My name is Oliver Queen

Nyssa rose and shifted Connor on her hip. “I dismissed her and stayed with the boy. I have something that you need to see,” Nyssa reached with her free hand and offered up a flash drive. “You know as well as I that my father was not a trusting man and while the League may appear to be more archaic, he appreciated being able to see into the more sensitive areas of the compound. Your sister and Laurel have chosen to involve themselves in areas that they cannot hope to understand.”

Oliver frowned and took the drive before retrieving his laptop. “Thea said she went with Laurel to a spa out of the city. Made a whole weekend of it.”

“I don’t believe Nanda Parbat qualifies as a spa,” The drive booted up and showed multiple video files from the past week. Opening the first video caused a pit to form in his stomach as he recognized the Lazarus Pit and saw the corpse being lowered into the water by Laurel and Thea. His breathing hauled as he waited and for a moment, it seemed the pit had no effect. As he was about to exhale, Sara exploded out of the pit to be sedated.

“No…No!”

“They were warned not only by myself but by Malcolm. When he gave into his daughter’s wish, I tried to stop them to no avail. I am deeply sorry but I believe you should know. Sara is alive but she is far from whole.”

The other clips showed Sara, still in the clothing she’d been wearing when she died, being restrained in chains. Everything about the way she moved reminded him of Thea when she came out of the pit. That initial bloodlust. 

“It’s been over a year…” he trailed off and stopped himself from reaching out to touch the screen. “Connor…he had a party just a couple weeks ago. His first birthday…” The toddler reached for him and Oliver took him from Nyssa. He glanced at the screen and reached with his little hand.

“Mama!”

Oliver hugged him close.“Yeah, buddy, that's Mama. We're going to help her.” 

“There's one more that you need to see but I don't believe she would want him to see it.” 

She wouldn't have wanted him to see or go through any of it but there they were. “Do you mind taking him? It's almost time for him to be in bed anyway.”

With a nod, Nyssa took the toddler back and carried him to his nursery, leaving Oliver alone with the flash drive and the last video on the drive.

This one was from a different location full of concrete and steel; Sara was hunched over, still in chains wrapped around a pipe. Another familiar figure appeared, gun in hand pointed right at her head. Horror rushed through every ounce of his body mixed with fear for the woman he loved. The audio was tinny but he could hear Quentin apologizing as he closed his eyes, finger shaking on the trigger. Bile rose in his throat at the thought of what Quentin was about to do to his own child and the knowledge of what he was about to witness happen all over again. And just like the last time, he wasn't there to stop it. He wasn't there to protect her, not even from her own father. But the gun shot never came and tears slid down his cheeks as he focused on Sara, still alive, still breathing as the clip ended. 

It took a moment as he dried his eyes and compartmentalized what he had just seen before he was able to take a more critical look at the videos. All of them were from within the last week and a half with the footage from the last clip being dated for just a few days before. 

“I went down into that basement to try to find her once I saw the video but she was no longer there,” Nyssa came back into the room just as Felicity’s name popped up on his phone. He answered and put it right to the speaker. 

“Yeah?”

“Hey! We’ve got a Code 47 at a nightclub on Ninth. A blonde woman going cray cray,” Oliver and Nyssa shared a look, “and since I'm down here, it's probably the blonde woman we've been looking for.”

“I’ll be right there.”

~~~

The screaming caused the DJ to stop the music and made it easier to spot the blonde in the crowd as they gave room to her and the victim. 

Oliver fired an arrow to disarm her only for Sara to turn towards him with a growl. Despite the footage he had seen, it still caught him by surprise. And in the time it took to reach for the tranquilizer arrow he’d brought, intending to bring her back with him, she ran into the night. 

~~~

“Given that the mother of my child is alive and running around Pennytown hurting people, you two spent your spa weekend at Nanda Parbat?” Oliver returned his bow to the case and turned to face the two in question.

“It was the only place we could get a reservation,” Thea attempted to joke. 

Oliver frowned. “The blood lust is worse with Sara, isn't it? Because you brought her back from death after over a year of her being gone?”

“That’s not the only problem; she’s changed.”

He tried to keep his voice calm, “Why didn't you come to me with this?”

Laurel scoffed. “Come to you for what? Your expertise with magical resurrection? Or that judgmental look on your face?”

“For help finding her!” The anger he had been battling since seeing the footage Nyssa delivered started to boil over, “Or to remind you that this was ridiculous and you shouldn’t have done it in the first place! Thea of all people understands exactly what the Lazarus Pit does to someone near death, let alone someone who's been gone for that long. And now,” he glared at the two of them, “you both chose to put the mother of your nephew, your sister, through that?!”

“So it’s okay for you to take Thea there? But not Sara? You hypocrite!”

“Thea wasn’t dead! Sara was!”

Laurel scoffed again and shook her head, “Oh come down off your judgmental high horse and stop acting like you’re not even a little bit happy that she’s here. That you’re not happy she’s alive again and that this time we can do something to help her.”

“You played with forces that you do not understand, and now people are dying because of it. The lives that Sara takes right now are on you,” Oliver’s voice dropped to a growl. “There’s consequences for playing with those forces and now, other people AND Sara are paying them!” He stormed away from them. 

There was a call he needed to make.

~~~

Of course he didn’t answer.

Oliver couldn’t even guarantee he was in an area where he could answer the call but it was worth a shot to try to call in the favor he was owed. If it in any way could help Sara, it would be worth it. 

While he waited on the man to return the phone call, he and the team focused on finding Sara. Looking for any connection her victims may have shared. The man she’d killed…it had fit her M.O. from when she’d first arrived back in Starling to check on her family. According to the victim, Sara had saved her from being attacked before attacking the woman herself.

It had taken pulling up and analyzing pictures of both of the women involved before the connection appeared. 

Each woman Sara had attacked looked similar to Thea.

Oliver’s phone rang but one glance told him it wasn’t the number he was waiting on. Instead, it was Starling General. 

~~~

As soon as Thea started to come around and tried to sit up in the hospital bed, Oliver was right there. “Hey, hey, easy.”

Thea cleared her throat and shifted to try to get comfortable. “Sara…she…”

“I know. It’s okay, you’re safe.”

“She tried to kill me.”

“She’s not in her right mind right now thanks to the Pit.”

Thea frowned. “Just like I am…”

“Thea…”

“The bloodlust…it flared while we were there and Malcolm…he…”

Before the conversation could continue, the door to Thea’s room opened as Laurel rushed in. Oliver’s eyes narrowed as she rushed to Thea’s bedside. 

“I’m sorry, Speedy,” he kept his voice level as he turned his attention away from his sister. “Laurel, can I speak with you outside?” Laurel frowned but followed him into the hallway. As soon as the door closed, he spoke again, keeping his voice low. “Not only is Thea in the hospital but Merlyn is influencing her again?”

Laurel looked confused. “What?”

“Just that another thing that happened on your little secret trip to Nanda Parbat.”

Laurel frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “Hey! I didn't tell you that I took my sister to Nanda Parbat because I knew that you wouldn't approve.”

“Of course I wouldn’t! Nyssa warned you about what would happen. The Pit has never been used like that and you refused to listen to her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you took Thea?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It's the hypocrisy that I can't stand! What? It's ok for you to do whatever you have to for your sister, but it's not ok for me to do the same to mine?“

“Thea was still alive; Sara wasn’t. Sara hasn’t been for a while now. Or did you think I forgot about that anniversary while I was throwing your nephew’s birthday party? You desecrated her grave and exhumed her corpse for what? To be held hostage so you could act like everything would be okay?”

“She wouldn’t have had to miss his birthday if yiu would've told me. But you didn’t…you never tell me because you don’t see me as an equal.”

“Because training with Ted Grant for a few weeks puts you on equal footing?”

“See? That’s what I’m talking about! You don’t see me as an equal and you never have. You never would have told me that there was a way to save my sister. And now my sister’s out of her mind because of a decision I made. Did you ever just stop and think for one second about what I might be going through?” She took a step back, “I'm sorry about what happened to Thea. I really am. I love your family; I always have. I just wish that sometimes you would give a damn about mine.”

That sentence froze Oliver to his core. How often had he as the Hood and then as the Arrow looked out for her, for Quentin? “Since I have been back, I have always looked after your family. I am still looking after your family. And now I have to save your family. Again.”

He felt the heat of Laurel's glare before she walked away.

~~~

Once Oliver was sure that Thea was resting, he took a moment to step out to call and check in on his son. When he returned, he found Laurel waiting outside the room. “I didn't know you were still here.”

“I wanted to make sure Thea was okay.”

Oliver glanced towards the door. “She's sleeping.”

“About what I said before…”

Before she could continue that thought, noise inside the room caught both of their attention. “Thea!” He called as his baby sister was tossed towards him and the form of Sara disappeared out the hospital window.

~~~

Much to the doctor's displeasure, Thea managed to get them to release her with strict orders for Oliver to watch over her. As soon as she was free, he texted the team to meet them at the bunker and called Nyssa to have her bring Connor there. If the plan that was starting to take shape in his mind worked, it wouldn’t be long before they would have Sara back. 

When they arrived, they all gathered around the table, including Nyssa.

“Your housekeeper would’ve made a very formidable warrior in my father’s house,” she stated as she claimed a seat. “She nearly risked herself trying to stop me from bringing the boy.”

“Why is she here?”

“She’s helping,” Oliver cut them off before it could turn into an argument; that was the last thing they needed right now. “At the hospital, I looked into Sara’s eyes; she wasn’t there. Nyssa, you described it as she wasn’t whole.”

“The pit was never meant to be used on the dead. While it restored her body, it failed to restore her soul.”

“We still need to find her.”

The compromise, whether Oliver liked it or not, became using Thea and the connection the pit had forged between them to lure Sara to them. They headed back to what was left of Verdant, each member of the team taking their place while Thea walked through what remained of her night club. Thea barely made it down the stairs to the floor before Sara attacked. 

Oliver dropped down quickly, ordering Laurel to get Thea out of there. It distracted the blonde for a moment, the two engaging in a fight of their own before Sara targeted Laurel, only for Laurel to pull a gun on what remained of her sister.

He didn’t hesitate, drawing and firing the tranquilizer arrow into Sara’s shoulder. Laurel kept the gun trained on her, “You said she didn’t have a soul.”

“So let’s get it back,” he commented and pulled out his phone, trying the phone call again and hoping the man on the other end would be able to answer. 

“How quickly can you get to Star City? I need your help.”

~~~~

When they arrived back at the bunker, Oliver carried her inside and down the elevator, laying her gently on one of the tables as John Constantine explained the plan and handed Felicity the list of things he would need. As the team worked to gather the supplies, he took the time to change out of his suit and check on Connor in the safe room. 

“Sara is safe?” Nyssa asked, perched in the rocking chair. 

“She will be. An old friend has the ability to restore her soul; they’re preparing the spell now.”

She rose. “Then my work here is done.”

“Don’t you want to see her?”

“I’ll allow that to be her choice in time. The last I saw of her, she was prepared to return to you with the boy. I shall respect that choice,” she moved to the doorway and paused before crossing the threshold. “Take care of them both.”

Oliver nodded. “Thank you, Nyssa.”

As she left through the back entrance to the bunker, he checked to ensure Connor was still sleeping soundly in the play pin. If all went well, it would be the last time he would sleep without Sara in his life.