The Starling Saviour

Chapter 50

'I'm leaving the city,' Leyla announced when we arrived outside her hideout, a sad tone to her voice.

'Where will you go?' I asked her with intrigue.

'I've been recruited,' Leyla went on to explain. 'Rip Hunter and his team of 'Legends', as they call themselves, wanted me to join them. Apparently, when I stopped you from killing Merlyn, I showed great potential.'

They were right; Leyla had stepped out of her interests and had gone against her beliefs so I could stay the good human being everyone seemed to think I was.

'What about Rose?' I inquired. 'Do you know what happened to her? She was in the... I think it was called the Waverider, last time I saw her.'

'She actually decided to move to Central City,' Leyla told me proudly. 'As a reporter for the Central City Picture News.'

'She's fulfilling her timeline,' I slightly gasped. 'She was supposed to be a receptionist at S.T.A.R. Labs in our original timeline, but instead she's gone to Central City under slightly different circumstances.'

'Good,' Leyla smiled widely for the first time since she had showed up to Starling City. 'I now understand the importance of keeping the timeline on track, and we seem to be clearing up our messes. All three of us.'

'I just hope I don't do anything to mess up time in the future,' I worried.

'You may have been on a slippery slope ever since you went on the Queen's Gambit, but you're gradually fighting it,' Leyla smiled at my achievement. 'And I'm not just making that up; I checked with Gideon.'

'Who's... Gideon?' I wondered, slightly confused.

'She's an- a crew member on the Waverider,' Leyla explained hastily, before the actual Waverider landed before us. 'Goodbye, Aria.'

Leyla took me into a hug, leaving as slowly as she could.

'Look after my home while I'm gone,' my sister bestowed upon me her sacred keys to the hideout.

'What about your clients?' I remembered her telling me people would casually pop by the house from time to time.

'Just before you moved in, I made sure they all knew I was... Retiring from being a Private Investigator,' Leyla told me, it making sense now as to why no one had turned up while I had been there. 'And if they do, politely tell them to get the hell away.'

'You'l be back soon?' I asked my sister hopefully, not wanting to have to deal with any of her ex-clients.

'I'm going to be on a timeship, Aria, I'll be back soon,' Leyla smiled reassuringly.

But that was a promise she could never keep.

---

'What did I miss?' I asked as I entered the Arrowcave the next evening.

'While you wouldn't answer any of my calls last night, I found out that the Black Hawk Squad Protection Group, Ted Gaynor's organisation, are part of the recent tear gas attacks that have been going on round the city,' Oliver retold his investigation to me.

'I have a life of my own, Oliver,' I responded, slightly ticked off at his expectation that I would drop everything and cater to his every whim. 'I'm not just your disposable sidekick.'

'I know, it's just...' he started with a concerned voice. 'Dig was recruited into Black Hawk.'

'Why would he even think about joining them?' I inquired with just as much concern.