Young Boy in Critical Condition following Star Labs Incident (Mason Bridge, Central City Picture News, 2013)

After what seemed the juxtaposition of the century, where innovation slowed down progress instead of moving it forward, over two dozen people are being hospitalized for injuries resulting from the Star Labs Particle Accelerator Explosion. Amongst these people now, is a seven-year-old boy, who on behalf of his mother's request, remains anonymous throughout this article. The boy and his mother were returning home from a school-held science fair at Central City Elementary, hoping to avoid the impending storm. Unfortunately for them as well the entire student body along with their families was trapped inside a colossal amount of traffic relating to the Particle Accelerator that afternoon. Hours later, the boy and his mother finally arrived home safely, when the storm began to cause damage to the suburban neighborhoods in Central City. According to neighbors, the mother-son duo had just parked in the driveway and was heading inside, when the boy suddenly became caught in live wires, which caused him to lose his footing, and fall into the street, Moments later, he was suddenly run over by a skidding car. Fortunately, the boy survived completely intact but remains in critical condition in the same coma patient ward as CSI investigator, Barry Allen.

Both the mother and Star Labs founder/director, Harrison Wells, could not be reached for comment.


According to his mother, William had awoken from his coma a month after the explosion and was discharged the following week. However, despite Samantha filling her son on what happened, he never attained any memory of that night ever since it happened.

It was safe to say that William had already deduced what happened to him as the gears in his mind continued to work out any other theories in case he missed a certain detail that would explain why he could change his molecular structure and density as well as why they had come now and not when he left the hospital all those years ago.

He sat in his room that night after explaining his "sickness" in school to his parents. He hated lying to them, of course, after all the effort they were putting together to remain an open and honest family. But then again, was that merely a fantasy the Smoak-Queens were trying to achieve or a pointless escape from the jumbled and twisted family history that had led them all together at the same dining table that night?

However, as odd and different his family might have been, William couldn't even bring himself to say the word "powers" for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that he was still struggling to accept them, even after only a few hours, or it was due to his incinerating emotions conflicting with his whispering thoughts that urged him to expect a frightened reaction from his parents, who were already scared enough of losing their city to a psychopath on a loose cannon.

In time, they would soon learn that he was hiding something; Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak were not blind after all, but if there was one thing that William was good at, it was concealing his emotions. It was just the tip of the iceberg of how much the boy had to learn about the night he received his powers – he did not know of Eobard Thawne's hand in creating the Flash at the time - so it was going to be difficult to "come out" to his father and stepmother, especially if he had no idea what to say first.

No. William would not allow himself to be corrupted by fear. He was his father's son, surely his father would not be afraid to face this situation firsthand, and certainly not without a plan first.

And that was exactly why he needed at least five hours of a good night's sleep, so he could continue looking into the situation with a calm and collected level head, just as his father would if he were faced with circumstances such as this.


Oliver Queen sat in his cell looking at the mirror in front of him and drew a thin line with his lips. He rubbed his hand where he sported a bruise from his recent stint in solitary confinement, but he brushed it aside at the memory of his beloved photo, which was essentially the only thing keeping him from losing his mind to the walls of Slabside, save for recent events of course.

There were no newspapers or pictures of his son's secret actives within his cell. Most of the inmates had heard of the infamous blue-haired vigilante roaming around the streets of Star City by now, but from the moment Oliver had learned of his son's secret identity, he had personally made sure that his cell was completely free of any trace of anything that would give away anything about his son's vigilante pursuits, which meant destroying the cherished photograph of his wife and son in case one of the members of Danny Brickwell's gang decided to come snooping around, or worse, one of the prison guards who wouldn't hesitate to report Oliver Queen for information about the Blue Shadow while they conducted cell block checks every other day.

He rose from his bed and would have left for the outside court for some fresh air if Ben Turner, also known as Bronze Tiger, was not standing by his cell with a knowing look on his face.

Oliver's fingers began to clench into a fist. "What do you want, Turner?"

The mountain of a man gave a mere nonchalant gesture. "Nothing this time. I was just on my way to the mess hall when I saw you in here. Now I may not be a mind reader, but I think I know exactly what's got you all screwed up here." He tapped his head while Oliver turned to face his enemy with contempt in his icy blue eyes. "It's your boy ain't it? What was it again? Wi-"

Oliver's calloused hands had already grabbed Turner by the throat and slammed him against the wall, while he ignored the security guards taking him off the other man.

"Hey, I only came to give you a message about your boy. It's not good news or bad news but it's something about him."

He breathed hotly at the mention of his son from his adversary and almost wrestled his way from the guards when one of them struck a couple of Tasers on his side, causing him to fall to the ground. "You stay the hell away from my son!"

"Solitary confinement for you, 4587." One of the guards snarled before the rest dragged him away to the solitary confinement cells, leaving Turner by his lonely self.

The imprisoned criminal rubbed the lines on his forehead and cast a disappointed look at the concrete floor beneath him.

"That went well." He muttered with dissatisfaction in his voice.


From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:

John Diggle: So, you and William Clayton. Friends until the end?

Zoe Ramirez: Not exactly. I mean we were close, but we didn't know each other long enough to become BFFs for life.

John Diggle: I see. Getting back to the 15th of May, when was the next time you saw William?

Zoe Ramirez: I didn't see him until the following morning. When we were at school during first-period gym class.

John Diggle: I see. Do you remember what time that was?

Zoe Ramirez: Around 8:15 AM.

John Diggle: Do you know what William was doing before then?

Zoe Ramirez: I don't know. Getting ready for school or whatever. I guess that William was doing what any kid would have done if they got superpowers: Learn how they work while messing around with them a little.


WARNING: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION PRESENT UNDER ARGUS PROTECTION. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN THIS FILE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM DIRECTOR LYLA MICHEALS

From Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton by Ralph Dibney (pg. 2)

Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028

To understand what happened to William Clayton, we must first take a look at how William Clayton came to be.

Oliver Jonas Queen was born on May 16, 1985, to Robert and Moira Queen in Starling City General Hospital, Starling City, Washington State. He was raised in vast fortune and wealth and would welcome his maternal half-sister, Mia Dearden Queen on January 21, 1995. As he grew up into adulthood, Oliver Queen became a familiar face in the tabloids for disreputable incidents, such as punching a reporter on live television at one point during his late teens. Even more so, despite having a girlfriend, Dinah Laurel Lance, who would soon become the second Black Canary and Assistant District Attorney, Oliver Queen was not only a notorious womanizer but also an equally infamous college dropout and party man. By the time his 20th birthday came around, Oliver had already withdrawn from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford University within a short span of two years. This profoundly irresponsible and narcissistic behavior would eventually rear its head when Oliver Queen would meet a girl from Central City at a college party in 2005.

Samantha Anna Clayton was born on February 20th, 1983, to Frank and Irene Clayton in Central City Hospital in Central City, Missouri. Samantha, in contrast to Oliver Queen, had come from in a middle-class family while taking an active interest in dance and volleyball as well as volunteering at the local hospital during her time in high school. Graduating as the valedictorian of her class at Central City High School in 2001, Samantha would spend the next few years of her life pursuing a degree in economics at Central City University. During her junior year, she befriended Laurel Lance on MySpace and the two kept in touch for quite some time. In June of 2005, she was invited to spend a few weeks with her before returning to Central City. One day, Laurel, Samantha was invited to spend the weekend with Laurel, and she agreed, leaving for Laurel's apartment that Thursday. The following day, on Friday the 13th, Samantha and Laurel spent some time with some of Laurel's friends at a bar before they were both invited to a local party at Starling City University. While Laurel left for her house to study for an exam the following Monday, Samantha went with the small clique to the party where she encountered Oliver Queen, and the two began engaging in conversation over an unknown amount of drinks. According to Oliver, the two were holding hands, heading into a private bathroom and neither of them left that bathroom until about 12 hours later, with some of their clothes missing. After the party, Samantha had traveled back to Central City and cut off all contact with Laurel, possibly hoping to spare her friend the pain of knowing that her close friend had slept with her boyfriend behind her back.

Nine months later, William Joeseph Clayton was born in Central City Hospital on February 13, 2006, at 2:08 PM. Although he was initially aware of the unplanned pregnancy and believed Samantha had suffered a miscarriage, thanks to a bit of convincing from his mother, Oliver Queen would learn of his son's existence approximately 9 years later in Jitters, a local café popular to the Central City community.


William got up at around 6 AM on the morning of May 16th. He had finished his morning routine of brushing and flossing his teeth four times in a row (dental hygiene was extremely important to him) as well as applying shampoo to his hair before he turned off the shower and applied zit cream on his cheeks, forehead, and nose.

Once he was dressed in a yellow and bright blue plaid shirt over a cotton white one, along with blue jeans and black converse sneakers, William opened his laptop and pulled up all the articles he found on metahuman abilities and the Flash.

He grabbed his pillow and stuck his arm through it, blue eyes widening in awe of the proof of the impossible happening before him. Yet for all of his late-night research and all of the experimenting he did with his powers, William could not figure out what the strange silvery-gray mist that surrounded his arm was. He deduced that it was probably an effect his powers had whenever he used them, similar to what people described as a trail of lightning following the Flash whenever he ran around the streets of Central City.

Whatever it was, a part of William wondered if the Something lurking within him was like a muscle, one that he could exercise and use in due time once he had practice in learning how to control it.

While this analogy may have been true, there was another side effect that irritated William to no end: nosebleeds. He pulled his arm from the pillow and wiped his nose with a tissue before throwing it out.

Whenever he stayed invisible for too long or kept phasing through something heavy, or also for too long, his nose would start bleeding.

Perhaps it was a reminder that despite the power he possessed, William was still mortal, but whatever the cause of it might be, suffering from nosebleeds from exerting his powers was a circumstance that he would have to get used to if he was going to learn more about the Something inside of him.

"William?" Felicity knocked on the door and William's body flickered back to visibility.

"Come in." He looked at the clock and realized that he lost track of time from contemplating the events from today.

Felicity walked into the room with an exhausted look in her bright blue eyes but kept her sunny disposition with her bright clothes and pink lipstick. Her frazzled hair did nothing to distract William from the optimistic aura she gave whenever she walked into a room. "I just wanted to tell you that breakfast is almost ready and your father has to go to an important meeting so you might want to catch him before he leaves."

After careful consideration, William decided that today would not be the day he would tell them about his powers, but he knew that day would come soon. So, he figured it would be better to wait for his father to save the city and bring the bad guy known as Ricardo Diaz to justice before the Smoak-Queens would have a chance to be a real family without having to fear for their lives each time they go to sleep.

It seemed like a naïve thought, even to William's watchful perception of his father and step-mother being vigilantes themselves, the Green Arrow and Overwatch, but even he could see how much pressure they were under to find Ricardo Diaz and take him down along with his evil plan.

He figured it was better if their focus was in one place rather than be split in between taking down Ricardo Diaz and taking care of their son.

He had finished breakfast when his father was about to leave the door.

"Dad?"

"Yes, William?"

"You'll stop him, right?" William asked. "Ricardo Diaz?"

Oliver gave his son a reassuring look and his fingers scraped the silver door handle on the way out.

"Yes. We will. By tomorrow morning, I hope, so keep your eyes open, alright?" He said while ruffling his son's chocolate brown locks. "I have to go to a meeting with someone who can help make that possible, but we'll talk again tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok." William nodded as his father left the apartment that morning, feeling hope blossom in his heart, a feeling he had not had in a long time. He didn't know what would happen within the next twenty-four hours, but by this time tomorrow, William would have a chance to be even closer with the family he had nearly lost time and again.

Unfortunately for William, the next morning would nothing short of a nightmare come to life.