Chapter 4: The Overlook

Present Day – September 5, 2016

"Okay, boss!" a cheerful voice said. "I think we're closed up."

Thea turned and rolled her eyes at Sin from where she was placing files in her desk drawer. "Knock it off with the 'boss' stuff."

"You got it, boss!" Sin said promptly. McKenzie giggled, and Thea immediately knew that Sin was kicking off for her best audience. She just wished Sin would ask McKenzie out already.

Thea closed and locked up her desk drawer, standing up to take in her three team members who already had their desk spaces cleared off, jackets on, and, for those that used them, purses on their arms. Thea felt her heart warm at the sight of Sin, McKenzie, and Shanique looking expectantly towards her.

"All right, team," Thea said, using her best authority figure voice. "It's Monday and we have just started our week, so when I tell you that The 'Rita Rainbow is having ladies' night, please read that with an asterisk. That asterisk is no driving, look out for each other, and please don't come in acting hung over." She glanced at Sin, McKenzie, and Shanique in turn with a look she hoped looked parental. "Okay, go have fun."

"You're not coming?" Shanique asked in disappointment.

"Aw, Thea, please!" McKenzie begged. "You never come out with us! And its ladies' night, drinks are hella cheap!" McKenzie turned to Sin, batting her eyes. "Sin, tell her – she needs to come! It's like, a bonding thing!"

"Yeah, Queen," Sin said, intentionally using Thea's last name to nettle her. "You should come out. Take a load off, have some fun!"

Thea shook her head, "I have plenty to keep me busy. And I set the example! You all wouldn't respect me if you saw me drinking."

"No, we would respect you way more," Shanique argued. "Be a twenty-something! This is the only tonight you've got!"

Thea waffled. Sin said, "Honestly, Thea, you take things too seriously. You're going to work yourself to an early death. Come out!"

Thea felt her resolve break – she was supposed to be reducing stress. Not that this is what her doctor had meant. But then again, she was only twenty-one. And it would be a bonding experience?

Thea made a show of being convinced. She sighed and drooped her shoulders. "Fine," she said. "You had me at 'you would respect me if I drank'," she said facetiously.

"Have I ever mentioned that I was on my high school's debate team? Because I can make an argument," Shanique bragged.

"Nerd," McKenzie snipped. "But, it's fine. I love you anyway."

"Alright, guys. Let's do it." Thea said, enjoying the banter between her team members. "'Rita Room, prepare yourself for Team Jubilee!"

Past – May 12, 2016 – 4 months ago

"Hey Queen!" a voice called out.

Thea panicked. She had only just left Rebecca Merlyn Memorial from an iron infusion and "Thea Queen" was not a patient there – "Mia Dearden" was. She swung around and was shocked to see Sin.

"Sin?" Thea asked, surprised as Sin jogged across the street to catch up with her.

"What's up?" Sin asked with a wide smile, clearly happy to see Thea. Thea took in Sin, whom Thea had not seen in months … or had it been more than a year? Sin was still wearing her favorite leather jacket and had her hair short and styled in mussy spikes. Seeing Sin sent Thea into the past: back when Thea, Roy, and Sin had been a small, confused band, searching for the Arrow. Thea realized now what she had only sensed at the time: Roy and Sin were the first people who saw Thea not as some stuck-up rich girl, but someone worthy to be around just because she was Thea.

Thea blinked a couple of times, realizing that her eyes had begun to fill as she had been looking at Sin with her mouth open in shock. Thea closed her mouth and shook herself to bring herself back to the present. "I'm sorry, I just… Sin! I can't believe it's you!"

Sin looked a little sheepish, "I know I didn't keep in touch well after Roy …" Sin drifted off, looking heartbroken. Thea hurt for Sin, knowing that she didn't know what only Team Arrow knew: that Roy had faked his death to protect the Arrow. Even knowing that he was alive, well, and on the run, it was still hard for Thea to grasp that she was daily living a life without Roy in it. Sin shook herself and said, "We were both going through something, and I should have reached out."

Thea shook her head quickly, denying Sin's need for an apology. "It's a two-way street. I … I kind of went off the rails after Roy. It's taken me a little bit to get some things figured out." Thea thought about her struggles with the bloodlust which had nearly resulted in her death … again.

Sin looked at Thea sympathetically. "Look, I don't normally believe in things being fated or whatever, but I just feel like we were supposed to run into each other, so … do you want to grab Big Belly Burger?"

Thea raised an eyebrow at Sin. "It's like, 8 am! Is Big Belly Burger even open?"

"They serve breakfast!" Sin said excitedly. "They make these fantastic egg wraps with breakfast potatoes."

Thea laughed, surprised by how good it felt to be around a friend who was outside of everything else going on in her life. "Okay, you had me at 'breakfast potatoes'," Thea said agreeably.

As the two sat inside Big Belly Burger, they caught each other up on life. Sin was clear that she had been making a pretty good go of it by being a runner for a flower-delivery service that was on the up-and-up. Thea described being a part of Oliver's campaign and how she was hopeful that, if elected, Oliver would have a focus on revitalizing the Glades. Sin had shot Thea a less than convinced side-eye.

"I understand why you're skeptical," Thea said. "But Ollie really has a passion for the neighborhood."

"Is that because you have a passion for the neighborhood?" Sin asked suspiciously.

"So, I give good advice," Thea said dismissively. "He's a big boy and he can make up his own mind. And the Glades is full of amazing, hard-working people."

Sin nodded and said, "Like Roy." Thea grimaced a little, knowing that a lot of her attachment to the Glades came from meeting the love of her life here. "Look, Thea …" Sin said slowly. "I … I really feel like I need to be upfront with you about Roy."

Thea's stomach dropped, not because she thought Sin could tell her something she didn't already know, but because she wasn't sure how she should respond as a person who should think that her boyfriend had died being known to the world as the Arrow.

"Roy wasn't the Arrow," Sin said in a low voice. "He knew the Arrow, and he was protecting him. You know when he got injected with the strength serum stuff and went crazy? Well, the Arrow was trying to help him."

Thea felt her heart hiccup, doing her best to look shocked.

"I should have said what I knew then," Sin said, "But I swear I thought he'd get out of it somehow! Growing up on these streets like me, it seemed like he always knew how to get out of trouble. But maybe, If I had told you, you could have helped get him out of jail before he got shivved."

Thea could see the guilt weighing heavily on Sin. Thea knew what it was like to hold onto guilt that wasn't hers. If there was one thing she could do for Sin, it was to try to absolve her.

Thea placed a hand on Sin's on the table and leaned over, saying softly, "I know."

Sin looked up in shock. "You know?"

Thea sighed, "I didn't always know. Honestly, when he was going wild from that serum, I still had no idea. But when the Arrow saved him from it or whatever, and I left town when my mom died, I came back and he was honest with me for the first time. He told me he worked with the Arrow."

"Did he tell you who the Arrow was?" Sin asked curiously.

Thea knew she had to walk the line of truth, just like Roy had done before Ollie voluntarily told her. "No, he was actually very careful. And I never asked. I guess I was just so grateful he had stopped lying to me."

Sin nodded sagely. "I am sorry I helped him lie to you. You guys made a really great couple." Her face suddenly darkened. "Anyone who gets in the Arrow's orbit gets killed," she said.

Thea felt her stomach turn. "What do you mean? Why do you say that?"

"Roy died protecting the guy, and-" Sin lowered her voice, "I had this friend. I helped her with scouting and stuff. She was hanging around with the Arrow too. Then she disappeared." Sin leaned back and poked at a potato which had fallen out of her burrito and onto the fast-food paper wrapping. "Someone else has been pretending to be her, but … I tracked her down one night. This new chick had no idea who I was."

Thea's pulse quickened as she recognized that Sin must have been connected with Sara Lance while she was Black Canary, before Sara's death and resurrection and before Laurel had taken on her little sister's mantle.

"Sin … I don't want to freak you out or anything, but … did you know Sara?"

Sin's eyes grew wide. Then her eyes narrowed and she asked, "Do I know Sara who?"

Thea said softly, "The Sara who liked to wear all black and kick some serious butt."

Sin studied Thea for a moment. Then she said, "Grab your burrito. I need to show you something."

After taking the bus, Thea followed Sin as they entered the vestibule of an old clock tower building. They rode up a rickety elevator, and as they clambered out, Sin asked uncertainly, "Are you okay getting a little dirty?"

Thea nodded. Sin gave a nod back, and then approached a nearby metal shelf. She climbed it like it was a ladder, then pushed up on a large vent cover in the ceiling. The cover opened like a flap, which Sin disappeared into. Thea gave a shake of her head, then copied Sin's moves upward. Once through the vent, Thea discovered that there was almost immediately a second opening, which Sin waved her hand back through, showing Thea the way. Thea scrambled through the next opening and found herself crawling out into an attic space.

"Welcome to the Black Canary's 'Outlook'," Sin said, gesturing towards the room with both arms spread wide.

"Sin," Thea breathed out, taking in the room. There was a comfortable twin sized bed roll on the floor comprised of a pile of blankets and a pillow. There was a large desk laid out before the large clockface window, allowing Thea to take in a breathtaking view of the Glades and, overlooking them, Star City's wealthy downtown. A few chairs which looked like they had seen better days created a small seating area with a rickety side table.

"This … this was Sara's," Thea said in awe. This was Sara's world. The world she had pursued before she reconnected with Ollie and joined Team Arrow. Her world before Thea struck her with three arrows, instantly killing her while under Malcolm Merlyn's mind-control.

Sin asked curiously, "You knew Sara was Black Canary. How did you know Sara?"

Thea shrugged, "I grew up with her. I mean, kind of, she was a bit older. But the Lances were always around my family. We reconnected after she returned to Starling - she worked for me at Verdant for awhile. I found out she was the Black Canary after she died."

Sin said, still a little nervous, but eager, "Well, this is where she would come to keep an eye on the city. You know, she really wanted to protect people. She didn't super care about thieves and stuff, but any guy who thought he could beat up his girlfriend or person who cornered someone in an alley was fair game. She was a badass."

Thea walked forward and saw that the desk was still covered in notes and maps. There were arrest photos lined up to create a small suspect line-up. She touched one of the papers, scrawled in messy handwriting, which said, "Gets drunk on payday – knocks girlfriend around."

"She was really protective of women," Sin said quietly. "She saved me. That's how I met her."

Thea glanced over a Sin, studying her. "Sara … as Black Canary … she rescued you?"

Sin nodded. "There was this douchey guy I was kind of with on and off, and, once, when he got mad, he … well, I didn't know it at first, but he called some guy he knew to come rape me."

Thea felt sick. The story was far too familiar to her own. Thea turned sincere eyes on Sin. "That's awful. I'm glad Sara was there. But even if she hadn't been … it wouldn't have been your fault."

Sin confidently nodded. "I know that. I'm just glad that she showed up for me. My parents died when I was little and my homelife after was pretty bad, so I ran away and that guy was the first person who took a second look at me and got me off the streets. I would have done nearly anything to make it work. But, Sara – she stopped them both, and brought me here. Told me I didn't have to stay with him – that I deserved to be somewhere I was safe."

Thea nodded. Remembering that Lyla had once admitted to her that she was a fellow sexual assault survivor and how much it meant to Thea to have Lyla in her corner prompted Thea to admit quietly, "When I was in middle school, I had a teacher who slept with me, then took me around to sleep with a bunch of other grown men. I wish I had had a Sara to beat all those guys up."

Sin nodded in solidarity. "Who knew, that the posh Thea Queen and I would have so much in common?"

"We're survivors …" she shot Sin a somber smile, "if we don't have each other's backs, who will?" Thea looked back down at the images on the desk and then stepped back to look again at the hideaway. "Keep this place. Sara would want you to."

Past – May 18, 2016 – 3 days later

Thea pulled out her phone to check the time again. Shit, it was already after 9 am. The clinic had been backed up that morning and Thea had nearly walked out without getting her bloodwork done knowing just how late she was going to be to the campaign office.

Thea approached the edge of the sidewalk and lifted her hand out over the street to hail a cab. A yellow vehicle pulled up next to her. Thea quickly pulled open her bag, checking to see if she still had her itinerary for the tour she was supposed to be giving of the campaign offices to a group of Ollie's donors at 9:30. She was still looking at the bag as she tugged open the cab's door and took her seat. Thea glanced up long enough to say, "121 Main Street NW, please."

All at once, Thea's eyes felt heavy and her head foggy. She struggled to grasp what was happening as she felt an adrenaline rush of panic. She tried to lift her eyes in front of her, but she couldn't keep them open.

It was 10 am and Thea wasn't there. Oliver had fully transitioned from frustration to worry in that particular way that only his little sister brought out in him.

Alex was wrapping up the tour of important potential campaign donors which Thea had been meant to lead. Oliver forced down his worry for the moment as he walked out, exuding friendliness and gratitude, shaking hands and thanking his guests for coming. Oliver invited them into the boardroom for some bagels, fruit, and coffee and let them know he and Alex would join them in a minute, leaving them to the capable hands of Margaret, his publicity liaison. As soon as they were out of sight, Oliver gestured for Alex to follow him out of earshot.

"Any word from Thea?" Oliver asked in a serious, low tone.

Alex's eyes shone with concern. "No, she hasn't responded to my texts and her phone went straight to voicemail."

Oliver nodded. "I called Laurel, and she said Thea was out of the house this morning by 6:30. She hasn't heard from her since."

Alex looked worried. "Should we call the police?" he asked. "File a police report?"

Oliver closed his eyes and gripped onto the bridge of his nose. "Look, go back with our guests. I will have a friend check on her apartment before we go down that path. She technically only missed an appointment with donors by a half-hour now. Maybe she just fell behind, or got caught up in something," he said, trying to sound reassuring.

Alex looked unconvinced, but nodded and walked into the board room to continue his conversations with their donors. Oliver shot off a text to Diggle asking him to head over to Laurel and Thea's apartment, and to Laurel to ask her landlord to let Diggle in. Then he called Felicity.

Without preamble, Oliver said, "Thea's missing."

"What?" Felicity demanded, sounding stunned by the blunt statement.

"She didn't show up at work for an important event that she planned. She would never miss it if she had any say over it."

Felicity was silent for a moment.

"Look, Felicity, her phone isn't taking calls, she's not responding to texts. Laurel was the last person to see her when she left the apartment at 6:30 this morning. I need you to find her."

"Okay," Felicity said after a moment. "I will work on finding her last location. But have you considered that maybe her phone just died and she got held up somewhere?"

"Does that sound like Thea?"

"Honestly, no," Felicity admitted, adding hopefully, "but if she could be that kind of person just for today, I would be grateful."

"Let me know when you find something."

Oliver strode through the boardroom door and heard polite laughter followed by voices chatting. Oliver met Alex's eyes across the crowd and gave one shake of his head, letting him know that he had no updates on Thea. Oliver did his best to get his mind engaged in the conversations around him, remembering that his wife was looking for Thea. If Thea could be found, Felicity would do it.

45 minutes passed and Oliver gave a few last handshakes and parting words, then watched Alex lead the group to the door.

Oliver felt the vibration of his phone alert. Oliver grabbed for his pocket. "Felicity?"

"Oliver, I need you to come down to the Bunker. Now."

"On my way." Oliver hung up his phone and took a single step, when Alex came back through the door.

"Do you have news?" Alex asked.

"Maybe. Look, Alex, I have to go. Can you handle things while I try to find Thea?"

"Of course. Just … please let me know when you find her."

Oliver gave Alex a single nod before vanishing through the back, descending the elevator into the Bunker. As he exited the elevator, he caught sight of the Hub and his heart sank. He saw Laurel and Digg flanking Felicity as she typed away at her computer. It couldn't mean anything good if Felicity had summoned the whole team – particularly Laurel, who was supposed to be retired.

"Felicity?" Oliver said, the question evident in his gruff voice.

"You know I hate it when you're right," Felicity announced. "Especially when it means your sister is in trouble."