The mission was clear, find the man in the Skull Mask. Ensure there were no more Mirakuru vials floating around. And probably most importantly, Get the Identity of Deathstroke. Stop the Siege before it happens.. Or at least lower the amount of Mirakuru soliders present in the siege so lives were saved. How to do that however, was a little more tricky. We were left having to interogate street thugs, drug dealers, trying to find any sort of lead. This next Thug Oliver took alone, we did not want to throw off the polygraph by scaring him too much with both of Starling City's Vigilantes.

I stood on a roof top nearby, on lookout for cops or thug re-enforcements,while Oliver cornered the man. I heard over coms as Oliver said with his voice changer on "The Man in the Skull Mask, where is he?" The Thug replied "I don't know what you're talking about" Oliver filled in the gaps for him "He's been experimenting on people in the Glades. He's leaving a trail of corpses with blood running from their eyes!" The Thug was back peddling "No, no, no, no, no I deal in stolen merchandise, that is it!" I heard an arrow being fired, and the Fense began pleading for his life. Felicity then said "Ask him what color his shoes are." Oliver then said quietly "What?" Felicity then replied "You want this guy to take a polygraph via bluetooth, cool, but I need to hear him establish a baseline. I need to hear him tell the truth just once" I then chuckled and said "Well this should be interesting." I then listened intently for the next things to come out of the Arrow's mouth "What.. Color.. Are your...shoes." The fense sounded confused "What...? They're blue!" I then said "Now Arrow.. Was that so hard?" His silence was answer enough. Felicity then said disappointedly "He's not lying."

Oliver must have left soon after that as he walked up beside me on the roof a couple minutes later. He looked at me and said "He's out there, somewhere." I looked at him nodded "We will find him. We have to find him. And through him, we shall find Deathstroke." He nodded back "And stop this Siege before it even begins. We have to." That was when Felicity then said "We can't do any more tonight. Come home." And with that we left for the Foundry, very disappointed in tonights efforts.

The next morning Oliver decided to check up on Roy, to see if he has experienced any changes since getting the Mirakuru symptoms.. Aside from the strength to hold up excessive amounts of debris He had developed the week before. After he was done talking to Roy he returned to the Foundry. Felicity asked "Has Roy told you anything about the Man in the Mask? Or how he is feeling since that night?" Oliver sighed and replied "Roy is not the kind of guy who is comfortable discussing his feelings." Diggle then added "Not like you, me and David." I chuckled at that. "In my defense, my feelings often are in tandum with the future. Plus it is not like you want to hear about me missing Natasha or anything like that." I shrugged. In reality I did miss her. A lot. And Zeus.. Eragon, Percy. I hoped beyond all measure I would get to see them again someday.. That I really had faked my death to make way for younger me to take up the mantle of Blue Lightning.

Felicity then said "Well, now don't yell at me. But I think we need a new plan on how to find this creepy mask guy. Scaring the crap out of low-lifes isn't yielding results." Oliver then held up a hand "Felicity, I am open to any and all suggestions" That was when Diggle said "Oliver, maybe we are overthinking this. What if the Mask simple got wind that you and David we're after him and decided to skip town." Oliver turned to face him and replied "No. He didn't go through all the trouble of recreating the serum and testing it on people just to walk away." I shook my head "Oliver is right. He didn't just walk away. He needs to create his army for Deathstroke, and he can't do that outside the city. No he is still here.. And we have to find him before it's too late." That was when a phone wrong. It was the Burner we used to contact Detective Lance. Felicity looked at it, and then held it out to Oliver "Lance, for the Arrow." Oliver then answered the phone. After talking to Lance he hung up and turned to me "Tonight, we meet Laurel. She needs us." I raised an eyebrow "Well that's interesting. I wonder what is so important that she is going to set aside her prejudice for us to get our help."

That night we suited up and made our way to the meeting spot. Before heading up I said "It could be a trap Ollie, like the one she left you a few months ago." He nodded "Which is why we are going to do a sweep of the place before we meet her." I nodded back "Good idea. Meet you on the roof." And with that we split apart, doing a quick sweep of the building. I saw nothing and proceeded to the roof just as Oliver greeted her "Hello Laurel" He said with his voice changer on., She then said "You're late." And turned around to meet him, to see me walk up beside him. I replied with my voice changer on "We had to circle around to make sure there wasn't a swat team ready to arrest us." Laurel said "That's fair. Trust me. I wouldn't have asked my father to put me in touch with you if I had any other choice." Oliver then snapped "What do you need?!" Laurel replied "Sebastian Blood. He's about to be the new Mayor of Starling City." I then said "We know who he is." Laurel then looked at me and shook her head "No you don't. No one does. A few weeks ago, I was approached by your groupie Roy Harper and his Girlfriend. They asked me to investigate the death of Max Stanton." She handed Oliver a folder with pictures and reports of Stanton's death, including the red tears from his eyes. Mirakuru. Oliver then said "You think Blood was involved in Stanton's death?" Laurel then replied "Blood.. Or a man that works for him named Cyrus Gold. Gold killed 4 cops, including my Father's partner, Lucas Hilton." I cut her off to say "We know of Gold, we took care of him over a month ago." She nodded and continued "Well Blood and Gold knew eachother from the Orphanage that Blood was raised at. He would do anything to keep the truth about his past hidden. Including Murdering his own mother." Oliver didn't look at her but asked "Why would he do that?" To which Laurel replied "To cover up the fact he killed his father."

Oliver finally turned around at that and my eyes widened at the revelation. My brain running into overdrive. If Blood was really a murderer, and Gold worked for him... he could be the man in the Skull Mask. The man who we had spent over a month looking for could have been righti n front of our noses the whole time. Laurel continued "I tried going to the DA, no one will believe me. I swear to you, Sebastian Blood is Dangerous and you two are the only people in this city that can stop him." I looked at Oliver before I said "We will look into this claim Laurel. Perhaps we have been both looking into the same person all along. We will be in touch. Maybe next time, we won't have to survay the area for SWAT." With that I dropped a smoke bomb and Oliver and I made our exit. Best to cover our tracks in case she was going to have us tailed.

The next morning we were all sitting in the board room off Oliver's office at Queen Consolidated. Felicity then said "Laurel was right. I hacked Blood's cell records and the Alderman and Gold have stayed buddies since Zandia Orphange." Diggle then asked "So what? They kept in touch. Doesn't exactly mean that Sebastian Blood is the man in the Skull Mask." Felicity then said "His last name is Blood, that can't be a good sign." I then piped up "and my last name is Shuter, the name doesn't necessary spell out guilty." She then looked at me "It's pronounced shOOter.. And you do spend your evenings running around with a bow and arrow shooting people, and don't even get me started on Razacrazer." I nodded "Touche" The name was descendant from a famous archer was back in the day, perhaps my path was more written out for me than I thought. Diggle then said "Felicity, he's dedicated his life, risked his life to help the people in the Glades and in is spare time he's a murderer trying to create an army of human weapons? It doesn't make sense" Felicity then pointed out "And You're a personal bodyguard who fights crime at night with his Billionaire boss. A lot of people don't show their real face in public." I noticed Oliver hadn't said a word yet and I asked "Ollie, what are you thinking?" Oliver replied "Laurel gave us a case number to start with. We need to know if Sebastian Blood really killed his father. Then we can figure out if he has the Mirakuru formula." Felicity then nodded "I'm on it." Diggle then said "And what if this is just another trap set by Laurel. She could be setting you up and this time you wouldn't have Sara to save you" Oliver nodded, then pointed at me "That's why I have David." He then walked off. I looked at Diggle and I said "I will keep an eye on Oliver, don't worry. Trust me though.. One day we won't have to worry about Laurel.. And perhaps this case is what starts the healing process." I then took my leave as well.

Later on in the day I got a page from Felicity that she had some news. So I left my office and arrived just as she was greeting Oliver. I said "Lets start with the good news Felicity. Gods know we need some of that for a change." Felicity nodded and we made our way to her desk "Good news is we found the case file on Sebastians Dad's murder." Oliver then asked "Anything in it to suggest he killed him?" That was when Felicity dropped the bomb "Oliver, meet bad news." Diggle told us what that bad news was "That file was sealed over 27 years ago" And Felicity piled on to the bad news with "And since the file is over 27 years old, there is no digital copy for me to hack, the only hard copy is stored the old fashioned way in the city archives." Oliver then said "SO David and I go in and take it, the old fashioned way." I nodded. Felicity then said "Expect its so old school you need a key card to get in, which even if you had you wouldn't know where to look for the file." I scratched my chin and said "The DA's Office should have access... perhaps we need to get Laurel involved in this." Oliver nodded "We'll suit up, you take overwatch, I'll grab Laurel and infiltrate. Felicity try to occupy security cams." And with that we made for the Foundry to suit up.

The plan was simple.. But had so much room for error. I stood atop a roof next to the City archives, keeping watch for police re-enforcements, while Laurel and Oliver looked for the case file. I said in to coms "Rooftop is clear, Arrow, you are Laurel are clear for entry." I watched as Oliver brought Laurel up to the rooftop. He fired an arrow to open one of the air vents to the building. He then said "We're going in." Laurel looked over to me and I gave her a nod. Felicity then said "At least the security cameras are from this century and now they are toast. You have exactly 7 minutes until the system reboots."

7 minutes seemed to be a pipe dream as Felicity said "Oh no, Oliver.." Oliver replied "Whats wrong?" Felicity then said "Looks like we've got the one rent a cop with a brain here. If there is a camera nearby I recommend hiding!" I winced. 7 minutes was already not long enough for Laurel to find one file in a large room full of boxes, but that was hardly 3 minutes. I began to survay the roads around the City Archives, aware police could be around any minute. Felicity then said "Starling's finest will be there any minute, you need to get out of there, now!" Oliver then said "We're not leaving without the file." While I agreed the importance of finding the man in the Skull mask, it would do no good if they were caught.

Once I heard sirens I notched an arrow and pointed it at where the sound was coming from. I noticed right away how many cars there were and reluctantly put the arrow back in my quiver. I then said "Arrow, you have company. There are too many for me to engage without seriously hurting some of them." He simply replied "Acknowledged." I then waited, very tense. Would I have to make a move.. Hurt some police officers so Oliver could get away? After what felt like forever Oliver said over coms "It is not our only way out, get to the east wall and wait for me." I knew what he was planning and made my move. I repelled down to street level and made my way to the east wall. I then notched a zipline arrow and fired it towards the only window on Arrow's floor. He then jumped out the window with Laurel and ziplined down and we made our way to safety.

Once safe from immediate harm Laurel opened the folder to nothing on the inside. She looked defeated so I said "Do not get discouraged Laurel. We will find who took the documents and get them back. You did well tonight." Oliver added "Go home Laurel. We will take it from here. Thank you, for your help." With that we took our leave, headed for the Foundry.

Once there we had Felicity go through security footage from the city archives. After enough time for us to get back into civilian clothing Felicity said "I've finished scrubbing the footage." Oliver asked "Did you see anyone?" Felicity replied "Just this." She showed us on one of her bigger screens, and it was just static "It's all been erased" Oliver then asked "So what happened when you tried to reverse the footprint to see who hacked in before you?" Felicity shook her head "I struck out again. It must have been an inside job." I then asked "and that means?" Felicity said "As a city Alderman, Blood would have had access to the files." Diggle then said "Oliver, David, anyone on city payroll could have done this. This doesn't prove Blood is the man in the Skull Mask." Oliver then replied "He's running for Mayor. One hint that he killed his father and his political future is dead in the water." Diggle then asked "Wait I thought you two were supposed to be friends, don't you think you ought to give him the benefit of the doubt?" I said what I knew Oliver was thinking "Felicity, please keep digging into Blood's past, see if there is anything that can help us." Oliver nodded at me before going to leave "Where are you going?" Oliver called back "To give a friend the benefit of the doubt." He then left.

I turned to Diggle and reminded him "A few months from now Starling City will fall under siege from an army of Mirakuru soldiers that we barely are able to stop, and not before casualties happen. Now is not the time for giving people the benefit of the doubt. The Gold, Blood connection is the only new solid lead we have had in a month. We need to follow it. So don't give us a hard time for it, okay Dig?" With that I took my leave as well, as I went upstairs to Verdant for a drink.

The club was almost cleared out at that point as it was close to closing time. I ordered Rum, hold the coke. Alcohol didn't have the same effect on me since I became a half elf, so I had to get strong drinks to even feel anything. Even then it was nothing more than a beer to me. I sat alone at the bar, drinking, until I felt the air shift in my presence and looked out of the corner of my eye to see Thea standing there. I sighed and said "For the last time Thea.. I am not the Blue Lightning. If I was I wouldn't be drinking at this time of night, I would be out beating up some thugs or something." She shook her head "I'm not here about that.. You made it pretty clear last time I brought it up. I just... need a friend to talk to. If there is one thing I am 100% sure of, you are a good friend to talk problems through with." I adjusted my position and looked at her "Fair enough, What's wrong Thea?" She then said "It's Roy.. He's been, distant since Christmas. I'm worried about him." I nodded "That's only to be expected.. He experienced a significant trauma. He will come around." She shook her head "Thats the thing David.. He normally does by now. I don't know..don't know what to do now." I placed a hand on her shoulder "Thea, there is a reason you two are together. Last year when your mother was in prison, you didn't lean on anyone but yourself. You and him are independent people. But when you were having your own problems to work through, he didn't give up on you. So don't give up on him now. Patience is a virtue. You are strong Thea Queen, don't forget that." She smiled and hugged me "Thanks David. Now get on out of here.. You don't work here anymore so you can't be here after hours." I chuckled and hugged her back before letting go. "Just be careful Miss Queen." I said as I left she called out "I have to be, my protector doesn't work here anymore" I sighed and continued walking.. Apparently she hadn't quite given up on the idea I was Blue Lightning. Sure one day she would have to find out, but I still had a few months.

The next night I was in the Foundry, training, ready for if s crisis arose that would need one of Starling City's Vigilante's. After a few hours of training Felicity got a call. Laurel had been kidnapped and whoever did it wanted to meet the Arrow and Starling Cannery. It was obvious now that Blood was the Man in the Skull mask, as that would be the only reason Laurel would have been targeted with the Arrow at the same time. I began suiting up and said to Felicity "Tell Oliver I will meet him at the Cannery. I will do some recon before he arrives." I then flipped up my hood and headed off.

Once I had done my sweep I awaited on a nearby rooftop for Oliver. It wasn't long until he was standing beside me. I then said "Laurel is in there, the Man in Skull mask is with her, stalking her. No Mirakuru soliders have come or gone since I got her." He nodded "Laurel is our top priority." I looked at him and nodded "Agreed." He then looked at me "I will distract Blood. You flank him and get Laurel to safety" I nodded and reminded him "When you have him beat.. Get Deathstroke's identity from him" He didn't respond to that and simply said "move out." and shot a zipline Arrow, I did the same and away we went.

Once we were in position Oliver loosed an arrow drawing Skull Mask's attention. "Get away from her, Or I will Put...you...down." The Arrow yelled. Skull Mask said "And to think, a few short months ago, you were trying to arrest him." Oliver then said "You wanted me here.. I'm here. Let. Her. Go." Skull Mask then tossed her aside, giving me my window to let loose an arrow on him, hitting the gun out of his hand. I then leapt down from my perch and double foot kicked him, using him as a launching board to get closer to Laurel. Oliver then engaged him in combat and they left my field of view. I turned my attention to Laurel and said with my voice changer "Laurel, are you alright?" She nodded "I...I'm fine." I said "Good.. Lets get you out of here." She shook her head "Go help your Partner. I can make it out on my own. Don't let Sebastian escape." I pursed my lips for second considering her suggestion. I finally said "Fine, but get to safety. No Detours!" I then took off after Oliver.

It wasn't long before I found Oliver on the ground with Skull Mask over top of him, I notched an Arrow and aimed for his head, but hesitated. This was our only lead to who Deathstroke was.. To stopping the Siege. I couldn't kill him. He then reached for his backup gun so I fired into his shoulder, hoping to wound him enough to stop him. But it didn't stop him, I was about to rush him when gunshots went off behind me. The Skull Mask fell down with multiple bullet wounds. I stood there, in shock. Laurel said from behind me "Take of his mask. I need to see." To save face, I murmured "I thought I said no detours." But still couldn't believe what had happened. Oliver took off the mask, and it wasn't blood. I recognized the man though. A police officer. Officer Daley, He was dead. And so was our best and only lead to stopping the Siege.

Later in the Foundry we were all in shock, after wuite a few minutes of silence, Felicity broke it with "Did Laurel really shoot him." Oliver replied "She saved my life." To which I said "Because I hesitated to deliver the killing blow." Oliver shook his head "No, you made the right call, and I am sure had Laurel not stepped in, you would have done was what needed to stop Daley. That doesn't change the fact that she did save my life." Felicity then added "That's a good thing.. Right?" Oliver didn't respond, so Diggle asked "You okay?" Oliver then said "She really had me believing that Sebastian Blood was a criminal mastermind. The only reason I nearly believed her was because it was Laurel. I do have a blind spot where she is concerned. Not anymore." Felicity then said sadly "Certainly know how to talk yourself out of a victory." Oliver smiled slightly "It's a gift." John then shook his head "Take the win man. Daley's dead. You destroyed the Serum, It's over." I shook my head and said "No, the battle is far from over. The Man in the Skull mask wasn't the only one behind the Serum. Deathstroke is still out there, and Roy sill has the Serum in his veins. The Siege will still happen." I looked at Roy on the monitor from the camera's Oliver has set up upstairs in Verdant. This was far from over. Without Deathstroke captured, the Siege was still a possibility.. And now we were back to square one. We had to find Deathstroke, I had to find Deathstroke..or a lot of people, would die.