Surgery went well, guys! I am now short four wisdom teeth, and I have discovered it is extremely hard to write when you're high on drugs to make you feel better. So, no writing yesterday. However, there was today!

Oliver and Kara meet Agent Watson, Curtis and Felicity get to work on the image, and an old friend of Oliver's shows up.

Enjoy!

***

Oliver stepped in the front doors of city hall, raising an eyebrow when he saw a crowd of reporters waiting for him. "Anything interesting on the news last night?" he asked sarcastically.

Reporters instantly shouted questions, crowding in towards Oliver as he made his way to where Quentin, Rene, Thea, and Kara were waiting. "Ladies and gentlemen," Oliver held up his hands. "Ladies and gentlemen, please! If you want to know what I have to say, it would probably help if you could hear me," he looked around. When they quieted, he nodded. "Thank you. Gonna tell you two things, both of which you probably already know. First, this is important. I am not the Green Arrow."

"If you're not the Green Arrow, then who is?" a female reporter asked.

"Number two," Oliver continued, ignoring the question. "Photos can be doctored. They could have put Bruce Wayne's head on that body. Has Bruce Wayne left Gotham to hang out in Star City recently?" he pretended to ask Rene before scoffing. "No. Now, if I was running around the city during the day and managing it as mayor while running around at night frightening criminals as a vigilante, that really would make me a superhero, but I'm not. I'm just the mayor. Thank you very much."

Reporters clamored to ask more questions as Oliver turned away, but he just reached for Kara's hand. She took it and followed him up the stairs, the two of them followed by Quentin, Thea, and Rene. "You seem to be taking this in your stride," Quentin remarked.

"I've been here before with you," Oliver reminded him.

"Yeah, but I didn't have a photograph of you in flagrante de arrow."

"Where did Channel 52 get the photo?" Kara asked.

"Anonymous source," Rene answered. "Arrived in yesterday's mail, no return address."

"Let's get the envelope, let's get it to forensics, and let's figure out who leaked it," Oliver ordered.

"And why," Thea added.

***

"Can't let this distract us," Oliver said as the quintet walked out of the elevator. "Where are we with rebuilding the SCPD?"

"Well, I fast tracked the insurance claim, so we should have twenty million burning a hole in our account by the end of the day," Rene answered.

"Our?" Thea raised an eyebrow.

"I figure we peel off a few bucks and fly off to Vegas," Rene shrugged.

Oliver and Kara both raised an eyebrow at the same time. "That's cute," Quentin said sarcastically. "Think it might be a little suspicious if Oliver left town right about now."

"I need to be in town for the Markovian delegation," Oliver reminded him, heading towards his office.

Rene watched the others follow him, then asked, "So it's all right for me to go to Vegas, is what you're saying?"

Oliver rolled his eyes and opened the door to his office, only to pause when he saw a dark-skinned woman in a suit waiting for him. "Hello," he said cautiously. "I don't think you have an appointment."

"No, but I really don't need one," she pulled a badge out of her jacket. "Special Agent Samandra Watson."

"FBI?" Kara asked in disbelief.

"Can we help you with something?" Quentin asked.

"Not really," Watson shook her head. "I'm here as a courtesy to inform you of the investigation I'll be conducting in your city."

"Investigation into what?" Oliver asked.

"You," she said bluntly.

"You're kidding," Thea's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, because the FBI is world renowned for its sense of humor," Watson retorted, turning back to Oliver. "You were on the news last night, wearing the outfit of a known criminal. Can you honestly say you're surprised there's an investigation?"

"No, but I wasn't expecting the FBI," Oliver admitted.

"Well, quite frankly, the local law enforcement has proven ineffective where the Green Arrow is concerned," Watson gave Quentin a significant look.

"Uh, Agent . . . Watson?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," she nodded.

"I was cleared five years ago."

"Of being the Hood, not the Green Arrow," Watson countered. "And you were cleared by the guy who's now your deputy mayor."

"Would you like me to send you a copy of the polygraph that Mr. Queen passed?" Quentin asked mockingly.

"For starters," Watson smirked. "The local AG will be issuing subpoenas later on today. It was nice meeting you, gentlemen, ladies. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."

Kara watched Watson leave before turning to Oliver. "I don't like her."

"That makes all of us in the room, I think," Oliver grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose as Kara rubbed his back.

***

"At least they caught his good side," Curtis remarked as those in the Arrowcave looked at the photo. When both Felicity and Dinah glared at him, he cleared his throat. "Sorry. Not funny."

"All right, John said you guys have experience putting this particular genie back in the bottle?" Dinah asked.

"Well, yeah," Felicity nodded. "I mean, John's put on the hood before, but I don't see how that's gonna work now, not with photographic evidence."

"What about the Human Target?" Curtis asked.

"The human what now?" Dinah raised an eyebrow.

"Best cosplayer ever. He can literally make himself look like someone else."

"Yeah, Chase is out of the country right now, only God knows where," Dig walked up. "We have to think of a new way of getting out of this."

"And if we can't?" Dinah asked. "Because assuming Oliver does not go to prison, he's not gonna be able to do anything with a million eyes on him."

"Not to mention that if he's outed – rather, if he stays outed – it won't be much of a leap to the rest of us," Curtis added.

"One step at a time," Dig decided.

"OK, first step being figuring out where this picture came from," Felicity rubbed her hands together, turning towards the photo.

***

"It came from nowhere," Rene announced as he walked into the office.

"What do you mean?" Quentin asked in surprise.

"I mean, this envelope wasn't mailed, delivered, or sent," Rene answered. "It came from inside the Channel 52 news offices."

"How do we know that?" Thea asked.

"Bar code," Rene pointed at it. "Channel 52 uses it for internal traffic."

"How many people work there?" Kara asked, dreading the answer.

"Five hundred sixty-eight," Rene gave a sarcastic smile.

Oliver sighed in annoyance. "All right, I'm just gonna say it to say it," Quentin looked up. "What if this was Chase, huh? He could have put this in motion months ago, a little parting gift."

"Seems like his style, messing with you like this," Rene agreed.

"It is more than possible," Oliver nodded.

"How's William holding up with all this?" Thea asked.

"OK," Oliver answered. "I wanted to keep him home from school, but he insisted on going."

"He's a trooper, that's for sure," Kara nodded, a fond smile on her face.

"Like his father, huh?" Quentin smiled.

"I wasn't much of a student," Oliver snorted.

"No, but he's tough," Thea smiled.

***

"Where's he standing?" Curtis wondered. "If we could figure out when and where this was taken, it would give us something to go on."

"I wrote an image analysis algorithm, but there's just not very much for the computer to chew on," Felicity sighed.

"Was the original photo taken digitally, or was it taken the old-fashioned way?"

"Digital. Printed on standard inkjet stock. OK, maybe if we get the file, there might be some meta data on it, and we can figure out who took the photo."

"It's a pretty epic maybe," Curtis pointed out.

"Yeah, well, like you said, if we don't figure this out, and fast, we're screwed!"

"I did say that, didn't I?" he winced.

"Yeah, you did," Felicity sighed.

"This could destroy our whole lives!"

"It's hard to think that before, my biggest worry was getting a new job, and now it's about whether or not we'll end up in jail."

"I thought you were sitting pretty from your Palmer Tech severance?"

"Yeah, from, like, a year ago."

"What are you gonna do? Assuming that we're all not in jail."

"I mean, I'd definitely rather go to Iron Heights than work at Tech Village again," Felicity shuddered. "That place was horrendous. What about you? I mean, you've been out of a job as long as I have."

"Not really," Curtis shook his head. "I've been doing some freelance coding in my spare time."

"What?" Felicity blinked. "What spare time?"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Curtis snorted. "Barely any, but I did not take a dime from Paul in the divorce, and a man's gotta eat."

"So you just had, like, a secret job this whole time? You didn't tell anyone about it?"

"I thought we all, like, had secret jobs?" Curtis blinked.

"No," Felicity shook her head.

"Except for John, maybe? What does he do for money? That's something that's been perplexing me."

"He's married to the director of ARGUS," Felicity reminded him.

"Yeah, that's right," Curtis nodded. "She does make a lot of money."

***

"This building has been vacant since being claimed by the city under eminent domain four years ago," Oliver said as he led a group through the building.

"Do you have any comment on the FBI investigating you under murder charges?" a female reporter asked.

Oliver closed his eyes in annoyance. "We're not gonna talk about that."

"Except to say it's a load of crap," Quentin added loudly.

Oliver cleared his throat and continued. "By offering subsidized leasing to Markovia's Vortex Industries, they're gonna be able to create a high-tech factory here, bringing at the very least eight hundred new jobs to Star City."

"Can you shed light on the accusation of being the Green Arrow?" another reporter asked.

"You have said you're not the Green Arrow," the first reporter added. "Then who is? Why are you being – "

"Guys, enough!" Oliver snapped. "If we're not here to discuss the Markovian initiative, then you can just get back on the bus, because I will not – for the last time – be answering questions on the Green Arrow."

"But I'd be happy to," a Russian stepped forward. "Alec Tarkov. I'm the vortex CEO, and if your mayor is truly a superhero, which seems ludicrous – "

"Thank you," Oliver sighed.

"We will double our investment," Tarkov continued, making Oliver barely refrain from rolling his eyes. "Safe city's a good place to do business, no?"

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Tarkov," Oliver chuckled.

Bullets spattered against the pillar behind him, and Oliver quickly ducked, followed by everyone else. "Go for cover!" Oliver yelled, pointing and urging everyone away. "Go for cover! Get to the van! Go, go, go, go, go!"

Multiple reporters fell to the ground, full of bullets, as Quentin ran for the driver's side. "Here we go, come on!" he yelled.

Oliver scrambled into the passenger's side, and Quentin drove through the gunmen, heading outside. "All right, hold on!" Quentin called when he saw more gunmen. "Hold on!"

The reporters and businessmen in back ducked down, followed by Quentin and Oliver as the men continued shooting. Eventually, the van skidded to a stop, and Oliver looked behind him. "Is everyone OK?"

"Yeah," Quentin panted, wiping at a bloody scrape on his forehead.

The passenger door suddenly opened, and Oliver whipped around, only for his eyes to widen when he saw who was there. "Hello, Mr. Mayor," Anatoli Knyazev smiled. "Hope you're having a pleasant day." Oliver gritted his teeth in annoyance, and Anatoli tilted his head. "You look like maybe you want to throw punch at me. Don't worry. We are not here for you. We have business with our Markovian cousins."

"These are legitimate businessmen," Oliver hissed.

"I never said my business was not legitimate," Anatoli pointed out. "Unless you know something maybe a mayor should not know?" Oliver growled in annoyance, and Anatoli nodded to the man behind him. "Teper," he ordered, and the man opened the door to the van, yanking out the Markovians. "We'll be in touch," Anatoli smirked. "Dasvidanya!"

Oliver ground his teeth, watching the Bratva leave.

***

Pardon me if this is not my best work, because my eyes are still having slight trouble focusing.

Also, by popular demand . . . looks like the Daxamites are getting their asses kicked next! Haha, Mon-El against a pissed off Green Arrow . . . I know who I'm betting on, especially when the Flash and the White Canary get involved. XD

Hopefully another update comes soon!