EPILOGUE

THREE DAYS LATER

"And after everything that I had spent the last several months going through, after I finally obtained the totem that she had sent me to get, she just put in a box with two of her agents and sent it on its way." Oliver said quietly. "I don't even think she looked at it for more than a second."

"Did you ask her what she was going to do with it?" Cat Grant asked gently.

"All she would say was that she would need it down the line. When I asked for what, she said: 'I'd seen what it could do. The last thing we need is for it to fall into the wrong hands." Oliver shook his head. "By then I knew very well that Amanda Waller was the last person who should have something of that power. Under other circumstances, I might have fought her for it."

"Why didn't you?" There was a bit of the hard-nosed Grant in that. "By then you must've known you could take her in physical combat."

"She was surrounded by armed guards. But in all honestly, I probably could've handled them." Oliver said slowly. "The truth is, the last few months had drained me so much of the desire to kill anybody that I just didn't have the energy to fight for awhile. After spending nearly two years in the orbit of everything she stood for, I didn't want to spend any more time than I had to around her."

"That's why, after spending all that time working for her, you didn't take her up on her offer to return to Star City," Cat Grant said.

"I didn't want to owe Amanda Waller anything else. I should've known better, of course." Oliver said. "Once you've made a deal with her, she collects every time she feels like it, and she never repays a debt."

"That's why your friends John and Lyla Diggle were still working for her, even years after leaving ARGUS," Cat Grant said.

"Under Amanda Waller, you never left ARGUS," Oliver said honestly. "You were inactive until she had use for you. I imagine that is how she stayed in power all those years. She collected chits and held on to them for dear life. I never professed to understand what she was like. Not when she was running ARGUS, and not now, when she betrayed not merely the country she swore to protect, but the entire planet."

Cat took a deep breath. "Oliver, you've been remarkably forthcoming the last few hours. You've revealed details of your life that millions have been searching for the past four year. Nevertheless, I would be remiss if I didn't ask the question that the entire country, if not the world has wanted to know: Are you the Green Arrow?"

Oliver didn't seem perturbed by this question at all. "The Green Arrow isn't a vigilante, like everyone says. He's supposed to be a symbol. A representation of the best that people can be. Someone who can stand for what is good against the darkness that plagues not just Star City, or this country, but the world. That's what he claimed he is. In all candor, I think he's failed far more than he's succeeded, and that every time he knocks a monster down, another one comes back right up, like an endless game of Whack-a-Mole. There are days I wish I was the Green Arrow: for the clarity he has towards his approach towards Star City's enemies, and there are days I see the darkness that he has wreaked in his wake, and wonder how anybody could wish to be him. And then, there are times when I see what he's truly accomplished, and hope that one day, I might be worthy to be the Green Arrow. What I do know is that the world needs a Green Arrow as much as it needs an Oliver Queen. As long as it does, they'll both have to co-exist in Star City."

"Powerful words to deal with. Words I hope we can all live by. This is Catherine Grant, thanking Oliver Queen for his time and patience. The world has changed immensely in the last few days again. Thank you for being with us for it."

Once the lights went dead, and the sound went out. Cat Grant turned to Oliver. "You may only have been Mayor for a couple of months, but you're already an expert politician."

"How do you figure that?" Oliver asked.

"You spent the last two minutes talking without giving an actual answer to my last question," Cat actually seemed to be speaking admirably.

"Then I guess the last few weeks I spent binge watching The West Wing actually were helpful," Oliver said in jest. "We had an agreement, by the way."

"I need to keep my credibility as much as you do yours," Cat reminded him. "If I hadn't asked the question, this whole interview would have been just as pointless as asking O.J. how he hypothetically might have done it."

"I know," Oliver admitted. "Hell, even I know the mask isn't going to work covering my face up much longer. At some point, my true identity will have to come out. But that may have to wait until this invasion is thwarted. Right now, there are too many of the wrong people who already know who I am."

Indeed, ever since Mulder and Jordan Black had more or less tied the Syndicate with the Millennium Group, the FBI contingent had to fly back to DC to deal with what they'd set into motion. They'd set the shadow government back publicly quite a bit, but there was movement within the corridors of power that proved that they still couldn't handle everything.

Lillian Luthor had been in custody less than twenty four hours before her army of lawyers had managed to get her released on her own recognizance. The fact that the Attorney General himself had signed off on the warrant for her arrest was practically useless against the fortune and favors the Luthors had spent decades amassing. She had last been seen getting into her limo in National City thirty six hours earlier. No one had seen her since.

International warrants had gone out on Amanda Waller based on the blockbuster testimony by both Lyla and Oliver. The problem was, she'd been in hiding for more than six months already, and had a lot of allies in the international community as it was. Felicity had complained that they were more likely to see Keyser Soze resurface that Amanda Waller stick up her head. She'd always been good at staying hidden.

One of the few good things that had come of all the hubbub was that Lyla's position at ARGUS was safe, at least for the time being. Any talk of dismantling the agency had been buried as it was now clear that they might be the only group that could find Waller in the first place. Lyla's first action was her job was secure was to form a permanent merger with the DEO, as well as permanent data sharing for the entirety of this crisis. Mulder and Scully's quest for the truth had just gotten a big percentage of the defense budget, an irony that tickled Mulder immensely.

"All those years raging against the machine; I've finally become a part of it," Mulder told them. "I just hope I can use my gifts for good and not evil."

Of course, as they were well aware, most of their work the last week had been more of the same that had frustrated them while they were in the basement. All of the perpetrators were dead or gone. They had evidence of what had happened but no real proof. The big difference was, they were no longer alone.

Mulder had been right when he'd said that they needed Oliver Queen for his task force to have any chance of working. He hadn't known that Oliver had knowledge of the paranormal when he'd decided to recruit him, but he'd known that the qualities that Oliver had been trying to throw off for the last couple of years – being a leader in particular – were the kind of things that could get the right people to fight what was going to be a long and deadly war. There was too much animus towards Supergirl and even Superman – if they had aliens fight other aliens, the entire tone of the fight would have shifted dramatically. But despite all the doubts that he had about his mission – doubts that he had just publicly admitted – Oliver knew that he was something more. At least, he knew that he hadn't failed this city.

"Well, now we know the way to finally make you share," Felicity said. "Force the end of the world and point a camera at you."

"How did it feel? Telling the world at least some of the truth?" John asked.

Oliver gave the matter some serious thought. For the last four years he had revealed so little of what had actually happened while he'd been missing that his friends had given up asking. Now that he'd actually told what had happened, he found himself questioning his whole approach.

The fact was, he had never liked who he had become while he had been gone. If he'd just become a man capable of killing and torture that would have been bad enough. But the fact was, the worst thing about the trip hadn't been any of the horrors he'd seen on the island or in Asia or on that atoll in the Pacific or in Russia. It was that a part of him had really liked killing. And that part of him had come back to Star City, not just to avenge his father or save his city, but to satisfy his bloodlust. There was only the barest of degrees separating him from Malcolm Merlyn or Slade Wilson and he knew it.

"I never wanted help because I didn't think I deserved it," he finally said. "You heard some of the things I did at the behest of Amanda Waller. Those aren't the actions of a hero. They're the acts of a killer."

"Oliver, we've all done some horrible things in our lives. I can't tell you the things I saw as a soldier," John began.

"Can you honestly tell me you wouldn't have had to deal with so much bullshit if you hadn't agreed to help me?" Oliver turned to Felicity. "Tommy and Laurel would still be alive if it wasn't for me."

"I know you like to think that the weight of the world rests on your shoulders and yours alone," Felicity said, "but if the last week has taught you anything – and if hasn't, you really are an idiot – is that every champion feels like they're carrying the weight of the world. Kara can barely stand it, and she's the frigging Girl of Steel. Mulder and Scully were doing it while you were still in grade school, and they didn't have anywhere near the resources you have. You are not the chess player and all of us your pawns and queens. Tommy and Laurel made their own decisions. So did Thea. So have John and I. And if we regretted what we were doing, we would have taken any of the 436 hints you've given us over the last four years, and quit permanently at least a dozen times before. We believe in what you're doing. And so do a lot of other people. The fact is, we're looking at the person who doubts Oliver Queen the most."

"Do you get our point now, or do we have to make a special arrow and shoot it through your head?" John asked.

Oliver gave a small smile. "It's just that after everything we've been through the last few years, and after hearing some of the things I've done, do you still think I'm qualified to lead this task force?"

"Um, hands up if you've already saved the world before," Felicity pointed out. "That's still more than Mulder and Scully managed, according to their own admission."

"I know you're worried about the darkness inside of you," Diggle told him. "We'd been lying if we said it didn't worry us every so often. But this is a dark world. I knew this before I signed on. They've known for it years. Who better to lead than someone who's experienced so much of it first hand?"

Oliver realized this, even if he didn't want to admit it. "Then we're going to need help. Felicity, you have any idea where Roy's been hiding the last year?"

"It hasn't exactly been a priority, but he wasn't exactly subtle before he started working with us," Felicity said thoughtfully. "I can probably find him."

"I'll reach out to STAR Labs. See if we can make contact with Sara and the rest of the people on the Wave Rider."

"You gonna tell the government about where they've been the last year?" John asked.

"Not at first. The Bureau and the DEO could probably handle it, but the last thing we need is Amanda Waller knowing that we have friends with a time machine." Oliver said. "As it is, they're going to have major issues with a lot of the Legends."

Just then, Felicity's phone rang. "Hang on." She picked up. "Yeah, they're here. I'll put you on speaker."

"I knew that you were holding back about what turned Oliver Queen into the Arrow; I just thought you were lying about dark it was."

Oliver smiled. "Good to hear from you, Cisco."

"You know, there were a lot of things I figured I'd be exploring when I signed on for this job, but I'm not sure even in my wildest dreams, I'd have thought thwarting an alien invasion would be a part of it," Cisco Ramone said.

"Somehow I don't think it'll be as fun as it sounds," Caitlyn Snow said.

"I saw Independence Day and War of the Worlds. It's never fun," Cisco said seriously. "And judging from the circles under their eyes, I'm betting it hasn't been a picnic for the people actually doing the fighting."

"Well, our new friends in the government have said that they'll need all hands on deck if we're to have a chance," Diggle said.

"That's actually why we called." Caitlin paused. "We've found him."

Everybody grew serious. "You're sure?" Oliver asked

"You don't want to know how many satellites we had to bounce off to check for him," Cisco said. "You'd think he'd have been a lot easier to find, considering. Long story short, he's in Tierra Del Fuego. He literally went to the ends of the Earth to get away from us."

"He's that far away, he's not going to want to listen to reason." Diggle said thoughtfully.

"So we send the one person we know he'll listen too."

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

He looked a lot older than the last time she'd seen him. It wasn't just the beard; the events of the last few months would've aged a normal man five years at least. You wouldn't have thought the Fastest Man Alive would've been able to hide anywhere, but he'd done a good job.

Nevertheless, when he came back to the dwelling he'd been living in for the last three months, he didn't look particularly surprised to see his visitor.

"Hello, Barry," Felicity said.

END OF PART 2

Author's Note: The story will continue some time next year, and as you'd expect, it will take place mostly in The Flash world.

The threads are being drawn more closely together. But yes, I have a plan, and its become clearer to me with each new chapter.