Arc I, Chapter 1: Welcome Home

"Hello?"

"Dad." A masculine voice responded.

Robert Queen blinked. "I'm sorry sir, but I believe you've called the wrong number."

"Dad. It's me. It's Oliver." Robert's jaw dropped, but then he closed his mouth and his face reddened in anger.

He spat out the next words bitterly. "My son is dead. He has been for ten years. Now, I don't know what kind of joke you're trying to play but – "

"At Thea's third birthday party, she stubbed her large toe on one of her toys and immediately started crying. Tommy and I stripped two of the Teletubby mascots you brought in, dressed ourselves in the costumes, and started doing some silly little dances together to cheer her up. She stopped crying and started laughing, and later that night you said, 'Good work, son, but I think you just opened me up to a lawsuit.'"

Robert's jaw dropped for the second time in three minutes, but his astonished look disappeared as tears began to well up in his eyes.

"…Oliver?"

"Hey, Dad. It's me. I'm not entirely sure where I am, but…I'm on a boat. And I'm coming home."

"Moira!"

Robert Queen practically ran into the conference room, shouting his wife's name and ignoring the multitude of executives and shareholders in the meeting with her.

"Robert?" Moira Queen asked her husband, setting down the pointer onto the large, oval table and going to speak to her husband, noticing the tears on his face. "Robert, what's wrong?"

He started babbling as he all but shoved his phone into her hands. The only words she could make out were "It's him, it's really him!" Briefly ignoring her husband for the moment, Moira, looked at the phone, noticing that a call was still running. Figuring that this was what her husband was talking about, she placed the phone next to her ear, and began to speak.

"I'm sorry, but my husband is completely incomprehensible right now. Could you explain to me what's going on?"

"Mom." Moira blinked.

"Pardon me. What did you just say?"

"Mom. It's me." Moira's eyes widened.

It's him, It's really him!

"Oliver?" she asked, hope lacing her voice.

"Hello?"

"Hello. I would like to speak to a Mr. Joe West?"

Joe frowned. "That would be me. To whom am I speaking to?"

"My name is Mike Bennett. I am a member of the United States Embassy in China. It says here that you are listed as the primary emergency contact of Bartholomew Henry Allen."

Joe closed his eyes. Barry's death was an aching wound that he never quite healed from. But, at least he could finally bring him home, even if it was only in a casket. And Iris…well, that bridge was already burnt.

"I am. I assume you finally found his body?"

"…Not exactly."

"Captain, I can assure you that I am fully capable of putting any personal feelings I have for Detective Dibny aside and preventing them from affecting my work on this case."

"I know, Officer West. It's not you I'm –"

SLAM!

Joe West slammed the door open, and took a moment to catch his breath. David and Iris watched him in shock, before the former started yelling.

"Joe! What the hell? Can't you see I'm in the middle of a meeting here?" Joe ignored his complaints, and looked to Iris, and began walking towards her.

Iris scowled at him. "Detective West, as you can tell, Captain Singh and I are in the middle of a meeting. Whatever you have to say to me, it can wait –"

"Barry is alive."

Iris blinked. "…Could you repeat that? I must've misheard you." she asked.

Joe grabbed his daughter by the shoulders, and with happy tears in his eyes, exclaimed, "Barry. Is. Alive."

Henry Allen walked into Iron Heights' visitation center, and frowned when he saw Iris sitting at the window, a week after her last visit. Iris' visits were monthly, usually, and Henry wasn't expecting to see her for another three weeks.

When he got closer, he was shocked to see her eyes red. Tear tracks were still her on her cheeks. Henry would've immediately asked her what's wrong, had it not been for the huge, beaming smile on her lips. Iris' smiles were rare, these days. Ever since Barry's death, it was as if a dark cloud constantly hung over her. Things had gotten better after she had gotten together with Eddie (and Henry's heart had a brief pang of sadness over that, knowing that it would've probably been Barry in Eddie's place in another life), but even then, they were usually more reserved this.

Henry sat down, and picked up the connector.

"Iris."

"Henry. It's Barry." Henry's eyebrows rose at that.

"Barry?"

Iris nodded her head vigorously, smile still plastered on her face. "Dad got the call today." And it was a testament to how elated Iris was that she didn't even realize she called Joe 'Dad'. "Barry's alive, Henry."

Henry's heart stopped.

Barry's alive, Henry.

"…What?" He asked, failing to keep the yearning out of his voice.

Iris placed her hand against the glass pane, and Henry unconsciously mirrored her, placing his palm against hers.

"They found him on an island in the North China Sea. Barry's alive, Henry. He's coming home."

Henry couldn't help it. He dropped the connector and began to sob with joy.

Malcolm Merlyn nodded his head, muttering a "Thank you." and ended the call. Then, he turned his chair around to stair out the view of the city behind him, lacing his fingers together and adopted a thinking pose.

Oliver was alive.

Malcolm felt relief. One of his greatest regrets, after Rebecca's death, was Oliver. Malcolm had no intention of killing the oldest Queen scion that day, only Robert. He could still remember how his heart stopped when he saw Robert and Moira at a party later that night, and inquiring why they were there. Robert had told him that he had to miss out on the trip to China due to business, but Oliver had gone on ahead, wanting an adventure. After that, guilt creeped up on him.

Oliver was an innocent, an unfortunate casualty of his father's foolishness. Malcolm had prayed for Oliver after the party was over, for his soul, for safe passage into the afterlife, and hoped that where he was, he would understand that Malcolm was trying to do. At least, Oliver's death was not in vain – though it broke his heart to do so, he had threatened a similar fate with Thea, and with that, secured the loyalty of the Queens permanently. The Undertaking would continue.

But now, Oliver was coming home.

For some reason, Malcolm felt unease at that, and he didn't know why. There was no reason to believe Oliver was a threat. Prior to that fateful boating trip, Oliver Queen had been a wild child, someone who got into more trouble than it was worth. He was charming, though, and kind at heart. He had a good head on his shoulders, even though he didn't use it as often as he should have. Malcolm had loved his godson, almost as much as he loved Tommy, and his death had scarred not only him, but his son as well.

After the death of his best friend, Tommy fell apart. He fell into the wrong crowd, and it seemed every week Malcolm had to bail him out. He was expelled from nearly ever college his father forced him to attend. Eventually, after finding narcotics in one of his bedroom drawers, Malcolm put his foot down and cut Tommy off. Thankfully, that seemed enough of a wakeup call. After a few months of bumming off friends, Tommy swallowed his pride and asked his father for a job, and began to clean himself up.

Malcolm knew Tommy would be overjoyed to have his best friend back, and he knew he should feel the same. No one who knew anything about the Undertaking was on the Gambit, after all, and there was no reason to believe that Oliver would figure out that the boat's sinking was anything more than a natural disaster, a freak accident, a quirk of fate.

Oliver Queen's return should've been a blessing.

But for whatever reason, Malcolm could only see it as an omen.

"Harrison Wells" smiled at the screen, showing an elated Joe West proclaiming to his daughter that his foster son was alive.

"So, you've finally entered the game, Barry."

When he had killed Nora Allen thirteen years ago, Eobard Thawne had never expected his actions would have such far reaching consequences. He knew that there were going to be big changes, of course. But not as big as Barry Allen completely disappearing off the map for ten years.

Eobard Thawne had remembered the near heart attack he had when he had learned Barry was missing, presumed dead, after the boat he was sailing on capsized during a massive storm. He had that cancelling his connecting flight to China would've been enough to convince him to turn back to Central City, but apparently not. It had taken every bit of his self-control not to speed his way to the West house and kill Joe West where he stood.

Instead, Eobard had gotten his emotions under control, and checked the Central City Citizen article that Gideon had stored. Barry still became the Flash, it seemed, and he still disappeared on April 25, 2024. The byline still read 'Iris West-Allen'. That was the only thing calmed him down. It seemed Barry would return, and he would still be the Flash. He would marry Iris. The future was still intact.

But as the years went on and no news of Barry came, Eobard had started get worried. He checked the article again, and saw that while Barry was still the Flash and had disappeared, the byline had changed. No 'Iris West-Allen' was present. Instead, it now read 'Julie Greer'.

During the interim between the last time he checked the Citizen, Eobard had neglected to keep vigilance over the Wests. After Joe's actions, it was hard for Eobard to look at him without wanting to kill him then and there for jeopardizing his return to the future. Now, Eobard regretted being so lax.

It seemed Iris West had disowned her father and now resided in Keystone City with her mother Francine, and her brother Wally, aka the future Kid Flash. She was attending Keystone University, majoring in Criminal Justice with plans to join the police force. According to Gideon, she still became 'Iris West-Allen', so there was that at least.

No matter. When Barry returned, and he would, the timeline would be corrected once Eobard convinced him to go save his mother.

When it was time to turn on the Particle Accelerator, he briefly panicked. By that point, Barry had still not returned to Central City. But the Citizen was still an article on the Flash, and Eobard knew that time didn't lie. Wherever he was, Barry gained his powers, and he would come home soon enough. And sure enough, one year after the Particle Accelerator exploded, a call from the U.S. Embassy in China confirmed it.

Barry Allen was coming home.

Briefly, Eobard Thawne wondered what took him so long, but then decided it didn't matter.

Barry Allen was coming home, and soon, so was Eobard Thawne.

They had gotten a private plane back to the U.S. One of the benefits of being a billionaire's son.

"So, we all remember the plan, correct?" Oliver asked, idly sipping a glass of water.

Barry rolled his eyes. "We meet up with our families at Starling General. I will stay with you and your family for a week before going back to Central City with Joe and Iris. Kara and Kal will stay with your family until they find a place of their own. Kal will attend Balliol Prep. We establish ourselves with our families for the next month or so and then we meet up again, so we can start investigating. Is that enough for you, mom?" He rolled out in a dull tone, handing shifting through a large bag of chips.

Oliver slapped him upside the head. "No need to be sassy about it." He chided him as Barry rubbed the sore spot on his cranium.

Kara smirked from where she was sitting with Kal. They had managed to grab a pack of cards from the Embassy and were now playing an old Kryptonian card game on the table between them. "Play nice, you two." she jokingly scolded them both.

Kal-El nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Stop being such a worry wart, Ollie, this isn't our first rodeo, you know!" he said as he slapped down a card, causing Kara to curse when she saw what it was.

Oliver sighed. "I know, I know. It's just…It'll be hard, seeing them again." he responded, giving a look to Barry, whose own expression turned morose.

"Yeah. I imagine a lot of them have moved on." Barry commiserated, thinking of Iris.

Kara nodded understandingly. "Well, at least you two have family to help you acclimate. Me and Kal are basically starting brand new lives." She shuddered.

Oliver gave a small laugh. "Well, I'll still be around if you need help, and I'm sure my parents would be willing to pull some strings if I asked." then, he continued in a comforting tone. "Don't worry, Kara. We won't leave you out to drown in the deep end, I promise." Barry nodded his head in agreement.

Silence fell when a buzz was heard, indicating the PA had been turned on.

"Mr. Queen. Mr. Allen. Mr. Kent. Miss Danvers. Please fasten your seatbelts. We are now preparing for landing. And…welcome home."

Everyone's home now! Yay!

Eobard doesn't know much about the League. He's heard whispers, of course, but even in his time, the League keeps themselves to ground. As for why Gideon didn't inform him what happened to Barry, well…you'll see. Not for a long time, but you'll see.