Title: Through the Sands of Time
Author: Miranda Aurelia
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver
Summary: A betrayal sends a battle-weary Connor Queen hurtling through time into the past. Soon, the JL gang discovers that potentially messing up the timeline is the least of his worries.

A/N: So it seems that I have hit semi-writer's block. This is what happens when I don't pre-write at least two chapters in advance before posting.... However, the story has been more or less planned out, so I'm hoping I can get one or two more chapters written up before midterm season starts in mid-February.

Chapter 3

"Connor Jones," Chloe mulled over it, "Somehow, I don't think that sounds right."

"What about the rest of his story? Do you think it checks out?" Oliver asked, watching the flashing numbers of the elevator as the two of them headed back upstairs.

After the bombshell the no-longer unnamed stranger had dropped, Oliver had just shook Connor again. "Is that's the best you can come up with? Sing me a new one."

To his surprise, Connor managed to break out of his hold and before he knew it, the other man was half way across the room. "It's true."

"Alright." Oliver crossed his arms, "Prove it."

"You got to be kidding me…" Connor muttered before he shot Oliver a sardonic look. "You know that I can't. Guess you'll just have to take my word for it."

"Oliver!" Chloe interrupted when she saw Green Arrow ready to fire off another retort. They weren't going to get anywhere at this rate. She turned to Connor, "Can you at least tell us how you got here?"

He'd been on a mission for the new Justice League. In the future, the League had expanded and as with any expansion, it had become entangled with numerous levels of bureaucratic red tape and political maneuvering as the leaders were replaced by a Council. Many of the original Justice League members had since retired or resigned, unsatisfied with the way things were being run. However, a few of them still stuck around, hoping to bring about change any way they could.

"On the last mission, we were supposed to break into this abandoned army base. Somehow things went to hell while we were leaving and before I knew it, I was hanging off the side of a cliff. Then my girlfriend started shooting at me. She said that she was under orders from Council. Apparently I was becoming a liability. I fell and-" Connor shrugged, "when I came to, I was watching Arrow and company getting their ass handed to them."

"Hey!"

When Oliver took a menacing step forward, Chloe placed a hand on his arm. "Calm down." Then she glared at Connor, "You, don't rill him up."

The bearded man tilted his head in acknowledgment.

"That doesn't explain the time-traveling though."

"It's not like I know myself. I was actually pretty shocked to find out that I was still alive."

"I think he's mostly telling the truth," Chloe said, "Even if there may be huge parts he's leaving out."

"Part of him rubs me the wrong way though," groused Oliver as they stepped off the elevator,

"Judging from what I heard, he appeared as soon as the lights came back on. You got to admit his timing was pretty good."

"Exactly," Oliver said as he fell into step beside Chloe after they stepped off the elevator, "Don't you think it was a bit too good? I don't believe in coincidences like this."

"You think he's a spy?" She looked thoughtful as she grabbed her mug for a refill.

"We were led into a trap," Oliver reminded her, "I wouldn't put it past them to have a back-up plan."

"His abilities were certainly real enough," Chloe poured some coffee, "And it doesn't explain how he figured out who we were. If he were a spy, wouldn't his employers have already made use of that information?"

"I'm Oliver Queen," he said matter-of-factly, "You don't go around accusing me of dressing up as a vigilante if you don't want a defamation lawsuit slapped on your head."

"There are other ways of using that information besides going the press. What I don't get is why you're so sure that he's the bad guy."

Oliver blinked. "What?"

"You met Mia, Bart and Dinah in a similar way," she reminded him, "Dinah was even working for Lex when we first met her."

"It's not like I asked her to join the JL right after I met her," Oliver looked at her, "What are you trying to get at?"

"I'm saying that Connor could be an asset for team if it turns out that he was just in the wrong place at the right time," Chloe took a sip of her coffee, "If he's telling the truth, he's already had a few years of experience working with the League. It'll be a shame to let that go to waste."

"You forgot the part where they tried to kill him. Maybe there's a something important he's not telling us."

"If it helps, it'll give you a good reason to be keeping tabs on him."

Oliver just sighed. "Fine. I'll think about it."

"The figurine you're getting fingerprints all over is a priceless antique," To his credit, the dark-haired man known as Mr. Hyde didn't bat an eyelash as he walked into his office to find four Mafia members in his office and the leader sitting in his chair. "And get your dirty feet off my desk."

"I'm doing the talking here, Hyde," The head thug, Zannizzo, pointed a finger at other man, "Starting with the compensation for the men and supplies I lost."

His second-in-command, Paolo, stood off to the side, while the two other thugs Zannizzo had brought with him were slouched against the wall, but Mr. Hyde ignored them as he focused on the mid-level gangster sitting in his chair.

"I don't think so. I just gave you one simple order – and you even managed to fuck that up," Hyde did not sound impressed. "Sheer incompetency. Not only have you tipped off the Green Arrow that we're out to get him, but you even manage to lose the DX-320!"

The gangster bristled, "The green bastard has a back-up, which you conveniently forgot to tell us about! My men were ambushed by this freak that appeared out of nowhere! He almost killed one of my men!"

"Save the sob story for someone that cares," Hyde folded his arms, "In fact, I've decided it's probably best to end this business relationship.

"I'm not leaving until I get my money!"

"People in hell want ice water," he shot back, "That doesn't mean they're going to get it. Now get out of my office."

"I don't think so," Zannizzo aimed his gun at Hyde and his associates followed suit. Meanwhile, a barely perceptible nod passed from Paolo to Hyde before all hell broke loose.

There was a muffled bang and Zannizzo fell backwards, his eyes wide open in shock and a hole in his forehead. At that point, a dark shape had slipped out from seemingly nowhere and one thug soon crumpled to the ground, a knife sticking out of his chest. Another muffled bang later and the remaining thug fell forward, two steps from his original position against the wall.

"I trust that you'll keep your end of the bargain," Mr. Hyde told Paolo as the mysterious assassin stood silently beside him. "It would be mighty inconvenient if certain pieces of information were to be leaked back to those higher up in the hierarchy."

Paolo's eyes shifted to the bodies on the floor of the office, "It'll be done."

"It had better be," Mr. Hyde said darkly. He watched from the window as Paolo got into his car and drove off before turning back to the man beside him.

"Make it look like an accident. I don't like loose ends."

The other man nodded before heading off.

Hyde looked distastefully at the three bodies in his office before calling in the clean-up crew.

He had no wish to involve himself with the backstabbing in the mafia. Instead, in a week's time, evidence would arise pointing to Paolo's betrayal. By that time, it would be too late – even if the other members did manage to find him later on, he would already have met an unfortunate end in an accident. Most importantly, there would be nothing whatsoever linking any of their deaths to him.

As for his on-going feud with Green Arrow and company...he had high hopes for his newest employee.

"I am going to get throttled," was the only thought running through Nathan's mind as he rang the bell. The fact that he was invulnerable was not that reassuring considering the man he was going to be facing.

"Nathan!" A familiar voice called out and he was enveloped in a hug by a dark-haired young woman, "What brings you here today?" Alana Wayne smiled and looked around him, "And where's Connor?"

"Yeah, about that…." Nathan winced inwardly. This wasn't going to go well. "Is your dad around?"

"They killed Connor."

Bruce was silent, but there was loud gasp behind him. Nathan whirled around and he barely caught a glimpse of Alana's devastated expression before she fled from the doorway of the study.

"Who gave the orders?"

"Council did. Dominique was the one that pulled the trigger."

"The redhead?"

"His girlfriend."

"Leave me," It was no longer Bruce speaking, but Batman.

Nathan beat a hasty retreat only to run into Selina.

"What's going on, Nathan? Why is my daughter sobbing as though someone just broke her heart?"

"It's Connor," Nathan rubbed a hand over his face, "The bastards on Council….they gave the orders and Dominique….she killed him. I watched as she killed my best friend-" His voice broke.

The Waynes had been like a second family to Connor during his childhood and Nathan felt like a heel for having to bring them the news.

Shock passed through Selina's eyes, which then morphed rapidly into a mixture of grief and anger.

"Connor…" she said softly before she looked at Nathan, "I'm going to kill them!" she vowed, "Starting with that bitch."

"I'll help," he said grimly. Any loyalty Nathan might have had to the new League had disappeared the moment Dominique pulled the trigger. He knew his father would have disapproved of his attitude, but at the moment, he couldn't find it in him to care.

To be continued.