"Are you sure you want me to keep going?" asked Kara, as she littered the floor with the bodies of her fellow heroes once again.

"Yeah! Yes!" shouted Oliver, stumbling to his feet, "Just give us 5 minutes. Please." The other heroes didn't seem too keen to go again, and to be frank, neither was Oliver, but he was determined to best Kara at least once. Getting his ass handed to him by a Kara Danvers was something that was completely new to him, and it definitely wasn't something he was going to let pass.

He massaged his neck and stretched out his shoulders. Perhaps he needed more than 5 minutes. This version of Kara was insanely strong. And fast too. And durable. Nothing they did even made her flinch. She was for sure their greatest asset, but being Kara Danvers made it difficult for Oliver to accept that. He was snapped out of his own thoughts when he heard Cisco raise his voice. He glared over to where Cisco was standing and saw that he was holding the audio device with Future Barry's message. This wasn't going to be good…

"Tell us what?" he heard Sara shout.

"Jax and Professor Stein found a message from me in the future saying that, right now, I can't be trusted."

"And why would future you say that?" asked Sara

"I think because I went back in time and changed the timeline, and now things here are different than before I left including some of your lives."

"Some of our lives? Like who?" inquired Kara.

"Cisco, Caitlin, Wally, Dig."

"Me? Why? What happened?" asked Diggle.

"Hey," whispered Oliver. Perhaps this would be better if he heard it from Oliver, "Apparently, you had a daughter."

"I had a daughter, Barry?"

"Baby John was Baby Sara."

"So, wait, let me get this straight. You just, uh, you just erased a daughter from my life?"

"Yeah."

"You can't go back and just change things like that, Barry," said Sara angrily.

"I know."

"You know how hard it is for me to not alter events? To bring my sister back? But I don't, because I know the implications."

"And all those aberrations we spent the last eight months traveling through time trying to correct you just decided that it was okay for you to create your own?" said Ray.

"We should've told 'em before," added Jax. The tension in the room was cut by the sounds of phones buzzing and pinging.

"Guys? Guys, its Lyla. The President's been abducted by the Dominators. She needs us now," said Felicity frantically.

"Okay, you guys go. All right? I'm going to sit this one out. Obviously, you have Supergirl. She's just as fast as I am. Get the President. We can talk about this later." If he didn't have the trust of the team, then he didn't deserve to be out there. He walked over to Kara, the only person besides Oliver who didn't seem shocked or furious at the revelation.

"You still trust me, right?" asked Barry.

"I'll always trust you, but it might take more to convince them," said Kara.

"If you need me, I'll be there," said Barry to Oliver, who seemed to ignore him and started speaking.

"Guys, this is… hey! This is crazy! Everyone is going, including Barry. I'm not going without him."

"Then you'll be here, Oliver." Those words stung Barry more than they probably did Oliver. It took a lot for Diggle to turn against Oliver and not back his play. Barry being responsible for that just compounded to his guilt.

"Okay. You know what? Oliver, it's okay," interjected Kara, trying to break the tension in the room, "I will go with them. We'll get the President. You stay here with Barry."

(19 October 2012)

"I don't see how you went five years without potstickers. I couldn't have lasted a week," said Kara. Oliver was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch while Kara sat cross-legged comfortably on it. Following Thea's outburst at him not wanting to open up to anybody, he decided to go see Kara. He had pushed her and Laurel away almost immediately. They could not be drawn into his crusade, nor be hurt once again by Oliver, but he still needed someone to talk to. She needed a friend too at this time. Working on the Martin Somers case with Laurel was obviously stressing her and Oliver's presence seemed to help her relax.

"I was fine without the potstickers," replied Oliver, briefly smirking at the recollection of his time in Hong Kong where he ate potstickers on more than one occasion, "What I missed was watching you stuff your face with them." Kara chuckled at Oliver's statement as she started to take note of his demeanour. Something was bothering him. Of course, being away from home for five years and now having to adjust to all the changes would be more than nerve-racking, but this was something else.

"You seem a little off tonight," she said, "What's got Oliver Queen so spooked?"

"My mother wants me to join my father's company" replied Oliver.

"She wants you to work at QC?"

"No… she wants me to lead it."

"Oh. No offense, but that really doesn't sound like your kind of gig."

"It isn't."

"So tell her no. You have no obligations to your fathers company."

"Oh, I tried, she didn't have any of it. She's hell-bent on making sure that I carry on my father's legacy."

"Do you want to carry on his legacy?"

"I want to create my own legacy. My father was a good man, but he wasn't perfect. He made mistakes. He hasn't left the legacy that my mom thinks he did. After five years away, I have plans. Plans that will forge my own legacy, while honouring his too. My mom doesn't understand that."

"Do it," replied Kara, "Don't let anyone put you in a box, Ollie. You can be whoever you want to be, and whoever that is… He's someone that I trust and believe in."

Oliver stared at her, appreciating who and what she was. After everything he had put her through, she still managed to not have a grudge against him. She still loved him, and that was what made her the most amazing person he'd ever known. She was optimistic, funny, hopeful. He didn't believe that there was a single thing on Earth that could dampen her spirits, nor corrupt her. She was pure and incorruptible, something that Oliver simply couldn't understand.

"Why do you not hate me?" asked Oliver.

"Why would you ask that?" asked Kara concernedly, before realising the answer to her own question, "Laurel."

"I saw her at the courthouse today. She took me to the sheds."

"Well, you did try push us away."

"That was to protect you. Both of you."

"Well, at least now you can realise that you just hurt us more by doing that. Do you remember her favourite ice cream?"

"Ferringtons."

"Yeah. Take a full tub of it to her when you want to talk to her. Perhaps it will ease the tension."

"Of course. Thank you, Kara."

"For what?"

"For always being there for me. Even after I've hurt you more times than I can count."

"I'll always be there for you, Ollie. I'm never going to leave your side."

(29 November 2016)

The Time Vault? At this stage, Oliver was surprised that Cisco or Barry hadn't come up with another frivolous name for The Pipeline. Whatever 'The Time Vault' was, everything about it did seem very futuristic. The circular contours on the wall, the bright white lights, and the interface in front of him with a digital newspaper article projection. He was right about the team. The revelation of Barry's secret made them totally lose faith in him, and he and Kara seemed to be the only ones that still trusted Barry through all of this. He scanned the animated newspaper article before him until Barry started speaking.

"I didn't think about it, Oliver. I didn't think about the future. I was so focused on the past, I didn't think about it until now. I changed so much."

"What is this?"

"This is an article from the future. It's a story about me vanishing. Used to be written by Iris West-Allen. But now, I don't know. Something's, something's changed with Iris. Something's changed with our future. God, what did I do?"

"Barry, this is a weird-looking newspaper article. It doesn't mean anything. You need to stop beating yourself up over this."

"I'm sorry, but how can you say that? I'm responsible for all of this."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Barry, you made a choice. You wanted to see your parents alive again. Do you honestly know anyone that if they were in your shoes, wouldn't do the same exact thing? I would do the exact same thing. Barry, after the Gambit went down, it was me, my father, and a crewmember on a life raft. Lost at sea. Enough food and water for one person, maybe. My father took a gun, shot the crewmember, told me to survive, and then turned the gun on himself. He shot himself in the head. He sacrificed himself so that I could live. Nothing I could do. No choice. Slade Wilson drove a sword right through my mother's heart, in front of my sister and I. I was there, helpless on the ground. I was powerless to stop it. No choice. The night of The Undertaking, I made it to CNRI and my Kara wasn't gone yet. She was still alive. The only thing that I was able to do was to force a smile onto my face so that her last image would be of me smiling. Do you not think that I wouldn't give anything to go back and to make things different?"

"You never told me that."

"Barry, the world isn't different because you changed the timeline. Change happens. Tragedy happens. People make choices, and those choices affect everyone else. You're not a god, Barry."

All of a sudden, the building tremored and Cisco's voice blared over the intercom.

"Hey guys, wherever you are right now, we need you."

Barry quickly consulted the interface of the Time Vault and pulled up CCTV footage from outside Star Labs.

"Oh things just got so much worse."

(27 February 2013)

"That was totally the greatest prank you ever pulled off," said Kara, as she couldn't contain her laughter at Oliver's retelling of how he and Tommy filled Malcolm's pool with beer. They were both sitting next to eachother on her couch in her apartment, with the two now empty pizza boxes lying in front of them.

"I still don't know how Tommy decided that it was a good idea to actually swim in it," replied Oliver, laughing a little himself.

"Oht, I remember. He smelt like fish for two days after that. Oh, remember that helicopter stunt you tried to pull at the US Open?"

"My father lost a QC Acquisitions deal because he had to bail me out of jail."

"Doesn't make it any less hilarious for me."

"Hey, we can sit here all day and talk about me, but what about some of your not-so-finer moments, Danvers?" said Oliver playfully.

"Oh no, we don't talk about mine."

"Uhm-hmm. That time at Tommy's house party that you got so drunk, you started throwing pennies into the water fountain and making random wishes?"

"That's not that bad."

"Kara, when you ran out of change, you threw your credit card into the fountain"

"Come on, I did not do that!"

"Later that night, you challenged everybody to a knife-throwing competition."

"That, I remember. How exactly did I make it home again?"

"Tommy and I carried you out, and I drove you home. Needless to say, Mr Lance was less than happy to find me at his doorstep holding your passed out body."

"The fact that I was passed out or that it was you with me?"

"Probably me."

"How were you sober enough to drive me home anyway? I don't remember you ever leaving one of Tommy's parties not totally wasted."

"That was probably the only time ever..." Their laughter and giggles died down, leaving them just staring at each other appreciatively with wide smiles on their face.

"Thank you for coming here, Ollie."

"You've been there for me for the past 4 months. The least I can do is be here for you."

"Is that the only reason that you're here?" she asked. Oliver took a deep breath and sighed before answering her.

"A few months ago, I told you that we couldn't be together. I thought that I couldn't be with you again because I'd just end up hurting you again. I wasn't ready then, and to be honest, I still don't think that I'm ready. But I'm willing to give a shot, if you would too."

She met his gaze, waiting for a second before shifting forward and placing her lips gently on his. They kissed for a few seconds, before she let go and smiled at him.

"That's my answer," she said. Just as Oliver was about to pull her closer for another, his phone started to buzz, "Answer it, it's okay."

Oliver pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw the Caller ID – 'Diggle'. As soon as he answered, Diggle started talking.

"Where are you?" asked Diggle.

"I'm with Kara," replied Oliver.

"Oh. Sorry for the interruption but the client that was supposed to meet you has pulled out of the deal. He's skipping town."

"I'm on my way," said Oliver regrettably. He turned to face Kara, apologetically looking at her, "Sorry. Something has come up at the club."

"Oh, it's not a problem. Thank you for the amazing night" she replied, as they stood up and hugged. Oliver thanked her too before making his way to her door and exiting. Of course, everything was fine at Verdant, and Diggle's words were coded. That 'client' was Sachi Beech. A man whose name is on The List and is tied to human trafficking and extortion. Trying to skip town would be his last mistake.

As much as Oliver wanted to stay with Kara, he couldn't, for tonight, he was going hunting.

Everyone was standing outside of Star Labs with the exception of Supergirl. Turns out that it was a good move to reveal the message to everybody. If everybody had gone and been mind-controlled, the results would've been disastrous. Barry had his fun racing Supergirl, but Oliver found fighting Dig, Thea and Sara to be way less pleasurable.

"So, what was it like being all mind-controlled and stuff?" asked Felicity to Rory, who was impolitely standing under the umbrella she was holding to shield himself from the light drizzle.

"I didn't realize he had a mind to be controlled," remarked Firestorm, drawing some chuckles.

"Barry, about before. Message or no message, we're with you," said Ray.

"Thank you."

"Where's Kara?" asked Thea.

"Scanning the city to make sure there aren't any more of the orbs that whammied all of you."

"Okay, so now what?" asked Diggle.

"We call Lyla. Tell her these Dominators aren't here peacefully," said Oliver. Everybody nodded in agreement before starting to walk back to the entrance. Suddenly, a bright yellow light flashed in front of Oliver, sweeping up Sara, "Sara!" Two more beams appeared, taking Diggle and Thea this time.

"Everybody inside! Go!" shouted Barry. Another beam took Ray, and Oliver realised he was next. Barry sped towards, trying to catch him before he disappeared, but he was too slow. He looked to the sky in despair as their most experienced ally was taken from them. This was bad… really bad.