I normally do not write fanfic for Arrow unless it is a crossover. But after seeing the promo for 4x15 I just had to :) It will be a one-shot so please do not kill me.
"I kidnapped William."
Those three simple words hit Oliver straight in the gut. His mind tried to comprehend exactly what his enemy had just told him. Oliver cast a nervous glance at Felicity who was looking up at him from her wheelchair worriedly.
"I can see you know who I am talking about..." Darhk said smugly, "If you pull out of the mayor debate, he will be returned to you unharmed. If not...well...I hate to see what his mother will do to you."
Oliver whirled around lashed out with his fist, intending to punch the smug smile off the man's face. Unfortunatly his hand came to a stop a few inches away from it target. Darhk tutted disapprovingly before twitching his raised hand. An invisible force slammed Oliver into the ground and left him wheezing.
"Give me your response within twenty four hours and the boy will be returned to you alive," Darhk said in a low dangerous voice.
"Who...who told you?" Oliver asked hoarsely as he struggled to get to his feet.
The pressure on his chest shoved him back down to the ground. Felicity let out a small yelp of panic but could do nothing to help him.
Darhk gave him a knowing smile, "Can't give out my informers can I? See you around..."—he tightened his hand into a fist and the pressure on Oliver's chest increased for a moment before subsiding—"Mr. Queen."
He released his invisible hold on his prey before stalking off into the shadows. Oliver rolled onto his chest and clutched his ribs, panting. The pants gradually turned into deep shuddering breaths as he struggled to hold back tears.
After roughly fifty-two seconds, he managed to compose himself and he got stiffly to his feet. He looked down at Felicity who was looking at him worriedly. Her eyes looked at him quizatively.
"Who is William?" she asked.
For a moment Oliver's tongue got stuck in his throat. He could not answer. At first he felt like telling his fiancée "William is...a family friend of mine. I visit him sometimes and he is very close to me." But he knew that he had to tell Felicity the truth.
"William..." he paused trying to stop the words from getting slurred, "Is my son."
~~~...~~~
"You have a son!?"
Laurel practically yelled it straight into his ear drum and made his brain feel like it was vibrating. He grimaced and walked several feet away from her before answering.
"Kind of a long story..." Oliver muttered.
"Well you better explain it fast..." Laurel growled.
Thea—who already knew about William— looked over at Felicity who had her head down on the desk in front of her computer. She wasn't moving but it was easy to see how she was feeling.
Oliver sighed and quickly explained everything. He kind of felt bad about putting Barry on the spot—considering his friend did know about his son after he reset the time stream so that everyone in Central City (particularly Oliver, Carter, and Kendra) from dying—but his other friends deserved to know.
"Please don't kill Barry...its not his fault..." Oliver summed up before begrudgingly admitting, "It is mine...I should have told you sooner."
"I doubt I'd be able to get my fingers around his neck fast enough..." Laurel admitted, "And second I wouldn't touch him anyway. He's much nicer than you are even when he is in a brooding mood."
Thea snorted and lowered her head when Oliver turned to glare at her. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before stopping himself; unhappy that he had picked up the trait from the speedster.
"At any rate...we can talk about this later," Thea interjected, "Currently your son—my nephew and boy that is weird to say— is in trouble and we can finish the pointing fingers at each other after he safe at home with his mom."
"I agree..." Felicity said in a watery voice without lifting her head up, "I will back trace any sightings of him—that is if you have a picture Oliver."
"When I get my hands on the bastard that told Darhk about William..." Oliver growled as he handed her a photo he kept in his wallet, "He'll wish he'd never been born."
~~~...~~~
"I officially hate...magic..." Thea groaned throwing herself into the nearest chair.
Her bow clattered to the ground and she made no move to pick it up. A bruise the size of a grapefruit covered the left side of her face.
"How did it—" Felicity started to ask but Oliver held up a hand to stop her.
"Don't ask..." he growled.
He stalked off, threw his bow down in disgust before nursing his injuries. He angrily ran the dialogue Darhk had told him before letting him go.
"I think we've seen that movie before. I Win. You Lose. Rinse. Repeat."
Without meaning to, Oliver tightened his fist so tight that it made a dent in the leather incasing his hands. He looked at his hands as if they were not a part of his body. They were shaking; since when did his hands shake?
"We need a new strategy," Felicity said pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "Darhk is sure to have gone into hiding after this little encounter with you. Why didn't you think it through before going after him! You probably just endangered your son's—"
"I know..." Oliver growled.
She quieted down and gave him a look that reeked both anger and pity at the same time. Her eyes seemed to say, "How could you hide this from me?"
Avoiding her gaze Oliver leaned against the table and said, "I have friend who can help."
"Oh please don't tell me its another guy like Constantine..." Laurel moaned, "That man was even more annoying than you are."
She smirked when Oliver gave her a "Really?" look. She had come along for the rescue attempt; she had been trying to track down William's location but failed to find any sign of the boy in Darhk's house.
"Anyways..." Oliver continued, "You know that lady we hear about in the news...the one who can fly like an eagle and walk up the sides of a building like a spider?"
"Yeah..." Laurel said thoughtfully, "She's a hero in Detroit called Vixen."
"Well..." Oliver avoided their questioning gazes, "I know her."
"Wait what!?" Thea squawked nearly falling out of her chair from the shock.
Oliver put his hand up to say silently 'Tell you later'.
"And I am guessing you know her name..." Felicity said thoughtfully, "Mari Macabe?"
Seeing her fiancée's look of surprise she was quick to add, "I remember that you asked me to check where her credit card was on the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion."
"And what makes you think this lady stands a chance of finding Darhk?" Laurel asked.
"Her powers are magic based. Darhk's are likewise..." Oliver said, "What are the chances that she could detect his hiding place?"
No one responded. The decision was final; they would be asking from Vixen.
~~~...~~~
A pair of men nervously formed a circle; back to back. They trained their guns on the shadows of the building, only a dangling light bulb provided light for them to see by.
"Come out where ever you are!" one of the men—who had a white jacket—barked while pointing his gun in no particular direction.
An invisible force picked him up and knocked him to the ground. The second looked in horror before a woman materialized in front of him without him noticing. She had a yellow and black jumpsuit on with a ornate necklace around her neck. It glowed with a faint purplish light.
"Face us like a man!" he snapped.
"How about I kick your ass like a woman?!" she snapped back.
She completed a round house kick and sent the man sprawling into a bunch of barrels; knocking him out cold before he even realized she was there. A flicker of movement behind her made her whirl around and punch the other robber in the face before he could fire a bullet at her. He collapsed to a crumpled heap to the ground. Breathing heavily the woman bent down and extracted a bag stuffed full of bank bills from the man's pocket.
"Idiot.." she muttered.
She carefully zipped the bag shut and took a small knife out of the man's pocket. Eyeing it with disgust, she effortlessly bent it in half— to snap the sharp end off—before sticking the dull weapon back into its owner's hand.
"Like to see you explain to the cops how that happened..." she said quietly with a smirk.
She stiffened, sensing someone standing behind her. As quick as a snake, the woman effortlessly yanked a nearby pipe out of its foundation and flung it. It impaled itself into a wall next to the person sneaking up on her, sending out a shower of sparks. A grunt of surprise soon followed.
Before whoever it was could recover, the woman whipped her head in the direction of the person, bringing her arm back to deliver a blow. When she saw who it was, however, she stopped her punch at least an inch from the man's face. Her face morphed into shock before hardening.
"I thought you were dead...Arrow."
She stood up and put her hands on her hips. The hooded man raised his head up so that she could only see his eyes.
"That was someone else..." he said in a deep voice, "And I still see you have that attitude of yours...Mari."
He pointed a gloved hand at the quivering metal pipe that nearly turned his head into a kabob.
Mari MaCabe gritted her teeth before saying sarcastically, "Working process Robin Hood. If I remember correctly you had an attitude as well when you first became active in Starling; now Star City."
She looked around before turning her gaze back to him, "And I see you haven't brought your friend The Flash."
"He's busy...but if he were here I would be willing to bet he would have gotten straight to the point already," Green Arrow grumbled before coughing awkwardly, "I need your help."
Mari arched an eyebrow, "Need my help? Funny...I thought I would be needing your help at some point."
She tapped her foot and arched an eyebrow expectantly.
"I'll explain along the way..." the archer sighed.
He frowned noticing she was not budging.
"No way," Mari growled, "Not until I get these bozos to the police."
She nudged one of the unconscious men with her foot. He groaned a response. Wordlessly, Green Arrow lifted one of the men up and slung him over his shoulder. Nodding approvingly, Mari picked up the other one without showing any strain on her face.
The cops probably wondered why there was a green arrow imbedded in the telephone pole; with a gossamer wire keep the two squirming bank robbers from escaping. Not to mention the black eye on one of them.
Then again...they had seen pretty strange things in this city as well as heard about the weird events in Central City.
~~~...~~~
"So this is Vixen?" Laurel asked as Oliver stepped out of the elevator with a clearly pissed off Mari trailing behind him, "Thought she would—"
Oliver mouthed 'No. Don't say anymore' silencing her.
"Thought she would what?" Mari demanded.
Her hand went to her neck where an intricately designed necklace hung. In the middle sat a stone in the shape of a fox or perhaps a wolf's head (depending on how someone looked at it.) On either side of it, sat more stone pieces; they looked suspiciously like teeth.
"Not be as pretty as you..." Thea interjected quickly, "You look like you could be a model."
Mari snorted clearly unimpressed, "I'm a fashion designer. Not a model. Trust me...the only time you'll see me in a dress is when I'm dead."
She stalked off and looked at the computers in the hideout before muttering something under her breath. Thea came up behind Oliver and whispered, "And I thought I had an attitude problem."
He could only nod slightly in response. He was happy however from preventing a possible fight.
"Do I even want to know how you know each other?" Laurel asked.
She came up and stood in the middle of Oliver and Mari.
"Long story..." Oliver muttered.
Mari rolled her eyes before putting her hands on her hips, "Why don't you explain to your friends here about the time you showed up on my doorstep unannounced with the Flash?"
Thea's mouth dropped open and Laurel looked as if someone had struck her in the face.
"He did what?" Felicity came wheeling up next to Oliver.
Mari glance down at her, her eyes softening slightly before she looked up and continued,"Gave my father a heart attack. Not to mention you chased me all over Motor City and gave God knows how many more people heart attacks, before making me fall off a building?"
"An accident..." Oliver muttered behind gritted teeth.
"Uh huh..." Mari said in annoyance, "You're lucky I can fly...because if I could not, and your friend caught me...I would have pushed off the building myself when I got back on that damn rooftop."
"You can fly?" Laurel asked.
Before Mari could answer, Oliver intervened, "Ok...look. I know you are not happy about being here but I really do need your help."
"How hard it must be for man to ask a woman for help, especially you Mr. Queen..." she responded with a touch of sarcasm, before a slight smile stretched across her face, "Alright talk then."
He explained everything. His tongue felt like stone when he mentioned William was his son, but he trusted Mari enough to know she would keep it a secret; as well as his secret identify and the location of his base.
When he was finished all anyone could hear was the sounds of the computer monitors.
Mari put a finger on her chin and tapped it thoughtfully, "Boy, that's a lot to take in. Still don't see why you need my help to rescue a kid."
"Darhk uses magic...and you use it to?" Oliver said.
"More or less..." Mari grumbled, "I still don't fully understand how to work this stupid thing."
She grabbed the necklace and trust it out for them to see. For some reason it glowed faintly with a light purple light, before the glow disappeared.
"How long have you had that?" Laurel asked thoughtfully.
"Little over a year..." the woman responded, "Don't worry...I only use it to stop up crooks, save people from burning buildings and beat up a family member—once."
"Care to elaborate on the last one?" Oliver asked.
Completely ignoring the question, Mari sighed and leaned against the table behind her, "Ok look. I don't particularly like you for specific reasons based on our first meeting with each other,"—she closed her eyes for a moment before looking at them straight in the face,—"But I am not about to let a bastard named Damien Darhk hurt a kid. Any kid including yours...Oliver."
His throat caught up; in shock that the woman who acted tough had feelings.
"So I'll try my best to find out where the coward is hiding..." she finished, "So you can take him down."
"So you are not such a tough person after all..." Oliver muttered.
"Oh I can be badass when I want to be..." Mari smiled slightly, "Not just all the time."
"What do you need to find Darhk's location?" Felicity asked coming into the conversation for the first time in a while.
"Quiet..." the woman answered with a sigh, "Just absolute quiet. And a comfortable chair. God knows how long I will be sitting here in a trance."
Oliver watched passively as his friends started prepping Mari for whatever she was planning. He only hoped deep in his heart that she would be able to find Darhk.
And in turn his son.
That's a wrap. Please R&R!