Title: Through the Sands of Time
Author: Miranda Aurelia
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver
Rating: PG-13
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: Thanks so much to everyone that took the time to leave a comment! I've added some "future" and "past" indicators, so hopefully things will be less confusing.
That and I'm actually a bit amused that some people confessed to zoning out during the future non-Connor-related bits, but I just want to say that these "separate" storylines will be merging soon.
Chapter 5
About 22 years into the future…
"Not quite the way I would have handled it, although I appreciate the sentiment," was the first thing Nathan said once she took a seat at the table across from him.
"What? You don't like my sexy war wounds?" The bruise on Alana's left cheek provided a sharp contrast to her pale skin.
"I thought Jay was pulling my leg when he told me about it. It just seemed so out of character for you."
"Yeah, well," Alana tugged a lock of her hair behind her ear, "She called my dress tacky." When Nathan raised an eyebrow in disbelief, she huffed, "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
"Is that the best you could come up with?" The corner of Nathan's mouth twitched.
"Don't worry, Mom already gave me a long lecture on subtlety and how I should employ it sometime." Alana drummed her fingers impatiently on the table, "So who are we meeting? I need to swing by Aunt Barbara's place later to pick-up some material for Dad."
"Remember the last mission I was on?"
The pained look that came into Alana's eyes was enough to indicate that she did.
"We were rescuing a kidnapped girl that had time-manipulating abilities." Nathan paused for a second, "I got a call from her about two days ago. She said that she had information about Connor."
"What use is that?" A scowl appeared on Alana's face as she turned away from him, "You already said that Connor fell off the cliff-" she broke off.
"I think Connor's still alive," interjected a soft voice.
"Alana, this is Sarah," Nathan said as he pulled out a chair for the teen.
Coming up behind her was a man Alana recognized from one of Connor's photos. He'd been part of Connor's unit, along with Dominique and Nathan. "Jay, why are you here?"
"Council didn't want to risk Sarah getting kidnapped again, so I'm just tagging along," the dark-haired man explained.
"You said you had some information about Connor?" Nathan gently prompted the teen in question.
However, he sensed that Sarah seemed unsure about speaking with Jay and Alana there, so he tried to reassure her. "Alana and Jay were close friends of Connor's too. Whatever information you give me will be safe with them."
"Okay," Sarah took a deep breath and then she launched into her story.
"So, you're saying that Connor is stuck in the past?" Alana finally said when Sarah finished.
"I think so," Sarah frowned, "It's the only explanation I could think of that would cause the threads to fray like that."
"If that turns out to be true," Jay finally spoke up, "We should keep it under wraps. Just in case." He'd already heard from Nathan about Dominique's betrayal.
"Agreed," Nathan said firmly, "I don't trust Council not to find a way to keep him there permanently."
"Can you get us there? Where Connor is?" Alana asked suddenly.
Sarah bit her lip, "I don't think I have enough power to transport anyone else through time. I've never tried it before."
"Oh," the dark-haired girl visibly deflated, "So we're back to square one since we don't have Connor's special abilities."
"No," Nathan said slowly, "I think I might have an idea."
Selina found her husband in the Batcave.
Descending the stairs, she headed straight towards the glow of the computers. Numbers, words, sentence fragments and other bits of data flashed across the multiple screens; in front of them, Bruce sat there, his face drawn up in a frown.
"Connor visited me a few weeks ago," Bruce finally spoke up, "He'd been going through the records at his company when he noticed some discrepancies. The two of us and Oracle did some more digging and it turns out that the embezzling has been going on for over twenty-something years. Even that took us quite a bit of time to find out about. Whoever it was covered their tracks well."
Selina stirred, "And you think that Connor's murder is related to this?"
"No, I know that it's related. Just this morning Lucius was telling me about a dispute amongst the board of directors at QI. There's been talk about an election of a new CEO to replace Connor…"
"No, some of the board members are trying to delay things by holding onto the claim that a body hasn't been found yet. One of the old geezers said that it wasn't the first time that one of the Queen men has been presumed dead and then turned up alive and kicking a couple of weeks later…" The businessman tapped his fingers against his desk. Beside his coffee, a copy of the Daily Planet was seen, its headlines shouting out news of Connor Queen's disappearance in a manner eerily reminiscent of Oliver Queen's rumored death many years ago.
Meanwhile, in the present…
"I'm assuming you know the rest of the team," Oliver started. "Everyone, this is Connor. He's going to be joining us, at least for a while."
It all felt a bit surreal to Connor, seeing these younger versions of his extended family. Heck, his Uncle Bart was almost the same age as he was in this time!
"Are they together?" Connor asked Bart, his gaze focused on his parents. Somehow he found it a bit comforting that they interacted so naturally around each other even in this time period before they had officially gotten together.
It was the subtle things, such as way they seemed to be able to hold entire conversations with their eyes alone, the brush of his fingers against her arm, the way his father leaned in to talk to his mother when she was typing on the computer.
"Why? You interested in Chloelicious?" Bart lowered his voice conspiratorially, "That probably isn't the best idea. Bossman gets really possessive over his Watchtower."
"Does he?"
Bart nodded, "There's actually a pool going on about when they're going to give in and jump each other. Too bad they're both deep in denial."
"Wait…didn't you have a crush on Chloe?"
"Unrequited love is what powers the greatest stories of all time," Bart sighed dramatically, "Don't see why this should be an exception."
Connor rolled his eyes, "You're so funny, Unc- uh, Bart."
Luckily Bart didn't catch his verbal stumble.
Later on that evening, Oliver found himself trailing the newest League member across the rooftops of Star City.
Is that a crossbow he has on his back? Oliver wasn't sure how he felt about another League member (temporary or not) using his weapon of choice.
Connor didn't seem to be aware of his presence as the younger man leapt nimbly across the air in the direction of the slums. It was probably just as well that he wasn't privy to Connor's thoughts or he would have been alarmed at the murderous turn they'd taken.
The younger man had paused on the roof of the building opposite Stonely's apartment for a good ten minutes before Connor finally shot a line and swung over onto the roof of Stonely's building before he disappeared.
It would be so easy to end his sorry life, Connor thought with a disgusted curl of his lip as he surveyed Stonely's living quarters.
A heavy stench of alcohol filled the air and it wasn't any surprise that the man sprawled out of the bed barely stirred while Connor debated his next move.
Especially since I missed my chance the last time, he thought to himself darkly. As much as he wanted to make sure Chloe Queen's future killer was no longer a threat, inwardly, he knew that Stonely was only a small part of the big picture. After he finally tracked the killer down nearly a decade after his mother's death, he found out that Stonely had been paid handsomely for the deed – and that Chloe hadn't even been the main target. You were the main target. She'd just gotten in the way, as the man had put it before Connor decked him.
"Who paid you? Answer me!" Connor had grabbed the other man by the scruff of this shift and shook him roughly.
The man was undeterred, "He'll kill me if I tell you."
Connor shook him again, "I'll kill you if you don't tell me! And I'll make it painful," he vowed.
"You hero types don't kill," Stonely sneered, "Doesn't it go against your code of ethics?"
"Then I guess you didn't hear about Black and Devons."
Stonely tried to speak but then a blue tinge started to spread across his face. Connor dropped him and the other man fell onto the floor, dead.
"He must have been injected with Blue Aphonal," Bruce had told him when he told his mentor what had happened. "It came onto the black market about seven years ago. It's used mainly by criminal groups to prevent their members from snitching."
Connor had to settle with planting the trackers he's swiped from JL Towers in Stonely's possessions. Finding the identity of Stonely's employer was more important in the grand scheme of things.
As he made his way outside, he instinctively scanned the rooftops. A flash of movement caught his eye and he quickly retreated into the shadows before stealthily making his way down a few blocks on foot before he made his way back onto the rooftops.
Dad! Was he following me? Connor thought as he caught sight of Green Arrow a few buildings to the west some time later. And why am I not surprised?
It has been almost a week since he'd landed in this time. One afternoon, he'd taken advantage of the fact that his parents had gone out for lunch (or rather, Oliver had cajoled Chloe into a lunch 'date') to make use of Watchtower's computers. The numerous security measures would have been sufficient to keep out anyone but him. Well, that and having a good idea of the passwords Chloe would have used helped too.
It didn't faze him when he found out that his mother kept track of all the information he had accessed on his laptop. Although he was strongly tempted to download all the hard-core porn he could find just to see her reaction.
That idea was struck out after he thought about it and figured that while his mother would be freaked out (and maybe highly disturbed), this Chloe probably wouldn't bat an eyelash. So there went that brilliant plan.
Oliver had given him access to the JL armoury, but Connor hadn't been too impressed with the weapons he'd seen. Then he had to remind himself that he was about two decades in the past and that he would have to make do.
He kept those thoughts to himself though – his father would probably shoot him if he called his new compound bow primitive.
Connor could see that Green Arrow's attention was still focused on the area around Stonely's building. He was able to turn and leave when he saw another dark figure land on the roof behind his father.
The figure was also holding a wicked looking knife.
Thanks so much for reading!