The SuperFlash date is gonna have to wait. Right now, it's time we check in on Laurel Lance and Oliver Queen.
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Special thanks to unnamed, Micky-The-Supernatural-Mouse, and Guest for reviewing the previous chapter.
Eight months ago
Laurel Lance was on a train on her way back to Silverstone City after visiting her mother for her birthday in Metropolis. Despite what has happened between Dinah and Quentin, the former let Laurel in and they had a great day together. Laurel tried begging for her to come back, but Dinah refused.
By the time Laurel got off the train, S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator was about to turn on. She can hear everyone talking about it no matter where she turned.
While walking back home, she gets grabbed by the arm by a mugger.
"Alright, lady, hand over the purse and I may let you live," said the mugger.
Refusing to give in, Laurel back-kicks the mugger in the stomach and twists his arm, injuring him.
"You got some fight in you," said the mugger. "I like that."
The mugger reaches for a gun, but Laurel immediately grabs his arm and kicks him in the knee.
"You don't know me. You shouldn't have come alone," said Laurel.
"That's where you're wrong, girlie. I'm not alone," said the mugger.
Suddenly, Laurel gets grabbed by the hair by a muscular thug. He started pulling and Laurel started screaming. Suddenly, an electric storm passes by and hits all three of them. The two thugs lie dead on the streets, while Laurel lies unconscious with electricity surging from her body.
Present Day
Laurel sneaks out of her house and heads to the Queen Industries' manufacturing facility with a glass battle in her hand. The Hood was out in the city and she needed a private place to do her "thing". She quietly walks inside and places the glass bottle on top of an oil drum.
"Okay, Laurel, you can do this," she told herself. "Just breathe. Just focus."
After a few deep breaths, she opens her mouth and started screaming. She started emitting a high-pitched sound and sonic waves from her mouth. Instead of breaking the bottle like she intended, she ends up blowing both the bottle and the oil drum to the wall. The oil drum caused a dent on the wall while the glass bottle smashed into pieces.
"Oops," said Laurel.
Meanwhile, in the Queen mansion, Moira and Walter were having a discussion regarding Queen Consolidated in the living room. Their conversation was interrupted when Thea knocks on the door.
"Uh, mom, Malcolm Merlyn's here," she said. "He says he needs to talk to you."
"Well, tell him to come in," said Walter.
"Actually, he said, 'Just mom'," said Thea.
Walter looks at Moria. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"We'll talk about it later, Waler," said Moria.
Walter leaves the room with Thea, allowing Malcolm to speak to Moira in private.
"What do you want now, Malcolm?" asked Moira, sounding uninterested.
"It's about the vigilante," said Malcolm.
"What? Is he going after you now?" asked Moria sarcastically.
"I've looked through all his killings and I found a connection," said Malcolm. "Adam Hunt. Martin Somers. Jason Brodeur. He's not targeting the wealthy."
"He's targeting the list," realized Moira.
"This has to be dealt with," said Malcolm.
"And what do you propose?" asked Moria.
"We have to move up our timetable. The Undertaking has to happen sooner," said Malcolm. "Can I trust you to see this done?"
"You know I'm fully committed to this cause," replied Moira.
"Excellent," said Malcolm with a smile.
The next morning, at Silverstone High, the senior students were having a Science quiz. To everyone's surprise, Oliver Queen passes his quiz to the teacher with fifteen minutes left before the period ends.
"Finished already, Mr. Queen?" asked the science teacher.
"Yeah," said Oliver, giving his teacher his paper.
The science teacher looks at Oliver's paper.
"I'm impressed, Oliver. From what I've heard, you're not much of a studier, but from the looks of this, I'm starting to think they were just joking," said the science teacher.
Oliver sits back down on his chair. He saw Laurel looking at him. The smile on her face tells him that she's proud of him. Oliver responds by smiling back.
Meanwhile, Joe West and Quentin Lance were investigating the murder of Adam Hunt.
"Think it was The Hood?" asked Joe.
"That was my first thought, but then I saw the color of the arrows in Hunt's chest. They're black, not green," said Quentin.
"So, it's the copycat archer?" asked Joe.
"Definitely," said Quentin. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish The Flash and Supergirl can take care of both our archer problems."
"You and me both," said Joe.
After school, Oliver was in his secret bunker in his father's old foundry. He was doing some exercises on the salmon ladder. His training session was interrupted when his phone started to ring. It was Laurel.
"Hello, Laurel," he answered.
"Have you seen the news?" asked Laurel.
"No," said Oliver. "Why?"
"You might want to turn it on," said Laurel
Oliver did as Laurel said and turned on the news channel on his computer screen. There was a footage of hostages held in a warehouse. One scared woman was forced to read a message from a piece of paper written by her captor. The message says:
"For the past three months, this city has been laid siege by a vigilante. The police have been unable to bring him to justice because they lack the will to do what justice demands. I will kill one hostage every hour in the name of this vigilante until he surrenders himself to my authority."
Oliver was shocked and horrified by what he's seen and heard.
"I assume you just heard it," said Laurel, having heard the TV through the phone. "Who do you think it is?"
"There's this new archer in town. My guess is that it's him," said Oliver.
"Yeah, I heard about my dad talking about some copycat archer who killed Adam Hunt and Nelson Ravich," said Laurel. "Have you met him?"
"No," said Oliver. "But I'm about to."
"You need me to do anything?" asked Laurel.
"Just stay away," said Oliver. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Because of my father, or because you care?" asked a curious Laurel.
"What makes you think I care?" asked Oliver.
"Your voice may be disguised, but I can still tell," said Laurel. "It's okay to care. It's not weakness. It shows that you're human."
The Hood's hour is almost coming to an end. The SCPD are positioned outside the warehouse where the hostages are kept. Whoever is holding the hostage inside rigged the place with explosives to prevent anyone, except The Hood, from going inside.
Just when hope for the hostages seem lost, The Hood shows up. Using a zipline, he glides from one building towards the warehouse. He smashes through the skylight and into the very room where the hostages are. They were scared at first, but when the vigilante started untying them, they calmed down.
"Where is he?" asked The Hood.
"We don't know," said the woman who spoke the message on TV.
"It's gonna be okay," said The Hood. "Follow me."
The Hood leads the people towards a door which leads to a stairway, which leads to the roof.
"Get up to the roof," said The Hood.
"What about him?" asked a woman, referring to her captor.
"I'll handle him," assured The Hood. "Go!"
As soon as the people got to the roof, the SCPD spotted them. They immediately sent officers to extract them.
The Hood walks quietly through the halls, keeping an eye out for the copycat archer. He stopped when he felt a presence behind him. He turns around and saw a black-clad archer at the end of the hall.
"Thank you for coming," said Dark Archer. "After the warehouse, I knew I had to do something dramatic to get your attention."
"What do you want with me?" asked The Hood.
"What any archer wants: to see who's better," said Dark Archer.
Dark Archer reaches for an arrow. The Hood quickly grabs an arrow of his own and fires. Dark Archer dodges the arrow and fires one of his own, but The Hood dodges it. The two archers kept on firing at each other until The Hood retreats to another room. Dark Archer follows.
Dark Archer had his bow up as he stayed alert, waiting for The Hood to pop up. He saw a piece of shattered glass on the floor. Looking through it, he saw The Hood attempting to ambush him from above. Dark Archer quickly fires his arrow, hitting his enemy's bow, knocking it out of his hands. The Hood walks on the rail and dodges another arrow by jumping onto a pole hanging from the ceiling. Dark Archer fires another arrow and hits The Hood in his leg, causing him to let go and fall down to the floor.
The Hood found his bow and picks it up. The two archers continued to fire arrows at each other, until the Dark Archer disappears in the shadows. The Hood kept his eyes open as he draws back his bow, waiting to fire upon first sight of the copycat. The Dark Archer quietly walks out of the shadows and fires two arrows, hitting The Hood in the back, hurting him badly.
The Dark Archer kicks him in the back and through a wooden wall. The Hood gets up, but gets immediately kicked back down to the ground by the Dark Archer. The Dark Archer twists his arm and then hits him in the face with his bow. Dark Archer started kicking The Hood as hard as he can.
"First Hunt, then Ravich, and now, you!" yelled the Dark Archer. "I know about the List, and the man who authored it wants you dead."
The Hood tried to get up, but his mid-section hurts too much from all the kicking.
"They call you 'The Hood'," continued the Dark Archer. "Let's see what you look like without it."
Before Dark Archer can remove the hood, The Hood takes out a flechette and jams it into the copycat's leg. He then knocks out the Dark Archer with a punch to the face. Instead of staying and finishing it, The Hood decides to leave. He uses a wall to snap the arrows on his back. He opens a window and jumps out of it, crashing into a dumpster before hitting the ground.
Struggling to move because of all the pain, he takes out his phone and calls Laurel. "Laurel, he... help. Help!"
He then passes out.
Later the evening, Oliver finally wakes up and the first thing he sees is Laurel Lance. He looks around and sees that he's in a hospital room. He tried to sit up, but the pain he suffered from earlier is still affecting him.
"Hey, hey, relax," said Laurel, trying to make sure he takes it easy.
"What happened?" asked Oliver.
"I got your call. I found you lying by a dumpster," said Laurel. "You've got a pneumothorax, three broken ribs, and a concussion, but the doctor said you'll be fine."
Oliver was glad that Laurel found him, until he realized something. He was wearing his vigilante suit when he passed out.
"I know, Oliver," said Laurel, just in case he asks. "But don't worry. I'm not mad."
"Why not? I lied to you," said Oliver.
"Okay, I was mad at first, but then I remembered the first time I met The Hood," said Laurel. "He saved me. You saved me. You were standing right there the whole time, and I'm glad you were."
Oliver smiled, happy to hear what Laurel is saying to him.
"Does anyone else know?" asked Oliver.
"No, just me... and Dr. Schultz," said Laurel. "I'll keep your identity a secret on one condition. You train me to fight."
"What?" asked Oliver, confused.
"Oliver, you could've died today. This copycat almost killed you," said Laurel. "Now that I know, I wanna be there by your side."
"But, Laurel, you have an internship at the CNRI, not to mention your education, to worry about," said Oliver.
"And it doesn't worry you," replied Laurel.
"I'm sure today's science quiz is enough proof that I'm managing my time well," said Oliver.
"You operate at night. So will I. Remember that?" said Laurel. "Please, Oliver. I just got you back. I don't want to lose you."
Oliver thinks for a moment. He was worried about what would happen to Laurel if he approved, but he also knows that she has a point. He can't save Silverstone City on his own. He needs help.
"Alright," said Oliver. "But you do realize you have to lie to everyone. Your dad. Tommy. My sister. My mother."
"Yeah, I know. This is gonna be difficult." said Laurel. "Hey, you saved those hostages, Ollie. They thanked you publicly on television. You're a hero."
"I'm no hero," said Oliver. "I don't do this for praise. I do it to save my city."
"I know, but I think you are a hero," said Laurel. "You should think about a new codename for your alter ego. The 'Hood' is a name the police gave to a criminal, but that's not who you are. A new name might help with your status."
"Well, what do you have in mind?" asked Oliver.
Laurel thinks for a moment. "I was thinking, The Ar..."
Laurel was interrupted when the door opened. Coming in is Thea, Moira, and Walter.
"Are you alright?" asked a worried Moira.
"Oh, God, you look terrible," said Thea.
"Well, thank goodness you were wearing your helmet," said Walter.
Confused, Oliver looked at Laurel.
"I told them you were riding your bike and a semi pulled up right in front of you," explained Laurel.
Laurel knows. You know what this means? The Black Canary is coming.