Chapter Text
Oliver had just finished a workout with Diggle when he went upstairs to handle the business aspect of Verdant. He misted it when Tommy had handled it all, he was a lot better at it than he was. The music blasting in the background was disorienting for him now. He walked through the door to the office when the room began to change around him. Then suddenly he was no longer in Verdant, nor anywhere he recognised.
Thea was with Roy, walking into his house, when they were expecting to see the inside of his home, but it looked like it was morphing into somewhere else. Startled, they tried to leave, but they found the door was no longer there. When the room settled, they were somewhere completely different.
Tommy was getting up to leave his office and go home for the day. He was wondering how his life had turned out like this. His brother in all but blood was a murderer and a vigilante. A year ago, he would have given anything to have Oliver back, but now he was not so sure if he would want that, given what he knew. Sure, he didn’t want him to still be stuck on that island, but he wanted nothing to do with him. How had his life become like this? In his wandering thoughts, he didn’t notice the world changing around him.
Laurel Lance was arguing with her dad about Sara being dead and how he couldn’t accept it. She wished now that she had never brought up the subject when her mom came to her with it. She had hoped that this would bring them closure, but all it was doing was reopening old wounds. They both stopped when the room started to change. Quinten reached for his sidearm before it vanished with the rest of the room.
Moira was walking through the mansion, thinking about how bare it seemed lately. Her husband was gone again, even if only for so long. Even her children seemed distant lately. Thea had grown up lately and was spending time doing her own things. Oliver has got his nightclub to take care of, and she has Queen Consolidated. They barely spent time together as a family any more. She was driven out of her musing by the strange sight of the walls warping and changing around her.
Walter was trying to sleep in his cell, his mind going through what had happened to lead up to this. His own wife had orchestrated his own kidnapping. He had hoped when he first found the Queen’s Gambit in that warehouse that it was all just one big misunderstanding. He had no such thoughts now. His wife was involved with something terrible, and he was now powerless to stop it. He sat up, startled when the walls started to dissipate, letting light in, blinding him slightly until he realised that he was no longer in his cells but somewhere else internally.
Felicity was heading to bed for the night, thinking of how she went from IT girl at QC to IT girl for a billionaire vigilante, when the room warped around her.
Diggle had watched Oliver go upstairs and decided that he was going to call it a night and head home. He packed up his things and went out the side exit. He was halfway out of the door when the world shifted and started warping to a different place.
Malcolm Merlin was going through the files on the marcovite device when his office started to crumble and shift to somewhere else. Even in his years with the league, he had never seen such a thing.
Everyone's perception of what was around them solidified at once, leaving them all confused and a bit disorientated. Oliver and Malcom recovered the fastest, looking around at who else was there. When Oliver spotted Thea and Roy, he was by her side in an instant. “Thea? Roy? Are you all right?”
“Ollie?” Thea looked around, confused. “I’m fine, where… where are we?”
“I don’t know.” He said, looking around again, seeing their mom, he moved them over to her. “Mom. Are you hurt?”
“No. What's going on?”
“That’s what I would like to know,” Malcolm said.
Thea spotted Walter behind him, looking thinner, “Walter!” She ran to him, hugging him tightly, she had thought he was gone for sure. “I so glide you're ok.”
Walter hugged her back, happy to see his stepdaughter again. “I, too, Thea.”
When they pulled back, Walter looked over to Moira. He was not sure how to react to the guilt he saw in her eyes.
“Laurel,” Tommy called out, seeing her and her dad.
They hugged as Dig and Felicity made their way to Oliver.
“I take it you have no idea what is going on here,” Dig asked when near enough.
Oliver shook his head, finally taking the chance to look around. They were in what appeared to be a living room of some kind. It was spacious, semi-modern in design, there was a large TV screen on one of the walls, and in front of it were two large sofas and a few chairs. The room itself wasn’t anything special, it had inviting wallpaper similar to what you would see in a waiting room at the dentist or hospital. What stood out the most was the lack of windows. There were two doors on opposite sides of the room, but there were no possibility of indicators to where they were. Oliver wanted to see if either door led to an escape, but he didn’t want to leave Thea, Tommy or anyone else there in case something happened.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here, Queen?” Lance sneered as they all catalogued who was there.
“Detective.” He greeted.
“You got anything to do with this, Queen?”
“Why would I, Detective?” Oliver replied, at the same time, Laurel scolded. “Dad!”
“Wherever he goes, trouble follows.”
“How did everyone get here?” Diggle asked to stop Lance from blaming Oliver for everything.
“I was with Roy. We just got to his place when the room. It sounds crazy, but the room sort of fizzled away then we were here.” Thea answered.
“And just what were you doing at this boy’s place?” Moira demanded. She had no idea that Thea was going to someone’s place.
“Err.” was all Thea could get out, and she could feel herself blushing. While beside her, Roy looked mortified. Thinking there had to be a better way to tell her that they were something to each other.
“I doubt that’s important. The same thing happened to me. Not the going into his house part. The fuzzy room part. I was actually going to bed, hence the PJs. This is far from what I would normally where. Well, this is what I would normally where, just not normally, normally. I mean, this is what I would normally where to go to bed in, not normally as in going somewhere normally.”
“Fe…lic…ity.” Oliver pronouncated, snapping her out of it before she could continue.
Felicity took a breath before thanking him. “Thank you. I couldn’t stop.”
“I realised.”
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Moira asked, having never met her, and yet she seems to know her son.
“Felicity Smoke,” Walter answered for her. He found her ramble quite refreshing after his stint in isolation. It put a ghost of a smile on his lips. “And might I say it is good to see you again.”
“You too, Walter.” She greeted before turning to Moira. “I work at Queen Consolidated in IT. I’m also friends with Oliver.”
“Me and my dad were at my place, when like you said the room…” Laurel said, trailing off in disbelief.
“I was leaving the office,” Tommy added.
“I was about to start some paperwork for Verdant.”
“I was leaving for the day,” Dig said.
“I was at the Mansion.” Moira considered.
“I was going through files,” Merlin said, not seeing the damage of playing along, even though it would get them nowhere.
“I was in the cell whomever had me wanted me kept,” Walter admitted after a moment.
“Do you have any idea how took you, Walter?” Oliver asked.
Walter glanced slightly at Moira, a glance that was not misted by weather Oliver or Merlin, before shaking his head. “I’m afraid not.”
“How does any of this help us get out of here?” Tommy questioned, then whispered. “Wherever here is.”
Before anyone could answer his question, one of the doors opened, and two people came in. One was an older gentleman with grey hair and a scholarly appearance about him. The other was a young coloured man. Neither seemed like much of a threat, but something felt off about them, and Oliver had survived on trusting his instincts and wanted to see how this would go, so he didn’t move to attack, for now, at least.
“I apologise for bringing you all here like this, but it is important.” The older man said sincerely.
Lance lifted his weapon at the same time Dig did, focusing on the two of them. “Who the hell are you two supposed to be?”
“Cool it.” The younger one said, but not looking overly worried by the weapons trained on them. “I’m Jax, and that's Stein.”
“Professor Martin Stein.” Stein corrected. “And I would much appreciate it if you would lower your weapons.”
Dig glanced at Oliver, seeing the subtle shake of his head, he kept his weapon flicked on them. If it became necessary, he would help Dig, but he was not ready to risk his identity just yet, especially with Lance in the room.
Lance narrowed his eyes, starting to lose patience. “You’re aware, you just kidnapped 11 people, one of which is a police officer. So start talking.”
“Very well then.” Stein sighed, doubting that they would believe him. “Our team has brought you all here because the mistakes that will be made will have had disastrous consequences in our time, and we are here to ensure you all understand and prevent those mistakes from occurring.”
“Err, English.” Tommy joked, not understanding what he had just said.
“The future sucks, and you’re all here to fix it,” Jax said, blatantly, used to Stein’s overly polished speech.
“The future?” Roy repeated in disbelief.
“Indeed. We are from your future, and our team has determined the only way to ensure it is a preferable one we brought all of you specifically to make that possible."
“How exactly are we meant to do that?” Thea asked.
“Simple.” Jax shrugged. “By us helping you understand, the only person who can make a difference. If he has you all by his side from the start, he can make the future better, and all you have to do is see what they have gone through.”
"All right, enough crazy talk,” Lance demanded. “Let us go, and I’ll say you cooperated."
“Unfortunately, we can not do that till you have seen what we brought you here to see,” Stein said.
“Take us back, or I’ll shoot,” Lance tried.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Jax said, moving closer to Stein. “Just watch it. What’s the harm?”
Dig looked back at Oliver, seeing him signal him to drop his weapon. He didn’t want to get into a situation that might hurt any of them. He lowered his weapon, retrieving a look from Lance in the process. “There’s no harm in watching whatever they want us to, then going home. That way no one gets hurt.”
Jax and Stein nodded, happy to have at least one gun off them.
Lance only put his weapon down when Laurel put her hand on his arm, whispering. “What's the harm if no one gets hurt?”
“Ok. So we’re just meant to sit here and watch someone’s story, and then we just get to go home.” Tommy questioned, lost on how any of this helps the future or how this involves them. “That’s it?”
“Indeed,” Stein replied.
“If at any point any of you need to let off some steam or just need a break, that door leads to a gym. The videos won’t play unless everyone’s in the room, sorry.” Jax pointed to one of the doors.
Seeing no reason to question more, they looked at each other and sat down waiting for the screen to play.