Days past steadily without respite, and without many more words between the two siblings. No matter the time of day, Oliver and Thea never seemed to be alone together for either of them to acknowledge the events the morning after Oliver's welcome back party.

By the end of the week, the Mirakuru had returned with a vengeance and Oliver was not inclined to speak to anyone one for extended amounts of time, especially not a potentially over-emotional sister.

Oliver strode into the living room scanning the opulent room; his mother lounged in a chair beside the TV, Robert was behind her fiddling with his cuff-links and dark navy blue blazer, and Thea had walked into the room behind them both with a sulky look upon her face.

"Another inquiry into the accusations that businessman Marcus Redman has been exploiting pensioner's superannuation funds was put on hold this week due to yet another withdrawal of victims who have suddenly retracted their claims without comment." The newsreader droned in the background.

Oliver took the time to study his parent's carefully; Moira in her white matching jacket and skirt and sporting one of the less worn Queen family jewellery: A gold necklace with precious stones of various shades arranged in sets of two linked by a delicate chain, and his father in a navy suit and red patterned tie, the gold wedding ring on his finger was dull. He noted the cold tension between them no matter how hard they tried to mask it. Idly, Oliver wondered if the tension was caused by the kidnapping incident or by the drug dealer's body.

"The Kardashians new TV series has been an immense success." The TV continued.

Staring at the screen in distaste, Oliver could not help but snark, "It's nice to see our culture has improved while I was away."

"Five years on an Island and you still know who they are." Thea smirked.

Oliver blinked in some confusion as he recognised the footsteps on the main entrance stairway outside, the Mirakuru's power forcing itself onto his senses. What was Tommy doing here? Oliver continued to verbally spar with Thea but was internally debating how to get rid of his so-called best friend. "I've been catching up."

Moira switched off the TV in exacerbation at her two children's petty argument.

"Do you have any questions for today son? It's a simple proof of life declaration. You just read out a brief prepared statement to the judge and then your death-in-absence will be voided." Robert explained to Oliver.

"It will be fine." Oliver assured. The playboy façade Oliver used immediately came into play, "It's not like it's the first time I've been in a courtroom Dad."

"Four times by my estimate." Tommy interrupted, surprising everyone in the room but Oliver, "You know, there was the DUY, assault on the paparazzi douchebag, stealing that taxi – which was just awesome by the way." Tommy mildly slapped Oliver on his shoulder in some kind of physical recognition of comradery that Oliver no longer felt towards him.

"And who could forget?" Tommy laughed, "Peeing in the cop."

"I wish everyone would." Moira cut into Tommy's drama dryly.

"I'd hang but we're headed to court." Oliver deliberately placed his hand on Tommy's shoulder in an effort to mask his lack of friendliness that he felt towards Tommy.

"I know, that's why I'm here. My best friend is getting legally resurrected. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Right, okay." Oliver muttered, not impressed at all that he would have to deal with an ignorant rich child, before turning to the actual child in the room, "What about you?"

"Ah. I think the first four times of you in court was enough for me." Thea sauntered out of the room, clearly still temperamental after their last true conversation.

"Mr Queen?" Diggle entered the room, "The car is ready."

Robert took the lead, and walked out of the room with an air of silent consideration, pondering the way that even Diggle now deferred his actions to Oliver rather than himself as was proper.

Moira followed silently, ignoring Tommy's polite arm out of her displeasure at him mention Oliver's more risqué attention-seeking stunts. Oliver let Tommy leave the room first and out of habit scanned the room for any remaining threats, flinching at Slade who haunted the corner of his mind constantly.

…/|\...

"Mr Queen? Mr Queen?" Paparazzi and journalists swarmed the black Bentley as it arrived at the court house.

"Can we get a comment sir?"

While Robert, Moira and Tommy managed to slip through the crowds with little harassment, Oliver was forced to rely on Diggle to push the overzealous insensitive vultures out of the way.

"Your return to civilisation after five years on an uncharted island…" "What happened on that island?" "Tell us about the accident that left you stranded for five years on an island."

The flood of noise would be annoying to anyone, but with the Mirakuru enhanced senses it was downright painful.

Pushing through the crowds, careful not to press to hard with his unnatural strength, eventually Oliver was free of the microphones and people.

The court was, if anything, even more boring than it had been before the island. When Oliver was finally asked to speak, he kept it short, simple and as truthful as possible – Slade had whispered in his ear that the greatest lies were those built on a grain of truth; and Oliver knew that he was far better at twisting the truth to outright lying.

"There was a storm." True.

"The boat went down." Also true, but the storm did not bring the boat down.

"I believed that I was the only survivor, until I came home to find Dad still alive." Technically true, when the boat went down I believed that I was the only survivor, but I was aware of my father's continued existence before I 'officially' arrived home.

"No one else made it." False.

"I almost died. I- I thought that I had. Cause I spent so many days on that life raft before I saw the island." True.

"When I reached it, I knew that I was going to live, to survive. And in those Five years, it was that one thought that kept me going." In some ways – True. My will to survive was what truly helped me live, even with the pure Mirakuru in my bloodstream.

The female over-payed lawyer stood up smugly, "Your honour, we move to overturn the death in absenter filed after Oliver's disappearance at sea aboard the Queen's Gambit five years ago. It appears that the Queen family has been entitled with yet another miracle."

Oliver quietly waited as the many journalists left the building in a flurry to send their news to their editors. Eventually the only ones left were his parents, and Tommy.

Oliver once again allowed his father to take the lead, trailing behind with Tommy in a fashion so similar to that before the island.

"Now, onto the offices." Robert announced.

"Everyone is waiting to meet you there." Moira added impatiently, glad that her wayward son was finally taking a proper interest in the family business.

Oliver internally grumbled, he could feel the Mirakuru becoming stronger and stronger – starving from the lack of attention and blood lust, and very much desperate to take any opportunity of weakness and twist his sanity till he became a dark puppet.

"Um… Mum? Dad? That was a-" Oliver hesitated, how could he get himself alone as soon as possible?

"It's simple." Slade sneered, "Appeal to their emotions. They won't want to hurt their precious little Ollie's sensibilities."

"A little heavier than I was expecting it to be. Can we do that tomorrow? Please?"

Moira and Robert exchanged worried glances.

"Of course." Robert answered gently.

Oliver nodded, watching his parents as they moved onwards, still tasting the palpable tension between them.

Tommy's face clouded in confusion as the pair walked down the grand white marble staircase. Just when Oliver was wondering if Tommy had noticed the tension between his parents, he said, "Last week you couldn't wait to get to the company."

"Tommy, I just spent five years away from civilisation, I wasn't exactly think straight." Oliver lied. He could hardly inform Tommy that he only wanted to go to the company to investigate his father and the Queen's Gambit.

As they rounded the corner, Oliver stopped instantly, smelling Laurel's perfume and hearing her unique heartbeat. While he wished to avoid her entirely, he doubted that Tommy would listen to him.

"Hi… Hi." Tommy awkwardly spluttered when Laurel finally appeared in his sight.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded almost angrily.

"They were bringing me back from the dead, legally speaking. I presume you are here for your job." Oliver turned his head towards Laurel's companions, recognising Johanna from the CRNI, but he was unacquainted with the other girl.

"Hi, I'm Oliver Queen." He introduced himself with a flirty smile which elicited the blush he had been hoping for.

"Emily Nocenti."

"Oliver just got back from five years on an uncharted island. Before that he was cheating on me with my sister. He was with her when she died. And last week he told me to stay away from him. It was really good advice. Excuse me."

The Mirakuru rushed his bloodstream, and Slade flickered into view. The overwhelming urge to kill Laurel, or someone, anyone. He needed to get out as he felt the poisonous cage of his infected mind closing around him and knew that his sanity was once more teetering on the edge of the abyss.

For the safety of himself and everyone in Starling city, Oliver needed to be alone with his thoughts again.

"It was nice to meet you." Emily shyly proffered before following Laurel and Johanna further into the courthouse.

Striding towards the door, Oliver contemplated ways of ditching Tommy and Diggle quickly.

"Mr. Summers! One question sir?" The journalists outside had found a new target, swarming around Martin Summers in anticipation.

"I don't know what I have done to earn this witch hunt from Ms Lance and her bosses at the CRNI, but I can tell you this. I'm an honest businessman, and I will fight this slander to my last dime and breath. That's all I have to say. Thank you." Martin Summers announced the clearly pre-prepared statement to the press with an air of smug superiority. It was clear that the 'honest' businessman was certain of the outcome of the case against him.

Slade hissed beside him, "Honest? I've seen politicians more honest than that smug ass."

As Summers moved towards the courthouse, the eye turned onto Oliver.

"There's Mr Queen."

Oliver pushed his way through the bodies, leaving Tommy behind without a second thought, and ignoring the microphones, cameras, and recorders shoved in his face. He allowed Diggle to do his job pushing back the press.

"Step back everybody. Please." Diggle calmly ordered.

He allowed himself to be ushered into the car, smirking cat-like as Diggle lingered for a crucial moment when shoving the paparazzi back – Time to go.

"Alright everyone step back. Hey! I'll make you swallow that Nikon – Back!" Diggle snapped as Oliver climbed into the front seat of the Bentley and took off.

Oliver drove straight to the warehouse, determined to release the build-up of Mirakuru that was screaming for blood.

He wasn't sure if he could continue on this path, already in less than a week, he had almost lost control of the Mirakuru and his sanity multiple times.

It would only take one slip-up for him to be spun on a killing spree that would not stop, not ever. Because there was no one that could save him from this poison and no one to stop him once he lost control.

It was hours later, when the sun had begun to dip below the horizon that Oliver finally stopped.

He needed to come up with a better release mechanism for the Mirakuru, working out wasn't cutting it, and the glass cage should only be used in emergencies.

"I'm sure something will come to you." Slade said slyly, which only made Oliver more nervous, what could the Mirakuru want him to do? And why was it encouraging him to find something to limit its hold on him?