|Ghosts That We Knew|
. Lone Gunmen .
(1)
A/N - Couldn't find a transcript so this is me typing up what I saw during the episode so things may be wrong, not sure. Anyways, hope you all enjoy this! On the plus side this is probably my favourite one to write the flashbacks for, so far, as it's where they diverge from the show for Thea's parts which also meant that there was double the number of flashbacks that there would have been.
Still very stuck on what to do about the later Vertigo parts in other episodes as I don't see this Thea as the type to go out, get high and drive a car but Oliver's whole crusade against 'The Count' and Vertigo was because of that. So those episodes are probably going to be very different. Annoying as most of the butterfly effects are easier to show later on as these episodes are setting up the series and everything 'major' especially to do with Thea's evolution/change from a kid to a killer would have happened during the second year and onwards so I'm trying to work out the best way to show that during the super early episodes but not to much avail. Best thing I can think of is I stop following the episodes and just keep major plot points but that would make it even longer between updates.
Could do it with Tommy but I don't want to just shove his character into a hole, would only do it with him if it made sense.
Going to break chapters into two parts in the hopes of that improving the chapters.
Also I'm a GCSE student who is about to have nineteen exams back to back so I probably won't be updating that much until exams are finished (they during the start/middle of June) but then I have about fourteen weeks of nothing so I'll be updating a lot then.
. . .
Thea stood in the foundry alongside Oliver, she picked up her bow from the munitions box and check to see if it had any damage from last weeks encounter with China and Somers. He was shirtless and working out on the bars, doing sit ups and pull ups - she tended to use the salmon ladder and spar with her brother to keep her fitness up.
He preferred the full on workout, she knew that he'd picked up most of his training and workout routines from his time at the Bratva whilst most of her's was based from what she had learnt from Slade and Shado.
She made her way over to his computer and looked to see who he was considering going after next, "James Holder?" As she read the various news articles she felt sick - the man was responsible for so many deaths because he had decided to put profit before the lives of the people in the Glades.
Oliver made his way over to his makeshift lifting machine, he had tied up blocks of concrete to the ropes and pulleys - he grunted and groaned as he pulled the wire and the blocks rose - she winced as she watched him pull the weights, she had only been able to do two blocks and for half of the time of Oliver's time.
He pulled the chain taught and waited for a second before letting them all drop, she flinched at the sudden noise. She jumped up from his workstation and grabbed him a towel, tossing it over to him and watching as he dried himself off. "He installed faulty...ineffective smoke detectors in low-income housing in the Glades." He trailed off as he shook his head, "There have been so many fires and deaths."
"And so we're going to pay this guy a visit?" She checked as her brother started to move towards his bow.
"I think that we need to make him pay for what he's done." Oliver muttered as he picked up his bow and his jacket and began to suit up.
. . .
Thea stood on the building opposite Holder's penthouse, she snickered at the image of the man in a bathrobe, she was waiting for Oliver to take out the man's security whilst she introduced herself to Holder. He was drinking a beer as he talked into his phone, "Heh...other than the bill I got handed this morning by my legal team, I'm feeling pretty good." He chuckled, "Plus now that this lawsuit's been settled, we can focus our attention on Unidac Industries."
She frowned, that name sounded familiar.
"-Okay...I'll see you in the office first thing." He cut the connection and tossed the phone onto a poolside couch, the man spun around and looked out at the skyline she watched as his raised the bottle to take another drink when she fired off an arrow - shattering the bottle and causing the glass to splinter.
She jumped down from her position and faced the man, her bow raised and an arrow pointing towards his chest.
"I-I have armed security inside!" He threatened, "All I have to do is call out!"
A voice called out from behind him, it was Oliver, "Go ahead...they can't hear you." He tossed the two guns he had taken from the men towards Holder, he made his way over to Thea and stood next to her, raising his boy in turn.
"What the hell do you want?" The man called out desperately.
"How many people died in those fires?" Thea growled.
When he didn't respond her brother stood a step forwards. "How many!? The courts say you don't your victims anything, I disagree." He raised his bow and notched an arrow, "James Holder you-"
Before he could finish and before either of them could react a shot rang out and a wound appeared on Holder's chest, blood staining his bathrobe and she watched as he crumpled and fell into the pool. Staining the water.
They both spun around and started to fire off arrows towards where the bullet had came from, she and Oliver both jumped downwards and ducked for cover as bullets started to ring out - the mystery shooter was fighting back.
One pierced a vase and another a wall.
Thea looked back to see Holder's body falling down to the bottom of the pool.
She looked at Oliver's arm in alarm as they both hid behind cover, "You're hit." He looked at his arm and his eyes widened - she looked up from where she had been hiding to see if she could get a glimpse of the shooter.
It went silent and she assumed that the shooter had disappeared, using the distraction of shooting Oliver to get away.
"Can you walk?" Thea questioned, he grunted in response as he got to his feet. Shrugging off her arm and hobbling towards the edge of the roof, she watched as he fired off an arrow and jumped down from the ledge.
Thea rolled her eyes and followed after him, she'd have to patch him up once they'd gotten to the foundry.
. . .
Once they were back in the Foundry Thea hurried towards one of their trunks and took out their medical kit, it was as well equipped as an army one and had cost them an arm and a leg. She shot Oliver a glare as he moved to take the kit off of her. "You." She jerked a finger at him and then moved it so that it was pointing towards his desk chair, "Sit...I'll sort that."
She frowned at how pale he looked, he didn't even offer up a response - whilst Oliver was the kind to deal with pain through silence and acting all tough rather than taking her approach of swearing in a various assortment of languages in an effort to relive pain.
They both hated sedatives and pain relief and stayed away from it until absoluetely necessary.
Threading the eye of the needle she placed it down on the desk and got a pair of tongss, wiping at the bulletwound with a cotton pad before pulling out the bullet. She winced in sympathy, the only thing that hurt more than a bullet going in was a bullet coming out.
He grunted as it came out, "Don't be a baby." She muttered halfheartedly - trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Here's the fun part." She murmured, keeping up a commentary in an attempt to comfort herself. Grabbing some hydrogen peroxide she dabbed at and cleaned the wound, trying to be as gentle as possible. She knew that he had been through worse but it didn't mean that she wanted to make it any worse than it had to be.
She checked that the needle was clean before stitching his wound up, watching as the gaping wound started to close up. Taking a step back to examine her work she nodded to herself, happy with it.
"It's not a surprise he had enemies...with how corrupt he was...we need to-" He cut himself off and shook his head - squinting as if something was clouding his vision. She looked at him with a concerned expression at the sudden stop.
A uncomfortable expression flashed across his face, his skin seemed sweatier and clammier than it had before and Thea started to panic. Had she missed something? Oliver got up from where he had been sitting down at the desk and stumbled, her hands darted out to steady him and they shared twin looks of horror as they came to the same realisation.
If it had taken this long for something to happen then it was probably something that took time to work, something like Poison. And judging by her brother's reaction it was a serious one.
She grabbed a water bottle off of the desk and watched as Oliver practically slid to the munitions crate, crashing to the ground. He undid the lock and flung open the lid to the crate, he pulled out the bag of herbs and stuffed some of them into his mouth.
She tossed over the bottle and watched as he washed them down, hopefully Yao Fei's herbs would be strong enough to combat whatever was in Oliver's system.
He collapsed to the floor, unconscious and Thea sighed. She knew that the herbs worked best when the person was unconscious so she was going to have to wait for him to wake up as she didn't feel like going back to the Mansion without him.
Their Mother was so going to kill them.
She grabbed her bow and used her brother's tennis ball machine to get in some target practice, she might as well do something other than sitting around twiddling her thumbs whilst her brother's body tried to heal itself.
. . .
Oliver opened his eyes as he groaned in pain, his eyes were drawn to the arrow sticking out of his shoulder, the blood had dried and he let out a pained cry. He struggled to get up from the ground and sit up. He froze as another man entered the cave, the man who shot him, his eyes darted around the cave and he slumped against the rock in relief - Thea wasn't here.
Hopefully that meant she was safe.
The man had a scraggly beard, long stingy black hair and his face was hidden slightly behind a green hood. He carried a bow in his hand and a quiver full of arrows on his back.
"W-Who are you?" Oliver questioned fearfully, "Why did you shoot me?"
The man tilted his head at Oliver before kneeling down in front of him, "Bǎohù nǐ [To protect you]" He replied and Oliver shook his head - not understanding the man. The man held out a bowl full of water and he had a handful of herbs. He spoke again, "Hē zhège [Drink]"
Hesitantly he reached out for the herbs with trembling hands, his eyes darting back to the man as if to check he was doing the right thing, he placed some of the herbs into his mouth and gagged at the acrid taste.
He accepted the bowl of water from the man and washed the herbs down, a part of him wondered why the man was helping him - he had shot him, caused him to split away from his sister.
Oliver opened his mouth to question the man but before he could speak the man grabbed the arrow and started to pull it out from his shoulder - he cried out as the pain rippled through him like a tidal wave.
His screams echoed throughout the cave.
. . .
Thea spun around on the chair as she watched Oliver wake up, his eyes flickered open and he groaned as he got up from where he had been lying on the ground. He rubbed at his head and shifted, grunting as the movement knocked his wound and sent a burning pain through his shoulder and arm.
"Morning!" She called out, watching him carefully. He seemed to be better than before, his skin wasnt as clammy and the colour had returned to his face.
"W-What's the time?" He muttered.
She eyed up the time in the corner of the computer screen, she had practiced her archery and knife throwing for a couple of hours - before eventually, exhausted, she crashed in his chair and browsed the internet.
Turns out that Tommy had had quite a colourful time during their first year of being gone and the press had loved it. Her heart had ached at the photos of a strung out Tommy, she knew that he and Oliver had dabbled with drugs but never anything hard or strong. It seemed that Tommy had gotten into the harder drugs for a period of time whilst they were away.
At least he seemed to be past that now, he had seemed a lot better when she saw him in Hong-Kong and Starling City than the person in the tabloid photos.
"Ten past seven," She called back, "You've been gone..nine hours? And I've been gone about six."
"How long was I out for?" He questioned.
She paused for a second to work it out, "You were unconscious for three."
"Dammit." Oliver thought about that and groaned as he imagined how their Mother was reacting to her children's disappearance. He had ditched Diggle during dinner whilst Thea had slipped out later on during the night whilst everybody in the Mansion was hopefully asleep. Although her absence had probably been noticed by now.
He picked up his jacket from where it was lying on top of one of the crates and shoved it on, "Guess we better go face the music."
. . .
When they got back to the Mansion they were greeted by the sight of a distressed looking Moira talking to two police-men whilst Walter placed a soothing arm around her. Diggle was stood off to the side and Tommy was sat on the sofa with his head in his hands and Thea frowned as she tried to work out what exactly was going on.
"Oh thank god!" A voice called out and she looked up to see Tommy running towards them both, he pulled her into and hug and she shared an alarmed look with Oliver.
"Tommy?" She questioned as she pulled herself out of his grip, "What's wrong? What happened?"
He shot her a disbelieving look at that and turned to look at her Mom, "You disappeared! We didn't know where either of you were...Raisa found your bed empty and then we found out that Oliver ditched his bodyguard last night...we didn't know what was going on."
Oliver and Thea watched as their Mother sighed and turned to the policemen, "It appears the situation is resolved...thank you for your time."
Walter nodded and shook the two cops hands, "Thank you, officers...my Wife and I appreciate it." The man looked back at Moira, "I'll show you both out." He placed a hand on one of the men's backs as he guided them out of the living room.
"I thought you said that you'd stop this," Their Mother turned to Oliver with an accusatory tone, "You told me that you'd take Diggle with you...what if something happened? What if you had gotten hurt? Where were you?!" Her voice broke slightly and Thea winced, it seemed that their Mother had been worried about them. "You can't be this reckless."
She hated being the cause of that, she hated making them feel the way they did. Thea also felt a pang of sympathy for her brother, he would have been back but he'd gotten shot - curare wasn't something you just walked off.
It was a miracle that he had waken up when he had.
"Mom.." Oliver began, "I'm sorry...I just didn't feel like being watched...I lost track of time...I'm really sorry." He apologised weakly, unable to come up with a proper excuse. A part of him wished he could tell them the truth and explain why he had disappeared, what he had been doing but he couldn't risk putting them in danger. And a selfish part of him didn't want them to know what he had become, the monster he had become, he wanted to be the person that they wanted him to be. They didn't see him as a monster, just a delinquent.
He'd rather them be ashamed of him than afraid of him.
Their Mother ran a hand through her hair, "I'm glad that your home and that your safe but I wish you'd stop doing this...I only want what's best for you and after that display at the awards ceremony you are making it harder and harder to help you." She sighed and looked at Thea, as if debating whether or not to question her about her whereabouts. She seemed to decide that she didn't have the energy and walked out of the room.
Oliver leaned against the wall of the room, his bullet wound was still hurting and despite his hours of unconciousness he was exhausted. Tommy looked between Thea and Oliver, "So where were you Thea? Whilst Oliver was having his revendeous."
"I just went for a run...I couldn't sleep," Thea hated having to lie to him and she hated what she was about to do, "On the Island we didn't just sleep for long periods of time...it wasn't safe...I couldn't just lie there and do nothing so I went for a run." She shot him an apologetic smile, "I didn't think...I'm sorry Tommy...I promise I'll let someone know next time but I'd assumed you'd all be asleep when I got back."
Tommy looked between the pair of them, Thea wondered if he believed her and if he didn't what exactly he was going to do. She hated lying to everyone especially Tommy, he was like a brother to her but if he knew the truth he'd be in danger.
It'd be like painting a target on his back.
Tommy paused at the door of the room and called out to Oliver, "You look like crap...by the way."
She watched as Tommy walked away with a pained expression, wondering how long it was going to take for Tommy and her Mother to forgive them. She understood why they were so worried, they had lost them for five years, it wasn't a surprise they wanted to make sure that they didn't loose them again.
But she couldn't tell them the truth, she just wished that their crusade didn't hurt everybody around them.
"Did you have a nice evening sir?" Diggle asked dryly once Tommy had left.
Oliver winced, "You mean after I ditched you at dinner after saying I had to pee?"
"I suppose from now on sir I'll have to stand there and watch you pee." Diggle commented before leaving the room.
A part of Thea wondered why the man didn't just quit right then and there.
. . .
Thea ran through the dense jungle of the Island, her eyes scanning the area around her desperately. The image of her brother getting shot with an arrow on repeat in her head - she had left him! She had left her brother and now he was probably dead. He was probably dead just like her Father, just like everyone else on the Yatch.
She ached everywhere and the soles of her feet were covered in cuts and nicks from the rough jungle floor - making running painful. But she had to get away, she wasn't prepared to let the bad man get her too, she didn't want to die too.
Whimpering slightly she leaned against a tree and tried to catch her breath, she was terrified, she was finding it hard to keep running but she was too scared to stop for longer than a couple of minutes.
She stumbled as she tried to run and she let out another whimper as she went crashing down to the ground, the harsh floor of the jungle scraping her skin. She was only wearing shorts, a shirt and a denim jacket. Thea didn't know what she was meant to do.
She had seen Island survival shows and had watched an episode of Lost once with Tommy and Oliver but she wasn't like those people. She didn't want to be. She wanted to be back home in her bed with her Mom and her Dad and Ollie.
Now she didn't even know where she was.
Her vision clouded over as tears filled her eyes and Thea let herself cry, cry for her Father and her brother and everyone else who had been on the Yatch. For her Mom who had just lost everything.
For herself.
. . .
Oliver and Thea were back in the foundry, running tests on the bullet that had poisoned her brother. Her brother was running the tests on the bullet whilst she looked for any similar killings on the internet. "It's curare.." He called out as he watched the chemicals fizz once they came into contact with his blood, "So the bullet was poisoned with it."
Thea nodded in understanding, "And that'll be the killer's unique MO." She called out with a grin as she started to type and search through various records, "Should be here somewhere.." She pulled up a bunch of different databases and looked for any record of poison bullets.
"It's a rare and deadly poison...hard to manufacture...there can't be many people who use that." Oliver said as he moved over towards her and looked at the screen over her shoulder, "Try Interpol."
Of course! She internally cursed at herself for not checking sooner, she had limited herself to National databases not International ones. "Here! Deadshot...sniper...he has a long long rap sheet."
"Corto Maltese...Chicago...Markovia.." Oliver rattled off as he read the file, "They don't know who he is?"
"Nope." She shook her head, "Hence the nickname...'Deadshot'...not the most creative one in the world but it's alright."
Oliver raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged in response, he continued as if she hadn't spoken "This man is dangerous...Holder...was harmless." He kept reading the file Interpol had on him, "This man has no honour, no code, no morality...he doesn't kill for justice."
"Which makes him our top priority." She finished for him. Oliver was right, by killing him the sniper had ensured that Holder's victims never got their money or any sort of justice. Plus there was no guarantee that Deadshot would stop with Holder.
They couldn't have anyone like that running around in Starling City.
Oliver turned to her, "I need to talk to Tommy about our new business venture...do you want to hang around here or-" He trailed off uncertainly, leaving up to Thea what exactly she'd want to do.
Thea shrugged, "Therapy isn't until tomorrow..so I guess I have some free time on my hands..." She thought about it for a second and decide to pay a visit to Laurel Lance. The CNRI office was in the Glades and she guessed it should be easy enough to find.
Worst comes to worst she could hail a cab and ask them to take her there.
"I better go back to the Mansion and find Diggle then."
. . .
Oliver led Diggle and Tommy through the upper level of the Foundry, he had came to a decision about what exactly he was going to do with his time. He had to find some sort of job or occupation to keep his Mother off of his back and so that he'd have some kind of alibi for his nighttime activities.
So he had went with the most 'Oliver Queen' business venture he could think of; running a Nightclub. "So? What do you think?" He called out as he gestured around at the empty building.
He grinned at Tommy, "Great spot for a nightclub or not?"
"Sweet! Tommy muttered as he looked around the room, the ideas already forming inside of his head, "Though if you're going to call it Queen's then I doubt you'll get the clientele you were hoping for." Oliver chuckled, he wasn't planning on making a strip club or a gay club - he just needed somewhere to serve as his base of operations and to hide his nighttime activities.
Oliver pointed towards an upper level, where the foremen and his Father's offices had been, "Private office." He suggested with a small smirk. He was glad that Tommy seemed to have forgiven him for what had happened earlier, although he could feel the slight tension that still remained.
"For the private one-on-one meetings, I would imagine." Tommy guessed with a smile, a part of Oliver wondered if that was how Tommy really saw him. A rich arrogant playboy who only thought about women and alcohol. If he did then he only had himself to blame, he was working really hard to make the world think that.
Thea had suggested he had been working a little too hard on that.
Without missing a beat Oliver joked back, "Hopefully the occasional two-on-two meetings." Adding a wink for effect. He had missed the easygoing banter between him and Tommy.
Tommy laughed at the joke before spinning around and turning to face Oliver, "Man...are you sure you wanna do this?" He asked with an expression that was starting to grow more serious, "It's not like you have any experience in running a-well.." He chuckled, "Running anything."
"How about tomorrow night, the two of us, we go and scope out the competition?" Oliver tilted his head as he started to consider it, "A new club opened downtown...it's called Poison...Max Fuller opened it." Tommy told him and Oliver winced at the mention of the name.
"Max Fuller?" Oliver checked.
Tommy nodded, "Mhmm."
"I slept with his fiance." Oliver pointed out with a grimace as he thought back to that day.
Tommy shrugged and laughed as he remembered that day, "Yeah..before the Wedding." He defended weakly.
"It was the rehearsal dinner." Oliver reminded him with a laugh.
"The rehearsal dinner is technically before the Wedding, right?" Tommy joked, "And besides who stays mad at a Castaway." His phone rang and he checked the screen, his expression grew serious before he plastered the grin back on. Piquing Oliver's interest about who it was on the other line. "Ah...dammit...I gotta roll...anyways see you later man!" He started to move out of the Foundry, "Good place!" Tommy yelled as he left.
Oliver waited until Tommy was gone before he turned to Diggle with a curious expression, "So..what do you think?"
Diggle paused thoughtfully before speaking, "Well...I'm here to provide security, sir, not a commentary."
"Oh, come on, Dig." Oliver pleaded earnestly, "Do me a favour...speak freely...please?"
Diggle took a moment to compose his words, Oliver noted that the man never wasted them or said something without thinking - it was a good quality for someone to have. "Well, this is the Glades right?" He gestured around them, "Your rich white friends wouldn't come here on a bet."
Oliver wondered if Dig was right before shooting the man his trademark smirk, "I am Oliver Queen, right?" He grinned and raised his eyebrows suggestively, "People would stand around for three hours if I opened a club."
Diggle sighed, not looking impressed or convinced, "And no one who lives in the Glades would actually see a penny of those cover charges."
"So.." Oliver continued, "We make it a successful business and we gentrify the neighborhood." He was surprised to hear Diggle let out a scoff at that, he waited for Dig to explain what he thought.
"I was wondering when we'd get to that." Diggle muttered, "The white Knight swooping in to save the disenfranchised...and all by his lonesome with no help from anybody."
"Wow!" Oliver said with mock-hurt, "You really don't think very much of me do you?"
Diggle smirked and shook his head, "No sir...I have a very high regard for how perceptive you are..." He exaggerated his final word, "Sir..."
Oliver tried to hold back a grin as he watched Diggle walk away before turning around and surveying the former Factory. The nightclub would be the perfect cover for his activities, he wasn't sure how to find a way to use it to cover for Thea though.
Diggle's words were caught on in his head, he did want to help the Glades. Maybe he could find a way to use the nightclub to do it as 'Oliver Queen' as well as helping them as the 'Hood'
. . .
Thea Queen made her way through the CNRI offices, ignoring the confused looks the people there kept shooting her, she had assured the receptionist that she was there to visit a friend and had been forced to remind the woman of the fact that it was not her that had upset or offended Laurel.
That was her pig-headed, playboy brother in his more arrogant days.
She made her way to what she hoped was the right place and grinned as she spotted Laurel and the woman who had been with her at the courthouse, arriving in time to hear the tail-end of their conversation "-since the only physical relationship you've had since Oliver is with his best friend."
Her eyes went wide and she silently congratulated herself on guessing that, "I knew it!" She called out with a smirk, that smirk only widening as Laurel and her friend turned around with twin looks of horror on their faces.
"Thea!" Laurel called out, clearly alarmed, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you," Thea replied before waving at Laurel's friend, "Uh..I'm Thea Queen...I remember seeing you at the courthouse but I don't remember your name...sorry." She held out her hand and hoped that the woman would be friendlier towards her than she had been towards her brother.
"Joanna De La Vega," The woman shook Thea's hand and smiled at her. "I was just trying to convince Laurel to go out and have some fun."
"You should," Thea shrugged when Laurel's eyes widened at her, "You work harder than anyone...it wouldn't hurt for you to have a break."
"I've been busy!" Laurel protested weakly, not liking the fact she was being ganged up on by two of her friends.
Joanna picked up a leaflet from a nearby desk and waved it in the air victoriously, "And that is going to stop tonight! We are going out...we are going to have a good time and we are going to get very drunk! We could try Jergens depos...or anywhere...I don't care but you need to come with me!" Joanna somehow managed to make a plead seem like an order.
"I've heard that 'Poison' is meant to be good," Thea suggested as a plan started to formulate in her head - maybe if Laurel bumped into Tommy and Oliver she would actually tell Oliver about hers and Tommy's relationship.
Laurel looked at her with raised eyebrows, "And how do you know that?"
"I've got my finger on the pulse round here." She grinned before her tone and expression became more serious, "And before you start begging me...I won't tell Ollie about you and Tommy because I think you should do it yourself." Thea paused to let Laurel think about what she had said, "Anyways...how about you show me round?" She gestured to the office. She had some time to kill and she was curious about Laurel's line of work.
"Still can't believe you actually became a Lawyer." At Laurel's offended look she quickly backtracked, "I always pegged you as the bad ass vigilante cop type."
Laurel shrugged, "You don't have to go outside the law to enforce the law." Privately Thea disagreed with that as without her and her brother Adam Hunt and Somers would be living it up in Starling City but she supposed Quentin had rubbed off on his daughter.
Joanna chuckled, "Come see me after the tour Laurel...we need to sort your outfit for tonight." The woman smiled at Thea before walking back over to her desk, calling out over her shoulder "I told you that you didn't have a choice! Bring the kid round more...maybe then we can bully you into actually having some fun!"
A part of Thea bristled at being called a 'kid' but otherwise kept her mouth shut, allowing Laurel to guide her back towards another room "And this is-" Thea nodded as Laurel started to tell her about CNRI.
. . .
Oliver Queen surveyed the area next to Holder's penthouse, he was on the streets surrounding it and he headed towards where the bullets appeared to have came from. The bullet Thea had taken out of his arm was only fragment - he needed a full bullet that wasn't covered in blood.
Three shots had rang out, one hit him, one hit a Penthouse wall whilst another had hit the wall of the building behind the penthouse. Which meant that somewhere there was a bullet that he could find and use to his advantage.
He thought out the trajectory and tried to work out where it would have landed, he looked up and something caught his eye. A small silver glint. The bullet.
Checking that there was nobody around he jumped into action, using the piping to make his way up the side of the building before jumping onto a ledge - being careful to not fall onto the street below he pulled out a knife from his boot and cut out the bullet from the hole it had made inside of the concrete.
He placed the bullet into his pocket and made his way back down the side of the building, planning on examining it inside the Foundry.
He needed to find something on Deadshot if he was going to stop the man from killing anyone else.
. . .
Oliver sat in the Foundry as he ran the ballistics on the bullet, it was a specific type of round and he tried to find out who had recently bought them. The bullet had been a 7.26 mm round and the money trail seemed to lead back to the Russian Mob - the Bratva.
He smiled at that, Anatoli had been right - getting the tattoo was going to come in handy. Grabbing his notebook out of the trunk he checked to see who was the Bratva in Starling and where they were located - he grabbed his rockets baseball cap and hurried out.
Time to go pay a visit to Alexsi Leonov.
...
Keeping his head low and his cap firmly pulled down Oliver made his way towards a Russian Auto-repair shop. He made his way inside and eyed up the room for any potential threats, the men were most likely armed if they were Bratva but he could easily disarm them, two men were currently working on an old Mustang and there seemed to be no customers.
Not that he had expected it to be busy, the shop was most likely a front after all.
"Ya ischu Aleski Leonov." He called out in lieu of a greeting.
The elder man, rough looking and judging by the way the other man turned to him - he was in charge, "There's no one here by that name."
Oliver shook his head and moved closer to the man, "Ne v vashem garazhe, va podvale pod." That caught their attention, the bald man gestured to the man under the car and he moved threateningly towards Oliver brandishing a gun.
He quickly disarmed the man, using one hand to knock him off balance and get him onto his knees and the other hand to take the gun. He disarmed it and tossed it aside, looking at the older man expectantly.
He pulled down the collar of his shirt to show the man the Bratva tattoo on his chest, "Ya Bratva." He announced before his tone became firmer "Ya khochu videt..Alexi Leonov."
The bald man gave Oliver a short bow, "Pleased to meet you." He said in English and Oliver inclined his head in return. He knew not to bow as he was of a higher rank than the man.
They led him through the back and down the stairs to the real base of operations, the headquaters of all Bratva activity in Starling City. "I apologise," Alexi said, "We meant no disrespect to a Captain...paticularly an American one."
He could hear the silent question of 'How did an American become captain?' and he used that to his advantage. For a forigner to become a Capitain he must have done something major, which he did, that fear and respect could work to his advantage.
"So?" The man asked, "How can I be of assistance?"
"I'm in the market for a hired gun." Oliver stated, "Someone the orginisation's used before..his calling card is a 7.62 milimeter round and bullets laced with curare."
Alexi shook his head, "I know no man who uses such tools."
"But you can find out who does," Oliver countered knowing that the Bratva had the tools to find what he was looking for.
Alexi nodded in agreement with the statement before pulling out a bottle of Vodka and two shots, "First we will drink to eachothers health, then I will look into the identity of the man you seek."
Oliver accepted the glass and drank the shot, feeling the all familiar burn of the Vodka as he drank it.
"I will also confirm that you are really Bratva captain," Alexi said with a toothy smile, "Should this not be the case, I will send any mechanic here to find you and kill you and your family." He indicated to the second man wo had taken position on the flght of stairs.
Inwardly he scoffed, he had already disarmed one of the men with ease why would he struggle with another one? But there was no point worrying or laughing about it, his identity would be verified soon enough and then he would get what he had came for.
He nodded shortly to Alexi and the man behind him before exiting the repair shop.
...
Thea sat inside of the Mansion alongside Walter and her Mother, she had dropped by to grab some of her things and see if she could find Tommy anywhere and instead she had watched as Detective Lance and Hilton, could they seriously not send someone who didn't hate her family? Interviewed Walter, although it was starting to feel more like an interrogation.
"It's a great loss," Walter said, "Carl was a titan."
Thea's head perked up at that, there had been another shooting. They had been right, Deadshot wasn't going to just stop at Holder. She moved further into the room and took a seat next to her Mother, trying not to look too interested in what the Detectives were saying.
"A titan who was looking to buy out a company called Unidac Industries?" Hilton questioned as he scanned his notes.
Walter thought about it for a second before responding in his clear British accent, "Well Industries are something of a misnomer." He explained, "UI's recent activity was looking into alternative energy."
Lance let out a huff, "I think the point my partner was trying to make that this Carl Rasmussen was the second bidder this week to lose his life." Lance cut in bitingly, failing to keep the accusation out of his tone.
Both Thea and Moira bristled at that and Moira shot Lance a sharp look, "Are you implying something Detective?" She asked archly, daring the Detective to say his accusation outright.
Thea thought over what they were saying, there was a link between the victims. That also apparently tied into Water, and since she highly doubted Walter was financing the killings, that meant he was a potential target.
"Well only that your husband is looking into buying Unidac Industries and the competition seems to be dropping like flies." Lance pointed out.
Thea had had enough, "And I'm sure that accusation has nothing to do with your hatred for Oliver and by extension his family...not at all Detective." She bit back looking annoyed.
Walter cut in before the situation could escalate, "Unidac's in recivership Detective." Watler said smoothly, his tone never rising "Ownership is subject to a liquidation auction, so that means there are many prospective buyers." He let out a forced chuckle, "And the auction's tomorrow so if I was taking out the competition I'd have a lot of killing to do in a very short space of time." He finished dryly.
"We're just making the rounds with the interested buyers," Hilton said as he tried to ease the tension in the room, "Let them know to be careful."
"Oh yes," Moira said with raised eyebrows and a disbelieving expression, "And I'm overwhealmed that Detective Lance is concerned for our safety."
Thea glared daggers at Lance, sorely tempted to throw a literal dagger in his direction.
"Well thank you for your concern gentlemen," Walter said with a nod, he nodded towards Diggle who was standing in the doorway "Our security consultant, Mr Diggle, is taking all of the necessary precautions."
"Yeah." Lance scoffed, "Right." He slapped his knees and rose with a huff, "Well if you need us!" He spat out with false cheer, "We're just a 911 call away." Hilton pulled the man away whilst her Mother shook her head in exasperation at the man's actions.
Thea leaned in towards Walter, "Why do they keep sending him here? It does nothing but cause fights."
"I believe that's why Thea," Walter intoned dryly, "Lance has, understandable, animosity towards this family...especially since you and your brother came back...I believe coming here and lashing out is his..unhealthy...way of dealing with that anger and grief."
She sighed and wondered why Walter had to be so understanding, she hadn't ever seen the man raise his voice nd she'd been back for close to a month.
. . .
Later that evening, Oliver and Tommy made their way into the nightclub 'Poison' Diggle was following dutifully after them. The bouncer looked up at them and undid the chain, letting them through without a second thought, when Diggle moved to follow the bouncer closed the chain and eyed him up impassively.
Tommy clapped Oliver on the shoulder, "Ha! Ha! Oh my this is going to be a killer." Tommy exclaimed as he eyed up the club around him.
"If Max sees me here I agree," Oliver muttered dryly, certain that the night was going to end badly if Fuller laid eyes on him.
"Ah," Tommy grinned, "If you want to run a business you've gotta take a few risks."
"I don't see your name on the list." The bouncer stated to Diggle as he tried to follow after Oliver and Merlyn.
Diggle sighed and called out to Oliver, "Mr Queen!"
Oliver spun around at the sound of his name and hurried back over to his bodyguard and the bouncer, "Oh!" He said jovially - grinning from ear to ear, "I have never seen this guy in my life before ever."
He winked at Diggle, who looked ready to quit then and there, before walking back over to Tommy and the duo made their way through the club. It was dim and smoky, filled with the sound of music and laughter. The loud noise made Oliver flinch and he forced himself to remember just where exactly he was - a nightclub, not the Island or Hong-Kong or Russia.
He was just at a stupid nightclub with his best friend.
Tommy eyed up the women dancing but Oliver noticed that his heart didn't seem to be in it, he wondered if that was because of Laurel or some other reason. Then Tommy called out as he noticed one of the women start to head towards the bar, "Oh..wow!"
Oliver looked at the person who'd caught Tommy's attention, Laurel. Tommy continued as the grin on his face got wider and wider, "Doesn't you going out and having fun violate some kind of law, you know, like the ones that are carved on a stone tablet."
Laurel shot him a mock-glare and rolled her eyes, "That's cute Tommy." She eyed up Oliver, "I see you two are up to your old hunting patterns." She noted wryly as she looked at the multitude of women and alcohol.
"Just seeing what passes for fun in Starling City after five years." He replied with a smile.
"Ah." Laurel chuckled, "Well I'm sure you'll find that it just hasn't been the same without you." Her last words had a biting edge and Oliver flinched slightly, things were still tense and Oliver suppressed a wince. It was naive of him to think that Laurel would just forgive and forget everything that had happened over the past five years.
He still wanted to try to make it up to her though.
Oliver opened his mouth to start talking again when a voice from behind them cut him off, "Well...well...look at this..Oliver Queen."
He turned around to see the one person he had wanted to avoid, "Max Fuller." He greeted as he plastered on a smile, "How you been?"
Max pretend to consider it, "Happy you drowned." He deadpanned and the smile disappeared off of Oliver's face. The man then gestured for his two bouncers to follow him and help escort Oliver out of the club.
When they arrived in a backroom Oliver turned around, "Hey Max-" He began but Max quickly cut him off with a blow to Oliver's jaw. Oliver let himself fall to the ground, using his hands to control the landing. He clenched his fist in an attempt to keep himself calm and in control, he could easily fight back or snap Max's neck and he would barely break a sweat but he couldn't do that. Not here. Not in public.
Taking a deep breath he ignored the fact that every part of him was screaming for him to fight back especially as he was pulled to his feet by the bouncers "Hey! Get him to his feet!" They roughly pulled him up and made a move to start forcing him out of the club when Tommy ran through.
"Hey, let him go!" Tommy called out as he tried to pull them away from Oliver, when he realised he was too weak to do that he pushed past them and tried to appear threatening as he squared up to the bouncers. "Hey! I said let him go!"
Max rolled his eyes at Tommy's protests and so did the club's bouncers, "Back off Merlyn!" He ordered, "This isn't your problem."
"You want to get to him?" Tommy jerked his head towards Oliver and took a step towards Fuller's goons, "You've got to get through me." He let out a sharp breath and turned to Oliver with an uneasy grin, "Wow...they are probably going to get through me." Tommy then decided not to let the goons throw the first punch, he raised his fist and swung - knocking one of the bouncers back.
Oliver's eyes widened in surprise as Tommy threw the first punch, recognizing that a fight was going to start. He went after the other bouncer and tried to keep his true skills hidden. He didn't want to have to explain his fighting abilities, his reluctance to fight properly and the fact he was holding back meant that it quickly swung and tipped in Fuller's favour.
Tommy was thrown towards the curtain whilst Oliver was hit and kicked by both of the bouncers and sent crashing to the ground. Whilst Max stood at the curtain with a smile on his face, watching as Oliver and Tommy got beaten up.
Laurel Lance burst through the curtain and went straight for Max, hitting him in the kidneys and then kicking the back of his knees. She used that to grab him and spin him around so that she could flip him onto the ground.
The sound of him being sent to the ground caused the three bouncers to jerk away from Tommy and Oliver and turn their attention to their boss. She stepped away from him with a smirk and looked at him expectantly, "So is this over Max?" She questioned harshly, "Or are you going to have your goons pound on me next?" She cracked her knuckles as she waited for him to answer.
Max stumbled to his feet as he got off of the ground, "You three consider yourselves banned for life!" He snarled as he glared at the trio, "Get the hell out of my place!" He walked back through the curtain and was followed by his bouncers.
Tommy and Oliver shakily got to their feet, Oliver looking at Laurel with surprise.
"Your club sucks anyways!" Tommy shot back, slurring his words slightly.
Laurel looked at them both with concern before her gaze focused on Tommy, "You guys okay?"
The sound of her voice jerked Oliver out of his revere, "Where'd you learn how to do that?"
"Cop Dad, remember?" She replied dryly, "He made me take self defense classes."
Oliver nodded, Lance had threatened him multiple times with his gun whilst he had been dating Laurel. The man hadn't hesitated to remind Oliver of what his job was and the fact that if he wanted he could make Oliver's life hell and make sure that next time it got arrested - that it would stick.
"You need to teach us that," Tommy called out with a grin in an attempt to fill the silence.
Oliver chuckled, "Yeah...you saved our asses." He said in-between breaths as he made a show of being out of breath and trying to catch it.
"Guess I did."
. . .
Oliver allowed Diggle to lead him, Tommy and Laurel into Big Belly Burger. The man had found them once they had left the club, looking unimpressed at the numerous bruises littering his client's face. Dig waved at the woman behind the counter and she shot him a warm expression and waved back "Why don't you guys take a seat and I'll grab a couple of burgers and some ice for those faces."
"That girl's pretty cute." Tommy leered as he stared at the girl behind the counter, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Laurel and a death glare from Diggle.
"That's my sister in-law." Diggle said as he leveled a steely glare at the young man.
Tommy raised his hands in mock-surrender, "Who I will never speak to or look at." He replied immediately and purposefully kept his gaze off of the girl. "Ever." He added for effect before edging away from the group, "I'm going to go grab a booth...Laurel?" He gently pulled her with him as he went to go get a booth towards the back of the restaurant.
Oliver stayed next to Diggle and frowned as he looked at the girl, she didn't have a wedding ring on. "Brother out of the picture?" He questioned and at Diggle's questioning look he shrugged and elaborated, "She's not wearing a wedding ring."
"Yeah...you could say that." Diggle murmured. Oliver let him leave it at that and headed over to where Laurel and Tommy were sitting.
At the booth Laurel was trying to work up her courage, she remembered what Thea had told her and didn't doubt that Thea would tell her brother the truth if Laurel didn't. She looked up as Oliver sat down and bit her lip, "Oliver...I'm going to tell you something and I need you to promise that you won't overreact or cause a scene when I tell you."
"Laurel-" Tommy tried to cut in, a slight warning in his voice.
Oliver frowned and he wondered if Laurel was going to tell him the truth about her and Tommy, Thea had said she was going to visit Laurel earlier in the day - maybe that had something to do with her sudden change in heart. "Okay." When Laurel stayed silent he rolled his eyes, "I promise."
She leaned forwards, "Whilst you were away...I got close to Tommy...after a year we got together...I'm not sure what exactly we are now but I thought you deserved to know." She waited expectantly for the freak out or for Oliver's expression to become angry, hurt, confused. Laurel had mentally prepared an entire speech of how Oliver couldn't judge her after he decided to screw her sister but instead Oliver just watched her quietly before nodding.
"Look man I-" Tommy began, he also seemed to find Oliver's silence strange. His eyes darted between Laurel and Oliver and it seemed that he was also waiting for the inevitable explosion from Oliver.
"Tommy," Oliver said softly, cutting his friend off. "It's okay...really...it's okay." He told him earnestly and he was telling the truth. Oliver couldn't deny the fact that he loved Laurel but it wasn't the same way he used to, it was like a memory. He loved what being with Laurel had represented, his younger days. But now he was back, he didn't want to be with her. He was happy for her and Tommy, glad that they had managed to move on with their lives.
"No!" Tommy shook his head, "It wasn't...you were with Laurel and whether you were dead or as it now turns out..alive...you were my best friend and me being with Laurel was a major violation of our friendship." Laurel rolled her eyes and looked annoyed at the fact Tommy was apologizing but let the pair talk content to watch the exchange.
Oliver paused as he tried to work out what was the right thing to say, "I was dead." He sighed, "As far as everyone or anyone knew I was dead...you're happy together and that's good enough for me...besides I burned the bridge between me and Laurel." She stiffened at that. "What I'm trying to say is...thank you for the apology but you don't need to apologize to me."
Tommy's eyes widened at Oliver's statement and leaned back against the booth.
"Just for the record," Laurel called out, "I don't need your forgiveness or permission...I told you because I promised Thea I would and because Tommy was killing himself trying to come up with the best way to tell you."
"What?" Oliver quipped with a smile, "There's no greeting card for that?"
"How are you so chill about this?" Tommy called out, frowning. He had just told his best friend that he had been sleeping with his ex-girlfriend, technically they never broke up but having one person in the relationship be assumed dead whilst sleeping with said person's sister seemed like a situation where they could assume they had broken up. And his friend had barely reacted to the revelation other than to give his blessing.
Oliver opened his mouth to reply when his phone went off, he shot the pair an apologetic look as he answered the phone. "Hello?" When the voice on the other end replied in Russian he frowned and pulled his phone away from his head, covering the speak with his hand. "It's a Russian model...I-I have to take this..can I have a minute?"
"I can see why you're being so chill now." Tommy laughed lightly and turned to Laurel who shot Oliver a disgusted look, "Let's give Oliver and his new friend a minute." He smirked at his friend, "Enjoy."
Laurel echoed his sentiments with a scowl, "Enjoy." Clearly unimpressed that Oliver seemed to be back to his old ways.
"So I checked out?" Oliver questioned once Laurel and Tommy were out of earshot.
"You did." Alexi replied, "His name is Floyd Lawton..I have an address where he stayed last time he was in Starling City." The man paused, "But that is all."
"Let's hope he's a creature of habit." Oliver murmured as he grabbed a napkin from the holder and pulled out a pen from his jacket, "Go."
Alexi rattled off the address, "1700 Broadway Pell Hotel, room 52." The man hesitated and Oliver heard the slightest hint of worry seep into his tone, "You will leave us out of this, yes?" Oliver understood his hesitation, dragging the Bratva into this would be bad for business. "Assuming Mr Lawton doesn't kill you first."
Without replying Oliver ended the call, he grabbed his jacket from the chair and headed out of the back entrance of Big Belly Burger. He felt bad for ditching everyone but the city as a whole came first and Deadshot had to remain his priority.
He shot off a text to Thea asking her to check out the address, he was hesitant about letting her go after Deadshot on her own but he had to rely on the fact that they had the element of surprise. Deadshot didn't know that they knew his Hotel room or that they had contacts in the Bratva.
Hopefully Thea would be able to get in and out without getting herself killed, if she died he would never be able to forgive himself.
. . .
Thea Queen, decked out in her vigilante gear, made her way through the corridor of the Broadway Pell Hotel towards Deadshot's room. She had made her way into the Hotel through the fire escape and was just hoping that she wasn't going to run into any staff. She doubted the Hotel had security cameras and if they did that they were good quality otherwise Deadshot wouldn't risk using this as his makeshift base.
It would be an unnecessary risk and make it far easier for the various agencies after him to catch up to him.
She loaded her bow with an arrow and got ready to fire if she had to, she was coming up to the man's room and her only chance was that she'd catch him by surprise. If she had the time she'd pick the lock to the door but that would give him too much time to escape.
Kicking the door down she fired off an arrow as the door swung open, she watched as the arrow narrowly missed Lawton skimming over his head and landing in the wall. The man ducked down behind his bed before shooting a couple of bullets in her direction. His arm came up from behind the bed and fired a wrist-mounted machine gun, firing off a round towards her.
She heard the noise of the bullets and ducked down behind the door, she waited until she heard Deadshot changing his clip, she jumped from where she had been hiding and fired another arrow towards the man but he pushed up his mattress for cover.
Thea and the mercenary both froze momentarily as the sound of sirens echoed through the hotel, snapping out of his revere first Deadshot fired another bullet towards her and she ducked. As he escaped he fired off bullets behind him and jumped out of the window.
As the sirens got louder and closer Thea decided that she had to run, she grabbed the man's damaged and abandoned laptop from the table and dived out of the window through the hole that Lawton had created. She hurried towards the nearest alley and started to make her way towards the Foundry.
. . .
Cursing she hit the desk in front of her which earned her a disapproving look from her brother she just glared at him in response and silently challenged him to do better. He moved over to her and inspected the laptop, it was covered in bullet-holes and it was a miracle that it even turned on.
Although turning on was all it seemed to do, they were greeted by the 'blue screen of death' whenever they did turn it on.
"We need help." Thea muttered, throwing in the towel and looking at her brother expectantly. ARGUS had trained them both in basic computer skills, basic hacking into databases and how to cover their tracks but neither of them knew how to get data off of a bullet ridden laptop.
Oliver shook his head, "We can't risk it."
"Ollie!" Thea cried out, growing annoyed "We don't have a clue about how to do this right now, we need someone who actually knows what they are doing instead of us staring at this blankly...the cops said that he's targeting the Unidac buyers...our step-Father is one of them!" Her voice rose at the end, she didn't want Walter to get hurt. She had grown up with him, he had been around constantly when they were younger as he was their Dad's best friend barring Malcom.
And now he was their step-Father, he was a part of their Family and she wasn't about to let him get hurt if she could prevent it. If that meant reaching out to an outsider then that was what it was going to take.
Oliver sighed and ran a hand over his scalp as he tried to come up with a plan, "It's getting late...we'll sort this out in the morning...alright? Go back to the Mansion..I'll meet you there in a bit."
"What are you going to do?" Thea questioned with a small frown, not wanting to have to come up with an excuse for why her brother wasn't going to be returning with her. "Diggle's already going to be mad that you skipped out on him...same with Tommy and Laurel."
"Then I'll deal with it." He muttered.
. . .
Oliver had tried to get into the laptop, to find a way to make it work but he couldn't and Thea couldn't either which meant that they were going to have to get outside help. The first idea that crept into his head was the Queen Consolidated IT department - they would have a reason to do as he asked, he was the step-son of their CEO and son of their former CEO.
The head of IT had directed him towards a Ms Smoak, apparently she was one of the best in their department if not the best. He walked over towards her cubicle and cleared his throat in an attempt to get her attention, "Ahem...hi? I'm Oliver Queen." He introduced himself.
Her eyes widened and she turned around on her chair to face him, he chuckled at the fact she had a red pen in her mouth. "Of course!" She said causing the pen to fall out of her mouth, her eyes wide behind her square rimmed glasses. "I know who you are Mr Queen."
Oliver winced at that and shot her his playboy smile, "No...Mr Queen was my Father."
"Right, but he's dead." Felicity winced and hurried to try and fix what she had said, "I mean he drowned..." She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself and stop herself digging an even bigger hole, "But you didn't...which is good because y'know it means you're not dead and neither is your sister...and it also meant that you could come down to the IT department and listen to me babble...which will end...I swear...in..3..2..1."
Oliver laughed, genuinely laughed at the blonde's babbling. He took a moment to compose himself before getting to business, "I'm having some trouble with my computer." Placing Lawton's laptop on her desk he hoped that she wouldn't ask too many questions, he was taking a risk reaching out to someone like this and he hoped that it wasn't about to blow up in his face. "I was at my coffee shop surfing the web and I spilt a latte on it."
He could practically hear Thea's laughter inside of his head and her ridiculing his excuse.
Felicity raised her eyebrows at him, "Really?"
"Yeah." Oliver said with a nod, already regretting his choice of excuse.
She looked at him with a disbelieving expression as she glanced between him and his bullet ridden laptop, "Because these look like bullet holes." She said as she ran her hand over the laptop's casing.
He really should have came up with a better excuse instead he smiled weakly, "My coffee shop's in a bad neighborhood."
Felicity tilted her head at him with a look that just screamed 'Really?' he wasn't surprised, he wouldn't believe himself right now. It was stupid really, the amount of secrets he had to hide and he was still a bad liar - he always had been. "If there is anything you can salvage from it I'd really appreciate it."
She seemed to debate for a couple of seconds before shrugging and picking up the laptop, he waited silently as she got to work on it and he hoped that it wasn't going to end up being a complete dead end.
. . .
Meanwhile
Thea was sat cross legged on her bed, waiting anxiously for Oliver to text her with news about the laptop. She didn't want to find out that she had nearly gotten shot for something that turned out to be a dead end. She had only been shot three times and she'd really rather not experience it for a fourth time.
Although the bullets hadn't been as bad as the shrapnel. She eyed up the scar on her ankle with a wince as she remembered what had happened, it had hurt like hell.
"-Thea?" A voice called out and burst her out of her thoughts. She turned to see her Mother standing at the door with two dresses in her hands, "I was wondering...do you want to wear the Kalvin Klein or the Zac Posen?" She asked and Thea looked up with a confused expression and forced out a chuckle.
"For dinner?" She frowned, "I was just going to wear my PJ's?"
Her Mother sighed and held up the dresses, moving closer to Thea, "For Walter's stock auction."
Thea bit her lip and frowned, if she went there with her Mom then she couldn't go dressed as a vigilante. Which would mean that she couldn't protect them, people would notice if bilionaire heiress Thea Queen ran into a gunfight. And with Deadshot targeting the Unidac bidders, at least according to Hilton and Lance, there was probably going to be a gunfight. "I think I'd rather stay here...catch up on my work." She gestured to her untouched laptop.
"Thea...please." Moira said with a pleading expression, "It's important that you come...both to me and Walter."
Thea looked up with a surprised expression, "Really?"
A sad expression flickered across her Mother's features and she placed down the dresses and sat in the bed next to Thea, "Do you remember when you were four years old? You came home with a cat..it was a stray and it was filthy." Thea laughed at the memory, "And it was mean. But you stood there and you declared that it was coming to live with us...your Father saw what was going on when he came home from the office and he saw what was going on he sat you down and explained to you that the cat was in fact a Tiger and we needed to get it home." Thea smiled as she remembered her Father talking to her, she hadn't really thought about the positive memories on the Island...only his death. "And somehow you understood him..listened to him...he was always so good with you...I was always so jealous of that."
"I remember that." She murmured quietly, "God...that's the first time anyone's talked about him in years...first time I have." At her Mother's surprised look she explained, "On the Island getting sentimental...caught up in old memories...that'd get you killed...so I never really got to think about him..or anything other than survival."
"Well..I guess we'll have to change that." Her Mother said as she patted her on the arm and got up to make her way out of the room.
Thea got up and looked over to the dresses, "I like the Kalvin Klein dress." She watched as her Mom turned around and shot her a small smile before walking out of the door.
Guess she was going to the auction after-all.
. . .
A/N - Not too sure about the Tommy/Thea/Oliver/Moira scene that replaced the one where Thea would have been caught by the police which leads to Moira being lectured on her parenting techniques. I'm trying to make it clear that the crusade is hurting Tommy and Moira too and that Tommy is suspicious even if he doesn't know of what exactly he is suspicious of. And the scene in Big Belly Burger was annoying. And this episode just isn't a favourite of mine generally so there's that.
Was tempted to make it so that Thea is/was a member of the Triad but need to finish the S4 Thea flashbacks before I do that.
Also working out the time that passes between scenes is annoying as it goes from nighttime to daytime to nighttime and I'm left wondering what happened in those gaps and how exactly to fill them. Also it's hard writing without 'Drunk Thea the expositional plot device' that the show had. Plus most of this episodes scenes had to have Oliver in them as they wouldn't have worked with Thea, wrote them with her and it didn't work.
Thank you everyone for reading!
And a deleted scene from the last chapter has been added to the 'Authors Note.'
Alllssoooo I kind of hate Season 6 but last night's episode was amazing and has made me want to write more so hopefully that'll bode well for this fic.
Also (I need a word that's different to the word 'Also') I've finished all of the flashbacks up to the end of season 2, midway through season 3 now (Season 2's were my favourite to write) Would you prefer me to upload those as their own fics (this would give me time to edit and fully flesh out the actual show chapter's so that they weren't as close to canon as they are) or follow the format of present day with flashbacks in between scenes?
Just started watching legends, onto 2x01...is the whole time quake thing linked to the Nazi/Earth X thing? So...Nazi's win and thus Tommy and Oliver become Nazi leaders?
Guest Review Responses -
*Sorry but I'm not doing an Oliver/Thea pairing, I don't understand how people expect that to work in fic as even if the characters were okay with it everyone around them would be disgusted and it wouldn't end well. Plus I'm not a fan of incest, Oliver and Thea are siblings so I will not be pairing them together. If you like that then it's fine but I don't see it working as the characters wouldn't do it and the people around them wouldn't accept it.
*I know! I should have had two copies and I usually do but I wrote the chapters in one go so I hadn't gotten a chance to make a copy of the entire thing as I make a copy once I've finished writing. Also thank you! I was curious, I know the next episode is immediately after this one.
*There will be quite a few moments between Laurel and Thea, I wanted to avoid the love triangle that happened in Season 1 as writing romance isn't my strong point and because I didn't like it. Glad you liked it enough to do that! I loved Season 1 and Season 2 so I'm glad this fic gives me a reason to rewatch it essentially on repeat.