Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.

Queen Manor

Oliver was mingling with guests at the party before approaching Laurel and Blood.

"Mr. Queen." Blood smiled.

"Ollie." Laurel greeted him politely.

"May I intrude?" Oliver chuckled. "I overheard something about gun epidemic in the Glades? I'm sure the police is doing everything they can to apprehend the men responsible for it."

"They know who's behind it, Ollie." Laurel said as Blood chuckled. "The Mayor."

"I thought that the Hood copycats killed the mayor." Oliver said, confused.

"Well, not the actual mayor." Blood corrected. "A local gang lord calls himself the Mayor, thinks he's the man to save our city."

"But that position has already been filled, hasn't it?" Laurel teased as Oliver tried hard not to roll his eyes.

"Now, this mayor has only one goal; to create chaos, so he can rule the Glades with the barrel of a gun." Blood smiled before walking off as Oliver gave Laurel a hard stare.

"What?" Laurel asked.

"This guy? Really?" Oliver asked, clearly uncomfortable.

"Well, I'm just having some fun, in my defense." Laurel shrugged as Oliver shook his head, while smiling.

Meanwhile, Fyff's House

"So, how did it go?" Chloe asked as Sara entered the house.

"Good." Sara chuckled. "But what bugs me is that they had M4A1 assault rifles."

"How did they get their hands on military grade weapons?" Chloe frowned.

"I guess they were stolen." Sara surmised. "The Glades have been plagued with them lately."

"You're not gonna support Oliver at the party?" Chloe changed the subject.

"As much as I want to, honestly, it's just not my thing, besides, Laurel's already there." Sara said before changing the subject. "How's it going with finding our dragon man?"

Chloe then cleared her throat. "Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She glanced towards the bathroom, where they heard the shower and Nicole humming. "I think I have my suspicions about him. The first time he showed up, it was when they attacked Nicky in the Glades. And then, he saved her from the Dollmaker. The question is, why would he follow her? Unless…"

Sara saw, where Chloe was going as she saw the family photo of Henry, Nicole, Riley and Richard on the wall.

Starling City

Outside Fyff's house, the Canary was chasing the hooded man with a dragon tattoo on the rooftops before throwing bola as the man fell down, with the ropes wrapped around his legs. "Don't try to run!" She warned as she approached him slowly.

The man laughed. "You've come a long way. And you haven't changed at all, still impulsive and emotional and reckless."

"You taught me to keep my feelings in check and separate my own thoughts from the task at hand." The Canary smiled. "Good lesson." The man rolled over, facing her as she put his hood down and then, her own eye mask and wig. "It's been a long time, Richard." Sara smiled.

"Yeah." Richard smiled back.

"How are you still alive? I saw them kill you." Sara asked, confused. Richard stayed silent as they stared at each other, while Sara cut the bola off his legs as Richard got up on his feet. "Richard, Nicky and Riley need you. Come home. Please. We missed you."

"I… I can't, Sara." Richard glanced down on the ground, ashamed.

"If this is about what happened in Africa, they don't hate you. Nicky and Henry understand. And Riley needs a father." She held his arm. "Come back. To your family. You're free, remember?"

"My freedom has been forfeit long ago, Sara." Richard declined, looking ashamed.

"You're not one of the Hunters anymore. It's over." Sara reminded.

"I'm not talking about the Hunters." Richard said cryptically.

"Then who?" Sara asked but, unknowingly to her, Richard reached out for his belt as an explosion knocked Sara on the ground and Richard vanished in cloud of smoke.

Later, the Lair

"So, you know that dragon guy?" Diggle asked as Sara and Chloe filled him and Oliver in.

"His name is Richard Dragon." Sara explained as she sat down. "He…" She took a breath. "He used to work as a private military contractor. Before Henry was recruited by CIA, he and Ian, Nicky's fiancé and Riley's father used to work for him as freelancer. But something went wrong and Ian died. Henry sort of hit rock bottom and went off-the-grid for months. Kind of like you, Ollie." She turned to her lover as he nodded in understanding. "I met him three years ago in Africa… and…" She took a breath, for a moment rubbing her hair as Oliver and Diggle saw the shame and guilt on her face. "I worked for him too for a while. I was a mercenary, Ollie."

"What?" Oliver demanded. "What do you—"

"I didn't have a choice, if I didn't play along, they'd hurt Riley and I would never forgive myself if something had happened to him because of me!" Sara snapped, steadying her breath. "Sorry, I didn't mean to lash out."

Oliver nodded in understanding. "How long did you—"

"Just for a couple of months before my friends managed to get me and Riley out of there but…" Sara took a breath. "The Longbow Hunters killed him. Or at least I thought I did. I saw them shoot him with my own eyes." She wiped her wet eyes. "He helped me. He taught me a lot. And in the end, he saved me."

"But somehow, he's alive and in Starling City." Oliver pointed out. "Why?"

"I have my suspicions." Chloe said.

"And where has he been?" Diggle inquired.

"I don't know!" Sara snapped. "Dig, you have no idea, what I had to go through with them! I had to fight and claw almost every day, just to stay alive, for two years!"

Oliver held her shoulders as she was slowly breaking down. "It's OK, Sara."

Three years ago, South Africa

Sara and Richard were in one of the trucks as they were driving through the jungle as Sara felt uncomfortable around the mercenaries as she looked at a small metal box behind her.

"We are ready. Prepare the device." Turner ordered as one of the mercs opened the box to reveal a small device as he pressed the button and then, a small pulse went off, turning off the lights in the area as Sara realized it was an EMP device as she heard shouting and screaming outside. "Move!" Turner ordered as the mercenaries were leaving the trucks and Sara was reluctantly going out too, putting on an eye mask as Turner handed her a torch. "Carry the light, Miss Lance."

Sara went out with the mercs on the road as in front of them was a convoy of trucks, stopped as they were incapacitating the guards as she put on a hat and a bandana, to conceal her face.

Present, the Lair

"Ollie, are you sure that paying for that cash-for-guns event with your trust fund is a good idea? I mean, Blood hates your guts."

"I'll handle it, Zehra, don't worry. In the meantime, let me know if something happens in QC." Oliver hung up before turning to Chloe and Diggle.

"I called my friend in Camp Kirby." Chloe hung up. "He said that a crate of twelve M4A1s went missing two months ago."

"Yeah, Lyla confirmed it." Diggle nodded. "And I think I know where they went."

"I'm going over the blueprints; the crates have a GPS system for remote tracking but they must have disabled it. I'll try to figure it out." Chloe promised.

Fyff's House

Sara entered the house as she saw Sin bandaging her hand. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing." Sin denied as Sara gave her a pointed look, seeing through her lie as she sighed. "Fine. It was that dragon guy."

"What?!" Sara shouted, her eyes widening to the size of table tennis balls.

Sin raised her hand. "I went for my stash of beer in the clock tower, when that guy attacked me, I'm guessing he's been using it as his own nest instead of you. He was asking, who sent me before letting me go." She explained as she showed her the bandaged hand.

"He's here…" Sara whispered.

"Richard?" Sin remembered. "You said he was dead."

"I thought he was." Sara nodded.

Clock tower

Sara went up as she looked around. "Richard! I know you're here! Show yourself!" She yelled. Suddenly, someone jumped down from above as he knocked Sara on the ground but she turned around and faced Richard. "You have not changed at all, have you?"

"But you did. You've got more fire in you than I remember." Richard smiled as she helped him on his feet. "How did you find me? No, let me guess. The punk girl."

Sara nodded. "I've used this place as my hideout for a while, when I came back. Why are you here, Richard? Where have you been?"

"Everywhere." Richard said cryptically.

"I saw them kill you. You fell into that river… how could you have survived?" Sara asked, still unsure of what to believe.

Richard sighed. "When I washed out on the shore, I was barely alive. Someone found me and nursed me to health."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter." Richard sighed. "But… let's just say I became indebted to them and I didn't get a chance to reach out."

"Of course you get out of the frying pan right into the fire." Sara said dryly, smiling.

Richard laughed. "You haven't changed at all, you know that? And I've heard stories about the archer in green and the blonde in black in Starling. So, you and Queen, huh? What? Hank inspired you with his stories from Gotham? Where is he, anyway?"

"I don't know." Sara admitted.

"Have you told Nicks and Riley that I'm alive?" Richard asked.

"What else would I tell them, besides that? Remember, how Nicole and Henry reacted, when they found us both? I didn't want to put your family through that again." Sara pointed out as Richard nodded. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

"I've heard about the earthquake." Richard admitted. "And I've heard that Nicky, Hank and Riley were here, so I needed to make sure they were OK."

"Then why won't you come back to them?" Sara asked. "They miss you."

"Probably for the same reason you've been hiding from your family for five months before facing them, when you returned to Starling." Richard replied as Sara blinked. "Come on, you've learned most of what you do from us, you think I wouldn't be able to figure out that you and Queen are playing heroes?"

Sara chuckled. "You know, you hurt my friend last week."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I thought she was… working for my enemy." Richard said. "I guess I was wrong."

Sara's phone then rang as she turned around. "Yeah?"

"I've found the flaw in the design of the tracking system of the crate." Chloe said. "We can find it. I've already texted Oliver."

"Thanks. I'll be there." Sara hung up and turned around. "Richard, what enemies—"

But Richard was already gone.

Elsewhere in Starling City

The Mayor looked at one of the crates of assault rifles as he saw a red light blinking under them before he whirled on his henchman. "I thought you deactivated the tracker!"

The Mayor smashed the tracker with the butt of his rifle before they heard a sound of whooshing of a flying arrow as the gangsters looked up and were shooting at the Arrow and Canary, who both jumped down and were shooting arrows and throwing knives and shurikens to take down the gangsters as they, with the Mayor in charge retreated.

The Arrow checked the tracker in the crate but scowled to see it destroyed. "Weapons are secure." He said.

"And the Mayor?" Diggle asked.

"Still in office." The Canary sighed.

Three years ago, South Africa

"Secure the vehicle!" Turner ordered as the guards went out from their cars, pulling out guns as Sara walked forward, with armed mercenaries following her as she glared at one of the guards.

"Stay down, if you want to live." She warned. They kept moving forward before one of the guards stepped up, aiming a gun at Sara, while behind her were two mercs with rifles, aiming at the guard. "Don't be stupid." Sara warned, not wanting to have more death on her conscience. "We have AK-47s, you've got a small pistol."

"Drop them, now." The guard said confidently, holding his gun sternly as Sara neared him.

"Get on the ground and we'll let you live." She warned as the guard reluctantly complied, kneeling as Sara punched him in the face, knocking him out.

More mercenaries went out from another truck, with a nitrogen tank and a spray, freezing the cargo door of the convoy truck the militia has been protecting. "Strike it." They told Sara, who bashed the door with her baton as the metal shattered like glass but another guard aimed at her with his gun.

"Back off, or I'll shoot—" Turner stabbed the man in his throat as the blood sprayed on Sara's bandana and her eyes as she stared in shock at what just happened.

Turner turned to Sara as he seemed to chuckle. "First time seeing blood this close? Are you nervous?"

Sara took a breath, trying to get a hold of herself as she glared at Turner. "Do I look nervous to you?" She asked, surprised that she sounded confident as Turner seemed impressed as he grabbed the crate inside the truck.

Then, they heard gunshots behind them as Sara turned around to see the mercenaries fighting the guards.

"Help them!" Turner ordered as Sara grabbed her batons, jumping over a car and engaging two of the guards, knocking them out with ease before another one tackled her on the ground. Sara's blurred from the dirt in her eyes as she dropped her batons. She tried to reach out for her weapon and tried to whack the man in the head but surprisingly, she heard a sound of splashing as she felt more blood spatter on her face.

As her vision cleared, while the man collapsed on her, Sara widened her eyes in shock to realize she didn't knock the guard out with her baton but stabbed him in the head with a knife as she lied on the ground, frozen in horror at what she had just done as the man was lying on her and she was too petrified to even try to get up.

Present, the next day, the Glades

Sara was watching Sin and Roy and Thea talking together before she heard someone calling her name from behind. "Sara Lance?"

She turned around to face… "Mr. Blood. It's good to see you."

"How are you doing, Sara?"

"I'm good." She shrugged.

"I didn't see you at the party." Sebastian inquired.

"I… It's not really my thing." She shrugged. "I came here to see how is the Glades coping. My friend used to live here."

"Last check, we've taken in over two hundred guns in only three hours." Sebastian noted.

"Yet, it still doesn't seem like enough to make the Glades a better place." Sara pointed out.

"My job is to help the people in this city with their problems." Sebastian said as Sara faced him. "I can see it in your eyes; something's bothering you, Miss Lance."

Sara took a breath. "I… I met an old friend recently and… let's just say he's struggling with some personal issues and I have no idea how to help him."

Sebastian nodded. "Sooner or later, we all go through a crucible. I'm guessing yours was wherever you were after the Gambit and Queen's was the island."

Oliver then approached Sebastian. "Were you talking about me? I hope it's not gossip." He said dryly as Sebastian chuckled.

"Actually, I was trying to explain to Miss Lance that most people believe there are two types of people, who go into a crucible." Sebastian explained. "The ones who grow stronger from the experience and survive it, and the ones who die."

Oliver and Sara then looked intrigued.

"But there's a third type. The ones, who learn to love the fire. They choose to stay in their crucible because it's easier to embrace the pain, when it's all you know anymore." Sebastian said as Sara and Oliver glanced at each other, remembering their experience on Lian Yu and later struggle with their inner demons after Oliver had tortured Shrieve and Sara running away from her friends and hiding from her family. "That's why I'm on the clock to help this city. Before it becomes used to living like this."

"Living is not for the weak." Oliver remembered from Amazo. "Old friend of mine once told me that." Sara smiled at him.

"That's a wise friend." Sebastian said before gunfire from automatic guns roared in distance as a pickup truck rushed into the event, destroying the police barricades as the people scattered.

The Mayor showed up as his goons and the police were in standoff, aiming their guns at each other. "Listen up, people, this is your Mayor speaking. Now I don't recall this here event being sanctioned. What happens in the Glades happens only if I allow it."

"You're not the leader of this community!" Sebastian yelled as he stepped up. "You don't speak for these people!"

"And neither do you. Not anymore." The Mayor gestured to his men as they aimed as Sebastian, while Oliver tackled him to the ground and Sara ran to Sin, Thea and Roy, helping them take cover behind a car, while the gangsters and the police were shooting at each other, civilians getting caught in the crossfire before the Mayor drove away.

"You OK?" Sara asked, checking Sin, Roy and Thea as Sin nodded before Sara noticed blood on her arm. "You're bleeding."

"It just grazed me, I'm fine." Sin promised.

Later, the Lair

"I bandaged her wound, she's gonna be fine, Sara, don't worry." Nicole said over the phone as Sara sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Nicky. You're a miracle worker." Sara said and considered mentioning Richard.

"You're welcome. I've had to patch up far worse than that, don't worry. Sara, is there something on your mind?" Nicole noticed the pause.

"No." Sara said as she hung up.

"My contact at the FBI ID'd the Mayor." Chloe showed a profile on the screen. "Xavier Reed."

"Did he serve in military?" Sara inquired.

"No military history but…" Chloe pulled out a file. "In 1996, he was in foster care, growing up with an Ezra Barnes. He's got three tours in Iraq. Currently stateside. And want to guess where he was stationed?"

"Twenty bucks that it was Camp Kirby." Diggle concluded.

"Uh-huh." Chloe nodded. "Barnes is assigned to a weapons convoy that carries SCAR-16 rifles by the truck. According to the schedule, it comes through Starling City tonight. This isn't good." She turned to them, worried. "FN SCAR-16s are military assault weapons with grenade launchers."

Diggle nodded. "The man gets a hold of these, guys, it's game over."

"He won't." Oliver growled.

Later, the Glades

The Mayor and Barnes were meeting and making a trade as the Canary showed up, knocking the soldiers and the gangsters down with her staff as the Arrow shot more of them down from above, while descending and assisting her.

Then, the Mayor fired from a grenade launcher as the Arrow fired an arrow as the explosion knocked both vigilantes on the ground. As more gangsters neared them, Richard, with a black hood descended, taking them down with his bare hands and grabbing the staff, while he and the Canary, with her fists and kicks, were beating the remaining henchmen up. "You've come a long way." He smiled at the Canary, who smiled back.

"Like old times."

As the Mayor was scouring the area, the Canary hit him in the leg, causing for him to kneel as she grabbed him in the chokehold with her staff. "You hurt a friend of mine." She snarled.

"Let him go." The Arrow called. "We're trying to be better, remember?"

"The better way won't work for people like him." The Canary growled.

"This isn't you." Richard reasoned. "You once told me that you hoped that you would not give in, when you could choose between what we might turn you into and what could at least help you try to become better. This is your chance. You can be better than this. It's not too late."

The Canary and Richard stared at each other as they remembered Africa as she let the Mayor go. "Bitch! I knew you didn't have it in you."

The Canary knocked him out. "I really don't like that word."

Richard smiled. "You have not changed at all."

Later, clock tower

"I'm proud of you, Sara." Richard smiled at her. "You've truly come a long way."

"Ollie, Henry and everyone else helped me find myself again." Sara said. "If it hadn't been for them, maybe I'd be lost."

"No." Richard shook her head. "You remind me of Henry, you know? You keep beating yourself up over the bad things you've done because you're afraid that it turns you into something you don't want to be. But as long as you keep reminding yourself that it's not gonna make you feel better, you're not too far gone."

Sara nodded as she chuckled. "How can you see the good in people, when they cannot see it in themselves?"

"One of my many talents." Richard shrugged.

"Are you ever gonna come back to Nicky and Riley?" Sara asked.

"I might but…" Richard took a breath. "Now's not the time. Look after them. Please."

"Always." Sara promised as she hugged him.

Three years ago, South Africa

Sara was in the shower, trying to desperately wash the blood and dirt on her as the face of the man she had stabbed was flashing right in front of her. She went out as she wrapped the towel around herself before someone pinned her to the wall and she yelped, grinning. "Let me go, you bastard!"

"Well, looks like we're finally alone to have some fun." The man said with insatiable lust as he tried to rip the towel off her and Sara grabbed a vase and bashed him in the head as she grabbed a knife.

"Back off!" Sara said as she saw the hungry eyes on the merc, realizing what was he about to do. With a knife in one hand and with her other hand holding the towel to cover herself, she was in a disadvantage as the man rushed at her but she dodged and stumbled as the man pinned her to the floor and she heard clicking of a belt as she screamed. "No!"

Suddenly, she heard a crack of bones as the weight on her back was gone as Richard helped her on her feet, handing her a jacket to cover her naked body as she trembled. "Thank you."

"Sara, it's OK. I won't let them hurt you." He promised as he held her shoulders. "Look, Riley looks up to you as to a sister. That makes you my family too. And I will protect my family, even if I'd have to die for them." He hugged her as she breathed into his chest in shock, while he tried to console her. "Don't worry about him, people like him make trouble all the time and we've killed them for less. I'll be here for you, I promise."

Sara hugged him, accepting the consolation he was giving her as she started to break down in tears.

"I'm a kill—"

"It was just self-defense, Sara. It's OK. Shhh…"

The next chapter will involve LoA and they'll be after Richard instead of Sara here and the flashbacks in that chapter will revolve around Richard, Henry and Nicole, instead of Sara.

Though it might take a while for me to write it to figure out how exactly am I gonna do the flashbacks and the LoA part.

So, what do you guys think?

Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.