When Justice Calls

After the Undertaking Oliver Queen has hung up his hood and is now running his family's business. Then he hears there's another vigilante in town and she's been looking for him. He puts on his hood to find her and comes face to face with a ghost. SPOILERS for SEASON 2!


Ch 4

Oliver didn't even notice the cold as his breath came out in wisps of smoke. He stood on the street watching Laurel move around her apartment. It was late, her light was still on she was still working hard. She wanted to make a difference, fight for the little people, but she wouldn't be able to make a dent in their operations. She was the David to a Goliath with unlimited resources and power to take what they wanted without paying the consequences. She wanted to do what was right but the law was just not her side anymore. She was working for the D.A. now but that didn't stop the wealthy criminals from getting the outcome they wanted. When money speaks, justice gets lost in the noise.

He wanted to tell her sister was alive, but he promised Sara he wouldn't and he owed Sara so much more than he ever owed anyone. When he looked into her eyes the girl he was knew was gone. Like him she had become someone else.

Sara said they wouldn't go for her in public that Laurel's death would be painful and cruel. They would abduct her first, break her and they would want her there to witness it.

Oliver knocked on Laurel's door.


Sara slowly got of the car holding her hand on her wound and stumbled forward. Quentin ran after her and held onto her arm as she led him to a old freight elevator. He slid the door open when she tried to reach out for it. They got inside and he shut the cage door.

They rode up in silence. He was wondering where they were, his mind was elsewhere as she drove his car. If they were still in Starling City he'd never seen buildings like this. It was old, worn down but everything seemed to be working properly. When the elevator stopped they entered a barren apartment.

Sara just left his side and walked into the bathroom and shut the door. He heard the sink turn on.

He looked around, there was a small kitchen tucked into the corner. There was nothing on the counters, no appliances at all, not even a toaster. An island sat in the middle with two wooden stools. There were two doors one led to the bathroom, the other the bedroom. The only other thing in the room was a fold-able table with a laptop. Quentin had take a deep breath, he'd seen motel's with more furniture. He walked over and peered into her bedroom, there was a cot in the middle with a thin blanket and an alarm clock was on tv dinner table next to the bed. The way her clothes were hung and her shoes lined, her closet would've passed a Military inspection.

Sara always had her room covered with pictures, posters, concert tickets. She loved clutter and color. It pained so much to see how she was living now; this place was lonely, cold. There was nothing personal here, nothing that was hers. This was the place of someone that moved around a lot, that didn't have a place to call home. Someone that wasn't really living.

He walked over to the bathroom, knocked on the door and called her name. When she didn't reply he said it again. She didn't reply again so he got worried and placed his hand on the door knob, it twisted in his hand, so he slowly opened the door.

His eyes immediately saw the bloody towels in the sink, her ruined shirt was balled up on the counter; he looked to his daughter in a sports bra staring into the mirror holding a needle in her hand. She had stitched up her own wound.

She hadn't moved, she was just standing there staring at nothing. He didn't even know if she knew he was there, until she turned her head to look at him. His heart hurt as he looked into his little girl's haunted eyes. What happened to you? He wanted to ask but the words caught in his throat as his eyes trailed downwards where he saw the long jagged scars that went across her back, a small sunken scar on her shoulder and a serrated line near her hip. Those two scars he had seen too much of from being a cop, wounds that could only be from a bullet and a knife.

And now she taped a bandage on the stitches across her stomach.

When she turned around in the small bathroom she was right in front of him. "I need to get a shirt" she said to him softly. He moved to give her room, staggering from the shock of her many wounds and fell into the wall as she calmly walked into her bedroom.

He was still standing there when she walked out pulling a shirt down carefully over her bandage. She walked over to her kitchen. "Do you want something to drink? All I have is water"

Quentin Lance managed to nod his head while holding himself up against the wall. He shock was turning to rage that was building up inside him. He wanted to kill whoever gave his daughter those scars, he wanted them ripped apart.

But then he watched as she just set two water bottles down on the island and sit down on one of the stools like nothing happened tonight, like she hadn't been slashed with sword. He stared at her and he couldn't even see traces of the young girl he knew, the young, naive girl that wanted everything her sister had but could never get it the same way…Laurel was the perfect daughter, she studied, and she got good grades. Sara was the rebel, she wanted to push the limits, see how far the boundaries go. She was the opposite of her sister.

He wanted drink, badly. He knew he shouldn't be thinking that. That meant he needed to call his sponsor. And maybe he should and tell him hey, I think I deserve a drink because it turns out my little girl isn't dead but she's come back as someone else, someone I don't even recognize.

He walked over and sat down next to her. He watched her take a long swig of her water. She placed the bottle back on the table and stared straight ahead.

He stared at his baby girl. "What happened to you?" He asked in chocked sob.

"It's better if you don't know" she replied keeping her eyes facing forward.


Oliver stood in Laurel's apartment telling her he was worried about her latest case against Davenport Industries. All other previous lawsuits against the Davenports were dropped when the witness and the prosecutor met with freak accidents. One was killed when a tree fell on their house. Nothing could prove they were behind the deaths so they were allowed to carry on with their lives.

Laurel was trying to prove they had ties to the mob. He knew they did, but proving that was dangerous. So Laurel was in danger from them along with a League of highly trained assassins. So he wasn't entirely lying to her. "I've met with Charles and Gregory Davenport, Laurel. They are not good guys, they will do anything to protect what is they perceive as theirs. I don't want you getting hurt.

"I know my job is dangerous, Oliver" Laurel replied. "But this is what I do. I can't just walk away, we can't let them win"

"I know that" he replied. "It's just...at least let me pay for some protection for you until the trials over" Laurel stared at him, she knew he was being sincere and he meant well. But she couldn't just use his money. She was protecting people against the rich and powerful. The ones that think money will get them out of anything. She didn't want to use the same tactics to help her out.

"I can't lose anyone else" he told her softly when he saw her wanting to turn down his offer. "We can't lose anyone else"

Laurel's demeanor softened as she looked in his eyes. They were both still hurting. Oliver…I" she didn't know what to say. She was afraid for this trial, this was her biggest case yet and she knew these were dangerous men she was dealing with and she knew what happened to the others that went up against them. But she didn't want to appear scared in front of them, if she had a bodyguard that's what it would imply. But she also knew if something happened to her that would leave her father alone and she didn't want that.

"Fine" she told him with a sigh. Oliver nodded his head. He needed to do better but this was what he could do now. He'd have to talk with Sara to see what else she could think off. If these people were coming after Laurel they would do anything to get to her.


The next morning Felicity walked into the lair and saw Oliver sitting in front of the computers. He was watching a video of some kind of party. The music was loud, a longer haired Oliver sat on a couch with his arm around a young brunette, and she was smiling up at him adoringly. Her eyes alight with young love. He must have said something funny because she started giggling.

Giggling always annoyed her, people didn't giggle. That was a fake laugh to make the other person feel adored. It worked because the Oliver in the video seemed to like it.

Then the smiling young girl began dancing on a table while the wealthy crowd gathered around and threw fifties at her feet. That girl in the video was nothing like the girl she met the other day. Oliver joined her on the table, his body pressed against her ass. She threw her arms around his neck and smiled brightly into the camera. The video stopped.

"She was twenty" Oliver said with sadness in his voice. "She loved to party. Laurel wanted to stay in and study instead having fun. Sara showed up and wanted too. And I wanted too, so I showed her a good time." Oliver stared at the smiling face of Sara Lance. "Then when Laurel wanted us to move in together, I got scared. So I convinced my father to let me go with him and invited Sara. I knew she had feelings for me so she jumped at the chance to be with me and I reveled in that attention." His voice started catching with emotion. "She was scared, she knew something was wrong. I told her not to worry and then…" Oliver bowed his head and clenched his fists. He would never wish the hell he went through on anyone. He saw in her eyes the same damaged look that stared back at him in a mirror every day.

He was worried about Laurel, about Sara and his team. Sometimes he missed being on the island when all he had to worry about was staying alive. Felicity walked over to him. "It's not your fault, what happened…you didn't sabotage the yacht." She placed her hand over his balled fist. "She's alive. She survived, that has to count for something"

"She's not the same…" Oliver began.

"I never met that Oliver" she said pointing to computer Oliver's smiling face on the screen. "You both changed, you both survived, not many people would have"

"I don't know about that, we humans are resilient creatures. Don't underestimate what you are capable of." Sara said from behind them.

Felicity's heart jumped in her throat, Sara had startled her. Then she looked down to see her hand was intertwined with Oliver's. She jumped back and took her hand away. If Oliver noticed he didn't show it.

Oliver pushed the chair back and stood up. "Is your father okay?" Felicity called him and told him what happened with Quentin and that Sara had no choice but to show her dad she was alive. He wondered how Lance was doing with that information. He probably hated him even more for his part in it after seeing the Sara that had come back.

"Yes, and Laurel?" she asked.

"Diggle's keeping an eye on her. You're sure they won't attack her in public?" He asked. Laurel only agreed to have Diggle drive her to and from the places she needed to be.

"No, they don't like messy. They'll try to catch her when she's alone" Sara said to him. She didn't know how she was going to do this. They couldn't be everywhere all the time. That's why she didn't come back; she didn't let them know who she was to protect her family.

"It's not enough; we can't be with her all the time" Oliver spoke her thoughts out loud.

"I know" Sara replied. She didn't want to put her in danger either. She told her she could handle it. But now that she was here she knew she couldn't. Laurel wouldn't like it, but she wouldn't turn her away either. And they had no other options. "I know someone that can stay with her"


Laurel said good night to John Diggle, Oliver's bodyguard that was now hers. He showed up first thing in the morning ready to escort her to work. Then he drove her home from work and made sure her apartment was empty.

She saw amble around the hallway slowly, not quite leaving yet. It felt weird having someone hovering over as she got into her car; it also felt weird to get into the backseat of her own car. Overnight Oliver had also had someone install bullet proof glass on her car. Laurel waved at him again and shut the door and wondered how long he planned on staying out there. She placed her briefcase on the table then went into her kitchen to get a glass of wine.

She heard a knock on her door. She walked over to the door hoping Mr. Diggle wasn't pretending to have forgotten something so he could have an excuse to stay longer. She peered through the eye hole and sucked in her breath as she saw who was standing on the other side.

Laurel opened the door and eyed the suitcase on the ground next to her.

"Mom?"

Tbc...