Verdant
One Day after last chapter
The hour was late, but the music was blaring, the lights were flashing, and the bodies were writing on the dance floor. One girl in particular was finding herself fascinated with the lights and sound, staring all around with a vacant look while she swayed to a beat only she could hear. She swayed to that beat out of the club and into the middle of a busy street, where after too many close calls she was finally hit head on.
In the morning, after the club had closed, Helena walked through the club as the staff cleaned up. "How's the club doing?" she asked Nathan, who grinned in return.
"We are in the black, and the green." Nathan handed him a tablet with their latest financials on it.
"I like how you went from throwing money at clubs 5 years ago to catching it." Helena noted when something else caught her eye. "Oh, look at these." She picked up a black lace bra- one of many in the tote behind the bar. "What business has a lost and found that's just filled with women's underwear?"
"The best business ever?" Nathan noted with a smile.
"Mm, only you could say that and get away with it, handsome." Helena flirted, trailing a finger across his chin.
Nathan smirked and in response, Nathan leapt over the bar, grasping the back of Helena's neck with one hand, groping her sexy ass with the other, and pulling her in from a steamy hot make-out session that lasted several minutes. "Give me a few minutes and they'll be finding your underwear in that tote later tonight." He whispered suggestively.
"Oh, if wishing made it so." The two looked up in surprise to see Quentin Lance stalking across the floor towards them, interrupting the couple before they could continue. "Sorry, am I interrupting anything?" He said sarcastically.
"What is it? Is Laurel ok?" Nathan asked at once.
"She's fine. This visit is about something else. A girl just got mowed down a couple blocks from here." He pulled out his phone and flipped through his photos, bringing up a picture of the dead girl in the road. He showed it to the two. "On Starling Bridge. Ring any bells with you?"
"Nope. Should I?" Nathan asked, looking at the picture.
"She was in your club tonight." He said, pulling out an evidence bag containing a neon green wristband that all customers got upon entering the club.
"A lot of people come into my club." Nathan stated shrugged defensively. "You think someone killed her?"
"Not someone." He pulled out another bag and set it on top of the first. The bag contained a smaller bag containing some pills. "Something."
"Drugs." Nathan realized.
"Yeah." Lance agreed. He looked to Nathan. "You got a problem with that in this club?"
"Not that I'm aware of. I don't allow drugs in here, Detective." He replied with finality.
Lance looked at the two. "Control your clientele." He ordered. "Before anyone else wanders into traffic."
They watched him leave the club, and Helena turned to Nathan. "Is there any chance she could have scored the drugs in here?" she asked her boyfriend.
"Unlikely. I didn't hire anyone with a known history of drug dealing nor do I let anyone like that in here." Nathan replied, creating a clone and told him while regaining his breath, "Get me a list of all the employees."
Flashback
Slade and Shado were sparring vigorously in the plane as Nathan watched, inspecting Shado's bow in his hands absentmindedly.
The match ended when Shado got Slade down onto his back. She was crouched over him, her hand raised to deliver a punch to his face; but Slade had pulled a small blade from somewhere and tapped it against her lower back.
"You're teaching me that one." Slade said with a smile.
"Only if you show me where the knife was." She chuckled. She rose to her feet and held out a hand, helping him up.
"Who taught you how to fight?" Slade asked.
"My father wanted a son." Shado said, taking a drink of water.
"He got one." Slade replied.
Shado looked over to see Nathan fiddling with her bow. "The tension of that bow's 150 pounds." She told him. "Snap it; you'll both be covered by carbon fiber shrapnel in your eyes."
"She's right." Slade said. "You're not strong enough yet, kid." He looked to Shado. "Go again?"
"It's pretty awesome that both of you are such bad asses, but do you think that maybe we should be making a plan to stop Fyers? And oh, I don't know… save your dad?" Nathan asked sarcastically.
"Does he always whine this much?" Shado asked Slade with a smile.
"Today's one of his good days." Slade noted.
"Can he fight?"
"He does have some skill, but he needs more training. I've had limited success".
Nathan pursed his lips in annoyance. "I'm standing right here, you know."
"Well, I haven't tried yet." Shado said. Slade laughed as Nathan looked between the two of them.
Flashback End
SCPD
Nightime
Quentin was going over some old reports at his desk. Hilton walked up to him.
"Veronica Sparks, the dead girl from Verdant?"
"Yeah?"
"I checked her LUDs. The last person she texted before she died was Nathaniel Queen."
Lance frowned. "He said he didn't know her." He said as Hilton sat down.
"Queen did used to get in trouble with the police a lot. Assault on the paparazzi, DUI, there was that one case where him and his brother were suspects in a murder case, ect ." Hilton reminded him.
"Yeah, that was over five years ago."
"Maybe he's just better at not getting himself arrested." Hilton noted.
"Well, Laurel says he's not that guy anymore." Lance argued.
"Yeah, a leopard and his spots, you know? He lives on his own now. Maybe pushing drugs at his new club is a way of maintaining his old paycheck." He offered.
"Yeah, or maybe going after my daughter's only male friend, the same guy who used to pine after her and who she wanted to be with before Laurel fell for Oliver, is a great way to get my daughter to stop speaking to me again, Hilt." Lance said dryly.
"Look, Quentin, you know I get that. But here's the thing- on a hunch, I subpoenaed the club's bank accounts this morning. There's ten large missing from their operating expenses." Hilton said as they got up and walked outside to their car.
"You think Queen spent that money on illegal drugs?" Lance asked.
"I think I can't explain how that much money just gets misplaced." He looked at his partner. "Look, I'll take a run at it." Hilton offered. "Keep you out of it."
Lance shook his head. "No. I should do it."
Laurel's Apartment
Dinnertime
Laurel had invited Nathan and Helena over for dinner. Nate didn't want to come without bringing something, so he made an extra large version of his famous homemade Barbeque chicken pizza, Laurel bought enough of her favorite Thai food, Tommy bought the wine, and Helena brought her families secret Lasagna recipe, so it was a bit odd with all the different food, suffice to say, but Nate rolled with it and everyone managed to make it work.
"Oh babe, this is delicious!" Helena squealed in delight, "I didn't know pizza could taste so good."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short. This is lasagna is awesome! I was never really much of a fan, but Helena, you've now made me a fan." Nate said.
"Mm, ya know, this one of the things I missed about your disappearance, man. No one that I know can make pizza like you." Tommy complimented as he chewed on a piece of pizza.
"Well, in your defense, you got a better eye for wine than I do. I'm more of a whiskey, vodka, and beer guy." Nate said, returning the compliment.
"Nate's right babe. You have a very good eye for quality wines." Laurel said as she took a sip of her red wine.
"Thanks baby," Tommy said as they shared a quick kiss.
"Hey, so how's your books series doing?" Laurel asked.
"They're doing pretty well. In the last six months, I've sold about 4 million copies of 'Chronicles of the Shinobi', 'Makeout Paradise', and 'Loveless'. In fact, 'Chronicles of the Shinobi' and 'Makeout Paradise' have been on the New York Times best sellers list for 10 weeks now. I'm thinking of turning Makeout into a series." Nate said.
"You know, I dropped by the library a week ago, I saw that book and I was like 'Hey, Nathan wrote that?' So I rented it and brought it home. Let me just say, there is a lot of porn in that book." Laurel joked, causing Tommy who was sipping some wine, to do a spit take, which landed on Nathan's face.
Nathan just sat there, wine dripping from his face, before he blinked several times and asked, "Really, Tommy?"
Tommy at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry man," He apologized.
Nathan wiped his face off and spoke to Laurel, "It's not porn in a book. Yes there is smut, there also action, adventure, romance, ect. All the things that make a great fantasy novel."
"So Tommy, how's your new job?" Helena asked.
"It's actually pretty good. I always thought working for my dad would suck but it turns out I'm actually pretty good at it. I was a little apprehensive about starting out at a higher position but it all works out. Especially since Laurel and I can actually see each other every night." Tommy said as he smiled at Laurel, who smiled back.
They were interrupted when someone knocked on the door. Laurel answered a knock at the door, and was surprised to see her father. "What brings you by?" she asked, letting him in.
Tommy walked into the room, holding a plate of food. "Hey, would you like some dinner?" he offered. "Nate and Helena brought over too much food."
"No, thanks." Lance shifted, uncomfortable. "This is a business visit, actually. I got some follow up questions for Queen on the Sparks' girl's death."
"Sure." Tommy said, and then he turned to Laurel to explain. "The girl was in the club before she got run-over."
"Hey Nate, it's my dad. He wants to talk with you." Laurel called and Nathan walked out.
"Detective," Nathan greeted politely.
"The girl from the club. You said you didn't know her, but, um, but the last text off her phone was to you." Lance pressed on.
Nate's brow furrowed. "Really?" he turned on his phone and looked through the text history. "Because, uh…" he paused as he saw Veronica Sparks picture with a text reading 'Can you hook me up?' "Well, I'll be damned." He muttered, lifting up the phone and showing it to Lance. "Huh. Well, I didn't reply. I get at least 20 texts like that every night." He explained. "People wanting to get into the club."
"So that's what she meant by, 'Can you hook me up'?" Lance asked.
Nathan adopted a slightly more defensive stance. "What else would it be about?"
Quentin took a breath. "$10,000 is missing from your club's bank accounts." He said. "What'd you spend the money on?"
"What business is it of yours what my club's operating expenses are? What? Got a problem with nightclubs now?" Nathan asked sarcastically.
Laurel walked over in concern as Lance continued the questioning. "Ok, let me put this another way- if you spent that money on illegal drugs so that you could 'hook up' your clientele—"
"Dad!" Laurel exclaimed in disbelief.
"- then the best thing for you right now is to stop it, ok?" Lance finished. "Get out in front of this."
"Don't say anything." Laurel said at once.
Quentin looked at her in resignation. "I am trying to—"
"To do your job?" she finished. "Yeah, I know. And this is me doing mine."
"Laurel, I know I look like the disapproving father-again." He tried. "But I came down here so another cop wouldn't. You understand?" he looked at the two helplessly, then turned and walked out. Laurel turned to her friend/ former lover. "Nate, I—"
"I'm okay. Let's just forget that ever happened and go back to having fun." He said, walking back to sit down.
Flashback
Nathan was seated in front of a crate in the fuselage, watching as Shado filled a bowl up with water.
"Hold your hand up." She instructed him. "Palm facing me." He did so, and she stood across from him. She nodded at the bowl. "Hit the water." She instructed.
Nathan looked at her in confusion. "Uh, what?"
She indicated the bowl. "Hit it."
He did so.
"Again."
He did so.
"Again. Harder!"
"If the point of this exercise is to make me look like I'm mentally challenged, it's working pretty well." Nathan said crossly.
She sat down. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." She said with tone displaying wisdom.
"Confucius, great." He rolled his eyes, but hit the water again. "I'm starting to see the family resemblance."
"Laozi, actually." She corrected. "Again."
He did so, and now the bowl was empty. "Now what?" he asked.
"Fill the bowl. Start again." She said, making him give her an annoyed look.
Flashback End
Verdant
Next Night
Quentin Lance got out of his car and walked up to the loading dock, where Nathan was overseeing a delivery.
"Here to ask for my help again, Mr. Lance?" Nathan said dryly as he checked items off of his list.
"Eric Messner?" Lance said.
Nathan gave an annoyed look at Lance as he looked up from his clipboard for a moment, and then he took a breath. "What about him?"
"He's a zoning commissioner for Starling City." Lance said. "A notoriously corrupt one, at that. The missing ten grand- you paid it to him to skip the inspection of your nightclub." He looked at the younger man. "Why'd you do that, Queen?" he asked. "What didn't you want him to find?"
"I've got nothing to hide here." He replied, getting up to walk away.
"Great. Then let's just take a little look around." Lance said, walking towards the entrance.
"Absolutely." Nathan agreed, turning around to finally look at the cop. "When you come back with a fucking warrant."
Lance froze in his tracks, then turned and walked back to Nathan. "Are you sure this is how you want to play this?" he asked.
"You tell me. I've been extremely lenient with you, but if you think for one fucking second that I'm going to let you bully me, you've got another thing coming. You want search my property? Come back with a warrant that says you can. " Nathan replied.
Lance stared at him hard. "The friends my daughter keeps." He scoffed. Lance walked off, and Nathan closed his eyes and took a calming breath.
Flashback
Nathan was still seated behind his bowl as Shado did a handstand in front of him. She held herself perfectly still, and her legs were folded in the lotus position.
Nathan stared at her for several minutes before he spoke.
"My mom does yoga." He said.
She smirked slightly. "Hey, remember when Slade and I rescued you?" he started.
She looked at him sharply with a raised eyebrow. "You rescued me?" she said.
Nathan sighed. "Fine. When we all rescued each other. You said you knew why Fyers wanted Yao Fei, and how he was forcing him to help." He reminded her. "Feel like sharing? We're almost out of slapping water." He added dryly.
Shado slowly straightened her legs, and then bent backwards, allowing her feet to lie flat on the floor. She stood gracefully and took a cleansing breath before turning back to Nathan.
"My father was a Shangjiang in the People's Liberation Army." She started. She walked over and picked up a canteen for a drink of water. "A general. I didn't hear the details of Fyers plans, but he wants my father to be the face of it. A scapegoat. To take the blame and conceal their own involvement." She took a sip of water.
"Why was Yao Fei on the island in the first place?" Nathan asked softly. "Fyers says he murdered people but given that he lies easier than breathing, I'm disinclined to believe anything he says."
She turned to face him. "No, he didn't." she said. "The Chinese military committed the massacre." She explained further. "Someone had to take the blame. They chose him. Sent him to this island for life." She sighed. "I spent years looking for him." She continued. She walked over and picked up the pail of water, then refilled the bowl. "A few months ago, a man came to my apartment. Said he had information about my father's whereabouts. At that point, I was beginning to give up hope." She sighed again. "Let my guard down. Didn't see the Taser until…" she trialed off. "When I woke up, I was here." Shado knelt before him. "I'm worried." She admitted. "This island… what he must have had to do to survive. That it changed him."
Nathan gave her a reassuring smile. "He saved my life more than once. He's still a good man, Shado." He told her.
Shadow smiled in return, and then indicated the bowl. "Again."
He hit the water.
Flashback End
Tommy was sitting at the bar, finishing up some work for his dad on his laptop whilst nursing a beer, when he heard a familiar voice.
"So there I am sitting at our favorite Sushi restaurant, a bottle of Saki, and the only thing that's missing is my boyfriend."
Tommy closed his eyes in frustration, and then turned to face Laurel. "My God, I'm so sorry, baby." He let out a frustrated sigh. "I just have a lot of work to finish up before the week is out."
Laurel laid a hand on his arm. "Tommy, whatever's going on with you, I want you to know I believe you. I'm here for you." The two kissed. They broke apart just as Nathan bounded down the stairs form his executive office and tried to sneak past them.
"Sorry." He told them.
Laurel looked at him in concern. "Nate. What's wrong?" she asked.
"Bad night."
That was when Lance, with several more cops behind him, walked in. "It's about to get worse." He walked up to Nate and handed him a piece of paper. "Mr. Queen, as requested, a warrant to search these premises."
Laurel snatched the warrant from Nate and stared accusingly at her father. "I can't believe you're doing this." She said, and then started reading the warrant.
"Believe it." He said coldly.
"Detective, I'm not an attorney, but on what grounds are you searching my friends club?" Tommy asked.
"Your friend bribed a government official to keep him from inspecting the entirety of your building." Lance said.
"What?" Tommy asked, shocked.
"Because he's selling illegal drugs out of the club." Lance continued.
"Nate, it's valid." Laurel said.
"Thank you." Quentin said. He started walking towards the back of the club. "A sub level is not listed on the inspection's floor plans. However, I pulled the county records. There's something down there. I want to see for myself what it is." He stopped as he saw the door to the basement.
"Oh, look at that." He turned to Nathan. "Open the door."
"I recommend you rethink what you are doing, detective. You're making a big mistake." Nathan said harshly with a glare. Laurel and Tommy felt uncomfortable watching the Detective and their friend butt heads.
"No." Lance replied, getting in Nathan's face. "You are. If you don't open that door." Nathan the two glared at each other, neither one giving an inch. "I said, open the door." Finally, Nathan put in his code and the door opened.
"Thank you." Lance said, walking through the door and down the steps. Nathan followed right behind. The line of men and one woman walked down the stairs into the darkened basement. When he reached the ground, Nate calmly walked over to the power box and flipped the lever, illuminating-
Furniture. Crates. Pallets of wine. Everything you would expect to find in the storage area of a club- and not an arrow in sight.
"The place is still a bit of a mess." Nate said casually. "I've been using it to store the bulk of my clubs inventory."
"What's in the boxes?" Lance asked.
"Why don't you have a look?" Nate offered. Lance opened a box and pulled out- a bottle of Jim Bean.
"Well, if prohibition were still in effect, you might actually have a basis of a criminal complaint." Laurel noted dryly.
"Would you like to open the rest of the crates?" Nathan asked.
Lance opened another, and brought out a bottle of wine. His brow furrowed in confusion, he turned and looked at Nathan, who stood there glaring, arms crossed. "So if you don't have anything to hide… why didn't you want the inspector down here?" he asked.
"Well, the ventilation system hadn't been updated when the commissioner came by. I didn't get it updated til last week, and by then, he had already come by." Nate stated. "Next order of business is fixing up a grounds level storage area."
Lance looked around, and then gave him a look. "Yeah."
Lance made to leave with the rest of his crew, but Nate stopped him. "What now?" the angry cop asked.
"Just wanted to give you a heads up, Detective." Nate said as he fixed Quentin's tie, "Now, I've remarkably lenient with you and your unprofessionalism, for me anyway, considering I loved one of your daughters and the other I'm still good friends with. But, I would think that after all that court mandated therapy and that humiliation I dealt you concerning me being the vigilante, you would have wizened up about messing with me."
"I guess you didn't learn your lesson. And that's not my fault." He shrugged, "I just wanted let you know- this was strike 3." Nathan said, shocking Quentin, Tommy, and Laurel. "Enjoy being a detective while you still can. I'm suing your ass."
A short time later, after Quentin and the cops had all left, Tommy led Laurel went up to Nathan's executive office, who was nursing a small glass of Four Roses Bourbon.
"Hey guys," Nathan said, "Sorry you had to see that."
"Did you really bribe a government official Nate?" Tommy asked.
"Only to skip the inspection. Eric Messner likes to come much earlier than he is supposed to, so business owners have no choice but to bribe him to skip parts of an inspection. And yes I took the money out of my clubs operating expenses, but I used some of my trust fund money to replace the funds I used. I sent over the papers to prove it, an hour before the cops showed up."
"Are you really going to sue my dad, Nate?" Laurel asked.
"I am, Laurel." Nathan sighed as he took a sip of his alcohol, "He did this to spite me, just like everything he does. Laurel, I have given your father chance after chance, because I care about you, and also, it was a way to make up for not being able to protect Sara. But your father has taken this as an excuse to carry out his vendetta against my brother on me. When I told him to back off tonight, that was his last chance. I will always miss Sara, but I have more than payed my penance for failing her. And it's time everyone learned that."
Laurel and Tommy left after that while Nathan's mind traveled back in time to 5 years ago.
Flashback
Nathan was still slapping water well into the night when Slade walked in, a pair of rabbits on a string in his hand.
"Dinner." He announced. He looked at Nathan in amusement. "You're still doing that? Fyers better be careful with his bowls of water."
Nathan sighed in annoyance. "When are we going to do actual training?" he asked.
"There once was a young boy whose father dropped him off at a shaolin monastery to study Kung Fu." Shado began.
Nathan sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "Great, a parable."
"After a year, the boy came to visit his family." She continued, sharpening her knife as she talked. "When they asked what he'd learned, the boy hung his head in shame. All the monks had him do was slap water in a barrel for a year."
"Well, we don't have a year." Slade said. "So I hope your training regimen is a bit faster."
Undeterred, Shado continued. "The family didn't believe him, so he showed them. He raised his hand and hit the table they were eating on. "It broke in half."
"I'm gonna be able to break a table?" Nathan asked sarcastically.
"Better." She said. She rose and grabbed her bow, then walked back to Nathan and handed it to him.
Nathan sighed. "Ok." He said, rising to take the bow.
"Draw the bow." She said. She corrected his posture, and then stepped back. Nathan sighed- then drew the bow properly with seemingly no effort.
Slade chuckled. "I'll be damned." He said.
"He already had the strength needed to pull the string, his muscles just needed to be conditioned for it." Shado explained.
Nathan redrew the bow several times, each without effort, before relaxing the string, and then looked back as Shado. "What's next?" he asked earnestly.
"We teach you to shoot." She said.
Flashback End
Verdant
1 am in the morning
Nathan was finishing his drink when he got a ring from Talia. "Hey beautiful, what's up?" He asked.
"I thought I'd let you know, my agents managed to get what I needed from Unidac Industries. The Devices are one week away from completion and they have a list of everyone involved. Also, they found out where Mr. Steele is being held. I just sent you coordinates." Nathan looked at his computer to see the coordinates she had sent him.
"Alright, first we get Walter back. Then we destroy both those devices and kill everyone involved with the project, and finally put Merlyn down. Please have your Shadows ready to move at a moment's notice."
"They'll be ready…Oh, before it slips my mind, Beloved, you might want to talk to Lyla. Especially since she's currently drinking herself into a stupor at your club." She mentions.
"What?" Nathan asks in disbelief, and looks out the window to see Lyla was still there, drinking, and everyone else had left, "Yeah, I see. I'll take care of it."
Nathan created a clone real quick. "Go, save Walter," He ordered. The clone nodded and slipped out to grab his stuff while Nathan walked downstairs to Lyla.
"You know I gotta close up the club, right?" Nate asked rhetorically. Lyla just continued to drink her drink, which meant something was definitely bothering her.
"Hey, whats the matter, Lyla?" He asked out of concern for her as he sat next to her.
For several more moments, Lyla just sat there with a blank expression on her face. Finally she spoke. "It's my anniversary." She muttered.
"What?" Nathan asked.
"It's been five years now since Johnny and I first divorced. And in that time, I have not been able to find anyone remotely worth my time because my job as Waller's 2nd in command. So here's to my misery," Lyla said bitterly as she finished her drink, the alcohol lowering her inhibitions, as she basically never spoke about this.
"I mean what is wrong with me!? Johnny and I, we—we were great together. We worked so well while we were in the military, but then we move state-side and our marriage has problems, he would rather divorce me, than try to fight to make it work like I did. And no-one seems remotely interested in me at Argus because I'm basically their boss. And then, after 4 years of being divorced, I finally find this amazing guy but he's already taken. Am I just doomed to be alone forever?" Lyla said as a few tears rolled down her cheek.
Nathan sat there in stunned silence. He had NEVER seen Lyla act like this before. Looking back on it, Lyla had always seemed a bit cross over how her marriage ended, but to see the strong, independent, intelligent, and beautiful woman crying over her loneliness, made Nate realize just how much her divorce hurt her and how much pain she was bottling up inside that strong exterior.
He slowly reached his hand around her neck and rubbed her shoulder affectionately, before he slowly pulled her into a hug and Lyla rests her head on his shoulder for about a minute as the tears fall from her eyes. "Oh Lyla," Nate whispered affectionately as he rubbed her shoulders, "you are an amazing woman. You're strong, kind, intelligent, independent, a total badass, and you have a good heart. Trust me, any guy would be lucky to have you. If they don't fight to hold to you, then screw them. They're not worth the time."
"And Lyla, you're not just a good person and friend to me. You're an inspiration to me." The drunk Lyla looked up at him in astonishment, "Lyla, when I first came back to Starling City, I was only interested in going after the people on the List. I was a just a vigilante, a man trying to right his old man's wrongs. I didn't care about helping the little guy. But you showed me that I can't forget the little guy, because I'm not just doing this to avenge my father, I'm doing this to make sure no else suffers what I went through."
Nathan pulled away a little so she could look at him, "Like I've been trying to say, you will find the right guy eventually. And when you do, that is when you will find real happiness."
"And what if I've already found him?" Lyla asked him, staring into his eyes, a look in her eyes that he had seen many times before.
"Then I think," Nate said slowly and sincerely, "That he would make sure you were loved, and never want for anything."
There was a silence for a moment before Lyla cupped Nathan's cheek and kissed him full on lips. The kiss lasted for several seconds before she pulled back to catch her breath. They both began to kiss each other with equal passion and lust as Lyla wrapped her arms around his neck and Nate squeezed Lyla's ass.
Thankfully, before anything more could happen, he pulled away to see Lyla's hurt expression. "Don't you want me?" She demanded.
"Of course I do," Nathan said softly, "But Lyla, you're drunk right now. If we continued, I would just be taking advantage of you, and I'm not going to do that to you. When you're ready, I'll be here waiting," Nathan said as he pressed one of her pressure points, causing her to fall unconscious as he took her home.
3 hours later
Bludhaven
A lone cargo plane flew over the city of Bludhaven. As it flew over the apartment complex, it dropped its lone piece of cargo.
The Arrow parachuted out of the plane and landed gently on the roof. He quickly cut away his chute. He slid down the access stairs feet first, stabbing the room guard through the chest and tossing the corpse over the railing and to the ground several stories below before opening the door and walking in.
In the security room, a guard was posted watching the monitors. Suddenly he saw the Arrow fighting with several men. "There's a problem in quadrant 4." He announced over the radio.
The Arrow stalked down the narrow hall, his mood darker than the night. Guards soon appeared one after the other- looked like street thugs to Nathan's trained eyes, but they still knew how to fight.
Unfortunately they didn't fight as well as The Arrow.
One by one he killed them, most with his twin swords. A few he threw shuriken at but none of them could stop him. The last guard grabbed him in a choke, but Nathan expertly spun out of it, punched him twice in the chest, and then rammed his head into a light fixture. He rammed his head into the wall two more times as the man fell, insuring he was out of the fight. He looked back at the 20 odd men he had just killed, and then made his way onward.
Soon he found himself outside a heavy iron door. It was bolted shut, but not locked, and Nathan ripped the door of it's hinges and looked inside. Walter lay there, huddled on his side on a thin mattress on the floor.
For a moment Nathan feared he was dead, but then saw the body move slightly and he realized Walter was just asleep. He activated his voice changer and called out to the man. "Mr. Steele." He said softly. When he didn't stir, he added a bit more forcefully, "Walter."
Walter jumped slightly as he came back to awareness. He rolled over and saw the vigilante standing in the open doorway. "What?" he asked in a raspy voice. "What's happening?"
"You're going home." Nathan said softly, his face hidden in the shadow of his hood and his face mask.
Hospital
Next Day
Nathan had one of Talia's Shadows call the appropriate authorities, and the police arrived shortly thereafter. The Arrow stayed nearby but out of sight as a young patrol officer escorted Walter's gurney out to a waiting ambulance. The officer looked up, and for a moment Nathan could have sworn the man was looking right at him. But the gaze shifted around, and soon the officer climbed into the ambulance to get Walter's statement on the way to the hospital.
Walter didn't stay in Bludhaven long. As soon as the doctors cleared him, he was airlifted back to Starling General Hospital, where a tearful Moira found him the next morning.
"I thought I'd never see you again." She said, crying as she ran into his room and hugged him. Thea and Nathan followed her in.
"I'm all right." He assured his wife.
"Welcome home, Walter." Nathan said kindly.
Walter looked at him, and suddenly things became a bit clearer. But now wasn't the time for such things. "Thank you, son." He said warmly. Nathan smiled.
Walter looked up and saw the last remaining female crying next to him. "Thea." He said happily. She sobbed and collapsed into his arms, crying happy tears for once.
"Nathan." Moira held out her hand, beckoning him over. "We're all together again. Everything's gonna be all right." She said. Nathan looked at her, barely masking the betrayal in his eyes.
Flashback
The scene flashed back to five years ago. At Starling City harbor, Robert was preparing to take 'The Queen's Gambit' out with Nathan as Moira looked on worriedly.
"Robert, I don't like the idea of this." She said.
"It's gonna be ok." Robert assured her.
"Yeah, well, how long will you and Nathan be gone?" she asked.
"A few weeks. Maybe more, depending on weather—"
"Why can't you just fly to China?" she asked plaintively.
He smiled at her. "I think it's better the less you know."
"And why is Nathan with you?" Moira asked in worry.
"Nate wants to relax a little more before he starts at the company, and he volunteered to come with me. I certainly didn't want to turn him down." Robert said.
"I just hate that stupid boat." She admitted.
"Look at me." Robert said, and she did so. "I love you. Everything's gonna be fine." He assured her.
She nodded. "I know." She said, hugging him.
"Hey." They looked up to see Oliver as he dropped his bag on the dock next to them "Got room for one more?" he asked pleasantly.
"No." Moira said at once.
"Mom, let me keep dad company."
"Oliver, you're in school." She said.
"Not really." He said. His parents looked at each other and sighed. "I forgot to tell you that." He added lamely.
"I could use an extra hand on the ship." Robert said.
"Robert—"
"Moira, let the kid take the boat out with the old man." He said with a grin.
She sighed. "All right. All right." She said finally. She looked to Ollie. "But you promise me that you'll behave yourself." She said sternly.
"Oh yeah. I promise." He lied. She knew it.
"I love you so much." She said hugging him.
"I love you, too." The two hugged. The sound of a car door slamming made Ollie look up, and he saw Laurel standing at the end of the entrance ramp to the dock. He pulled away with a smile.
"I totally spaced." He said. "I gotta call Tommy and let him know I'm out of town for a few weeks. I'll see you on board in 5." He told his dad. He walked off towards Laurel while pulling out his phone. He dialed a familiar number as he smiled at his girlfriend. "Sara?" he said when his girlfriend's sister picked up. "You here? Yeah, you might want to circle around the block a few times, because your sister just showed up." He hung up the phone just as Laurel reached him. "Hi." He said with a smile. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a kiss. "What are you doing here?" he asked
"You're leaving for 3 weeks." She said.
"I wanted to come say bye to you in person."
They kissed. "I'm glad you did." Ollie lied as he pulled away.
"And I wanted to bring you something." She said with a smile. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wallet-sized version of her senior picture. He took it with a happy "Oh." She smiled at his reaction. "In case you get lonely at sea." She said.
Ollie kissed the picture. "Thank you." He said.
"Hey, is everything ok?" she asked suddenly. "I mean, I didn't totally freak you out when I brought up the whole apartment thing earlier, did I?"
"No." he lied with a smile.
"Good." She said.
"No." he grinned. The two kissed for a bit before Ollie pulled away. "Mm. But I do have to get back to the boat." He said.
"Yeah." She sighed. Neither noticed that Nathan glaring at Oliver in the distance from the boat, as he knew what was going on between his big brother and Sara, and he hated. She watched as Ollie walked back to the boat, Nathan quickly schooling his expression and then turned and headed for her car. She didn't notice the other car that was parked in the lot above- a car containing Frank Chen.
'Is it done?' Malcolm asked him over the phone.
"Yes. The bomb is in place." Frank replied dutifully. "And there's a storm front moving in along the 'Gambit's' projected course."
'Good.' He said. 'When the 'Queen's Gambit' goes down, no one will suspect it's anything other than an act of God.'
In the harbor, Moira watched as the boat sailed off into history, unknowing of the fate Malcolm had decided for it.
Flashback End
Back in the present, Nathan left Walter's room to get some air and put some distance between himself and his mother. Outside, though, he found someone he hated.
"Nathan." Malcolm Merlyn said, walking briskly towards the younger man. Nathan gritted his teeth, and then plastered a tired smile on his face as he turned to face the man. "What a miracle. How's Walter? The police are saying that he was rescued by the Vigilante." Malcolm said.
"Yes, he was." Nathan replied softly.
"Has he said anything about his ordeal? Was he able to identify any of his captors?" Malcolm asked casually, fishing for information.
"No." Nathan said.
"Hmm. That's too bad." Malcolm noted.
"They'll get what's coming to them." Nathan remarked.
Malcolm looked at him curiously. "I'm just glad that my family is back together." He continued.
"We all are." Malcolm replied.
The awkwardness was broken by Nathan's phone. He saw it was text from Lyla. 'OSTRANDER HOTEL. ROOM 1141. NOW'. Thinking Lyla might be in trouble, he excused himself from his family using his business as an excuse, though promising he would be back later.
Ostrander Hotel Room 1141
30 minutes later
Nathan got to the hotel and walked up to the room. Seeing none behind, he pulled out his .45 caliber 1911 pistol and knocked on the door. A second later, it opened to reveal Lyla, in a pink lingerie nightgown and robe.
"What took you so long?" she asked coyly.
"I think what I should asking is, 'What is all this?'." Nate said as he holstered his gun and walked inside while Lyla closed the door. He noticed a few glasses of champagne in the expensive hotel. "Isn't it a little early for champagne?"
"Not for me," Lyla said as she let the robe fall to the floor and walked to him, sexily swaying her hips, "And not for you either."
"Lyla, are you sure, 'cause it was only last night you told me how you felt, and you were a bit drunk," Nathan pointed out.
"But still sober to enough to remember everything that was said," Lyla said as she kissed his neck, "And I'm done denying my feelings for you."
"mm, but are you sure I'm what you want? Because you know about the 3 other women in my life," Nate said, wanting to make sure this was what she wanted.
"Nathan, I'm a grown woman who knows what she wants. And as for your harem, well, I'll figure out how to get used to it." She said as she kissed his neck again.
Lemon
Nathan picked her up and held Lyla suspended in the air by her ass as he carried her over to the bed. Placing her on the bed, he quickly took off all of his clothes. A now nude Nathan joined Lyla on the bed as she grasped his erection in her left hand.
Lyla maneuvered the two of them into a 69 position. Slowly, Lyla began to lick Nathan's cock from base to tip till her saliva coated the thick shaft. Delivering a kiss to the head, Lyla slid her lips over the head and started to inch her way down the impossibly thick shaft. She was able to take all 10 inches before she had to draw back, as Nathan moaned, rubbing her back.
"I may be five years out of practice, but I still can give you a good time." Lyla said before taking the head back into her mouth, and started to suck on the 10 inches of prime male meat, while fondling his balls with her right.
Placing his right hand on the Lyla's bobbing head, Nathan just laid back and let her work his cock between her succulent lips while greatly enjoying the loving way she sucked on his mighty spear. Moving his hand from Lyla's head to her ass, Nathan pushed her panties aside and lightly caressed Lyla's wet pussy before sticking his tongue in and began to lick the special agents sacred place. Popping Nathan's cock out of her mouth, Lyla and released a moan of pleasure from Nathan's tongue licking her needy cunt.
Lyla continued sucking his cock while caressing her breasts as Nathan tongue-fucked her "oohhhh, Nathan that feels so good."
Nathan twirled his tongue against the interior walls of her vagina for several minutes, and continued to devour Lyla' cunt, making her moan in lust. Lyla could no longer concentrate on sucking Nathan's cock due to the pleasure he was bringing her with his tongue and he could tell she was on the brink of her orgasm.
"I'm...ah! I'm...I'm about to-" Nathan sucked on his clip and immediately her eyes widened "Cumming!" Lyla yelled as she came.
Nathan licked her juices up, tasting how sweet she tasted. He slipped out from under Lyla and position himself behind her as he pulled her panties off and tossed them aside.
"Prepare yourself Lyla." Lining himself up and grasping Lyla's hips tightly Nathan began to slowly push into her pussy stuffing an inch in at a time. Nathan was able to drive all ten inches into Lyla's tight cunt causing her to moan loudly.
Nathan started to gently thrust in and out of Lyla, driving all ten inches into her. Speeding up his thrusts to a moderate pace, Nathan tried to control himself and not just fuck Lyla into next week. After five minutes, Lyla's head shot up and she started quivering as she started to cum for the second time in years, that didn't involve using her fingers or some toy. As Lyla's pussy started to convulse around his dick Nathan couldn't take it any longer, reaching underneath her, Nathan took off her nightgown and bra, then firmly grabbed Lyla's tits and started to fuck her a faster and harder pace.
Lyla's eyes rolled up into her head as she experienced another orgasm before coming down from the previous one, the new intense way Nathan was fucking her was nearly too much.
Nathan pulled her up til her back was against his chest, the new angle sending Lyla into another orgasm. Lyla wrapped her arms back around Nathan's neck to try and steady herself against Nathan's powerful and quicker thrusts, the supersoldier continued to fuck Lyla for more than half an hour forcing her through one orgasm after another before he felt his own drawing near. Wrapping his arms around Lyla just below her now bouncing breasts Nathan tried to hold off cumming until he fucked Lyla into another orgasm.
"Cum for me Lyla, I want your pussy milking my cock again." Giving Lyla a particularly hard thrust, he sent her into one last orgasm her pussy clamping tightly on Nathan's cock. Feeling Lyla cum, Nathan finally let go and buried his dick in her and unleashed the load he'd barely been holding back right into her.
"Oh yes Nathan, cum in my pussy, empty those big balls into me. So fucking good." Lyla cooed
Lyla's head fell back onto Nathan's shoulder as the man pumped his load into her with sharp small thrusts, and when he stopped cumming, Nathan fell back, taking Lyla with him so he was lying on the bed with her resting on top of him. The two exhausted lovers laid there for a few moments.
"I hope you don't have any plans today. Because I plan on do this for the rest of the day." Nathan said kissing Lyla cheek as she smiled
"I don't." Lyla panted kissing Nathan's lips before she turned herself around and straddled him, slipping Nathan's hardened cock back into her.