FX TV series Sons of Anarchy + CW TV series Arrow: a crossover story

Synopsis: Captain Lance and the Starling City PD has been putting the heat on the Sons of Anarchy MC Starling City charter, as the city cracks down on organized crime in the aftermath of the Sebastian Blood scandal. With the pressure threatening to derail SAMCRO's gun-running and drugs operation with the Real IRA and the powerful Galindo Cartel, Jax and SAMCRO travel to Oliver Queen's hometown to show support for a brother charter in crisis – and cross the Arrow's path.

The crow flies straight …and SAMCRO is about to turn Team Arrow's world upside down. You better have soul – nothing less, if you want to keep your city safe or your motorcycle club whole.

Rating: It's SOA, so expect some mature subject matter and coarse language. As it's also in the Arrow world, it probably won't be as much as on FX.

Timeline: In the Arrow universe, events occur soon after Oliver's return from the dead in S3. In the SOA universe, it is shortly after SAMCRO narrowly votes in favour of the Galindo cartel - Irish Kings gun-running deal in S4.

Story 1: "Not One of Them"

(10 miles outside Starling City)

Jax Teller laughed as his SAMCRO brothers joked and teased each other at the suburban Denny's restaurant. His blond hair was now cropped short after his release from prison. Life was good for the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original: the mother charter of one of the outlaw biker gangs struggling to survive in the North West.

The club's recent deal to run guns for the IRA and mule cocaine for the Mexican cartel was profitable. He was making bank and this would provide him with the financial means to one day leave the club's volatile history behind. He was going to change the club for the better and – knock on wood – make a better life for Tara and their boys.

Thomas and Abel. Everything he was doing was for them.

So that they won't turn out like their old man. Jax grimaced. They deserve better.

Bobby waddled to Jax's table with a newspaper. "Get a load of this. Starling's got some crazy vigilante jumping off rooftops. They say he dresses up like Robin Hood. And, he uses arrows."

Jax picked up the newspaper and read the headline: "THE ARROW FOILS DRUG-RUNNING SCHEME AT DOCKS. REPORTS SUGGEST A YAKUZA ASSOCIATION."

"You think this clown is going to cause blowback for us in the streets?" Bobby said.

Jax smirked. "If this guy wants to get his kicks running meth-heads and sushi gangbangers out of his hood, more power to him. It's a beef that's got nothing to do with us. It's local shit. A Starling City underworld problem - not ours."

"But what if this Robin Hood dude doesn't want to play nice while we're in Starling?" Bobby said.

Jax shrugged. "SAMCRO will do what it's always done – look out for its own and get things done."

"We've got Glocks and automatic weapons," Opie, Jax's best friend, said. "This guy's got what – a bow and a couple of arrows?"

"Opie is right," Tig said. "The Arrow won't be a problem for us. We got this."

"That's why we're here, boys," Jax said. "The Starling City charter's been taking some serious heat from the local cops, who are trying to run them out of the Glades. We're headed to their clubhouse now. They're handling the northern transportation and storage end of our deal with the Irish and the Galindo Cartel. We're just here to lock this down – that's all. We go home the moment it's done."

SAMCRO revved their Harleys and motored out of the parking lot. Behind the large "Welcome to Starling City" billboard, an unmarked sedan idled in the darkness.

Captain Quentin Lance peered at the motorcycle gang with binoculars. "You sure about this, Laurel?"

Laurel Lance, his daughter (and the local assistant district attorney) nodded. "San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department gave us the heads-up last night. The intel is good. I know what you're thinking, but I did my due diligence. Lieutenant Roosevelt is clean. He's a good cop and definitely not on the payroll of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club."

"You know, out on the streets, they just call them SAMCRO. Or, Crows for short," Quentin said. "The Starling charter's got a clubhouse out in the Glades, but we've been tightening the screws on them since the fallout of the Blood scandal. So we know the mother charter's in town – now what?"

Laurel borrowed her father's binoculars and watched the motorcycles disappear over the horizon. She thought of a recent case that passed her desk. A shootout at the docks involving the SAMCRO Starling charter and an Asian gang resulted in an unsolved murder. The street's code of silence had killed the case – and left the dead security guard's widow with a newborn son and little hope.

"We're getting justice for that guard's widow," Laurel said, "and, if we play our cards right, we can get the Sons of Anarchy out of Starling City. They've held the Glades for too long. It's time we fry a few crows."

The Sons of Anarchy MC (Starling Charter) clubhouse was in a seedy part of the Glades. The neighbourhood had once been home to swanky jazz clubs during the Prohibition era but it had fallen from grace since the '60s. Now it was full of grimy pawn shops, cheque-cashing stores and adult video warehouses.

Roy Harper, the vigilante known as Arsenal, noticed several motorcycles rumble down the street. This was his turf. Oliver Queen aka the Arrow may be a vigilante of the streets but he was born into privilege – he could never understand how people in the Glades survived day by day. Roy grew up here. The Sons of Anarchy MC was as much a part of the Glades as Queen Enterprises was part of Starling City's downtown core.

A young woman in a leather jacket and close-cropped jet black hair strolled towards him. It was Sin, Roy's street-savvy friend.

"You heard about this, Roy?" she said as she glanced towards the bikers. "I hear Jax Teller's in town. He just rolled in with a bunch of his crew." SCPD had been pressuring the local charter for weeks, but if Teller was in town it was becoming a larger MC issue.

"The V.P. of SAMCRO?" Roy asked. "How do you know?" He thought he knew all the major players in the Glades underworld, so it was surprising that he didn't hear about Jax's arrival in Starling until now.

"A friend of mine is the old lady of the Starling charter's sergeant-at-arms," Sin said. The sergeant-at-arms was responsible for enforcing discipline in the MC.

"If Teller is in Starling, it must be important," Roy said. "It might have something to do with what went down at the docks a few weeks ago."

"Word is the Asians stepped on Russian turf, the Sons tried to broker a peace," Sin said. "Something happened and it went sideways fast. A security guard was killed."

"The Sons have been good for the Glades," Roy said. Oliver, Diggle, Laurel and Felicity would see them as nothing more than a criminal gang, but they were not from the street.

Roy was. He believed he had the pulse of the Glades – its people, its gangs, its power brokers.

The Glades were always a violent place, but all the players had their own turf. Disagreements were dealt with, gang to gang, with no outside involvement. It was a tolerable cold war that rarely spilled into public places such as parks and schoolyards. Problems arose when outsiders did show up. The Arrow had removed some of the seedier elements in this world, but he had upset the precarious balance that had kept the Glades from ripping itself apart. Newer and more violent players were now taking advantage of this.

Sons of Anarchy founder John Teller – Jax's late father – helped to found the Sons' Starling City MC (SAMSTAR) in 1971 and had a role in making the peace when he kept the Glades from crumbling into chaos many years ago. The Russians, or someone associated with them, had broken this peace. Roy knew that the Glades would soon become a gangland warzone again. No one would be safe then.

Sin noticed that one of the crow eaters, part of the groupies and hangers-on who partied with the club, waved to her. "It's Marnie. I'll see what I can find out. Don't worry, I'll be discreet."

Roy looked at the row of Harleys parked in the backlot. The Sons were outlaws. He knew they ran guns, but at the same time they avoided the dirtier crimes of other clubs: the drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and so on. As far as he knew.

He lived in the Glades long enough to know that the Sons of Anarchy were part of the fabric of this town.

For the moment he put aside his concerns. An elderly neighbourhood friend had given him a broken-down Harley to work on and he ran into the house to retrieve his tools. He was going to ride that bike someday.

At the clubhouse parking lot, Jax took a drag from his cigarette. He noticed a rider with a red hoodie run into his house. A grimy-looking motorcycle stood on the curb.

When Roy returned from the house, his veins froze. Jax Teller was admiring his motorcycle. Jax's leather cut bore the MC's grinning Reaper logo on the back. In the front, the cut had patches indicating that Jax was 'V. President' and was also part of the MC's 'Men of Mayhem'. There was no way he would dare to ask the VP of SAMCRO about the meaning of that patch.

"Is that a vintage Heritage Softail?" Jax said, stomping the butt of his cigarette into the road.

"From 1983," Roy said nervously. "The seat needs to be re-upholstered, a few parts are missing …"

Jax whistled softly. "And the engine's shot to shit. It's gonna need a lot of work."

"It's practically scrap metal. I doubt I'll ever be able to ride it."

"SAMSTAR runs an auto body shop near the port. You probably heard of Jim's Auto Works, up on Industrial Road. They do some Harley work on the side - mostly for wannabe corporate pricks who only ride two weeks in the summer. I could check if they have any spare parts for old Softails."

"That would help. Thanks." Roy was nervous as hell but Jax was being friendly. "I'm Roy Harper."

"Jax Teller. My old man was one of -."

"—SAMCRO's First 9. One of the club's original members. I know. All of the Glades knows. John Teller's a bit of a folk hero here. He helped to build SAMSTAR. Did a bunch of charity rides for the children's hospital back in the day. There probably wouldn't be a local hospital here if it wasn't for him."

"Sounds just like my dad," Jax said. "If you're part of the Glades, then you're one of us." He scowled at the gleaming high-rise towers of downtown Starling City, where the rich and powerful dwelled and ruled the masses. He nodded towards the towers and sneered. "And not one of them."

Roy looked at the office towers and understood. Those towers and boardrooms, they weren't his world. They were Oliver Queen's. And as much as Roy respected – even believed in – Oliver's street crusade, the Glades would always be foreign to the heir of the Queen legacy. "Yeah. Not one of them."

"I've got club business, but it was nice talking to you, bro. Come by the auto body shop at week's end. If anyone gives you any beef, tell 'em Jax sent you. We look out for our own. If we're lucky, we can get that piece of junk whole again. Take care of that bike – a beauty like that was made to roar."

Sin passed by Jax on the sidewalk.

"How's it going, darlin'?" Jax winked at her. Sin grinned bashfully.

When Jax returned to the clubhouse, Sin punched Roy in the shoulder.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I think I just became a friend of Jax Teller."

To be continued …

[Author's note: This may become an episodic story but for the moment, it may be just a series of short stories blending the world of SAMCRO and the Arrow universe.]