5 Years Ago – Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
Buffy stares out the window of the plane, looking at the clouds surrounding her. She smiles slightly, there was something so calming about the sight, something so pure and untouched. It was simply perfect.
Tearing her eyes away from the sight she turns to look at Xander who was currently snoring and drooling on her shoulder. Shaking her head in amusement an idea pops into her head, it was so childish and she knew that but she wanted just one moment, one moment of pure unadulterated fun.
Drawing a curly moustache and goatee on her friend's face drew a smile to her face and when Willow turned and spotted the new look she covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Buffy smiles, it was a simple moment but it was one that made her feel young again, made her think that her life hadn't been endless parades of war. For that, ruining Xander's face with permanent marker was worth it.
Starling City – Present Day
"Buffy, have you seen this?" Willow asks from the kitchen where she was currently sat at the counter eating cereal while watching the news on her iPad.
Buffy who was in a slight rush, she hadn't finished work till late again and had spent most of the night researching the names on her list. Rushing out of the bathroom, toothbrush still in her mouth she walks over to the kitchen sink and spits into it before turning to Willow "What?" She mumbles as she continues to brush her teeth.
Willow swallows another bite of her food before raising the pad towards Buffy "Turns out Oliver Queen is The Hood guy."
Buffy frowns, placing her toothbrush down she takes the pad from Willow and glances at the news "Huh."
"Do you think John knows?"
"Not sure. I'll have to ask him. But right now—" Buffy glances at her watch only to screech "Crap!" She exclaims before stealing the bagel off Willow's plate and running out of the apartment.
Oliver sits opposite Lance in his interrogating, very easily keeping his emotions under check as the questions begin.
"Have you been arrested before?" Lance asks, holding back the smirk that was threatening to break free, as Oliver chuckles Lance cuts him off "It's ok, I know the answer to that one—plenty of times."
Oliver merely keeps his hands clasped together and offers the detective a kind smile "Like I said, this is a mistake."
"As far as I can tell, the only mistake I made was not shooting you down at the docks when I had a chance."
Oliver frowns at that, and tries to appeal to Lance "I am not who you think I am." He tires, but Lance was clearly not buying what he was selling.
"No." He says sharply "You're exactly who I think you are. You're a dangerous menace who doesn't care about who he hurts, except now you're doing it with bows and arrows, instead of trust funds and yachts."
Oliver doesn't let Lance get to him, no matter how much his words were agonising to hear "Detective, you hate me. I get it. But that doesn't make me a vigilante."
"You're gonna have to be careful now." Xander warns Buffy as they speak over the phone.
Buffy who was currently in the staff room getting coffee chuckles "When am I ever not careful."
"I'm serious Buff." Xander warns, he was worried, now that someone had been arrested for The Hood if by any chance someone spotted Buffy out in her gear they would come after her next. There would be no more hiding in the shadows. Their entire mission would be at risk, and she would be sent to prison.
Buffy sighs "Look Xander I get it, now that The Hood is not longer the queen of the paparazzi, we've lost our lady gaga to hide behind. I'll be careful. Just get me the next address."
Buffy frowns as she hears Xander sigh, it was almost as if she could hear the weight of all this troubling him "Fine. I'll call you once I have the details."
Buffy smiles "Thanks." She pauses for a second and realises something, "Xander shouldn't you be at work?"
Shockingly he answers without the normal 'crap' or 'not again' "Actually yes. I am right now."
Buffy scoffs in shock "Do you ever actually do any work?"
"Other than beating my paper football score nah."
Buffy laughs slightly, however, her laughter is brief as the staff room door slams open "Summers!" Stewart exclaims as he pokes his head into the room.
Buffy groans, she really couldn't stand this guy, she forces a smile on her face before turning to him "Yeah?"
"Bus crash downtown. We go to go"
Buffy's eyes widen and she quickly throws her coffee in the trash "Gotta go Xander." She says before hanging up and running out the room towards the car park.
The judge turns to Oliver, confused by the lack of appearance of an attorney "Where is your attorney, Mr Queen?"
Oliver doesn't hesitate, this was all apart of his plan "I'm representing myself, Judge."
Everyone in the room turns to stare at Oliver, shocked by his statement, he really was a mad man. The judge merely shakes her head "I'm not sure that's the wildest course, Mr Queen."
Oliver stands and stares at the Judge defiantly "I think it is." He says looking her straight in the eye "I'm innocent."
The judge clenches her jaw, people like the Queens always pulled this crap, and it was clear from the look on her face that she wasn't pleased "I will consider that your plea."
Oliver smiles "Thank you." He says before slowly taking his seat.
The judge nods and moves onto the next line of business "Now as to bail—"
The Prosecution stands "You're honour, Mr Queen's family owns a pair of private jets and while on the subject of their wealth, I would point out that there is virtually no bail amount that that could guarantee his presence at trial."
Suddenly a familiar voice speaks up " So I guess it's a good thing that the people's case is so circumstantial." Laurel Lance says as she enters the trial room. Her heels click along the ground as she makes her way past the crowd including her father and moves to stand by Oliver.
She looks at the judge "Dinah Laurel Lance, Your honour. I'd like to file my appearance on behalf of the defendant." Oliver moves along to the next seat allowing Laurel to place her briefcase on the table, as he does a large smirk covers his face.
"Mr Queen's wealth..." Laurel continues "...should not deprive him of the right to be released on bail while under the presumption of innocence."
"He is a flight risk." The prosecution argues.
Laurel glanced at her stating her next words as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "Then minimise the risk. The defendant is willing to submit to home confinement and electronic monitoring through the wearing of a UKG-45 administrated ankle device."
As she speaks Oliver's eyes widen, this was not what he had in mind when he asked for Laurel to be his lawyer. This wasn't good at all.
Buffy raises her Bo-staff, blocking John's as he swings it, she grasps the end of his with her palm and twists it downwards causing John's back to bend at an awkward angle as he bend's with it.
Buffy spins away from Diggle, twirling the Bo-staff in her hands, once she stops she swings it upwards hitting John in the jaw making his head swing upwards. Buffy then runs at John she places her foot on his left knee pushing herself off the ground she wraps her right leg around his neck and leans backward placing the hilt of her Bo-staff on the ground, dragging John backwards she leaps off him using her Bo-staff to spins off him and land on her feet next to it whole John crashes loudly to the ground.
Buffy smirks down at him "Told you should have warn the padding." She says before offering him a hand.
John chuckles in amusement before taking her hand only to yank her downwards, Buffy, however, knew he was going to do that, she allows herself to fall only to roll forwards straight back onto her feet.
"I taught you that, old man." She says.
John shakes his head, it still astonished him to this day her strength, agility and speed in a fight, honestly to this day he still hadn't beat her in a fight, and he was beginning to think he never would.
As he stands he looks at Buffy carefully and notices something, she was favouring her right side, frowning he approaches her only to tap her on her right side with his Bo-staff.
Buffy winces slightly making him sigh "Let me see."
Buffy hesitates slightly, before groaning in frustration, he always noticed too quickly for her liking, Slowly she raises her t-shirt slightly to show her now healing broken rib.
"Jesus Buffy." John hisses as he rubs his jaw with his hand "What the hell happened?"
Buffy shakes his off, lowering her shirt "Nothing. Just a bad run in on the way home from work. Nothing I can't handle."
John sighs, there was something she wasn't telling him, and as much as he wanted to push he couldn't, not now that he wasn't being honest with her about his work.
After an awkward few minutes of silence Buffy sits down on the training mat, crossing her legs she looks across at him as he sits opposite her "So your client is The Hood guy, huh?"
John chuckles, she was always obvious when she was trying to change the subject "According to the media."
Buffy arches a brow and leans back on her elbows as she looks at him "You don't believe it?"
John sighs "Doesn't matter. But from what I see Oliver Queen is a party boy. Do you honestly think he's capable of all that?"
Buffy smiles sadly at him "Looking at me would you say that I'm capable of all the things I've done?" When John hesitates she nods "You see appearances can be deceiving."
John thinks about this for a moment and looks at his friend carefully. As his phone begins ringing he stands, walking over to her he kisses the top of her head before heading over to his phone "The vigilante is calling me now." He jokes making Buffy chuckle "Aww he needs his sidekick." She says sweetly only for him to glare at her.
"Yeah." Oliver answers as he hears the knock at his door, not once does he take his eyes away from the books scattered in front of him.
As the door opens his glances up to see Diggle, immediately he slams his father's book shut "Thank you for coming." Oliver frowns as he spots a bruise on Diggle's face, he hadn't been there earlier "Been in a fight?"
"Girl's got a good right hook." Diggle responds offhandedly before shutting the door as well as giving Oliver a pointed look making it clear that he wasn't to ask about it again.
"Guess it was just a matter of time before the police caught up with you." Diggle says as he approaches Oliver who was now leaning back in his chair, completely relaxed.
"Except they didn't." The billionaire responds.
"Oliver, they got you on video."
Oliver merely shrugs "I knew the security camera was there. Just like I knew the police would review the footage and arrest me—all part of the plan."
Diggle frowns, he was thoroughly confused now "So, you wanted to get arrested?"
"Well, I returned to Starling City, and a few days later the vigilante appears." He points out how obvious the whole situation actually was "Sooner or later, somebody was going to make the connection."
Five Years Ago – Westbury, England
Buffy stands in front of the small house frozen. "Hey." Willow says cheerfully as she approaches Buffy, a broad smile covering her face.
Buffy shakes her head and turns to her friend, forcing a smile on her face "So this is Giles' home, huh? It's very...well British." She says gesturing to the old stone cottage.
Willow laughs slightly "Yeah, that's what I thought. But hey he has a TV. That's very un-Giles like."
Willow looks over at Buffy and immediately a worried frown covers her face "You okay?"
"Yeah." Buffy says distractedly, honestly, everything was hitting her, her home was gone, the place where her mother was buried and now, her sister was off in Italy. It was just hard. Things were changing so drastically so quickly and it was taking a beating out of the young Slayer.
After a moment Buffy glances at Willow "So when do we begin? With all the watcher building stuff?"
Willow smiles, opening the door she leads Buffy into the cottage as she speaks "I'm going to do a tracer spell. Try and find any local Slayers. Giles wants to rebuild the watcher's council. But in the right way so we've got to go recover the remaining volumes the council had. Which is where you come in."
Buffy chuckled, running a hand through her hair she dumps her stuff on the ground before turning to face Willow "I take it something grizzly comes this way?"
"Something scaly."
Starling City – Present Day
Buffy stands in Queen Consolidated staring at the view from Xander's window, completely mesmerised. She had been working non-stop since she moved here that she hadn't had even a second pause to notice that the city was actually beautiful.
"Buff...earth to the Buffster...buffarama!" Buffy was suddenly shaken back to reality, she turns to face Xander only to gasp in shock as she finds herself face to face with an image of an ugly orange scaly demon.
"What the hell!" She exclaims as she snatches the photo away from Xander who was now laughing violently when she glares at him he merely grins at her "Knew that would get your attention."
Buffy rolls her eyes and pushes past him to sit on the leather couch in the corner of his office.
As she does Xander lifts a file off his desk before placing it in front of her "This one is going to be a little trickier Buff."
Buffy frowns and takes the file from Xander's hand, she groans as she sees the photo of her next target in his human shell, she glances up at Xander, an astonished look on her face "A preacher?"
"Yep. And the minute you make this one well you'll be up against a massive slimy scaly creature I doubt you're going to get any talk out of this one Buff." Xander looks at her hesitantly, he knew what must be going through her mind right now "Are you gonna be okay?"
Buffy nods, not looking him in the eye merely staring at the photo of the church "Yeah."
"Thank you both for coming." The prosecution lawyer says as she and Detective Lance sit in the interrogation room opposite Laurel and Oliver.
"Thank you." Oliver says as he leans back in his chair "It's nice to get out of the house."
The prosecution lawyer, Olivia merely cuts right to the chase "I'll cut right to it." She says facing Laurel "Detective Lance arrested your client without consulting my office first." As she says it Olivia glares at Quinton briefly before continuing "So congratulations, I am willing to consider a plea in this case."
Oliver doesn't even hesitate, there was no way that was going to happen "Absolutely not."
"Mr Queen spent five years in seclusion on a deserted Island cut off from civilisation." Olivia argues "It is quite possible he's suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress." As she speaks Oliver glares at her, clearly not happy with this "Give that, we would support a plea of insanity conditional on a period of indeterminate incarceration at a psychiatric facility."
Oliver stares in disbelief, this was not a part of his plan, this was not what was supposed to happen, there was no way in hell he was going to a psychiatric facility, he wasn't insane "No." He chuckles "Thank you. I'm not crazy."
Lance turns his gaze to Oliver, his eyes and voice full of distant "Finally something we agree on. He's not a nut. He's a killing machine."
"Actually, I'm neither." Oliver says, offering both Lance and Olivia a kind smile, trying to convince them. Unfortunately he knew that wouldn't work, definitely not on Lance.
"There is nothing you can say to me that I would believe." Lance says.
Oliver nods, after a moment of contemplation he turns to Olivia "I'll take a polygraph."
Buffy holds her ankle length leather jacket tighter to her, making sure not one aspect of her suit could be seen by the observer's eye. The negative of having the confront this demon in such a public place was the fact that she couldn't bring her scythe. And if she walked in there with a massive rucksack she'd draw too much attention to herself.
Tucking her hair behind her ears she slowly steps into the church, as she walks down the aisle her breathing picking up, she hadn't been in a church in years and last time wasn't exactly a pleasant memory.
When she spots the preacher all her horrible memories are quickly sent to the back of her mind and she quickly moves to sit down.
She watches the preacher, Joseph speaks to the other people in the church offering them kind words, she could almost laugh, he was good, he knew exactly how to play them. As they handed him money she could almost see the smirk on his face.
She quickly looks down as he makes his way towards her, allowing her hair to fall around her, covering her face. Lifting up her mask covering her mouth and nose she loosens her hold on her jacket.
"Miss? I haven't seen you around here before. I'm Father Joseph, what is your name child?"
Buffy doesn't say anything, she merely reaches for her watch and presses the button on the side, as she does a loud fire alarm goes off and everyone begins to leave the church.
Joseph turns around panicked, he needed those people here and now they were all leaving.
Buffy grabs Joseph and tosses him across the room sending him crashing into the organ. She moves to stand in the middle of the aisle and whips off her jacket before tossing it away. "We need to have a little chat."
As she speaks her eyes widen as Joseph begins to groan, her eyes widen as she watches his body contort in awkward positions before his skins starts to peel off, blood dripping off him as his true form comes forward.
Buffy stares wide-eyed, as not a moment later a 15-foot large demon was standing in front of her "Oops."
Five Years Ago - London
"Okay Sunnydale High feels anyone?" Buffy mutters as her, Giles and Xander make their way through the burnt up half destroyed building that use to be the Watcher's Council.
Xander raises his hand in agreement "It's got the creepy, evil vibe thing working for it."
Giles shakes his head, he spent too much time around American's to the point that he was actually starting to understand them now. "Can you two focus please?" He asks before pauses as he looks around the room "It does share some similarities to the remains of the library."
Buffy and Xander grin successful before continuing to walk through the large building.
As they walk Buffy stops in her tracks as she hears a grumbling noise coming from down the hall "Buff?" Xander asks only to have her 'shh' him.
Closing her eyes she listens as carefully as she can, trying to listen for the amount of footsteps "I think..." She whispers before carefully opening her eyes "...down the hall. One demon."
Giles nods "That's the library. The volumes of the earliest watcher's records will be there."
Buffy nods, taking in this information. She grabs her bag off Xander and pulls out the scythe "Wait here."
When both men try to argue, she merely places her hands on her hips and glares at both of them "Anyone wanna try and get in my way."
Both men gulp before shaking their heads.
The blonde smiles before twirling the scythe in her hands and making her way down the hall "When I have it distracted I'll call you in. In and out."
Xander giggles slightly "That's what she said."
Buffy rolls her eyes before making her way towards the door at the end of the hall. Taking a deep breath and moves to push the door open only to suddenly be yanked off her feet as something grabs her ankle and drags her into the room before pinning her to the ceiling.
Starling City – Present Day
Oliver stares at the polygraph in front of him, trying to calm his heartbeat, he knew the only way to make sure he passed was to carefully select every answer he gave. Glance at Laurel for a brief moment he turns back to Lance as the test begins.
"Is your name Oliver Queen?" The technician asks.
Oliver can't help but smirk slightly "You don't know who I am, detective?"
"The questions are to calibrate the polygraph. Is your name Oliver Queen?" Lance hisses
Oliver stares at him blankly, clearly not amused "Yes."
"Were you born in Starling City, May 16, 1985?" The technician continues.
"Yes."
"Is your hair blue?"
"No."
"Ever been to Iron Heights Prison?" Lance asks next, holding back the grin threatening to appear. He had Queen now, and he knew it.
"No." Oliver tells him.
Lance glances down and frowns at the sight of the polygraph, he grabs the file on the table and begins to flip through it. Pulling out the sketch of The Hood he raises it towards Oliver "Are you the man in this picture?"
Buffy groans in pain as the yellow demon wraps a sharp claw around her and pins her to the ceiling. Struggling to break free she looks for an escape, panicking as her vision begins to blur.
"No." Oliver answer as he stares at the image in Lance's hands.
At his answer, Lance turns to the technical who gives him a swift nod, Lance's jaw immediately tightens and he bites his lip. He swallows his irritation and turns back to Oliver "You steal $40 million off Adam Hunt?"
"No, I didn't." Oliver answers after a brief breathe.
"Were you marooned on an Island called Lian Yu for five years?"
"Yes." Oliver answers sharply as Laurel turns to her father appalled, that wasn't relevant and he knew it "How is that even relevant."
Her father merely glances at her, the anger at her decision to defend Oliver still evident on his face "I don't need to show relevance, but since you ask, whatever happened to your client on that Island turned him into a cold-blooded killer."
Five Years Ago - London
Buffy aimlessly swings the scythe at the creature, however, it seemed as though every time she cut off another arm, it merely grew too more.
She panics as it reaches for her again, running towards the moulding bookshelf she leaps up placing her foot on a high shelf and pushing herself into the air.
Flipping through the air she grabs onto the chandelier in the middle of the room, allowing it to spin her towards the door, jumping off the chandelier she lands by the door.
"Guys! Need a little help here!" She yells just as another one of the creature's arms wrap around her waist and one of its claw's digs into her back "Ahhhh!"
Starling City – Present Day
Oliver sighs at Lance's response, but a part of him that he would never listen to couldn't help but agree with the detective.
"The physician that examined you reported that 20% of your body is covered in scar tissue." Lance continues ignoring the disgusted looks his daughter was currently throwing at him.
Buffy coughs violently as the creature continues to add pressure to her rib cage, making it harder and harder for her to catch her breath. She shifts slightly trying to reach for one of her blades, however, her attempts are futile. She huffs in frustration before she remembers something. Glancing down at her boots she slams the heels together, as she does a small blade appears at the toe of each boot. Grinning to herself she uses all of her strength to force the massive hand away from her body, when she has enough leverage she swings her legs around stabbing the creature in the eye, causing it to howl.
Laurel glanced at Oliver, sympathy filling her gaze "The machine won't work unless you ask a question." She tells her father, all while keeping her gaze on her ex.
Lance grins slightly "Did that happen to you there?"
Oliver forces himself to look Lance in the eyes as he answers "Yes."
"When you came back you told everyone that you were alone on that Island. Are you claiming that your scars were self-inflicted?"
Oliver takes a deep breath, this was getting harder and harder for him to stay in control "No. I wasn't alone. I didn't want to talk about what happened to me on the Island."
Lance grins, successful, he finally trapped him against a wall, there was no getting out now "And why not?"
"Because the people that were there tortured me." As the words leave his lips Laurel's eyes widen and she turns to him shock filling her expression.
Lance having no sympathy but feeling slightly less interested in learning about the pain Oliver had suffered through "Have you ever killed anybody?"
Oliver looks down, swallowing his anger and all the emotions threatening to break through him. After a brief moment allowing him to compose himself he looks back up "Yes. When I asked your daughter Sara to come on that yacht with me, I killed your daughter."
Five Years Ago - London
Buffy cries out as the creature digs its claw across her lower back ripping through the skin. Gritting her teeth, Buffy forces herself out of its grasp crying out as the claw scratched over her bone at the movement. Once she was free she turns and slices the arm with the scythe watching it drop to the ground.
"Buffy!" Giles exclaims as him and Xander run into the room and spot Buffy just as she collapses against the wall.
Buffy glances over at them, her vision blurring by the second, however as she notices the creature turn towards her friends, she forces herself to stand, biting her lip painfully to keep from screaming.
"Hey!" She screams making the creature turn towards her again, once she has it's attention she launches the scythe at it.
She holds her breath watching the scythe flip through the air, before burying itself in the creature's heart.
"Now!" She yells towards Xander who immediately lights up the flamethrower in his hands.
She watches as the creature is lit up in flames before darkness consumes her.
Starling City – Present Day
Buffy places her heel at the throat of the creature who was still howling and clutching his bleeding eye. She glances down at him, an eyebrow arched in interest "Well for a big guy...well...you're kind of a big baby. Xander didn't cry this much when his eyes got poked eye. And don't blame me I love the guy but he has a very feminine side."
The creature ignores her and merely continues to howl, after a moment she rolls her eyes and sits on the demon grabbing a blade from her thigh and holding it against it's throat "Talk!" She hisses, adding pressure to his throat.
"Stop! Stop! Please!" The demon begs, actually begging, a 15-foot feral demon.
Buffy can't help but laugh at the irony of it, she quickly gets back to her serious look "You wanna end up in little pieces, causing I swear I may only have this blade which just means this is gonna be real slow and painful."
The demon begins to cower "I'll talk!"
Buffy grins "Who? Who is running the organisation that turns you human?! Who!?"
The demon begins shaking violently terrified "I ca—can't. The—they will kill me." He stutters.
Buffy tilts her head and grabs another blade, and grabs a hold of the demon's ear "What do you think I'm going to do?" She asks before slicing the blade through his ear.
As he screams she grabs him pinning him to the ground to keep him from fidgeting "You tell me now and I will let you go."
The demon glares at her but at this point he was now too terrified to argue "The Triad!" He yells "That's it. That's all I know! I swear."
Buffy smiles "Thank you." She says before sighing, finally, she drives the blade into his heart, watching shock fill his eyes before his body begins to melt.
The blonde stays frozen for a brief moment before standing, she places her knives back on her legs before running towards the window. Climbing up the cross in the room she leaps off it towards the window before making her way into the dark street.
"Muller's car has been parked in the warehouse district of the Glades for 45 minutes." Oliver tells Diggle as they speak in his bedroom, hidden away from the busy party taking place downstairs.
Oliver hands Diggle his phone allowing him to see the map showing Muller's vehicle.
As Diggle looks at it he nods "Yeah, that's a good place for an arms deal. Ok, since it's going down tonight, what do we do? Drop a dime on Muller with the cops?" He asks as he hands Oliver the phone back.
Oliver shakes his head, he had a plan, one that if Diggle agreed to would solve all their problems "No. The man in the hood. He's going to stop them."
Diggle sighs before gesturing to the very obvious piece of metal currently shackled to Oliver's ankle "Oliver, you can't leave the house."
"It doesn't have to be me in the hood." Oliver says hesitantly before looking John in the eye.
Diggle takes a second before he get's Oliver's point, he scoffs, he couldn't be serious "That's why you threw this ridiculous party, so you have 100 witnesses placing you here at the house while I'm supposed to be across town dressed as a vigilante?"
As Diggle's anger begins to rise Oliver tries to reassure him "I thought this was going to be good enough just for you to be seen in the hood."
Diggle growls slightly and begins pacing around the room, running all the possible outcomes of this idea in his head. None of which ended well.
Buffy climbs in through the balcony door at her apartment, covered in demon blood. As she steps into the living room Willow who was currently reading The Falcon Head turns her head only to gasp, dropping the book she runs over to Buffy panicked that her friend was hurt.
As Willow approaches her Buffy offers her a small smile "It's not my blood."
Willow pauses as the scent hits her, she ignores the smell "Are you okay?"
Buffy nods and moves past her friend reaching for the bottle of whiskey on the table taking a long drink before pulling the bottle away and wiping her lips "Got a bit rough. But I got something."
Willow frowns, first at the sight of Buffy clutching the booze, she may have the occasional drink but both her and Xander were more aware of the amount Buffy could drink after Afghanistan.
Willow sighs before approaching Buffy "What did you get?"
"A name. The Triad."
Oliver stands in front of Laurel in his bedroom, hanging onto every word that she was saying.
"I didn't know about the torture. Or the scars."
At her words he looks down at her, staring into her eyes as she continued "What happened to you on that Island was far more that you deserved. And I was wrong that I didn't ask you before. But I'm asking you now. I need to know. I need to see."
Oliver freezes, he hadn't expected this, he never thought she would come here, let alone ask these questions, he looks at her hesitantly before speaking "Are you sure?"
When she nods he unbuttons his shirt allowing her to pull it to the side to examine the scars covering his chest. She gasps in shock at the sight of them "How did you survive this?"
"There were times when I wanted to die." He says honestly "In the end, there was something I wanted more."
Laurel's eyes fill with water and the next thing the both of them knew she was kissing him.
Just as he began to kiss her back she pulls away gasping, she quickly panics and heads for the door.
Oliver stands there not turning to follow her "You don't—Laurel, you don't have to go." At his words his hears the door slam shut. She was gone.
Five Years Ago – London
"Buffy!" Giles exclaims as him as Xander approach the barely conscious blonde.
Xander's eyes widen at the sight, Buffy's lower back had a long deep slice an inch in width, it was bleeding heavily too much for them to stop.
Giles glances at Buffy who was trying to speak but it was coming out as barely a mumble, however when he moves to add pressure to her wound, to try and stop the bleeding she screams a horrifying scream.
Xander panics and clutches her hand letting her squeeze it, even though she was probably crushing his bones.
"X—xanmer." Buffy mumbles "Xam—Xander. The books."
Xander's eyes widen in shock "Buffy no, we've got to get you to a hospital!"
Buffy takes a shaky breath "No time."
"Willow!" Xander exclaims.
Giles sighs "She's meditating. Try to contact the other realms to looks for magical links to locate the Slayers. She won't hear us." He glances down at Buffy "If we move her she'll die." He whispers "That demon has a venom in the claws. It's not fatal until ten minutes after it enters the blood stream."
"So what do we do?"
Giles sighs, he knew what he had to do, but the idea of doing this to the girl he thinks of as his own daughter killed him. "We have to cauterize the wound." He tells the young man who immediately looks at him in horror.
"That could kill her! Giles!"
Giles runs his hands through his hair, pulling at the strands harshly "The venom will kill her, the only way to stop it is to burn it out of her system. Cauterising the wound will get rid of the venom and will stop the bleeding long enough for us to get her to Willow."
Buffy who had been fading in and out of consciousness coughs violently as a burning sensation begins to fill her, suddenly she coughs violently again this time blood pooling out of her mouth.
Xander looks down at the blonde, clutching her head in his lap as continues to let her destroy his hand.
Buffy stays lucid long enough to take Xander's other hand and look him in the eye "Get the books. Then do it."
Oliver sits on his desk, still frozen after the events that had occurred earlier with Laurel. Instantly however his body goes straight at his phone rings.
"Man in the hood, one." John says as Oliver answers "Gangbangers, zero."
When there is a knock at the door, Oliver momentarily pulls his phone away from his ear "Hold on."
"Mr. Queen." A voice says from behind the door "If you're entertaining guests upstairs should I have some drinks sent up?"
Oliver sighs "No, it's just me up here, and I'm on my way back down." He says as he moves towards the door, bringing the phone back to his ear "Good job. Now get back here." He tells John just as he opens the door only to find the waiter at the door holding a gun to his face.
Grabbing the waiter's hand he moves the gun and punches his in the face.
The two squabble around the room however just as the waiter manages to gain the upper hand a loud gun shot goes off and he drops to the ground, Detective Lance standing behind him holding his gun.
Buffy stands with her head under the showerhead, letting the water drip down her face, taking shaky breaths she watches the blonde seep away from her revealing the scars on her stomach, the long scar on her left thigh as well as the thin scar on the outside of her elbow.
With a sigh she clenches her fist before climbing out of the shower.
She stands in front of the mirror, wiping away the stream she looks at the scars like she always did. She turns her back to the mirror and glancing over her shoulder she looks at the scars and burns there, however, for the first time in a long time, her sight was drawn to the long deep thick scar on her lower back.
Five Years Ago
Xander watches as Giles piles the books in the bag before making his way back to them. He looks at Buffy carefully before turning to Xander "The venom will have weakened her, so you're gonna be able to hold her down."
Xander's eyes widen "Wait what?!" He shakes his head, he couldn't help inflict Buffy to more pain.
"Alexander!" Giles exclaims, catching his full attention, if she moves an inch when I do this, it will kill her. I am counting on you, Buffy is too."
Xander looks at Giles before looking down at his best friend, he was terrified of losing her again so this needed to be done, he doesn't say anything he merely nods and moves to hold down her arms making her wince slightly "I'm sorry, Buff." He says softly.
Giles sighs before grabbing his gun and his lighter, and a bottle of whisky. He pulls out several bullets and begins opening them up to get access to the powder. As he does this he hands the bottle of whisky to Xander. "You have to clean the wound, this is all we have."
Xander reaches out a shaky hand and takes the bottle.
"Wait for my signal." Giles says as he grabs the long metal blade from the bag, as he begins to heat up the blade, Buffy's eyes open and she begins shaking.
Giles takes a deep breath, he had not seen her this scared since she was 16, shaking his head he touches the blade only to have to pull his hand away.
He glances over at Xander "It's time."
Xander looks down at Buffy "It's gonna be alright." He tells her before wincing as he pours the whisky on the wound. Immediately she begins screaming and as she struggles Giles and Xander hold her down.
After a moment Giles nods at Xander who moves to hold Buffy's shoulders, ignoring the pain of her digging her nails into his thigh.
Giles takes a deep breath before moving as quickly as he can, pouring the powder in the wound before placing the boiling blade to the wound.
The moment he does all that can be heard is the sound of Buffy's blood-curdling scream
Starling City – Present Day
"So you lied to her, or maybe you just gave her a version of the truth." Diggle points out as Oliver walks across the lair holding a large wooden crate. As Oliver places the crate on the table he speaks "I told her what she needed to hear, Diggle. She was too close."
Diggle stands "Sad thing is, I think you actually believe that. I think things didn't go down exactly as you planned. You didn't count on so many people having questions, doubting you. You didn't think about what happens when you lie—especially when you lie to the ones you love."
Oliver freezes his hand hovering above the crate, after a moment he turns to Diggle "Let me ask you something Dig, that girl, Buffy. She's your best friend. Like a sister right? Did you tell her about this?" He asks gesturing to the lair.
Dig sighs "Buffy's different man."
"No, I see your face when you talk about her, she's like a sister to you. You're protecting her. Just like I am with the people in my life."
"No matter how it affects them?" Diggle asks as he moves to stand opposite the man who was slowly becoming his friend "Or how it might hurt them."
Oliver stays quiet for a moment before looking John in the eye "You're wrong. I think about it all the time. And just to be clear, not being able to tell my family truth—it doesn't hurt anyone worse than it hurts me."