Excuses

Roy called Mr. Diggle to handle Wilson's body. Apparently the latter's girlfriend was some kind of secret agent who had enough connections to make sure Laurel wasn't connected to Wilson's death, or that her power wasn't exposed. Something to be grateful for.

"A.R.G.U.S. will be here to collect the body in fifteen minutes," John told them once the call was over. "They'll have a cover story for all of you to use, so you won't have to worry about any charges, Laurel."

"Thank you, Mr. Diggle," Laurel told him gratefully, as the young couple behind her cheered.

He shook his head. "Call me John," he said, giving her a strange look. "And can I talk to you for a moment? In private?"

Laurel frowned, but nodded. The two of them headed to a more secluded section of the road, and once they were certain not even Roy could overhear, John spoke. "I owe you an apology."

She blinked. "What for?" As far as she could remember, John had never done her any wrong. Truth be told, they barely knew each other at all.

"Now that you know that Oliver is the Arrow, I can tell you this. Before… what happened, I was advising Oliver to ignore you. Saying that you were a distraction from his goal of saving the city."

What? Laurel had no idea what to make of that. How was she a distraction? She knew the Arrow had been paying particular attention to her during his first year, ostensibly because they had the same goal. Now that she knew he was Ollie, it made more sense why he came to her out of all the crusading lawyers in the city. But how could she be an outright distraction?

Her confusion must've shown on her face, because John spoke further. "There was this thing with my brother's killer, and he was supposed to help me with it. But he instead ditched to help you with the Rasmus case, and I… I blamed you."

"So you started telling him I was a distraction," she finished, neutrally. Now it made sense. "That his goals were more important than my well-being."

John nodded, his guilt palpable. "I'm sorry, Laurel. That wasn't fair to you. You were trying to help a young boy and his family, and I let my own personal feelings blind me to that."

Yes, yes he did. But at least he was owning up to it. The brief flare of anger Laurel burned out quickly, because what was the point? He might've given Ollie shoddy advice, but not much more than that. It was Ollie's decision to act on on it. "I forgive you," she told him, to his surprise. "But truth be told, what happened to me, or my sister, is not your fault. You didn't hold a gun to his head and made him say those words. You didn't put any of them in his mouth."

"But—"

"But nothing," Laurel cut him off. "Look, John. Ollie's had people making excuses for him all his life. His parents, his staff, Tommy, me, and now you, we've all done it. But he's a full-grown man now. He's almost thirty. It's time people stop making excuses for him and force him to take responsibility for his actions."

He frowned at her. "This island, though…"

"…is ultimately another excuse," she finished for him. "A very good excuse, I'll admit, and I'm not downplaying what happened to him during those five years in the least, nor do I think he deserved any of it. And I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs to move beyond what happened there, whatever trauma he's suffering. But he lost all my sympathy the moment he decided the pain he went through meant everyone else's didn't matter. That they should just suck it up and get better on their own because they didn't get tortured like he did, or anything else like that. It's not a competition, it never has been, and the fact he ever thought it was is an indictment of his character more than anything else."

It was like the Gambit all over again. Did Oliver — or Sara, for that matter — even realize that even if that boat had made it to China, it still would've destroyed her and her and Sara's family? How could she have ever trusted Sara again, or her mother, once the truth got out? They had completely disregarded her feelings for their own selfish whims, and had never seriously acknowledged how wrong it was.

Or learned from it. Because they did it again, at that godforsaken family dinner. And her parents had let it happen because they were so happy to have Sara back. She would've been too, she would've been able to let it go, had Sara at least given her an apology of some kind. Because when it came down to it, no matter what Sara had gone through all those years, what she had done to Laurel was still wrong. In the end, all she had wanted was proof that they didn't want to hurt her, that they cared about her. That regardless of whatever sprung up between them, she still mattered to them.

But Sara didn't. Instead, all Laurel got was more proof of how little they really cared. And when she had the gall to get angry about it, had made the decision to leave so she wouldn't have to deal with any of it, Ollie had tried to force her to come back, saying that she owed them a chance. The father that abused her, the mother that abandoned her, the sister that betrayed her. She owed them all, apparently.

Then, when she tried to say otherwise, he snapped at her, saying that only she was to blame for how they treated her for all these years. And Laurel, depressed and in pain and still so stupidly in love with a man who so obviously never loved her back as much as she loved him, believed him. Something that ended up costing her Sara all over again, before she really had the chance to have her sister back in the first place.

Oliver didn't mean for things to turn out that way, she knew. He never meant for her to go that far. But he still made the choice to say all those things to her, and choices had consequences, no matter how unintended they might be. After the Gambit, you'd think he'd learn that lesson already. But Ollie never learned from his mistakes, not really — what happened with Thea and Roy was proof enough of that. That's what happened when all the people around you kept shielding you from all the damage your actions caused. Well, Laurel decided, no more.

"Thank you for telling me all this, John," Laurel finally said, breaking away from her thoughts. "And again, I forgive you. But don't ask me to forgive him. I can't right now, and I'm not sure I ever will be able to ever again. Not with everything he's taken from me."

Her self-confidence, her sense of self, her happiness, her life, and above all else, her sister. Oliver had taken all that away and more. She was determined to make sure he didn't take away anything else.

Brothers

Laurel stayed an extra day in Starling to meet up with Joanna. Her friend hadn't known any of the Queens personally beyond some acquaintance with Oliver and Thea, so she hadn't been invited to the funeral or the memorial. She had nonetheless asked Laurel to send her condolences regardless, something that probably barely registered to Thea, but was still appreciated.

The two were out having breakfast at one of their old haunts when the news broke on their phones. Sebastian Blood, new mayor of Starling City, had just been arrested on charges of corruption and treason. Reading through the article, it turns out he and new CEO of Queen Consolidated Isabel Rochev had been accomplices to Slade Wilson and a domestic terrorist plot to destroy Starling in service of Wilson's grudge against the Queen Family. Moira Queen's murder had not just been an act of spite, but an attempt to clear Blood's way into the mayoralty.

A hollow vindication. Laurel would've been glad to have been wrong if it meant Moira would still be alive. Something only reinforced when she returned to her hotel later that day to find a tearful Thea waiting for her in the lobby.

"I was with Ollie down at his base when the news broke," Thea explained to her once they were in the privacy of Laurel's hotel room. "It's under Verdant, by the way. Anyway, when we found out Blood was dirty, he got this guilty look and stuff, and that's when I learned you already had suspicions about Blood and told him about them months ago. And that he had ignored them."

Oh, Thea. "I hate to say it, but I can't blame him for that," Laurel replied, and there was some perverse irony in telling her this, when just yesterday she had been telling John Diggle that people needed to stop making excuses for Oliver. But was this really an excuse, or an explanation? "I wasn't in a good place at the time, Speedy. My addiction issues… well, you know how they were."

She wasn't at her best, she had to admit. Truth be told, she had been acting terribly, and while it was still no excuse for what happened at that dinner, she could see why everyone was getting so frustrated with her. Laurel still wished things had gone differently, but that time had passed. What was done, was done. Everyone involved in that mess was gone from her life, whether she wanted them to be or not.

"But it didn't change the fact that he was wrong," Thea responded mulishly.

"And don't you think he knows that, Speedy?" Laurel patiently pointed out. "As angry as you are at him right now, you can't be any angrier than he is at himself."

"I know. I know, Laurel. I'm being unreasonable. But…" And here, her young friend closed her eyes for a brief moment. "If it had just been that, I could've let it go. Just like when I found out about my bio dad — if he had just been keeping that secret from me, I could've let it go eventually."

Laurel winced at the reminder. One of the first things Thea had done after finding out about Malcolm Merlyn had been to call Laurel for comfort. She hadn't been happy when she learned her older friend had known too, but she had at least allowed Laurel to explain her reasons for keeping it a secret — namely, the disaster might come about if it was revealed Laurel knew and hadn't used it during Moira's trial. Thea's parentage would've been sure to guarantee a conviction, and Thea herself would've been dragged through the mud by the media a result of that. So Laurel had opted not to use it for the trial to get a better chance at lowering the other woman's sentence, but had nonetheless urged her to come clean to Oliver and Thea because the affair itself was still fair game. It was Moira's decision not to tell her children the full truth.

"But it's not just those two things," Thea continued, heedless of Laurel's thoughts. "It's also the stuff with Slade, and how that led to Mom's death. The stuff with you and your… your suicide and Sara being forced to rejoin that weird cult to bring you back. And let's not even get started on Roy. Thing is, you're right about him, Laurel. He's so obsessed with being this tortured hero with all these secrets that he can't tell his friends and family because 'they wouldn't understand' that he's completely forgotten how to be anything else. Like being my brother."

"Thea…" the older woman sighed. What was she supposed to say? That Thea was wrong? That Laurel was just being bitter when she came to that conclusion? Maybe she had been, but it didn't exactly mean she was wrong. The reality was that Oliver had not been acting as a good brother at all to Thea these past few months. He had been so intent on keeping these secrets, on protecting himself, that he had pushed himself and those around him like Roy to act in an irresponsible and illogical manner because 'that was how things were supposed to be'. And that decision had only led to disaster in the end.

Thea sniffed. "I can't be around him right now Laurel. He's my brother and I love him, a-and with Mom gone I can't shut him out forever. I need him. But right now, I can't look at him without getting angry at him. Without asking how he thought this, any of this, was okay." She glanced up at Laurel. "Is your offer to go to Gotham with you still open?"

Laurel smiled sadly. "Of course it is, Speedy. I'll call the airline and see if we can get you a ticket on the same flight as me. But what about Roy?"

"He said he'll follow us later," was the answer. "He's not Ollie's biggest fan either right now, and he told me no amount of training is worth losing me. But he has to stay behind for now because a cure for the Mirakuru is coming in from S.T.A.R. Labs, and he doesn't want to get on a plane or anything like that until the drug is gone from his system. Says it's too risky."

That made sense. Laurel's apartment would be able to fit Thea and her at least, but when Roy arrived, things would get cramped a bit. Maybe she should consider asking Babs for some help in getting them somewhere roomier to stay in.

Roomie

Thanks to some creative cajoling and string pulling, Laurel managed to get Thea a seat next to her on the next flight out to Gotham. The younger woman had never really had the chance to fly commercial before, so it had been an experience. Arriving at the terminal, going through the long line of security, picking and choosing snacks to take with them on the plane — it was all different. Laurel had to think up some creative ways to pass the time in the long lines while they waited to do whatever they needed to do, whether that was pick up their tickets or make it through TSA.

They spent their time on the plane reading books and playing cards. The flight from Starling to Gotham was about eight hours in total, accounting for a brief layover in Chicago. When they arrived at Gotham International Airport, it was already night time. They headed directly to the baggage claim to pick up their bags and took a cab home.

"Now, like I warned you earlier, my place isn't really a five star hotel," Laurel told Thea as she unlocked her apartment. It wasn't a complete rat hole, but it wasn't her old apartment in Starling either. However, it was clean, livable, and secure as you could get in this part of Gotham, which was what she needed right now.

Thea looked around, humming. "Well, I don't really see any issues with it," she noted, shrugging. "Besides, I'm a pauper too, you know. Might as well get used to living without luxury."

Laurel winced. "Well, no reason to go that far. Come on, I'll show you to the guest room."

After Thea settled into her new room, the jet lag finally hit them both, and they slept soundly through the night. The following morning after breakfast, Laurel drove Thea over to meet Babs at her place. She had told both women much about the other, and they had been eager to meet.

"Whoa," Thea whistled the moment they entered Barbara's place — a refitted and refurbished clocktower house. "This place is sick."

"I'm glad to hear that," an unseen voice mused, and both woman turned around to a smiling Barbara heading towards them. "It took a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to get this place handicap accessible without going over budget."

Upon seeing the new face, Thea smiled, and stuck out her hand. "Thea Queen."

"Barbara Gordon," Babs responded, taking the hand and shaking it politely. "It's nice to finally meet you, Thea. And my condolences for your recent loss."

That caused a slight falter in the younger woman's expression. "Right," Thea said, clearing her throat. "So, Laurel said you have a doctorate in library science? How does that work?"

Offer

"Dinah Laurel Lance, welcome to the Bat-Cave."

Laurel stepped out of the small elevator tentatively, staring in awe at the picture in front of her. Giant monoliths of various Batman 'trophies', such as a giant penny and a robotic dinosaur. Some of the sleekest and most advanced technology she had ever seen. An open space where one could go just about anywhere and breathe. If it weren't for the cold, damp temperature (an obvious side effect of being, well, an underground cave), it would be the perfect superhero base.

"Impressive, huh?" Dick asked her cheekily as he guided her towards the big computer screen in the center of the room. "Come on. The big guy wants to talk to you."

When they got to the computer ("The Bat-Computer", as it was unsurprisingly named), they found Bruce sitting there, perusing through some paper files. He typed something in the computer, before the closing the file and turning to face them both. Laurel tensed as his gaze landed on her. Even though she knew he meant her no real harm, there was something about Bruce that was just that intimidating.

"Laurel, thank you for coming," he said to her.

"It was no problem. I'm sorry our last meeting got cut so short like that," Laurel apologized.

Bruce waved her off. "The reason was perfectly understandable. But now that you're here, we can pick up where we left off."

Almost immediately, the legal librarian straightened up. If this was about how to free Sara from the League, then Laurel couldn't afford to miss a single word. "Sara. How do we save her?"

"First, let me explain how hierarchy in the League works," the Batman started, lacing his fingers together. "At the bottom rung are the initiates. Those who seek to join the League and are still in training, but have yet to complete their induction. Above them are the regular assassins, those who passed their induction trial and are tasked with performing the regular, routine missions aimed towards the League's goal of ridding the world of evil. Then there are the Elite, the most skilled of these assassins and who are the most favored by the leaders of the League. They are typically sent on the most dangerous missions, and conduct training for the initiates."

"And finally, we have the leadership. There are three main positions of authority in the League. First, at the lowest tier, are the Horsemen. They are the chief enforcers of the League's code and are usually sent to hunt down and execute traitors and deserters. There can be any amount of Horsemen at any time, though usually they cap at around four."

"Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?" Laurel asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yup," Dick confirmed, clicking his tongue. "When it comes to naming things and other stuff like that, the League isn't really known for being subtle."

"Indeed," Bruce concurred, nodding towards his adoptive son. "Back to the matter at hand. The Horsemen obey only two people in the League. One is the Heir to the Demon, or 'Warith al Ghul' as they're known in Arabic. As you can probably glean, they are the person next in line to lead the League, and can oftentimes also be a Horsemen under the current leader. The current Heir to the Demon is a woman named Nyssa al Ghul, the youngest daughter of the current leader of the League."

Laurel's mind flashed to a beautiful woman with dark hair and mocha skin. "I've met her before. She came to take Sara back to the League, trying to force her to go with her by holding our mom hostage."

Now it was Bruce and Dick's turn to be surprised. "Interesting," Bruce mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "They must've been close, perhaps even lovers. Nyssa is uninterested in men," for the benefit of the shocked Laurel.

"Huh." Well that explained why Nyssa was so happy to have Sara back with her. Despite herself, Laurel couldn't help but wonder how Ollie felt about it — she didn't know the status of Sara and his relationship between her suicide and Sara bringing her back, though obviously it was over once Sara swore herself back into the League. If Sara really had been feeling that guilty over the entire situation…

Well, it didn't matter anymore. Any of it. Oliver Queen was gone from both their lives, and they were all the better for it.

"Above the Heir, is the Head of the Demon. Ra's al Ghul. It's a title passed down through the ages, given to each leader of the League. The current Ra's al Ghul is Nyssa's father, and has been in charge of the League since the 1800s thanks to the Lazarus Pit rejuvenating his youth. A master warrior and a devious mastermind, he is who you will need to defeat in order to free your sister."

A blink. "Wait, what?" That's how she could free Sara?

Dick nodded, affirming his mentor's words. "There are two ways a new Ra's al Ghul succeeds the current Ra's al Ghul. The first way is that the Lazarus Pit's effects begin to wear off on the current Ra's al Ghul, causing them to eventually die a natural death and allowing the current heir to succeed them. The second way is that someone challenges the current Ra's al Ghul to a duel to the death and defeats and kills them. The victor then becomes the new Ra's al Ghul, and can conduct any changes they want to the League — such as releasing someone from their vow."

"Like Sara," Laurel realized. If that's what it took, then Laurel would gladly do it. It wasn't like she hadn't killed before, even if those cases were self-defense. But something told her it wasn't going to be that simple. "How good is this Ra's al Ghul at combat?"

"He's a man with centuries of experience in fighting," Bruce answered grimly. "Very few are capable of standing on even keel with him. I myself often stalemate with him when we clash. Defeating him will be no easy feat, and you won't be able to use your scream to help turn the tide."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's an enhancement," Dick explained. "Weapons are one thing, they require skill and training, but physical enhancements are considered 'cheating'. If you try to use it, the members of the League will never consider the outcome of the duel valid, even if you manage to kill Ra's."

Fuck. She had been afraid of that. With all the martial arts training she had picked up in recent months, Laurel was recently certain she could defend herself from most thugs. But this was a different ballgame entirely. She was going to need more training. Harder training. Advanced training.

"Will you train me?" Laurel found herself asking, directing her words towards Bruce. "You were able to match him, if anyone can train me to beat him—"

Bruce held up a hand, instinctively causing her to stop speaking. "That's why I told you all this. I do intend to train you. Think of it as a token of gratitude for saving the life of my son."

"You don't have to do that," she was speaking before she could really think about her words through. "I did what any decent person would've done."

That got her a smirk from Dick. "Laurel, in case you haven't noticed, decency is in short supply here in Gotham. What you did, it isn't something anyone would've done. Not in this city, at least."

"Dick's right," his father agreed. "Which is why I'm willing to do this. But in order to ensure you're on a level to take down Ra's, you'll need to train under more than just me. You'll have to go to someone else to finish your training, and it's not certain how long you'll be gone."

"I don't care," Laurel affirmed. "If it's to save my sister, I'll do anything, train for however long it takes. It's the least I can do, after what she gave up for me."

Father and son exchanged looks, and then smiled.

"Then let's get started," Bruce announced for all three of them to hear, before getting up from his chair.

At that, Laurel smiled back.

Regarding Laurel's thoughts on Oliver/Sara, she didn't really have an issue with the relationship in itself. They were two grown adults, and Oliver and Laurel were over at that point. If they wanted to date, they were free to date.

What the issue was for her was their poor handling of the relationship, namely that they threw it in her face during a family dinner and reminded her of how they betrayed her. That they didn't acknowledge that their previous treatment of her was wrong. That action showed how little her feelings mattered to them, and for Laurel, who was already dealing with a lot at the time, that was just a step too far that pushed her into snapping like she did. Was it wrong of her to do? Yes, of course it was. But the fact that they couldn't acknowledge how they pushed her into it was an indictment of them and their relationship more than anything else.

Writing the dynamic between Laurel, Thea, and Oliver is interesting and strange. Laurel is determined to live a separate life entirely from Oliver, but not to the extent of giving up her friendship with Thea. At the same time, however, she doesn't want Thea to be caught up in the middle between them, which is partly why she moved to Gotham and why she's trying to get Thea to see her brother's actions in a more reasonable manner. She doesn't want Thea to think she has to choose between the two of them, because no matter what side Thea chooses, she'll still get hurt.

Despite that, however, she can't help criticizing Oliver's actions. Some of her negative opinion is colored by her own recent experiences with him, which, while not exactly fair, is understandable. But the rest of it is because, quite frankly, Oliver handled this whole Slade situation terribly. The only reason Slade got as far as he did is because Oliver refused to tell his family who he really was, what he was after, and in general what was going on. And he had no decent excuses for it. He had no reason to lie about it, and it wasn't because he was suspicious about Slade like Laurel was with Blood. He actively knew who this guy was, and how dangerous he was. He allowed a clear and present danger to remain in his family lives, and didn't even bother to tell them about it, left them unaware and vulnerable to his manipulations.

This, combined with what happened to Laurel, means that whatever's left of Thea's high regard for her brother is completely shattered. From an outside perspective, it looked like he was more obsessed with keeping his secrets and doing things his way, the way things had to be, than dealing with this situation with any sort of logic or rationality. And to be frank, that's part of the reason Moira ended up dying. No wonder Thea is so mad at him.

Next Chapter: Oliver POV. We go back, and get a firsthand account of the aftermath of Laurel's death.