at superfly: YES! How stupid is that? I mean they all make a big deal out of the secret identity (not so secret!) and then they let Diggle wander around without a mask... and no one makes the connection. It really hit me in the Cupid episode. It's just as bad as keeping the same lair, despite everyone knowing where it is... But hey, they upgraded the security system that's... that's... well. Thanks for your support!

I don't own Arrow.

Arrow – Gotham Chronicles

When Oliver comes to he's meet with a dimly light room and he immediately realises it's not a hospital. He's in a comfortable bed with dark green sheets, the room gives off a darker vibe as well, and dark wood makes up the most part of it. The curtains are drawn so Oliver can't tell what time of day it is.

He remembers waking up before, it's hasty and fleeting but from what he remembers the house is big and he's on the first floor. There was a man, but Oliver can't focus on a face, it's blurry.

"How did you do it?"

Oliver blinks and concentrates on the dark blob that appearsnext to his bed. It takes him a minute to accommodate his gaze, Cat stands there and stares down at him. Her face is strangely guarded.

He tries to speak but his mouth is dry, his lips are chapped but then Cat hands him a glass of water. Oliver gulps it down in one go and splutters, half of it runs down his chin.

"How did I do what?" he finally asks with a raspy voice.

"They tortured you. It was… inhuman. Why didn't you break?"

He looks at her but doesn't answer. What should he tell her? That it wasn't the worst he's ever experienced? That the pain had become a constant companion that lost its fright a long time ago?

"You thought about someone, didn't you? You seemed… it was like you were meditating," Cat looks at him thoughtfully. "Who did you think about?"

He doesn't answer still.

"It was a woman, wasn't it?"

A bitter laugh makes it past his lips.

"The one you talk about sometimes? What was her name, Laura?"

"Laurel," then he looks up and the intensity of his eyes would have made a lesser person stumble back. "Sara, Shado, Yao Fei, Slade, my father, my sister… I'm thinking about every person whose life I ruined. Everyone I destroyed or that died because of me and I think that I deserve what I get."

Oliver isn't sure what compels him to answer, maybe the pain killers are loosening his tongue.

Cat opens her mouth and closes it again. "What about the people whose life you made better?" she asks (because he's impressed her, he proved her wrong, because she always expects the worst from people and it's been a long time since someone showed her differently) and so she wants to know. Wants to know what makes him different.

"That would be a much shorter list."

The room falls silent after that.

"Where am I?" he finally asks as he tries to sit up and grimaces at the throbbing pain in… well, every cell of his body, really.

"Oh, you're gonna like that," Cat smiles. "Bruce Wayne. Rings a bell?"

Oliver frowns and tries sitting up.

"You shouldn't do that," Cat advises, but Oliver pushes through the searing pain in his shoulders and brings himself in an upright position.

"I think I heard about him. My father and his father used to do business together. His parents were killed, weren't they?"

Cat nods once with a faraway look on her face.

"But what am I doing here?"

"Well, we couldn't bring you to a hospital or ARGUS would have taken you, before either of us could have blinked. So I asked him to bring you here. You should thank me for that, it wasn't easy to persuade him."

"How did we get out of there?"

Cat grins, "Haven't I mentioned? Bruce Wayne is Batman."

Speechless Oliver stares at her.

"Also, I got something for you," Cat reaches for something laying on the floor next to her and drops his bow and quiver next to him on the bed.

"Where did you get that?"

"I've got a special talent, remember? The police had it, because someone reported a fight, when they got there all that was left was the car. They towed it. I figured the car didn't mean much to you, but these do."

"Thank you."

Arrow

She hasn't taken off her mask, Felicity notes. Neither has Batman. Only Oliver has pulled his hood back – still even he leaves the mask on.

"So, how is this going down?" Laurel asks and regards the new vigilantes in the room with a certain amount of suspicion. Felicity can't blame her, she feels the same way. Even she and Roy don their costumes and masks. Diggle seems mostly at ease with the situation and Roy stares at Batman completely starstruck.

"They will see it as a declaration of war," Digg states calmly.

"That is to be assumed," Batman says instead of Oliver.

"How do we get him here?" Roy snaps out of his impressed state.

Catwoman shrugs, "We don't need to have Ra's al Ghul here in person. He'll get the message either way."

"Felicity," Oliver turns to the blonde. "Digg says you've been working on finding the man in the robotic suit. Did you make any progress with that?"

"I…" Felicity hesitates. "Why do we need to find him?"

Oliver shrugs, "We need as many people for this as possible…"

Catwoman snorts and Oliver shoots her a warning glance. She's about to speak up, when it blurts out of Felicity.

"It's Ray!"

Oliver's head snaps up to her, his eyes unreadable.

It's Diggle who finds his voice first, "When did you figure it out?" he sounds suspicious.

Felicity swallows nervously, her chin raises defiantly – she has nothing to feel guilty about, "I helped him."

She deliberately doesn't look in Oliver's direction. But she can feel his gaze on her, can see the disappointment – the betrayal that is etched in his face.

"When where you going to tell me?" he doesn't yell, but his voice isn't calm.

"Ray… that's Ray Palmer, right? The one who stole your company?" Cat asks and her voice is filled with sardonic glee.

"Of course you know the local billionaires," Batman's voice cuts in sharply and Cat's jaw tightens.

"You didn't tell us. You've been working with Palmer on this and you didn't tell me. Only a few days ago I asked you if you knew anything and you lied straight to my face," Digg doesn't even look at her. His face is hard with anger, but his eyes are filled with disappointment, Felicity can tell even from where she's standing.

Oliver's eyes are still on her and Felicity wishes he'd stop.

"Well, thanks for letting us know now," he grinds out, sounding tired she feels like she's about to cry. "I don't think we need his help after all."

He doesn't want this kind of life for Felicity, he wants her to be able to live happy and normal. Involving her boyfriend in this mess is that last thing Oliver wants to do, because it's dangerous. If it was up to him, he would do it alone (maybe with Bruce only, so that no one had to face the wrath of Ra's al Ghul) and he wants Felicity as far away from this as possible.

"Why?" there's a challenge in Felicity's tone. "Because suddenly you've decided because he's my boyfriend he's not allowed?"

Oliver takes a deep breath, he's acutely aware of their audience. "Fine, then, we'll ask him."

He can tell Felicity is surprised how fast he gives in, but honestly Oliver is so tired of fighting with her. Always with her, over and over again. He's sick of it.

Catwoman laughs at this, "You can't be serious, Oliver. What has he done to deserve a place amongst you? No – you'll let me speak now. This is a message, a message that heroes band together should the need arise – against Ra's al Ghul. Ray Palmer and his robotic suit are nothing even close to a hero. You know my stance on the Flash but at least he deserves to be here. He's proven his worth. The world knows him. If we include every wannabe hero in this…"

"I never claimed to be a hero," Oliver interrupts sharply. "And you won't even be there."

"That aside, I'm willing to bet the Bloodsworth Diamond that I can take down Ray Palmer with his ridiculous suit in less than thirty seconds – without breaking a sweat."

"I knew you stole that," Batman mutters.

"You've been awfully quite about this," Catwoman turns to him and Oliver sets his eyes to the man dressed in black, as well.

Batman heaves a deep sigh before his dark, deep voice fills the room, "I think Catwoman is right. The Arrow, Batman, Batwoman, Nightwing, Black Canary, Arsenal and The Flash are well known. Whether you call us heroes or not, the people know us, they know what we do and what we stand for. Putting on a mechanic suit and flying over the city means nothing." He pauses and his eyes find Cat's green ones. "But I also think Oliver has a point. We need as many people as we can get. We're a limited number as it is. Perhaps Palmer has not yet earned his place but there's a chance he will."

Cat looks from him to Oliver and then back into Bruce's dark orbs. "Fine, but please note my veto."

A sudden gush of wind makes the papers flutter around them.

"Oh, wow. So, you're real, huh. I mean I knew you were real, but like seeing you here is unreal. I'm Barry Allan by the way. The Flash," the young face grins and pulls up his red mask.

"Oh joy, the guy in the full-body condom," Cat mutters and Roy, who stands next to her desperately, tries not to laugh.

"Batman," Bruce answers him gruffly. Clearly a bit irritated.

"Oh… aren't you gonna tell me your secret identity. I thought that was kind of the thing about being a superhero and all that…," Barry looks around vaguely uncomfortably with pleading eyes at Oliver.

"Superhero? You hear that? That's exactly why we shouldn't have included him. So, what am I in this game then? A super villain?" Cat shakes her head in disgust.

Barry looks at her confused.

"What are you doing here? I told you I'd call, Barry," Oliver asks impatiently.

"I didn't want to miss all the fun of super he… hero bonding," Barry exclaims.

Oliver shakes his head in exasperation, "I'll talk to Palmer. And someone needs to inform the League of Assassin's that their reign is over.

Arrow

"Why the whip?" Oliver asks her one day.

"Why the bow and arrow?"

"I'm good at it. It takes precision and patience and control and it has… sentimental value. So, why the whip?"

Cat looks at him. "I'm good at it. It takes precision and patience and control. It's not as easy to do as it looks, if you're not trained you can't use a whip. So if it gets taken from me, it can't be used against me."

Oliver nods, impressed with her line of thinking. "I guess the same goes for archery. But you still carry guns and knives."

"Just in case. I like to be prepared."

Oliver laughs at that.

"If you're done, I'd like to get a move on," Bruce interrupts them harshly.

Cat rolls her eyes, she turns to the stairs and as she walks away she says over her shoulder, "Be nice, boys."

Bruce grinds his teeth, only this woman was able to get him so on edge.

"Have you heard of anything specific tonight?" Oliver asks as they make their way done to the Batcave (not that Oliver would ever call it that – only Cat does, really).

"Not yet," Bruce answers as he makes his way over to his costume.

Oliver nods. His outfit is expensive and costume-made of dark green leather. Alfred has truly a notch for this. He slips on his hood and darkens the area around his eyes. Masks are impractical, he needs his field of vision clear. Personally Oliver thinks the Batmobile is too noticeable, but he has no right to complain.

They have been doing this for some weeks now - patrolling the city. Bruce hadn't wanted to take him at first, so he had shown up unannounced and shot the gun trained at Batman out of the hands of a mugger. After that, Bruce had given up.

"Armed robbery on…"

Bruce turns up the volume and steers the Batmobile towards their destination. The armed robbery turns out to be a hostage situation. A man in a gas station, apparently he had heard the sirens and gotten panicked.

They get out a few blocks from it.

"We should try to get access from the roof," Oliver shares a look with Bruce, who nods curtly.

They work with an impressive amount of synchrony, Oliver lands on the roof first and pulls the arrow from the ground. They merge with the darkness, then Bruce puts a hand on Oliver's arm.

"Wait, you should try to get a shot from the other building, Just in case," Bruce lets his gaze sweep over the scene that lays beneath them. The police has called snipers in, but it'll take time for them to get here.

"I can't get a clean shot," Oliver points out.

"And hopefully we won't need one."

Oliver tightens his jaw but complies.

Turns out they do need the shot. Bruce takes out two of the three men without a problem, but the third one has a hostage pressed to his chest holding a gun to her head. Bruce backs him in a corner, but for a second – and a second only – they pass a window. Oliver releases the arrow and it lodges itself in the man's throat. Faintly he can hear the woman scream in panic when she feels the warm blood running over her shoulder, down her arm.

Batman makes it out before the police makes it in. Oliver meets him at the Batmobile.

"What the hell was that?" Bruce rages and he's at Oliver's throat a second later.

"What are you talking about?" Oliver pushes him off, equally angry now.

"You killed him!"

"Of course, what else was I supposed to do? Wait until he pulled the trigger?" Oliver gives back heatedly.

"You could have disarmed him," Bruce clenches his teeth.

"Not unless I wanted to risk him still pulling the trigger. You told me to wait on the rooftop for a clean shot, so what is the problem?" Oliver bites out each word.

"I meant, a clean shot to disarm them – not kill them. We are not killers!"

"I saved her life!"

Let me know what you think!