The Nature Boy Proudly Presents:

Past is Prologue

By Naitch03

Dramatis Personae

Future League Members

Mia Dearden/Thea Queen- The Green Arrow

Dinah Laurel Lance- The Black Canary

Sara Lance- The Canary

Roy Harper- Arsenal

Stephanie Brown- Batgirl

Rose Wilson- Ravager

Dick Grayson- Batman

Bruce Wayne- Batman (Semi-Active)

Tim Drake- Red Robin

Cassandra Cain- Black Bat

J'on J'onz- The Martian Manhunter

Clark Kent- Superman (Semi-Active)

Connor Kent- Superman II

Diana Prince- Wonder Woman (Semi-Active)

Cassie Sandsmark- Wonder Woman II

Victor Stone- Cyborg

Barry Allen- The Flash (Semi-Active)

Wally West- The Flash II

Hal Jordan- Green Lantern

Kyle Rayner- Green Lantern

Barbara Gordon- Oracle

Viewing Party

Thea Queen

Moira Queen

Malcolm Merlyn

Tommy Merlyn

Laurel Lance

Quentin Lance

John Diggle

Felicity Smoake

Slade Wilson

Also starring:

Oliver Queen- The Hood/The Arrow

See long Author's Note at the end of this chapter.

Disclaimer: Arrow is owned by Berlanti Productions, DC Comics, and Warner Brothers Entertainment. I own nothing.

Prologue

The Watchtower, 2039

In high orbit around the Planet called earth, there were many satellites. Some were for communications. Some were to track weather. Some were for spying. But one satellite stood out from all the rest-

The Watchtower.

Built for the Justice League by a combined effort of Wayne Enterprises, Kord Industries and Queen Industries, The Watchtower was a satellite by definition only. 10 separate levels, dozens of rooms for meetings or training, a League-only museum and an impressive cache of weapons, all powered by a binary-fusion reactor built from designs given from Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Even in this modern future filled with marvels defying explanation or description, the Watchtower was a marvel unto itself.

It had seen a lot of history- from repelling alien invasions, to hosting political delegations. Today, it would make history one last time by playing host to a different gathering of people.

The first to arrive was Malcolm Merlyn. Dressed impeccably in a dark grey suit, he stumbled a bit and felt a brief wave of nausea pass through him. Quickly he righted himself and spun around; trying to deduce his new surroundings, but the sight stopped him cold. Slowly he walked forward, off of a raised dais, he noted absently, and made his way to the giant windows- which showed Earth far, far below them.

Not many things provoked a positive emotional response from Malcolm Merlyn these days; ever since his wife had been brutally murdered he had been cold- distant even- to everyone, including his son. But the sight before him was so… breathtaking, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time welled up inside of him- the felling of wonderment and, perhaps, even joy. Then he remembered he had no idea where he was and how he had gotten there, and he clamped down HARD on his emotions and tried to take stock of his situation. Before he could, though, he heard a loud hum behind him. He spun around and faced the platform in time to see two figures coalesce from a bluish-white light.

One minute Moira Dearden Queen had been half-heartedly lecturing her daughter, Thea Dearden Queen- who was more than obviously ignoring her- and the next they were standing on a raised platform in a very high-tech looking room with a window view of earth and-

"Malcolm?" Moira asked shakily. Thea had plopped down as the nausea hit her.

"Whoa, I've had better bad trips than this." She mumbled to herself. Luckily her mother was too preoccupied to be listening.

"What is this? What's going on?" Moira demanded. Malcolm held up his hands and shook his head.

"I don't know, Moira." He started. "One minute I was in my office on a conference call; the next I'm standing here." He gave them a minute to take in all that was around them. Thea gave a muted "Holy shit!" when she saw Earth in the window. "As outlandish as it sounds, judging by the technology around us and the manner of our arrival, I believe we are in the future."

Thea arched an eyebrow in a strangely familiar way. "Really? We're going right to 'Future Space Station'?"

Malcolm looked at the young woman. "Do you have a better explanation?" he asked pointedly. Thea paused for a moment, before seeming to deflate slightly.

"No, but still… this is all kinds of crazy." Malcolm smiled at the young girl. He could tell she was terrified, but she hid it behind a mask of defiance that he admired. He looked up as the lights dimmed again and the transport pad lit up once more. The three watched as a new figure coalesced- into Tommy Merlyn, who arrived in a sitting position; he promptly fell back on his rear end, causing Thea to burst out laughing. "What the hell?!" Tommy exclaimed, quickly climbing to his feet. He quickly spotted his father. "Dad, what the hell…"

"We have no idea." Malcolm replied.

"Holy shit, is that Earth?" he started, walking off the pad and towards the window. He stopped as he finally noticed the other two occupants of the room. "Mrs. Queen? Thea? Are you two-"

"We're fine, Tommy." Moira said.

"Nice entrance." Thea added, snickering; the humor of Tommy's arrival momentarily distracting her from her fear.

"Thanks, Speedy." Tommy replied. "I was at a stoplight." He looked around again. "Where are we?"

"Future space station." Thea stated, and Tommy shot her a look.

"Really? We're starting there?"

"Do you have a better explanation?" Malcolm asked patiently. Tommy opened his mouth for a second, then closed it and shook his head.

"Nope, works for me." He said. Once more the lights dimmed and the pad lit up. "Whoa, cool…"

Another figure appeared- a tall, well-built black man dressed in a dark suit. He stumbled, but instantly spun around looking for threats even as his hand went to his waist for his gun- which he found wasn't there.

"What the hell…" he looked down in confusion where his sidearm should be, then looked back up to the small assembled group, "Who are you people? What's going on here?"

Malcolm held up a placating hand, subtly moving in front of Tommy and Thea. "Easy there. My name is Malcolm Merlyn. We don't know what's going on, exactly. Up until this moment, I thought this may have something to do with our families, but I don't believe any of us know you." He looked back, the rest of them shook their heads. "All we know now is that all of us have been abducted, and we appear to be in the future." He put his hand down. "Now, who are you?"

"John Diggle." The man finally said. He looked at the other three people, and then spotted the Earth in the window. "Oh, my god…"

"Yeah, we had similar reactions," Tommy said, holding out his hand. "Tommy Merlyn."

Diggle grasped his hand. "Nice to meet you, I suppose."

"You a cop?"

"Private security consultant."

The platform lit up again, and once more two figures appeared in the blue-white light. When the light cleared, Quentin and Laurel Lance stood there. Laurel stumbled a bit and Quentin caught her, even as his hand went for his side arm- which wasn't there.

"Quentin!" Moira exclaimed.

"Moira Queen?" he asked in confusion, looking at the group. "What the hell is going on? Where are we?"

"You okay, Laurel?" Tommy asked, lending the lawyer a steadying hand. Laurel looked at him in confusion.

"Tommy? What's happening? Where are we?"

"No clue, and in a future space station, apparently."

"What?!" Quentin exclaimed. Moira put a calming hand on the cops shoulder.

"We don't know what's going on, or why we were all brought here."

"Well we all know each other," he started, and then looked at Diggle. "Except you. Who the hell are you?"

"John Diggle."

"Detective Quentin Lance, SCPD." His gaze was drawn to the window. "Oh, my god."

"Is that Earth?" Laurel asked, slightly breathless. Thea put a hand on her arm.

"Yeah. Kind of freaky, isn't it?" she said.

"I need a drink." Quentin declared, shaking his head.

"Me, too. Make mine a double." Thea said, drawing frowns from the adults. Laurel frowned at the girl.

"Thea, you're not even 21."

"And I'm a cop, young lady." Quentin added. "No underage drinking while I'm around."

Thea smirked. "The way I see it, if we're in the future, I'm probably over 21."

Tommy snorted. "I like the way you think, Speedy."

Laurel snorted in disgust. "If we are in the future, you could try to act like an adult for once, then."

The pad lit up, and once more he light discharged a new person. This one was a woman who appeared to be talking to herself.

"No Marv, just pull the hard drive and- wait. Hello?" the blond woman tapped at her earpiece, as if to re-establish the connection. "Hello? Marv…" her voice trailed off as she suddenly realized she wasn't in the same place she had been a few moments before. She slowly turned around to face a group of worried, but amused, people. "Hoo….boy,"

"Sister, I am right there with you." Thea said.

"Where am I? What's going- ooh, is that a fully-interactive holographic control panel?" she said suddenly, walking quickly past the group to the wall next to the door. She started fiddling with the panel, a delighted smile on her face. "Oh my god, it is! Oh, wow," she said, seeing the view of Earth for the first time. "I'm in space. This is a space station! But no floating, so that must mean- artificial gravity! Holy crap, I've died and gone to heaven!" she paused and looked back at the group in confusion. "but then, what are you all doing here?" she quickly realized how that must have sounded, so she hastily added, "Not that you wouldn't go to heaven, of course, because I'm sure most of you would- all of you would, I 'm jus saying that I always thought that Heaven was a personal thing, so what are all of you people, who I'm sure are nice and all, doing… 3,2,1." She took a breath. "Okay, getting a grip now."

Tommy laughed. "Look, Felicity-"

"Do I know you? Felicity asked suddenly, "How do you know my name?"

He pointed to her blouse, where her Queen Consolidated ID badge hung. "It's on your badge." She blushed.

"Of course it is…"

"All I'm trying to say is that you've taken this better than any of us." He held out his hand. "I'm Tommy, by the way. Tommy Merlyn." Both Thea and Laurel groaned.

"She's been here ten seconds and you're already trying to make a move. Smooth, Merlyn." Laurel said in disgust. Tommy looked affronted.

"I'm introducing myself!" he exclaimed.

Before Thea could offer her own opinion, the lights dimmed and the pad lit up again. Felicity gave another "Ooh!" as a final figure appeared. Once the pad died down, the man quickly spun around and crouched low, glancing around and assessing any threats. Malcolm took one look at him, and knew he was dangerous. Slowly he moved so that he was blocking both Felicity and Thea, even as Quentin moved in front of Moira and Laurel.

"What is this?" The man demanded. He was older, with streaks of grey in his hair and goatee; one eye peering dangerously as the other was covered by an eye patch. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Easy, friend," Malcolm started.

"I'm not your friend!" The man snarled back.

"And I'm not your enemy. None of us are." Malcolm replied. "We were all brought here by someone or something else…"

"Yeah?" the man said, standing up straight. He too was dressed in a tailored suit; though to Malcolm's practiced eye, he could tell how uncomfortable it made him feel. "Well why don't we find out who or what did this, so I can-"

"Do nothing."

The voice came from behind the group, and everyone spun around to see a peculiar sight. Standing in the now open door in profile was a person in green leather, a green hood pulled up over their head and obscuring their face. On her back was a quiver full of arrows, and a bow was slung across her chest. The man on the pad took a shocked breath.

"Shado?" he whispered. The figure shook her head.

"No, but she is one of those I honor by wearing this hood." She replied. Her voice was modulated, making it deeper and more masculine.

A handy trick, Malcolm thought. In a dark alley, or from a distance, one might mistake her for a man.

"My apologies for bringing you all here the way I did," she started. "Unfortunately I knew of no way to warn you beforehand. Without you thinking I was a crazy person, of course."

"What do you want with us?" Malcolm demanded. He could barely see a smile from on her lips under the hood.

"First, introductions are in order, as not everybody knows everybody here." She pointed to Diggle. "This is John Diggle. Former Army Special Forces, served three tours in Afghanistan, now works as a private security consultant." She pointed to Felicity, "Felicity Smoake, MIT class of 1999, well on her way to becoming head of the IT department at Queen Consolidated, and pretty much the smartest person in this room. Malcolm Merlyn," her finger moved over to the Merlyn men, "Head of Merlyn Global and wealthy philanthropist, among other things. Tommy Merlyn- Slut."

"Hey!" Tommy said in protest, even as Thea and Laurel laughed.

"Moira Queen, former wife of Robert Queen, former head of Queen Consolidated, current wife of Walter Steele, same job. She pretty much runs the Queen family on the social circuit." The woman continued. "Thea Queen, her daughter." The figure paused for a moment, seemingly lost in her thoughts. With a shake of her head, she continued. "Detective Quentin Lance, SCPD, and his daughter Laurel Lance, attorney for CNRI. And finally," her finger swung towards Slade, though this felt more like an accusing finger than simply pointing him out. "Slade Wilson. Former Australian Secret Intelligence Service, former survivor of Lian Yu, current business man and paid mercenary." Everyone turned to look at Slade, who himself looked surprised that someone knew what his night job was. "As to why you are here," the woman started, drawing their attention back to her, "You all represent key players in events that will soon be unfolding in your time- events I hope to change, for the better."

The group shared bewildered looks between them for a few moments before Laurel spoke. "What gives you the right to do this? What gives you the right to essentially play god?" she asked incredulously.

"And not to piss you off, "Thea added, "but why in the hell should we trust some whack-job in a green hood?"

The woman snorted in amusement. "Dinah Laurel Lance, you've never changed." She stated. "I've learned, over the years, that there are two kinds of people in this world- those who choose to act, and those choose not to. What give me the right is that I am choosing to act. I am choosing to believe that, by you all working together, you can craft a future for yourselves that is far better than the one you have now. And I choose to believe that, working together, we can save hundreds of lives that will be lost- many of you amongst them." She let that fact sink in, and then subtly turned towards Thea. "As to why you should trust a 'nutjob in a green hood', well," hesitantly she reached up to her chest and tapped, turning off the voice modulator. Then she reached up and drew down the mask that covered her eyes so that it hung around her neck. Finally, after another pause, she put the hood down and turned fully to face the group, many who gasped in shock.

"If you can't trust yourself," Thea Dearden Queen said with a wry grin, "who can you trust?"

FLASHBACK

"What gives you the right to do this? What gives you the right to essentially play god?" Dinah Laurel Lance practically snarled from her seat around the table. To her left sat the new Batman, Superman, and same old Martian Manhunter. To her right sat Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, and Wally West, also known as The Flash they made up the core members of the latest incarnation of the Justice League, to which Thea herself was a member. But while she was merely a worker, they made up the executive council, which means she had to sell her plan to them before she could even begin.

"Uh, technically we would." Wally said flippantly, earning a scowl. "Sorry."

"No you're not." Batman said with some amusement. Dick Grayson was as different from Bruce Wayne as night was from day, and that bled into his Batman personae at times. Still, he was deadly serious when he addressed her. "You do realize how risky messing with time travel is, don't you? You could make things worse."

Thea gave a snort of disgust. "How much worse could things get?"

"You want to save The Glades from your daddy's little plan." Dinah said acidly. Thea worked very hard to keep her emotions in check. These days, the only thing Laurel did was get under her skin. "That's very noble of you. But what's to say one of those people you save in the Glades won't be the next Adolph Hitler?"

"What's to say one of those people won't be the next Martin Luther King Jr.?" Thea countered in a reasonable tone. "I won't even draw comparisons to Einstein, because if this works, Felicity would be saved as well. Look, this isn't just about giving me a happy ending here," Thea continued, looking at each member individually. "Lord knows that everyone here would love to go back in time and change that one thing- but ultimately, that one thing is what made you who you are. I could be asking to go back and stop Ollie and Robert from getting on the Gambit. Or going back further and saving Rebecca's' life. But I'm not asking for that. I'm asking to bring certain people here and share certain pieces of knowledge that will let them make informed decisions, and in the process save countless innocent civilian lives that were needlessly lost-"

"Let's cut the bullshit, shall we?" Laurel snarled as she got up from her seat and stalked over to Thea. She stopped inches from the younger girl, and it took all of Thea's willpower not to attack the girl out of instinct. "If you want me to approve this idiotic idea, than I want you to admit to me, right now, that this is less about the hundreds of innocent people that could be saved, and more about the fact that you killed your brother."

END FLASHBACK

The group stood in stunned amazement, staring at the older Thea before them. Her hair was cut short in a pixie cut, and there were more than a few lines in her face, but she was clearly recognizable. More shocked than Moira or even Thea was Malcolm. The businessman had spent a lot of time with Moira over the past several years, but had spent very little time with her youngest child. The times he did see her he could clearly see Moira in her, but looking at Thea all grown up, staring back at him-

With his eyes.

Thea smirked as she saw Malcolm put the pieces together. The smirk softened into a smile as she looked at her mother's face for the first time in nearly twenty five years. "Hi, mom." She said, barely keeping her emotions in check.

"Thea, my g…" Moira started.

"Bullshit."

The elder Thea chuckled at her younger self's exclamation. "What's bullshit?"

"This. All of this," Thea started. "We've been drugged, and kidnapped, and this is part of some nutjobs grand plan, or something."

The elder Thea shook her head. "Nope. This is as real as it gets."

"Prove it." Her younger self demanded. "Tell me something only I would know."

"You sure you want me to do that?"

"Yes!"

"Okay," the elder Thea said with a sly smile that put her younger counterpart on edge. "Let's see, if my calculations were correct, and they were…" she snapped her fingers suddenly "A couple of days ago, from your perspective at least, you and Margo had a grand old time tripping off ecstasy at her house when her parent weren't there…"

"THEA DEARDEN QUEEN!" Moira exclaimed.

"Oh, shit…" Thea grumbled, shooting a glare at her older self, who just shrugged her shoulders. You asked. The look she gave her said.

"Geez, Speedy. You don't need to live up to your nickname, you know."

Thea spun and glared at the older boy. "Oh, this is rich. Please tell me that Tommy Merlyn, party boy extraordinaire isn't going to lecture me on what I do with my friends, considering all the things you used to do with Ollie."

"Hey, me and Ollie drank- A LOT." He emphasized. "And we occasionally smoked weed. But we never popped pills, or did any hard drugs. That kind of stuff can seriously mess you up, and if the cops catch you with it, money or not you'll spend some time in jail."

"When we get home young lady, you and I are going to have a long conversation." Moira said crossly, glaring at her daughter. Thea in turn glared at her older self.

"Narc."

"Nope, I'm just very particular what I put into my body these days. Speaking of which- Shane? Not worth your time." The younger girl sputtered indignantly as Moira looked horrified. The older girl turned around and started walking out of the room. "If you all would follow me, please. It's time to get started.

"Where exactly are we?" Felicity asked as they walked down the corridor.

"This is the Watchtower," Thea began. "It's in a geosynchronous orbit approximately 22,300 miles above Earth. It's the headquarters of the Justice League."

"What's that?" Tommy asked.

"This is going to be weird to hear, but right now, you all are living in the dawn of the age of the superheroes." She said as they walked. "Within the next five years, you are going to start hearing about both beings with tremendous powers, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I'm talking Amazons, aliens, Meta-humans… and ordinary people like me who put on a costume and a mask and try to protect people. For years we were just urban legends or myths. Occasionally we were hunted by the police. But fifteen years ago from this time, a massive alien invasion threatened earth. And the worlds individual heroes banded together to drive them back and save the planet."

"And there came a day," Felicity started, "a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. And on that day…"

"The Justice League was born." Thea finished with a smile. "Close enough, I suppose." She stopped at a door. "Here we go." She tapped the control panel and the door opened to reveal a comfortable sitting room. She led the group in and gestured towards the couches. "Make yourselves comfortable, and I'll explain what's going to happen."

As Tommy walked past the elder Thea, he stopped and turned to her. "So, Thea-" he started, and the younger girl looked over to him. He chuckled. "Okay, we need to call you something else, otherwise this is going to get real confusing, real fast."

"It's not confusing already?" Thea joked. "Well, I suppose you could call me Malika Sihème." She said,

"What kind of name is that?"

"It's the name I took after I completed my training." She smirked at Malcolm, whose head had whipped around to stare at her. "It means Queen Arrow."

"O-kay, that's weird." Tommy said. Thea laughed.

"I missed you Tommy," she said, placing a hand on his arm. "But call me Mia. Mia Dearden was a cover identity I created about ten years ago. That should work."

"Okay, Mia it is." Tommy said, his eyes twinkling. "So, what did you and Margo get up to…"

Mia's smile turned into a smirk. "Tommy, in about five minutes, you are going to realize how horribly inappropriate that question was." She pointed towards the seats. "Sit."

Everyone sat down, with the Queens, Lances and Merlyns taking a couch each, Leaving Dig and Felicity to share a couch. Slade opted to sit in one of the chairs off to the side, so he could observe everybody in the room. After they settled down, Mia started speaking.

"I told you I brought you here to change the future. Now I will tell you how. After the League was formed, Superman had an idea. Well, Batman had an idea that he managed to pass off through Superman. The thought was that, sometime in the future, historians would look back and wonder how the Justice League came about. What made these people into superheroes? How did they become more than just a man, or woman?

"Using Kryptonian technology, a device was constructed that allowed each member to record their memories in a visual medium. These memories, enhanced with eye witness reports, written articles and diary entries in some cases, give a fully comprehensive look into the hero's journey. The end result is a fully visualized record that a historian could watch, like a movie or a TV show. This is what you'll be watching."

"What, we'll be seeing you become a hero?" Thea asked. Mia shook her head.

"No, you'll be watching Ollie becoming a hero."

There was a stunned silence as they all stared at her. "Oliver?" Moira whispered. Mia smiled.

"Yes, mom, Oliver is alive. He'll be found about six months from when I took you from. When he returns to Starling City, he'll pick up the bow and the hood and begin to do what Dad asked him to do- right the wrongs our families have perpetrated on the city."

Moira shot to her feet. "Robert…" she asked hopefully, but her face fell as Mia shook her head sadly.

"He didn't survive. But Oliver did." Mia walked up to the screen in the wall, staring into the dark glass. She took a breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do. "Secrets and lies. They are the stock and trade for the Queen family." She scoffed slightly to herself. "The Merlyn family, too for that matter. Secrets and lies destroyed us all- destroyed me." She turned around to face them all. "That ends today. So much pain and suffering could have been prevented if we all just told each other the truth. But all of us were so used to lying that we never did. Well, no more." She said harshly. "You all will see the first two years of Oliver's' journey to becoming a hero. You'll see his triumphs, and his tragedies." Her gaze lingered on Tommy a moment before she continued. "You will see all the choices he had to make, and all the enemies he had to fight." This time she looked first at Slade, then at Malcolm. Then she looked at her mother. She marveled for a moment at the fact that she was near the same age as her right now, but then her gaze hardened. "All your secrets will be laid bare. All the secrets and lies exposed. So when I send you back, you all can make an informed decision- whether all your plans, and all your plots, actually made things better- or worse. And maybe, just maybe, you can learn from your mistakes here, and make things better when you go home."

"What gives you the right to air our secrets in the open like this?" Moira snarled, both in anger and in fear. "Some things need to stay hidden to protect people!"

Mia stalked up to her mother, who to her credit didn't back down. "Do I look like a well-adjusted woman to you, Mom?" she snarled in return. "Within ten years I lose EVERYTHING! All of my family, DEAD! And it started here, with Oliver's return! Do you understand that, mother? I lost you, I lost my brothers, and I lost my fathers." She emphasized, and Moira's eyes widened. Silently she pleaded with the woman not to reveal her biggest secret, but Mia shook her head. "She's going to find out. HE'S going to find out, as will everyone else who hasn't realized it yet."

"Realized what?" Laurel asked in confusion.

"That Mr. Merlyn there is Thea's daddy." Slade said, leaning back and enjoying the show. When he promised to take everything Oliver loved away from him, he had no idea that those things would do it to themselves.

"What?" Thea whispered.

Tommy looked at Thea, then Mia, then his dad. He looked back and forth between the two for a moment before the resemblance finally hit home. "Dad?"

"Is there something you forgot to tell me, Moira?" Malcolm asked with an edge to his voice. Moira sighed, and then looked to her younger daughter.

"Robert was a good man, Thea. He just wasn't always a good husband." She started, sitting down and taking Thea's hand in hers. Thea didn't resist, still stunned. "He liked younger women, and occasionally he'd strike up a romance with them. I tolerated it for years, but one time, it became too much for me to bear. I was lonely, and I was angry, and I was hurt. Malcolm had just lost his wife, Rebecca. He came over one day to see Robert, who was off with his latest conquest, and one thing led to another…"

"Oh, god." Thea moaned, putting her head down.

"It was one time, Thea. After that, Malcolm left for two years, and your father and I reconciled. And make no mistake, Robert was your father."

"Yeah, because he didn't know I wasn't his!" Thea said hotly.

"Yes he did." Mia had spoken quietly, but she gained everyone's attention. "Dad knew. Kind of hard not to when you have dark hair and everyone else in the family is blonde, I suppose. But he knew; he just didn't care. To him, you were his daughter and he loved you- loved us. If you doubt anything else you see here, NEVER doubt that." She turned then to Malcolm. "As for why Mom never told you, you know damn well why. And by the end of this, so will everyone else. So give her a break, give Mini-Me some space, and pray everything works out for the best." She sighed. "Now, I'll be in a control room down the hall. I'll load each memory sequence, and then you will control it." She picked up a familiar looking remote control that was sitting on a small table in front of the couches. "This is like your standard Blu-ray player remote. "Play to play, pause to pause, stop to stop. If you need anything, or if you want to call it a night, press the call button on the table and someone- usually me- will come in. I have rooms set aside for everyone to bed down."

"How long are we looking to stay here?" Diggle asked.

"Yeah, some people here have jobs," Tommy started. Still stunned by the revelation he had a sister. At the incredulous looks he received, he hastily added "Not me, but Laurel, and Detective Lance, and-"

"Everyone else in the room." Mia finished dryly. "This will take several days. But remember- this is time travel. I can send you back five minutes from when I picked you up." She looked at Felicity and Diggle, who still looked confused as to why they were there. "I know the two of you are even more confused than everyone else here, but trust me. You two are very important." She paused, and then turned back to Tommy. "Blonde or Brunette?" she asked wryly.

"Redhead." Tommy said with a smirk. "Twins."

"Oh, for god's sake Tommy!" Thea and Laurel exclaimed almost at the same time. Tommy gave them both a smile, which quickly turned to a look of distress as he looked at Thea- his sister. Mia noticed and laughed out loud.

"Told you so." She smirked. She turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. "One last thing, Malcolm, Mr. Wilson. We have a very strict 'No Violence' policy on this station. Now, we'll be monitoring the room in case you need anything, but if we see any type of fight start, we will shut it down. Now, Slade," she turned to look at Slade directly. "My brother always believed that you could be saved. He always thought that, deep down inside of you, was the good man who helped save his life. Me?" she waggled her hand from side to side. "I give you about a fifty/fifty chance." She bent down so that they were face to face. "Make no mistake, the only reason you are here is because I thought my brother would want it this way. He would want to give you a chance. But if you, in any way, decide to carry out your vendetta here; if you make even the slightest move to hurt anybody in this room, or on this station, then I will CUT OFF YOUR FUCKING HEAD. AGAIN."

The room was dead silent at Mia's announcement. Thea looked shocked and sick, as did Moira. Malcolm, on the other hand, looked on proudly. Slade smirked.

"I'll give you no trouble, kid." He said after a minute. Mia smirked, then rose and turned to walk out. "You'd do it, too. Wouldn't you?" he asked.

She stopped and looked back at him, then at Malcolm. "What can I say? I guess I got a bit of my father in me." With that, she walked out, the door closing behind her.

Author's Note:

Well, hello there! Guess who's' back? Now I know that many of you were hoping to get an update on Finding Avalon, and maybe one or two were looking for the final chapter of New Jedi Order. Well, I'm sorry to say that those stories are on hold for the immediate future. The reason? In part, this story.

(Revised note: Oops. Well, you got a chapter of Finding Avalon, at least!)

A little behind the scenes for you all. When I get involved in a fandom, be it Stargate, BSG, or Star Wars, I go all in. I immerse myself in the show, in the books, in the comics. And when I get a story idea, I will weave all of the knowledge I have accumulated into that story. But after a while, I just get burned out. I haven't finished NJO because I got burned out on Star Wars (but, with a new movie coming, that may change in the near future). With Startgate and BSG, the shows ended, and I wasn't as invested in it anymore. Add to that work, and debt, and all of those fun adult things that we all love- well, writing just wasn't fun anymore. And I just wasn't motivated to write.

But then Arrow started. And it took me to the middle of the second season, but I really got into it. I loved the characters, I loved the stories, and I loved the world it created. And I started reading the fan fiction inspired by it, and I in turn was inspired. Specifically by a story by Revenant-Commander called 'A Selective Gathering'. I hadn't read a 'characters watch the series' or 'character read the books they are in' story in a few years, and I gave it a shot. And even with only two chapters, I loved it. And then I started thinking about my own 'characters watch the show' story.

And so we have this story. I owe Revenant-Commander a debt of thanks for re-igniting my love of writing.

I'm going to try to keep updates regular at one chapter a week. I plan to have most of the first season in the can before I begin posting. This story will cover the first two seasons of Arrow, and then I have a sequel planned to follow the events of this story. Just a note, there will be one event at the very end that will differ from what aired. And after these two, I've had an idea for a Buffy/DC crossover that I might try to finally get out.

Finally, I'd like to say that, for the episodes themselves, I may end up leaving out some scenes here or there. The reason for that is that I want there always to be a, for lack of a better term, plausible reason for every piece of 'footage' to exist. If there is a meeting between two bad guys, if I could reason that somewhere was a camera recording the event that was recovered later, than I will use it. If not, the events in the scenes will be inferred latter.

The hardest part of writing this story, I've found, is actually transcribing the episodes themselves. I have pulled transcripts of the dialogue off of this site: springfieldspringfield DOT co DOT uk SLAHS episode_ ?tv-show=arrow

Those transcripts seem to be the Closed Captioning from the shows.