From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:

John Diggle: Do you remember the morning of May 16th, 2018?

Zoe Ramirez: Yes. I remember what happened then. Though I wish I had my phone out then.

John Diggle: Why? Did something happen?

Zoe Ramirez: Kind of.

John Diggle: What do you mean by that remark? Did William get hurt? Did you get hurt?

Zoe Ramirez: No, neither of us got hurt. I mean at first, we were just talking, playing basketball, and then we just got to messing around, that's all.

John Diggle: I see. And what exactly do you mean by, quote, unquote, messing around?


The class filled their spots with sluggish velocity as the gym teacher took attendance that morning. The day was just like any other, with the spring morning running in as fast as the trees grew outside. The flowers bloomed with graceful beauty and the bright sun illuminating the fields did nothing to sway the lethargic attitudes of the sixth graders who wanted nothing more than to go back home and spend all day within the safe comfort of their beds.

"Alright, if it helps any of you guys." Coach Parr said to them. "I don't wanna be up this early either, but I've got a job to be here and so do you. And no, being here doesn't involve taking selfies for Instagram or anything remotely like that."

There was a collective groan upon the entire class as Coach Parr motioned for the students to stand up as he picked up the basketball next to him.

"One of the most important assets you can have in any sport is concentration. As long as your focus is on the ball, literally speaking in this case," He said while dribbling the ball to make his point. "You'll find that you can push yourself to feats you thought you couldn't achieve before. Now before you phone-lovers doze off because I'm talking too much, I want everybody to pair up and start dribbling to each other and then shooting the ball as much as you can."

He blew the whistle and all twenty-six students immediately followed into groups like it was second nature. Within seconds, al anyone could hear from the outside, was the sound of running shoes and large basketballs hitting the pavement in a staccato rhythm

"I guess, nothing much has changed, right?" William asked Zoe as he passed the ball to her.

"If you say so." Zoe practiced a few dribbles before passing the ball to her friend. "But I'm not sure if you're talking about things in general or the reason you had to go home yesterday." She looked around to make sure no eavesdroppers were looking for the latest juicy news for middle school. "If it's the former," She passed the ball to William who simply blinked at her. "How are you feeling now? Ok, not ok, or somewhere in the middle?"

"Um," William drummed his long fingers on the ball nervously. "I guess I'm ok, but if I have to be honest, I'm kind of in the middle, in terms of getting my head around it."

He dribbled the ball up to the hoop, shot the ball, but missed it when it slid off the metal hoop. Fetching the ball, he passed it on to Zoe.

"Ok, that's fair." She shot the ball into a hoop, this time with a perfect shot, thanks to her concentration being laser-like during the moment. "Then be sure to use it. Problem solved." She gave a knowing smirk, knowing full well that William had something else on mind. "But that's not what's on your mind now, is it?" William rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.

"I don't know, Z." He dribbled the ball a few times before passing it back to her. "I mean, it only happened yesterday, but do you think I should do something with it?"

She dribbled the ball a few times more. "Who says you have to do anything at all?" She passed the ball back to him. "I mean, what else has changed since you went home?" William gave a nonchalant shrug with his shoulders as he missed his shot into the hoops again.

He walked closer to her and passed the ball to her. They both held the ball together. "Nothing actually. If I'm being honest, I've only scratched the surface with my powers." His voice was low enough for only her to hear.

"You mean, you know what you can do?" She asked him.

"Not exactly, Zo." He said. "I'm not entirely sure what's happening to me, but whatever it is, there's a lot to think about."

"And I'm going to stop you right there." Zoe pushed his hands down along with the ball. "That's what's bothering you, Will. You worry too much. So how about you put your big brain on pause, have fun, and then come back to it later. You know, before gravity brings your skull down with it?"

William was about to open his mouth to give a small retort, but he knew there was no point arguing. She was his friend and knew him probably better than he ever knew himself, despite being friends for less than a year. Zoe Ramirez wasn't always right, of course, but William knew without a doubt, that she knew what she was talking about when she told him to cut loose for just a little bit.

So, he walked up about 3 feet away from the basketball hoop, shot the ball, and nailed the score with tremendous accuracy.

"You know what?" He asked Zoe. "I guess I am overthinking this. Maybe nothing much has changed if I'm still the same person I was yesterday." She smiled, knowing that her best friend was close to regaining his confidence once more. "And even if for some reason, I do end up using them, what's the worst that could happen?"


Both Ralph Dibney and Barry Allen waited anxiously as Dinah Drake pulled into the reserved parking lot that was near the endless parade of black SUVs, each belonging to several law enforcement agencies as well as Channel 52 News and local radio stations.

Her bright green eyes were puffy and bloodshot from a reduced amount of sleep during the past two weeks and her luscious mahogany hair was now a tangled bush of poorly maintained frizz.

"We're here." Dinah brushed a tangled lock from her hair. "If you had a big breakfast, you might want to keep an eye on keeping it down if you can."

"I wouldn't count on it." Barry gripped his briefcase, already used to bloody and gruesome crime scenes.

"Alright, let's go." Ralph opened the door and walked out of Dinah's car, with the Flash and Black Canary behind the Elongated Man.

They walked up to security, flashed their badges and were granted immediate access to the ruins of what was left of the Star City Police Headquarters.

"What the-" Barry gaped at the sight in front of him, nearly dropping his briefcase, which carried his forensic investigation equipment. The proud building that once stood to protect the law of Star City, was now destroyed under piles of rubble and rock. Streaks of red gleamed under the sun, where pieces of human flesh remained trapped under the rubble. Investigators carried what looked like disembodied human hands and feet into small containers. Reporters were discussing the horrendous ruin of the Star City Police Headquarters, but they could only cover what little they were able to obtain from the law enforcement agencies surrounding the area.

"What the hell happened here?" Ralph finally found his voice.

"The press is calling it the Star City Disaster," Dinah told them in a collective manner. "But I prefer to think of it as the night all shit hit the fan. 68 people died, even the ones who were rushed to the hospital. 46 of them lost their limbs. A few of them made it out unscathed, but even Rene's in critical condition."

"And you're saying all of this happened in under five minutes?" Ralph asked her.

"It's kind of hard to guess," said Dinah. "Everything that night exploded into one clusterfuck after another. But it all happened so fast, no one could tell what was happening, not even if we were paying attention to the clock that night." She looked at both men wearingly and stepped about ten feet backward to gain more range onto the entire pile of ruins. Her Central City friends followed her same suit. "That's why we called Central City for help if you're wondering. It's also why Felicity ended up in the ICU as well. We found ourselves caught up in something we couldn't even begin to describe. But look around, see for yourself; this was Star City Police Headquarters."

"What's with the big empty square in the middle back there?" Ralph pointed to a big metal square in the pile of rubble that had was surrounded by broken pieces of stone and broken glass.

"That's where my office used to be."

"If only I had gotten here sooner." Barry shook his head.

"Don't go blaming yourself now," said Dinah. "We know how short-staffed you guys were that night. As far excuses go, being trapped in another dimension for a whole month by an interdimensional criminal alien while trying to rescue both Cisco and Caitlin, is a pretty damn good one."

"Actually, I think he was an annoying witch boy," said Ralph. "I have yet to be let in on the details, but you get the picture."

"Yeah, I can," Dinah said to him. "But speaking of a picture, have you guys found anything on William?"

"No. We've been looking everywhere we can, but we've got nothing so far," said Barry. "We've called in everyone who's available, but it's like he disappeared off the face of the Earth. And yes, we've been looking on other Earths too, and we still haven't been able to find a trace of him whatsoever. Dinah, I'm so-."

"I swear, Barry if you say 'sorry', I'm going to knock some sense into you."

"Literally or figuratively speaking?" Ralph asked nervously.

Dinah gave a sweet but sarcastic smile. "That depends on whether or not he says the word, but we're getting off-topic in our investigation."

"Right, I'll go see if I can pick up anything that might help us." Ralph and Dinah gave a silent wish of good luck to Barry as he left with his forensic equipment at the ready.

"How's the overall investigation coming along?" Ralph asked Dinah.

"We're slow, but Zoe's cooperating really well." She said. "She's doing all she can to help us."

"I guess so, given the circumstances we have here," Ralph said to her, pondering deep into his Private Investigator's mind.

"What do you mean by that?" Dinah asked him.

"I just have this feeling that there's more to this than we think," Ralph said to her. "Like there's another side of the story that we haven't found because we're not looking in the right places."

"How is that?" Dinah asked him in an investigatory manner.

"I don't know, but there's something just that's not adding up," Ralph said to her. "The last place William Clayton was ever seen or at least heard of was at Cambridge Academy in Boston, but that was over six months ago."

"And?" Dinah asked.

"And we've recently discovered that he dropped out just so he could do some cross-country trip all the way to Star City." Ralph continued. "So, if he came back here to finish his dad's mission and save this city from the bad guys by his lonesome self, what led him to just come here all of a sudden?"

Dinah pursed her lips, scrambling her detective-trained mind for any possible answer, but found none at the moment.

"That seems to be the question now, doesn't it?"


From Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton by Ralph Dibney (pg. 5)

Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028

Zoe Pássaro Ramirez was born on April 7, 2006, in Star City General Hospital at 11:59 AM to Rene Ramirez and Laura Pássaro, who changed her name upon their marriage in 2003.

Life was stable for the family until the US financial recession of 2008, made its way to Washington State, causing the family to move to the Glades, where Rene Ramirez originated from, after losing their apartment in Star City. This sudden blow caused both husband and wife a great deal of financial strain, which exceeded to the point wherein early 2009, they were forced to rely on food stamps to be able to afford meals for the entire family. Around this time, Laura began taking heroin to deal with the stress, despite both the efforts of husband and wife to keep their marriage from falling apart for their daughter's sake.

According to Zoe, when she was interviewed about this in 2026, she was unaware of the vast majority of their arguments, but she did know that both of her parents were not getting along, and that was to the extent of her knowledge, thanks to Rene's increased presence in her life since then.

Rene's insistent efforts to be a strong parental influence proved to be successful as teachers from Zoe's school would say that she was a diligent worker and by all accounts, just a very outgoing, friendly, and bubbly girl.

After a couple of years of drug abuse, tumultuous arguments, and a few months at a rehabilitation center, Laura finally went cold turkey from her heroin addiction and had cleaned herself up in 2012. By then, both Rene and Laura had finally gotten back on their feet and moved out of the Glades to the local downtown area in Star City, where they were able to start over together. Unfortunately, the happy family life would not last too long as on March 29th, 2016, Rene had discovered a small bag of heroin, taped behind one of his wife's dresser drawers.

According to Rene, who was also interviewed about this in 2026, it is unclear how long it had been since his wife had relapsed. From the amount that was discovered, it appeared that Laura had been taking heroin for quite some time, but whether it had been weeks or even months, remains unknown to this day. Following Rene's confrontation and what almost spawned into another argument, Rene took his daughter out to a hockey game while Laura stayed home. Approximately two and a half hours later, both father and daughter returned home to find Laura being held hostage by her drug dealer, Aaron McLean. Rene would later testify that McLean had come to collect Laura's debt of $500 for her recent supply of heroin. Moments later, a fight broke out between the two men, which resulted in Rene shooting McLean in an effort to save his wife.

According to Zoe, who was nine years old at the time, as she walked near the kitchen, where the fight took place, she witnessed McLean falling down as the gun in his hand discharged right where he knocked Laura to the ground during the struggle.

Laura Ramirez's autopsy would later show that the bullet traveled through her temporal lobe, killing her instantly.

One month after the incident, Zoe was taken into foster care, after an incident where Rene passed out intoxicated from alcohol, and Zoe burned her hand from a running stove that was left unsupervised. A year later, Zoe was reunited with her father after he regained full parental rights to her guardianship.

Since 2016, Laura's death had served as the catalyst for Rene's decision to take on his mantle as the vigilante known as WildDog along with Zoe's decision to voluntarily testify on William Clayton's behalf, following the infamous Star City Disaster in March of 2019.

In a strange coincidence, on the other hand, as of 2016, Zoe's birthday is exactly 12 hours after the death of Earth-1 Laurel Lance.


Once the coach decided that it was time for the class to move on with their basketball exercises, William suddenly adopted a devious look in his cobalt blue eyes.

"Wait here." He whispered to Zoe. "And make sure you're recording this." Before Zoe could ask what, he meant, she saw William run to the coach and ask to be excused to use the bathroom.

"Alright but don't take forever." Coach Parr said to him. As William took off, he flashed a thumbs-up to Zoe as he went inside the building.

"What's the deal with your weird-ass friend over there?" Karen Beecher, a classmate of both Zoe and William.

"He's not weird, he's just a heavy-planner." Zoe responded to which the young girl replied, "Mmm-hm!"

Coach Parr blew the whistle, bringing forth the attention of everyone sitting on the blacktop surface of the outside court. The sun was still bright in the morning sky and by then, some of the kids had started to finally wake up, while others were silently begging to get back to blissful and powerful sleep.

"You've all had practice with each other, now I want you to see how well you all work together." Coach Parr went to the small bag and pulled out a pile of white pinnies. "This is how it's gonna work, we'll divide into two teams. One of which will wear the pinnies while the other will not. Then we'll run a few rounds to see how far each of you can apply coordination with teamwork. Once we run these trials, maybe I'll think of holding a small game for the class on Friday. And I'm talking about the real deal, not just practice in gym class." He reached to the ground to pick up the basketball that was near him when he found the ball moving away from him. He reached to pick it up again when it rolled away from him again, this time, by its own will.

Some of the students began to snigger at the perplexed look on Coach Parr's face. He seemed to take note of this reaction and put on a reassuring smile, similar to Brad Pitt's on the red carpet.

"No need to take out your phones." He said to them. "I'm pretty sure it's just the wind."

That may have been true for a second, but after the ball suddenly began levitating off the ground, the middle-aged man was at a loss for words. Unsure of what else to do, he lunged for the ball, but the invisible person holding it was quick enough to avoid his meaty hands. Suddenly, the ball began dribbling by itself all over the court as the coach began to chase after it like how a toddler would chase after an ice-cream truck.

"Get back here you little-!"

The students' laughter drowned out Coach Parr's last word. Some of them had even begun recording a live stream on Instagram for the whole school to see.

At one point the invisible person must have become bored with long-distance runs, so he started running around in circles, while the coach began sweating up a storm chasing after the ball that apparently had developed a mind of its own.

Finally, the invisible person began running to a mud hole outside of the blacktop pavement court with the coach running after him while the ball continued to float in the air, this time darting back and forth as if to say to the older man, "Catch me if you can."

There had been a downpour last night so the mud lake that had replaced the ditch outside of the court was fresh, wet, and smelly.

The ball stopped for a moment, giving the coach a sense of victory as he leaped forward to grab it but it was short-lived as the ball quickly moved out of the way, which caused the coach's momentum to send him face-planting into the mud lake.

While the students continue laughing in high-pitched giggles, the ball kept dribbling itself across the court while the coach, whose upper body was almost completely covered in brown sludge, continued to run after the ball, screaming his head off, while the children continued to laugh and film the whole incident with their cell phones.

The coach continued to run as fast as he could while being slowed by the mud that was already saturated in his baggy clothes.

Once the ball had launched itself into the hoop, the invisible person caught it and walked up to the fuming coach. The ball seemed frozen mid-air until it was lowered slowly into his hands.

"Whoever is behind this, is getting a one-way ticket to detention! And that's my detention!" Coach Parr shouted with steam coming out of his ears like a train whistle. The students were still laughing at him as they hurried off to change from their gym clothes before the class bell rang.

The students all filed into the building while Coach Parr was left furiously grumbling to himself about rotten kids while wiping the streaks of mud from his face as he threw the basketball down on the rocky pavement below.

"I swear I don't get paid enough for this bullshit."


Zoe and William ran out of the gymnasium, laughing their heads off as they ran into an empty choir room.

"Did you see the look on his face?!" William laughed while Zoe wiped tears from her eyes. "Get back here you little brat!" He spoke in a gravelly voice but had to cough afterward to clear his throat. "Get back here or I'm gonna keep waddling after you! ARRRRGGGHHHHH!"

Zoe laughed, holding onto the piano for support. "That's actually a pretty good impression! But how come you didn't include witty banter?"

"Witty banter?" William asked her after catching his breath.

"Yeah," said Zoe. "You know how Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Danny Phantom, they all use jokes and insults to annoy their opponents and get the last laugh? How come you didn't do anything like that?"

William adjusted the backpack straps on his shoulders. "One, I don't have a sense of humor. Two, even if I did have a sense of humor, I was too busy being high on adrenaline to use it. And three, even if the last two parts did apply, don't you think the coach would have recognized my voice by now?"

"Yeah, you've got a good point." Zoe nodded in an agreeable manner. "But you're wrong about one thing."

"And what is that?" William asked.

"You do have a sense of humor." She said to him.

"No, I don't," William said to her. "You have no proof."

"You once referred to Ms. Schenker as a living dodo bird," Zoe said to him.

"That's because she always yells, even while we're taking a test." William retorted to her. "And when she does, it sounds like she's squawking."

"You said that the boy's locker room smells like garbage that went to the garbage and then took a shit the next day," Zoe said to him.

"It's actually worse than people make it out to be," said William.

"And let's not forget the time you so gloriously compared your own dad to Leonardo DiCaprio," said Zoe.

"No.," said William. "I just said that my dad looks like Leo DiCaprio if Leo DiCaprio never learned how to shave. And I only said that because he looks like that in the morning."

Zoe gave a disgruntled headshake at him. "And?"

"And." William drummed his fingers on the music sheet stand. "Now that I think about it, he looks like that even after he shaves."

Zoe laughed, giving William a high five, just as the warning bell rang.

"Crap, we gotta get to our next class! Come on! Let's go, Z!"


From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:

John Diggle: So let me see if I got this right: William discovers he has the ability to walk through solid matter and become invisible at will and the first thing you two decide to do with them is to use them for childish pranks and practical jokes?

Zoe Ramirez: Well, we didn't go overboard with the pranks, if that's what you're thinking. But other than that, yeah, that's pretty much what happened.

John Diggle: Somehow, that doesn't even surprise me. But getting back to the events of May 16th, what happened after first period?

Zoe Ramirez: The day went on as normal.


William walked into the hallway, where Zoe was changing her books. He leaned against her locker and tapped on the metal door, "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits."

"Yes? Who is it?" She pretended to not know who was talking to her, but it was a game that they often played together, and it never got old between them.

William cleared his throat and spoke. "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

Zoe looked up, pretending not to know what he was talking about, but it was all part of the game. "What do you mean? African or European swallow?"

William tilted his head sideways. "I don't know that."

The two preteens looked at each other and threw their hands backward, yelling: "Ahhh!" before laughing at their own antics from their own game.

"School's almost out," Zoe said. "You think we can go to our place later on?"

"I think Agents Sykes and Bordeaux will let us," William said to us. "But I have to pick up some schoolwork before so, I might be a little late."

Zoe mock gasped. "That would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways, inconceivable!"

William looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Zoe rolled her eyes as she closed her locker, and the two walked down to their next class. "Alright, but don't think I'm going to go easy on you this time."

William laughed. "Z, you couldn't beat my high score even if you tried! Usual stakes?"

"Challenge accepted!" Zoe said. "Though I don't get my allowance until next week and I blew it on ice cream this week!"

"It's ok, there's always the school cafeteria so you can buy me pizza then," William said to her. "But either way, you know the rules."

"Yes, yes, yes," Zoe said to him. "No cheating, no bribery, and no puppy dog eyes allowed at any time." Her large brown eyes began to form the technique of adorableness she had perfected from when she was old enough to coo. She had her signature pout ready when William put his hand over her eyes.

"Nice try, but I've come to resist." He poked Zoe back as the children laughed, holding each other as they both strolled down the hallway, side by side, locking one arm with another.


From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:

John Diggle: According to Agents Sykes and Bordeaux, you two often hung out at the local arcade - Danny's Arcade, right?

Zoe Ramirez: Yes, that's where we met. It was "our place".

John Diggle: Alright. Following that school day on the 16th, you were pulled into an ARGUS bunker along with William and my son, yes?

Zoe Ramirez: Yes, that's right.

John Diggle: You are aware that your parents were out with the FBI fighting Ricardo Diaz under terms of an agreement Oliver Queen had made with the FBI that morning, yes?

Zoe Ramirez: Yes, I am aware of that.

John Diggle: Getting down to the night while you were watched by Agents Sykes and Bordeaux, what happened that night?

Zoe Ramirez: We had dinner. They made us Mac N Cheese. JJ made a mess, and William helped clean it up. And we watched movies with the TV they had set up in there. But we were all scared. JJ for his parents, me for my dad, especially when he called me. JJ was crying because he was scared his mom and dad wouldn't come home but as soon as William and I popped in Finding Nemo, he seemed to calm down.

John Diggle: And what did your dad say, when he called you?

Zoe Ramirez: He told me how much he loved me, but it sounded like he was saying goodbye. I remember I also started to cry when I hung up the phone

John Diggle: And what did William do?

Zoe Ramirez: He hugged me, told me everything was going to be ok, that our parents would save the day. He must have had his doubts like he usually did, but for my sake and for JJ's especially, he kept things optimistic. He then put in Toy Story after Finding Nemo, because it was one of my favorite movies to watch with my mom when she was alive. For the rest of the night, we had ice cream, we told stories, William did a few magic tricks or just small little tricks with his powers for JJ, and we watched movies until we all fell asleep in one big pile of pillows. Nowadays I look back and I see that, except for JJ, that was the last time we knew any innocence whatsoever.


On the morning of May 17th, William got up feeling completely fine. It was only when he checked his clock for the time that he realized what today was: The anniversary of his mother's death.

One year earlier today, when William was eleven years old, he and his mother, Samantha, had been taken prisoner by a murderous psychopath named Adrian Chase who called himself Prometheus. He was also known as the Throwing Star Killer as well as one of Oliver Queen's greatest archenemies.

Although William was not aware of his father's identity or of his father's family at the time, it was Oliver Queen who had revealed himself to his son when he saved his life. However, the Throwing Star Killer preferred to be ten steps ahead of his enemies, so he had planted highly destructive bombs all over Lian Yu, a nearly inhospitable island in the North China Sea. Oliver's team of vigilantes, all of whom had been taken hostage as well, had succeeded in warding off Chase's army, but even Oliver himself could not stop Chase from enacting on the final phase of his plan, which was to activate the dead-man switch linked to the massive amount of bombs on the island, by killing himself in front of his father.

The explosion killed most of Talia Al Ghul's army along with Evelyn Sharp, but William didn't know any of this. He only knew that his Aunt Thea had been put into a coma and that his mother had died from severe head trauma and massive internal bleeding and damage.

It had been one year, but for William, his mother's death felt like yesterday. Sometimes he would wake up at night, screaming for his mother to not leave him. Sometimes he would wake up completely silent in a cold sweat and spend the next two hours checking his closet, wondering if the monster known as Adrian Chase had come back to torment him once more.

Snapping out of his momentary daze, William shook off the covers and got ready for the day, as if it were another.

He was looking forward to school today, and even he was surprised by that. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he would see Zoe again. It would make sense since she too had lost her mother to murder, although she was a little younger than he was. Nonetheless, they had been through similar experiences, similar tragedies, which was how both children were able to bond so well.

So, he knew that although today was going to be difficult, he would have to get through it somehow and he was going to do it with the support and help of his friends.

He looked in the bathroom mirror, wiped a stray tear away, and gave a sad smile at himself, a moderate attempt of getting himself motivated to go to school.


By 9:30 AM, the English Literature class was already in full swing. The class had already paired up for their group projects, but unfortunately, because one of their classmates was out sick, there was a group of three for the project discussion: William Clayton, Zoe Ramirez, and Cissie King-Jones.

The class was buzzing with chatter, each group discussing how they should divulge into the book of their choice if they had chosen any books at all. Otherwise, they had already begun sharing a PowerPoint on their Google Drive hardware. Nothing could distract these children from their mindless chatter except for when Agents Sykes and Bordeaux briefly spoke with their teacher and asked Zoe along with William to step out into the hallway because there was something important both needed to know.

"William, Zoe?" Their teacher Ms. Kelly approached their desk and spoke to them. "You're needed in the hallway."

Begrudgingly, the two children left their desks and were separated by each ARGUS agent. Agent Bordeaux pulled Zoe aside to explain what the next few months of her life would be like. Agent Sykes, on the other hand, pulled William as far as the end of the corridor, right down to where the main office was.

"William." The older man said to the young teenager. "There's no easy way to say this, other than this will be a lot to take in, so I suggest you brace yourself for what's coming."

"What do you mean what's coming?" William asked. "What's going on here?"

"Look, believe me when I say that all of this will come as a shock for you." He said. "But maybe it's best if she explains it."

He opened the door and motioned for someone to come out and sure enough, Felicity Smoak hurried out of the administrator's office.

"William." She threw her arms around her stepson and her watery blue eyes gazed at William's own through her tear-rimmed glasses. "Oh, you're ok! You're ok! I am so sorry, William."

"Felicity?" He asked his stepmother. "Are you ok? What's going on?"

"It's Quentin." She said to him. "He passed away this morning." William's breath was suddenly caught in his throat. "He got hurt pretty bad and they did everything they could to save him."

William lunged forward in Felicity's arms, as a fresh stream of tears began to drip down his face.

"I'm so sorry, I know how close both of you were." She rubbed William's shoulders and allowed him to cry for several more minutes before delivering the next piece of bad news. "But William, there's something else you need to know. It's your father."

The twelve-year old's back stiffened as he pulled himself away from Felicity's grasp. His shiny blue eyes were silent, yet they asked if the unthinkable had come true.

"No, he's not dead and he's not hurt either," Felicity spoke to him, and he let out a small breath he didn't realize he had been holding, but the feeling of relief lasted only for a second.

"He's going to prison, William. Your father is going to prison for a very long time."