Chapter 64: At the Precipice

"… I'd like to thank you all for your support. This couldn't have been possible without contributions from every part of the city and beyond, not just the Glades." Oliver spoke into the microphone, his public smile wide and welcoming. The speech continued, hitting all the usual notes, and finished with his arm flourishing towards the front of the building, where the mayor had the customary giant-sized scissors in hand. A snip! later, the Queen Outlet Mall was officially open.

As numerous residents of Starling crowded their way in through the entrance, Oliver and Kara went over to where the cameras were still snapping away, allowing photos to be taken and making other niceties. Finally, after an hour or two, the song and dance finished, and they could witness the fruits of their labor firsthand.

"Ready?" Laurel asked her boyfriend, linking her arm with his.

"Ready."

Next to them, Sam playfully nudged Kara with her elbow. "You two should be proud. You've been working on this for how long?"

Kara smiled. "As long as I've known you. It's too bad everyone couldn't be here."

"Well, Thea has been dying trying to get through college, and mom and dad had a board of directors meeting that they, unfortunately, could not ditch. Barry is still dealing with his… business, and Tommy…" Oliver trailed off, wincing. That situation was something that still stung.

Sam frowned. "It's been eight months. He still isn't talking to you two?"

"He's been ignoring all our calls, refusing every invitation we've sent him for events we're hosting — including the one for this event — and avoiding us during ones hosted by others." Laurel replied, looking tired. She was really starting to get fed up with Tommy's attitude. "At this point, we've learned to accept it. We're not going to stop trying, but right now it's all on him."

Sam blinked, then frowned. "How unfortunate. What about you, Kara?"

Kara gazed back at her, exasperated. "No luck either. As far as Tommy is concerned, Kal and I are Queens, so that means we no longer exist to him. As you said, it's unfortunate, but Laurel's right — we've made every attempt to reach out to him, but it's up to him to reach back." She shrugged. "At the very least, he isn't playing lone wolf anymore."

She was, of course, referring to Tommy and Isabel's relationship, which had been going strong during these last eight months of no contact. According to one of the local rags, Isabel had moved into the Merlyn Mansion already, and there were rumors that he was going to propose soon. It was disheartening and degrading that they had to learn about that development from the words of others and trashy gossip magazines; but it did serve as a perfect metaphor for the current state of all their friendships with Tommy.

Oliver couldn't help but wonder why things had turned out like this. All his life, he and Tommy had been as thick as thieves, brothers in everything but blood. Even after ten years of separation, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that, when the day came, Oliver would be by Tommy's side, supporting him as his best man. But now? Now, he (and Laurel for that matter) would be lucky to get an invite to the wedding.

What a sad state of affairs.

"Mr. Queen?"

The aforementioned Mr. Queen broke out of his melancholy thoughts and turned to the speaker; a handsome young man with brunette hair. He looked to be around Thea's age. "Yes?"

"My name's Roy Harper, sir. I work as a salesman down at Ziggy's." He introduced himself, taking a deep breath. "I'd just like to thank you for this opportunity."

Oliver smiled, genuine. "Think nothing of it. Just make the most of it, alright?"

Roy smiled back. "Yes, sir."

"Roy!" The young man turned around to see his boss and manager of Ziggy's, Rene Ramirez, calling for him. With an apologetic look, he left.

"What a nice young man." Laurel commented afterwards.

"Yeah." Oliver agreed. "I have a good feeling about him. I think I'm going to keep an eye on him."

"Both of us, you mean." Kara interjected, looking amused at her brother. "This is a team effort, remember?"

Oliver smirked at her playfully. "Like I could ever forget."

"Oliver! Kara!" The group turned their attentions to another patron. Sam didn't recognize her, but the other three did.

"Mari! Are you enjoying our grand opening?"

Mari McCabe nodded vigorously. Between her fingers were several business cards. "You bet. Thank you for inviting me to this."

"Anything for a friend, Mari." Kara said, then turned to Sam. "Sam, I'd like you to meet a friend of ours. This is Mari McCabe, an up-and-coming fashion designer from Detroit. Oliver and I met her on one of our business trips."

Sam held out her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mari. I'm Samantha Arias, founder and CEO of A-Corps."

As the group chatted amongst each other, they remained oblivious to the pair of blue eyes peering at them from a corner of the mall. The observer centered his gaze on Oliver, shooting the man a glare, before losing themselves into the crowd. Another day, he thought.

Tommy Merlyn was absorbed in fixing his cuff links until the familiar name of 'Oliver Queen' filtered into his head. He looked towards the television mounted on his bedroom wall, where the local news was doing coverage on the recent opening of the Queen Outlet Mall, his former best friend's pet project ever since he returned from that island over a year ago. He scowled at the sight, grabbing the remote and turning the offending screen off.

A knock on the door caught his attention, and he smiled when it opened to reveal his beautiful girlfriend, Isabel Rochev. Poor Isabel had caught a bit of a fever today, and at the insistence of her lover, had elected to take the day off, sequestered within the walls of Merlyn Mansion. Tommy wasn't worried; Isabel was strong, and Tommy had learned enough from her tutelage to tough out one day at Merlyn Global without her.

"Ready to go?" Isabel asked, moving to fix up the rest of his suit.

"Yes. I'll try to get home on time, but don't wait for me. If you need to turn in early, go ahead."

Isabel smiled up at him. "I know. Now come on, you're going to be late."

Tommy grinned. "I'm the boss, Iz. I can be as late as I want."

Later, after Tommy had long-since disappeared from the driveway in one of his designer cars, Isabel crept back up to his office. Thankfully, all the staff had cleared out, going about other tasks in the mansion that needed tending to. Nevertheless, Isabel was careful to be quiet. She made great efforts not to disrupt the placement of anything the room — after the mansion had been turned inside out in the wake of the Undertaking, Tommy was very possessive of whatever effects remained. Even she wouldn't be able to get away with messing up his office.

She opened one of the hidden compartments within her boyfriend's desk, revealing a hidden safe. Then, using a few hidden "features" in her phone, she identified the numbers commonly pressed upon the keypad; recognizing them as the same ones as her birthday, she smirked. A few clicks later, the safe opened to reveal her prize: a diamond ring. And, if her memory served her correctly, not just any diamond ring — this was the engagement ring of Rebecca Merlyn.

After a few minutes of observation, she closed the safe once again. She straightened the office out once more, making sure everything was as Tommy originally left it, before closing the door and leaving for the backyard terrace. There was a small secluded area there, where no one went — she'd discovered it during one of her explorations of the mansion. There were no bugs within the room, or cameras, and no windows for an eavesdropper. It was the perfect place for her to conduct her business with everyone else none the wiser.

Tapping a single contact on her phone, Isabel's smile took a nasty tint, completely unlike the bashful gaze she set upon Tommy earlier that morning. "He's taken the ring out of storage. It's only a matter of time before he proposes to me."

"Good. Are you sure he's completely in love with you? That the Lance woman is longer on his mind?"

"He's positively smitten with me. And as for Lance, he hasn't talked about her in months."

"Wonderful. I will send someone to meet with you in a few days to discuss the next phase of the plan. The location will be sent to the usual email account. Till then, Isabel."

"Till then, Talia."

Cisco Ramon opened his eyes and blinked.

"Better, Cisquito?" Hartley Rathaway drawled, placing the glasses on the side.

"Kinda?" Cisco said, gesturing so with his hand. "These vibes I'm getting are still a little unstable; I'm really having issues trying to filter the information I get from them into something useful."

"Well, that's your problem, not a tech problem, so you're on your own for that." Hartley stated bluntly, before turning to leave.

Cisco watched him go, annoyed. "Dick." He muttered. He turned to Barry. "Why the hell did you hire him again?"

Barry shrugged. "I need more employees besides you, Caitlin, Stein, and Ronnie. He's smart and he knows my secret identity. Plus, he hasn't done anything for me to even remotely consider killing him."

"I'm still disturbed by the fact that you and your friends still consider killing as a viable option."

"Cisco, if this were a perfect world, I'd agree with you." Barry sighed. "Despite how it looks sometimes, none of us actually enjoy killing. But this isn't a perfect world, and there are people out there where killing is the only option. We're not going to condemn the world by holding up some unrealistic ideal."

Cisco looked down. Barry let out another sigh, then put on a comforting smile, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I'm not saying you have to be like me. I only became a killer because I had to, and while I didn't like it at first, I've come to accept that it's a part of me that will never quite go away. I'm just asking that, when I do have to make that choice, you understand."

The hero-in-training looked up at that, and gave a tentative smile. "I think I can do that."

Barry smiled back. "Thank you."

Cisco's smile faded away. Having known Barry for over a year now, there were still things he hadn't quite deciphered about his friend. But he knew him well enough to know there was something that wasn't quite right with him. He had a feeling as to what it was.

"Barry, this might be a bit personal but… are you and Iris still not talking?"

The speedster paused, and his smile turned decidedly fake at that. "She at least says hi to me when I see her. That's something, right?"

Iris blinked as a takeout bag landed on her desk. She turned away from her typing to look at the perpetrator — her boyfriend, Eddie Thawne.

"Hey babe." Eddie grinned, leaning in for a kiss.

His girlfriend kissed back, chastely. "Hey yourself. Big Belly Burger?"

Eddie gave her a coy look. "Can't mess with the classics."

"So, I was thinking — I know our date night is usually Friday, but this Thursday we get off of work early, so I was thinking we have our date then and you can stay over for the night." And tomorrow, went unsaid.

Iris stopped chewing her burger, swallowing awkwardly before offering a shaky smile. "Sorry, babe, but Dad and I have our own dinner with Wally and Mom that night. Family only."

Eddie stared at her, perhaps wondering why he wasn't considered family already, before giving an understanding nod. "Okay. We still on for Friday?"

"Of course."

"Then that's good enough for me."

They finished the rest of the meal in silence. Eddie, in charge of investigating another potential metahuman criminal — a serial killer who broke his victim's necks — gave her another kiss goodbye before heading up to meet with his partner for the investigation, a bubbly newbie by the name of Patty Spivot. Iris watched him go, let out a small breath of relief when she watched him disappear around the corner.

"You know, you didn't tell him Barry was going to be there."

Iris jumped slightly, then turned around to glare at her father. Joe, for his part, was unapologetic, opting to instead take Eddie's seat. He gave his daughter a searching look.

"Well?"

"I don't see how that matters." Iris looked away. "Barry's family. It was implied. Eddie would understand that."

"But you still didn't tell him. It's not like he would mind — you and Barry don't hang out anymore." And boy, wasn't Eddie happy when he realized that.

"So, what?"

Joe let out a tiny groan, rubbing his temples. He was so done with his daughter right now. "Iris, you're avoiding him."

"What's between Barry and I—"

"Not Barry, Iris. Eddie."

Iris whipped around. "What do you mean?"

"Baby, the dinner is an if-thing and you know it. We're still not sure if Francine and Wally can make it Thursday. You could've mentioned this to Eddie, but you didn't. Not only that, you've deflected any attempt he's made to invite you to his apartment — don't look at me like that, he lets things slip out sometimes, just because I don't want to hear it doesn't mean it works — and now you won't tell him that your best friend who you're on the outs with is also gonna be there. What's going on?"

Iris stared at him, unable to say anything. What was she supposed to say? That she wanted to minimize interactions between Eddie and Barry as much as possible because Eddie still hated the Flash? Of course, she couldn't say that, and it wasn't even the complete truth. The truth was, she wasn't sure about their relationship anymore. She cared for Eddie, loved him even, but the spark from their first go-around just wasn't there.

At first it was good — great even — but there was this wall between them that she'd only begun to notice when she wasn't blinded by the idea of "first love". A wall that, she'd realized, had always been there, in different forms. Eddie's obsessive hatred of the Flash was the first sign, and even after her ultimatum, she could tell he had never been able to let it go. She could see it every time she saw him watching the news. That deep, all-consuming fire in his blue eyes darkened every time the Flash's name coincided with praise.

Then there was Barry. Iris had never said to anyone what happened between them, but everyone could see the tension. Eddie had played the part of the concerned boyfriend, kind and comforting, but she could sense the glee emanating from him. He was happy Barry and her weren't talking. At the time she had been grateful for his support, but now, with perspective, she was alarmed. How could he be happy that she and her best friend were acting like strangers to each other? She knew he didn't like Barry, but that much?

And then there was Barry being the Flash. As conflicted as she was, she still wasn't hesitating to protect her best friend by keeping this secret from her boyfriend. While telling Eddie might finally help him resolve his issues over the Flash (or possibly make the situation worse), she would never throw Barry under the bus like that. He was her best friend. He would always be her best friend.

All these thoughts passed through Iris' mind at lightning speed, but she knew she couldn't voice them. Not now, possibly not ever. But she could voice something of the truth.

"I'm… not ready to take it to the next level." She confessed.

Joe gave her unamused look. "Baby, he asked you to move in with him months ago. Almost a year ago, in fact."

"Hey, we weren't together at the time!" Iris defended her actions.

"But you were for several months beforehand. Relationships go at their own pace, but this one doesn't seem to be going anywhere at all." Joe pointed out. "Iris, I know I shouldn't be meddling in your relationships like this, but I care about Eddie. He's my partner. And while you're my daughter, I can't ignore the fact that you're basically stringing him along. If you love him and you're sure, you have to be willing to take the plunge. Otherwise, you need him to let go before one of you does something you'll regret."

Iris' expression saddened, and she averted her eyes downward. She knew he was right.

Joe took her hand, rubbing comforting circles into the palm.

"Just think about it, alright?"

Barry twitched.

The giggling didn't stop.

He twitched some more.

"You don't like teenagers." Jefferson observed, idly taking a bite of his hot dog. They were having a day out at the park, taking a walk. Barry desperately needed a break from the lab, and Jefferson was in town for some sort of educational conference.

"No. What I don't like, is giggling, lovesick teenage girls. You try having Hunter Zolomon for two semesters straight, where everyone with ovaries drool over him."

Jefferson gave him a look. It made him look like Joe. "Barry, I'm the principal of a high school. I've been dealing with lovesick teenage girls for years."

"Yeah, but he's suspicious. I don't like him."

"Then why are you in his class?"

Barry pouted. "He's also a great teacher. His homework is constructive and he doesn't call on me often."

"That is a remarkably petty reason to stay with a teacher you don't like and are suspicious of." Jefferson deadpanned.

Barry opened his mouth to argue back—

"Hey, look!"

They looked. Up in the sky, there was streak of smoke and fire, like a crashing plane.

Or at least it did, until it blasted away the table right next to them.

Yeah, Act I is going to be the Dominators. It's going to be fourteen chapters, with the last one being Chapter 77.

As for what's going on, it's been six months since Black Canary has joined the Justice League. Secretly, they and the world's governments have been preparing for the invasion. This means that our lovable vigilantes have been traveling to each other's cities often, under the guise of work. It's been determined that the three most likely targets are going to be Starling, Hub, and Central, since that's where the biggest threats are (Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, and the Flash + metahumans).

As far as personal matters go, Lauriver and Merbel (I just made that up) are both going strong, though one half of Merbel still refuses to talk with Lauriver. Nyssa is no longer in Starling City, having departed to continue evading Talia's forces after she deemed Laurel's training complete. She will be appearing in this act, however, in a cameo or two.

Iris and Eddie have hit a bit of rough patch, though they're both refusing to acknowledge it for different reasons. Barry and Iris' reconciliation has been slow going too. Then there's the situation with Iris' feelings for Barry, which she hasn't realized yet — such as the fact that she didn't hesitate to choose Barry over Eddie when it came to the Flash situation.

It's a right mess, and it's going to get messier.

In other news, Emily Bett Rickards isn't going to be in the last season of Arrow. All the best to her, but to be honest, I'm glad I won't have to see Felicity for those last 8-10 episodes. They also made Black Siren Black Canary finally, so yay!

Finally, the biggest news: I saw Avengers: Endgame. I won't spoil it for anybody (and anyone else's attempts to spoil it for those who haven't seen it will be deleted without remorse), but it's amazing. Like, the perfect finale without being an actual, true finale. It definitely deserved breaking all those records.

Woo. I had a lot to say. Ta Ta everyone!

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