hell eats a pizza with a knife and fork?"

Before the other agent could speak, Agents; Talos, Watson, and another agent walked in. "Special Agent Smythe."

"Sir."

Talos then introduced another man who had walked in with her colleague, Supervisory Agent Johnston, an agent with the Office of Professional Responsibility.

"Smythe." The OPR agent said, "Why don't you grab a coffee? Do you some good, wake you up a bit?"

It wasn't a suggestion. Siobhan nodded and walked out, only to be quickly followed by Agent Watson. "Shivvy, don't let this rattle you."

"Let what rattle me?"

Samanda looked around nervously, "OPR has been granted a private one on one with Brickwell."

Siobhan scoffed, "Then why am I the only one kicked out? There is more to this." She had to calm herself, she remembered what Dr. Thompkins used to tell her when she was a child during her counseling.

Her work was her life, it was what gave her meaning, kept her on the straight and narrow since Charlie was killed. Prevented her from exploding.

"It would be inappropriate of me to tell you this, so I never said a word, you understand?" Siobhan nodded, grateful that she had someone in her corner. "OPR is looking into the discrepancies of the motorcade attack. Not everything sat well with your side of the event after forensics had a look."

"Because of you, Siobhan, my brother has someone that can pay for his medical needs, to remain comfortable." She then gave her a pat on the shoulder, before heading back into the surveillance room.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Ray flicked through his algorithms for his exo-suit when he heard footsteps behind him, "I was out of line."

Ray nodded, making his way to his desk, taking a seat. "Want to talk about it?"

Felicity exhaled, and braced herself on the office chair, "I lost a friend, and not long after he did, another left after we had an argument. "Felicity gulped down her anxiety. "My friend…She accepted that our friend… Her husband… He was gone and was burying her head into her... work and she just disappeared." It was an oversimplification. "But now he's gone, and so is she."

Ray looked at her, his face exhibiting nothing by sincerity, "I'm sorry. As for your friend, maybe the only way for her to cope is to focus on something that she can solve?"

Felicity nodded slightly, her lip quivering, "What makes this worse, is about three months ago, another friend died. I'm twenty-five years old, my friends shouldn't be dropping like flies. And I consider you a friend, and I tried to stop my friend from marching off to her own drumbeat and failed, but I can try to save you." She said handing him the chip.

Ray exhaled as he picked up the chip as he watched her leave. "I suppose it will be another drum solo." He then turned back to his algorithms and started to alter some of the data.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Arsenal and Speedy were patrolling and making regular stops at known League hideouts, while Diggle and Lyla looked after Connor for the night. They jumped into an abandoned apartment complex that had been utilized by Nyssa during The Siege in the hope that The League may have used it as an outpost, any way to get more information on The League and their plans.

They looked around the complex, "Overwatch, you there?" Arsenal whispered as he looked out the window to see the city that they were trying to keep safe from not just everyday criminals, but The League and Daniel Brickwell.

"Still here, Arsenal."

"Look into Red Lion National Bank." He turned to see Speedy glare at him, and from beneath her hood and mask, he watched as her hand tightened around the shaft of the bow.

"Why? Is it relevant?" Felicity asked after a few seconds.

Roy shrugged, keeping one eye on Thea and the other around the perimeter of the safe-house. "Potentially, just run the name, and anyone getting more money than they should be."

He could just make out the sound of Felicity hitting her fingers on the keys of her keyboard at a rapid pace. "Look at us, the old guard has left, and the new guard remains. I will look into it now."

Speedy shoved Arsenal against the wall and turned off his comms and hers as well. "What the hell was that? I thought that we were looking into Brick, just you and me? Digg and Felicity have made their feelings about Laurel clear!"

Just because they had closed ranks didn't mean that they couldn't use half-truths to get information. He had learned that from his time on the streets, and he had seen Oliver do similar things with other people.

Sometimes, the ends justify the means. Especially, when family was at stake or involved. And Laurel is his family. Just as much as Oliver, Thea or Connor.

"We need a name, and neither of us has time to hunt down people. This is easier, and it is relevant. We need all hands on deck to stop The League, right?" He asked his girlfriend.

"Right."

"Laurel is the most experienced person we have," Roy explained, gently wrapping his arm around Thea's waist. "We need her fighting alongside us, and not off on her own crusade. To get her to come back home, we have to wrap up her war against Brick up and keep her and Connor safe. We need to give her a helping hand whether or not she wants it. She would do the same for us if the positions were reversed." It's what family does for each other, isn't it?

Roy turned his comms back on, to hear the answer they needed. Josiah Beckett.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Al Sah-Him cleaned off his blade and panted from exhaustion. He had just slaughtered every man and woman of The Thanatos Guild. The Magician's splinter group of traitors. His blade had tasted the blood of Al Sah Her's second in command. A soldier by the name Athena.

According to their sources, the woman had been the one to resurrect Al Sah Her from the death at the hands of the late Oliver Queen, and Dinah Laurel Lance. By the order of Ra's every person was beheaded, and their heads were to be brought back to Nanda Par Bat.

The woman had also admitted to the conspiracy to murder Ta-er al-Sahfer before realizing that they were here to cleanse the world of their evil, and for violating guild law, not the murder of a woman that was not truly one of theirs.

Al Sah-Him sighed as he boarded the aircraft and closed his eyes, the next thing he noticed was watching as a dark-colored songbird with yellow flecks struggled to fly back to her nest, after being chased and attacked. Her wing looked broken, she could barely fly up to her nest, to protect her chick from the wolves encircling the tree. He Desperately wanted to protect and help the mother bird and her chick, but that was against the code. He was Heir to The demon, demanded that he does not show weakness, and yet he still felt a strange pull towards her, to her baby bird. A calling to protect them that he couldn't quite explain or understand.

When he moved towards the bird, to help the wounded bird to her nest, he was shaken awake by Sarab. "Nanda Par Bat is ten minutes away."

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Siobhan walked into the surveillance room and told the other agent to grab a coffee, that she would maintain her vigil in the meantime. Once the agent left, she played back the recording of Brickwell and the OPR agent.

"Who are these men?"

Brick looked at the photographs and sat back as if he recoiled slightly at the scene. "They were the Irishmen who attacked the convoy."

"Did you see the men fall?"

"Yes."

"Alright, did you happen to see who shot them? Or some sort of concussive blast, or sonic device?"

"There was only one FBI agent that remained standing. Special Agent Smythe."

"Can you describe what you saw, for the record?"

Siobhan could feel her heart racing, as Daniel Brickwell's eyes glanced up at the camera for a moment or two, not long enough to raise red flags, but to her, it was like he was looking straight at her, into her soul.

"They were armed, one was a metahuman. Special Agent Smythe gave them the chance to surrender but they attempted to kill her with their weapons and their metahuman. She killed them in self-defense. She is a heroine, a woman that deserves a medal not for saving me, but for protecting your colleagues. She went above and beyond with her valor."

"Thank you for your time, Daniel Brickwell."

She had to know why he did it. She entered the code to turn off the security feed, and entered the penthouse, to see Brickwell sitting at his table as if he had been waiting for her for some time as if it were some grand strategy in a chess game.

"What's your game, Brickwell?"

"Game?" He asked, innocently.

"I don't need any favors from you, convict." She said as she went to leave. She couldn't stand the sight of him.

"Favors, no. But sympathy? Papers, protests, people making the institutions people trust, and the masses are forcing heroes like yourself to be ostracized. I can carry that burden of humiliation but you? A dedicated FBI agent, it is not just."

She knew in her heart it was true, she was being watched by her own people. Men and women she served with. Her brothers and sisters-at-arms. They had betrayed her, left her to the wolves. And yet, Siobhan turned on her heel, looking at the large man before her, "You don't know anything about me." It sounded hollow even to her ears, it was like he knew her.

"And neither does the media." The Englishman said as he tossed the paper at her feet. "They blame you and yours for a botched transfer. Blame you personally for the anarchy and the deaths that came with it. They want to crucify you for your exceptionalism. You saved my life! And the lives of the valiant agents who serve alongside you. They forgot to mention that instead they vilify and demean your act of courage and heroism. Let me be the first to thank you, Miss Smythe, for your courage."

Brickwell after a moment of silence rose to his feet, showing his hulking size, compared to her, "The world has changed, the real heroes are dismissed, antagonized, or ostracized. While vigilantes are given statues, for that… And for that, you have my utmost sympathies and respect."

While Siobhan turned on her heels to leave, Brick sported a small smirk as she left the penthouse unbeknownst to her.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Brick took a sip of his tea, as his lawyer informed him that despite the plan to eliminate Miss Lance, by drowning her inside a taxi, there was no one inside the vehicle. She was continuing to be a thorn in his side once again, she certainly had a habit of being a right pain in his arse! Perhaps he should go for the jugular instead of just playing with his food? End this game of cat and mouse forever.

Brick tossed his tea in the trash can and took a deep breath. "Please remind Mr. Beckett that I do not appreciate loose ends."

His lawyer nodded, taking a hesitant step towards him, "Of course, but let us not forget that the ocean currents can be strong enough to move almost anything, least of all a body. Even if Lance managed to escape the cab, she was doped up, how does a woman that was doped up swim ashore?"

"Does this look like a woman who was doped up to you?" Brickwell asked as he handed his lawyer a cell phone showing a recording of Dinah Laurel Lance fending off her attackers in the prison with remarkable skill before the feed was shut off as she was approached by guardsmen in riot gear.

"We investigated her thoroughly. Her associates, her family. Neither her father nor her mother had enough clout to sponge her suspected talents from her medical and school records. Not even The Queens, nor the Merlyns had paid people off for that. She is just an unwed mother, and a passionate lawyer, who was taught to fight by her father."

"Perhaps." Brick granted but felt that something was missing from a piece of the puzzle that was Dinah Laurel Lance. "Regardless, a woman capable of that can survive. She threatened to come between Samuel and myself, I cannot let a threat to my son roam the city."

Before Brick could continue, the main doors opened, with Agent Watson and Agent Smythe walking in and taking their seats at the table.

His lawyer smiled at the agents, "It's time for Uncle Sam to make good on his deal. Thanks to Mister Brickwell, The Irish Mob has been completely removed from Starling City. Their counterfeiting ring, their extortion and kidnapping days are over, all thanks to my client."

It was true, and it painted law enforcement in the area as being proficient at their jobs in the media and in the public eye, and not bumbling around in the dark waiting for the vigilantes to solve the issues. Perhaps one day faith in the system will be restored, and he will have the entire justice system in Starling under his thumb.

Samanda nodded, "And in exchange for his continual cooperation, the Department of Justice will be granting Samuel Brickwell to live with his father, once the necessary paperwork has gone through the correct channels."

Brick's lawyer tapped his finger on the desk, saying, "He is also entitled to the return of some personal possessions, and supervised movement within the hotel."

"Within due time."

"And that time is now, Special Agent Watson. Unless you wish for my client to cease assisting the FBI?"

"No." Brick said, looking at Siobhan Smythe with a softer look, before returning his focus back to Watson. "The FBI has sacrificed a great deal for me." He then back looked at Agent Watson, "And to balance the scales, I trust that you will honor your word. As a show of good faith, I have information for you. I have had a criminal under my employ, A facilitator, if you will, at my behest, she has laundered and stockpiled money, used her father's contacts to bribe or blackmail law enforcement and or court officials. She has committed many crimes in my name, as well as in others. This woman has organized people to perjure testimonies and manufactured evidence."

"Who is she?" Asked Agent Watson, leaning over the table looking at Brickwell with keen interest.

He internally smiled, Laurel Lance took Sammy away from him, he would return the favor, he would prevent Miss Lance from seeing her son, and the girl that helped bring him down, Thea Queen. "An Attorney, Dinah Laurel Lance."

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Thea walked into a club that catered to the city elite that her mother and father, both biological and adoptive, had utilized. She walked around the rooms, seeing people playing chess, sipping on champagne or scotch and eating caviar and other delicacies.

Eventually, she found Josiah Beckett, sitting down sipping his top-shelf whisky and smoking a cigar, she had to admire the caricature of the evil businessmen that apparently flew over this man's head.

"Josiah Beckett?" She asked politely.

The older man looked up at her, with a fond smile, "Ahh, Thea Dearden Queen. It has been years since I saw you. I'm sorry to hear about your mother, I would have come to her funeral, but alas, I was on a business trip overseas and couldn't leave."

She wouldn't put it past this man to have worked alongside Malcolm in the past if he needed to persuade people. In fact, she was pretty confident that Malcolm had hired this man's specialty to have people unwillingly join Tempest, or at the very least, were associates. "Thank you for the sentiment."

"Whatever I can do for the daughter of… Moira Queen, I shall endeavor to do so." The way he phrased it, Thea was sure that he was about to say Malcolm Merlyn and not her mother.

Thea put on her fake smile that her mother had taught her, for when she was speaking to someone at a gala, that she had no interest in talking to.

Beckett truly had no idea what she was about to ask, "How about your involvement with Daniel Brickwell?" She licked her lips, and sat down opposite to him, as he stared at her, tapping the corner of the lounge suite he was reclining on. "Mom was involved with him through a benefactor, I promise that I will keep your name out of it. I need to ensure that my Mother's name can't be dragged through the mud again. I know that your true occupation is Mr. Beckett, a fixer."

The man sipped his drink and spoke without looking at her. "Roy William Harper, Connor Quentin Lance-Queen, John Thomas Diggle, Felicity Megan Smoak, Dr. Raymond Carson Palmer, and Bartholomew Henry Allen. I wonder what your mother would say about Miss Lance abandoning her only grandchild. Or what about Oliver handing himself to Nanda Parbat for a crime that he was innocent of. And her daughter mixed in with a former cyber-terrorist?"

Thea froze, wondering if she should take her nephew and Roy, and take up Malcolm's offer and disappear, and somewhere along the way, they ditch Malcolm himself. Connor would be safe, but Thea didn't know if she could live with herself if she let Laurel alone when she needed her family the most.

"And I don't fix problems, Miss Queen. I remove them, utterly and truly."

Thea couldn't manage to say anything, she just numbly left and headed out. How the hell did Beckett know that? And by extension, Brickwell? And more importantly what the hell was she going to do to keep her, Connor and Roy safe?

After she left the clubhouse in a hurry to ensure that her family was safe, she noticed she had several tales, she decided to keep in the light of day to deter the men from kidnapping her, or worse, it was extremely unlikely that it would occur in the daylight and in the open.

She came to a grinding halt when a black car pulled up right in front of her and two men climbed out wearing suits. "Miss Queen?" One asked.

Her eyes darted to the almost half a dozen agents that were approaching her. "Who's asking?"

"Don't move. FBI."

Thea stilled, and informed the agents that showed her their badges that she had a concealed weapon and a permit."

"Alright, just keep your hands where they are, and follow my every instruction, Miss Queen." Thea nodded, "Turn around." She felt her pistol taken from her, and her handbag as well.

"What do you want?"

The next thing she knew, she was driven to Oliver and Laurel's loft. The door had been battered in, she could see that one of Connor's toy boxes in the living room was opened and the contents a strewn over the ground. "Why did you bring me here to my brother's loft?"

An agent came from the apartment and stood in the doorway, "I told them to. Where is your brother?"

"Last I heard, somewhere in Europe or Asia, he likes to be alone." She then added, "He was on that island for five years, sometimes civilization can be a bit too much, I suppose."

The agent gave her a disbelieving look, "And so, he purchases a fancy loft for his Fiancée and son?"

"I don't pretend to understand my brother, maybe he thought that Laurel and Connor deserved to be happy and safe?" Thea said sarcastically. "After all, Connor is a Queen, and Laurel was soon to be one as well. We look after our own."

"We know how the Queen's only look after their own. Look at your mother and The Undertaking."

Thea ignored the snide remark and tried to look past the agent. "Is Laurel okay?"

The agent directed her inside Laurel and Ollie's loft. A place that she spends so much time in. A home away from home. She followed the agent, to see that Laurel had been back, and had gotten a new change of clothes. Her wet office clothes dropped on the stairs, as she was on her way to her room. Her white blouse was a red-coppery color.

Thea prayed that it was her blood, or at the very least that it was only a small portion of it.

"When was the last time you heard from Laurel Lance?"

Thea swallowed as she remembered the memory, seeing her sister in Verdant. But she would protect her family, after all, she was the sole witness, and the recording of the two of them at the bar had been wiped. If Thea can't follow Laurel into hell, she could at the very least provide support when she could. "Almost a month ago?"

"You haven't seen her for almost a month, maybe more? What about Connor? Where is the boy?"

"Friends of mine has him for the day, Connor likes to play with their daughter."

Agent Watson clicked her tongue and then pinched the bridge of her nose. "And did your brother or Miss Lance give you any indication when they would be back?"

"No."

"Whether she would be back at all?" Watson pressed. "They ditch their son, a dead weight, onto you, and live happily ever after on an island resort, perhaps the one that they found Oliver on?"

Thea bit the side of her cheek, at that remark, "No. They aren't like that Agent…?"

"Agent Samanda Watson." She answered, by flicking through their letters, "If they are gone, and dumped their unwanted baby onto you, why are you paying their bills?"

"I'm Ollie's sister and more or less a surrogate sister to Laurel. I've known her since… Almost forever. The three of us are close." She then glared at the agent. "And if I have to, I will teach Connor about how generous and selfless his parents are."

"So, let me get this straight, Miss Queen. You pay the bills of two deadbeat parents, who have disappeared and you have not even filed a missing person's report?"

"It wouldn't be the first time they had left. I know they will come back when they are ready. I'm sure that you can understand me not wanting to prematurely have Ollie or Laurel be declared dead in absentia, especially after Ollie survived his five years on a stranded island. "

Agent Watson pointed at Laurel's soaked clothes. "Would Dinah Laurel Lance go on the run?"

"No, why would she? I just told you that she was likely with Ollie."

Watson looked unconvinced, "You were a secretary slash paralegal for a small law firm, CNRI, correct? The same firm that Laurel Lance was the founder and owner of?"

"Yep."

"When did the firm start working with Daniel Brickwell? Before or after Joanna de la Vega was murdered?"

Thea screwed up her face, what the hell was this fishing exhibition for? What the hell was Brick telling them? "We never worked for him, we put him away. How about looking over the case files and the minutes from the court records."

The Federal Agent then pulled out a piece of paper in a zip-lock bag, "Is that your signature, Miss Queen? A from the chased cheque from Confederated Global?"

"Laurel and Jo took them on for one case. One, and that was all."

Agent Watson hummed, "According to my source, that business was a front for Daniel Brickwell."

"We didn't know that at the time."

"But you do now?" She asked Thea, with a smile that indicated that she was putting Thea where she wanted her, "See how your last answer wasn't technically accurate? Never worked for Brickwell, except for the fact that you did."

"How's this for a statement?" Thea sneered. "We never knowingly worked for Brickwell. How were we supposed to know that of all the businesses in the world that that particular one was a front for that bastard? Besides, we were approached by a third party."

"Who?" Samanda Watson asked as she stepped closer to Thea.

"Some business executive, a bald African American man, I think."

The FBI agent walked away to grab a photograph and held it up for Thea to see, it was the same man that had hired CNRI. "Was it him?" She asked, "You remember him?"

"I think so, why?" She knew the bastard alright, he had insinuated that she was only hired either to entice clients or because Laurel was a nepotist.

Samanda Watson shook her head dismissively, "Just putting the puzzle together."

"Ooh, puzzles. I can hand you a few more pieces: Josiah Becket. Red Lion National Bank, Samcorp. Do any of these take your interest? Ring any bells or are you dead set dragging two-thirds of my remaining family through the mud?"

"I don't follow."

Thea chuckled, they only had the pieces that Brick had spoon-fed them, he had the FBI wrapped around his pinkie. "Instead of allowing your institution and you be Brick's puppets to attack innocent lawyers who put him in jail. How about you put his feet to the fire? Ask him about his fixer, Josiah Beckett, who launders money through Red Lion National Bank, and ask him about Samcorp."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because that company, bought most of the company that owns that nice hotel that keeps your so-called prisoner safe."

"How do you know all this?" Watson asked, her eyes narrowing at Thea.

"The Queen name is still respected despite my mother's actions. When Brick was put on house arrest, I put my ear to the ground, apparently, I'm better at your job than you are. Perhaps you would like to give me a reference?"

The FBI agent scoffed, "Theories, rumors, and hearsay. Any actual tangible proof, Miss Queen?"

"Brick uses people, that's what he does. He's a master manipulator, and you are marching to his tune."

"That's not a yes." She said not looking away from Thea.

"Am I under arrest?" She asked, cutting her off from further questions. Watson shook her head and moved to the side to let Thea leave her family's loft unmolested. As Thea walked past the door, she noticed Laurel had set her two rings on the table, with a swift and graceful swipe, she took the rings and pocketed them. She knew that it was Laurel's way of giving Connor something to remind him that his parents loved each other, and loved him.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Diggle was walking out of ARGUS headquarters, after a brief meeting with Waller and Lyla about some rumors of someone fitting the description of Oliver Queen was spotted in Cairns, Australia, along with men in black ninja costumes.

He stopped pushing the dual stroller, to allow Lyla to adjust Sara's dress. He looked up to see a woman approaching him, "You, John Diggle?"

"Yes, Ma'am." He said, as Lyla stood up, she palmed her sidearm. "Identify yourself."

"Special Agent Samanda Watson. FBI" She said, as she flashed her badge.

Lyla relaxed, "What can we do for you?"

Samanda ignored them, as she knelt down next to the little boy, "What's your name, Little Man?"

"Connor. The boy's name is Connor", Diggle said gruffly.

Samanda looked into the boy's Connor's green eyes which were looking at her with childlike curiosity. The agent stood up, looking at Lyla and John. "Where is Laurel Lance?"

Diggle shrugged, "No idea. Perhaps she's doing her job over in Central City? Or Gotham?"

"Did you know she worked for Daniel Brickwell almost two years ago?"

Diggle crossed his arms, allowing Lyla to look after the babies, "No, from the way I understand it, she worked tooth and nail to put that son of a bitch behind bars, if her father was here, he would tell you the same thing. She made our streets that little bit safer."

"When was the last time you saw Miss Lance?"

"Mrs. Queen, actually. I officiated their small wedding. The last time I saw her was months ago when we had an argument of the best interests of her child. I suggested with the terror attacks and Brick coming back, she may want to bunker down for her son's sake. She disagreed."

"So, she left her son with the man that she disagreed with?"

Lyla shook her head as she handed Connor a piece of fruit. "No, Thea's still a young woman, and no matter how much she loves her nephew, she needs a break. To be free. I offered for us to occasionally look after Connor. Any other questions regarding Mrs. Queen and her son call me during office hours when I am here at ARGUS."

"That won't be necessary, but one or two questions, if you would, "Why didn't Thea correct me about her brother's nuptials?"

"She's been through a lot. Sometimes things like that slip through the cracks, after all, she has always known Laurel as a Lance, it will take some time."

"And did ARGUS give her a false ID? Under the guise of Sara Drake?"

"We only give our agents and those close to them that sort of package, and you would know that when you have already called Director Waller. Sometimes a dead end means that you have to reevaluate what you know, and not just believe that everything is a conspiracy against you. Just a free piece of advice from one Federal Agent to another."

Diggle looked at Watson, "What did Laurel do with that ID that she acquired?"

"She entered Iron Heights prison, falsely using that identity. Her sister's name, and her mother's maiden name. She then made contact with an Irish gang, linked to the murder of nine federal agents."

"We are not involved with whatever she is doing, but with due respect, you have her all wrong," Diggle said with a low growl.

Watson sniggered at the thought that she could be wrong about Laurel. "That's your prerogative, but I don't think I do. I think that Laurel Lance-Queen is hiding a double life. A lawyer by day and a criminal by night. "

She then leaned in closer to Diggle, "And you and Miss Queen know all about it. It makes you uncomfortable that you are complicit in her activities. And that is why you had an argument with her, you were telling her to back off, and she wouldn't listen. From the reports we have on her she is stubborn and passionate." She speculated, before smirking, "Her father and grandfather had the same reputation both on the Force and in The Bureau. They wouldn't stop until they had what they wanted, an apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

She then moved back, "When she is caught, and she will be. You know that you will be dragged down with her."

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Laurel dropped onto the futon, feeling exhausted, every inch of her body ached. Ted had just left the storage locker and was headed out to get them some dinner, now that he had just stitched her up. The next thing she knew, Ted had just woken her up with a small shoulder squeeze.

Her mentor handed her a foil container that by the looks of it was lasagne. Her stomach growled. He then placed a drink beside her. By the looks of the logo on the food dish he had gotten the food from a diner daughter in The Glades, is known to make everything they have on the menu by scratch.

When she glanced at the logo on the smoothie cup, she felt her eyes water. It was from a small smoothie bar on the outskirts of The Glades, it was also where her Dad took her and Sara when they were kids. Ted had remembered her telling him about it back when he started training her. A subtle reminder that she still had people that loved her, including those on the other side.

He had lost his family, and here she was abandoning her own, screaming that the rules were not fair. "Why are you helping me, Ted? You should hate me, I left my baby. I abandoned him."

"Do you like the lasagna and strawberry smoothie?"

"Yes."

"Then shut up and eat your food." Laurel snorted slightly, as Ted chuckled. His usual gruffness somehow made her feel less burdened. A sense of normalcy.

After she had eaten a few mouthfuls of her food and a couple of gulps of her drink. Ted spoke again, breaking the silence. " I could never hate you, Dinah. You are like a daughter to me. And while I don't necessarily agree with you cutting all ties with everyone, I get it. But Dinah, we can't separate ourselves from our family, or friends. They are a part of you, some will even carry some of the burdens if you need to." He then took a mouthful of his own dinner, "Just… be careful, Dinah, that you don't become the monster you are fighting."

Laurel nodded at the last statement that if all went to plan she wouldn't have to kill. She could show herself, show Brickwell, show Connor that she was better that she didn't resort to killing. "You have been here giving me advice, even when I didn't want it. Providing me with healthy foods, ensuring that my clothes are clean."

"The thing about family, Dinah, is that it's about people caring for each other. You have more than me in your corner."

"Thea, Roy, and Connor. I do miss them."

"What about baby steps? If you have the name of the lifer, give it to Roy or Thea and ask them to give it to a journalist they trust. They would just be a middleman, nothing too dangerous… or more dangerous than going out at night as a vigilante."

Laurel nodded as she slowly took another mouthful of her dinner. She has Brick in her crosshairs now, all she had to do was get this lifer to testify and she and her family would be safe. Even if Ollie wouldn't be there.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Later that night, Diggle brought Connor back home to his aunt, he knocked on the door, and handed the sleeping boy into his aunt's arms, "They know that she is hiding something, Thea." Thea tucked Connor next to Roy, who secured the sleeping infant, so he didn't fall. "This is bad, Thea, we could go to jail, all our work for nothing."

"Digg."

Diggle wiped his face with his hands, letting out an annoyed growl. "We should not have known her secret in the first place, I should have kept Oliver away from her. His whole legacy is down the drain."

"No. No one could have seen this happen, not even Oliver." Roy said from his seat, "We will try to contain this, you guys keep hunting for The League and we will try to help Laurel."

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Roy had been playing with Connor when he heard some movement in the small room that Thea had told him that Laurel had once used as an office, and where they would hide their suits and gear. He gently told Connor to be quiet, and slowly got up, grabbed a flechette from his dresser, and slowly walked out to see Laurel, wearing a black leather jacket, a hoodie, and a lower face mask.

She lowered her mask and hood. "Hello, Roy."

Just then, in the blink of an eye, Connor was half crawling, half waddling out of his room, his face brightened as he saw his mother. "Mama!" Laurel slowly walked over to her child lifting him up and whispering sweet things in his ear, and Roy could also hear her apologize to him profusely.

Roy smiled as he watched his nephew-in-all-but-name reunite with his mother. It was a tender display of love and regret. It was further proof in his eyes that Laurel was not going on a revenge-fueled murder-suicide crusade against Daniel Brickwell. This was about survival: Laurel was putting her life at risk by keeping herself in Brick's cross-hairs to keep the ruthless bastard from moving his eyes towards Thea or Connor.

He had always thought that Oliver had the mantle of being the person to be prone to self-sacrifice, but this year, Laurel has proven a worthy contender for that mantle.

"You know, we are going to need that rent you owe us," he said dryly before leaving and going to the kitchen., hearing Laurel follow him, and hearing her hiss slightly as her son touched the swollen angry wound on her forehead.

"I'm alright, Connie, Mommy fell." He was way too young to know the truth.

She then put him in his playpen and hovered by her son for a long few minutes before Laurel stood sat next to Roy on his couch, "I can't protect you, Speedy or Connor, not from Brick. I've got his attention now."

"Let us worry about ourselves. Thea and I look after him, and when we can't we ask Walter, Digg or Lyla. Connor's safe. I promise I will die before anyone harms my honorary nephew." He then turned his head looking at Laurel who looked black and blue, "I heard you visited, Thea. And around the same time, she lost a few hundred dollars. How about you ask this time? Remember that we are family, no matter how Diggle and Felicity feel."

Laurel looked slightly abashed before regaining her somber composure. It looked like she wanted to apologize, but she was on the clock. "Brick ordered his own stabbing. It's how he manipulated those in power to get him the penthouse suite. He got a guy with two life sentences, a man named Joe Chill to do the deed. In payment, Brick allowed him to walk out of prison. According to all the paperwork, Joe Chill is in solitary confinement, when he is walking around without a cage."

"Need help?" Almost immediately and without hesitation.

Laurel hesitated for a second, before looking towards her son. "I need to find him to prove it. I need you to find a journalist to speak to him, and we can send him back to prison after he is exposed."

"That's a tall order. I suppose we could ask Iris, but doubt that her father will allow that, let alone Barry. Give me time and see if I can arrange it. But I doubt it." Roy then looked at Laurel curiously, "You taking Connor with you, wherever you have been hiding for the last few months?"

Laurel was silent for a very long time, her inner turmoil painted on her face as clear as day. "No... As much as I would love to have him nearby, but as long as I am in Brick's cross-hairs, I need to keep my distance from Connie." She exhaled audibly, "I know that it may not seem like it, I even have had my doubts, but I'm doing this to protect him. I don't care if you believe me, but please look after him. He's all I have." A small tear cascaded down her cheek, the salt of the tears stinging her cut on her cheek.

Roy gently patted her arm, in an attempt to reassure her. "You know we will, it is kind of like that old saying about taking a village to raise a kid or something. And you are wrong by the way. I know that it feels like you can't trust anyone, or that this is only your fight, but Laurel, we are family, I hope that you will see that soon before it's too late that you have more than you realize."

"Thank you." Laurel gave him a grateful smile that didn't reach her eyes, and walked over to her baby boy, picking him up, as he played with her hair. "I will miss you baby. Mama loves you. And I'm so sorry that I have to leave again, but I promise after I get the bad man to talk, you and I can be together again."

Laurel's eyes welled up again, as she placed a kiss on his forehead, lowering him back down, and walking slowly to the open window, looking over her shoulder for a final time, almost as if she were reconsidering about not taking her son with her before Laurel raised her mask and hood.

Roy could help but feel relieved despite Laurel leaving. Her heartfelt apology and her adamant stance showed him that Laurel wasn't going at it alone, or trying at least. It wasn't about vengeance. It was also not the first time that Laurel during her self-imposed exile that she had visited her family. Perhaps, some part of her knew that she wasn't alone, or knew she couldn't do it alone. That she needed to lean on her family.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Siobhan woke up in a deep sweat, watching Victor Zsasz carve his knife into Charlie as if she were just a piece of meat, a toy. She could smell the blood, as Zsasz carved up her Charlie. She could hear the man chuckle and even lick the blood off his knife just to add a new dimension to the killing, all because they wouldn't back off from the case.

The FBI had been hunting lunatics for close to five years, the sick bastard even had the notches and tally's that he had carved into himself as some sort of sick record. Only now, he couldn't hurt anyone. The only thing she could never find was Charlie, Victor Zsasz had let her escape, but her fiancé had to be left behind.

She answered her phone at the first ring, from an agent-based in Central City, that they had found Charlie's body, apparently, his body was found, and his location and resting place was anonymously tipped off by a Good Samaritan.

And a part of her knew who she owed for allowing her fiance's ghost to finally rest in peace. Daniel Brickwell.

:-: :-: :-: :-:

Felicity and the team sat in the bunker as they discussed the newest chain reaction of Brick coming back into Starling, first it had been Laurel going off the deep end and go one a one-woman crusade, abandoning the crusade she and her husband, Oliver had started. She left behind Oliver's son. She couldn't imagine a reason why a mother would abandon her child. Wouldn't it have been safer and more intelligent for Laurel to pack Connor and their belongings into a car and disappear?

It's certainly what she would have done, there was no shame in running away to keep you and your loved ones safe.

Instead, they had to deal with the fallout of Laurel poking the bear, making them draw their focus away from Oliver's killers, The League of Assassins, and protecting the city. Instead, they were worried about the FBI, and Brick himself, out of the entire group that sat around the table, only Thea had a beef with the large Englishman.

And while that was tenuous at best, Thea wasn't as involved with Daniel Brickwell as much as Laurel was.

Diggle looked at Thea and Roy, "I'm surprised that she had reached out to you two, even more so that she would ask you to look into Joe Chill. Laurel must be certifiable if she would even ask you to put your neck on the line, even after shirking off her parental responsibilities on to you two."

Thea tucked her hair behind her ear, glaring at Diggle. "She's under a lot of pressure! She asked for help! You two." She said, pointing at Diggle and Felicity, her eyes not giving them any quarter. "You told her that Brick wasn't a threat. She knows him better than anyone. If Ollie had come to you telling you he was a threat, like he did with Slade Wilson, you would believe him in a heartbeat."

"Thea, that's not fair."

"Bullshit! And as for my sister handing me her baby and my nephew to look after and care for while she protects him, from Brick, that's between her and me. A family matter! Something that you are not privy to! Roy came back to help protect the city, he decided to help me look after Connor."

Looking after and protecting her nephew was the universe's way of letting her atone for releasing the drawstring of the bow that killed Sara. Thea just wished that it didn't come as a consequence of Laurel's turmoil.

Felicity took her glasses off, and wiped them down, before looking back at her two teammates, "How come she visited both of you, and both times, neither of you managed to put a tracer on her?"

Roy shrugged, taking a sip of his bottled water, "Neither of us was exactly prepared for her to turn up. Lest we forget, she was trained by a sniper turned vigilante. She has learned how to disappear and reappear. Besides, if she found the tracer, she wouldn't come to us in the future."

Diggle raised his hands, playing the peacemaker. Right now, they don't need to be fighting amongst themselves. "We should help her."

"Come on, John?" Felicity said.

"Hear me out, we get the information, and we have Felicity anonymously send it to Iris and a number of other journalists. No need to put our eggs all in one basket, but we do it on the condition. Laurel turned herself in to the FBI."

"What? No!" Thea cried out. "Didn't we specifically try to prevent the same thing with Ollie and Roy? Why are we even thinking about tossing her to the side?"

"They are only sniffing around us because they are looking for Laurel. Once they have her…"

Thea vehemently shook her head in disagreement. "She can't, she would never agree to that, she has Connor to worry about."

"She didn't think about him when she left." Felicity retorted.

Why didn't Diggle and Felicity grasp that Laurel was both putting distance between herself and Connor and her? That Laurel has shielded them from Brick's onslaught?

Thea stood from the table and was only calmed by Roy's hand gently holding her forearm, "Laurel left Connor with his family. People that love him. I love him. It's not like she just got up and left him. Besides, I know her, this is hurting her as much as us, if not more."

She and Ollie had a habit of putting aside their grievances in favor of doing what they believed was the right thing.

Diggle continued, looking at Thea warily, "There's no reason to think that the FBI knows anything about Laurel's other life, but if she can give them that witness, she will be in the clear and can come home. Then so are we."

Felicity looked at Thea, "If we are to do this, where is she?"

"I don't know, but I know someone that does, Ted Grant." The question was, would Laurel's mentor and like an uncle to her would close ranks and keep his mouth shut to keep Laurel safe and away from them, or would he help them to help Laurel?

As much as Ted seemed to like her, she held no delusions that his loyalty remained solely with Laurel. He, like Laurel and Ollie, would do whatever it took to protect their loved ones, even if they burned bridges with others in the process.