My name is Ashlee Merlyn. For 5 years, I was stranded on an island with my best friend, Oliver Queen, and one goal- survive. Now I will fulfill my father's dying wish To use the list of names he left me and bring down those who are poisoning my city. To do this, we must become someone else. We must become something else.
Previously on "Arrow and Shadow"
Still holding each other's hands we managed to swim to the surface before someone pulled us into a raft.
"Oliver Queen." We turned as Oliver's name was called out after the door was slammed open.
"What is this? You can't just barge in here." Walter said.
"Yeah? Well, I got a badge and a gun that say different." Detective Lance said.
"Hey, what the hell's going on?! Detective Lance—" Oliver said as the three of us walked into the entryway.
"Oliver Queen, you're under arrest on suspicion of obstruction of justice, aggravated assault…" Detective Lance said while arresting Oliver.
"What is going on?" Oliver's mom asked.
"Walter, stop them!" Thea called out from upstairs.
"Trespassing, acting as a vigilante…" Detective Lance continued.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Oliver asked him angrily.
"And murder. You have the right to remain silent. Give up that right." Lance told him leaving us all to stand in the entryway stunned by what had happened.
We stood next to the Chinese archer as he shot down a rabbit.
"Dinner." He said motioning for us to go collect it.
"Ah, come- hey, I got an idea, why don't you let me shoot that thing and you can go pick up the bloody, dead, disgusting animal," Ollie said to him. He held the bow out to him and Ollie looked at the man confused. "What?"
"Try." He told him. "Breathe. Everything, breathe. Breathe, aim fire." He said demonstrating how to use it. "Here." Ollie took the bow and an offered arrow. "Aim that tree. Breathe." Ollie aimed for the tree and let loose an arrow, missed the tree. The archer said something in his native language and I sighed.
"What does that mean?" Ollie asked him.
"You will die badly." He said taking the bow from my friend. "Get." The two of us went to collect dinner and Ollie's lost arrow. I was about to grab the dead rabbit when someone came up behind me and covered my mouth so they couldn't hear me screaming. Another man came in front of me and tied my hands together before they gagged me. They dragged me through the forest to a cage in the ground they were also putting Ollie in. "Ahh!" they shoved him inside followed shortly by me. "Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Wait, wait! You can't leave me here! Don't do this to me, please!" Ollie begged him holding onto the bars. They used the buts of their guns to hit his fingers making him fall back into me. "Oh-oh! No! Please! I didn't do anything!"
The police think they know who Oliver is. They think he's the vigilante. The man in the hood terrorizing the city's criminals. They also think they have him trapped. That he has no way out. They're only half right.
"I want to see my son," Moira said as Walter and I followed her into the interrogation room.
"I'm in the middle of an interrogation here!" Detective Lance told us.
"Detective Lance, I know you hate my family, but I had no idea that you'd go so far to arrest my son without any grounds whatsoever!" Moira said angrily.
"I have solid grounds, and I have evidence." Detective Lance told her.
"Which you can present to Mr. Queen's attorney when he gets here. Until then, this interrogation is over, Detective." Walter told him.
"Sure. You have 15 minutes." He told us leaving the room.
"Detective Lance appears to be on some personal vendetta," Walter noted to Oliver.
"He is. He blames me for breaking his daughter's heart." Oliver told him. "He also thinks that I dress up in a green hood and shoot people with arrows."
"The important thing is not to say anything until your attorney gets here," Walter told him.
"Fine. I want Laurel." He said looking directly at me. I nodded as both his mother and step-father scoffed.
"Brilliant." Walter sighed.
"Oliver I don't think your ex-girlfriend can be counted on to be objective here." His mother told him.
"Other than our families, she knows Oliver better than anyone." I pointed out.
"She knows that I could never be this guy. Walter, you say Lance has a vendetta?" Oliver asked him.
"Yes." He answered.
"I think Laurel can get him off of it. He raised her to do the right thing. That includes representing an innocent man. So Mom. Please." Oliver practically begged.
"I'll talk to her if you'd like," I said. Moira nodded to me and at the end of our 15 minutes we left and I went to find Laurel at her office.
When I walked in I saw her looking through some files and I made a beeline straight to her.
"Laurel," I said to her. She turned to me shocked.
"Ashlee! What are you—" she started asking me.
"It's Oliver," I told her.
"I know. It's been all over the news." She said and we both turned to the TV to see Oliver getting escorted into the station and I sighed.
"These charges are ridiculous," I told her.
"I know. Can I ask you, who's representing him?" she asked me.
"That's why I'm here. He wants you to represent him." I told her.
"Me?" she asked me shocked.
"Yes. Moira told him it was a bad idea, but to be honest, you're the best and you already know him. He says if you don't represent him, then he doesn't want an attorney." I told her.
"Ash, my father is the arresting officer." She told me.
"Yes?" I asked her confused.
"And I don't think it's a good idea for me to represent someone who I've been involved with." She told me and I sighed. "Listen, I am sorry for what the Queen family and your own is going through—"
"No apologies needed Laurel," I told her. "The way you are, your ideals, is why Oliver is still in love with you," I told her and she smiled at me. "But you are right, this was a bad idea on his part, and I am sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable." I left her office with your thoughts.
"Docket 81941, People vs. Oliver Queen." A man said as we watched from the crowd as an officer brought in Oliver. "Murder, aggravated assault, assault with intent, menacing and trespassing."
"Where's your attorney, Mr. Queen?" the judge asked him.
"I'm representing myself, Judge." He told her shocking everyone.
"I'm not sure that's the wisest course, Mr. Queen." The judge told him.
"I think it is. I'm innocent." Oliver told him standing up.
"Then we'll consider that your plea." The judge told him.
"Thank you," Oliver said sitting down.
"Now, as to bail—" the judge started saying with the other attorney stood up.
"Your Honor, Mr. Queen's family owns a pair of private jets, and, well, on the subject of their wealth, I would point out that there is virtually no bail amount that can guarantee his presence at trial." She said.
"So then I guess it's a good thing that the people's case is so circumstantial." We all turned and watched Laurel make her way to Oliver. "Dinah Laurel Lance, Your Honor. I'd like to file my appearance on behalf of the defendant. Mr. Queen's wealth should not deprive him of the right to be released on bail while under the presumption of innocence."
"He is a flight risk." The other layer told her.
"Then minimize the risk. The defendant is willing to submit to home confinement and electronic monitoring through the wearing of a UKG45 administrated ankle device." Laurel said.
"No, he wouldn't," Oliver said.
"Sold." The judge said.
"Your Honor…" the other layer tried to say but the judge interrupted her.
"Bail is set at $15 million. $5 million bond. Defendant to see probation for the fitting of a GPS device." The judged said and I sighed in relief. Oliver would be home by dinner.
"Mom. It's not that bad." Oliver told her as we watched the officer put the GPS device on him.
"Ok. This device has a direct line into the precinct. Stay on the property, you're golden. Any questions?" he asked Oliver.
"Yes. I'm having a sizeable get together here tomorrow evening, and there is a better than likely chance it spills into the outdoor pool." Oliver told him.
"Pool deck's fine. Step on the grass, they're sending a SWAT team to forcibly subdue you." He told him as Tommy gave me a shocked look.
"Thank you, officer," Walter said escorting him out.
"A "sizeable get together"?" Moira asked Oliver.
"I'm confined to this house for the foreseeable future. I might as well make the most of it." Oliver told his mother before turning to Tommy and I. "And this party is going to be themed. I'm thinking prison, uh, burning man meets "Shawshank Redemption". The invite says, "come before Oliver Queen gets off."" Oliver told us.
"Maybe a party's not in the best of taste, you know, considering the circumstances," Tommy suggested sitting next to him.
"Tommy, the circumstances are why we're having the party in the first place. I want people to know that I'm not worried about any of this." Oliver told him.
"Well, that makes one of us." His mother told him.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" I asked him and he knew what I meant.
"Yes." He nodded and I sighed and nodded. "What details about the party do we have to deal with?"
I was sitting with Oliver in his room working on the list when there was a knock on his door.
"Yup?" Oliver called out and Diggle came in. "Thank you for coming. Shut the door." Diggle did as was asked and moved closer to Oliver and me.
"I guess it was just a matter of time before the police caught up with you," Diggle said.
"Except they didn't," Oliver told him.
"Oliver, they got you on video." Diggle pointed out.
"I knew the security camera was there, just like I knew the police would review the footage and arrest me. All part of the plan." Oliver explained.
"So you wanted to get arrested?" Diggle asked confused.
"Well, we returned to Starling City and a few days later, the vigilantes appear," Oliver told him.
"Sooner or later, somebody was going to make the connection," I told him. "I'm surprised they haven't tried to arrest me yet."
"So what part of serving yourself up to the cops will help you avoid going to prison for the rest of your life?" Diggle asked him.
"There's more to it," Oliver told him.
"Well, there better be, for your sake, because your family is freaking out downstairs. Oliver, your mother, and your sister just got you back, and now you're going to put them through a trial, maybe even worse? Don't you care?" Diggle asked him.
"Of course I care," Oliver told him. "The mission comes first." Oliver turned the laptop we were looking at to Diggle.
"Who is he?" Diggle asked.
"Leo Mueller. German arms dealer." Oliver told him.
"He's suspected in the theft of a hundred M249 Squad Automatic Weapons," I told him.
"Ok," Diggle said.
"Last night he arrived in Starling City to sell the guns," Oliver told him.
"Oliver, don't you imagine there's enough trouble you're in this week than to go after this guy?" Diggle asked.
"I imagine what would happen if a street gang got their hands on military-grade hardware. I imagine our city's streets turned into a war zone." Oliver told him.
"But you're under house arrest, Oliver, which means you can't just go after this guy," Diggle told him.
"Look, for now, I would just like you to shadow Mueller. I would like you to track his movements. I want to know where the buy is happening." Oliver told him.
"Ok. And how am I supposed to track him?" Diggle asked and I smiled at him.
"Well, you know us billionaire vigilantes- we do love our toys," Oliver told him.
"Come on Dig. I'll show you where you can find the tracking devices." I told him leaving with him following me.
We walked into the steel factory and down into our little hideout. I turned on the lights and he walked in amazed. He looked at the daggers and arrows and touched one of the arrowheads.
"Ow!" he said shaking his hand to try and get rid of the pain.
"What you need is over here," I told him. I pulled out the black sleek box and placed it on the table next to me.
"Oooh." He opened the case with a beep. Inside was four of the best tracking devices money could buy. He picked one up and some green lights appeared on it. "Oh, well, that's sweet."
We were pulled through a camp of men into a large tent where one of our captors shoved Ollie into a pole.
"Please, sit. You're making me feel rude." The man behind the table told us. Breathing heavily we sat down the opposite of him. "I do apologize for my men's treatment of you." He opened a can of soda and poured it over a cold glass of ice. "They're- they're trained to view any stranger as hostile. I'm Edward Fyers, by the way. And you are?" Oliver and I stared at the cold soda in want.
"I'm Oliver Queen and this is Ashlee Merlyn. We were shipwrecked here. I don't know for how long. Our families have money. They have lots of money you would be… You'd be really well compensated for our rescue." Oliver told him trying to get us home.
"Well, I look forward to that. But for the moment, let's just talk." Edward told us.
"About what?" I asked him.
"Well, for instance, this gentleman. Do you know him?" he asked us showing us a picture of the archer who'd been helping us.
"No." Ollie and I answered.
"No?" Edward asked us.
"No. Who's he?" Ollie asked him.
"You're a poor liar." He said dropping the photo on the table and leaning back, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've been polite. I'll offer you one more chance before my manners leave me."
"Hey, hey. We don't know this guy. We thought we were on this island all by ourselves." Ollie told him.
"Do you know what this island is named?" Edward asked us and we shook our heads at him. "We're on Lian Yu- Mandarin for "Purgatory", and I can make it feel like hell. I don't know why you're protecting him." He told us standing and taking the cold drink with him. "You're young, foolish. Perhaps you don't know why, either. Think on that when you're begging for death. They're yours now." We turned and watched him leave and another man walked in with a mask that was half black and half yellow.
"Hey, Speedy. One of the workers left a keg too far from the bar. Can you ask them to move it, please? I got the ankle… thingie. I don't want to set off a SWAT invasion." Oliver joked with his sister who was sitting on one of the chairs on the patio texting on her phone. "Hey! All this stuff? It's going to be fine, I promise." He told her sitting on the chair next to her while I leaned on the door jam.
"Yeah, well, when you and dad left on the yacht, you promised me I'd see you in a few days. Which didn't happen." She reminded him.
"This is different than that. I didn't do any of this stuff, you know that. Right?" he asked her.
"You're out all the time. You have those scars, and since you've been back, you've been acting really weird." She listed off.
"None of this makes me some Robin Hood wannabe." He told her.
"And you get me this. I mean, it's an arrowhead." She said showing him the stone he'd given her when we got back.
"Oh, man." He sighed. "Thea, I bought that in the gift shop of the Beijing airport. "Now I'm sort of happy I didn't buy you the shot glass with the panda on it, 'cause then you'd be worried I was panda man." He joked and she chuckled with him.
"You know, I knew you couldn't be this person. I-I just- I can't lose you again." She told him and I looked down to the ground.
"Deal." He told her. He smiled at her before getting up and coming to me. "Where are we on the armed dealer?"
"Dig and I planted the tracker," I told him handing him a scanner for it.
"What are you going to do if the police start to suspect you?" he asked me and I smiled up at him.
"Don't worry. I got someone who owes me a very big favor." I told him. "Besides, I wouldn't miss your party for the world."
"Where can I find the man in this picture?" Edward asked us with the second man standing behind him. Ollie and I had been tied with our arms above our heads on two separate poles in the center of the tent. We didn't answer, which seemed to piss Edward off more. He nodded to the man behind him and he turned towards me which made me start to breathe quicker.
"No!" Ollie screamed out as the man drug his sword across the front of my body causing me to scream wordlessly. He stuck the blade into my side making me scream more as Ollie tried to escape his binds. He stopped and Edward turned to me asking me the same question. I shook my head at him and his man began his torture on Ollie. This continued for hours, him asking us the same question over and over while his man sliced into our bodies when we didn't answer until we finally passed out from the pain.
At Oliver's party, dance music was playing loudly as girls danced in a cage and people danced and mingled around. I wore a long-sleeved dress that came to mid-thigh with the black and white stripes running down it. Black hose and pumps completed the outfit. I noticed Oliver moving to a table so he could be seen and heard by everyone.
"Hi, everybody!" he greeted them.
"Hey!" everyone called out.
"I'm very touched that you came to celebrate with me before I am sent up the river. Closest neighbors are six miles away, so don't worry about the noise. Actually, on second thought… Let's wake those losers up!" Oliver called out and everyone cheered before the music was turned back on. Oliver jumped down and made his way to me as Dig joined me.
"If you think this is what prison's like, you are in for a rude awakening," Diggle told him making me laugh.
We looked at a scanner the tracking device was connected too to see where our arms dealer was.
"Mueller's car has been parked in the warehouse district of the Glades for 45 minutes," Oliver said and Dig took the scanner from him.
"Yeah, that's a good place for an arms deal. Ok, since this is going down tonight, what do we do, drop a dime on Mueller with the cops?" he asked us.
"No, the man in the Hood and the Masked Woman. They're going to stop them." Oliver told him.
"Oliver, you can't leave the house." Dig pointed out.
"It doesn't have to be me in the hood," Oliver told him.
"And I don't have to be in the mask," I told him smiling making Dig chuckle.
"That's why you threw this ridiculous party? So you have a hundred witnesses placing you here at the house while I'm supposed to be across town dressed as a vigilante with a mystery woman at my side?" he asked us.
"I thought that it was going to be good enough just for you to be seen in the hood. I didn't count on Mueller showing up and I didn't count on the possibility that the Glades could be flooded with machine guns." Oliver told him.
"Look. It was never our intention to put you in harm's way." I told him.
"Oliver, Ashlee, I didn't think joining your crusade was ever going to be risk-free. I just don't like being played. Now you might have gotten used to lying to everyone else in your life, but I'm the one guy you don't lie to." He told us.
"You're right. I'm sorry. So am I going to jail?" Oliver asked him. Dig looked at the two of us and sighed.
"No, man. I got to stop an arms deal." He said before leaving the room. Oliver and I went back down to join the party and tried to have a good time and relax a little. He and I were walking into the foyer when Laurel walked into the house.
"Do we have a legal meeting or something? Because I have friends over." He told her.
"Do you think maybe you can tear yourself away from this inappropriately themed rave for a couple minutes?" she asked him.
"You two go talk. I'll hold down the fort." I told him before watching them go upstairs. I grabbed a shot and downed it quickly. I soon watched Laurel race down the stairs and made my way up to Oliver. I knocked on his door and waited for a moment before he told me I could come in.
"You okay?" I asked him.
"I'm fine." He told me.
"I saw Laurel running downstairs. Did you two fight again?" I asked him.
"She kissed me." He told me and sat listening to him. "I pushed her away."
"Maybe it's for the best," I told him. "She doesn't belong where we are, but when this is over you can be with her." He opened his mouth to say something but the phone began to go off.
"Man in the hood and masked woman, one, gangbangers, zero." He told us as we heard a knock on the door.
"Hang on. Yeah?" Oliver called out.
"Mr. Queen, if you're entertaining guests upstairs, should I have some drinks sent up?" a man asked.
"No. We're on our way back down." He told him before going back to his phone. "Good job. Now get back here." Oliver hung up the phone as he opened the door only to see a man with a gun pointed at his head. Oliver acted quickly and grabbed his gun and punched the man a few times before forcing him to drop the gun. Oliver kneed the man in the knee making him drop and almost grabbing the gun he'd dropped. I quickly picked it up before pointing it at him as Oliver pulled him away from me and the gun. The assassin rolled Oliver over the couch before jumping over it to attack him again. Oliver quickly moved out of the way and used his legs to knock him on his back again. The man ran at me and I aimed the gun quickly but he was shot three times before falling to the ground. I turned and saw Detective Lance come in pointing his gun around the room. We all shared a look with each other.
We soon canceled the party and sat in the living room with Thea.
"How did you know we were in trouble?" Oliver asked Detective Lance.
"Because when the guy was fighting you, he broke the ankle monitor." He told Oliver.
"Are you all right?!" Moira asked as she and Walter made their way to us.
"We're fine," Oliver told her as she looked us over.
"Oliver…" she started saying.
"Mom. I promise." He told her.
"This is on you." She told Detective Lance. "By accusing my son publicly, you've made him a target. Do you have any idea who attacked Oliver?"
"We haven't identified him. Though it must be someone with a grudge against the Hood, obviously." Detective Lance told us before kneeling down and starting to take off Oliver's anklet.
"What are you doing?" Oliver asked him feigning confusion.
"I got a call from my lieutenant. An arms dealer was attacked across town tonight. By the vigilante. Multiple witnesses put him there. In light of that, all charges against your son are being dropped." He told us.
"I'm truly sorry for what's happened to your family, Quentin. But would you kindly get the hell out of my house?" Moira asked him. He looked at all of us before turning to leave.
"Mr. Lance…" Oliver called to him. "Thank you." He nodded before leaving.
Ollie and I groaned as the archer dropped us to the ground in the cave we'd been hiding in.
"I tell you, island dangerous, but you not tell them where to find me. You stronger than I thought. Take it." He told Ollie giving him a bag. "I lead them off, you stay. Breathe. You breathe, you survive here longer." He told us going to the entrance.
"No! I'm coming with you!" Ollie called to him getting up and going for the entrance only for us to be blocked by rocks.
"Hey, sweetie." I turned to see my dad in the doorway to my room. "Rough party last night?" he asked.
"Oliver and I were attacked by someone. Detective Lance saved us." I told him.
"Are you ok?" he asked me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered smiling at him.
"I heard Oliver was cleared of all charges." He told me and I nodded.
"Yea." I nodded. "I'm actually going to meet him now. See you at dinner?"
"Of course. Have a good day." He told me offering me a smile. We hugged as we crossed paths before I met Oliver at the Steel Factory.
"So you lied to her," Dig said after Oliver told us what happened between him and Laurel. "Or maybe you just gave her a version of the truth."
"I told her what she needed to hear, Diggle. She was too close." Oliver told him.
"Sad thing is, I think you actually believe that. I think things didn't go down exactly how you planned. You didn't count on so many people having questions, doubting you. You didn't think about what happens when you lie." Dig said. "Especially when you lie to the ones you love the most. When you were stuck on that island plotting your grand plan to save the city, I don't think you stopped to consider the effect it would have on the people in your life. Or how it might hurt them."
"You're wrong. I think about it all the time." Oliver told him.
"And just to be clear, not being able to tell our families the truth It doesn't hurt anyone worse than it hurts us." I told him.
"Where are you going?" Dig asked us.
"Mueller still has to sell those guns and we have to stop him." Oliver told him.
"Oliver…"
"He had his chance, Dig. Now it's time to show him the consequences of his choices." I told him.
Later we were at the new meet site watching as they started making their deal.
"28 crates, four guns in each crate, $250,000 cash. Take it or leave it. That's the deal." We dropped down from the rafters and separated quickly taking out the men with guns trying to shot us.
"Leo Mueller, you have failed this city."