"The court says you don't owe your victims anything." Oliver hisses as he stands opposite his next target, "I disagree. James Holder—"
Oliver is cut off as the sound of a gunshot goes off and blood begins to seep from James before he drops into the pool.

Oliver quickly fires an arrow in the direction of the shooter before ducking behind the bar, he stays down at bullets pass by him destroying glasses and bottles.

When the bullets stop Oliver glances back at his now dead target before looking down at his now bloody arm, where a bullet had grazed him.

Buffy pulls herself through the window at the warehouse in the Glades, grabbing onto a metal bar above her, she spins herself upwards into a handstand, holding it for a brief second before letting her body fall and flip through the air. She lands gracefully on the upper level in the building.

Looking down through the cracks of the wooden floor she spots a man in a suit working at a computer while two guards stand off to his side.

She sighs before grabbing her mask, placing it on allowing it to cover her mouth and nose, she then grabs the scythe from the holder on her back.

She glances down at the suit Giles has sent her, it was a full body black suit with red on the arms, sides and legs. She had knives along her thighs tucked into the holders and a longer part of material hung in the front and back, sort of reminding her of a ninja's uniform. { /images/BlvSZ9}

Buffy stands, running forwards towards the hole in the ground, she leaps into the hole landing right in the middle of the room between the guards.

She grabs a knife from her thigh and tosses it at one of the guards pinning his hand to the wall, she then swings the scythe at the other guard, hitting him with the blunt end of the axe, knocking him out cold.
She walks over to the guard currently crying in agony and kicks him in the face, knocking him out as well.

Buffy turns her attention to the man in at the desk who was looking at her fearfully, grabbing the corner of the desk she lifts it and throws it sending it flying across the room, before taking out two knives and pinning the man's hands to his chair.

"Ahhh!" He screams.
Buffy merely tilts her head and leans into his coat pocket grabbing out a small piece of paper.
The man stares shocked; there was no way she could have found the list that easily.
"It crinkles your jacket." She tells him simply before unfolding the paper "Is this all the names?"

When he glares at her refusing to answer she twists the knife in his left hand causing him to cry out in agony "Yes! Yes! That's all of them! I swear!"

Buffy watches him sceptically for a moment before nodding in approval, she reaches into one of her hidden pockets and pulls out a golden dust blowing it onto his face "Night night." She whispers as the man falls asleep not likely to remember anything from tonight.

She tucks the list into her pocket and runs at the wall, pressing her foot on the wall she pushes herself up to grab onto the metal chain in the middle room. She climbs up the chain towards the window and makes her escape.

Oliver collapses on the ground as the poison from the bullet begins to spread, he quickly makes his way towards the box in the corner as fast as he can. He rips the box open and moves things to the side as he searches for something desperately.

Finally, he pulls out a small herb swallowing it, he quickly grabs his water and downs the herb before lying down on the ground.

After a long moment, he glances at his computer and spots the clock "Damn it."

Buffy rolls her shoulder as she pulls off her shirt before tossing it in her locker "Evening Summers." Stewart says as he enters the room.

Buffy offers him a small smile as he hands her the paper, she places it on top of her bag and just as she goes to throw on her sweater Stewart spots one of the nasty looking scars on her shoulder blade, it was slightly visible through her vest but luckily most of the scars were hidden "Geez, Summers how'd you manage that?"

Buffy freezes momentarily as she flashes back to that day, her hand hovers the large burnt area of skin "Accidently set off a land mine during my first tour in Afghanistan. Wasn't pretty."

Before Stewart could ask her anything else she pulls her sweater down the rest of the way and grabs her bag and the paper "Thanks for the paper."

As she heads for the door refusing to spare him a glance, then something catches her eye, the murder of James Holder.

Her eyes widen as she reads the article

'Bullets laced with curare"

It's a rare and deadly poison. And the only person she knew with that MO was someone she had unfinished business with "Deadshot"

"Man, are you sure you wanna do this?" Tommy asks as Oliver leads him and Diggle into the old Queen Factory in the Glades. Although the idea of a nightclub was pretty awesome it could go extremely badly "It's not like you really have any experience in running—well, running anything."

Oliver arches an eyebrow at his friend as he turns to face him, although he couldn't find himself able to argue, what Tommy was saying was at least partially true. This version of him had never had a job let alone run a business.

Tommy sighs trying to think "How about tomorrow night the two of us we go and scope out the competition. There's a new club opening downtown. It's called Poison. Max Fuller owns it."
Oliver sighs, it had to be someone he had screwed over, the universe most really hate his guts "Max Fuller? I slept with his fiancée."
Tommy shrugs not seeing the big issue "Before the wedding."
"It was at the rehearsal dinner."
"The rehearsal dinner is technically before the wedding." He says as the two of them burst into laughter.

Buffy was getting ready for work when Willow comes into the kitchen grabbing her mug of coffee.
Buffy's eyes widen "Hey!"
"Sorry." Willow mumbled as she hands Buffy back the now empty mug "I have work. My boss is riding me hard to finish this new program design."

Buffy shakes her head before placing a file in front of Willow "I need your hacking abilities."
Willow arches a brow, as she stares at the file with interest, the word confidential was written over the top "Buffy, this is a military file."
Buffy hesitates slightly before showing Willow the first page "I know."

Willow's eyes widen "Wait isn't Deadshot the person who..."
"Killed someone close to me and John, yes." Buffy sighs and refills her mug of coffee "He's in town. I want you to find me his base of operations."

The red head picks up the file and nods at her best friend "Have you told John?"
"No. Not yet. I want to have a strong lead...I can't give him false hope."

Five Years Ago - Chicago

Buffy raises her knee and uses it to block Faith's, as Faith goes to punch her Buffy ducks under her arm before grabbing it and leaping into a side aerial.

As Buffy's feet hit her in the face Faith stumbles "Okay hold up. That's cheating you were a gymnast."
Buffy chuckles as she lands on her toes "Sorry."

The two decided wordlessly that it was about time for a break. As the two sit down Faith glanced over at Buffy "Good to see you're finally healed."

Buffy nods hesitating slightly before looking over at her friend "When do you and Kennedy head off for Cleveland?"
Faith runs a hand through her sweaty hair "As soon as she and red have finished talking."
"Ahh, the big break up talk."

Buffy takes a deep breath and looks at her old friend "Thank you, Faith."
"For what?" She asks confused, no one had ever thanked her for no reason.
Buffy merely smiles "For everything. I'm gonna miss you."

Present Day – Starling City

"I apologise." The Russian says as he leads Oliver into the lower area of the warehouse "We meant no disrespect to a captain. Particularly an American one."

Oliver looks around their workshop with interest before stopping in front of a metal table.
"So how can I be of assistance?" The mobster asks.
Oliver looks at him seriously "I'm in the Market for a hired gun, someone the organisation has used before. His calling card is a 7.62 millimetre raced with curare."

The Russian looks at Oliver hesitantly "I know no man who uses such tools."
"But you can find out who does."

The Russian looks away and pours two shots of vodka, one for himself and one for Oliver "First, we will drink to each other's health." He says as hands Oliver a glass "Then I will look into the identity of this man you seek."

Xander walks into the hospital just as he spots Buffy climbing out of the ambulance which had just pulled into the parking lot.

Buffy pulls the gurney with the screaming pregnant woman right into the E.R "We got a 32 your old pregnant woman. Contusions and possible internal bleeding, fetus' heartbeat is weak, contractions 2 to 3 minutes apart."
One of the doctors, Dean, runs over "Buffy what the hell happened?"
"She was pushed down a flight of stairs."

Dean nods and takes control of the gurney before wheeling the woman away.
Buffy sighs and takes a heavy breath, running her fingers through her hair as she watches the screaming woman get wheeled into the next room.

"Buffy."

Buffy's head spins around only to sigh in relief as she spots Xander, giving him a quick hug she smiles at him "What are you doing here?"
"Being very much impressed by you, it seems."
Buffy waves him off as she ties her hair back up in a ponytail "Come on Xand."

He rolls his eyes and looks around quickly, trying to see for somewhere where the two of them could talk in private. When he spots a small office he takes Buffy's hand and pulls her along.

Once the door was shut Buffy looks at him seriously "Xander, what's going on?"
"Will used the Queen Consolidated computer system to run some of the names of your list but..."

Buffy frowns, this didn't sound like she was going to be happy with the news "But what?"
"She doesn't have a high enough clearance." Before Buffy has a second to panic a grin covers Xander's face "But lucky for you one of your other BFF's as top level access. Oh, let me think what's his name...?"
Buffy chuckles slightly "Not funny."

Xander merely grins proud of himself, after a second though he looks at her seriously before pulling a garment bag out of his briefcase.

Buffy arches a brow at the garment bag "I'm not gonna like this am I?"
"Probably not." He says as he pulls out a black leather dress and hands it to her "Get dressed. The first name is going clubbing tonight."

Diggle groans in annoyance as they reach the club Poison and immediately he is stopped by the bouncer "I don't see your name on the list."

"Mr Queen." Diggle calls causing both Tommy and Oliver who were inside the club to turn back to him, as they do Tommy spots a very sexy blonde in a tight leather dress walking up behind Diggle "Oh hello."

Before he can get a proper inspection, however, Oliver drags him back into the club leaving Diggle.

"What a douche." A voice says from behind Diggle making a small smile graze his lips, he turns shocked and pleased to see the lovely blonde.

"Buffy. This doesn't seem like your kind of scene."
"Ditto." Buffy smirks "Let me guess rich douche one and two. You're working."
"Always."
Diggle frowns confused as to why she was here "So what are you doing here?"

"Same as you, work." She gives his arm a squeeze before handing the bouncer two fifty-dollar notes, nodding to herself and Diggle.
The guard smiles "Look at that. You're on the list after all."
Buffy smirks and heads inside giving Dig a
quick wave before heading into the busy crowd.

Buffy reaches for her earpiece as she makes her way through the club "Xander can you hear me?"

"Yep. Feeling very much like James Bond right now."

Buffy chuckles in amusement, as she imagines her friend sat in the van surrounded by spy gear, reenacting scenes from famous spy films.
"I swear if you say I will find you and Kill you, I will switch this thing off."
When she hears him sigh sadly she grins successfully.

As she makes her way through the busy club she continues to look around trying to find her target "What's this guys name?"

"John Bash. Polgara Demon. Not sure what he looks like now but whoever these guys are, the ones making demons look, human, they must be pretty strong. Considering how butt ass ugly Polgaras are."

Buffy continues to look around the room, it was then that she spots the 6 foot 6 giant man at the bar "Xander, I think I found him."

As Oliver and Tommy take a seat in Big Belly Burger Diggle makes his way over to his sister in law "Hey, you."

She turns smiling at him before gesturing to Oliver and Tommy "So sweet of you to adopt two white boys. They need a good role model."
Diggle chuckles slightly, amused "That's my client, Oliver Queen."

Carly looks over and watches as a bruised Oliver winced while trying to sit down "Looks like you're doing a bang-up job protecting him. Buffy could most probably teach you a thing or two." She looks around for a second "Speaking of the lovely blonde where is she?"

Diggle frowns still slightly confused, Buffy had said she was working but she's a paramedic, being at a club didn't make much sense, unless she was working as a mercenary again. But she had promised him after Bulgaria that she would never get into that world again.

"She's working."
Carly smiles "Yeah, she told me she was a paramedic now. Who would have thought."

Carly glanced over at Oliver and instantly a look of worry covered her expression "How dangerous is this guy?"
"You don't need to worry."

Instantly though his words make her worry "Now I'm worried. Or have you forgotten this job got your brother killed? Because, John, I haven't."

Buffy leads John through the busy crowds at the club and into a private room, "So John right?" She asks flirtatiously, as she puts on her best dumb blonde impression.

The demon grins at her "Yeah."

Buffy leans against the wall letting him approach her and trap her in between himself and the wall, she grins up at him, fluttering her eyelashes "You're showing." She whispers pointing to his left hand where the skin had started to peel.

She lets him digest this before grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back before shoving him against the wall face first.

"Slayer!" He hisses as the skewer drops from his arm, he spins his arm trying to stab her but she grabs his arm, forcing it to stop before backhanding him across the face.

She knees him in the stomach before snapping the skewer in half and stabbing him in the eye with it "Tell me who helped you?!"
The demon howls in agony but refuses to answer her.
Buffy rolls her eyes "Fine. Be that way." She says before snapping his neck, allowing his body to drop to the ground.

The next day Willow was on her computer at Queen Consolidated researching as much as she could about Floyd Lawton or Deadshot. She had spent hours staring at her computer screen that she didn't even notice when someone entered her office.

"Ahh, Felicity Smoke?" A voice asks but Willow doesn't respond.
Oliver frowns as he stares at the red head "Hello?" He says as he waves a hand in front of her eyes.

Suddenly Willow was shaken out of her crazy research state and gasps "Ahh, don't do that."
Oliver winces slightly as the red head glares at him "Sorry. I'm looking for Felicity Smoke."
Willow sighs "She's sick. I'm covering for her today."

Oliver nods, slightly disappointed but hopefully, this woman could help him "I'm Oliver Queen."
Willow's eyes widen "Oh crap. I wasn't too rude to you, was I? Cause you're sort of my boss. Wel,l not really but you're a Queen and I work at well Queen so sort of. I'm sorry when I work I don't really think there is an outside world." Willow pauses biting her tongue willing herself to shut up "I'm sorry. Is there something you needed help with. I'm tech girl that's me."

Oliver sighs in relief and pulls out the bullet-riddled laptop "I'm having some trouble with my computer and they told me to see Ms. Smoke or Ms Rosenberg."
Willow raises her hand "Well I'm the Rosenberg half. Willow Rosenberg. That's my name."

She looks down at the laptop as he places it in front of her, she immediately holds back at laugh at his cover up "I was at my coffee shop surfing the web. And I spilt a latte on it."
Willow arches an eyebrow "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Cause these look like bullet holes. And my friend was in the army so trust me I know what they look like."
Oliver shrugs "My coffee shop is in a bad neighbourhood."

Willow chuckles slightly and looks at him sceptically "You're as bad as Buff."
"I'm sorry?" He asks confused.
She waves him off "Don't worry about it."
Oliver nods "If there is anything that you can salvage from it, I would really appreciate it."
Willow sighs at that moment her phone rings "Sorry it's my roommate." She grabs the phone and looks at Oliver "I'll see what I can do."

"I'll send over all the information I have Buff." Willow tells her quickly, it was clear she was rushing and that made Buffy slightly confused "I have a client with me. Bye."

At that Buffy realises that she was not alone "Alright, thanks, Will. Bye."
As she hangs up she turns to Xander, "Okay that's the Deadshot stuff dealt with today. Now back to the demon stuff."

Xander nods and pulls out the large file and dumps it on the coffee table next to the list Buffy had stolen.
Buffy grabs her pen and crosses off the John Bash from the list. "That's one."
Xander frowns at the look of disappointment on her face "I take it you couldn't get any details on who's doing this for them."

Buffy shakes her head, confirming his thoughts as she climbs off the couch and paces the length of the living room "Not yet." At that moment she notices the clock "Crap. I'm late for work."

As she runs to grab her stuff Xander chuckles in amusement and looks down at the newspaper where the sketch of The Hood was on the first page "Hey Buff aren't you worried about this vigilante dude?"
"Nope!" she calls out before poking her head back into the room "By the way, Xander, you were supposed to start an hour ago."

Xander groans "Crap!" He exclaims and begins to copy the blonde's panicked behaviour.

Willow continues to search the hard drive for Oliver as he crouches next to her desk. She brings up some of the recovered files and frowns at the sight of blueprints "Look-y blueprints"

Oliver stares at the blueprints, unable to tell what they were for "Do you know what for?"
"The Exchange Building."
Oliver shrugs "Never heard of it."
Willow frowns she wasn't sure either, she quickly searches the web until she finds something "It's where the Unidac Industries auction is scheduled to take place."

When Oliver looks at her really confused, she smirks slightly "You do realise this is your laptop right?"
"Yes."
Willow rolls her eyes "Men are just so stupid. Look Mr Steele is trying to buy Unidac."

Five Years Ago - Chicago

Buffy was eating her sandwich when a nervous looking Dawn walks into the kitchen.
"Hey, Dawnie." Buffy says as she devours another bite.
Dawn watches her sister slightly disgust but looks at her seriously "Buffy I need to tell you something."
Buffy pauses "You're pregnant."
A look of horror crosses Dawn's face "What! No!"

At her reaction, Buffy chuckles "I'm kidding, what's up?" She asks gesturing for her sister to sit.

Dawn takes a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves as she prepares to tell her sister something she had been dreading "Okay before the whole First thing I applied to this Journalism Internship program. I just found out that I got it."

Buffy's eyes widen, she had no idea Dawn had applied, let alone that she wanted to get into Journalism, she takes a deep breath, trying to process this bit of information, however, the biggest shock was yet to come.
"Buffy...the internship...it's in Rome."
Buffy coughs violently choking on her water slightly "Rome?"

Dawn nods, staying silent, as she allows her sister to go through her normal stages of processing information: freaking out, panic, silence before finally, reluctant acceptance.
Buffy sighs, she was proud of her sister, but the idea of letting her go off on her own, killed her "That's amazing Dawn."

Present Day – Starling City

Buffy slips on the red silk dress, tucking several knives underneath just out of view.
"You ready?" Willow asks as she sits next to Xander in the van.

Buffy nods and touches up her lipstick before taking the invitation Willow was handing her "You sure he's here."
"I'm sure." Willow tells her as she pulls out her laptop, "I wish I could go in and help you."

Buffy sighs and looks back at Willow, "You can't."
"I know, things are different now but-."

Xander cuts in finishing her sentence like he did quite often when they were kids "We just don't like seeing you go in there alone."

Buffy squeezes both their hands "I'll be fine." She says before slipping in her earpiece and climbing out of the car, heading towards the auction.

Oliver makes his way through the auction only to be stopped by Detective Lance "Oh, don't you scrub up nice." He says sarcastically.
Oliver offers him a small smile "Here to support my family."
Lance nods "Yeah. Me too, God help me."

Oliver watches as Lance looks at him once more with disdain before walking off. Immediately Oliver makes his way over to Diggle "Diggle, got your eyes open?"
Diggle stares at Oliver annoyed "That's what I'm here for, Sir. That and answering patronising questions."

Oliver sighs not listening to a word Diggle was saying "This guy's out of time, if he's going to do something, it's going to happen before the auction."
Diggle frowns in confusion "Sir?"
Oliver panics slightly, he slipped up "I heard the story on the radio."

"He's running out of time." Buffy whispers as she grabs a glass of wine and makes her way around the auction "I spent enough time learning about Deadshot to know that whatever he's going do, he will do it before the auction."

Buffy sighs, she frowns as she spots John and turns away, he was too close to this, she had made him a promise all those years ago and she intended to keep it, no matter what.

She turns and heads for the bar so she can scan the party "Look at higher levels. Scan the cameras."
"On it." Willow tells her.
Buffy continues to look around however suddenly she spots the red spot moving around the room "Willow where is he?"
"Buffy I found him he's in the next building."

Buffy's eyes widen as she spots the light land on Walter Steele, running forward she tackles Steele to the ground just as the bullet flies right by him.
"Are you okay?!" Buffy asks as she helps Walter.

Walter looks at the small blonde completely astonished "Yes thank you."
"Summers!" Detective Lance says as he runs over, Buffy quickly passes Walter over to him "I'm going to help the injured go!"

Lance hesitates before taking Walter, once he was out of sight Buffy runs to the staircase, pulling off the dress where underneath she was wearing her suit, she pulls the mask over her face and leaps up the gap between the stairs pulling herself up faster.

Oliver makes sure his sister and mother are with Dig before he runs into the staircase just narrowly missing the sight of the woman in black and red. He freezes as he spots a red dress on the ground but ignores it and runs towards the metal bin in the corner, grabbing his gear out of it and speeding up the stairs towards the roof.

Buffy runs full speed on the roof, leaping off it, she crashes through the window and almost immediately Lawton begins firing at her. Buffy flips out of the way and ducks behind a wall, she grabs one of her knives and throws them at him.

When she hears a grunt of pain, she runs out from behind the pillar grabbing onto the scaffolding next to her using it to swing her body around towards Deadshot. He doesn't have a second to recover from his knife wound as she kicks him square in the chest sending him backwards into a metal pole.

Diggle after getting Thea and Moira to safety runs up the stairs in the same direction Oliver had gone. He pauses noticing the red dress before continuing, he stops again as he spots the metal bin, he shakes his head and quickly runs up the stairs in search for Oliver

Buffy grabs Deadshot by the back of his head and throws him, slamming him into a wall of wood. At that moment Buffy's head spins around to watch as another figure comes crashing through the glass window

"Crap." She quickly climbs up the scaffolding hiding from sight. It's then that she sees The Hood attack, Lawton.

Buffy watches them battle, groaning in annoyance at The Hood for showing up now

"I guess you won't be extending me any professional courtesy." Lawton yells at The Hood.
"We're not in the same line of work."
Lawton frowns and looks around now noticing that the blonde ninja was gone "Actually I was talking about the girl in red but that applies to you too."

Oliver frowns before remembering the red dress on the ground by the stairs, Oliver ducks again as Lawton fires at him again, he grabs an arrow off his back and quickly moves to fire.

Buffy eyes widen as she hears a grunt of pain, she turns and spots Dig "No."

Before she could do anything she watches as The Hood runs to him and helps him to safety.

Buffy stares worried but waits until they are out of sight before she lowers herself, she steps over to Lawton who had an arrow buried in his eye and glares down at him "If he dies...you're gonna be glad The Hood got to you before I could."

Five Years Ago - Chicago

"Buffy." Giles says, standing from his seat opposite Willow and Xander as the blonde enters the office "We've been waiting for you."

Buffy nods and enters the room, she raises her palm cutting them off before they could speak "I take you guys know about Rome." All three nod so Buffy continues "You want me to come with you to England, to rebuild the council. Don't you?"
Giles hesitates slightly unsure of what her reaction was going to be "Just for a short time Buffy I understand—"

"I'll do it." She says cutting him off and shocking the others "Not forever. But I need something to do to keep me from stalking my sister. I'll go."

Present Day – Starling City

John groans in pain as he wakes on the hard surface, he coughs slightly before trying to sit up only to see his white shirt was now stained red with blood.
He coughs again and turns his body to the side in an attempt to stand but he finds himself too weak.

He looks up only to stare in shock as through his blurry vision he spots Oliver wearing a green suit, holding a bow and arrow.

Oliver steps forward as Diggle finally manages to sit up "Hey."