Claire's friend turned out to be a man in a red and black costume complete with small horns on the helmet.
"The Devil of Hell's Kitchen," Danny said. "I read about you when I was catching up on recent local news."
"I prefer Daredevil," the man replied, and then proceeded to tell them what he knew about the Hand - which was far more than Danny had dared hope for.
Daredevil didn't linger to answer questions, just wished them luck and ran for the edge of the roof to jump off.
Danny started after him, but Oliver held him back. "Let him go. It's not his fight."
Now, as he led Oliver down from the roof of 54 St. Mark's, Oliver's voice came over his shoulder. "That was … interesting."
Danny snorted. "That's one word for it. But we got a lot of information we didn't have."
Oliver made a noise of agreement. Then, "Did anything strike you as … odd about him?"
"In what way?" Danny turned toward Oliver's rental car. His Aston-Martin would've been far too conspicuous in this neighborhood, but the sedan Oliver had rented fit right in.
"I don't know." Oliver slid behind the driver's seat. "Just - something felt off. I might be able to figure it out if I talked to him again."
"Do you think he'll be a problem?" Danny buckled his seat belt as Oliver started the engine.
"No," Oliver answered slowly. "I think he wants the Hand destroyed as much as we do."
"But he didn't offer to help us," Danny pointed out.
"I can't explain it." Oliver pulled out of the parking space and turned the car toward Danny's apartment. "But he seemed to be … sad. Grieving? We don't know who he is under that mask or what's happened to him that might prevent him helping. I'm just glad he met with us tonight."
Danny nodded reluctantly. It had been foolish, he decided, to hope for help from Claire's friend, even if that friend turned out to be Daredevil. But at least, as Oliver said, he'd given them a lot more information than they'd had.
"What now?" Danny asked.
"It's still early in Star City," Oliver answered. "When we get back to your apartment, I'll call Felicity. Once she has all the information we have, she'll … well." Oliver grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't call us tomorrow morning with the names and addresses of all the Hand leadership in the world."
Danny blinked. "How?"
"Searching for, collating, analyzing, and extrapolating connections between all the names and locations we have," Oliver answered. "Most of that will be legal. Some of it probably won't be. Is that a problem?"
Danny stared out the passenger window as the streets became cleaner and better lit. "I feel like it should be," he said finally. "But as long as it's not hurting anyone innocent…I can't bring myself to care. The Hand has done too much evil to too many people for me to fret about their civil liberties being violated."
"That's an odd stance for a champion of one of the Heavenly Cities to have," Oliver observed dryly.
"If it weren't the Hand, I'd feel differently," Danny said. Then he shook his head and corrected himself. "No, I do feel differently. I'd never want her, or anyone, to do that kind of thing without authorizations and warrants otherwise. People are entitled to their privacy."
=A=IF=A=
As soon as they got back to Danny's apartment, Oliver pulled a laptop from his duffel bag and set it up on the bar of Danny's kitchen. He would've preferred to leave it at home, but Walter insisted he take it in case something came up at QC that required Oliver's immediate attention.
Something had come up, certainly - just not at QC. Oliver gave a silent sigh and hit the button to connect to a videoconference.
Minutes later, Felicity's face filled the laptop screen. "Oliver?"
"You busy, Felicity?" Oliver asked. From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Nyssa flinch, but by the time he focused on her, her expression was as neutral as ever.
"No, Dig and Thea just broke up a gang fight down by the docks, and they're on the way back. What's up?"
"We're going to be giving you a lot of names and addresses," Oliver told her. "And I know this is so far beneath your abilities as to be laughable, but I need you to find everything you can on them."
"Okay. Why?"
"They're all associated with the Hand, somehow."
"The Hand." Felicity sounded dubious and he couldn't blame her. "Just a hand? No feet or anything else?"
Danny moved so he stood behind and slightly to Oliver's right, close enough that the laptop camera would pick him up. "It's the organization I've trained all my life to defeat. They're bad guys."
"And we're involved … why?"
"Because I believe both our fathers were killed on the way to end their association with the Hand," Oliver said. "So I want you to cross-reference what we have with all the names on my father's list, too."
"And with the League," Nyssa added as she came to flank Oliver's other side. "Hello, Felicity."
"Hi." Felicity offered her a small smile, then shot a look through the camera at Oliver promising they would have words when he got back to Star City.
"Nyssa's sister, Talia, is here, too," Oliver added. "I'll let them brief you."
He stepped back, out of the camera's pickup, but paused when Nyssa's hand landed softly on his arm.
"May I have a word privately?"
"Of course." Oliver followed her into the bedroom she was using.
She closed the door behind them, and when she turned to face him, her expression was troubled.
"I owe you an apology, Oliver."
Oliver.Not Al Sah-him or even husband, but Oliver. He knew that choice had meaning, but for the moment he could only say,
"I don't remember you trying to kill me lately."
Her expression didn't change. "I am sorry. I thought only of myself and my needs when we spoke. I - assumed you were free and did not think about Felicity."
"That's not - Felicity and I aren't together anymore."
A slight widening of her eyes was the only sign of her surprise. "No? But when she came to Nanda Parbat, you-"
She broke off, and Oliver could almost feel her searching for words that would express her thoughts without being crude.
"That was then," Oliver offered, saving her any embarrassment. "Things changed. We changed."
Nyssa resumed walking. "I accept your words, but you still appear … close."
"We always will be," Oliver said. "But we're not able to be that close. We're too different."
And that hurt. He'd thought she was as invested in his work - she called it his crusade - as he was, even if she had originally only agreed to help him find Walter Steele when he'd been kidnapped several years ago.
But her attitude hadn't completely changed as he'd thought, and though they'd tried to be a couple, in the end, their differences were too great.
"My sorrow." Nyssa sounded sincere, but Oliver couldn't help quirking a grin at her.
"Not too sorrowful, I hope."
Nyssa laughed, then looked surprised that she had. "Well. My sorrow for your pain. I admit I am relieved that she doesn't stand between us in this."
"She doesn't," Oliver agreed. "Other things do."
"Such as?" Nyssa asked.
"What you want from me - besides stud service."
"No more than you are prepared to give. I swore not to burden you with this."
"Burden?" It was Oliver's turn to stop and stare at her. "It's not a burden, Nyssa. It's-"
He cut himself off. He thought she respected him as much as he respected her, but still he hesitated to show a weakness to her.
Nyssa tugged him to the side of the footpath they'd been following, asking softly, "What is it?" Then, when he didn't respond immediately, she added, "Husband?"
"That," he said immediately. "That's what it is. If we - when we - do this, I want to be part of our child's, our children's lives."
Her eyes widened. "Oliver - Husband - are you sure?"
"Absolutely," he said firmly. "I already have one son I'll probably never see again. I don't want more."
Nyssa blinked. "You and Felicity-? My apology, I shouldn't pry."
"No, you should know," Oliver said. "And not Felicity. A girl named Samantha. It wasn't planned, and I only found out recently that my mother offered her a million dollars to tell me she'd lost the baby and move away."
"Did she?"
"She moved away, but she didn't cash the check. And she didn't lose the baby." Oliver couldn't help smiling at the thought of his son William. Then he sobered again. "I met him for the first time a couple of years ago, and only found out he's my son earlier this year. But Damien Darhk kidnapped him."
"Children are vulnerable," Nyssa agreed.
"We got him back, and I gave Samantha the name of someone who could build her and William new identities and enough money for them to start over somewhere."
"And you don't know where, nor their names." Nyssa sounded certain.
"It's safer for them if I don't." Oliver swallowed, hard. "I won't lose another child like that. I want to be part of our children's lives."
"In Nanda Parbat?"
"And in Star City." Oliver smiled. "There's no reason they can't be children of both worlds."
Nyssa appeared to consider that for a long moment before she nodded. "Agreed."
"There is one other thing."
"What?"
Oliver kicked himself for his hesitation. He hadn't been this nervous since his first time. "Would you prefer artificial insemination?"
Oliver surreptitiously glanced at the watch he wore to note the time. He suspected he'd never again render Nyssa Raatko, Ra's al Ghul, so speechless that her mouth literally dropped open.
"Nyssa?" Oliver prompted after a full minute.
Finally, she shook her head. "How can you ask me that?"
"I know you like women. And the genetics are the same, however we-"
"Stop!" Her voice cracked like a whip between them. "How dare you!"
"I meant no offense," he said. "Just the opposite - I wanted to make things as … pleasant … for you as I could."
"Because a clinical procedure with …" she trailed off, obviously searching for the right word.
"Turkey basters?" Oliver hazarded.
"Whatever they use." Nyssa brushed that aside. "How can you think that might be more pleasant than sharing pleasure with you?"
"As I said - you like women." But now that Nyssa laid it out for him, he kicked himself mentally.
Nyssa smiled, just a little, but Oliver wouldn't let himself relax just yet.
"I thank you for your consideration, Husband, but know that it was misplaced." She swallowed and glanced away before continuing. "I have been with a man before. I trust you will be more … considerate than he was."
That was a can of worms he had no desire to open. So all he said was, "I will do my best."
She gave him a more genuine smile, then her expression sobered and she took one step forward into his space.
It was as clear an invitation as he'd get. He met her halfway, bending his head to kiss her.
He realized almost immediately that he could lose himself in her kiss, the softness of her mouth and the steel of her spirit. And he would. Soon. Soon - but not now.
Oliver broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. "When this business with the Hand is done, and provided Talia doesn't kill me in the meantime, will you spend some time with me?"
"I must, if I am to get pregnant."
"True - but I meant in addition to that. We already know we respect each other. I hope we can grow to love each other."
"Why do you hope this?"
"Besides it making the whole pregnancy thing more pleasant?" Oliver met her gaze seriously. "Because I want a partner in my life - one who understands and respects all of it, even if I can't share all of it with her."
She studied him for a long moment, and Oliver wondered what she was looking for. Whatever it was, she must have found it, because she said, "As long as my partner understands that I can't share all of my life with him."
"Of course you can't," Oliver agreed immediately. "But I expect to be told of any part that involves me or my city."
"Agreed."
=A=IF=A=
When they'd finished briefing Felicity, Danny bid her farewell and ended the call. Beside him, Talia stared at the door behind which her sister and Oliver had disappeared when the briefing had begun more than half an hour ago.
Talia's expression was an odd mix of emotions he couldn't immediately identify. So all he could do was ask, "Something wrong?"
Her expression shifted to something resolute, and she turned away from the door to face him. "I'm trying to think of Oliver Queen as my brother, not my enemy."
Danny blinked and replayed her words in his mind. Yes, she had said enemy. What was he supposed to say to that?
Before he could come up with anything, Talia spoke again. "I apologize, Rand-Kai, for fighting you in the Grand Duel Madam Gao organized. We are allies, not enemies."
"It wasn't your fault," Danny reminded her. "You were drugged." Her expression was still too serious for his liking, so he said, "Do you seduce all of your opponents?"
Her mouth twitched. "Only the attractive ones. I didn't expect it to work on you, or any champion."
"I wasn't expecting it," Danny offered in his defense. Truthfully, not only had he not expected it, he wasn't prepared for it. Lei Kung hadn't prepared him for that kind of attack.
Talia smiled. "That's why it works."
"It won't work again," Danny assured her. Then some impulse made him add, "Not in combat, anyway."
Talia started, then eyed him speculatively. "I'll remember that."