Disclaimer - I do not own Twilight, Arrow (DC Comics), or any of its characters.

A/N - This chapter contains some ass-kicking (Superhero Bella! Woo) and mentions of suicidal thoughts.


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Arrow

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"I understand now," Alice said, looking up at Calista with teary eyes. True, she'd never be able to shed them but at least she could still visibly show her sadness.

Calista nodded and turned to Rose when she spoke, "I understand, too. But don't you ever put us through something like that again. I know it was for us to learn, but I despise deception."

The blue girl nodded again, and, smiling nervously, suggested, "Would you like it better if we went back to the movie room?"

Rose's sigh of relief was an answer in itself.

Calista snapped her fingers and the Cullens were again standing in the movie room. Surprisingly, they felt comforted by the familiar space. Truthfully, the unpredictable, never-ending void of whiteness that they had watched the last two visions in had unsettled them all. Even Emmett, a man who enjoyed a more 3D visualization, had been disturbed.

They settled into the recliners, Rose reclaiming her seat next to Emmett. The eighth seat had suddenly disappeared and the three recliners that remained in the front row had been centered.

The next vision began with the guttural growl of a motorcycle's engine.

"Where is he?"

Deja vu seemed to permeate the air.

The voice that rang loud and clear froze each and every one of the Cullens where they stood or sat in their living room. Slowly, they turned around to the source: a television screen that seemed to be growing larger by the second.

The screen was still dark, not yet warmed up enough to show them a full picture, but they could just barely make out the shapes and shadows of a person on a bike...maybe a motorcycle.

From the little they could see, the Cullens could tell that it was a paused video.

"What the-?" Rosalie didn't get to finish her question because a wispy voice interrupted.

"Hello, Cullens."

"Is this-"

Bella, clearly well into her twenties, rode on her motorcycle, racing through the streets of Starling City. Though her helmet restrained most of her hair, it was so long that the free strands whipped about her. The moon was high in the sky and the smell of rain on the pavement surrounded her.

Carlisle nodded. "This is the original vision."

She raised a hand to the side of her helmet, wishing she could adjust the slipping com. "Fe-" she cut herself off and shook her head. "Overwatch, ya copy?"

"Yeah," sighed the voice on the other end. "I- I mean, copy, Phoenix."

It was then that the Cullens noticed the outfit on-screen Bella wore.

Dressed and ready for action, Bella wore a suit that rivaled Lavagirl's. Black strips, seemingly stitched at random, lined the vibrant orange and red tones of the torso. Her gloves were equally orange and black, and the knuckles were adorned with metal crimson spikes; they looked oddly mechanical. The boots were the only pure black thing she wore, and they rose to the middle of her calves.

Her mask was meant to be the main attraction. It was a myriad of reds, oranges, and yellows. The sides of the mask flared into feathers; smaller at the bottom and larger near the top. It had several layers, and each had been painstakingly made by hand. Though the city had linked it with a known vigilante, it was a true piece of art.

Bella narrowed her eyes as a four-way intersection came into sight far ahead of her. At her speed, though, she'd reach it in seconds. "Which way?"

Back at HQ, a blonde woman with glasses and hair pulled into a ponytail scooted her chair up to the keyboard. Using her finger, thanks to her computer's touchscreen, she followed the blinking red dot as it sped down the narrow strip that equated to a street. Felicity, otherwise known as 'Overwatch,' looked over at her second screen, which showed the city maps.

She popped a fry in her mouth after answering, "Left. Onto Velox Avenue."

Bella nodded, though she knew Felicity couldn't see. Though, if she tried, she didn't doubt her tech-savvy friend could via street cams.

The sign that read, 'Velox Ave.' appeared and she slowed enough to make a safe left before regaining her speed. She maintained both her speed and direction, losing herself to her thoughts, until she realized she'd been going straight for a while without being told to make a single turn.

"Felicity, where's my next turn?" Bella asked, cringing but otherwise uncaring of the fact that she had accidentally used her friend's real name over comms. No one tapped into their feeds, especially not Felicity's well-fortified digital wall of security. Unless you were A.R.G.U.S. Those guys were so nosy.

When there was no response, she growled into her earpiece, "Felicity!"

The aforementioned woman jumped in her chair and examined the maps. "Left." And so Bella turned left. But Felicity quickly corrected herself, "Right. I mean right."

At this point, the driver of the motorcycle, whom everyone loved so dearly, was irritated. However, she recognized the street sign up ahead and was suddenly glad that she knew her destination. "I know where I am now. You can explain to me later why you're incapable of doing your job."

As she said the words, Bella was aware just how much she sounded like Oliver. But she had spent several years with the man, the better part of a decade, even.

Only a week after the Cullens had left her for the second time, she met Oliver at a work function both of their fathers had gone to. Or rather, Robert Queen and a bunch of high-level businessmen had gone and Charlie was invited to head the event's security. Coincidentally, their fathers had also dragged them both along. But, they'd met during Bella's darkest moment. The wound was made raw by that family's second abandonment.

Alice winced. 'That family' was harsh, even for her.

"I would really like to know why we left. Again," said Esme with a frown.

"It's really aggravating that these visions keep dancing around it," Emmett muttered as he crossed his arms.

Bella had been so out of it that she couldn't remember what the function had even been for. Her thoughts had been a creaky old carousel with distorted music and she couldn't get off. The static song was made up of memories, and she knew the lyrics by heart.

"Are you kidding me?" that perfect, familiar voice shrieked in the direction of the apologetic Cullens.

Rosalie, surprisingly enough, had been the only one to see sense.

The day the Cullens came back, she told Alice that she jumped off the cliff for fun.

"Excuse me?"

"She what?!"

Esme's eyes grew wide, and for the briefest of moments, she found herself back on her own cliff.

And she had. At least, that's what she forced herself to believe. But, as Bella stumbled out of the building and away from all that was familiar, she felt her delusion shatter. Edward had left her after telling her he'd always be there. Then he came back and said the same thing. She should've known that if he broke his word once, he'd break it again.

So, with her pain renewed, she'd made her way into the forest. She walked into the dense trees and stared at the blue sky when the leaves were clear enough. Then, she found the tallest tree she could and climbed. If Oliver hadn't followed her, correctly guessing her intentions, she would've done it.

Bella knew full well that if she had the guts to jump off a cliff, she could throw herself from a tree. Pain had taken full residence in her heart, and in the moment, she didn't see any way through.

Now, as Bella headed to the warehouse where one of the people from 'The List' waited for her, she was sickened at how much power she let that entire family hold over her. She had allowed herself to be destroyed because they didn't want her. She had made her entire life revolve around Edward and his family.

Spending five years on Lian Yu definitely quelled the heartache and made the pain seem trivial. But, even her physical scars didn't cut as deep as her mental scars. She'd long since gotten over the Cullens. In fact, they escaped her memory most days. However, they had taught her an invaluable lesson: the only person to trust and rely upon was herself.

Though no one voiced their thoughts, they ran on a similar track. What was Lian Yu? Five years? Physical scars?

That belief had been reinforced the moment Felicity sent her to the wrong side of town.

Bella parked her bike a block away from the warehouse, knowing she would've been heard if she got any closer. She loved her motorcycle, but damn if it wasn't loud.

She walked the short distance to her destination, hugging the walls between alleyways. The moonlight cast an advantageous amount of shadows for her to stick to.

Closing her eyes, she envisioned the building's layout and rounded to the back. She peered around the corner and nearly rolled her eyes. Of course her life wouldn't be so easy that she could walk in and knock the guy out with a single punch. Two guards were stationed on either side of the back door, though it was clear they'd been directed to look like they didn't have posts. Their attempts to act like civilians were humorous.

Though they had guns tucked in their waistbands, as all the amateurs did, the guards were only a minor inconvenience. Bella looked at the wall before her, mapping the footholds before she wrapped her fingers around a pipe and pulled, testing its stability. Satisfied, she put her entire body weight on the pipe and she gave herself a boost, hoisting herself up to the second hold.

In a matter of seconds, she'd scaled the building. Although it would certainly be convenient if the warehouse had a roof hatch, Bella hadn't come up here to find an entrance. She crept low and bent over the roof, where the two men were now directly below her.

She reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out a handful of powder. It was a harmless but effective mix: a powerful sleeping pill and an herb from Lian Yu. She'd found it useful on the island when Slade had fallen under the effects of Mirakuru. It was so useful, in fact, that Bella had brought some back and grown her own crop of it in the lair.

A familiar snicker filled the room. "Like weed?"

"Emmett," Rosalie sighed, a hand on her forehead.

"No, seriously."

Bella looked at the powder, which was white with a slight tint of green, and made sure it was finely crushed. When she saw it was, she hooked her toes under the slight overhang and threw herself over the edge of the roof. Her boots stretched like an accordion and the guards' shock gave her body time to stop bobbing. Once she was sure gravity had finished its work, she lightly blew on the powder. It was glitter-like in the aspect that it got everywhere in the time it took to blink.

The men collapsed to the ground and Bella used her core strength to gain momentum toward the door trim. Her fingers found hold of it and latched on. She pressed a button on her glove and she felt her weight shift as her boots contracted, dropping from the roof.

Thank you, A.R.G.U.S.

She was pretty sure the inspiration for her elastic boots had come from The Incredibles. When she mentioned her theory, though, it'd been vehemently denied. Whatever, dorks.

Bella checked their pulses because, unlike Oliver, she had a mind to care for the collateral damage during her missions. Seeing that they were both alive and would walk away with identical concussions, she blew a bubble with her gum and let it pop before she opened the door.

The warehouse was in an old district, so the metal hinges squealed loudly, announcing her presence to the man inside. The building was dark but for a single circle of light in the center of the large room.

Her target emerged from the shadows and situated himself in the center of it.

She felt his gaze on her, and she knew he could only see her because of his creepy bionic eye. The same organization that had made her gloves and boots was also, unfortunately, the same organization that gave this madman his sight back. Must they play both sides? Bella wondered.

"So, you are the elusive Phoenix," the man said in typical creepy-criminal-guy fashion.

She let another bubble pop. "Yup."

"You shouldn't run around with gum in your mouth," he mock-warned. "You could choke."

So, Bella did the only natural thing and made herself at home. She popped another bubble and pulled out her gum. As she walked toward the man, she stuck it on a concrete pillar. "Happy now?" she smiled sweetly.

"Ecstatic."

The circle of light was large enough that Bella felt comfortable stepping into it without being close enough to start the fight. "How ya doin', Phil?" she asked conversationally.

"Wait, Phil?" questioned Rosalie. "Phil Phil?"

Edward squinted at the screen, trying to remember if he ever saw what Bella's stepfather looked like. He hadn't. So now, he couldn't be sure. But, "I think so. A coincidence at this stage of the game is unlikely."

Turning to Jasper, Alice mouthed, 'Game?'

And her husband only shrugged.

The man was momentarily taken aback, but he quickly regained his composure and narrowed his eyes. "I should've known it was you."

"Moi? Je ne sais pas de quoi vous parlez." Bella took a step forward. "Tu es un homme mauvais, Phil," she said conspiratorially, as if it was a secret, with a smirk that suggested pity. The context proved otherwise.

"What's she saying?" Emmett asked.

"She's pretending she doesn't know what he's talking about," Alice answered. "She told Phil he's a bad man."

Emmett frowned. "I thought telling a bad guy that they're a bad guy would only make them angry."

"Psychopath."

"Huh?"

"You never tell a psychopath they're a psychopath," sighed Rose.

"Right."

"And you're a pestiferous girl."

Her eyes flared yet she kept her companionable tone, "My, what a large vocabulary you have. Do you carry a thesaurus with you, grandma?"

His face remained impassive, and she was a little disappointed that the reference had gone right over his head. Instead, Phil reached into his coat, and for a moment, Bella had to admit that she thought he really did have a thesaurus on his person. Common sense kicked in half a second later, she ducked, and the blade narrowly missed her as it sailed over her head.

Guess this fight was happening, after all.

Philip Schale, one of the many names in Oliver's notebook, had been a lawyer before he met Bella's mother. He had an impeccable ability to lie which held up strongly under oath. The people he represented were the type of criminals her father never dealt with or faced on duty. In Phil's prime, he'd been known for his lack of a moral code. Phil angered enough people that he'd been forced to leave Starling and 'retire'. He'd changed surnames for his safety and the only thing she liked about the man was the fact that he sucked at Baseball. That was a plus.

How'd he'd gotten back into court was anyone's guess. But this man, this name in a book, was personal. Regardless of the manner in which he used to un-retire, he'd trampled on Renee's heart in the process.

Phil threw another of his microblades, and this one sliced her arm as it skimmed by. She felt a brief sting of pain before she compartmentalized it to focus on her next move. Bella had a knife in her boot, but she didn't need it. Not yet.

The man had gotten his bionic eye sometime during or after the divorce with Renee. The timeframe didn't matter so much as the fact that he had a visible weakness. His sight might've been advanced, but it came at a disadvantage.

Bella made a fist, and she felt the pointed metal on her ring finger make contact with a ruby embedded in the palm. The dark room was brought to life by the hand that was suddenly engulfed in flames.

She uncurled her fingers and took a moment to revel in the ribbons of red and orange and yellow, as she always did. When she looked up, she saw that Phil had paused, staring at the fire in awe.

His distraction was her opportunity.

She pointed her finger at him, or rather his eye, and closed one of hers to have a better idea of her shot. Once she was satisfied she wouldn't miss, she jerked her hand back and watched the colors dance in the air as the flame sped toward him.

In moments, Phil covered his right eye with both hands, screaming in pain.

"That, my friend, is why you don't play with fire."

Bella allowed herself a victorious smile. Her tech allowed her to change the width of her flame. If she'd had the same sort of mindset as Oliver, she would've turned it to the broader setting, where her fire would've engulfed him completely. However, she wasn't into the whole murder scene. Too messy.

Bella left the murdering bit to-

"Philip Schale, you have failed this city," announced a familiar voice.

An whooshed past her head and lodged itself into Phil's chest. He fell to his knees, and then to the ground, where the impact pushed the arrow out through his back. Bella spun around.

"Ol- I mean, Arrow." Despite her grin, she said, "You're late."

"I'm not exactly happy that she can burn people whenever she wants," began Carlisle.

"But you're glad she isn't the one murdering people in this vision," Edward finished for him.

Carlisle nodded.

The thesaurus conversation had been her way of stalling to give Oliver time to get there.

Their partnership came with the arrangement that she'd fight the bulk of the battles and he'd finish them. More often than not, it ended up with her opponent dead or hospitalized. And always, they would land in that state due to the Arrow.

Once they'd decided it was time to rejoin civilization, the island, combined with A.R.G.U.S and Hong Kong had stripped Oliver of his morality regarding murder. Bella, on the other hand, hadn't been so changed in that aspect. Her patience in social situations, however, had become virtually nonexistent.

The only people she even remotely talked to were the ones on the team. And it was very reluctantly, at that. Felicity would say that Bella's been warming up to her, though. And Bella would say Felicity was delusional.

Oliver walked over to inspect the body, and after a few seconds, plucked the arrow from Phil's back. "The police have been collecting my arrows as evidence," he explained as he slicked the blood off of it.

"And they can trace the materials back to their origin," Bella concluded.

He nodded as he tucked the arrow back into his quiver.

Bella left the warehouse with Oliver on her heels, heading toward her motorcycle. She wasn't surprised to see he had parked his right next to hers. "I gotta get back," she said.

Oliver simply raised an eyebrow in question.

She shrugged as she swung a leg over. "Felicity and I need to have a talk." And with that, she sped off into the darkness, leaving him in her cloud of stirred gravel.


16 - Written: 7/12/22-10/17/22

Posted - 10/17/22

:)