December 29th - 2013.

It was Late when John Diggle got a van from, somewhere, and brought it around with the remains of the machine loaded into the back the three of us made our way back to Verdant and I began unloading our mechanical menace into Felicity's tinkering and workshop in the arrow cave. I noticed that the tools were scattered about, so I let her be while she focused on whatever the hell this terminator ripoff was.

"I've seen some strange things, Oliver, but this is a new one."

"This one's not on me, it was after Zalost."

"Hey, I wasn't expecting an honest to gods terminator to show up, I wasn't even supposed to be in this universe!, just goes to show the timeline is changing and becoming unpredictable with my presence here."

"You keep talking about the timeline and future events, but how do you know things are supposed to play out like they did on your TV show?"

"I don't, but they seem to for the most part, the dates line up and the sequence of events line up for the most part, but I just don't know since I was observing it as a drama and not actually living it. Then again in most depictions you look more like Robin Hood than you do here, fancy haircut, hat, mustache with beard, blond hair, the whole deal." Felicity started cracking up at the bench, even Diggle was trying to hide a smile at the idea of Oliver looking like a medieval folk hero

"Look, obviously my being here caused ripples further down the timeline, enough that vandal savage would send an assassin to take me out, no idea what those changes are because I'm not a Time lord, or whatever the term is here." The room went dead silent, "Wait, you've seen doctor who? Is he real too?" felicity was the first to speak up, obviously far more curious about the meta knowledge, no matter how many times I try to hide behind the temporal prime directive.

"Not exactly, it's a long story, but in the far future humans master time travel, and become sort of like the time police, or something, I don't remember most of the details, and it shouldn't matter for several years anyway, though shouldn't doctor who be a given since your reality was fictional to me until I showed up here?, hell shouldn't all fictional people and groups exist somewhere, with all the good and bad that entails? I mean, you're taking apart a freaking terminator."

I felt like facepalming as whatever the thinking cap had done to my brain started having ideas connect in strange ways, pulling on ideas and things I'd learned about from far corners of my memories. Why hadn't the future time cops shown up and either erased me, taken me in, or tried to send me back already?, I was a time anomaly, right? Also, not a real terminator, apparently it was designed by a future version of Palmer Technologies. It was just heavily based on the idea of the terminator, including a neural network computer which used some kind of quantum molecular processor chip. What's worse is that it didn't seem to be a one off given the model number and series number printed inside the housing. Just what I needed, an army of killer robot assassins from the future.

While worrying about this, I also remembered I had asked Felicity to find and keep tabs on Sebastian Blood. Turns out, he was still applying for candidacy to become mayor of starling city... at least he was, until his application mysteriously was denied and barred from running for at least five years. Shot across the bow, Slade. Better back off now. Still had no idea where Slade's new hideout was, but this would at least set back his plans to try and take over starling city temporarily. In the meantime, I continued to train over the next few weeks until the old timeline re-asserted its self and Oliver's mother announces her candidacy for mayor against the old regime. mid-January.

When I wasn't training I was setting up my base in the old factory I'd picked, fixing up scrap machines where I could because I figured it could be useful to have rapid fabrication in the near future. Plus, super strength made moving things around a lot easier, even after Oliver's training helped me get a lot better fine control over my grip strength. Then the first of the major trials came in an encounter when I yanked some jerk off a lady of the night after he was clearly being way too forceful. And in the alley next to my factory hideout too.

"Listen buddy you got what you paid for now leave, caprice?" The man was terrified as he hung there by his shirt collar while his pants fell down around his ankles, the idiot having been in the middle of removing them. I put him down and gave him a light nudge as he stumbled and quickly took off out of the alleyway. I looked over the woman, a bruise forming near her left eye, and picked her up in my arms before taking off in a sprint towards the hospital. The whole way I had the feeling I was being followed but tried to ignore it since I had more pressing matters at the moment but as soon as I spoke to the nurse and left on my way home I felt the presence again and quickly turned around and saw nothing, only for someone to appear directly in front of me when I turned back slipping out of the shadows but leaning against a building.

Huh, that's new, I know Oliver could do it, but that's something to do with the league of assassins I guess, stealth is their expertise. I stood there for a good minute or so trying to figure out what to say or do when I was suddenly jumped from behind, though given she was suddenly running towards me. I wasn't sure what to do but whoever this other guy was he was heavy, so I crouched, and her staff hit the guy's skull with a metal clang before she backed off, the sound immediately sending me on alert.

It didn't say anything, but it was increasing its pressure like a hydraulic press and I could feel my arms start to ache from the force, so I fell backward and slammed it into the pavement before the arms released letting me free and allowing me to turn around seeing another seven foot giant of a man. Great, Oliver is going to be real mad another one showed up.

"Canary, get out of here, this guy is insanely dangerous, he's not even human."

"I got that from the metal skull."

"Unless you have some explosives in there, I don't think you're equipped to fight this guy." She immediately proved me wrong of course because while I rolled out of the way of a fist impacting the ground she came up behind it and stabbed her staff into it's torso jamming up it's waist joints before dodging out of the way of it suddenly turning backward giving me an opening to yank at the staff and try to inflict a lot of damage before I was blindsided by its arm swinging back with me still holding the staff but slamming against a nearby dumpster leaving a pretty sizable dent.

"Crap baskets" I mumbled with my head spinning before the telltale sound of an arrow firing before an explosion went off on the machine knocking it off its feet.

"Cavalry's here" I shouted to make sure Canary got out of the way and drawing the machine's attention back towards me. This is going to be a long night.