Notes:

Thank you so much to everyone who is still following and enjoying this story. It means a lot! I never thought I'd be able of writing such a long story and that people would actually be interested in my writing and enjoy it. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you all!

It ain't hard for wolves to find a flock when the sheep are fast asleep, My heart is my anchor

Laurel

She hadn't expected to get any results concerning Jo's location if she were honest, not after she had seen the almost defeated look on Felicity's face before they had finally all left to take part in their daily lives while the blonde had stayed back, refusing to give up yet. She really appreciated Felicity's dedication to finding Joanna and her refusal to call defeat, even if she seemed to have pretty much exhausted all the possible avenues she could take from the short recording they had brought back. It was a character trait she respected about the other woman, just like her amazing skill set, that had yet to let them down. So the text Felicity had sent to ask her to come in was very promising, but she was afraid to have false hope. The reason might not be what she was wishing for.

She had called it an early day after her run in with Adrian and had gone home, letting her clients know she had to reschedule because of a health issue. She felt a little guilty about it, but there was just no way she could've concentrated on the cases given the state of mind she had been in. And still was, if she were honest. Thea, only having had a couple of classes this morning and already having been back home when she got back, had been a very welcoming distraction until her roommate left her alone so she could get some studying in. Laurel was extremely proud of Thea and her dedication and drive towards her education.

Thea was already putting on her shoes when she walked to the entrance, confirming that whatever it was Felicity needed them to come in for was something that required the entire team, and the two of them drove to the Bunker together, speculating on why Felicity might have called them in. It didn't take long after they had stepped out of the elevator until they got the answers to those questions, even if Oliver had looked surprised about their appearance and sent a glare in Felicity's direction, this making her almost certain that he had not been aware of the fact that the blonde had called them in and that he didn't approve of her choice. When he turned back towards them, he looked rather resigned.

"Sara received a text from Roy this morning. He's found the location the recording of Joanna was made at." One of the things she appreciated most about Ollie, ever since he had come back home, was that he didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point.

That turn of events surprised Laurel. If Sara got a text from Roy, it probably meant she had been the one to contact him about Joanna and most likely sent him the recording. Her sister might not have been the one who'd figured out where Jo was being held, but her actions had led to them learning of the location. And in a way, that was almost the exact same thing. Because if Sara hadn't thought outside the box, they'd probably still be waiting for Felicity to find the location. And she meant no disrespect to her friend. It was just a fact that the Captain of the Waverider's resources trumped theirs by unfathomable amounts.

Roy.

Sara had contacted Roy to help them. Roy, who had the entirety of time at his disposal. Of course, her sister's choice of action made perfect sense thinking about it now. Why hadn't any of them thought of that? And why had Sara? Everyone in this room had worked with Roy longer than Sara had, had spent more time with Roy than Sara had. And yet, Sara had been the one who had thought to contact him and ask him for help. But then again, Roy had also been the person they'd chosen to stay with Sara when Oliver had left town in order to meet with Talia al Ghul. She'd just automatically assumed it had been Oliver's idea, but now she wasn't so sure about it anymore. Especially because Sara was very particular about the people she was okay with and felt comfortable staying alone with, and Roy, for some reason, made the tiny roster.

She still wasn't entirely sure of the relationship between Roy and Sara and what exactly their status was. Theoretically, she'd assumed they were nothing more than acquaintances, but if she'd be asked why that was her automatic conjecture, she wouldn't be able to give an answer. Yet, they had seemed close after the Dominator invasion, closer than simple acquaintances would be, but she'd never really asked anyone, and no one had ever elaborated whether Sara and Roy had been close while her sister had been a team member or not. They had never actually talked about Sara and her time on the team after her death.

It was something she only now realized. It had made sense at the beginning, when her death and the pain had still been fresh and no one liked to be reminded of it. One of the only times really had been after she had been injected with Vertigo and talked with Felicity about the hallucination of her sister she'd seen and how she'd struggled with becoming the Black Canary. The words Felicity had spoken to her had been so impactful and really helped her but now she suddenly wondered again… no one had ever talked about Sara or the Canary except for the times Ollie had called her out and reminded her she wasn't her sister. Well, John and Roy had pointed that out too once or twice at the beginning, but that had pretty much been as much as anyone had ever mentioned the woman whose mantle she had taken on.

She'd never considered… Oliver had been adamant to keep her out of the field, to keep her from walking in Sara's footsteps. She had never once considered why that might have been, had never asked him. Just like she had never actually taken the time to learn about the place Sara had had on Oliver's team. What role she had played, what her relationship with Oliver's team members had been. Or how they might have felt about her taking over that role and demanding to have a place on the team, but not just any place, her sister's place.

She had just decided to take on Sara's legacy, never once considering how it might make other people feel. Had Oliver thought she was trying to replace Sara? Had her presence and the name she had chosen for herself been a constant reminder of Sara's absence to him? She suddenly felt ignorant and selfish again. She had chosen those things in order to honor her sister. She had found an outlet for her grief in Sara, in becoming the Black Canary, which represented a part of her sister. But she had then made it her own, like Felicity had told her to. Turned the Canary into a beacon of hope, as Felicity had liked to call it, done something with it her sister hadn't been able to do because of the darkness that had consumed Sara, a darkness she herself had been lacking and still was.

Only now that she thoughts about it, she wasn't so sure about the truth of those words anymore. She had actually been questioning them since Central City and the reaction Sara had gotten when she had stepped into the room next to Oliver, Roy and Thea as the Canary. It had made her wonder, and she had begun to think about the Canary and the impact she'd had on the Glades, she'd actually done some research into her and through that also realized just how long Sara had been back in Star City before she had let them know, well, given the information she had found there was a good chance Sara hadn't been there the entire nine months between the Undertaking and her officially coming home, but still, she had been in the city a hell of a lot longer than any of them had known.

Sara had given hope to Sin, to the women in the Glades she had helped. The Canary had stood for something. Thinking back now to her first days as Black Canary she recalled the looks on people's faces, the way the women and girls in the Glades smiled at her, the way the men automatically used to take a step back, but only at the beginning, those reactions had vanished rather quickly. They had gone from hopeful to disappointed and worried when she had gotten beaten up instead of doing the beating up. It was a reaction Black Canary didn't get. She got news coverage, almost as much as the Green Arrow, something the Canary barely had.

But everyone in the Glades had known the Canary.

There had been restaurant owners who had given her food when they saw her for no reason. It took her some time and a conversation with Thea, Roy and Sin to learn the reasons behind it and that her sister had lived in the old clock tower for months before she had come back home officially and that the people of the Glades had known she was one of them and that she was taking care of them, so they did what they could to take care of her too, in exchange as a thank you. They had known that Sin was close with the Canary and assumed she was living on the streets too, just like the teenager.

Sin still got free food at the mom-and-pop stores around because everyone knew she was close with the Canary. Laurel had never realized until recently that the people of the Glades had known she wasn't their Canary. While they had been pretty sure the Green Arrow was still their Hood. It looked like the little people were a lot more observant than people gave them credit for.

But Roy had appeared to know her sister very well given some of his comments, and he had been the only person not surprised by the public display of affection Sara and Oliver had provided them with in Central City. He had seemed to have an understanding of those two the rest of them were lacking. This made her wonder.

Sin and Roy were close, just like Sin and Thea. Sara and Roy spending time together because of those facts alone made perfect sense. She had also seen Roy use some moves that were clearly influenced by Sara, and her sister having taken over some of his training during her time on Team Arrow made perfect sense, which again meant they had spent plenty of time together, time to bond.

She also recalled Roy referencing to Sara as Oliver's Bird and calling her Birdy. Not something Sara would let slide with just anyone. Oliver was the only person who ever sort of got away with calling her bird related names, Canary not included, well, Ollie and Tommy, but that had been it. So if Sara let those comments from Roy slide, it must mean they'd been or still were pretty close.

It had taken her a while back when they were kids to realize what had started out as a way for the boys to playfully mock Sara had actually somehow turned into an endearment. This fact had been driven home when Ollie had changed the original Tweety Bird into the still frequently used Pretty Bird. She'd been taken by surprise the first time she'd heard him refer to her sister as that, unsure what to make of it.

Was it possible Sara was in regular contact with Roy?

"I'm going to head there and get Joanna, alone." The Green Arrow's continuation ripped her from her thoughts. He wasn't being serious, right? He couldn't be serious! Did he really think she was going to stay back while her best friend was captured? Did he seriously think they would let him go up against an enemy like Adrian all by himself?

"I'm not letting you go there alone, Oliver. It's too dangerous." Dig cut in before she got a chance to, and both Thea and Felicity looked like they were backing Dig, just as she was.

"I'll be fine. I'm not planning on engaging Adrian; I'm just going to get her out." He wasn't actually believing that they'd let him go alone, was he? There was no way.

"Dig's right. Even if you're not planning on engaging, there's no way of knowing what you will encounter there. He told me this morning that he was ten steps ahead of us and we didn't even know what game we were playing. And I'm not just going to sit back while my best friend is in danger, Oliver! And I don't care what you say. It's not happening. I'm going." Honestly, she didn't care what he thought or wanted. She was going. It wasn't his decision to make, and he couldn't stop her. If he wasn't letting her go, she'd find another way. Felicity probably had the location, so she'd just go by herself.

"You confronted him." It wasn't a question, and he gave nothing away. His face was a blank mask. She cursed herself for her slip up. She hadn't meant to share that with him. At least not yet, probably not ever, if she could avoid it. Nothing she could do about it now.

"He confronted me. And that's not what's important right now. We need to get Joanna." This was the best she could do right now to deflect, and it was true. Joanna was more important than her run in with Adrian. That could wait, Jo could not.

"You're right. Suit up." The look he gave her was not what she had expected. He looked resigned once more, neither was him just dropping the subject of going alone and agreeing to letting them come. They all went to suit up and left, but not before Oliver gave Dig a special task before joining them at the location Joanna was being held at.

Once they reached the address Oliver had been given, they looked for a way in and split up. Oliver went his way and Thea and she went upstairs, as Oliver had told them to.

Laurel had to admit to herself that she wasn't entirely sure how Thea and she had ended up trapped in the room they were currently in. If she were honest with herself, she'd also have to acknowledge that she hadn't been as focused on her surroundings as she should've been and more focused on finding Jo as fast as possible. Which could've ended up as a fatal mistake. Had Thea not pushed her out of the way. It still could be. They were trapped and there was no way out. Their only chance of escaping was Oliver. And she was sure she wasn't going to hear the end of it once they were back at the Bunker.

And a part of her knew she deserved the tongue-lashing she was going to get from Oliver.

Oliver

He should've known it was a bad idea. Should've known having Laurel in the field while she was this emotionally involved in the situation was not a good idea. He should've remembered that the Black Canary wasn't the Canary. He should've remembered that as good as Laurel had gotten over the past two years, she wasn't Sara, and she wouldn't be able to act rationally while her best friend was in danger.

The first clue that should've kept him from letting her tag along had been after Thea and Laurel had found the video recording of Joanna in Opal City and Laurel had confronted Adrian at work. It had been a very stupid move, understandable to some degree, but still extremely stupid.

Laurel had been all emotion and thrown any rational thinking out of the window the moment she had seen the state her best friend was in or had been in at the time the video had been made. They'd given it to Felicity to analyze and Sara had also sent it to Roy, just in case her words. And that just in case, had been an excellent move. Roy, with the help of Gideon, had been able to give them a very probable location. Which now proved to have been correct.

Sara's current distrust in the majority of his team proved to be a good thing, surprisingly. Having her be more involved was a blessing, and he was very grateful for her change of mind and her thinking outside the box and his current team. Otherwise, they'd probably still be looking for a clue to find Joanna.

He had left Sara alone in order to suit up and save the woman as soon as Roy sent them the coordinates to the building Joanna was being held at. Unfortunately, all Roy and Gideon had been able to provide were the original building plans with no way of finding out what it looked like inside now and what changes might have been made or traps been set.

He had never meant to involve the entire team into this rescue mission. It had been his plan to go alone. In and out. No fuss.

It was after Cisco had left to help Barry with a crisis that had just arisen in Central City, and to his dismay his entire team had arrived, that he had learnt about Laurel's confrontation with Adrian, to say he hadn't been happy about it was an understatement, but there had been no time to get into it at that moment in time. Getting Joanna as fast as possible took priority. So he postponed that conversation until after Joanna was safe.

He also hadn't had the patience to argue with Laurel about whether she should stay back or not. It was one he would've lost anyway and again, just cost them time they might not have. Especially after Laurel's run in with Adrian. He'd shared his plan with them, not that there was much to share, get in get Joanna and get back out, sent Dig on a separate mission, instructed Felicity to try and find more about the building they were going to break into and possible boobytraps that might have been set, not that he expected her to find anything. If Gideon hadn't been able to, he doubted Felicity had more luck, but one could never know, and they could use any advantage they could get.

This was how they ended up here.

They'd split up inside the building, Thea and Laurel starting on the top, working their way down while he started at the bottom going up. It didn't take him long to locate and free Joanna. Holding her inside of the elevator was not a bad move, theoretically, but he wasn't stupid enough to risk the doors closing on him and trapping him inside with her. So he made sure to fool the sensor into believing something was blocking the doors and with that, making sure they'd stay open long enough for him to free Joanna from her bindings and leave the trap that was set for him. Which was when he heard what sounded like an explosion. Unfortunately, it took Laurel and Thea about the same amount of time to walk right into a trap of their own.

"What was that?" He helped Joanna walk out of the elevator while addressing the other members on his team. He could hear Quentin through his comms, confirming his father-in-law's presence at the Bunker, and then Laurel's voice, letting them know they were both fine, but trapped. That was just fucking perfect.

He helped Joanna walk while they were searching for Speedy and Laurel, who had managed to get themselves entombed. This had been a mistake. This was supposed to be a simple rescue mission, in and out. Grab Joanna and go. The plan had never been to face Adrian here, to risk going up against him on his turf. They'd have the disadvantage, and that was the last thing he wanted against a foe as capable as Adrian was. They were supposed to end up with less trapped people, not more. Oliver was fully aware that Chase might have wanted him here, that this could be part of his plan, a trap he had created just for him. Which made the in and out part of the plan even more crucial. The longer they spend in here, the bigger the chance of the trap snapping shut with them inside. Or Adrian showing up.

"What if those heat signatures are incendiary devices?" Felicity's words rang through to him, and he cursed silently before checking. Fuck. Of course. Five minutes, he had five minutes for the search and rescue of Speedy and Laurel. Helping an injured Joanna walk and needing to slow down for her was not helping the situation, but there was no way he was going to leave her alone. It thankfully didn't take them too long to reach the origin of the explosion.

"Speedy, get away from the wall. I'm going to try to break it down with an explosive arrow." He waited to get confirmation from his sister that both Laurel and she were out of the way and made sure Joanna was close enough so he could get to her in case Chase showed up, but far enough away to not be in danger from the explosion, before nocking the arrow and shooting. Thankfully, it worked and he could help the two women out of their entrapment.

"Oliver, man, where are you?" He heard John's voice over the comms. That meant he must have gotten here.

"Upstairs, we're on our way down and out, we've only got five minutes before this whole place comes down, don't come…" he stopped mid-sentence when he heard another voice, he couldn't make out the words, but he was pretty sure he knew what it meant. Fuck! Why was Dig inside the building?

"Take Joanna and get out. I'll go look for Dig. Go!" He carefully moved Joanna over to Speedy and Laurel before once again canvassing the building, this time from top to bottom. While hearing the scene play out over the comms, Adrian was closer to them now.

"You've killed all those people." Doris sounded horrified, disgusted and in disbelief. He couldn't even imagine what she must be feeling. Learning that someone you loved, trusted had not only lied to you but had a whole other identity you weren't aware of. There was a part in his mind conjuring a picture of his mother while another part was calling him out and reminding him of the similarities, only everyone he'd been seriously involved with since McKenna had known both of his identities, if not all of his secrets and yes, he might have lied but there had been reasons, better ones than being a psychopath.

"It's not that simple." Adrian almost sounded remorseful, apologetic. He seemed to really care about what Doris thought of him, the way she viewed him. He'd been right. She was important to him.

"You killed them. It's simple. I know, baby, this can't be you. It's not you." The desperation and anguish in Doris' voice was gut-wrenching. He wished he could've spared her the truth. She seemed like a good woman who fell in love with the wrong man. She didn't deserve this.

It was in the basement that he found Dig with Doris Chase and Prometheus. The scene that played out in front of his eyes was almost in slow motion, but he already knew that no matter what he did, he'd be too late to stop it and yet he had to try.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." It was in that moment, the way Adrian held his wife close, the look on his face… he knew those actions, understood the meaning behind them. He expected to lose her, to never be able to hold her again. He was saying goodbye.

"Doris, no! Get away from him!" He was too late, his warning was too late. And all he could do was watch while Chase stabbed his own wife. The thought made bile rise in his throat. He couldn't even imagine how anyone could do this. His mind flashed to Sara. No, there was no way. This was his fault. Her blood was on his hands as he had asked Dig to bring her here, even if this had not at all been the way he had meant for it to play out. Chase was never supposed to get his hands on his wife. She was meant to be their leverage, just in case. Not their sacrificial lamb.

Why had Dig brought her down here? Why had he let her walk to Adrian?

"Get her out of here now!" He turned towards his friend while bellowing out the command just as Adrian was letting Doris slip to the floor before full on attacking him. Fuck! This hadn't been the plan. This was only supposed to be a rescue mission. He only dared to spare one glance at Dig to make sure he was doing what he had asked and getting Doris outside to the women and, hopefully, the ambulance Felicity had organized for them.

They parted after a moment and just stood across from each other, watching, waiting, gauging the other's reaction, waiting for the next move. They had unfortunately changed positions during the fight and he now needed to get through Adrian to reach the elevator.

"I'm glad Talia told you. I prefer it this way. Face to face. There's an honesty to it." He didn't like the look in Adrian's eyes, the way he moved. It was both unhinged and controlled, one of the most dangerous combinations. It reminded him of Slade. And that was never a good thing. Those reminders also always brought a feeling of dread with them. Slade had gone after Sara because he had known how important she was to him. More so than most.

"Well, honestly, I'm going to keep both of us here until the building comes down on top of us." He was bluffing, well, sort of. He was pretty sure Adrian wasn't going to let that happen. The D.A. seemed to be too self-centered, and he doubted he'd risk getting killed by the debris himself. Hopefully. He wasn't as sure about that as he had been before witnessing him murder his own wife, whom he had seemed to seriously care about. So maybe he did have a death wish now. He knew he would if he had just… he couldn't even finish the thought. He'd kill himself before ever putting a hand on Sara.

"You'd be dead." Yes, most likely. Unless he got really lucky. And it really wasn't something he wanted, far from it. For the first time in a really long time, the last thing he wanted was to die. He wanted to live. He wanted to finally seize the chance he and Sara got and live the life he had dreamed of for longer than he'd been aware of. There was nothing he wanted more than the life Sara and he had begun to build for themselves.

"So would you." He threw that little reminder in, just to be sure Adrian was aware, and to watch his reaction to it. Hoping his face would give something, just anything, away that could be used at a later time.

"Really? You really think I'd let that happen, Oliver?" No, he really didn't and got the confirmation that his suspicion was right. Whatever Adrian's plan was, his own death was not a part of it. He didn't have a death wish, and he didn't expect to die. That was good to know. It was very helpful, actually. He watched him push the button on the detonator to shut off the countdown on the bombs. Good, one less thing to worry about.

"Remember, I'm always ten steps ahead of you." This on the other hand was something that was still worrying him a lot, and he knew the truth to those words, he might be catching up slowly but surely but he wasn't even close yet, and he had no clue what game Adrian was playing right now and what his goal with taking Joanna was. But he had a sinking feeling that he was about to find out. He sent a quiet apology to Sara. This was not how this mission was supposed to turn out. Adrian full on attack him again right after those words, not giving him an inch or a moment to breathe. They were as evenly matched as they had been every time they had clashed so far. And it took all of his focus and attention to not give his foe an opening.

He needed to shift positions. Adrian was between him and the only way out. He needed to get around him to get out, but Adrian seemed to be determined to keep that from happening. Fuck! This wasn't at all how the mission was supposed to go. He shouldn't have brought his team. He should've trusted his instincts and wife and just left the team behind.

"I told you, Oliver. I'm not going to kill you." Those words assured him far more than they should, because rationally he knew it simply meant he had far worse planned for him, but that was fine. He could deal with that, just as long as he lived. He'd be okay. Things would be okay. He'd be able to live the life Sara and he were building. All he needed to do was survive.

There had to be another way out. Oliver looked around as well as he could while keeping his focus on Adrian and any opening his foe might give him. He needed to get out of here. The longer he stayed, the more danger he was in. Who knew what Adrian had planned for him? If there were even more traps set and if another one was about to snap closed.

"And you can't kill me." Chase sounded so sure of himself, it was almost laughable.

"Yes, Adrian, yes, I can." He wasn't agreeing with the last part, though. He could, and he would if he had to. He just needed some leverage and the upper hand, preferably on his own turf.

He didn't expect the arrow hitting him from behind and going right through his thigh; the pain was instant and the force of the impact brought him down to his knees. He turned around and saw Talia approach. Fuck! Sara was going to kill him. He tried to get back up, knew that he needed to get back up. If he didn't, he was going to be fucked and left to their mercy and he was certain neither of them had any towards him.

Oliver grit his teeth while forcing himself back up into a standing position. Turning so he saw both of his opponents, forcing his mind away from the pain and to try and come up with a plan. All he needed was to get around Adrian and he'd be able to reach the elevator, he took a step forward and wobbled slightly, realizing how his vision was blurring and the unexpected burning that accompanied the familiar and normal pain from his wound, fuck. Poison. Of course.

He forced his eyes to focus as much as he could, forced his feet forward a couple of steps before he toppled over and painfully landed on his knees, the impact reverberating all throughout his body as the arrow in his leg moved. But he didn't let that deter him. He began to crawl towards the elevator. All he needed was to make it to the safety the inside of the locked doors that could take him to freedom would provide. And get out of the building. He just needed to get there before the poison would do its job and knock him out. He'd promised Sara he'd be fine; he'd be home by the time she woke up in the morning, at the latest.

It didn't take him long to realize it was a fruitless endeavor, and there was no way he could reach it, what had started as black spots at the edge of his vision was now turning into a black tunnel with only a small, blurry light at the end. Fuck. He just needed… just a little further…

His last thoughts before everything turned black were of his wife and their daughter; the way she had moved around and suckled her thumb during Sara's last checkup and the emotions he had felt in that moment took him over again; the pure joy and love, the anticipation of finally meeting her in only two more months, how he couldn't wait to hold her in his arms… now he just hoped he'd get the chance to, right before he passed out.

Notes:

As always I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter and I hope I got Laurel right.

I don't know what the hell happened here…. Laurel got away from me and I just ran with it… blame my muse… she's been in a weird mood lately.

So I've watched Checkmate more times than I ever intended to and I still have to say the scene where Anatoly decided Oliver has had enough to drink and Mayor Oliver Queen asking the Green Arrow to turn himself in within 24 hours or he'd be giving the SCPD the order to shoot on sight are two of the funniest scenes ever!

Look, honestly, I always find it really strange and out of character for Oliver to one, just let Doris walk up to Adrian, and two stand there and watch like a fool while Chase stabs her. There's no way Oliver would've thought that would work and Adrian would stop what he's doing just because his wife asks him to. Bringing her as leverage, sure, but just handing her over to him? No fucking way. That was way too stupid a move. Keeping her a „hostage" and tying Adrian's hands behind his back would've made so much more sense. Oliver knows people like Adrian can't be reasoned with.

„There are people in this world who only work in extremes, It's naive to think that anything less than extreme measures will stop them."

And yes, I firmly believe the people of the Glades were aware that Laurel wasn't their Canary, they have completely different MOs and Laurel sucked too much at the beginning for them to actually buy she was the same woman that had put would-be-rapists in the hospital. Sin took one look at Laurel and knew right away she wasn't Sara, no one can tell me other people in the Glades wouldn't have noticed the stark differences too. Plus, they'd also remember that one of theirs, Roy, was saved by the Hood who had then become the Arrow and therefore known there was no way Roy was actually the Arrow. Everyone else might have forgotten but not the poor people who came to depend on their vigilantes for their safety and justice. Just saying. They were living in fear every day and the vigilantes were the only people who seemed to care about them and try to help them, they wouldn't just forget or be fooled. Their lives depended on it. But that is just my humble opinion.

Okay, sorry, not sorry concerning his team and their screw ups. Look I needed Oliver to end up in Chase's hands but he's just not as stupid as the show makes him out to be. Those were rookie mistakes that led to him being trapped on the show, Oliver would've never… so I needed a fall guy and decided on his entire team, lol.

And also sorry for the cliffhanger, I don't usually do those but it just fit to end the chapter here.

Also I meant no disrespect to Laurel...

Chapter titel is from the Song "Propaganda" by Dax and Tom MacDonald and "Cries of the Crusader" by Struggle Jennings and Caitlynne Curtis.