A/N: Please read the author's note at the end!

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

Prologue

Soundtrack: 'Why So Serious' The Dark Knight Soundtrack

October 18th

The Merlyn Estate was situated deep within the Palisades, far back from the main road in a densely wooded area. The house itself was a large Manor with a stone face that, when Tommy was 6, said made it look like a castle and therefore called it 'Camelot'. The Manor came with all of the accouterments that a wealthy house would have- an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a greenhouse, stables, and several long trails set into the forest in the rear of the property. So even as a dark town car with tinted windows pulled into the drive and headed towards the house, two figures were running stealthily along the longest of the trails. They were dressed in dark leathers- the larger one had a muted silver trim, the smaller had red trim, to differentiate them from a distance- and both had dark hoods over their heads with full face masks that showed only their eyes. Those eyes were searching the area as they ran, looking for targets….

THERE!

The smaller of the two rapidly drew an arrow, aimed and fired on the run, striking the figure up in the tree just above the heart. Even as she drew and fired a second time, hitting another target, the larger one fired off three arrows in rapid succession, dropping three more targets without stopping. The pair moved on, confident that the immediate threat had been neutralized.

"Three to two, Speedy. Try to keep up." Tommy Merlyn said with a smirk in his voice.

Without pausing, Thea Queen whipped around and fired off another arrow, striking one of Tommy's former targets above he heart. His arrow, she noted, was just to the right of his collar bone- painful, but not disabling.

"Might want to re-sight your bow when we get done, Tommy." Thea shot back playfully as they continued to run, jumping over obstacles and weaving in and out of trees. "Oh, and it's three to two in my favor, thank you."

On the portico, Malcolm Merlyn stood in front of a bank of monitors, watching his children progress through the obstacle course. So engrossed was he in watching that he didn't hear the footsteps come up behind him. On the course, Tommy and Thea were engaged now in hand to hand combat. Thea still used her bow as a weapon, smashing it into her opponents covered heads, while Tommy had drawn his sword and was making quick work of the four opponents that had tried to encircle him. Malcolm watched the screen intently, pride blossoming in his chest as the two made quick work of their opponents.

"I say, they are quite skilled."

Malcolm's blood froze; he knew that voice. Turning slowly, he confirmed what he had thought. "Master." Malcolm said, giving a deferential bow of the head.

"Al Sa-Hir." Ra's al Ghul replied. Behind him stood his trusted bodyguard Ubu and another assassin, an Asian man that Malcolm had never met before.

"I had no idea that you were coming!" Malcolm said hurriedly. "If I had known, I would have had something prepared for you." Internally he winced, seeing both ways that statement could be interpreted. The wry grin on Ra's face told him he had heard both meanings as well.

"Indeed." Ra's replied. "My apologies for arriving unannounced, but I was in Gotham City the other day catching up with an old friend; when I heard that you had taken students of your own, I just had to stop by and see how they were faring." He glanced at the screen, seeing the two students moving on from their downed opponents. "Very well, it would appear. I am curious, though," he continued, walking over to the weapons rack to inspect them, "as to why you felt the need to pass on the lessons you learned in Nanda Parbat to outsiders?"

Malcolm cleared his throat. "My daughter asked me to teach her how to defend herself. The only way I knew how to do that was to teach her as I was taught."

Ra's looked sharply at Malcolm. "I wasn't aware that you had a daughter."

Malcolm smiled wryly. "Neither was I, until this past winter. She was conceived immediately before I left on my travels. Her mother only told me recently."

Ra's nodded. "And the other?"

"My son." Malcolm clarified. "He felt that it would be better for Thea if they learned together."

Ra's held up an arrow. "And you teach them with these toys?" he asked. "Blunted arrows, dulled blades. Hardly weapons worthy of league training."

"With all due respect, they don't wish to join the League." Malcolm replied. "They wished merely to know how to defend themselves."

Ra's nodded, watching the screen as the duo progressed even further along the trail. While they were extremely rough by League standards, they worked well as a team, with each filling in the gaps of the technique of the other. In fact, if they were to go to Nanda Parbat tomorrow, he believed they would be field ready within six months. His eyes narrowed in contemplation as he watched the pair take out six opponents in rapid succession. "I believe I would like to see how good they really are." He announced. He noted in satisfaction that while Malcolm had paled slightly, he hadn't lost his composure.

Malcolm pointed to a break in the forest at the far end of the property. "They exit the path there. Occasionally during these exercises, I have a final opponent waiting for them."

"Very well then." Ra's said, lifting a helmet for inspection. "I look forward to seeing just how good of a trainer you are."

Thea hunched down under cover, right at the edge of the forest and stared at the man intently. It wasn't unusual to have one last opponent on the path back up to the mansion, but this one felt different. For one thing, he wasn't armed. That in and of itself wasn't too terribly off-putting; Tommy and her had faced unarmed opponents before. The last time, she had been laid up for a week (still, it was better than Tommy, who took three weeks to recover). It wasn't even the fact that he was dressed not in combat clothes, but in an expensive suit, with the only protection he wore being the fencing mask. No, it was the way he was holding himself, his bearing- standing straight, his hands clasped behind his back, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"You're late." She said as Tommy came up beside her.

"Please, I was like ten seconds behind you." He shot back. "So, what's the old man have for us today?"

"One last target." She shook her head. "I got a bad feeling about this."

"Okay, Han." He looked over the target. "He doesn't look so tough."

"You said the same thing about Shiva, Chewie." Thea shot back sarcastically.

"Good point." He replied, then frowned. "You don't think it's her brother, do you?" he asked worriedly.

"Don't think she has a brother." Thea replied. "Not even sure she's human."

"That would explain a lot."

Thea glanced over at her brother. "How many arrows do you have left?"

"Three. All standard."

She nodded. "Okay, give them to me. You go in hard and fast, I'll cover you. Count the arrows- when you count four, close your eyes."

Tommy eyed his sister. "Really?"

Thea smirked. "Well, you know us billionaire heiresses. We love our toys." She drew an arrow and aimed. "Ready."

Tommy drew his sword. "Steady."

"Go." Thea stood and fired her first arrow, even as Tommy charged out of the forest. She blinked as the man seemed to flow to the right by less than an inch, causing her arrow to fly harmlessly by. She drew and fired again, and again he dodged without even unclasping his hands. Gritting her teeth, she fired two more arrows, then unsheathed her sword and followed Tommy out to engage.

Ra's stood along the path, patiently waiting for his prey to come to him. He knew Malcolm was worried, and a small part of him reveled in that. The fact that he was teaching outsiders their methods- even if they were his children- was technically a violation of the oath he took when Ra's released him. He could have killed Malcolm on the spot, along with his children. But he was curious as to why he was really doing this- and he was curious to see how talented the children really were.

He smirked beneath the mask- unnecessary, but useful to conceal his observations from his opponents. For instance, he could see the pair talking in the high brush at the edge of the forest. He saw the taller one pull the remaining arrows out of his quiver and pass them to the other, before drawing his sword. 'So, the boy is better in close combat, but the girl is a better shot with a bow.' He thought. Soon the boy was rushing out of the forest, his sword held low as he charged ahead. He kept one eye on him, even as he kept watch on the girl as she fired. The arrow shot past the boy's head towards his chest. 'A wounding shot.' He thought disappointingly as he deftly sidestepped the shot. He did the same to the second, then spun and caught the third and fourth arrows before they could impact his mask. He had a moment to note the girl running out of the forest with her own sword drawn before the fourth arrow exploded in a shower of sparks.

Tommy smirked as the flash-bang arrow went off, blinding his opponent. He brought the sword up to front middle guard, then slashed upwards-

But the man wasn't there anymore.

Tommy's eye widened and he spun, bringing the sword to high guard as he took in his opponent, still standing serenely. "Don't suppose you want to surrender?" Tommy offered.

"I think not." The man replied.

"You're unarmed." Tommy pointed out.

"Then I shall take your blade when you are through with it."

Tommy nodded slightly, then attacked. Or rather, he tried to. But every swing of his sword missed its mark, every kick or punch hit nothing but air. He sensed Thea running across the field and knew that backup would soon be there; he also sensed that he might not still be in the fight when she arrived. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be Lady Shiva's brother?" he quipped, holding the sword with one hand thrusting forward.

The man dodged once again, but this time as he let the sword slide past his midsection his left hand shot out and grasped Tommy's hand, trapping it in place, and his right hand grasped the lower half of the pommel. "No. I'm merely the man who trained her." With a twist he yanked the sword free into a reverse grip, swinging the blade down so that it made a shallow cut on the Achilles tendon while simultaneously bringing his elbow up into Tommy's temple. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious, as the man turned and brought his blade up to parry Thea.

Thea saw her brother go down and knew she wouldn't win this fight on skill alone. She moved in, swinging her bow like a quarterstaff, trying to clear her opponent's blade away so that she could land a strike with her own sword. But the man was impossibly fast, parrying her blows with ease. Within seconds he had hooked her bow with his sword and yanked it clear out of her hands, flinging it several feet away. Then he moved in with his sword, and the two engaged. But again, she very quickly realized that he wasn't fighting her, he was testing her skills. Pissed, she brought her sword down on his, holding him in a test of strength. Knowing she would lose that battle quickly, she decided to change things up.

So she head-butted him.

That actually surprised him, but the quick follow up knee to the groin was effortlessly blocked. He then quickly knocked her sword from her hands before landing a quick punch to her solar plexus, driving the breath from her body. A kick to the back of the knee sent her collapsing to the ground, and by the time she could think clearly again the man stood over her, his sword (actually TOMMY'S sword) to her throat.

"Yield." He said calmly. He wasn't even out of breath.

Thea rolled her eyes, but in one swift motion she withdrew the special knife Malcolm had given her, pointed it at his shoulder, and pressed the stud on the handle. The heavy spring inside the knife launched the blade almost as fast as a bullet-

And yet the man spun on one foot, catching the blade with his bare hand. As he spun back to face Thea he launched the blade back at her, impacting in the dirt a centimeter from her neck even as his sword touched her neck once more. "Yield." He repeated calmly. Thea let out a frustrated breath, but tapped the ground three times signifying her surrender. The man nods and withdraws his sword, then to her surprise offered her a hand. Thea reaches up- then hesitates when she sees an odd ring on the first finger of his left hand. It fully encased his finger and was shaped like a talon... or a claw…

She grasps his hand and allows him to pull her to her feet. "You did well, Miss Merlyn."

"Miss Queen." She corrects automatically.

He nods in understanding. "Miss Queen. You have skill and natural talent. And much like your father, you like your tricks." Groaning from the ground draws his attention, and he turns to see Tommy staggering to his feet. "You have a natural talent as well, Mr. Merlyn. Though you are far too reckless in your attacks. If you had controlled your passions, you would have lasted longer. He pulled off his mask, and Thea blanched when she recognized his face.

FLASHBACK

"Oh, you misunderstand, Malcolm. You will not be getting the lash." His smile turned cruel as he pointed a finger at Thea. "She will."

"Say what?!" Thea exclaimed, but before she could even move the two men stalked over and grabbed her by her arms. "HEY!"

"Ra's, NO!" Malcolm moved to surge forward, to protect his daughter, but two swords appeared under his chin in an instant- one from Talia, and one from Shiva. "Ra's, I beg of you, don't do this! She's an innocent victim-"

"Like the people you killed weren't?" Ra's replied, barely sparing a glance as the men ripped off Thea's shirt and bra, and then forced her chest first onto the cross. She thrashed around helplessly, even as the men secured her wrists with the straps.

"Then let me do it." Malcolm begged. "If you want to punish me, then let me be the one to wield the whip!"

"So you can go easy on her?" Ra's guessed. He shook his head. "Talia." Malcolm paled as Ra's youngest daughter's face broke out into a sadistic grin. "Let us do ten lashes a day. We don't want her too damaged when she begins her training."

Talia sheathed her sword, allowing David Cain to take her place in guarding Malcolm. She stepped up behind Thea, who still thrashed on the cross, desperately trying to get off of the ancient device. "You best save your strength, child." Talia told her as she accepted the whip from one of the men. "You'll begin your training when we've finished. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you've taken a few lashes."

"Ra's, please!" Malcolm begged.

Ra's sneered at the man. "You brought this upon yourself. Or rather, upon her." He turned to Talia. "You may begin."

FLASHBACK

Thea fell back to the ground, but quickly turned that into a backwards roll, coming up right in front of Ra's, with Ra's sword now in her hand. She ran towards Slade, dived and rolled over his wild, angry swing, then leaped up, then off of the wall behind him. She arc Ra's sword down, slicing through his spine, then as she landed swung once more, severing both of Slade's Achilles' tendons. Slade collapsed to the ground on his knees, agony written all over his face. Thea, in a great deal of pain herself, nonetheless pulled herself up and faced her enemy.

"That was for Ra's," she whispered to him, then with a scream filled with rage swung the sword once more, separating Slade's head from his shoulders. "And that was for my Mom, you son of a bitch."

At that moment the doors of the hall burst open and more assassins ran in, led by Nyssa, Sara, and Malcolm. All of them stopped as they took in the sight before them, though Malcolm hissed in fear when he realized his daughter was holding Ra's sword- a crime punishable by death. Thea, half delirious with pain, paid them no mind as she turned and staggered her way back to Ra's, who had pulled himself up to his knees. She collapsed to her knees in front of him, and held out his sword to him with her head bowed submissively.

Ra's stared at her impassively for a moment, then reached out and braced himself against her shoulder, pushing himself up to his feet. He then took his sword, stared at it for a moment, then spoke to her. "You have given this blade great honor this day, taalib." He told her, and then placed the sword back into its scabbard on his belt. He then held out a hand, which she accepted with surprise. He helped her to her feet and smiled warmly at the girl. He gaze turned impassive as he looked to his eldest daughter. "Report." He said simply.

"Father, the enemy has been routed." She said. "Our casualties are great, and our injured are numerous- but that is nothing time and rest won't help heal. The enemy force has faced a complete defeat; the few prisoners we have taken await their fate by your command."

"Kill them." Ra's said simply.

Nyssa paused for a moment. "Should we not interrogate them first-"

"There is no need. The architect of this plan lay cooling at your feet. Long has Deathstroke coveted the League, and long as he wanted to make it his own." Ra's explained. "He failed." He added.

Nyssa nodded. "There are several warriors who would be deserving of your praise, including, I'm told, this one." She nodded at Thea. "According to reports, she managed to down five aircraft with four arrows." Thea stayed silent, though she blushed faintly at the praise.

Ra's graced her again with a warm smile. "Five aircraft, and you saved my life. My, you've had a busy day."

"And I haven't even started my training yet." She replied flippantly, then grimaced. "My apologies."

"Old habits die hard." Ra's nodded. "I believe I can blame this on blood loss. Come," he took her by the arm, "You have done me a great honor today, and as such, I will bestow an honor upon you. I will allow you to restore yourself in the Lazarus Pit. With our numbers depleted, we need all of the warriors we can get right now."

"Thank you, Master." Thea said, masking her pain as he led her towards the entrance to the Pit.

END FLASHBACK

"The same goes for you, Miss Queen." Ra's continued. "Learn to control your passions, and you will be invincible."

Thea bowed her head in respect. "We thank you for the lesson, honored teacher."

"My Lord?" the three looked over to Malcolm, who had just arrived. "Did they please you?"

"They were adequate." He remarked blithely. "But now, we have business to discuss."

Malcolm nodded. He looked to his children. "We're done for the day. Go get cleaned up and take care of your wounds; Tommy, you can drive Thea to school." Without another word, he turned and led Ra's back towards the manor.

Tommy looked at Thea, who was still pale. "You okay, Speedy?"

"Do you know who that was?" she asked.

Tommy regarded the pair as they walked towards the manor. "Well, Dad called him 'My Lord'… so… Voldemort?" he joked.

"That was Ra's al Ghul." Thea hissed as the pair made their way to the changing room by the pool.

"Why do I know that name…"

"He's the head of the League of Assassins." Thea reminded him. "We just spared with the head of the League of Assassins. I just CHEAP-SHOTTED the HEAD of the LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS!"

"Well, he didn't kill us, so I guess he didn't mind." Tommy said reasonably.

"Not helping!" Thea shot back, heading towards her locker.

Tommy rubbed his temple, which still smarted from the elbow. "At least you landed a hit."

"NOT HELPING!"

"I'm glad you are here, My Lord." Malcolm said as he led Ra's into his study. "I was actually planning a trip to Nanda Parbat in a few weeks to seek an audience."

"Is that a fact?" Ra's asked calmly. "And why would you feel the need to do such a thing?"

"Because I wanted to tell you personally that I have failed you." Malcolm replied.

"How?" Ra's asked, deadly calm.

"You were right, when you released me." Malcolm began. "When you said that my anger clouded my judgment at times. Actually," he chuckled mirthlessly, "it clouded my judgement ALL of the time. And my anger towards the people of the Glades could never be sated. And so I planned to destroy them, every single one of them. I planned to level the Glades, to wipe it off the map."

"And how would you hide your hand in such devastation from me?" Ra's asked.

"There is a company researching renewable energy. I realized the device they were designing, if weaponized and properly placed, could trigger an earthquake."

Ra's crossed the room in three rapid steps and grasped Malcolm's throat in his hand. "I should kill you now for even thinking about such a thing!" he hissed. "The League is not above cleansing a town, or a city- but always in the service of the balance! Not because of some petty personal vendetta!" he shoved Malcolm away.

"If you wish to kill me now, I will not raise a hand in protest." Malcolm croaked. "I ask… no, I BEG only that you spare my children. Tommy never knew of my affairs with the League, and Thea only learned that she was my daughter recently."

"That makes no difference to me. You know the code, Malcolm. You should as you were going to break it." Ra's said coldly. He paused for a moment, taking the other man in. "You said you 'planned', in the past tense. Pray tell what brought you back to sanity? And why should it stay my hand now?"

Malcolm moved over to his desk and turned on his computer. "8 months ago myself, my children, and several others were abducted. As absurd as it is about to sound, we were taken 25 years into the future, and were shown events that would have happened over the next two years."

Ra's regarded Malcolm. "And you have proof of this?" he asked.

Malcolm turned the computer screen around to face Ra's and nodded. "I do." He hit a key, and a video file began to play.

"Uh… hi! This is Felicity Smoak, stardate…." She looked over to Mia. "What's the stardate?" she asked.

Mia chuckled. "No idea. But the date is July 27, 2039."

"Oh." Felicity said. "That's kind of disappointing. Anyway, I'm here with Laurel and Quentin Lance," she began panning the phone over the entire group, "Tommy and Malcolm Merlyn, John Diggle, J'onn J'onnz, Zatanna Zatara, Mia Dearden, Sara Lance—"

"What's crackin', little bitches?" Sara joked. Mia groaned.

"And Moira and Thea Queen." She continued. "Thea has just requested that certain memories be redacted, so as to not ruin the experience. Though there are a few more memories I think she should have removed." Felicity added under her breath. She aimed the phone at Thea.

"Oh!" she said, catching on. "Uh, I, Thea Queen, being of sound mind—"

"Debatable." Mia quipped. Thea flipped her off.

"— hereby give Zatanna Zatara permission to wipe a few memories from my mind. And if she'd add 12th grade calculus, that'd be great."

"Absolutely not." Moira said sternly.

"Sorry, kid." Zatanna said with a smile. The video ended there.

Ra's was silent for several minutes, considering what he had just seen. "I was shown the consequences of my plans." Malcolm said finally. "I was shown the true cost, and I discovered that it was just too high a cost to pay."

Ra's moved over to the computer and rolled back the video file until two faces were clearly visible in the frame. "That is your daughter, I assume?" he said, pointing at Mia.

Malcolm nodded in affirmation. "It is. She was the one who brought us all forward."

"And THAT," he jabbed his finger at the screen. "is my daughter's new pet."

"Sara Lance." Malcolm confirmed. "Her being there is not what you might think, and part of the reason I was coming to see you." He opened his desk drawn and pulled out a small USB drive. "Before we were sent home, my daughter provided me with information on the man who truly killed my wife."

Ra's looked at him curiously. "You told me you killed him, years ago."

"I thought that I had. I was mistaken." He sighed. "I've since remedied that situation. But along with that information, she passed me more. Information I'm under the impression that others did NOT want her to pass along, but she did it anyway out of loyalty. To you." He added to Ra's surprise. Malcolm plugged the drive into his computer and pulled up another video file. The screen flickered, and Mia's face came up. She was sitting alone in her quarters on the Watchtower, and had a solemn expression on her face.

Hey Dad, it's me again. The video started. I don't have a lot of time, so I'll be brief. I need you to get word to Ra's that he is in danger. I don't know when she started, but Talia is plotting to kill him to take his place as the new Ra's. The last time, she introduced a poison into the Lazarus Pit that, over time cause a madness to take root in his mind. She acted as the power behind the throne for years, and would have eventually ascended to the throne herself had the League not been destroyed because of it. Nyssa, Sarab- all dead because of her. The only reason Sara survived was because Nyssa sent her away before Talia could kill her.

The Justice League as it exists now wouldn't mind if this happened again, because it ultimately weakened the League of Assassins and allowed it to be destroyed. But I understand what they don't- there is a balance in the world. For every light, there is darkness. And for every honorable hero, there needs to be an assassin to do the jobs that they won't; to bring the kind of justice that they can't stomach. I am loyal to the Justice League, but I swore my loyalty to Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins first. The Ra's I knew was harsh, and cruel- but he was also honorable, and loyal to those that were loyal to him. To the League. And that man needs to be saved.

Tell him to be on guard. Tell him to beware Talia. If needs be, show him this video. Mia smiled. Good luck, Dad. Peace be onto you. The video ended.

"Interesting." Ra's said, lulling over the warning. "Talia has always been ambitious. I've counted that as a virtue, until today." He turned back to Malcolm. "I will consider this warning. But now, Malcolm- what shall I do with you?"

"If you wish to punish me, I will not raise a hand to stop you." He reiterated. "I have failed you, and I have failed in my duty. But there is someone coming soon that I believe- that I was SHOWN- can save this city from the decay that has permeated it for so long. And I believe I can help him in his goal to save the city."

"So you still believe that this city could be saved? This time without a purge?" Ra's asked.

Malcolm nodded. "I do. I have seen it myself. In two years, this man will have done more to unite and save this city than I have done in the past twenty years. And I believe that I can help him, with your blessing."

Ra's was silent for a long moment. Finally, he looked Malcolm in the eyes, "Kneel." He said, and Malcolm did so. "I made a mistake in releasing you, Malcolm Merlyn. I will now correct that mistake. You will swear your allegiance to me once more. You will work for the benefit of the League. And the only release from the League for you this time will be death. Do you accept?"

"I once more pledge my loyalty to you, my master." Malcolm said, bowing his head in respect. "How may I serve the League?"

"Your secondary mission will be to bolster the finances of the League. You are now uniquely placed to do so." Ra's decided. "Your main mission will be to assist this man in saving this wretched city. It is not so far gone as Gotham, perhaps, but it still sickens me. You have two years to turn this around, or I WILL order a purge- and not just of the Glades. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"And if you cross me again, you will be the THIRD person to feel my wrath. Do you understand that as well?"

Malcolm swallowed. "I do."

"Then welcome back, Al Sa-Him."

A few minutes later Malcolm was leading Ra's back out to his car when they were stopped by a voice.

"A moment, Honored Teacher?"

Ra's Turned to face Thea and nodded in agreement. Malcolm stepped back with apprehension as she stepped forward. "I'm assuming Malcolm filled you in on everything, what with him NOT being dead and all."

Ra's chuckled. "That he did. Was there something you wanted to add to his account?"

"I just wanted to warn you about Talia." Thea replied. "She does not have your best interests at heart."

"Yes, so Malcolm told me." He looked at the girl shrewdly. "I am surprised to hear a warning from you, however."

Thea shrugged. "My older self was fond of you, once. But then, she was also bat-shit crazy, so…"

"It is rather bold of you to speak this way to me." Ra's noted.

Thea shrugged again. "It's probably the sleep deprivation. Or the fact that I've already seen you have me whipped. Either way, watch your back."

"I will." Ra's said. "You know, you are quite gifted. I would not be opposed if you wished to join the League."

Thea gave him a wan smile. "Maybe in another life."

"Quite so." Ra's said. He bowed his head slightly. "Miss Queen."

Thea bowed low once more in respect. "Honored Teacher."

He turned and headed towards his car. "I shall look forward to your report this December, Al Sa-Hir." He said as he climbed inside. His driver shut the door, and soon the car was pulling away from the Manor.

"Well, we're not dead." Tommy noted. "So- yay?"

Malcolm eyed his daughter. "Just how did you know about Talia?" he asked.

Thea eyed him for a moment, then looked to Tommy. "I got to get to school." She reminded her brother, evading the question as she turned and headed towards the garage.

Tommy smiled at his dad. "Ain't it great having a daughter?" he said glibly.

The day dragged on.

At Queen Consolidated, Felicity was finishing moving into her new executive office while, down the hall, Moira and Walter were working on the guest list for the next major fundraiser. At CNRI Laurel continued to work the Adam Hunt case, with Sin helping her out by pulling records for her. At Merlyn Global Tommy and Malcolm poured over the restoration plans for the Glades. And at Starling Academy, Thea was wearily dropping into her seat in the cafeteria as her fiends looked on in some concern.

"Tough day at the office?" Marvin Harris asked.

"Had an unexpected guest this morning." Thea replied. "Dealing with him took more out of me than I was expecting."

When Thea returned from the future and decided to clean up her act, she quickly found out how fleeting popularity could be. Her 'friends', led by Margo Hathaway, were incensed that she would no longer use her name or connections to get them into the hottest clubs (or any clubs) or the hottest new designer drugs (or any drugs) anymore. As a result, she had become something of a pariah to the socially conscious students of Billori Prep. Not that she minded, as her days were already filled with studying and sparring and training, which left her no free time left to socialize.

But as the saying goes- the lord taketh away, but the lord giveth as well. She had Sin as a friend outside of school, but inside the school she had made fast friends with the silver-haired Rose Madison, the social outcast (who also happened to be the bastard daughter of one Slade Wilson, but Thea was willing to overlook THAT) who became first her study partner, and then her friend. And then she had befriended the tutors that Mrs. Groth had assigned to her. To say that Wendy and Marvin Harris were geniuses would be an understatement. The pair had graduated from Grade school at the age of 11 and were on track to graduate from Starling Prep by their 14th birthday. And while she didn't understand half of what they said (she accidentally got them in the same room as Felicity once and was pretty sure they had developed either a revolutionary new power source, or the next gen coffee maker to end all coffee makers), they were funny, and understanding, and tolerated her various mood swings.

"Mister Merlyn get you a new sparring partner?" Rose asked, wincing as Thea cracked her neck loudly.

"Something like that." She said, rubbing her shoulder.

"What's the matter, Frankenstein? Pull a hammy?" a sickeningly sweet voice said from behind her. The added giggles told her exactly who it was.

Before she could say anything, though, Marvin spoke up. "You're doing it wrong." He said tauntingly.

Morgan glared at the boy. "What the hell are you talking about, freak?"

"Well, first of all, if you ever bothered to crack open your Intro to Biology textbook, you'd know that the 'hammy', as you called it, is located in the lower leg, NOT the neck or shoulders." He said, patiently explaining as if he were talking to a small child. "Secondly, if you were calling her 'Frankenstein' in references to her scars- which are minimal by now, by the way- then you are clearly referring to Frankenstein's Monster, which actually had no name. Frankenstein is actually Doctor Victor Frankenstein the man who created the monster. It's a common misconception, but again if you cracked your English Lit book open at all, you'd know that."

"Then again, you'd actually have to be able to read… and I'm not entirely sure you can." Wendy add snarkily.

"Well, hopefully she'll be able to by the time she graduates in… what, seven years?" Marvin added sweetly, smiling at Morgan. "If you can, I'd be happy to have an executive assistant position available for you at our new company that we plan to launch in six years."

By this time both Thea and Rose were doing their best not to laugh. Too loudly, at any rate.

Morgan glared at the two younger children. "Go to hell, you freaks. Come on." She said to her friends, who followed her as she stormed away. "Fucking Wonder Twins…." She was muttering to herself.

Marvin sat back with a satisfied smile, crossing his hands behind his head. "Oh, yeah. She digs me." He said confidently.

"That'd be cute if it wasn't also a felony." Rose said dryly, causing Thea to spit out her drink.

"Jesus, Rose!" Thea cackled. The foursome went back to their lunches, chatting casually about school and life and generally being oblivious to everything around them. That was one of the reasons Thea was blindsided when Brad Whitaker came up to her and offered her his congratulations. "Uh, congratulations for what?" she asked cautiously.

"Haven't you heard yet?" Brad asked, pulling out his phone. "It's all over the news!" he pulled up the Channel 52 app and played the news item in question.

"Oliver Queen is alive." Marrett Green announced into the camera.

Thea's breath caught for a moment as she watched the eerily familiar news broadcast. "Ollie…" she whispered to herself as she watched on.

"The Starling City resident was found by fishermen in the North China sea five days ago, five years after he was missing and was presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed 'The Queen's Gambit.'"

At Queen Consolidated, Felicity was showing Walter and Moira the news clip as well.

The screen changed from a picture of the yacht to file footage of Oliver staggering around drunkenly. "Queen was a regular tabloid presence and a fixture at the Starling City club scene. Shortly before his disappearance, he was acquitted of assault charges stemming from a highly publicized drunken altercation with paparazzi."

"'The Queen's Gambit' was last heard from more than five years ago. Mr. Queen has reportedly confirmed he was the only survivor of the accident that took the lives of seven people, including local resident Sarah Lance. Survived by her sister, Laurel-"

At CNRI, Laurel grabbed the remote and turned off the TV before hurriedly making her way back to her desk as Sin looked on in concern.

At Merlyn Global, Mrs. Haverschmidt had rushed into the office and turned on the news so that father and son could see the report.

"Queen is the son of Starling City billionaire Robert Queen, who was also on board but now officially confirmed as deceased."

Malcolm turned to Tommy. "So it begins." He said quietly.

TBC

Welcome one, welcome all to the long awaited sequel! I'm excited, folks. I'm so excited to finally share with you, the readers, all of the ideas that have been floating around in my head for over two years now. I'm trying to do this right- I got an outline that I plan on sticking to, I got a character flow sheet to keep all of the names straight. And I've got a lot of story to cover.

Unlike Past is Prologue, this will be 90 percent original. I may borrow things from the show from time to time, but for the most part I'm staying away from my transcripts and writing a wholly original story. Now the chapters will probably never be as long as they were in PiP, but I still do try to write lengthy chapters for your enjoyment. So sit back and enjoy the ride- I hope it was worth the wait.

Addendum- Trick or Treat! Since it is Halloween, and since it is my birthday in a few days, I decided to give you all a gift- the prologue! That's the good news! The bad news is that I really don't know when I'll start really posting to this story. I haven't had much time to write, but I WILL try to start posting regularly by the end of the year.

Lastly, I want to thank a few people. Revenant-Commander, DCandMarvelFan, and all of the others who have all stood together in the face of adversity. Also, thanks to David Knight for keeping me interested in Arrow with his clever ideas we'll all hopefully be reading soon!