Chapter I
A/N: I'm having a lot of fun with this story and Earth 626. Looking forward to seeing what you all think! The chapters will mostly be by episode, with some filler chapters here and there. This chapter got a little bit out of hand. Then again, it is the first episode. Today is my birthday! Thank you for your help Sean. SSD
Update 5/7/21: No longer on Earth 626. Now on Earth 1.
Dr. Park is standing outside the hospital room, which Oliver is in, as he tells Moira about what he's found out about Oliver.
"Twenty percent of his body's covered in scar tissue. Second degree burns on his back and arms," Dr. Park behind to tell Moira. "X-rays show at least 12 fractures that never properly healed," Dr. Park continues on, as he pulls out the x-rays from the folder to show her next. "Moira, I'd like you to prepare yourself…" Dr. Park goes on to say, as he closes the folder. "The Oliver you lost might not be the one they found," Dr. Park continues on, before they look into the room, through the glass of the door.
Moira now opens the door to step into the room with Oliver in it. She looks back and sees that Erika has finally arrived with Darius. Oliver is looking out the window, onto the city he once knew. "Oliver?" Moira exclaims in a sigh of relief of seeing that Oliver is still alive after all this time. "Mom," Oliver responds softly after turning around to look at his mother. He says this, like a person who has seen some things.
Oliver now looks up and sees Erika coming into the room behind Moira, "hey Erika."
"Hey Lunkhead," Erika responds, as if unimpressed. "Be nice Erika. Your brother is alive and well."
"It's okay mom, she's just being a sister," Oliver smiles, then looks over at Erika. Erika squints at Oliver, and sees that something is noticeably different, but she can't quite put a finger on it. "Whenever you're ready to go home, I'll be waiting outside. Thea has been waiting to see you again."
"Oh yes, that's right, Thea would be thrilled to see you. She's just getting out of school, so that's why she couldn't make it," Erika overhears Moira telling Oliver, as she walks out the room, closing the door behind herself.
Erika now walks over to Darius, "How's the kid doing?" Darius asks of Erika as she approaches. "He's acting way too normal" Erika responded before saying, "You know? Something doesn't seem right about Ollie," as she turns her head and slightly close her eyes as if she's thinking of something.
"Look, the kid has been through an ordeal and all," Darius replied. "Still, I feel like it's something else, that I'm missing something," Erika continues softly as they are both looking away from the room that Oliver is in.
"You two talking about me?" Oliver asks under his breath, as he steps up behind the two. "Jesus Christ kid! Where in the blazes did you come from?" Darius asking whilst jumping by being slightly startled. "Hi, I'm Oliver, Erika's big brother," Oliver says, as he reaches out a hand to shake Darius'.
"Isn't this guy old enough to be your boyfriend?" Oliver sharply says in a joking manner, after he turns his head to look at Erika. Darius steps to, to Oliver about to say something with an annoyed look on his face. Erika knows this look, so she quickly reaches to stop Darius from snapping at Oliver. "Okay, I got it, I got it," Darius whispers to Erika, while taking a deep breath. Erika looks back at Oliver quickly to respond, "he's actually my mentor..." Erika looks back up at Darius, "...of sorts."
"Yeah, I'm actually her..." Darius begins to say, as Erika speaks up at the same time as Darius, "yoga instructor." "Martial arts instructor," Darius looks down at Erika with further annoyance. "He's both," as Erika looks back at Oliver. Oliver raises his eyebrows and looks down a bit and smiles to himself. "Well, anyway, I'm too old for her. I'm old enough to be both of your..." Darius quickly tries to tell Oliver.
Erika quickly puts her hand on Darius' chest to get him to stop talking, "he doesn't need to know all of that," Erika looks at Oliver and gives him a cynical smile. Oliver raises his hands in surrendering fashion, "whatever you're into, I'm not judging. You're old enough to make your own decisions," Erika raises a pointed finger up at Oliver, annoyed now herself, "I'm going to hurt you," Oliver smiles again then says, "let's go home. You ready?" Oliver looks back at Darius, "it was nice to meet you Darius," then turns to walk away back to Moira. Darius watches Oliver walk away with an annoyed smirk.
He turned to Erika saying, "There is something off about that kid. I didn't even smell him walk up on us." Erika looks towards Oliver, "Tell me about it," she says softly. Erika looks back at Darius, "I'll see you later. I'm going to ride home with them. I can't wait to see Thea's face when she sees him again. She missed him so much. We both have."
Erika keeps an eye on Oliver, as they ride home. Oliver sits there with a big smile on his face, as they drive home, looking out the window at the city he was born and raised in. Erika was going to be the hardest to fool. She had always seemed to know when he was up to something or when she was being lied to, and that was by anyone.
Before the wreck, Oliver had never been able to successfully lie to his middle sister. Even now, he wasn't entirely sure he would be able to pull it off with success. It would be a good test of his abilities to see if his could manage it.
"I've got it," Oliver tells Moira, as he opens the door to their mansion to enter. "Your room is exactly as you left it," Moira tells Oliver, as she walks in with Oliver with Erika following close behind. "I never had the heart to change a thing, Moira continues to say. Oliver looked around the mansion. Nothing seemed to have changed in the past five years.
"Oliver!" A strong voice says, as he comes walking over. "Damn good to see you," this big strong looking black man says. "It's Walter," Moira tells Oliver. "Walter Steele," Moira continues, as she looks up at Oliver, and noticing that he doesn't recognize Walter. "You remember Walter. Your father's friend from the company," Moira continues still. Oliver smiles to play along, then he turns to see the maid walk over.
"It's good to see you, Raisa," Oliver says, greeting the maid. "Welcome home, Mr. Oliver," Raisa merrily responds back. "Mr. Merlyn phoned. He wants to join you for dinner," Raisa said, ignoring Erika's theatrical groan, as she turns to speak to Moira. "Wonderful," Moira says with a big smile. "Oliver? Did you hear that?" as she turns to look back at Oliver.
He was barely in the doorway when a streak of black hair came in and wrapped her arms around his chest. "I am never letting you go out on open water again!" Erika murmured when she pulled back a bit. "Still can't show a soft side in public I see," Oliver retorts. Erika slightly punches Oliver in the chest. "Ow! You hit hard," Oliver responds. Oliver and Erika then looked up as they see Thea coming down the stairs.
"Hey, sis," Oliver tells Thea with a big smile. "I knew it. I knew you were alive," Thea says in response as she begins to hug Oliver. "I missed you so much," Thea continues. "You were with me the whole time," Oliver whispers to Thea.
That night, Oliver and Erika answered the door. Tommy Merlyn, Oliver's best friend is standing there with a big smile. "What did I tell you? Yachts suck," Tommy says merrily at seeing Oliver after five years. "Tommy Merlyn," Oliver exclaims with joy, "I missed you, buddy."
A short time later Oliver, Moira, Walter, Erika, Thea, and Tommy are all sitting at the dinner table.
"Okay, what else did you miss?" Tommy goes on to say at the dinner table. "Super Bowl winners: Giants, Steelers, Saints, Packers, Giants again. A black president, that's new. Oh, and Lost. They were all dead. I think," Tommy rambles on. "What was it like there?" Tommy now changes the subject addressing Oliver. "Cold," Oliver responds solemnly."
Tommy now looks over at how she eats, and drinks. "Wow! I still wish I had your metabolism." Erika them tore into her blue rare steak, ignoring him in favor of the meal. "You sure know how to swallow. But I've already seen that." Tommy says in humor, as Erika doesn't respond. "You only wish you could," she whispers, but enough so that everyone at the dinner table can hear. Thea, in the middle of drinking, spit takes her beverage, and started cackling.
"Erika!" Moira laments in shock, even though she was expecting some kind of verbal sparring between the pair. "What? He started it," Erika retorted as she stabs at her food. "We are going to have a talk about this later young lady," Moira continues on. "Tomorrow, you and me do the city," Tommy says after smiling with satisfaction, "You've got a lot to catch up on."
"Great idea," Moira says with happiness, as things are coming together. "Good. I was hoping to swing by the office" Oliver puts in. "There's plenty of time for all that," Walter interrupts. "Queen Consolidated isn't going anywhere," Oliver looks over at Walter as he says this, as they look at each other, ready to duel.
Raisa the maid now comes over to the table and bumps into Oliver, almost falling over, "I am so sorry, Mr. Oliver."
"Все нормально," Oliver tells Raisa, as he catches her to help her get rebalanced. Dude, you speak Russian?" Tommy asks excitedly. Erika quickly looks up while eyeing Oliver after Tommy says this. "Didn't know you took Russian at college," Walter says impressed. Erika's eyes flit over to Walter. "II didn't realize you wanted to sleep with my mother, Walter," Oliver lightly retaliates.
The table quickly becomes silent. "I didn't say anything," Thea finally speaks up. "Don't look at me," Erika said after that. "She didn't have to," Oliver continues. "Oliver, Walter and I are married and I don't want you to think that either one of us, did anything to disrespect your father," Moira raises in defense. "We both believed that Robert, like you, was, uh..., Moira looks over at Walter. "...well, gone," Moira looks back at Oliver once again.
"It's fine," Oliver responds, as he wipes his mouth with a dinner napkin. "May I be excused?" Oliver asks, not wanting to look at anyone at the table. Moira nods in acceptance. Oliver proceeds to get up from the table and head to his bedroom. "Hey, don't forget about tomorrow, buddy," Tommy looks back to tell Oliver, as he walks away.
"Sara," Oliver quietly calls out to Sara. "One, two, three," Oliver continues, as she's standing in the cabin with Oliver in her lingerie. "It's getting closer," Sara tells Oliver about the impending storm. "That's not very scientific," Oliver responds with a smile. "What would you know about science, Mr. Ivy League drop out?" Sara says back to Oliver, as she walks over to him.
"I happen to know a lot about science," Oliver says, as he pulls out a bottle of champagne. "I know about fermentation," Oliver continues while looking at the Oliver. Sara then sits on his lap. "I know biology," Oliver then starts to caress Sara. "Laurel's gonna kill me," Sara says a little worried. "Oh, she's so gonna kill me," Sara continues in full realization.
"Your sister will never know," Oliver reassures Sara. "Come here," Oliver pulls Sara in to lie down with him in bed. The two begins to laughs playfully. Suddenly now, there's a big bump that hits the ship. "Okay, that one was really close," Sara says with anxiousness. "Sara, we're gonna be fine," Oliver tells her, as he tried to reassure himself now.
Another hard hit rocks the ship, throwing Sara off the bed. Then an even bigger hit rocks the ship, causing the ship to turn over. Sara screams in horror as she slides out the ship, disappearing from Oliver's sight. "Sara!" Oliver calls out to her, but to no avail.
The flashback skips to Oliver, Robert and a crew mate on the life raft. "Oliver! Oliver!" Robert shouts out to Oliver, as he tries to hold him in the life raft. "Sara!" Oliver shouts out to the open waters, hoping she'd hear him. "No! No! No, dad, she's out there!" Oliver looks back at Robert, as he's almost ready to jump into the water to look for Sara.
"She's not there," Robert continues to hold Oliver down from jumping into the water. "Sara!" Oliver continues, but this time with defeat. "She's gone," Robert whispers to Oliver to get him to be calm.
"Oliver! Wake up. Oliver!"
"Oliver!" Moira by desperately says, as she tries to wake Oliver up. Oliver flips Moira onto the ground in a traumatic reflex, then realizes he's been having a nightmare. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," Oliver profusely apologizes and cries out as he crawled over and curled up by the window, as heavy rains pour down outside, reminding him of what happened that night, the Queen's Gambit went down.
"No, it's okay, Oliver," Moira goes over to Oliver and sits with him and hugs him for comfort. "It's all right, sweetheart. You're home," Moira looks up and sees Erika standing in the shadows of Oliver's bedroom doorway. "You're home," Moira rests her face against Oliver's added comfort.
The next morning Oliver finds himself outside Thea's room and sees she's with a school friend. "Ollie," Thea says, as she sees him coming into her room. "No one's called me that in a while, Speedy," Oliver says softly. "Worst nickname ever," Thea responds slightly bothered. "What, always chasing after you as a kid? I thought it fit pretty well. Maybe it still does?" Oliver continues with a smile.
"See you at school, Speedy," Thea's school friend says, as she grabs her backpack and leaves the room. "Sorry about her," Thea tells Oliver, as they see the girl out. "I have something for you," Oliver hands Thea a small box. "You did not come back from a deserted island with a souvenir," Thea strongly says, but playfully, as she accepts the gift from Oliver.
"It's a Hozen and in Buddhism, it symbolizes reconnecting," Oliver explains what it is, as Thea opens the box to look at what's inside. "I kept it, in hopes that one day it would reconnect me with you."
"A rock. That is sweet," Tommy calls out sarcastically, as he walks into Thea's room, with the two in it. "I want one of those T-shirts that says, "My friend was a castaway and all I got was this crappy shirt."
"Got that one for Erika," Oliver replied.
"Don't let him get you into too much trouble," Thea points to Oliver. "You just got back. Take it slow." Oliver leans over to kiss Thea on the cheek and hug.
"Ahem. The city awaits," Tommy tells Oliver. Tommy eyes Thea really hard as they leave the room. As Oliver and Tommy head out of Thea's room, Tommy points back at Thea, "Have you noticed how hot your sister has gotten?" Oliver looks back at Tommy and gives him a dirty look. "Because I have not" Tommy responds with surrender. As they head out the house, they pass by Erika in the library, wearing a tank top and shorts, Tommy took a moment for a dramatic pause, while snapping his head to look at Erika, "... there's you."
"You. Out. Now!" Erika points to the front door. "Let's go, before she bites my head off," Tommy tells Oliver, as reaches up to rush out the door with him.
"Better pray it's the one on your shoulders!" Erika muttered as she packed up her overnight bag.
"I see what it is," Oliver says to Tommy with a grin, as they made their way out to the car. "What's that buddy?" Tommy asks. "You and Erika…" Oliver begins to say, but stops to see what Tommy has to say about it. Tommy stops in the driver door to look back at Oliver. "What? Erika? Ew, no, come on man. You know us, she'd sooner kill me than kiss me," Tommy rambles on defensively.
"I don't know, I've seen the way you two look at each other at the dinner table last night," Oliver prods on. Tommy head shrinks back flabbergasted. "I guess I was wrong about that old man she was spending time with," Oliver teases, right before he gets into the car. "She's been spending time with an old man?" Tommy looks down into the car at Oliver. "What old man?" Tommy begins to get into the car himself.
"Apparently her yoga and martial arts instructor," Oliver replied.
"Oh you mean Professor Campbell? He was a professor of hers at college too," Tommy answered.
"A man of many talents then…" Oliver mused.
Erika smiled as she dismounted her motorcycle at her house. Shortly after she graduated from UNLV, she used the money that she had access to, to build a house on several acres of land that included a lake.
One of the reasons she had moved out after graduation was that the mansion had begun to feel oppressive, and Erika wanted a place to herself. Another reason was that her own place would enable her to keep her nocturnal activities quiet from many others. Primarily her stepmother.
"So how's your brother," Amira asked as she got out of the lake after her swim.
"Better than I feared, but not as good as he would like everyone else to believe. More happened to him than just being alone on an island for five years. He suddenly knows how to speak near perfect Russian." Erika replied.
"Are you certain he was alone?" Jason inquired once he came up from his hike in the forest.
"As certain as I can be. Want to know something hilarious? He thought Darius and I were seeing each other."
Both of her fellow lycanthropes blinked before laughing their asses off. Erika joined in the hilarity.
"It's not that funny kids." Darius growled from where he was sharpening his hand and a half sword. Which he'd had since that fateful battle in France.
"You're right. It's not funny," Jason said whilst attempting a straight face before giving up howling, "It's HILARIOUS!" Darius glared at the three younger werewolves who were rolling on the ground.
"All right, you three, playtime is over. There's a festival in the part of town where the Children primarily reside and we need to make sure no humans find their way there," Darius ordered.
"Now with the advent of camera phones, our job has become much harder to do," Erika muttered as she got to her feet.
"Stick to the rooftops and the shadows. I know you three know how to blend in with the crowds, even in your gear. I don't want any of you winding up on YouTube." Darius instructed.
"Maybe before the festivities start in earnest, we can get some of the food from the vendors," Jason suggested before saying, "First round of food is my treat!"
"You're going to regret that," Amira said, "The moon is next week, you know we all have to pile on the carbs so we aren't tired after we shift!"
The back alleys of the city were teeming with life. Today was the autumnal equinox, and the supernaturals in the were out in force. They did not have to be as careful as they usually were in hiding themselves and their abilities.
The Children of the Night were not without their unseen guardians. But everyone knew that they were there. The main purpose was protection and keeping the mundanes out of their festivities which could get wild.
They were wearing gray fatigues, with a hood, goggles and a mask covering her face, stands at a rooftop, overlooking the main square where the festivities were taking place. A Hispanic fellow, who appears to be a local, comes out of the rooftop door and proceeds to make his way over to her. "Hey Gigi," the guy says softly, as he approaches. The gray hooded figure turns around to look at the guy. "What do you have for me Jesus?" the vigilante asks through a voice distorter.
He levitated the envelope towards his target, who took it with ease. She now opens the envelope and pulls out the papers, revealing that it's files. "Do you really have to do it like this? I mean, this Grey Ghost thing. How did you even come up with, this?" Jesus proceeds to ask, as she looks over the files. Jesus stands there in silence now, waiting for her to respond. "Adam Hunt. I guess my first warning was ignored" The Grey Ghost mutters while looking at the papers. "Perhaps I'll tell you about it one day," the Grey Ghost said to Jesus. "Thanks for this. This guy needs to be stopped, so he doesn't hurt our people and others like us," the Grey Ghost now looks up at Jesus.
Grey Ghost now walks over to the ledge of the building, then looked back at Jesus briefly. "I'll buy everyone a round at No Man's Land, when I get back," the Grey Ghost says, before she jumps off the rooftop.
She had business in the heart of the city. Both as the Grey Ghost and her ordinary self.
Oliver had had a busy couple of days. Getting attacked by someone's hired goons, talking to Laurel, setting up his lair, getting training going, he had already seen Hunt. Conveniently, his welcome home party was just across from where Hunt's offices were if the man chose not to cooperate. He was going to have to have a chat with Erika about Thea's drug proclivities. Erika was enjoying the party, but he knew she wouldn't be staying for long.
Unsurprisingly, Hunt was not going to cooperate. After giving Diggle the slip, Oliver got to work.
What had surprised him was that there was another person wishing to see Hunt off books. Whoever it was, was definitely on the smaller side of things, but was still holding Hunt a foot or two off the ground. Oliver had already fired an arrow that would be wiping Hunt's account
"I thought I told you to leave the Children alone, and to return what you took from them," the vigilante crooned through their mask and voice distorter, "I warned you not to make me angry. That you won't like me when I am angry." Noticing Hunt's eyes were focusing on someone else behind them. Dropping the man back on the floor, "I didn't know you were having a party, Adam. And who is this?"
Before either could answer, Hunt growled, "Choke on this, assholes!" and threw a grenade. Oliver hit the grenade with an arrow, noise and pain throwing him to the ground.
"Come on, we need to get out of here, before the police show up," the vigilante in grey dragged Oliver to his feet and booked it.
Once they were on the roof on the building across the street and took a breath, Oliver asked, "Thank you for helping me out there. Who are you?"
"I am the Grey Ghost. I am the one who walks unseen unless I will it. You might want to invest in a full-face mask. Technology can do wonders these days with facial recognition software," the voice suggested.
"How long have you been in the city?"
"I have lived here all my life. I've seen the inside of the mansions on the outskirts of the city, and everywhere else. Stay safe, fellow vigilante. The city is most dangerous to those that would see it reforged anew.
Once the Grey Ghost got back to the safe house in the city, they began to remove their weapons and other gear. First to be put away in their cases were a pair of Beretta pistols and their cartridges. Followed by the rig on their back that carried the scabbards for the two single handed swords. A multitude of knives came from increasingly strange places.
Finally, the figure removed the face mask, goggles, and hood. A thick dark brown braid hit her back. Looking in the mirror, Erika said aloud: "So… Where did you get all of those magnificent toys, brother mine?"
A/N 2: This took entirely too long to write. I hope that the next wait will be a much shorter one. Did anyone see the Marvel comics and Batman easter egg references? Looking forward to seeing what you all think!
OC Casting:
Jason Campbell: Richard Madden