Disclaimer: Arrow is owned by The CW, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. The character of the Green Arrow and the Justice League is owned by DC Comics. I own nothing; I'm just playing in their universe.

Chapter 3: Conversations

Everyone stared in shock as Sara Lance walked into the room. A moment later, Mia came in as well, stopping as she saw the older woman.

"Welcome to the party, pal."

Sara chuckled. "I leave you alone for five minutes, and look what happens." She held out her hand to her father, who hesitantly took it. Sara pulled him top his feet. "Hey, dad."

"Sara…" he pulled her into a hug, which she returned. "My god, Sara." He pulled away, looking at her. "You're old!" he exclaimed.

Sara laughed. "You should talk." She said. Then she looked over at Laurel. "Hey, Sis."

Laurel stared at her younger (older?) sister in awe. "How? She finally asked. "We saw you die. Oliver said you died!"

"Did anybody actually die on the boat?" Felicity said suddenly. She blinked at the disbelieving looks. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Sara laughed. "God, I've missed you Felicity." She told the woman. "It's been terribly dull without your ill-timed, overly sexualized references." Felicity blushed, and Sara looked at Laurel. "Don't be too hard on him," Sara said. "In his defense, he really did think I was dead. And don't be too hard on Mia, either," she added, looking back at her friend, "I asked her not to say anything."

"Why?"

"Sara," Mia interrupted, "Why don't you and the Lances' take a walk to the observation deck? You have some air to clear, I think." She turned to Moira and Thea. "Mom, clear this up," she ordered, gesturing between the mother and daughter. "Everyone else, we'll continue in a moment. You," she pointed at Malcolm, and then gestured with her finger. "Come here, dad." She snarled, then stalked out of the room. After a moment, Malcolm followed her. Sara led her family out soon after, leaving Moira facing Thea and Tommy while Diggle, Felicity and Slade watched. Thea stared at her, her arms crossed.

"Did you have my father killed?" she asked coldly. Moira winced at her tone.

"Thea, Malcolm-"

"THAT MAN IS NOT MY FATHER!" Thea shouted. "He's a sperm donor!"

"Let me speak, young lady." Moira said hotly.

"Why?" Thea asked. "So you can lie some more?" she scoffed. "I already get wasted because I feel so alone, because my own mother doesn't seem to care about me! I guess now I can get wasted because you are a murdering, psychotic bit-"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Moira screamed. It was so out of character that Thea was stunned into silence. Moira took a calming breath. "I may be distant, even cold. Lord knows Robert was better with you than I could ever be. But everything, EVERYTHING I've done over the past five years has been for YOU! To keep YOU safe!

"Safe from what?" Thea asked pleadingly.

"Not what, who." Moira replied.

"My father." Tommy realized.

Moira nodded. "A month before the 'Gambit' went down; there was a meeting at our house. After the meeting, Robert seemed… distressed. He normally didn't talk to me about what went on in those meetings- I just assumed that it was him schmoozing with the top business men in Starling City. But that night, he actually told me what was going on, and why he was going along with it."

"What?" Thea asked simply. Moira sighed, then led the two back to the couch. After they sat, she continued. "Malcolm is planning on destroying the Glades."

Tommy blinked, and Thea's jaw dropped. Felicity, Diggle and Slade, who were all listening, stared in shock.

"Say that again?" Tommy asked.

"Malcolm is having a device built that can create an artificial earthquake." Moira explained. "He's going to plant it in the old subway tunnels under the Glades."

"The picture in the book!" Diggle exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "It was part of a map of the old subway line!"

Moira nodded. "Once the Glades has been leveled, Merlyn Global will spearhead a movement to rebuild it, partnering with several other major corporations, including Queen Consolidated."

"What about all the people in The Glades?" Felicity asked softly. Moira only stared at her; the message was clear. "Oh." She said softly.

Thea brought her hand up to her mouth. "I'm gonna be sick again…"

"Why would Mr. Queen go along with this?" Tommy demanded. Robert Queen had been more of a father to him than his own dad; he couldn't fathom why he would commit mass murder.

"When Robert opened his steel mill in The Glades, there was an incident. A city councilman demanded a bribe from Robert in order to open the mill. Robert refused, and there was an argument. During the argument, blows were exchanged- and the councilman fell to his death."

"Dad killed someone?" Thea asked in a small voice. Moira shook her head and grasped her daughters' hands to comfort the girl.

"It was an accident, a horrible accident. Nothing more." She assured the girl. "But he panicked. And so he called Malcolm, who took care of it." She looked to Tommy. "After that, they formed Tempest, the organization I've talked about. And Robert was obliged to back Malcolm, since he knew where the body was buried. Literally." She shuddered. "Robert told me all of that the night after the meeting. And I convinced him that he needed to stand up against Malcolm, to put an end to his madness. That's why he was sailing to China; he was meeting with another associate, out of Malcolm's reach, to plan against Malcolm. But he found out, and had the yacht sabotaged." She let out a sob. "God help me, I killed my husband!"

Thea, though still in shock, pulled her mother in and held her tightly as she sobbed. "It wasn't your fault." she repeated softly, over and over. Tommy sat there, his head bowed, feeling impotent. Finally, Moira pulled herself together and pulled out of the embrace.

"About five weeks after the yacht went down, Malcolm approached me. He told me about Tempest, and about The Undertaking. He inferred that he had had the yacht sunk, though he never outright admitted it. He also inferred that a similar fate could befall you if I didn't carry on with Robert's commitments to the cause."

"He'd threaten his own daughter?" Felicity said, outraged.

"He didn't know she was his daughter." Moira replied. "No one knew, except myself and my OBGYN. After Malcolm made his threats, I thought about telling him," she looked to Thea. "I thought, if he knew you were his daughter, than he wouldn't harm you. But I didn't want to risk him taking you from me. I had just lost Robert and Oliver, I couldn't lose you, too."

"I told you," Thea said calmly. "Malcolm is not my father. Robert Queen was my father, and that- BASTARD- murdered him." She spat.

"I won't let him hurt either of you." Tommy promised. "I don't care if I have to take him down myself."

"He's your dad, Tommy." Thea pointed out.

"Robert Queen was more of a dad to me than my own father has ever been. And the fact the he's willing to kill hundreds, maybe even thousands of people…." He shook his head. "He's not my father. My father died with my mother; that man's just a monster." Tommy looked up to Slade. "Mia said you were a mercenary, you do assassinations?" he asked.

Slade barked out a laugh. "It's like Shakespeare! The heir apparent apparently wants to heir. Oh, the lives of the idle rich." He shook his head. "You're too emotional right now, Kid. Talk to me in a few days after you calmed down, then we can talk business."

Control Room

Mia marched in angrily, Malcolm on her heels. "OUT!" she yelled to Roy and Rose, who jumped up in surprise.

"Uh, when I asked you if you were going to threaten to kill everyone in the room, I didn't think you'd actually get to killing someone." Roy said hesitantly.

"Roy?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Get the fuck out." Mia said coldly.

Roy sighed. "Yes, dear." He looked over to Rose. "Let's go."

"We'll be back in ten minutes." Rose said, brooking no arguments. They both moved out of the room, and they both knocked into Malcolm on purpose. He rubbed his shoulder, annoyed.

Mia walked over to the screen and turned the volume up, and the two watched Moira explain Malcolm's plan to the others. Once Tommy had propositioned Slade to kill Malcolm, she turned the volume down. "Well, congratulations," Mia said mockingly, "You've driven your own son to the point where he's looking to have you killed." She clapped slowly. "Bra-fricking-vo."

"At least he's showing some backbone." Malcolm noted with a sneer. Mia shook her head in disbelief.

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" she asked. "You just can't help being an asshole!"

"Well, what do you expect of me, MIA?" he shouted back. "Everyone now knows the kind of man I am; it's hardly necessary to keep my public face on anymore. And on top of that, you just destroyed nearly a decade of hard work with your meddling! "

Mia glared at her father. "Your hard work? Your plans?" she spat. "You want me to tell you how your plans play out? You want me to spoil it early? FINE!" she started pacing in the small room. "Your plan is only partially successful, because Oliver and his team managed to find and deactivate one of the devices. He didn't know you had two until it was too late. That device did go off, and cause widespread destruction and chaos in The Glades, like you had planned." She laughed hollowly. "Not that you could bask in the glory of your plan; you were too busy trying to NOT DIE from the arrow Oliver shoved into your chest! And even if he hadn't, you couldn't have ridden in on your white horse, because Mom outed you to the City a couple of hours before the device went off. Yeah," he saw the look of surprise on his face, "Mom didn't want to be a mass-murder like you did. Go figure." She said sarcastically as Malcolm's rage at her insolence grew. She laughed at the look on his face. "And afterwards, with everyone knowing what you did? You couldn't show your face for fear of Ra's finding you. You couldn't' rebuild your city, so you left it open to be ravaged by criminals and gangs- the same type of people that killed your wife." She clapped sarcastically. "Congratulation on your abject failure." She sneered at Malcolm. "Rebecca would be so proud."

Enraged beyond reason, Malcolm surged forward to attack.

Observation Deck

"Here we are," Sara said, leading her family on the observation deck. Quentin and Laurel stopped dead in their tracks, awed by the site. The Observation deck was a platform that jutted out of the side of the Watchtower, completely enclosed on three sides by massive, uninterrupted windows. The windows themselves rose three stories, curving back into the station while enclosing the two levels of balconies. The view permitted by the glass wall showed not only Earth, but the Moon as well. "Hell of a view, isn't it?" Sara said. "We also use this room for stellar cartography whenever there is an alien invasion."

"I don't know what's weirder," Laurel said, recovering her wits. "That you said 'alien invasion' so casually, or that you said it at all."

"We aren't alone, Sis." She replied. "Heck, we got more than one alien on the team, so…" she trailed off as she looked at Laurel. "God, look at you! I forgot how young you once were." She looked over to her dad. "Both of you. You have no idea how good it is to see you, Dad."

"Not so much a spring chicken anymore?" he joked.

"You passed away about five years ago." Sara admitted. "Liver failure. So what I'm trying to say none too subtly is lay off the booze!" she tried to joke, but it fell flat.

"I'm talking to my dead daughter in a future space station, and you expect me to stay sober?!"

"Well, I know you'll stay sober." Sara smirked. "No booze allowed on the station." She looked from his indignant stare to Laurel's sad, yet hopeful face. "Laurel, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am."

"You have nothing to apologize for!" Laurel exclaimed, grasping her' sister's arms."Nothing!"

"That's bullshit and you know it." Sara replied honestly. "I was selfish; I was jealous. I wanted what you had, and I didn't care if I hurt you taking it. And while I'm sorry I got on that boat, I'm even more sorry that I hurt you."

Laurel pulled her sister in and gave her a fierce hug. "I forgave you a long time ago, Sara." She whispered.

"But speaking of that boat, how are you here?" Quentin asked. "We saw you die!"

"I almost did." Sara said. "I was swept out to sea and into the storm. It was blind luck that I found a large piece of debris to climb on to. It was even blinder luck that I got picked up by a passing freighter a few days later."

"A few days…" Laurel whispered in horror.

Sara's face was grim. "I'll tell you this now- my story and Oliver's overlapped a few times those first few years. Both on the island, and back in Starling City. You'll be seeing some of it in a few days, once you get to his second year under the hood. But believe me when I tell you- he truly thought I was dead when he told you as such."

"If you weren't dead, then where were you?" Quentin asked. "And for that matter, why tell Thea- Mia, whatever she's calling herself, not to tell us you were alive?"

Sara chuckled sadly. "Always the cop, asking the right questions. In this case, both questions are linked." She took a deep, calming breath. "After Oliver thought I had died on the island, I was found by a woman named Nyssa al Ghul. She had been dispatched into the area to look for a drug called Mirakuru- you'll find out much more about that in Oliver's memories. But instead of finding the drug, she found me." she sighed. "I was half dead; wounded and seriously dehydrated. But I intrigued her. I put up a defiant face even in the face of my own imminent death. Plus, she was able to discern that I knew something about Mirakuru, which I did. So she took me with her, back to her ship. She brought me back to her home- a place called Nanda Parbat- and healed my wounds. But saving my life came with a price, one I ended up accepting."

"What price?" Laurel asked.

"Nyssa's father was a man called Ra's al Ghul. He is the leader of the League of Assassins. And the price for saving my life was to swear an oath of fealty to Ra's; and to the League."

"You… became an assassin." Laurel said slowly.

Sara nodded. "Yes. And I swore to serve the League until my death, or until I was released."

"How?" Quentin asked. "How could you even-"

"Stop right there." She demanded. "The Sara you knew died on that boat. I was remade on that freighter, and that thrice-cursed island. I learned that sometimes, you had to do the unthinkable to survive. Sometimes you had to compromise your morality, your ethics, your very soul to live another day. In Nanda Parbat, I learned to survive by enduring pains that you cannot even imagine. And I learned to finally let go of the weak, vain girl that was Sara Lance. I was reborn." She lifted her chin proudly. "Ta-er al-Asfer was the name I took upon the completion of my training. And I worked in the League of Assassins to carry out their mission- to deliver true justice to those that deserved it. Yes, I've killed," she admitted. "But not one person that I have killed deserved any less. And while taking those lives weighed heavily on my conscience, and still do, I've learned to live with it." The pride had all but vanished from her voice. Her head was bowed; she dared not look at her family, and risk seeing their disgust and disappointment.

The three were silent for several minutes, digesting Sara's story, before Lance spoke. "I never wanted this for you." He said softly. Sara risked looking up at him; all she saw was sorrow and- love. "All I ever wanted for you was to be happy."

Sara smiled slightly. "I was happy. There were things about the League- not the missions, mind, but the camaraderie, the sense of belonging. We grew our own food," she said suddenly, her face brightening. "Can you just imagine me, growing my own food?" she laughed. "But we grew the food that we all ate, we maintained the buildings we all lived in. I fell in love there." Sara sighed. "That was the hardest part of leaving."

"You left them?" Laurel said, surprised. Sara nodded.

"Yes. And this brings me to your second question, Dad." She looked back at Quentin. "Why I asked Mia not to reveal that I was alive. In my timeline, this time line, Malcolm destroyed half of the Glades."

Laurel blinked. "Say that again?"

"What, sinking a boat wasn't ambitious enough for him?" Quentin snarled. "Now he's got to sink an entire town?"

"You're more correct than you realize." Sara told him. "Malcolm is having a device built that can trigger an earthquake. He plans to plant the devices in The Glades and set them off. If the pan worked, it would cause what seemed to be a natural disaster. Then Malcolm and his partners could ride in after the detestation and rebuild The Glades."

"But he would kill hundreds of people!" Laurel exclaimed.

"He will kill thousands of people." Sara said. Laurel gasped. "His plan was partially successful. Oliver managed to defeat him in combat, and Felicity talked you," she looked at Quentin, "through disabling one of the devices. But Oliver didn't know that there were two, and the other still went off." Laurel gasped in shock, so Sara leaned forward and took her hands in hers. "But that's the thing. That's one of the events were trying to prevent by bringing you all here. But anyway, I came back to Starling to make sure you all were okay. If the quake never happens, then I have no reason to return." She looked at them sadly. "I didn't want Mia to tell you about me because, if we succeed, than you would never know I was alive. I thought that would be easier for you."

"Let me tell you something," Quentin started. "I would rather know my daughter was alive and happy rather than dead and gone, even if I couldn't see her anymore. Now, if this is the only time we'll see you? Then I'll have to live with that. And I will, even if I'm not too thrilled by your career choice." That got a chuckle from Sara. She looked over to Laurel, who had a pensive look on her face.

"Oh, no you don't." Sara told her. She put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Laurel, I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise not to come looking for me. Members of the League renounce all familial ties, and if an outsider like you starts snooping around, their first instinct will be to eliminate you."

"You'd kill your own sister?" Laurel asked, shocked.

Sara shook her head. "I might never even learn about it, or even hear about it until it's too late. Please, Laurel. Swear to me you won't come looking for me."

Laurel let out a disappointed sigh. "Fine. I won't look for you." Sara sighed in relief. "But I do have one more question. The name you took-"

"Ta-er al-Asfer." She supplied.

"What does it mean?"

Sara smiled. "It means 'The Canary'. It was the last piece of home that I refused to part with; my last connection to my family."

Quentin chuckled. "I remember that damn bird." He sighed, thinking of happier, simpler times. "So what happens now?" he finally asked.

"Now, we all go back down stairs, you two continue to watch the memory files, and I'll run this little op with Mia so we can hopefully avoid any more trouble."

Laurel snorted. "Good luck with that."

Sara smiled at her sister, and then brought the two of them in for a hug. "You're such a pain in the ass." Sara whispered to Laurel, but her eyes were on the second floor balcony.

On the balcony, Dinah Laurel Lance, otherwise known as the Black Canary, smirked at her younger sister. "Yes I am." She whispered, and then sank back into the shadows, leaving the three of them alone.

Control Room

Blinded by rage, Malcolm attacked with all of the power he could muster, but hardly any of the skill. Mia contemptuously blocked his punches, not giving any ground.

"Is that the best you can do, pops?" she snarled. "Ra's would be as disgusted with you as Rebecca surely would."

Screaming in anger, Malcolm rushed to tackle Mia, who easily sidestepped the lunge. She grabbed him as he went past and spun him around, sending him head-first into the wall. Malcolm staggered back drunkenly, stunned by the impact.

"My turn." Mia growled, and then attacked the man. Her moves were fluid, her short, powerful jabs striking at the various nerve clusters around his body. The first three hits had him writhing in pain; she then followed up with a kick to the back of his knee which sent him tumbling to the ground. At once she was on top of him, her knee pressed into his throat. He tried to lash out, but she sent another jab to a nerve cluster that left him momentarily paralyzed.

"Do I have your attention now?" she growled. "I spent two years under you, being trained by you, indoctrinated by you. Two years of having your anger and bitterness infect me while I was trying to deal with my own. I was a lost, broken girl when you came to me, and despite everything you had done, all the pain you had caused, I still left with you. Because, deep down, I desperately wanted the family I had lost. I desperately wanted a father to hold me and tell me everything would be okay." Her lips curled into a sneer. "But you couldn't even do that right."

"I left with you because I was tired of being weak. I wanted to be strong, so I could finally stand up for myself. You made me strong, Malcolm. But you also twisted me into something I never should have been- a killer."

"Killing is sometimes necessary." Malcolm ground out painfully.

"Yes, it is. But it should never be your first choice. Even the League of Assassins teaches you never to take a life unless it is necessary!" Mia sighed, and then rose to stand over Malcolm. "I didn't' bring you here to beat you up. I didn't bring you here to humiliate you. I brought you here because, deep down, you want to save our city. You WANT to be a good man. You just let your grief and guilt cloud your mind." She stared hard at him. "You need to understand that destroying The Glades, that killing everyone living there, will not save the city. And it won't bring back Rebecca."

"THEY DESERVE TO DIE!" he shouted. "All she ever wanted to do was help those people, and how did they repay her? Some punk robbed and shot her, and no one came to help her as she laid out in the street, bleeding to death! NO ONE!"

"Not even you." Mia said softly, deflating his anger with three simple words. "At the end of the day, that's what it all comes down to. You could have picked up the phone, but you chose not to. Just like the people in the Glades chose not to help her. But those people feared for their own lives. Their situation was already so bad there that they wouldn't help their own neighbors, because if they did they risked getting a bullet in their backs." She looked at him sadly. "I believe you can be a good man, dad. I believe you can save our city. All I'm asking you is to keep an open mind, to consider that the Undertaking is not the solution you hoped for. It never was."

She reached out her hand to him; Malcolm grasped it and pulled himself back up. Malcolm stared back with long held tears in his eyes. "I could have saved her…" he said brokenly.

"Maybe you could have, maybe not. If I could, if they'd let me, I'd go back further and save her life. I need you to know that I looked into it. But her death was a fixed point in time. Too many things came out of it- good and bad."

"But you tried?" he asked quietly. She nodded. Malcolm looked the woman over. "What happened to you, Thea? He asked, immediately noticing the twitch in her eye at the use of her real name. "What happened that caused you to renounce your own name? That caused you to go through all of this?" he gestured around.

She looked at him sadly. "I, too, lost people I loved. And I, too, feel guilty." She chuckled mirthlessly. "I suppose this is MY Undertaking."

Malcolm took a moment to compose himself. "And you think there is a better way?" he asked. "I tried Oliver's way when I first came back; it didn't work."

"With all due respect, you didn't try it Oliver's way. Oliver hasn't even gotten around to trying it his way yet. Right now, he's going through the motions. Soon, though," she smiled. "Soon, you'll see him achieve more than you could have hoped for. All I'm asking for now is for you to keep an open mind. Please." She added.

Malcolm considered the woman for a few moments, and then finally nodded. "Fine" he said. "What now?"

"Now, we continue with the mission." She sighed. "I really fucked this up. In hindsight, I really should have briefed you all first, then shown you the memories. I had forgotten how quickly things were revealed." Mia shook her head. "Well, nothing to be done about it now. Let's head back."

"The others won't be too thrilled to see me." Malcolm pointed out.

"Let me worry about that," she started, opening the door. As it opened, Roy and Rose tumbled in slightly from having listened in at the door. "Really?" Mia said dryly.

"Just making sure everything was okay." Rose said.

"Hooray," Roy said dryly, looking at Malcolm, "You survived."

"Roy, behave." Mia commanded.

"Yes, dear." He replied cheekily.

Mia turned and grabbed Malcolm's arm. "Okay, pops. Let's go." she said as she led him out into the hallway and back towards the sitting room.

"'Yes, Dear'?" he said, a question in his voice.

"That was Roy, my husband." Mia said simply.

"Your husband?" Malcolm looked back towards the control room; Roy was standing there, glaring at him. "I don't like him."

Mia cursed in annoyed amusement in Arabic. In English she merely said, "Now he's the over-protective father. Come on," she opened the door to the sitting room, everyone else was already back in it. "Let's get this show on the road."

TBC 11/5/2014 (Bonus chapter for my birthday!)

A/N: Yeah, so this chapter wasn't supposed to happen until after Malcolm is revealed to be the Dark Archer in the show (Episode 9, Year's End). But it fit better right here. Also, this was initially supposed to be part of the Lone Gunmen episode, but at a little over ten pages, I decided to split it off into its own chapter.

A/N 2: If you haven't checked out the Green Arrow comic yet, now is a great time. The new creative team also worked on the TV show; they've brought Diggle on board, and they just introduced the New52 Felicity Smoak, which looks to be similar to the Arrow Felicity that we all know and love. Also, Mia Dearden is being introduced! Which is funny, because one of the reasons I'm using that name in this story was because Mia was one of the victims of the Great Purge that also claimed characters like Cassandra Cain, Wally West, and Tim Drake (because that is NOT Tim Drake in the comics right now).

I don't know if people there are actually reading this, but I've got hits from the U.K., Germany (Hi Jodi!), Israel (my peeps!) and a couple of dozen other countries and that blows my mind. Give me a shout out in the reviews if you're reading from somewhere other than the US. And if you're in the US, review anyways!

A response to Timeless for Star Wars: the New Jedi Order- One Day More:

Timeless,

I was acutely aware as I wrote the epilogue of how I was doing what I absolutely LOATHE- writing of a major battle in a flashback and not showing it. But at the end of the day, the story wasn't about that war- it was about Anakin returning home and saving his galaxy. I never had any intention of writing about the other Vong war, as in the end all it was meant to be was a plot point.

That being said, the thing with Xander was decided at the last minute, as was the ending. I had a happier ending planned at one point, but A) it's been so long that I've forgotten it and B) War has a cost. And at the end of the day, even with the information Anakin provided, it wasn't going to be a blood-free war.

Also, you seriously need to create an account so I can respond to you directly:)

And finally, as for Jacen- don't be too hard on him. Vi can be really scary if she wants to.

-Naitch03