The Mantle of the Canary: Watching Sara Lance

Keep Your Enemies Closer (2x06)

PSA: the next few chapters will only include flashbacks along with a few scenes important to Sara's future. I will not have them react to the Flash origin because this isn't his story it's hers. Ok back to the show!

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Five Years Ago

Once again Oliver found himself staring up impossibly at the face of his girlfriend's sister.

"Okay good." Cisco rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "I don't want it to cut away again."

"Sara..." he whispered as she looked back at him. Suddenly a door opened, and Sara moved back, allowing Ivo to walk past her.

"My name's Ivo." He said by way of greeting. "What's your name?"

Oliver looked past Ivo at Sara, who subtly shook her head. "Tommy." He said after a moment's hesitation.

"Hey! That's me!!" Tommy grinned his face lighting up with childlike glee.

"So. How did you come to be on this island, Tommy?" Ivo asked. "I assume it wasn't by choice."

"No!" Thea exclaimed scaring most of the audience, "I chose to vacation on an island called Purgatory. Duh!"

"My, uh boat was shipwrecked here." Oliver said haltingly, still looking at Sara. "And I was the only survivor."

"To be fair up until about 30 seconds ago I thought that was true." Oliver defended.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Ivo said, picking a notebook up from his desk. "Did you explore the island much?"

"Some of it." Oliver admitted. "Why?"

"You didn't happen to run across a Japanese Imperial Navy submarine, did you?" Ivo asked, looking at Oliver.

"That is so specific." Roy commented, "normally bad guys or girls." He caught himself, "are really annoyingly vague."

At his nonplussed expression, Ivo decided to elaborate. "During World War II, every country was trying to develop the ultimate weapon." He began. "The United States had the Manhattan Project, of course; the Nazis had das Uranverein. And the Japanese, well, they had Mirakuru."

"Stem cell and genetic therapies, decades ahead of their time." Sara explained.

"She's certainly learned a lot." Laurel said.

"Every war advances the cause of science." Ivo continued. "And the Japanese, they had developed a serum that caused increased strength. Rapid cell regeneration. They called it Mirakuru."

"Miracle." Sara translated.

"Thought they could create an army of super soldiers." Ivo noted wryly. "They were transporting their only supply via submarine when that sub came under heavy fire by the allied forces. And it ran aground in this chain of islands." Ivo stood and walked over to Oliver. "Thanks to you... we now know it's this island."

"How would he know that?" Laurel asked confused.

"I don't know." Oliver muttered, "bad guy intuition?"

"Did you just...make a joke?" Tommy asked appalled.

Oliver glared up at the scientist. "You killed my friends." He hissed.

"How many people were on this island?!" Thea asked.

"Too many." Oliver informed.

"Which means it's up to you," Ivo countered benignly, "To help us find that sub."