Oracle

The Friday of the following week after she helped Robin, the end of the workday saw her computer suddenly taken over by some kind of virus. An image of a strange, green bald woman suddenly appeared on her computer screen just as she was about to turn it off. Laurel could only curse when she saw it. "Oh man, not now."

She took out her phone to call tech support, only to blink when she saw the screen had the same image of that strange woman. How…? Laurel wasn't a computer expert, but she was pretty sure viruses didn't spread that fast, especially when they weren't operating on the same wi-fi network. Her phone was currently using data right now.

Letters then appeared right beneath the image on her phone. Follow me, Laurel.

It was confusing, up until she saw the image briefly flash on one of the tv screens of the electronics shop across the road. Laurel quickly packed up her bag and turned off her desktop, bidding farewell to her coworkers. She headed across the street to the shop, staring at the particular television that had that image. It flashed again, before suddenly moving to the television on the right.

Laurel moved to that one and then the one after, until she was all but running down the street. Eventually, she found herself directed towards one of the digital screens hanging off a nearby restaurant. It projected another one of those images, causing her to swallow. She walked over to the restaurant entrance and went inside.

The maitre'd looked up at the sound of her entrance, and shifted her glasses. "Name?"

"Laurel Lance?" It was more a question than a statement.

"Ah, Miss Lance." The woman reached over and picked up a menu, then gestured her forward. "We've been expecting you. Please, come with me."

Laurel was guided all the way to the back of the restaurant, where a private room was waiting for her. At the maitre'd's suggestion, she went inside, only to still when she saw who was there.

Barbara, which would've been surprising in itself. Next to her was a young man with bright blue eyes, dark hair, and olive skin, who gave her a cheeky wave. On the other side of him was another young man, this one around nineteen or so, with tan skin, blue-green eyes, and tousled black hair, giving her an inquisitive look.

But the most noticeable figure was the tall man at the head of the table with black hair, broad shoulders, and similarly bright blue eyes as the other two men present. He was the only person besides Barbara that she recognized. Bruce Wayne, Gotham's resident playboy and one of the richest men in the world.

Laurel barely reacted when the maitre'd set her menu on the table and closed the door behind them, locking it tight. Upon their sudden privacy, Barbara, who had been glancing at a laptop she had set up on the table, turned to her. She shifted her computer so the screen was facing Laurel, and played a video on it. The other woman could only stare as the scene of her performing her weird sonic scream played out right in front of her eyes.

"Laurel," her friend started slowly. "We need to talk."

Bats

"So you were Batgirl?" Laurel asked, crossing her arms.

Barbara nodded sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "It was a lifetime ago. I retired when I was eighteen to focus on college, and then…" She looked down at her wheelchair. The other woman's expression softened, and Laurel reached out take her friend's hand. Barbara took it gratefully, and squeezed.

"What happened to me, it made me so angry. So I decided to get back into the game, but in a different way. I'd always been good at computers, so I built myself back up as an information broker: Oracle."

"And eventually, you rejoined the rest of the Bats," Laurel noted, glancing over at the three men silently sitting at the other end of the table.

The youngest of them, Jason Todd-Wayne, gave her a nod. "Thanks for the other night, by the way. You really saved me back there," he said to her appreciatively.

Laurel smiled "It was nothing. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah, still benched, but I don't mind." He glanced to the side. "I've been… dealing with some stuff lately."

"Enough."

The room immediately fell silent. Bruce Wayne sat imposingly over every other person present. All the tabloids depicted him as some carefree playboy that couldn't keep it in his pants. Basically Ollie, except with an interest extreme sports. Only now was it obvious that it was some kind of facade he put on for the public so nobody would figure out he was the city's resident vigilante: the Batman.

"We are still waiting for an explanation," Bruce said, unflinching. "How do you have that power? And why did you move to Gotham?"

It made her swallow. "For the same reason I told Babs: a new start."

Bruce merely furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes. Laurel sighed. "Look, if you've been looking into me, then you probably know what happened to me in Starling. With… with Oliver Queen."

Suddenly there were winces from all across the room. Even Bruce faltered slightly at those words. The other young man, Dick Grayson-Wayne, gave him a pointed look before flashing Laurel an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that. My dad can be a bit… tactless."

"I can see that," Laurel stated flatly.

"Even so, while that explains why you're here, that doesn't explain the power," Dick continued. "We're not accusing you of anything, but as you've probably learned, Gotham doesn't have the best experiences with those with superpowers."

Well, that was reasonable enough. It didn't really remove her apprehension, but she guessed she owed them an explanation. Now whether or not they believed it was another matter.

"Okay, I can see your point," Laurel pursed her lips. "It's a little unbelievable, but… that whole story about me being drugged and stuff and in an almost-death, it's false. When I killed myself, I really did die."

A small blanket of surprise fell upon the room. Laurel waited for the denials, but they never came. They were all staring at her with more intensity, but it wasn't the abject shock she was expecting. Which meant… "You believe me?"

"Trust me, Laurel," Barbara said, leaning over to rest her chin in her hand. "Coming back from the dead is hardly a new thing in this town."

"Just how did you come back?" Jason asked, curious.

Laurel blinked, then rubbed the side of her arm. "My younger sister, Sara. See, while she was gone all these years after the Gambit, she joined this cult called the League of Assassins—"

"Your sister was a member of the League?" Bruce suddenly interrupted, aghast.

Another blink. "You've heard of them?"

"Unfortunately," Dick groaned. "They've caused more than their fair share of trouble for Gotham over the years." Next to him, his brother grumbled in agreement

"Back to the matter at hand," Barbara interjected, glancing towards Laurel. "Your sister — she sold herself back to the League in exchange for letting her use the Lazarus Pit to bring you back to life, didn't she?"

A flinch. Hearing it laid out plainly like that again out loud, it was like scabbing at an open, raw wound. Even now, Laurel still wasn't over what happened. Sara didn't belong in that den of killers. But she believed otherwise because of what happened to Laurel, and nothing Laurel said was enough to convince her of the truth. Then the older sister had to leave before she could make another attempt, and it burned to know Sara was still there, still living under that shameful self-delusion.

"I begged her not to. She told me it was the price she had to pay for betraying me again and I told her I didn't care anymore. That I forgave her, that I didn't want her to leave me again. But the deal was done, and I was forced to leave her behind." She looked down at the table, trying to hold back her tears. "After that… I couldn't forgive Ollie again after that. I couldn't even stand to stay in Starling, knowing how much it'd taken from me already. So I left, and came here."

"And the power?" Bruce asked, his voice this time far softer, perhaps even kinder. "It was a side effect of your resurrection?"

Laurel nodded. "According to the others, when I woke up in the Pit, I had it. Nearly destroyed the room we were in. I've been mainly keeping it a secret since then, only using it for emergencies — like the other night with you, Jason."

Another period of silence fell upon the room. Laurel watched as everyone processed her words, and cleared her throat. "Are we done now? Are you satisfied?"

Bruce hummed. "…what if we told you there was a way to free your sister from the League?" he asked seriously.

What? Free Sara from the League? "How?" Laurel immediately demanded.

"It will take a lot of work on your end," the vigilante warned her.

"I don't care what it takes! If you know some way to free my sist—"

Before Laurel could finish, she was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. It took her a moment to realize it was hers, and Laurel breathed out reluctantly. She took out the phone, blinking at the sight of the caller ID. Thea.

She accepted the call and put the phone next to her ear. "Hey, Speedy. What's—"

Whatever words she was about to say died in her throat. Laurel closed her eyes. "Okay. I'll be there soon." With that, she ended the call.

Barbara frowned. "What's wrong, Laurel?"

The other woman sighed. "My friend's mother just died."

Funeral

There were a lot of looks thrown her way when she walked onto the Queen Grounds for Moira Queen's funeral. Laurel ignored them all — she had long stopped caring about anyone else's opinions about her — and headed directly for her seat next to Thea. Part of her had dreaded seeing Ollie again so soon, but she had been willing to put it aside for Thea's sake. Whatever issues she had with Oliver were secondary to her friend's wellbeing. She could put up with her ex for a few hours if it meant Thea would be okay.

Except Oliver wasn't there at the funeral, or the subsequent memorial. She had been simultaneously relieved that she wouldn't have to see him after all, and infuriated that he wasn't here, paying his last respects to his mother. Caring for his grieving sister, when she so desperately needed the only family she had left. Maybe she was being uncharitable about this, Ollie had to be hurting too, but one day he needed to realize that his pain wasn't the only pain that mattered. That if he wanted everyone's support for what he was going through, he needed to be willing to support them when they were hurting as well.

Laurel stayed with Thea throughout the entire day. Acted as a comfort, and even a shield when Sebastian Blood showed up to give his 'condolences'. He was as slimy as ever, and no matter what the evidence said, Laurel knew there was something off about him. Maybe he wasn't the man in the mask, but he wasn't a good man either, no matter what everyone else tried to say.

Alongside them was Thea's boyfriend Roy Harper. He had remained by Thea's side ever since the news broke about Moira's death. Despite the nature of their first meeting, Roy had proven to be a devout and loving partner. Thea was lucky to have him.

"Slade Wilson, he was on that island, with Ollie," Thea told all of them — Laurel, Roy, and Walter Steele, who was holding an old picture of Moira and himself. "There was a psychopath in our lives, and my brother didn't bother to warn us about him."

"Thea, your brother loves you more than life itself," Walter told her seriously, trying to defend his former stepson.

Laurel bit her lip at that as she tried to hold back a derisive snort. This wasn't the place for that. Even so, everyone else noticed and glanced at her, and Walter wilted slightly. She was, after all, living proof of how little Oliver's 'love' really meant. Perhaps that wasn't fair to him, considering how he'd probably never treat Thea the way he treated her, but…

Maybe he does love her, she thought to herself. But that's not going to stop him from keeping secrets if he thinks it'll 'protect' her, even though it really won't. You'd think after what happened with me, he'd learn, but… Ollie never really learned, no matter how much he tried to claim otherwise. That was a lesson she had to learn painfully.

She didn't say it out loud, though. That was the last thing anyone here needed, and as much as Moira had liked her, the older woman wouldn't appreciate Laurel dunking on her only son at her funeral. Laurel still had enough sense and respect for Thea's mother to recognize that much.

"Come on, Thea," Laurel told the younger woman. "You and Roy can walk me to my car."

Slade

"You're welcome to join me in Gotham at any time," Laurel told Thea and Roy both as they walked her to her car. She gave them a comforting smile. "My apartment's a bit small, but I'm sure I can fit you two in somewhere. And if not, I have a friend that might be willing to put you up."

Thea smiled back at her. It was a brittle, fragile thing, but it was the first real smile Laurel had seen from her young friend all day. A sign of hope that she'd be able to get through this. Proof that she was Moira Queen's daughter, one of the strongest women Laurel had ever known, if not the strongest. "Thanks, Laurel."

"Think nothing of it, Speedy." She turned to her rental to open the door…

…only to jump back as the glass window on the driver's side suddenly shattered. The three of them turned around to see a tall, one-eyed man with graying hair pointing a gun at them. "Hello, Miss Lance," he said with a sick smile. "It's good to finally meet you."

Laurel clenched her fists as she turned to face him. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded, only for her attention to be caught by a choked gasp. The newly-minted Gothamite turned to see her young friend tensing at the sight of the new arrival. "Thea?"

"That's him, Laurel," Thea whispered, terrified and angered all at once. "That's Slade Wilson."

Her eyes widened at the words. Moira's murderer?

Roy didn't hesitate. He snarled and charged Wilson, trying to fight the other man to protect them. Laurel moved forward to hide Thea behind her as the two men fought, barely able to keep up with the action. They were just moving so fast — were they both on steroids or something?

It became clear early on that Roy was outmatched, skill-wise. But to his credit, he didn't give up, probably knowing whatever fate awaited them if he did wouldn't be a good one. Laurel was tempted to run off with Thea while Wilson was distracted, but something in her gut told her that they wouldn't get far if they did, and she didn't want to abandon Roy. Besides, both of them knew she wasn't completely helpless.

Eventually, the fight was decided. The two women gasped as Roy was stabbed in his side with one of Wilson's knives, and then tossed away. Laurel kept a sobbing Thea behind her, as she prepared herself. Closer, just a little bit closer…

"I've been waiting for you to come back," Wilson said to her casually, an insane gleam in his eye. "My revenge against the kid isn't complete until you're dead and broken at his feet."

The kid? Did he mean Ollie? Whatever, it didn't matter. Slade was almost in range. From the corner of her eye she saw Roy glance up at her, the stab wound in his side already healing. She was going to need an explanation for that eventually. When their eyes met, she gave him a subtle nod, one that he slowly returned before getting out of the blast range.

Wilson was right in front of her. "Now," he spoke, reaching out to grab her by her arm, "come here—"

He didn't get to finish. Laurel leaned right into his face, and screamed. Full blast.

Almost immediately he was thrown back from the force, unable to react as his brains were scrambled, all the power striking him and his eardrums all at once. From behind her, Laurel could feel Thea letting go of her, probably to block out the sound with her own ears. Hopefully, Roy had been fast enough to do the same with his.

She screamed and screamed until she had nothing left. She couldn't risk otherwise, not when the alternative was losing Thea like she had with Sara. When the last of her energy left her, Laurel finally stopped, collapsing onto her knees. Inhaling deep breaths, she glanced over at where Wilson's prone body laid, then at Roy, who was slowly getting back to his feet. She turned to look at Thea, who was staring at her in awe as she lowered her hands to her sides. "Laurel, what was that?"

Despite the situation, Laurel couldn't help but smirk. "A long story, Speedy. A long story."

Arrow

Wilson was dead.

Laurel wasn't really surprised. She had used her scream on him at point-blank range, and that could destroy buildings. A human being was a far more fragile thing, and while part of her felt queasy at having to kill another person, she couldn't find it in herself to regret it. This man was the man who killed Moira Queen, who was going to kill Thea and her, and Roy, and who knows who else. And that's not accounting for whatever he did on that island, with Ollie. Had Sara been one of his victims too?

"I know you have to be reeling from what just happened," Thea told her, before pulling her into a hug. "But thank you."

She returned the embrace with a soft smile of her own. "It was nothing, Speedy."

Over by the body, Roy was checking out Wilson's ears. There was blood dripping from the inside. "Must've been the enhanced hearing from the Mirakuru," he noted.

The former Starling native glanced over at him. "Mirakuru?"

"This drug that Roy got accidentally injected with," Thea explained, pulling away. "He's been working with the Arrow the past couple of months to control it. It gives him superpowers and stuff."

"The Arrow?" Laurel hadn't given him a serious thought in forever. "You know who he is, then?"

Thea shook her head. "Roy knows, but apparently in order to get the training, he had to be sworn to secrecy. It took everything he had to get permission to tell me he was working with the Arrow at all."

"Huh." Puzzle pieces were beginning to fit together in Laurel's mind, building a picture she didn't like. "Roy, how did you know Wilson was injected with the Mirakuru too?"

Roy froze. Next to Laurel, Thea blinked, suddenly very confused and hesitant. "Roy…?"

Oh, for Pete's sake. "Ollie's the Arrow, isn't he?" Laurel stated bluntly, crossing her arms.

"What?"

Thea's shout was loud, and Laurel didn't blame her. Her boyfriend, knowing the jig was up, could only sigh and nod. "You're right," Roy confirmed. "He's the Arrow."

"Oh my God," an exasperated Thea could only say, moving to her boyfriend to speak to him more directly. "And he wouldn't let you tell me? Even when you were injected with a drug that could drive you crazy at any time and we had this asshole hanging around us?" She gestured to Wilson's corpse for good measure.

"Worse — he tried to get me to break up with you," Roy admitted, causing his girlfriend to bite back a curse. "Said it was too dangerous for you to be hanging around me when I had the Mirakuru inside me. I had to bring up what happened with you, Laurel, to get him to back off. He had no right to dictate anyone's love life after that."

"And he still doesn't," Laurel asserted, giving Roy a respectful nod. "You do realize though that he was bluffing right? If this Mirakuru stuff was really as serious as you said and Thea was intent on keeping you around, then there was no way he could withhold training from you, not without risking her life."

The young man stared at her, before palming his face with a groan. "Why didn't I realize that?"

"Because you don't know him as well as we do," Thea answered truthfully, gnashing her teeth together. "Roy, I don't blame you for this. I blame him. I can't believe him! How in any way did he think keeping us in the dark was keeping us safe?"

"Easy, Speedy," Laurel cut in, eyes dark. "Because he thinks keeping these secrets will 'protect' you, when it's really about protecting himself. Because once you know, you have the right to judge him. Whereas if you don't, he can keep going on as this tortured hero who is conducting this great mission in the shadows, while his loved ones live in the light, unable to understand his plight."

It was all bullshit. Trauma was one thing, but this was another entirely. Maybe Ollie wasn't quite as selfish as she thought if he was willing to risk his life for others like this, but it was still no excuse to be neglectful and even abusive of the people in his personal life. Especially when he kept half his life a secret from them, leaving them unaware of all the issues that were plaguing him and causing him to lash out in the first place. Being a vigilante, risking his life to save others — it didn't make him special or give him any privileges. At least not in the way he probably thought it did.

The good did not wipe out the bad. At least, not automatically. That's not how the world worked.

Laurel knew she wasn't the most objective person in the world when it came to Oliver Queen, far from it. But learning he was the Arrow, that he was a vigilante running around fighting crime and saving lives — it did little to improve her opinion of him. Maybe under different circumstances it would have, but here it really didn't change anything at all. No matter what he'd been doing for all those strangers and their problems, he couldn't bother to show her the same compassion for her and her problems, someone he had once claimed to care about. To love. Because he couldn't see her as a person who struggled like he could everyone else — just a faltering dream that wasn't living up to the reality.

To say nothing of Thea. Laurel didn't blame him for putting the safety of the city as a whole over his sister, but that was still no excuse to all but abandon her and leave her to deal with her issues and grief on her own. To lie to her and to try and force her boyfriend, some of the only serious support she had left, to abandon her too. Focusing on Wilson shouldn't have been a distraction from at least sparing a moment to tell Thea what he was doing and the reason he was neglecting her wasn't because he didn't care. He could bother to do at least that much.

But of course, Oliver was too stuck on himself to realize that. So he continued to lie, like always. And after hearing so many of them fall from his lips, Laurel felt almost apathetic. It should've been some earth-shattering secret, but all she saw it as was another fib to add to the pile. She didn't even know why she bothered to be surprised.

Okay, first: Roy. Roy and Thea never broke up in this because Roy doesn't hold Oliver on nearly as much of a pedestal as he did in canon thanks to the whole Laurel/Sara thing. So when Oliver told him he had to keep their partnership/apprenticeship a secret from Thea, Roy fought back and the two argued, and in the end Roy was able to negotiate things down to being able to tell Thea about him working with the Arrow and having the Mirakuru in him. Because of that, he was also able to shut down Oliver's order for him to break up with Thea, and as a result Thea still has him around for support.

So naturally, Thea has a very, very different reaction to Oliver being the Arrow here. This being right after their mother's death, right after Oliver fucked up by failing to tell them about Slade until it was too late, and right after learning Malcolm is her bio dad means she doesn't react well to learning he's been lying to her about this as well. Especially when you throw in the Laurel thing, as that already made her plenty hostile to him on its own. Combine that with learning he basically blackmailed and forced her own boyfriend to lie to her and then tried to convince said boyfriend to break up with her… yeah. Thea is not going to be very forgiving to her brother any time soon.

Now, onto Laurel. As you can see, Laurel has a really, really low opinion of Oliver right now, one that's not going to improve for a long time. She's kinda earned the right after what he did to her, and learning that he's the Arrow isn't going to change that. If anything, it makes it worse, because as she points out, how is it that he's able to show more compassion to strangers than he is to her? How is it in that, in his eyes, everyone else is allowed to struggle but her? She's trying to be understanding, to be fair, but after what he did, it's hard to do because she can't help being so bitter and spiteful and resentful towards him for everything he's done to her over the years, all the things she had to forgive him for that he never seriously appreciated, and of course for what just happened recently. And who can blame her?

And as for her interpretation of why he treated her the way he did — that's basically a commentary on how the writers tried to constantly excuse how terribly he treated her in S2 and beyond. The problem with Arrow making Oliver Green Batman is that he has all of Batman's worst traits. And this is by far the worst. Modern Batman tends to be given a constant pass for his abusive behavior because "He's Batman," which is complete BS. Being a superhero doesn't give you a pass to act as much as a dick as possible in your private life, with your loved ones. No, it means you have a duty to try your best for them, to be at your best for them, because they are making sacrifices too. Sacrifices when it comes to you, and spending time with you, of having you in their lives, which is what they want. That doesn't mean you can't struggle, but it does mean you need to be willing to compromise more, and be more empathetic about what you're putting your loved ones through.

Laurel's constant forgiveness throughout their entire relationship, from even before the Gambit, meant Oliver was willing to take her for granted for just about anything, as seen with the show. Even when they were supposedly over "for good", he kept on taking her and her forgiveness for granted, up until she died and he had some idea of what he lost. Despite trying to act otherwise at first, in the end those five years did little to change that at all.

Here, that constant forgiveness is gone. Oliver finally crossed the one line Laurel couldn't forgive, not just by driving her to suicide but also by causing her to lose her sister all over again. And now, when she's faced with all his bad choices, she's no longer going to make excuses for him. She's going to tell it like she sees it, often a negative interpretation, though not always the right one.

It is what it is. After years of this behavior, both before and after the Gambit, Oliver lost the benefit of the doubt a long time ago, and it's going to be a long, long time before he gets it back.