Rise Of The

Birds Of Prey

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. Takes place about a week before the Merrymen Thanksgiving fic.

It'd initially been Thea's idea about two days prior to the event itself, an idea for the girls in their circle to meet up and hang out at the Loft minus Felicity. Said Loft finally being back in the rightful hands of Thea and Oliver after the Blonde had a certain realization about things. Though a subtle remark on Thea's part may have had something to do with it. And so, Laurel made a call or two and when the time came, Evelyn, Nyssa, Tatsu Yamashiro, Sin, Caitlin Snow, Lyla Michaels-Diggle, Jesse 'Quick' Wells, and Linda Park. Who also happened to be doing a little night time heroics as the impeccably dressed Dr. Light in a color modified version of the outfit. Iris, Patty, and Mari had all declined for various reasons involving work, or work and Barry in Patty's case. And while they liked Felicity up to a point, Thea just didn't want the girl around after she'd over heard the Blonde saying something rather insulting towards Ollie recently. And she knew if Felicity was around, something would likely get said and thus ruining the night altogether.

Thea was just honestly glad that relationship was done and over with since it was quite clear the girl wasn't exactly a good choice for her brother. The fact she had gotten bored of their vigilante free lifestyle when it was her who wanted it to begin with after practically making Ollie break his word to the people of Star that he would never leave them again had also put a bad taste in her mouth. And once all the ladies were at the Loft, the good times began. Though it was a pity Sara couldn't be there for it but since there was no actual way to contact her cause of the supposed time traveling she was doing, they didn't have much choice in the matter. And Thea had to admit that it was kind of weird seeing Nyssa of all people look so relaxed and carefree. Even the slightly stoicness Tatsu had going had lessened up nicely enough.

Whether or not it was cause of the good company or the small amount of alcohol they had there was another thing entirely in Tatsu's case. Thea had also idly wondered a time or two about what Roy was up too with his freedom as he'd yet to suit up again, but she knew it was only a matter of time. Especially with whatever her brother had dragged him, Rory, Curtis, and Rene off for a few miles outside of town. Laurel had suspected it was just some guy training time or some such since it tended to take something fairly big for Ollie to go with something else that resembled good times these days. And while things had been a bit on the tense side back home after Wally had his Speed stolen from him, along with Caitlin going off the deep end for a short time, and the fall out between Cisco and Barry, both Caitlin and Jesse were really glad to be here with the rest of the girls.

As both were starting to feel a lot more closer to them then previously. Nyssa had been slightly stand offish with Evelyn concerning what she'd nearly done to the Black Canary mantle but had eventually lessened up much to the girl's relief. Though the smirk on Laurel's face when the dark haired former assassin vowed to help in her training made a foreboding feeling well up in Evelyn's stomach with a noticeable gulp. "Easy, child, I will not be too harsh in your training. I've a feeling my husband would not be too pleased by it if I did so."

"H-Husband?" Asked the girl hesitantly.

"Mmm, you know him as Oliver Queen."

This made the eyes of those not in the know widen in great surprise! "When did that happen!?" Asked Linda in shock.

As even with the decline of the Queen name in recent years, something like that would have been big news! "Her father thought something that wasn't the case at all and did a few things to make it happen quietly." Lied Laurel smoothly while Sin choked on her beer.

"Holy s**t, and here I thought Blondie would have gotten him to the altar first!"

"Believe you me, young Cindy, I would have preferred it if Felicity Smoak had. Would have saved me a lot of grief." Groused Nyssa good naturedly and causing laughter to erupt.

As it is, while she didn't have too high of an opinion on Felicity, if the girl wanted that stubborn fool, she was welcome to him. Though to be honest, she was glad her husband had used his brain to not try for a relationship with the Blonde IT again. "Hey Laurel, maybe you should ask Nyssa for advice when it comes to having Ollie for a husband." Teased Thea.

Laurel shot her a look for that one and got the girl sticking her tongue out at her in return much to the amusement of the others. "No thanks, Speedy, I'm good."

"If it helps you, I can speak from experience that Oliver can handle children fairly well." Remarked a til then mostly quiet Tatsu in fond rememberance.

"Though Akio certainly always had him on his toes."

Amused snorts could be heard after that. "I'll… I'll keep that in mind." Replied a lightly blushing Laurel as she remembered another little boy back during Ollie's first year back.

And how Ollie had been with him. Thinking of Taylor ended up reminding Laurel that she needed to email him soon since they had tended to talk with one another from time to time since he considered her to be his big protective sister. A compliment that had made her eyes glisten the first time he'd even said anything about it too. "Yeah, he was even pretty good with me back when I was younger." Remarked Thea with a grin.

"Well you're his sister so that's a given." Tried Laurel while still lightly blushing.

Thea merely shook her head with that grin still in place while everyone else gave looks of amusement over the whole thing. "As someone who is a widow… Make sure you cherish every single moment you have with him. Well, if it happens again anyway." Added Caitlin with a sad smile on her face.

Tatsu nodded in agreement over that one. "I agree.

Hugs were quickly given to both ladies, especially a tight one from Laurel who whispered to Caitlin that she would do exactly that. An idea then came to Linda, one that while she didn't think would work, would at least make things be a bit less somber. "Sooo, I've got an idea." Stated the Sports reporter with a grin.

And causing everyone to look her way. "If it involves half naked strippers, I'm gonna have to say no." Joked Thea.

"Hey, I wanna see half naked strippers!" Sin called out and sparking laughter in the group.

Once she got herself under control, Linda continued on with a smile. "Well, that's a good idea too. But we can come back to that later. But seriously though, why don't we all get into our special outfits and go out for a night out on the town? Kick some ass, save some lives, and maybe knock back a drink or two like we're already doing? Show a little girl power."

This made the ladies all look at one another for a moment and then Thea looked to Linda with a big grin on her face. "I know I'm retired and all… But, I say… Let's go for it!"

Cheers went up, aside from Laurel who tried to bring a little order to the whole thing. "Hey, come on now guys. You all know I'm not allowed to wear the suit after what happened last year that caused a few stipulations to be made for me to continue to be a Lawyer. Not to mention the District Attorney."

"And I'm not exactly combat material like you guys are." Remarked Sin.

Caitlin added her own two cents to Sin's words as well. It'd be Lyla however that would have a good idea. "Don't worry about it, Laurel. We'll just say that ARGUS had special need for you to be in the Black Canary outfit so that you won't have to worry about violating anything. Cause hey, government agencies trump local ones after all. And myself, Cindy, and Caitlin can remain in the Bunker to keep watch over all of you and provide intel when needed."

Laurel glowered at the woman who merely grinned back unrepentantly. A sigh came from the woman shortly afterwards. "If this goes South, I'm totally going to be blaming you for it."

"Fair enough."

Cheers went out and Nyssa was perhaps uncharacteristically the loudest as she was most proud and happy to see Laurel doing this. "Glades are never gonna be the same after this. Again." Muttered Sin in amusement as she took a big gulp of her drink.

Everyone was out the door shortly while ensuring it was locked. And Sin's words would definitely come true that night as the girls would kick all kinds of ass and become known as the Birds Of Prey. Felicity was none too happy about her babies being used for the whole thing and being left out and Oliver for once used his brain to leave things alone where the women were concerned much to the amusement of the guys. Lyla's cover up story for Laurel would thankfully work as well, thus making it so that she wouldn't have to deal with any kind of fall out from donning the Black Canary outfit once again.

Author's Notes: I do want to go further then one chapter. But only if there's any interest from you guys.