Starling City
"You guys," Tommy hiccuped, thoroughly dazed, "are awesome."
His two best friends exchanged amused looks as they half-carried him to his room. It was three in the morning, and only now was Tommy's late-night birthday party was beginning to wind down. Most of the guests had already left; those still here were either waiting for their own rides, or were already unconscious and being collected by the staff to sleep things off in the guest rooms. Mr. Merlyn would have quite the nasty surprise waiting for him if he showed up in a few hours. Secretly, both Oliver and Sara hoped that he hated it.
After settling Tommy under the covers of his bed at the mansion and making sure he was fast asleep, the two hosts turned off the lights and headed outside back to the mansion proper. All around, the staff (both Mr. Merlyn's personal staff and the staff they had hired specifically for the party) were cleaning up trash and stains. "Too bad about that Van Gogh," Oliver noted, peering at a ruined painting smothered with punch.
"And that vase," Sara added, gesturing over at a pile of broken pottery, soil, and plants. All of it was being swept up into a bag, probably so the owner could figure out what to do with it later. "Think Mr. Merlyn is going to have it restored?"
"If it can be — if it can't, then he'll just buy a new one." Oliver shrugged. "Either way, he's going to pay a pretty penny for it."
Sara thought that over for a moment. "…Good."
Her best friend cracked a grin. "I agree. And if he tries to force Tommy to pay it, I'll just pay it off myself."
"Perfect," Sara said, scowling. "Serves him right for… well, yesterday, I guess." If there was anything late night parties were good for, it was screwing up the internal clock.
"Yeah." Oliver checked his watch. "But enough about that. We better get this place cleaned up soon so we can head home to sleep. Still got class on Monday."
"Right."
By the time the mansion was approaching somewhere close to clean, it was almost sunrise. Out of nostalgia and remembering how gorgeous the view of Starling City was from the hill the Merlyn Mansion sat on, Oliver found himself walking outside to stand near the edge, taking in the orange and golden rays that were beginning to peak over the horizon. After a few minutes, he found himself joined by Sara, who was similarly entranced.
"Been a while since we did this," she noted fondly, putting her hands on her hips. "How many times did we come here as kids, trying to watch the city or stare up the stars?"
Oliver chuckled. "Almost every weekend, and I still say it wasn't nearly enough," he claimed. "Laurel used to love coming here. She'd always bring that book of constellations from the library with her so she could point them out to us. If I remember correctly, I eventually gave her a copy as a birthday gift so she didn't have to keep checking it out and worrying about the due dates."
"I remember that!" Sara exclaimed. "It's still in her room, you know."
"Really?" Oliver looked at his friend in surprise.
Sara nodded. "Yup. It's all well-worn and bookmarked. I remember one time she took it with us during a family camping trip so we could do stargazing. She always made up the best stories about them, though I'm pretty sure half of them were sanitized versions of the actual myths."
The Queen scion shook his head, expression completely bittersweet. "That sounds just like her."
"Yeah," his friend agreed, sighing longingly.
For a brief moment, they allowed themselves to keep watching the slow sunrise, reminiscing of their lost loved one. They then turned to each other, and smiled tentatively. "I used to have a crush on you back when we were teenagers, you know," Sara suddenly blurted out awkwardly, rubbing her arm in a nervous fashion.
Oliver blinked, and blushed, flattered. "Really?"
"Really. If you haven't noticed, Ollie, you're really hot. Like, super hot."
That caused his blush to deepen. "Thank, Sara. You're very beautiful yourself."
The admission caused Sara to blush in return. For a brief moment, they stared into each other's eyes, sharing a held gaze. Before either of them realized it, they were closing their eyes and leaning in for a kiss.
Laurel…
As the memory of that familiar green-eyed gaze passed through his head, Oliver felt his lips touch Sara's for a brief moment. They lingered like that for a few awkward seconds, before separating with a sigh. Their eyes met again, their smiles this time sad and full of understanding.
"No," Oliver sighed.
"Yeah," Sara agreed, closing her eyes briefly. "There's… there's nothing there."
"And I can't stop thinking about her."
"Neither can I."
He cared for Sara. He truly did. She was his closest female friend, now that Laurel was gone. But Laurel was still in Oliver's heart, and Sara was more than some replacement for her sister. It wouldn't be fair to her to try something when it was still her sister he really wanted in the end.
"I loved her so much, Sara," Oliver finally said, feeling tears prickling in his eyes. "Hell, I still love her. She was the love of my life. And every time someone brings up the idea of dating, or marriage, or kids, or anything else like that, my mind always goes back to her. I can't imagine being with anyone else but her right now. And it's not fair to you or to me to start anything because of that."
Sara, thankfully, didn't look offended at all. No, instead she looked like she completely understood. "It's fine, Ollie. I get it. And can honestly say right now that whatever feelings I might have had for you died with Laurel — this just proves it." She shrugged, looking tired.
"Just thinking about being with you makes me feel like I'm betraying my sister, and that's not something I can live with anymore. Not after everything that's happened." Maybe in another life, they could have had something. But in this life, it just wasn't going to work out. And honestly, perhaps they were all the better for it.
"Friends?" Sara asked.
"Best friends," Oliver reaffirmed. "Always and forever."
This caused the young woman to smile, and the two shared a heartfelt hug. They stayed like that for a minute or two before pulling away, and then Sara looked up at him in concern.
"Do you think you're going to ever date again?"
Oliver shrugged, not bothering to answer. He really wasn't sure. Even just the thought of so much as a one-night stand sounded exhausting to him right now.
"Well, that's your choice," Sara noted, a bit sadly. "But Laurel wouldn't want you to be hung up on her forever, Ollie. She would've wanted you to be happy."
"I know, Sara," he admitted. "And maybe, one day, I'll find someone that I could come to love as much as I did her. But for now… I'm just not ready."
It was his final answer on the matter, at least for now. Sara still didn't look exactly happy, but it wasn't a no, so she didn't press the matter further. Oliver supposed he should be grateful for that, at the very least.
Gotham City
"Disappointing, but not entirely unexpected."
Laurel tried not to stiffen at those words. Ra's didn't sound angry or disappointed, to be honest. More annoyed than anything else. It wasn't exactly a promising sign, since Ra's wasn't above killing petty annoyances if he was irritated enough. But it was something to hold onto, the faint hope they wouldn't be killed for their failure. Though honestly, Laurel was still debating whether or not being spared would be a good thing. Would it better to be dead than a party to what was to come?
"If I am to be completely honest with myself, it is my fault for sending two of the more inexperienced members of the League to survey her," he mused out loud. "Do not fret, Taer Al-Aswad, Qalnaswa. You will not be killed for this failure."
Both of them almost let out a sigh of relief, but held it in. They did not want to push their luck.
"Nonetheless, some punishment will be warranted later. Twenty lashes to the back will be dealt to both of you once we return to Nanda Parbat," Ra's declared. "For now, however, you are dismissed. Tomorrow night, you will help guard the Joker's fellow supervillains when we gather them up for his plan."
With that, he waved them off. Laurel and Shado both kept their heads bowed as they left the dining room, only allowing themselves to relax when they had climbed up the stairs and returned to their own room. The moment they were inside, they both collapsed onto their beds, exhausted.
"I am not looking forward to those lashes," Laurel groaned.
"Neither am I, but it could've been worse," Shado pointed out.
That only caused her friend to groan louder. "Don't remind me."
Neither of them wanted to guard the 'supervillains' (something Laurel still couldn't believe were a thing, even accounting for all the weird crap she had been dealing with the last couple of years). After what happened at Barbara's, all they wanted to do was to head back to Nanda Parbat, take those damn lashes, and spend the next several months doing nothing but training drills, since actually leaving the League was not an option. But unfortunately, the word of the Demon's Head was absolute, so they didn't bother putting up any sort of a protest.
The following afternoon, Laurel and Shado found themselves bussed to a large, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Most of the mid-tier members were with them, having also been tapped to play as security guards. The rest of Ra's and his elite were following along in cars and motorcycles in intervals and from different routes in hopes that Batman wouldn't be able to track them down before it was too late.
It was here at this very warehouse where all of Gotham's Rogues were to meet at the behest of Ra's al Ghul for his latest grand plot to claim the Batman as his heir. Of course, the Rogues were unaware of the actual role they were meant to play here, but that was just a minor detail in the grand scheme of things. By the time they realized what was going on, it would already be too late.
Laurel stood at attention in full League uniform near a corner of the warehouse with Shado. They were about at the halfway point on one side of the warehouse, in-between two windows where one could hear the ever growing mass of humanity outside. Finally, the doors opened, and Gotham's most vile and villainous trekked inside.
Rambunctious, chaotic, and loud, they had to be the most eclectic group of individuals Laurel had ever seen. She struggled not to outright stare as she filed each and every face that stood out in her mind. There was one woman with red hair and green skin wearing dress made out of literal leaves; a blue-skinned man with red-tinted goggles and a jar over his head; and another man with some kind of scarecrow get-up that everyone was giving a wide berth.
And those were the more normal members of the group. Laurel swore she saw a huge, gigantic crocodile-man stomping along with the crowd, side-by-side with a similar-sized orca woman. Another man with a half-scarred face sauntered in, absentmindedly flipping a coin, followed by a literal bat-man flying inside to perch on the ceiling beams.
None of these people could be called anything close to resembling normal. What kind of place was Gotham to produce criminals like this? And why hadn't the rest of the world heard of any of them? It just didn't make sense. If Batman had to fight people like this every night, then it was no wonder Ra's was obsessing over making him his heir. No regular vigilante could handle dealing with these kinds of enemies even with a respectable team backing them, let alone do it for almost a decade straight.
After the endless parade of insanity ended and all the villains were accounted for and inside, Ra's, standing on a walkway near the back of the warehouse and overlooking the entire crowd, signaled for the doors to be shut. There was a brief furor at this, but eventually it calmed down. Once it did, he began to speak.
"Welcome, villains of Gotham," he intoned loudly, his voice echoing through the relative silence. "For those few of you not yet aware of my identity, I am Ra's al Ghul, leader of the League of Assassins."
"I have summoned you all here to request for your aid. As many of you know, I seek to claim the Batman as my heir, as the next Ra's al Ghul. However, for over a decade he has declined all of my overtures and spited me at every turn."
The crowd rumbled upon hearing this. Ra's allowed it to pass before speaking again. "No longer. It is time for him to take his rightful place by my side. And in order to do that, I shall need your help. Do not fear — I shall not turn on you when the deed is done and Batman has finally accepted my offer. Once he has conceded to my demands, you will have free reign over this decadent city, to do as you please. No longer will you have to fear reprisal from the Bat."
Which is only because he intends to wipe Gotham off the map once Batman agrees to be his heir, Laurel noted grimly as the crowd of villains cheered. He didn't say as much, but reading between the lines, it was obvious. Gotham had remained a corrupt mess for the past several decades even with Batman trying to combat the tide, and part of the ritual to become Ra's al Ghul was to wipe out the prospective heir's hometown so they could discard whatever previous ties to their former life that they had left. These supervillains wouldn't have long to celebrate their victory before Ra's killed them all.
The raucous applause continued for several minutes… up until the Joker sauntered up the walkway. The very moment the clown was spotted, a massive, horrified hush fell upon everyone present. Joker himself already had a shit-eating grin on his face as he slung his arm around an unmoved Ra's. "I know, I know! Isn't it great how kind and generous my partner is?"
There was a brief beat of silence before the crowd roared once more, this time in anger and rage. They had been completely bamboozled, and each and every single one of them knew it. Some tried to escape the warehouse, others moved to attack Ra's and Joker once the realization hit.
But it didn't matter. Massive, see-through barriers dropped from the ceiling, over every side of the warehouse. They boxed the villains in completely, while also protecting the members of the League from what was about to come. Soon after, several smoke generators protruded from the top of the building, and began emitting a ghastly green gas.
People collapsed as they breathed in the fumes, beginning the very same transformation that had terrified Laurel the first time she had seen it all those days ago. Next to her, she could feel Shado growing equally tense besides her. Glad to see she wasn't the only one being freaked out right now.
As more and more began to fall and Jokerize, Ra's straightened himself up. "Everyone, prepare yourselves! Once they are all transformed, we shall unleash them upon the city."
"Ah, ah, Ra's-y baby," the Joker cut in, popping his head in front of the other man. "We still got a few more that we need to cover."
The master frowned. "Who?"
The Joker smiled… and then, faster than a bullet, he squeezed the flower on his jacket. He had been careful to make sure the ornament was as close as possible to Ra's' face, so the older man couldn't get away. Before the centuries-old assassin could react, he found himself collapsing from a faceful of Joker Gas, screaming and laughing his head off as he slowly began to transform.
"FATHER!" Nyssa screamed as she drew out her sword to cut the traitor down. She didn't get the chance, as she suddenly found herself whirled around by an unnaturally strong hand. Athena, pasty-skinned with grass-green hair, held a canister in front of her as she sprayed the rightful Heir to the Demon in the face. The younger woman collapsed like a marionette with her strings cut, clawing away at her skin as she screeched.
And just like that, it was as if a dam had broken. Several assassins, clearly Jokerized before the chaos in the warehouse started, revealed themselves and began attacking their fellows. Laurel and Shado broke ranks as they drew their respective weapons to ward off their fellow assassins, wide-eyed and terrified.
"Taer Al-Aswad! Qalnaswa!" They kicked away two Jokerized assassins to see Al-Owal charging towards them, several more Jokerized assassins chasing after him. "To the window! We must flee!"
The two women didn't need to be told twice. Laurel led the way, cutting down any assassin that came near while Shado shot down those farther up the walkway. They were about three-fourths of the way there before a loud, shocked cry and an audible thud! caught their attentions, causing them to pause their escape as they looked back to see what happened. Al-Owal had been caught by the leg, falling face first as he was dragged away into the clutches of his corrupted comrades.
"AL-OWAL!" Laurel and Shado shouted, ready to run back to help their mentor.
"NO!" Al-Owal's own shout stopped them He glared up at them, waving at them to flee. "GO!" That was the last thing he said, before he disappeared into the thriving mass. The last thing either woman heard was his scream, following by the growing sound of hysterical laughter.
Terrified and afraid, the two friends charged through the throng once more as they continued running towards the window, kicking and punching away any Jokerized assassins that got in their way. They made it to their destination, but before one of them could get the window open they found themselves cornered by more assassins. Shado began firing arrows from her quiver at a rapid pace while Laurel tried unlock the glass opening.
She just managed to get the lock off when heard another startled cry. Laurel whirled her head around just in time to see Shado, now completely bereft of any remaining arrows, trying to use her bow to whack away their attackers. Normally she would've just sheathed the bow and drawn her sword instead, but her opponents weren't giving her enough breathing room to do so.
Laurel darted forward with her own sword to help her friend, but she only managed to cut a few down before even more assassins, including Al-Owal, Athena, Nyssa, and to their collective horror, Ra's joined the throng. Before she knew it, she saw one of them grabbing her sword by the blade and pulling her in. Laurel tried to pull it back towards herself with all her might but it was no use. She let out a gasp of shock as she found herself tumbling forward into their waiting arms…
…Only to find herself dragged back. Two powerful arms grabbed the back of her armor and hauled her away, tossing her towards the wall, near the window. Laurel struck the surface with an audible groan, rubbing the back of her head to soothe the newfound bruise. She opened her eyes just in time to see her savior, Shado, seized in her stead as she was trying to get away, and felt herself jerk forward suddenly as she tried to stop what was about to happen. "NO!"
"RUN, LAUREL!" was Shado's final cry as her face disappeared in a cloud of green gas.
"SHADO!" Laurel screamed, running towards her friend. "SHADO!"
The world was louder than ever around her, and yet things never sounded so silent. She was grabbed by both sides and frog-marched forward, one foot in front of the other no matter how much she struggled. As her approach continued, she saw the crowd in front of her part, as a body slowly began to rise up.
Shado. But not as Laurel knew her. Gone were her kind, wise eyes and the gentle demeanor that was so effective at hiding the steel beneath. No, instead Shado's lightly-tanned skin was now as pale as the moon, her lips a cherry red. Her long hair was frazzled with a dark green tint. But most horrible all was her gaze, filled with madness that put even Slade to shame.
Laurel froze for one, terrible moment.
Then Shado laughed. A horrible, cruel laugh.
And then Laurel screamed.
Cliffhanger! Man, I love a good cliffhanger, and this might be my best one yet.
First, though, Oliver and Sara. While Laurel/Oliver is the endgame, I felt it made sense narratively to briefly touch on the possible feelings between these two, seeing as Sara did admit to having a crush on Oliver at the beginning of the story. Here, while they might have had something in another life, it's very clearly that Laurel's death has warped whatever feelings they might have had for each other. Oliver is still in deep mourning over Laurel and can't stop thinking about her, and Sara is not much better off. The fact that the prelude to their 'almost kiss' was a conversation about Laurel pretty much shows that.
Now, with this confirmation that it isn't going to work out, the two of them free to move on with their lives. Which is good, because the following year is going to be a Sara-centric year on the Starling side. I won't spoil what's going to happen, but it's a major arc that's important to her character development, to say the least.
Anyway, that's going to be the last of the Starling side for this year. The rest of Year 3 is taking place in Gotham. And as you can see, we're in for a wild ride.
Next Chapter: It's all up to Laurel now.