Brave New World: Arrow

Chapter 26

"Okay, this place is nice." Laurel said as she, Oliver and John helped Thea and Roy move their things into the new penthouse Thea had bought in Ivy Town.

"Thanks. I have to admit, it does remind me of the loft I had in Star City before I got stabbed." Thea said.

"Right, then you downgraded to staying at Laurel's old apartment. No offense." Oliver said to his girlfriend.

"None taken, you're right. Considering the way she grew up, I was surprised she didn't just buy a new penthouse." Laurel said, jumping on the teasing Speedy train.

"Very funny." Thea said.

"So, where's Nyssa?" John asked, changing the subject, since they knew that the former heir to the demon had also moved to Ivy Town to help Thea and Roy.

"Getting her own place set up. I offered to let her stay with us, but something tells me that she's going to be enjoying her freedom from the League in a way that we don't want her doing here." Thea said.

"Sounds like her." Oliver agreed.

"How is she affording things, since while I know that the League funds her, she'll still need a cover, since she can't just sit around all day." John asked.

"She's starting her own private investigator office." Roy answered.

"That's actually a good idea for her, since we all know how effective she is at finding out information." Oliver said.

"Yep." Roy said.

"So, how often do you think you'll actually be here, since aren't you still working for Argus?" Oliver asked Roy.

"I talked to Lyla and she agreed to keep me local. I've honestly had my fill of world travelling for a while." Roy said.

"I don't blame you. But doesn't that mean you're pretty much stuck on desk duty." Oliver said and Roy shrugged.

"Even so, I have being Arsenal to get that action packed adrenaline rush." Roy pointed out.

"Fair enough." Oliver said with a chuckle.

"Have you guys picked out a base yet?" John asked and Thea nodded.

"I'm taking a page out of Sara's book, using an abandoned clock tower as my base of operations." Thea said.

"And do you have a genius to run it yet, since I can't really spare Felicity and I doubt Barry will send you Cisco." Oliver said.

"Funny you should mention that." Thea said as the elevator in the apartment went off and Ryan Choi walked out of it.

"Dr. Choi." Oliver said.

"Mr. Queen. It's nice to see you again. Especially since now you actually sound like a normal person. Though that Sith look you had going on was pretty cool." Ryan said and Oliver chuckled.

"Never mention that around Cisco Ramon or Ray Palmer. I'll never hear the end of it." Oliver said.

"He's not wrong." John agreed.

"Sorry. But you do look better than the last time I saw you." Ryan said as Oliver held out his hand, which Ryan shook.

"Comes with actually still being alive. And I was hoping that you'd agree to be Thea's tech support." Oliver said.

"Honestly, I have to admit, ever since I helped reboot the universe, just being a simple professor has gotten kind of boring." Ryan said.

"I figured as much. That's why I told Thea to reach out to you when she told me she was moving to Ivy Town." Oliver said.

"Well thank you for that. But I really hope that you have someone else to design a base, since that's not really my area of expertise." Ryan said.

"Already reached out to Cisco on that." Thea assured him.

"Good. No one I trust to build a superhero base more than him." Oliver said, right as his phone rang.

"Hey Felicity, what's up?" Oliver asked as he went to a separate part of the apartment.

"The Dragon is free." Felicity said simply.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Our system just got word that despite our best efforts, Diaz has been released from prison." Felicity said.

"Do you have him under surveillance?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, and I've already caught him meeting up with one of his associates from the old universe. Lydia Cassamento." Felicity said.

"The Quadrant. Maybe we can make this work for us." Oliver said.

"What do you mean?" Felicity asked.

"We use him to track down the rest of the Quadrant and take them down, since honestly, they are way too dangerous to be allowed to remain active like they did before." Oliver said.

"To be fair, they went underground after Diaz failed to keep control of the city and then we were busy with you being in prison and the team going their separate ways and then you got out and the team got deputized and we started fighting the Ninth Circle, they kind of fell through the cracks." Felicity said.

"Make sure Dinah, Rene and Quentin are all made aware of this." Oliver said.

"They're all running down leads on Diaz now." Felicity said.

"Okay, John, Laurel and I will be back as soon as we can." Oliver said as he hung up.

"Everything okay?" John asked as Oliver reentered the room.

"We need to get back to Star City now." Oliver said.

"What's going on?" Thea asked, since she thought her brother and his team would stay a bit longer.

"Just got a call from Felicity. Diaz is free." Oliver said.

"How the hell is that possible?" John asked.

"I don't know, but we need to get back so we can put his ass in the ground where it belongs." Oliver said.

"I'll call Lyla, see if she can get us any more details." John said.

"Let me know if you need any help. I still owe Diaz from when he had his cops work me over." Roy said.

"No one kills the bastard but me." Oliver said, making it clear that it was final.

"Okay, I can't wait to finally meet the bastard who did what my dad has been dreaming of doing for years. Getting Ollie locked up for life." Laurel said, trying to lighten the mood, since she'd heard about Diaz and she knew what a problem he was.

"As if we didn't have enough going on with Slade and Emiko being in Star City." Oliver said.

"Go. Roy and I can finish unpacking and I'll explain things to mom if she gets upset." Thea said.

"Where is she?" Laurel asked.

"Helping Nyssa design her apartment and her new private detective office." Thea said as they nodded before heading out.

"You want to stick around and help us unpack?" Thea asked Ryan.

"Love too, but I really only came by to meet your brother, but I need to get home, especially since I doubt my wife will approve of me just showing up at one of my students' homes, especially since you're not a physics student." Ryan said as he walked out too.

"So, now that they're gone, shall we break in our new apartment properly?" Roy asked as Thea smacked his chest.

"While I like you're thinking, get your head out of the gutter, since my mom could walk in at any minute, since I doubt she wants to walk in on one of her kids having sex. She got enough of that with Ollie." Thea said.

"Fair point." Roy admitted.

"Don't worry, there's always tonight." Thea assured him as they resumed unpacking.