Arrow: Leagues at War

Chapter 16: Oliver

I listen to Thea and Artemis walk upstairs talking about clothes and shopping. When they're gone I turn my attention to Felicity.

"So I did some digging and it wasn't easy, the file was redacted and buried under layers upon layers of encryption. But here it is." She says as she hands me her tablet. I take a look.

"Most of this is blacked out." I say.

"Yes. It's a redacted file. They black it out so no one without proper authorization can read it." Felicity says. I look at her.

"I couldn't hack past it Oliver. Sorry." She says.

"It's fine. I have enough info now." I say as I hand her the tablet and head for the stairs.

"Oliver!" Felicity says. I stop and turn to face her.

"It says that her birthday is in three and a half weeks." She says.

"Really?" I ask. Felicity nods. I smile as a plan starts forming in my head.

"Oliver?" I look at Felicity.

"I had an idea. Where's Dig?" I ask.

"Upstairs. He and Lyla brought dinner." She says.

"Great. See you up there." I say as I rush up the stairs.

"John. We need to talk." I say as I walk in the door.

"Come on I just sat down to eat." He says.

"Okay so bring your plate." I say. He sighs, then grabs his plate and stands up.

"Hi Lyla." I say.

"Oliver. There's a plate waiting for you in the kitchen." She says. John and I walk away from the table.

"What is it?" He asks.

"Felicity managed to find her birth certificate." I say.

"Okay. But couldn't she have just asked her mom?" He asks.

"No she found Artemis's birth certificate. Her birthday is in three and a half weeks, I was thinking of telling her about adopting her then." I say. John sets his plate down.

"Speaking of Artemis." He says as he walks back towards the table. He comes back a minute later with a large stack of papers.

"What's this?" I ask as he hands it to me.

"Adoption papers. You have to read all of these. Then you have to sign a few times and send it back and whala you just adopted someone." He says. I look down at the stack of papers.

"All of these?" I ask. John nods.

"Every one of them." He says.

"How many pages are there?" I ask.

"About one hundred or so." He says. I groan.

"And you have three and a half weeks to finish. Have fun." He says as he gives me a pat on the shoulder. We walk back to the table and sit.

"What's with the papers?" Artemis asks.

"It's mayoral stuff." I say. She nods then takes a bite of food.

"Mrs. Diggle this is really delicious. Thank you." She says.

"Oh it's Lyla, and you don't have to thank me." Lyla says.

"It's just where I'm from we hardly, if ever, have homecooked meals, so thank you for taking time to make something for us all to enjoy." Artemis says. Lyla smiles.

"Where are you from. . .?" Lyla trails off.

"Artemis." Artemis says. Lyla nods.

"I've been in Gotham for most of my life. But no one really knows where I was born." Artemis says.

"What do you mean?" Lyla asks. Artemis looks down at her plate. John leans over to Lyla.

"Artemis is an orphan." I hear him whisper.

"Oh." Lyla says softly. I clear my throat.

"Artemis, did you have time to think about the offer?" I ask. She nods.

"I'm in." She says.

"Offer? What offer?" Felicity asks.

"Oliver offered me a place on your team. I'm guessing it's so he can keep an eye on me while I recover." Artemis says.

"That's exactly why." I say. Felicity smiles.

"That's a wonderful idea. Of course someone will have to pick you up from school if we have a mission." She says.

"I don't think that'll be a problem. I do my work online." Artemis says quickly.

"Okay. What about a codename?" Felicity asks.

"Artemis." Artemis says.

"You sure you want to use your name?" Thea asks.

"Is there a problem with useing my name?" Artemis asks. I sigh as everyone starts arguing.