Chapter 10

SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE

11:00 AM

"I swear that the testimony I give before this Committee shall be completely and utterly truthful."

"Please be seated." Senator Daniels tapped his microphone. "State your name and position for the committee."

"My name is Lyla Michaels. For the last eight months, I have been Director of ARGUS."

"And what exactly do your duties entail?"

"You intend to drag this out. Fine. My duties as director are to maintain domestic and international security for the United States. But you know that already. You're the ones who appointed me to do just that."

There was a muttering from the committee. "Director Michaels, we're not here to discuss to what you were appointed to do. But rather what your department has done over the years."

"I have a statement that I wish to have entered into the record," Lyla said patiently. "I believe if I'm allowed to read it into the record, your questions will be answered."

"You may do so." Daniels said.

Lyla didn't need the paper in front of her. She had every word memorized. But she wanted to make sure everybody on this committee heard every word. "In 2006, ARGUS was founded by my immediate predecessor, Amanda Waller. The agenda for ARGUS was simple: to keep the United States safe from threats foreign and domestic. Like so many other agencies under past administrations, Miss Waller was given a blank check in the name of security. You should know. People on this committee basically gave it to her."

Lyla let this sink in. "Amanda Waller became a law unto herself. She authorized clandestine operations in war zones, allowed enhanced interrogations on civilians, and frequently abducted the unwary into her team without asking them. She would take out foreign nationals and allow the death of innocents as collateral damage. She hired known killers and sociopaths – if not out and out psychopaths – to run ops for her. And on at least one occasion, she was willing to sacrifice a city of millions to prevent what she considered a national threat rather than do anything in her power to stop it. For nine years Amanda Waller was practically her own nation. And yet somehow, it's only after she is gone that you want to bring action against the department she founded."

More muttering, but this time it was genuinely uneasy. "I was more than aware of Amanda Waller's actions. I served under her for eight years and several missions – many of them against my will. You distinguished Senators could have called me to testify about what she was up to, and I would've gladly given date, time and places of illegal operations. And yet the first time I ever heard from the head of Intelligence was to be named Acting Director of an organization I had begun to distrust yet out of a sense of patriotism and duty felt I had to serve under."

"Director Michaels, that is not why you are here," Senator Daniels clearly knew where this was going and was trying to regain control of the situation.

"Then why are we here Senator, with the cameras rolling?" Lyla said calmly. "Is it so I can be publicly castigated for my predecessor's sins? Let the blame rest on a dead woman and her replacement in public so that you can toss me aside? And then in six months time, find somebody from your old boy's network who is just as ruthless to take over where Amanda Waller left off now that no one's looking anymore?"

"Is that what you are doing, Director?" Daniels asked. "Are you tendering your resignation?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Lyla said in a tone that would have done the Lance sisters proud. "Have me make a public exit. No, you want me gone; you're going to have to fire me. Something I'm not entirely convinced you have the authority to do. I mean, if you did you would have torched Amanda Waller for exactly what you're accusing me of years ago. Kind of makes me wonder why you didn't. What exactly did she have on you?"

A brave parliamentarian actually spoke up. "Director Michaels, this behavior is unwarranted. If you continue to speak in such a manner, we will hold you in contempt of Congress."

"Oh, gosh. Contempt of Congress. How horrible. I once spent three weeks in a Karachi prison. You really think my eyebrows would curl at D.C. detention?"

No one in the Senate was really equipped for this. Robert's Rules of Order had long since gone out the window. They wanted to clear the galleries and get the cameras out of here, but what was unspoken was that everyone knew that this would only make the situation worse. And they all knew the second they called for an adjournment, every reporter in D.C. was going to crowd around Michaels and demand to know every detail that she hadn't given to the Senate. This had the potential to make Iran Contra look like a Cape Cod clambake.

"Director Michaels." One of the younger Senators on the Committee spoke up. "We are here trying to learn about the mistakes that have been made so that we can illustrate a remedy. Now as someone new to this committee…"

"And not up for reelection this year," Lyla said sarcastically.

"That's as maybe, but unlike my colleagues, I would like to know how all of these things could happen with no apparent oversight."

"Personal lesson. Read the bills they submit before voting the party line."

"Madame Director, there is no need for such language. If you have nothing of substance to say, I'm going to move for an adjournment." Lyla could see the Chairman was visibly perspiring. More than usual.

"Actually, I have a witness who I believe should be heard from. Someone who can testify to these abuses and who understands better than most what Amanda Waller was trying to do."

Now everybody was on edge. "You are not a position to dictate who this committee should hear from," the Chairman said nervously.

"I can if he's another elected official."

It took the Chairman two minutes to gavel the galleries back into silence, and even then there was still a buzz going on. "Who… what official is that?"

"The current Mayor of Star City. Oliver Queen."

And any pretense at order was lost.

STAR CITY MAYOR'S OFFICE

1:00 PM

"I have to say Oliver, when you said you'd tell us what actually happened the years you were on the island, I didn't think we'd learn about ten minutes before the rest of the world did," Diggle said quietly.

"I'm not going to give the entire story. Just the parts that will incriminate Amanda Waller." Oliver reminded them. "That covers part of two years. You'll get the rest of them and the remaining three later."

"You do know turnabout is fair play," Thea said. "The second we do something like this, Waller will make sure that kill list goes public."

"Mulder and Scully say that they have a way to cover that," Maggie told them.

"Why won't they tell us what it is?" Thea asked.

"Mulder said that doing so could put a colleague and his family at risk," Maggie told them. "He said the only way he'll do it is if he gets that man's permission. The reason he wasn't able to do it yet was because this guy was even more off the grid that he and Scully were the last few years."

"I'm guessing that's why they wanted Felicity's help."

At that moment, Felicity entered the room. "Okay, I passed on the information to Mulder. Took a lot of work. This guy had almost no digital footprint at all. But then, if what they're telling me about him is true, I'd have hooked up a flight to Lian Yu years ago."

"Who is him and what did he do?" Oliver asked.

"He's also ex-FBI. Name was Frank Black. But unlike Mulder and Scully, he got into even more trouble out of the Bureau than in it." Felicity told them.

"Another conspiracy chaser?" Diggle asked.

"Not originally. Like Mulder, he was a profiler with Quantico. Good career, but in the fall of 1995, he resigned from the Bureau after he had some kind of burnout after tracking too many serial killers. He joins this organization called the Millennium Group in October of 1996. Apparently, that's where his troubles began."

Quentin frowned. "You know, I think I know about them. My first year out of the Academy, there was a series of murders of women in the Glades. The Chief called in this group, said they were all ex law enforcement agents and that they might be able lend their expertise. The guy in charge – Watts, I think his name was – was very polite, took everybody's advice into consideration, gave us some suggestions of where to look, and we caught the guy in about two days. They didn't even stay around for the press conference."

"Don't tell me they were vigilantes by night, too," Diggle asked in mock horror.

"Honestly, I don't think anyone knows what the Millennium Group was." Felicity said sincerely. "I did a few searches online; there are at least half a dozen conflicting responses. Some say they were former law enforcement officials; some said they were committing more crimes than they solves. Some say they were an evil organization, but they can't even agree how. There are those who say they were a Judeo-Christian cult focused on the end-times at the end of the millennium; some say they were determined to bring about the apocalypse. Others just call them an insidious cult that was trying to control the world. Dan Brown would look at everything they're rumored to have done, and call it utterly implausible."

"And somehow Frank Black was involved." Oliver asked.

"He wasn't a member. He just consulted for them. According to Mulder and Scully, he never fully trusted them, and it cost him very dearly." Felicity said grimly. "One of the rumors that I can definitely prove is that in Seattle in May 1998, they were testing out some kind of manufactured disease out of the Middle East known as the blood plague with the purpose of unleashing and causing the Armageddon they were trying to either predict or control."

"Well, it clearly didn't end the world, so just what did happen?" Diggle reminded him.

"I remember hearing about this," Quentin told them. "There was a viral outbreak in the Seattle and Portland area. Several hundred people were infected; more than eighty died. The rumor was that it was an outbreak of Ebola. You're telling me it was the Millennium group."

Felicity nodded. "One of the victims was Catherine Black, Frank's wife. He went back to Virginia with his daughter, spent a year with the Bureau trying to stop them, and then resigned from the FBI again."

"Mulder and Scully work with him when he was at the Bureau?" Diggle asked.

"Only after he resigned. Fittingly, it was a case that dealt with a schism of the Group that was trying to bring about the end of the world on… take a wild guess."

"December 31, 1999." Thea told them. "Guessing they foiled it."

"So what does any of this have to do with our problems?" Oliver asked. "Is the Millennium Group still active?"

"Officially, their organization dissolved in June of 1999. Unofficially, there've been reports of it surfacing occasionally." Felicity told them. "Mulder and Scully don't know if they were ever involved with the Syndicate in any capacity, but this is one of the occasions they don't care about the truth getting in the way of a good story."

"We've already pissed off a couple of evil organization in the last few days," Diggle pointed out. "You really want to add to the list?"

Just then, the landline to Oliver's phone buzzed. "Yes?" Thea said.

"How exactly would they do it if they did?" Oliver asked.

"One more little irony."

Thea walked over. "She's coming up."

"Either way, we don't have to worry about it yet," Felicity assured them. "Let's get through this crisis first."

Catherine Grant walked in the door. "I must admit I'm a little surprised it took us this kind of crisis for you to finally agree to talk with me," she said by way of introduction.

"Considering what you knew about my night life, are you that surprised?" Oliver said in kind.

Grant actually smiled at them. "Under other circumstances, that would've been the first question on my lips." The smile disappeared. "I admired your mother very much by the way, even after The Reckoning."

Over the last two years, Oliver Queen had tried very hard to put his mother in that same place where he tried to forget the most agonizing memories. The scars still throbbed from time to time, and this was one of them. "I must have caused her so much pain the first two years I was back."

Grant must've known the details of how Moira Queen died because she didn't pursue the subject any further. "Well, the darker forces at work are trying to destroy you and the good work you have been doing the last four years."

"Now you consider it good work?" Thea raised an eyebrow. "Where were you three years ago?"

"I fully admit that I've been fairly late to the party on this," Cat Grant admitted. "But I have to show discretion."

"Little publicity wouldn't have hurt," Felicity muttered.

"I knew Oliver was the Hood one month after he resurfaced."

That gave everybody laser focus. "You're serious." Quentin said

"Not all of my colleagues are as foolish as the ones who blessedly work for your city's media." Cat said bluntly. "I did my homework. I realized what The Hood's targets were and what they had done your city. Let's just say after the crash of '08, I wasn't entirely unsympathetic to your aims."

Oliver was genuinely flummoxed. "And you sat on it? Why?"

"I had a conversation with this reporter in Gotham a few years back. I asked her if she had any idea who the Batman was. She said there were at least a dozen reporters who had suspects, and five or six who knew for sure. She was one of them." Cat let that sink in. "I asked her why none of them had broadcast any of this to the public, considering that the good he was doing seemed to inspire just as much madness. She said most of them remembered what Gotham was like before. And that every time they saw that light in the sky, they had hope. None of them wanted to be the one to kill it. Now I'm not saying the situations are exactly identical. But in a world that is this cynical, I didn't think it was my place to fail this city, even if it wasn't the one I lived in."

Oliver was now in a different mood than before he'd agreed to sit for this interview. "Did you tell Mulder and Scully this before you came here?"

"They're smart people. They figured it out on their own." Cat replied. "My motives haven't changed. I want to take the heat off Lyla and on to Amanda Waller and the Syndicate. From what I heard, you have information that would bury her six feet under."

"That already happened, and she's still breathing, remember?" Diggle pointed out.

"This time, she's going to be politically dead which means the Syndicate will kill her." Cat smiled grimly. "I'm not generally in favor of sponsored assassination, but in her case…"

"You know, you're starting to sound as sanguine as some of the people we're hunting." Oliver said. "Would you like a nickel's worth of advice?" Cat nodded. "You're headed to dark waters. Try to hold on to your soul.

"You know how difficult that is, but I'll do my best." Cat turned journalist. "In any case, this story isn't about Oliver Queen and what he does with his nights in Star City. It's about what he did when Amanda Waller forced him into her employ. Much as you want to support your friend, I think its best that I only talk with you and John."

"A lot of what I did could end up blowing back on my wife. That's kind of what I'm here to avoid." John reminded him.

"I just saw the footage of her in front of Congress. I think she can take care of herself." Cat told them. "But I appreciate your devotion."

"Hey, she's capable of kicking my ass if I make things bad for her," Diggle said with a trace of humor.

Everybody else walked out of the room. "I seem to be meeting all my idols these days," Felicity said to Thea.

"We stay here long enough, we may end up meeting Lois Lane. " Thea said.

"A lot of my fans are going to be pissed at me for this interview," Cat Grant said when it was just the three of them. "They're going to want to see the buzzsaw that tore down Tony Blair and Rumsfeld, not the woman who interviewed Sherry Lansing. That being said, you know that the first question out of Ron Burgundy's mouth would be: 'How did you leave the island?'

"He's very good at keeping his mouth shut on that, Miss Grant," John reminded her. "He's barely told us anything the last four years about what happened."

"There are people involved I'm trying to protect," Oliver said slowly. "And frankly, I think you'd need more time than David Frost spent with Nixon to get to the heart of what was going on."

"Believe me, if I could block off a week for this I would," Cat said sincerely. "Hell, maybe some of this will give you enough motivation to tell the entire world."

Oliver looked down for a moment – something he did very rarely around people. "I called them five years in hell because I did some things that I don't think even my friends could truly forgive me of them. They may not be considered war crimes, but at the very least, I should have spent the rest of my life in prison before I even put the Hood on."

"There's an argument to be made that's exactly what you've been doing."

Everyone jumped a little, even Oliver. They'd all known that Mulder had been back in Star City setting this up, but none of them had known he was here.

"There are all kinds of prisons, Oliver." Mulder said sincerely. "I spent some time in a few, and I grant you, it was horrible. But the torture and pain I went through wasn't nearly as bad as all of the time I kept myself isolated from anybody else. I loved Scully with my heart and soul, and it took me years to truly let her in to my life. I told myself it was to protect her, and given how she suffered there was truth to that. But at some point, the people you care about are going to give up knocking on the walls you set up until you really are alone."

Oliver looked up. "What makes you so sure it's not too late already?"

"Because you've let more people in than I ever did. It may have been against your will, but they're still here." Mulder looked at him. "And if you do things like this, they'll keep standing by you. Just try and keep that in mind."

Oliver considered this before turning to Grant. "There were some truly horrible things that happened," he said slowly. "I'll implicate Waller and myself, but as to the rest, there's only so much I'm willing to talk about. Out of respect for the dead… and the living."

"Whatever it is, you're going to have to give the abbreviated version," Diggle said. "Lyla goes back before Congress tomorrow."

"John, the abbreviated version is still longer than War & Peace," Oliver told them.

"That's what editing is for," Cat Grant said.

Just then, Mulder's phone rang. He frowned because the Caller ID said UNKNOWN CALLER. Nothing good ever came from answering these kinds of calls.

Deliberately, he walked out of the room before answering. "Mulder."

A long pause. "Hello, Fox."

A voice he had honestly not thought he would hear again. Was he dismayed and grateful? "What is it, Monica?"

Another long pause. "I realize you have every reason to despise me now."

"Don't." Mulder said brusquely. "I don't want to hear whatever justification you're going to use to explain your betrayals. I've heard them all before, and they're all bullshit."

"I wasn't going to," Monica Reyes said slowly. "I was hoping that what happened in National City would have at least given me some benefit of the doubt."

"That's the only reason I'm not backtracing your call right now," Mulder said slowly. "I appreciate what you did. But you've got a lot to answer for."

"I'm not asking you to do this for me."

"What do you want, Monica?"

"Oliver Queen's phone is going to ring in one minute," Monica said slowly. "You need to convince him to agree whatever the caller says."

This was horrible, whatever it was. "What have you done, Monica?"

"We all do what we have to in order to survive," Monica said simply. "Oliver Queen understands that better than most."

Before he could say anything at all, she had ended the call.

And the second it did, he heard another phone ring.

"Don't let anyone know who's on the other end."

It was the voice Oliver had truly hoped, despite everything that he had learned over the past few days, he would never hear again. And he was horribly tempted to say: "Hello, Amanda," put the phone on speaker, and let Felicity try to get a fix on her location.

What stopped him from doing so was the certainty that Amanda Waller never did anything without a reason and assuredness that she had an ace in the hole before she made any move. She had a reason for faking her death and joining the conspiracy; she had a reason for revealing this to him now. He needed to know what they were.

So he merely said: "I don't know. I need to check my schedule. Could you give me a second?" and looked at John and Cat Grant.

"The police union wants to know about the damage to the station two days ago," he said in a matter of fact voice. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need to give a couple of minutes of the Mayor's time.

It said something about his authority that Cat, who had a lifetime of sniffing out when politicians were covering shit up, and Dig, who had spent four years up close with him, just nodded and let him leave the room.

He waited until he was in the next room before he finally answered in a vicious whisper. "Just once, I'd like for somebody I saw die to stay dead."

"As self-righteous as ever, Mr. Queen." She might as well as have been discussing the relative humidity. "You know, when they were asking me for candidates to join, I made a strong argument for you. They didn't believe the Green Arrow was capable of being the kind of man who could be on our side. They didn't know you as well as I did. You were one of my finest students."

"Forgive me if I don't take that as a compliment from someone who just betrayed the oath she had to sell out the planet."

"You always knew my priorities, Oliver," Amanda said calmly. "We must do whatever it takes to keep the world safe."

"I've heard the argument, Amanda. Show me where in the Constitution it says 'safe' means being a slave to an occupying army. I'm pretty sure that's why it was written in the first place."

"I'm pretty sure my ancestors would have their own opinions on it if they were there when it was being penned. "

Oliver was pretty sure this was the first time Amanda had told anybody just how lonely it was being a black woman in the government, and her own bitterness. He might've felt sympathy – if she weren't a bloodthirsty sociopath.

"Self-pity isn't a good look for you. Now tell me the real reason you called."

"You and your colleagues are planning to make our lives difficult in the next several hours. Out of respect for our past relationship, I'm going to give you one chance to back away from this."

Oliver knew Amanda too well to know that this was all she had up her sleeve. "You have no respect for any relationship, and you know damn well there's no way I'm backing out. So whatever threat you're going to make, I'd appreciate if you just got out of the way."

He could see Amanda shaking her head. "I'm sending you a link. It pretty much speaks for itself."

Oliver knew Amanda Waller was capable of doing what she considered necessary to achieve her ends. He had no doubt the kill list that Mulder and Scully had told them about was her idea. But even after everything that he knew that she had done – that she had done to him personally – he had still believed that there were some lines that she would never cross.

Then he looked at the link, and even as his heart dropped into his stomach, the detached part of him that was always the Arrow realized that of course Amanda Waller could do these things. Indeed, her ability to compartmentalize the horrible things she did had been something he had taken on when he had become the Hood in the first place.

There was a picture of William tied to a chair.

"How do you do these things, Amanda?" he found himself saying. "Who did you sell your soul to in order to get what you wanted?"

"I never had a soul, Mr. Queen," Waller said calmly. "I'd never have been able to accomplish what I need to with one."

"But you still have a body," Oliver said just as calmly. "I'm remembering all the things you spent the better part of a year training me to do. I'd bear in might that, because when I find you that's going to be the starting point for where I begin my work."

A long pause. "I've never been prouder of you, Oliver. You finally understand what you wouldn't accept six years ago."

And the sad thing was, Oliver could tell there was genuine pride in her voice.

"Now ask me what you have to do to save your son."

When Oliver reentered the room, he looked genuinely pale for the first time since Mulder had met him, as if something vital had been removed from him without anesthetic and he was attempting to keep going regardless.

"Whatever she asked you to do, you can't do it," he found himself saying.

Oliver clearly didn't have the energy to put up a front. "She has William."

Mulder nearly doubled over, even though he was relatively sure that they hadn't told anybody on Team Arrow about their son, and that he was pretty sure that this wouldn't have the kind of effect it was having on Oliver right now.

John, however, clearly understood. "How did they find him?" he demanded.

"She's Amanda Waller. She probably had eyes on him from the second he resurfaced last year." Oliver was speaking in a voice that was almost automated.

"What does that bitch want?"

Oliver looked up. "You and Scully dead. Along with all the information you and the DEO have on the Syndicate erased."

That Mulder had been expecting. "Did she have specifics as to how she wants it done? Because I'm pretty sure once something's on the Internet, you can't just press Control-Alt Delete it'll disappear.""

"She says Lyla will know exactly how to do that." He was still speaking in a detached tone. "And by the way, your wife is to retract her statement to Congress, and give herself up to the authorities."

John shook his head. "She may have been crazy before, but she's goddamn certifiable now."

"It's how they operate," Mulder said slowly. "They just usually didn't telegraph their punches this far ahead of delivering them."

"They want Oliver in their pocket." She'd been so quiet everybody had forgotten that Cat Grant was in the room. "Once they have you, they think the war is over without firing a shot."

"They're not going to stop there," Mulder said. "As soon as your wife is turned over, they'll get to her. And then they'll come up with a reason. The kill list will be put into operation, and everybody on it will be executed."

"You think I don't know that?!" The anger had now returned to Oliver's voice. "William is dead the second he's no longer of any use to Amanda. Which will be less than a minute after she gets what she wants."

"Oliver," John was remarkably calm, considering that his wife was being threatened as well. "This isn't going to happen. We are going to get your son back."

"She's given me until midnight. We've done some remarkable things before on shorter notice, but I don't know how."

"Never send a vigilante to do a media mogul's job." Cat spoke with her usual smugness.

Mulder suddenly remembered the earlier conversation. "What do you know?"

"Yesterday, I had a fascinating meeting with Lena Luthor." Cat told them. "She was shocked but not surprised to learn that her mother is neck deep in this conspiracy. Particularly because she learned that Lillian isn't the only Luthor the Syndicate has working with them."

That got Oliver's attention. "I'm not making any deals involving Lex Luthor."

"I never said he was the Luthor involved." She then told them what she knew about Monica Reyes' origins. Mulder in turn told them that just prior to the call he gotten a message from Monica urging him to persuade Oliver to bend to Amanda's will.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Oliver. If it were my son, I might be more than willing to throw everything under the bus. I have done that on occasion for people I loved." Mulder told them. "But I think there might be a chance to get what we want with less bloodshed."

"What are you talking about?" John asked.

"I think Monica may be the one holding your son captive," Mulder told them. "And I think in some twisted way, she may believe this is the only way to protect him. The people in the Syndicate tend to have that twisted way of thinking."

Oliver was almost back to his rational self. "How long was your conversation?"

"Less than thirty seconds. And I'm not sure if that's long enough to track her down."

"You clearly don't know Felicity that well." Oliver said seriously. He looked at Cat. "Miss Grant, for understandable reasons, I think we have to postpone our interview. That being said, I think you might have information that could lead to a story nearly as big."

"If you really think I'm going to put my personal interests above the life of a child, you clearly don't know me at all, Mr. Queen." Cat paused. "However, if you're giving me the opportunity to stop a woman who puts the lives of the innocent in favor of her twisted agenda, then I would be proud to call you a friend."

"Do you think Lena would be willing to give you want you needed?" Mulder asked.

"'My mother would probably be proud of me.' Lena's words.'"

"And I thought my family was screwed up." Mulder said, only half in jest. "How much time do we have?"

"We rendezvous at our headquarters in fifteen minutes. " Oliver said solemnly.

"Good. That'll give me just enough time to put one more piece into place." He got on the phone. "Scully, it's me. We've got a lot of things that we're going to need to get done quickly. Get in touch with our new friend from Quantico."