Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I'm only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this.

AN: Hey, thanks for returning. Hope you are still enjoying this AU. Still trying to make more sense at the possible plot possibilities than the Arrow writers did, I felt, for both seasons 3 and 4. Hopefully season 5 wouldn't have huge plot holes again. They just love leaving them in the show, sigh. (Random thought, not connected to this story. When will they explain what Merlyn did with Savage's ashes episode 4 x 8?)

Previously:

Basically, this guy Darhk was determined to destroy Starling to gain more mystical power. Ra's wanted to kill Darhk and aimed to do it as Darhk attempted to destroy Starling. Starling may or may not be destroyed in the battle between two criminal masterminds, and one Oliver Queen was supposed to be in the middle of it all. Oliver shook his head as the headache which had begun earlier grew to a noticeable ache.

It was all so unbelievable, Oliver didn't know what to do. What could Ra's want from him in light of all of this? What knowledge could he bring regarding his experience at Lian Yu? The only thing he really had gleaned from that experience was that the power, whatever it was, was something Oliver didn't ever want to mess around with ever again, but here he was, having to deal with it again.

Oliver still couldn't believe his luck. How he ever got involved in a war between two mega-criminals was beyond him. Somehow, he needed to stop this. But how?

Oliver leaned back against the wall of his cell deep in thought, reviewing all Ra's had shared with him the past several days. One overlooked nugget occurred to him: in his explanation, Ra's forgot to bring up again the tidbit he had dropped the night of Oliver's kidnapping about Starling City being one of the cornerstone cities in his plan to change the world. How will this be possible?

Suddenly Oliver realized the full scope of Ra's' plan. He really did mean to allow the destruction of Starling City to proceed, and why Sara was killed. Ra's knew Sara would inform Oliver about this, and would do everything in her power to stop him. Instead she was killed because of it.

And so Ra's lied to him about planning to stop Darhk's plan before anyone but Darhk could be killed. In this way, two of Ra's' objectives would be solved: Darhk killed and Starling destroyed. Once Starling and other cities were destroyed, supposedly Ra's would then be able to "recreate" the country in the vision he held. Ra's did mention Starling being only one of the "cornerstone" cities in his plan to "change the world".

And, at this time, besides Maseo, Oliver and Amanda were the only other people who really knew what the Alpha-Omega virus was about, as far as Oliver knew. Well, besides anyone in ARGUS who'd have access to classified information. Which brought up another concern: how did Darhk obtain the virus in the first place? And could Ra's also have a sample as well? Maseo had pretended once to hand it over to Amanda, did he also pretend that final time in order to keep it as a means to gain entry into the League?

How could Maseo allow someone else to use the Alpha-Omega virus to once again destroy people's lives? Was the man Oliver once knew so long gone he couldn't be reached with memories of his dying son? It appeared so. After failing to stop Shrieve in Hong Kong from releasing the virus, after preventing thousands of deaths there, including that of his very own son, how could Maseo allow it to be used again? And how could Maseo actually think Oliver would sit back and allow it to be used to destroy his very own hometown?

Shaking himself to stop the self-recriminations and the flashbacks to the past, Oliver returned his thoughts to the present goal: stopping Ra's and Darhk. Apparently, Oliver was considered important enough to be included in Ra's' plan to stop Darhk. Perhaps a timed arrow into Darhk while he was concentrating on releasing the virus? If so, what would prevent Oliver from killing him a moment sooner and preventing the virus from spreading at all?

And what made him so valuable to Darhk that Ra's had to hide him from Darhk?

What about Amanda? Would she have any clue about any of this? What happened with her following the virus since Hong Kong?

So many questions, so few answers. And no way to communicate any of this to his team. Oliver wondered what they thought of his continued disappearance, and whether there were any clues as to what happened to him. If they were, Oliver literally was betting his life on Felicity finding them.

Without knowing it, Oliver drifted off to sleep as he contemplated the many questions, his body tired even when his mind was not.

~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~

Previously:

Felicity looked up at Diggle. "You for sure can't think of anything Oliver might have told you over the years which might be pertinent to all of this?"

Diggle shook his head. "Nothing has come into my mind as yet, Felicity. I'm going to go check with Lyla and see if she can find something out from ARGUS. I'll be in touch."

Reaching his house, Diggle stopped outside his door. He drew in a deep breath, expanding his impressive chest, then let out the breath slowly. The few times Diggle had crossed that imaginary line he himself drew between him and Lyla, attempting to keep their personal and professional lives separate, it almost always ended in a huge fight which threatened their relationship. However, in this case, he really felt he had no choice. Oliver was out there, somewhere, and they didn't know where he was or who actually had him. Who this Ra's and Darhk were, what they wanted (besides Oliver, that is) and how they could be stopped were some of the unanswered questions threatening Oliver's safety. Too many unknowns in this equation was giving Diggle a very strong unsettled feeling indeed.

So…he was going to ask his fiancée to possibly endanger her standing, her job and even her career, to spill information which could help them get Oliver back. He unlocked the door and entered his home, letting the smells of home overwhelm him momentarily with a sense of peace he so totally needed.

Diggle softly closed the door and listened to see where his girls were at. He smiled as he recognized them to be in Sara's room. Looking at his watch, Diggle realized it was later than he had thought. Announcing himself in a loud-enough voice for Lyla to hear, but hopefully not loud enough to wake up the baby, he made his way to the bedroom.

Lyla met him at the door. She gave him a quick kiss, and led him to the crib. Smiling down at his precious girl, Diggle was gifted with a sleepy smile as well from the little girl. He straightened the blanket and said softly, "Sleep well, my darling. Daddy loves you very much and will see you tomorrow."

Taking her hand, Diggle led Lyla out to the living room and to the sofa. Sitting down, Lyla looked at Diggle with concern. "What's wrong?"

Diggle let out a sigh. He brushed his hands through his short hair. "Where to begin?" He looked at Lyla. She was alarmed at the concern in his eyes. "Oliver's missing. We believe Ra's al Ghul has taken him."

Lyla worried her lower lip and nodded slightly. Diggle caught a fleeting look in her eye. Senses aware, he asked, "What do you know?" Catching a different look flitting across her face before it was gone, he sighed and asked, "What can you tell me?"

Letting go of his hand and beginning to pace in front of him, Lyla struggled with what she was going to say. Diggle interrupted. "I know, I warned myself this is going to be one of those times when we have to discuss whether we "cross" that line."

"Not we, Johnny. Me. I'm the one whose job could be at risk with what I share with you."

Stroking his chin, Diggle asked, "But, don't you think Waller has decided by now, that in these cases you…that we….well…why wouldn't she expect us to share information?"

Lyla stopped her pacing and turned sharply towards him. "You know that's not how I operate, Johnny." Rolling her eyes, she said, "For someone who is so black and white about most everything, you're certainly gray when it comes to helping out the Arrow."

"That's not fair; you know there've been plenty of times…"

"That's why this doesn't make sense."

Diggle faced her. "Don't you know how it kills me every time we have to think about 'crossing the line'? The last time our argued about this we ended up almost breaking up." Taking her hand again, he said, "It would kill me if that ever happened."

Reaching out to stroke his cheek, Lyla said, "Me too." Continuing she said, "Then why are you asking this time?"

"Maybe you don't know as much as I thought, if you have to ask that."

Placing a hand on her forehead, Lyla asked, "When did our jobs start involving such a number of dangerous criminals?"

"I don't know."

"Well, Johnny, what do you want to do?"

"Would there be any chance for us to talk to Amanda directly and get the information we need? It would let you off the hook."

"I don't know, Johnny."

"Maybe when we talk about world-ending crises, we throw out the rulebook, don't you think?"

"Who says it has anything to do with world-ending?"

"Malcolm did. And Lyla, we've provided ARGUS with just as much intel over the years as you've given us, you have to admit."

"I may, but Waller may not."

"Felicity is already attempting to hack her way into any records which would tell us any remaining secrets Oliver has kept from us."

Lyla's eyes widened. "Do you think that's wise?"

"Yeah, we're not so crazy about doing it, but…you see, it sounds like between these two master-minds, Ra's and this Damien Darhk…we may not have a choice. Without Oliver, we may have no other way to stop them." Swallowing the lump in his throat, Dig decided to make the suggestion on the tip of his tongue. "So…will you please call Waller and see if she'd come talk to us tomorrow?"

Looking at her watch, Lyla sighed. "Well, it's not too late to contact her. Especially if it's concerning world security."

Diggle nodded, and said, "Go make your phone call in the bedroom. I'll stay here and not listen." Lyla smiled at her fiancée and left to do exactly that.

~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~

Previously:

As she was left again with her computers, Felicity wondered if they had a chance to get Oliver out of whatever mess he had found himself in this time. One could only hope, but chances were good they would succeed, if one would only look at their past history. They always had before, she reminded herself, as she straightened her shoulders again and focused her attention on hacking into some more security databases to find the information they so desperately needed. She will concentrate on that, and not the fact that it seemed pretty hopeless for the time being.

As she was busy attempting several hacks which had been seemingly impossible before, Felicity was startled as a voice came out of seemingly nowhere.

"Ms. Smoak."

Turning to the computer which had been attempting to hack into the ARGUS database, Felicity was startled to see one scary Amanda Waller on the screen. "Oh, oh….ah, hello Aman…I mean, Ms. Waller. Um, how are you skyping me? I didn't know you had our number."

"Don't play dumb with me, Ms. Smoak. I know you're smarter than that."

Turning wide eyes to the woman on the screen, Felicity attempted to lie. "Um, I still don't know what you mean, Ms. Waller."

"Why are you attempting to hack ARGUS records, Ms. Smoak? You must have a very good reason to attempt something so foolish."

Realizing there was no point in attempting to deny it, Felicity went straight to the point. "We need to know all you know about Oliver. He's gone missing, and we think he is stuck in a war between these guys named Ra's and Darhk."

"Why would you think anything we might have on Mr. Queen would be beneficial with this?"

Knowing she should control her "loud" voice, but not caring in concern for Oliver, Felicity said, "Because there's no time to lose. Because both these men are known to want to destroy the world. Because both you and Oliver like to keep secrets and I am just tired of tolerating it anymore!"

Amanda leaned back in her chair and fixed Felicity with a cocked eyebrow and a cold stare. A stare from which Felicity felt she should withdraw, but somehow she stood her ground and returned the gaze unflinchingly. Felicity jutted out her chin and held her tongue, amazingly enough, to allow Amanda to speak next.

"I will personally talk to your team tomorrow, Ms. Smoak. Expect me in your lair tomorrow at 10am." The connection was then cut.

Overwhelmed with what just happened, Felicity fell into the office chair and blew out some air. Hit with a sudden idea, she jumped up in her chair and grabbed her phone and dialed. "Dig, Felicity. I was just contacted by….oh, you and Lyla already know. Oh…she did? Is she mad at Lyla? No? That's good. She told me 10am…okay…Lyla will be here as well? Good. I'll see you then." Listening to Diggle, Felicity made a face then sighed. "All right, yeah, it is late. Okay, I will go home. I will text you when I get home, yes, Dad." Hanging up, Felicity shook her head. It was difficult at times working with two very protective, paranoid men, but Felicity was almost always thankful as well for their concern.

Looking at her scans once more time, and blowing another burst of disgusted air out of her lungs, Felicity switched the scans to her tablet and turned the computers and other equipment off. Making sure everything was secure, she turned off the lights and left the lair. Always conscious of her surroundings she made it to her car without incident and got home. Just so "big brother Dig" wouldn't worry she shot off a text letting him know she got home all right, got ready for bed and fell asleep as soon as she hit her bed.

AN: Well, there goes another chapter. There were supposed to be two guest stars appearing in this chapter, but…well, ARGUS showed up. So they should appear in the next chapter. Any guess who they might be? One reviewer already had "suggested" they/he make an appearance. So we shall see if anyone guesses who these guests will be.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will let me know what you think. Always appreciated, and again huge thanks for continuing to read this story!