Archive of Our Own

“Have you managed to get through to him?” Felicity asked as Oliver paced in the foundry. Now that Darhk had his powers back they were going to have to find another way of fighting him. The Arrow was turning to the occult; he had sworn he would never do that after what happened on Lian Yu but there was no other way, Darhk was just too strong for Team Arrow to face on their own.

“He’s stuck in the rainforest in Puerto Rico but he’s called in a few favours. It seems Darhk has been ruffling quite a few feathers in the magical world. He was saying something about a rising darkness but wouldn’t tell me anymore,” Oliver explained. Constantine was his go to man when it came to magical issues but he wasn’t the most reliable source of help and information. He liked to keep all his cards close to his chest and run as a lone wolf.

“Okay so when is his friend coming?” Felicity asked and Oliver sighed.

“We have to go to her, and he can’t even guarantee that she will help,” Oliver muttered. They couldn’t afford to leave Star City undefended for a fool’s errand but he hated to split up the team when they were all on the rocks.

“Where is she?” Felicity continued, spinning round on her chair to face her computers. They had left the set up exactly how it had been even though none of them could use the technology as well as Felicity could. It felt right to see her sat in front of them again. Even if it wasn’t forever.

“Las Vegas, Caesars Place,” Oliver stated and Felicity whistled.

“A high roller, I wonder how Constantine met her,” she mused, loading up blueprints of the casino to the big monitors.

“He gets around, he also said that all we had to do was go to the casino then his contact would find us,” Oliver deflected, Constantine was an enigma of a man and he never stayed anywhere long enough for anyone to actually understand him.

“Okay let’s get going then, we can use the jet,” Felicity smiled, getting to her feet and picking up her handbag as Oliver just stared.

“You’re not coming Felicity,” Oliver frowned as she turned towards the door. In an instant she spun on her heels to face him.

“What do you mean I’m not going? You are not going on your own and this way we can leave Dig, Thea and Laurel fighting the ghosts in your absence,” Felicity tried to reason with him but she knew how stubborn Oliver could be.

“I don’t need someone to come with me. Constantine said his contact would test me before she would even think about helping me. I don’t want to risk you,” Oliver argued but he also knew how stubborn Felicity could be.

“If you take me with you then you can use the jet and get there and back faster,” Felicity exclaimed and even Oliver had to admit that having a jet and a Vegas native on his side would probably help.

“Get ready we leave in ten,” he sighed.

Pre Island Oliver loved Casinos. However he had not felt the desire to visit one since his return, especially not going all the way to Las Vegas. Caesars Palace was a hive of corruption and shady dealings behind the casino front. It was also not the sort of place Oliver wanted to meet a contact, you could not go in armed and any person that frequented these places was not someone he wanted joining his crusade. But he had no other choice, also if Constantine trusted this woman then he should too. Felicity on the other hand was far too comfortable in a place like this. Of course he knew that Donna had worked in casinos and that Felicity could card count but she seemed just as at home here as in front of her computers.
“Did Constantine say where to go once we got here?” She asked, converting some of her money into chips.
“No he just said she would find us,” Oliver sighed, Constantine did enjoy being cryptic at the worst times. Like with his magical tattoo, he still didn't really know what it did.
“Well the best way to draw attention to ourselves is to play big,” Felicity smiled and then proceeded to drag Oliver over to a poker table and pushed him into a chair. "Or we could just wait at the bar," Oliver protested weakly even though he knew Felicity was correct.
"She won't see us if we just wait at the bar now gamble my money," Felicity ordered. Oliver's past self wasn't only a frequent gambler he was a skilled one too; this was partially down to the fact he didn't care if he lost money as the Queen estate had plenty. However despite this he was still accomplished and while they were playing he managed to double the money Felicity had given him. This seemed to draw them some of the desired attention as a small crowd gathered to watch and try to detected any cheating. After Oliver lied his way to another small pile of winnings, a seductive voice whispered in his ear. "Care for a fortune telling Mr Queen," She whispered, drawing Oliver's full attention. She was tall, but that might have just been the six inch heels, and her outfit did not leave much to the imagination. Fishnet tights stretched up long-sleeved legs reaching a black leotard that was partially covered by a crisp white shirt, red bowtie and a black tailored jacket. A top hat sat slightly lopsided on top of long black hair that made her brown eyes look black in shade. "Are you John's friend?" Oliver asked bluntly, declining to be dealt into the next hand.
"You'll have to come with me to find out," She smiled, pulling Oliver up by his tie and past a bemused Felicity.
"Are you the sorcerer we are looking for," Oliver snarled as she thrust him into the lift. "Yes I am but we have to keep up appearances Mr Queen," She smiled, leaning against the wall of the lift and pressing a button.

"So will you help us?" Oliver asked, they didn't have time for these pretences. Darhk could have levelled Star City in the time they had been waiting for this witch. She laughed.
"I haven't had time to decide yet. Damien Darhk is strong, and a feud with him is not something to be entered into lightly," She explained.
"Well explain what I have to do then," Oliver was losing what little patience he had and it was disappearing quickly.
"Just follow me," She replied, walking out of the lift and into a suite. Oliver was forced to follow. "I need to know what you expect me to do," She stated sitting and a black office chair with her legs crossed. She gestured for Oliver to sit on the bed and he complied.
"I want you to help me defeat Darhk," Oliver frowned, he had told Constantine that and the man wasn't a complete idiot.
"I know that," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "But say we defeat him, what do you want to do with him? Kill him, lock him away, try to reform him," She continued, and this was the first of her questions that made him pause. He had promised Felicity they would do whatever it takes to rid the world of Darhk but was their aim to kill him or was that just the lengths he would go to if necessary. He had already broken out of prison once and the idol was too hard to break.
"We need to kill him," Oliver realised and this seemed to appease the sorceress.
"Glad we are on the same page but I have one more question," She smiled.
"Tell me your name and I will answer your question," Oliver interrupted.
"Zatanna, and I ask you Mr Queen, what does your heart desire?" She smiled. "Ees ruoy straeh eurt erised," Zatanna exclaimed but before Oliver could question the erratic behaviour it all faded to black.

"Oliver, Oliver wake up," Felicity's voice cut through the fog in his mind. His eyes fluttered open slowly and he tried to remember where he was and why. He remembered something about Vegas and a magician but nothing clear, if all just seemed wrong like it didn't fit. Slowly everything began to come back to him in a hesitant trickle. Felicity, she was his wife. They had managed to defeat Darhk with the help of the sorceress Zatanna who managed to separate him from his magic and destroy the idol. He was the mayor of Star City after it was revealed that Darhk had threatened his family to get him to pull out of the race last time. That was six years ago and he was still heading the now flourishing city and Felicity was the head of Queen Incorporated, the largest tech company in the world. He had to go to work for a boring day of meetings but first he needed to...
"And remember it's your turn to take the girls to school," Felicity was out of bed now and slowly getting dressed. That's right, his daughters. How could he forget them? Eleanor Laurel Queen and Meghan Moira Queen, ages 5 and 3 respectively. He also knew that today was a Thursday and Felicity had to go in to work early for a board meeting on Thursdays so he always took the girls to school on his way to the office.
"I know," Oliver rolled his eyes jokily.
"Well get to it then mister," Felicity retorted. He slowly rolled out of bed and set to work on the well-established routines.

It was fortunate that his girls were morning people and the two of them were jumping down the stairs a few minutes after he called them with Felicity making sure Meghan didn’t hurt herself. Contrary to popular belief, Oliver was the domestic one of the duo and loved cooking and getting the girls ready on a morning when Felicity was more of a coffee and out the door sort of person. “Morning,” they all chimed, Eleanor clambered up onto one of the stools and Felicity secured Meghan into her high chair with the toddler giggling.

“See you tonight,” Felicity smiled, kissing both of the girls then pecking at Oliver’s lips. “Remember Ellie has gymnastics tonight straight after school,” she stated, still looking slightly concerned about Oliver’s lapse in memory.

“I know love, I’m on it don’t worry,” Oliver reassured her as they pulled apart. “You remember that tomorrow is date night,” he smiled. Once a month they had date night where John and Lyla came over to baby sit and they had a night entirely to themselves. It came into action at the beginning with Eleanor; Felicity was bogged down with work, Oliver was trying to save a city falling apart at the seams and they had a toddler to deal with. There was suddenly no time and none of the romance that their previous trip to Ivy Town promised would come with this life. At that time John and Thea were god sends. Thea had stepped up as his personal assistant and was taking on a lot of his jobs and pointing him wherever he needed to go while John was taking time out of the security business so was more than happy to pick up the girls after school and whatever activities had caught their attention that week. For Ellie it was gymnastics, Felicity blamed Oliver for their daughter’s love of flips and tricks, and Meghan was learning how to ride the pony Thea had bought her, because apparently every child needs a pony.

Oliver’s day dragged on and on but he couldn’t shake the feeling of fog in his mind. All his memories had returned but it seemed like there was something he had forgotten, he just couldn’t work out what it was. He had never felt like this before. “Sir,” his assistant Tara smiled from the doorway, dragging himself out of his stupor. “I’ve typed up your notes from the meeting with Mr Steele yesterday,” she explained, placing them on his desk. And that strange feeling returned; he felt like he had seen the woman before but not as his assistant. It was like two sets of memories were competing in his mind.

“Are you alright Mr Queen?” Tara asked, and Oliver couldn’t answer her. He wasn’t alright.

“Do you ever get the feeling that something is wrong Tara, like you are in the wrong place?” Oliver questioned, gesturing for his assistant to sit. She slid down and Oliver massaged his eyes softly.

“Is something wrong at home sir? Forgive me if I over step but your subconscious could be protesting to a change,” Tara speculated but that couldn’t be true.

“No, everything is perfect,” Oliver replied, but that was it. Everything was too perfect; he had always told himself that a life like this was not possible but it was. Yet everything was too good. He had his dream job, as mayor he could defend the city in the light of day instead of the shadows. And Star City didn’t need the Arrow anymore, which had always been a far-fetched dream.

Oliver sat at home watching his two little girls engrossed in a TV show with Felicity laid in between them. He had made dinner and even that couldn’t take his mind off what Tara had said. Looking round the house it was all looking off, it was a little farmhouse. It was big enough for all of them to live comfortably but not too big that the children would take it for granted. It was how he had always imagined it. The photos on the wall were from the couple’s honeymoon, to New Zealand, a place Oliver had always wanted to visit but never had the time. Their wedding had been outdoors with just their closest family and the paparazzi had only found out when the duo were in the airport ready to fly. Just how he had dreamt it. It wasn’t adding up, but why had it only been realised now. He tried to think back to things that had happened the previous day but they were blurry, like they weren’t necessary to remember. This was a lucid dream. But how could he get out of it.

“Oliver you were acting strange this evening, is something wrong at work?” Felicity asked as they laid in bed together. Oliver was tense, laid on his back with every muscle primed and ready for battle. This couldn’t be real, it just couldn’t be real; no matter how much he wished it to be. But what was keeping him here. He had worked out, he had plunged his head in freezing water, he had shouted at the sky and as a last resort pinched himself. None of it worked and he couldn’t bear to lie there with Felicity’s head on his chest knowing that they was all a figment of his imagination. Or he was going crazy. The fog had lifted in his mind and he was seeing clearly again, yet he couldn’t remember anything outside of the vivid hallucinations. This was worse than Vertigo at least with Vertigo he knew it wasn’t real and could fight.

“No everything is fine,” Oliver replied, his voice low enough to be considered a growl.

“That doesn’t sound fine Queen. Maybe I can make it better,” Felicity grinned like a Cheshire cat, kissing up his chest and latching onto his neck before Oliver pushed her away and scrambled out of bed.

“I can’t do this!” Oliver screamed, refusing to even look at Felicity laid on the bed.

“What’s wrong darling?” Felicity asked. She slowly sat up but wisely stayed away from her husband.

“You’re not real, I can’t do this you aren’t real,” Oliver shouted, this was a unique method of torture.

“What do you mean, not real?” Felicity frowned but Oliver continued to pace.

“It all wrong.”

“Are you saying you don’t love us? Oliver please say you aren’t having an affair?” Felicity exclaimed, shock painted all over her face. It pained him to think that she could believe he would ever do that to their family. Although his reputation did imply that might happen, he was over that and Felicity knew that.

“No, I would never, but this is all too perfect. It’s my heart’s true desire,” those words seemed to click something in his mind and his muscles went lax, the world began to shrink into a tiny pinprick before his eyes closed.

Oliver shot awake and jumped to standing in an instant. Felicity was sat on the bed next to where Oliver’s head used to be, her hear was a mess and her shirt rumpled. Zatanna sat cross legged on the desk chair watching with a smug smile. It was all a dream, like he thought, and it was all her fault. “What did you do to me?” Oliver snarled, all his weapons had been removed from his person but he could still kill the witch with his bare hands.

“I had to check your intentions and going straight to the subconscious seemed like the quickest way and cut out all the denial and lies,” Zatanna smiled. “And you passed, congratulations,” she continued but Oliver and Felicity were both sending death glares her way.

“Tell me now why I shouldn’t kill you,” Oliver stepped forward but after a quick murmur from Zantanna, his feet were fixed to the floor.

“Because you need my help and you said you would do anything to get that help. Honestly I could have used much harder methods than that,” Zatanna rose to her feet with a regal grace. “If you don’t need my help any more then we can part ways and pretend this ever happened. The ball is in your court Arrow, what now?” she questioned. Picking up her hat and wand, she tapped her foot impatiently by the door. Oliver was still fuming but once again the sorceress was correct. They needed her.

“Nice place,” Zatanna whistled as she prowled and examined every nook and cranny of the liar. Felicity still didn’t like this; that woman had knocked out Oliver for nearly a whole day and they were trusting her to defeat Darhk. “A bit dark and gloomy but it’ll do,” she commented before jumping up to sit on one of the tables. “I like the fern.”

“That was my idea,” Felicity blurted out before her brain caught up. Zatanna smirked and Felicity blushed as she sunk into the chair in front of her computers. After Sara, Felicity thought she had worked through her inferiority complex but it was returning with a vengeance when she looked at the tall, dark mysterious and definitely sexy magician. Where those fishnets and heels really necessary?

“If you don’t mind, we need to get to work. Constantine said you were strong enough to defeat Darhk,” Oliver dragged them back to the matter at hand.

“I am not,” Zatanna stated.

“What do you mean you can’t beat him?” Thea exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock. Felicity had explained what had happened in Vegas and Thea was firmly on their side when it came to Zatanna.

“I can’t beat him, he has gained too much power in your failed attempts. But I can help you beat him. No one is strong enough on their own,” she stated, drawing everyone closer.

“Well what is your totem-y thing?” Felicity asked, Oliver was the only one that had seen her use her magic but he wasn’t paying attention when he was knocked out.

“I don’t have one. I am one of the few homo magi,” Zatanna smiled, leaning forwards on the table like a predator. “There are three types of magic users. Homo magi, the strongest of the magic wielders as it is in our DNA. We don’t need a totem and the magic can be harnessed in different ways. Mine is through words. Darhk and most users of magic are totem wielders. They don’t have any magic in their body and they cannot harness it within them. The totem forms a soul link and channels the magic through the users body. The final is what Constantine is, an enchanter. There are magic items dotted around the world that contain residual power, like that one you retrieved for him on Lian Yu. John uses these items and basic enchantments to get the job done. He also has the learnt ability of harnessing spiritual energy; matters of the soul and such. Demons and angels are his domain,” Zatanna smiled her head tilted slightly as she watched them try to compute the information. “But if I am to help you, we need to do this my way. You need to be willing to make sacrifices and work together as a team for this all to work. One by one he could pick us all off with the power he has gained but attacking together with all our skills then we can take him down. There is no morality here, what you do may haunt you for the rest of your life but it will get it done,” she stated and Felicity, Thea and Laurel paled. Their morals had been hard fought in this team and what did it say that they were willing to follow a madwoman into a war and kill because they could. That didn’t make them any better than Darhk. But they didn’t have time for a philosophical debate. The sensors chimed and the 911 call echoed around the lair, there was an apartment fire in Brooklyn and it was so far out of control the fire department had nothing that could counteract the blaze. It wasn’t their usual kind of mission but if Felicity was reading the situation correctly, which she usually did, then they all need to get out and do something. “Well team, suit up,” Oliver stated, having the same idea. Zatanna grinned at the statement and pressed her top hat onto her head with a wink in Oliver’s direction.

Oliver and Thea raced off on their motorbikes and Diggle followed in the van with Laurel and Zatanna. “So got any powers that help with fire?” Diggle asked, sceptically. He never liked the fact that magic was now a common part of his day in Star City; metahumans were bad enough let alone fantasy rubbish.

“I’m not a metahuman you fool. I do not have one specific set of powers,” she replied cuttingly, it was as if she could read his mind. Could she read his mind? All these mind games were messing with him and he wanted it to be over. He wanted this whole business with Andy and magic and Darhk to be behind them and to go back to fighting street criminals and freaks with bows and arrows. “But to answer your question, yes I have multiple skills to deal with fire,” Zatanna smiled. Her smile always look like she was hiding something, like she was playing them all and her plan was proceeding nicely. Oliver and Thea were trying to breach when the three remaining members of the extended Team Arrow arrived. “It’s too hot to go in, the fire team are trying but they need to cool it down before they can,” Felicity explained as Oliver finally managed to kick the door down and a wave of flames and hot air flooded out.

“Oliver, Thea get us three air tanks from the firemen. I don’t care how you do it, we need them. Diggle, I need you to get the fire crews to hold back until my signal and Laurel, I need you two to breach on my signal with the fire crew and by any chance do you have a spare mask?” Zatanna rummaged around in the back of the van and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and some workers boots. Laurel frowned but pulled a spare black mask out of her kit bag.

“What’s the play?” Diggle asked as everyone slowly got to their jobs.

“I’m going to go in there with Oliver and Thea and try not to have us all burn to death. Then I will make it safe for everyone to come in and conduct a rescue and stabilise the building. Simple enough,” she stated, pulling the sweat pants on and the boots. The top hat was carefully placed in the back of the van and she pulled the mask on. Oliver and Thea had returned with the three tanks of air and the team was ready to move. Zatanna strapped the canisters to her back and stood looking at Thea and Oliver and places her hand on each of their shoulders. “Draw ruo hself morf eht teah dna htgnerts fo eht serif,” her eyes glowed a deep red and a weird tingling sensation spread through Oliver’s body. It felt similar to when she put him under the spell last time. “You won’t be effected by the fire as long as you breathe through the air canisters. We need to get all the civilians to safety then I can put the fire out,” the duo nodded. Oliver couldn’t quite place when they started listening to Zatanna but she did seem to have it all in hand.

Stepping into the flames was a strange experience. Oliver was laden with fireproof blankets for those trapped inside but the fire didn’t touch him. No, it did touch him but he just couldn’t feel the burn or the heat. Zatanna ploughed through and he followed. “There are four people still inside. They’ll be running out of air even if they have themselves protected from the blaze,” Felicity informed them. She directed them all to a room on the third floor; two of their survivors were barricaded inside the room when the ceiling collapsed. They were going to have to do this the old fashioned way, Zatanna could only do basic charms while all her energy and focus was going into stopping them from burning alive. That was why they needed Thea; she was small but strong and so could fit through small spaces. Zatanna pulled a small knife out of her sleeve with an ease that should really make Oliver at least unnerved. However she had no intentions of harming either of the Queen siblings; she dragged the blade across her own hand and dipped her fingers in the blood. On the bad of the bleeding hand she wrote “htgnerts” and “laeh”. The cut on her hand slowly stitched itself back together with only a hiss of exertion from their resident witch and they all set to work. Zatanna’s charm had doubled her strength and so between the three of them they managed to clear a whole that Oliver could squeeze through but Thea could fit with ease. The smoke was billowing around the room but thankfully the fire hadn’t breached through the rock fall. Thea lifted their unconscious forms out of the hole they created and Oliver wrapped them both in the fire blankets. This was taking too long, the smoke was billowing and the fire spreading despite the firemen’s efforts. Oliver gestured for them to split up. Thea and Zatanna would retrieve the last two survivors and Oliver would get these two out of the building. Diggle and Laurel had helped set up an air bag at the front of the building for them to all drop down onto. Oliver kicked out a second floor window and dropped his charges down. They landed softly and were hurried off to the waiting ambulance. Thea and her hobbling teenager dropped down next and Zatanna ushered a young child down. She caught his eye and gestured for him to jump. He just had to hope she had a good plan. And he jumped.

He was pulled from the air bag by firemen and hurried over to Diggle. "What is she doing in there?" Diggle asked.
"She wouldn't say, she only said to breach after her signal. Not what that signal would be," Oliver explained. He was not used to following someone's lead but he trusted Constantine enough to know that his friends wouldn't needlessly let people die. He just hoped like Constantine she could actually come through. 
"Green giant, come in," Zatanna's voice was crackly and she coughed from the smoke. 
"What are you doing?" he asked in shock, waving for the team to assemble around him. 
"I'm going to suck all the air out of the building. The walls might not be strong enough so need to be stabilised as soon as I do it," She rasped.

“But you’ll suffocate,” Felicity argued.

“You better get to me quickly then Arrow boy,” she huffed and then chaos descended.

The fire seemed to suddenly stop moving and it felt as if time was slowing; the fire began to ripple towards the centre of the building and a whooshing noise deafened all those surrounding the fiery inferno. The strength of the flames flickered and dwindled as they moved until there was just the crumbling shell of the building. Oliver tried to step forwards but was blocked by another force field. That made sense, she had to draw the air out of a set area for this to work but then how was he supposed to get to her. He wasn’t letting his one chance at defeating Darhk slip out of his fingers because of a pesky apartment fire. The force field began to flicker and Oliver managed to push through with Diggle on his tail. His throat burned and he felt like he couldn’t catch a breath. The forcefield was still holding the air out even though they could squeeze through. He fumbled and pressed the breathing apparatus into his mouth before setting off at a jog. The fire team were stabling the lower levels of the building within the vacuum. It clearly said something about Star City that the firemen didn’t even blink at a magically vacuum containing forcefield. If he had any idea about magic then Zatanna would need to be as close to the middle of the building as she could be. Diggle was right behind him as the building began to creak and moan. There was a dull whooshing sound as holes formed. They found her on the third floor in the centre on the building. She was on the floor, and wasn’t breathing.

The air had returned to the building and the fire was gone. The bare bones were still steady and the repair men were beginning their efforts. Zatanna was laid in the lair. Oliver had managed to restart her heart and she had taken a few raspy breaths before sinking back into unconsciousness. She hadn’t woken up for two days. Experts said that if it hadn’t been contained by the magic user, that fire could have decimated half the city; she had to have known that when she went in. The cocky attitude held someone that actually cared behind it; cared enough to risk her life to save those people. The news anchors were discussing the brand new hero on the block and trying to work out why she would come into town when they were in turmoil. “I think she’s seen people in danger and has been compelled to come and help. It is clear that the current vigilantes and the police department are completely out of their depth,” Oliver sat watching the news coverage of the incident. He had saved thousands of people in this city but he was shunned because of his methods. However Zatanna, who had no hesitations in killing people, was being praised. “We should extend an olive branch to this hero,” Oliver’s head snapped round at the sound of a scoff from the cot in the corner. Zatanna was slowly sitting up and pulling all the sensors off her body.

“Heroes are make believe, they are spawned in the imagination of those who have nothing to believe in,” she snarked even though her voice was weak and raspy. Her timbre surprised her and she softly messaged her throat; the smoke had damaged the one thing she needed to survive.

“What on earth was that?” Oliver exclaimed, prowling over to Zatanna. How could she just sit up and pretend that nothing had ever happened.

“Sometimes if I expel too much magic in one go, my body shuts down to recover. Thanks for the save by the way,” she nodded, examining the tracksuit that Thea had changed her into. Finding it satisfactory she shrugged and picked up his wallet. “I’m going to get food, want anything?” she asked and when he shook his head, she strolled out the door. Oliver sat stunned.

Felicity felt like she was living in a Rocky style training montage. It had been weeks since they recruited Zatanna to the fight against Darhk and the ghost activity had quietened. Zatanna was putting Oliver, Diggle, Laurel and Thea through their paces and it was clear Oliver didn’t agree with her techniques. There was a lot of trickery involved and Zatanna was not pulling her punches even when fighting against Laurel who was the least experienced of the team. She had offered to train Felicity but Oliver put a stop to that. Not that Felicity wanted the vicious witch to train her after having to watch Diggle realign Thea’s dislocated shoulder after one of the training sessions. Oliver was currently trying to fight against a spell that was similar to Darhk’s favourite. He was hung in the slightly in the air unable to breathe but according to Zatanna he should be able to fight through it and move forwards if his will was strong enough. But they had been doing this all morning and Oliver had managed to get himself back to the floor but then his legs gave way and black dots flickered across his vision. It was only then that Zatanna released him. “This is getting us nowhere,” Oliver snarled, rubbing his throat as he got to his feet.

“Oh really hotshot, like you were doing any better before,” Zatanna rolled her eyes and waved for everyone, minus Felicity of course, to join the two of them on the mat. It had taken a few sessions before they finally saw Zatanna take off the fishnets and leotard. She was currently dressed in a faded Caesars Palace t-shirt and cycling shorts with her long black wavy hair tied back in a high ponytail. Everyone was dressed in pretty similar work out gear and a battered and bruised Team Arrow were assembled in a circle round their trainer. “Come at me,” she smirked with a quick wink at Oliver.

The Arrow broke into a sprint and Thea mirrored his actions. Zatanna dropped to her knees in what looked like a Superman landing, and hit the floor with an enchantment. A light blue force field shot up and both Queen siblings hit into it sending them flying back against the floor. In a blur of speed, Zatanna had drawn her nunchucks out of their holsters and set to Laurel. The Black Canary was no match for the experience of the witch and Laurel was disarmed quickly and sent sprawling on her back with her arms heavily bruised and a severe case of nunchuck to the knee. Diggle had never been the best with hand to hand combat, much preferring his weapons over fists. He had tried to come to Laurel’s aid but Zatanna had planted a hand on his chest and whispered “tcudnoc eht egrahc.” Electricity flowed through his body and sent him sprawling like Oliver and Thea. However the effects of the forcefield were wearing off on the Queen siblings and they were happy to reenter the fray. It was painful for Felicity to watch. Zatanna’s fighting technique was more physical than Darhk’s was but she said she was also weaker than he now was. If they couldn’t defeat her then what chance did they have against him? Oliver managed to get into a hand to hand spar with Zatanna while Thea was getting back to her feet. But Zatanna pulled the move she had tried earlier. Once again Oliver managed to get his feet back on the ground but he was rapidly running out of air. However Thea was on her feet and preparing her attack. She ran but Zatanna dropped Oliver, spun around and hit Thea in the chest with a water cannon, similar to the one used in the building fire. The whole team was incapacitated and Zatanna hadn’t even broken into a sweat.

“So what did you learn there?” she asked, and received only groans of pain.

“I’m serious, what did you learn?” she asked again once they had all recovered slightly.

“That you could probably kick our asses without magic,” Thea sighed, still towelling off her hair and looking slightly like a drowned rat.

“Yes but not the point,” Zatanna smiled at Thea. Felicity replayed the whole fight in her mind but nothing stood out that was different to any other fight.

“You can only use one enchantment at once,” Oliver stated with a frown. Then Felicity saw it, Zatanna had been forced to drop Oliver before he was unconscious, he was incapacitated yes but not out cold, before she confronted Thea.

“And that is the same with Darhk, fighting him one on one will never work but if we can over power him as a group then one of us may be able to get a lucky shot in,” Zatanna explained and pulled a very familiar red orb out of the bag she had brought with her.

“How did you get that?” Oliver asked, grabbing it out of her hand to examine. It was the same orb that Constantine had ventured to Lian Yu to retrieve. The Orb of Horus was a spellbook according to Constantine and highly valuable in the occult world.

“John lent it to me a while ago when we were trying to exorcise a particularly nasty demon. His usual tricks weren’t good enough and we needed to tether my magic to Excalibur so John could burn the beast,” Zatanna shrugged, taking it back from Oliver.

“The Excalibur,” Thea gawped.

“Yes, King Arthur’s famous sword. Not so useful anymore, channelling that much power partially melted the blade. But that is beside the point, there is a spell in here that can block the connection Darhk has to the idol. I just need to get close enough to the idol to perform the ritual then bang he’s a normal guy again. Arrow through the chest. Your job is to stall. Survive against him long enough that I can make him vulnerable,” Zatanna explained and it was a solid plan. Minus the part where they had to be able to fight off having their souls drained.

Training continued for another week without interruption and the new tactics were working well. Now they were sometimes training as a team and Zatanna was leaving those sessions with bruises as well as the team. It was coming together so well that the witch let them have a weekend off. Thea was going for a weekend away with her boyfriend Alex; Diggle was taking little Sara out to the park and spending time with Lyla; Oliver was talking to some of his contacts about what Ruve Darhk planned to do; that left Felicity and Zatanna in the lair. Zatanna had been avoiding Felicity and she had no idea why. They had barely any real interaction since Las Vegas and Felicity was allowed to be angry when she was left on the casino floor, only to finally find the room Oliver had gone into and find him comatose. The woman in question was currently meditating on the sparring mat and didn’t move at all when Felicity came down the stairs. Felicity opened her mouth for a greeting but decided against it; she would probably just be ignored anyway. He mind kept on jumping back to the fear she had experienced finding Oliver laid on that bed. She had been more scared then than she had been when he was dying on the table in the arrow cave. She thought she was too late. “Can you be quiet?” Zatanna stated, her eyes remaining closed. Felicity hadn’t said anything.

“You are thinking too loud,” Zatanna extrapolated.

“Oh so you can read minds now!” Felicity snapped back and her anger only grew at Zatanna’s scoff.

“No but when you think you make little huffy noises and they are very irritating,” Felicity fell silent and subconsciously held her breath. She hated Zatanna.

In the end, Zatanna finished her meditation and left the lair to her hotel room to get some rest. Apparently demons do need to sleep and eat. Felicity stuck it out in the arrow cave; there had to be some sign of Darhk somewhere. Ruve was mayor but there was no digital trail connecting her to her husband. He couldn’t have disappeared off the face of the earth. Her computer pinged, Ruve had receive a text, from an unknown number with just a meeting place on it. They had a lead. Felicity called in everyone and Oliver was there within minutes, Zatanna soon after him. Diggle said he was on his way along with Laurel but there was no response from Thea. “It’s fine, there’s probably bad signal. We can do this without her,” Oliver stated and Felicity loaded up the map of the meet location. It was an old power station just out of town, there was no innocent reason as to why the Mayor of Star City would be going there at eleven o’clock at night. It had to be something to do with Darhk.

“I can’t trace the number so the meet is our only chance,” Felicity frowned, she didn’t like the plan. Zatanna and Oliver had to get close enough to Darhk that Zatanna could follow the trail back to the idol. It couldn’t be too far away from it but it was strong enough now to sustain his power over longer distances. They had to hit Darhk and the idol at the same time and to do that they needed to first find the idol. It was dodgy and could end with at least one of them in hospital but it was a risk they needed to take. Diggle wasn’t subtle enough and Laurel wasn’t experienced enough, Thea would have been helpful but they didn’t have time to wait for her to come back. So it was just Oliver and Zatanna. Into the devil’s lair.

They reached the power station before Ruve and her cronies did, meaning they could find a good hiding place. Oliver had tried to talk Zatanna out of wearing her trademark outfit but then she nearly took him down in a sparring match while wearing six inch heels. His argument was invalid after that. They were on the upper level, cast in shadow as they waited. “We stay out of sight for as long as possible,” Oliver hissed and Zatanna nodded. She needed to get close but not too close that they would have to confront Darhk. If they could get in and out without him even knowing they were there it would be the best win they had taken in a while. Ruve and her private security, entirely made out of ghosts of course, arrived first and the security team spread out to check the whole area. Clearly they didn’t do a very good job because Oliver and Zatanna remained undetected and didn’t have to take down any ghosts and risk revealing themselves. Ruve stood waiting in the centre of the bottom floor. Five minutes after the designated meeting time, a panel in the wall slid back and Darhk stepped out, flanked by two more ghosts. They had not seen that coming, there was something else here. Something that Darhk was working very hard to keep secret; his plans and his involvement had been out in the open for a while but this was new. However their priority had to be connecting to that idol; knowing what Darhk was planning wouldn’t help them if they couldn’t stop him. Zatanna tapped Oliver lightly on the leg and they nodded at each other.

Oliver vaulted the boxes they were hiding behind, taking the one guard near them into a headlock before he could signal anyone. Zatanna slid round the other side and commanded the remaining guard to sleep. When they had stashed the unconscious ghosts. Zatanna slid down through a trapdoor like staircase with the skill of a cat burglar and back into the shadows. Oliver was set up with his bow, just in case. But as soon as Zatanna started her enchantment, Darhk stopped talking and froze. “There is another magic user here,” he stated, spinning on his heels and looking through the dark. “Search this place! Quickly!” he exclaimed, and Oliver jumped into action. Arrows went flying into all the ghosts he could see and he set off a smoke arrow right in front of Darhk. But that didn’t stop him, Zatanna was still chanting the same nonsense words over and over again and Darhk seemed to be honing in on her. “Zatanna Zatara, it’s been a long time. I knew the magic was too strong for a petty dabbler,” Darhk smirked, throwing Zatanna against the wall. She managed to curl up to take less of a blow but she couldn’t fight back with magic until the trace was done. “Tell me what you are doing?” Darhk’s voice boomed and the life force began to drain from Zatanna. Oliver took advantage of Darhk’s anger towards the mage to fire an exploding arrow into Darhk’s shoulder. He was so focused on trying to stop Zatanna’s chanting that he could only dodge out of the way at the last minute and Oliver’s arrow thumped into the wall. The explosion still sent Darhk reeling backwards and he released Zatanna. She continued to chant, how long was this going to take? He couldn’t hold off Darhk for long. Darhk was on his feet again but Zatanna had disappeared. Even after all she had done for them, Oliver still had a thought that she had left him here to die. But of course she hadn’t. Zatanna slid out of the shadows behind Darhk and basted a beam of light blue light at him. However he noticed and in a flash black light was hitting the blue. The contact point wavered and the room was illuminated, however Zatanna was fading. Sweat beaded on her brow and the black light was edging towards her. Oliver had to get her out of there. The ghosts were all just as stunned as Oliver and just stood gawping at the scene unfolding in front of them. He fired three arrows in quick succession but they all burned up before reaching their target. Zatanna was still holding Darhk back but she just kept looking at the ceiling. More specifically the tarp covering a hole in the roof. Oliver fired an explosive arrow to burn away the tarp and them a grapple over the edge. Jumping from the balcony, he swung down and grabbed Zatanna before propelling them up by the cable. They narrowly missed Darhk’s blast and flew upwards. “Running away like cowards won’t help you rescue your sister Mister Queen,” Darhk laughed.

“We need to find Thea! Now!” Oliver exclaimed, jumping down the stairs. Zatanna followed at a slower pace but shrugged off Diggle’s attempt at offering medical care.

“I’m looking but both her and Alex have dropped off the grid. They never checked in to the B and B they were supposed to be staying at and Alex’s car is still parked at his apartment. I’m searching traffic camera footage for either of them,” Felicity explained but Oliver couldn’t just sit and wait. Thea was in danger because of him and this stupid feud.

“There’s nothing you can do for her now Queen. I know where the idol is, we need to launch an attack on it,” Zatanna argued but she was quickly pinned against the wall by a furious Oliver. She didn’t even struggle against him as he pressed down on her chest.

“She is my sister, she is more important than any of this!” he snarled and Zatanna just stared back blankly.

“This is what Darhk wants Oliver. He wants to get under your skin so we will show our hand. He won’t hurt Thea, he will hurt the population of this city if we let him,” she replied, her voice calm and almost monotone. She was an outside perspective but that wasn’t how they did things here. They couldn’t let Darhk keep Thea as a hostage.

“She is family,” Oliver hissed, dropping Zatanna and storming out of the liar. Zatanna step off in the lair and towards the cot off to the side.

“Don’t disturb me,” she stated and disappeared round the corner.

Felicity didn’t disturb her but the tech genius stayed in the Arrow-cave in a desperate attempt to find something useful. She couldn’t find anything. Thea and Alex were nowhere. She didn’t know where else to look. They had got into a rental car that was rented by Oliver’s campaign team but that car was nowhere; it went round a corner in the outskirts of the city but never reappeared. She was about to send the call out for Oliver and John to check it out when Zatanna appeared from her hidey-hole.  “I know where Darhk is, and he is underground,” she announced and Oliver ordered her to wait until they all got back. And for once Zatanna actually listened to the Arrow’s orders.

“We need to split the team. I know where the idol is and where Darhk is probably holding Thea. You cannot take down Darhk while he still has the idol under his control. I take out the idol, you take out Darhk and rescue Thea,” she made it sound so simple. Oliver know it was never going to be that simple.

“Okay Laurel you go with Zatanna to destroy the idol. For good this time, not a shred can remain. Diggle will come with me to rescue Thea and take down Darhk,” Oliver took back charge of the team and everyone jumped to action. They didn’t have long to organise if the plan was to work.

Zatanna picked and kicked in the door to the chamber Darhk was using to store the idol. It was on a lay line and Zatanna could feel the power thrumming in the air; that was how Darhk was magnifying the power so much that he could access it even miles away. It would also make it easier for Zatanna to severe the connection of the idol to Darhk.

“I’ll watch the door, you better get to work,” Laurel stated, her clubs snapping out as they stepped towards the idol. Zatanna carefully reached out and placed her hands on the top of the idol. The power poured into her; it was as if her senses had been heightened and she could feel the world moving around her. She was all-mighty. With this power she could destroy all of those that dare oppose her. Darhk would evaporate into a cloud of dust that would forever be lost in the wind. Everything stopped; she didn’t need this power to kill him. She didn’t want to be a god. The idol wanted to use her for its own gain just like it was using Darhk. It had worked out that she was more powerful than its current host and was worming its way into her mind. They didn’t have time for this. Drawing the connection away from Darhk, Zatanna gritted her teeth against the angry onslaught. Until she heard Laurel scream. Her concentration lapsed and the connection snapped back to Darhk. Spinning around with an energy shield in her hands, Zatanna was met with more ghosts than she could take on by herself. Laurel was unconscious on the floor was blood slowly oozing from a cut on her forehead. No one moved as Zatanna’s eyes flittered around the cavern. She had to get herself, Laurel and the idol out of this cavern without getting either of them shot. She could heal minor injuries but bullet holes were a little out of her scope. As she was trying to work out if she could teleport over to Laurel fast enough, Darhk emerged from the entrance and strode towards her. “I knew I felt something when we met the first time. It was a clever plan, I’ll give you that, but I would never leave the idol undefended,” Darhk smirked.

“Then you have left your leverage unguarded,” Zatanna stated, to have this many ghosts here meant that Oliver would be able to retrieve Thea quickly and easily. That was the point of the two pronged attack; even though it didn’t go her way.

“That’s fine, because I still have a hostage. You,” he replied. The force of his magic tore through her shield and sent her flying backwards into the pedestal. The world spun as Zatanna stumbled to her feet; her shield had taken the majority of the force from Darhk’s blast but her head had still taken the force of her impact against the pedestal. Darhk advanced on her as she stumbled to her feet. “Concede Miss Zatara, I don’t want to hurt you. Your family will rain hell down on me if I kill you. That is until they are killed in the blaze,” Darhk monologued, easily blocking Zatanna’s clumsy attempts. “Thgir ym nosiv dna ym dnim,” Zatanna hissed, squeezing her eyes shut as he magic tore through her brain fixing the damage from the concussion. When her eyes opened a second later, everything was back to normal, and she could also use the power of the lay-lines. She smiled and jumped into action. They traded blows in a deadly dance, the ghosts seemed to have been instructed to stay back and let their boss have the satisfaction of taking down the witch. Darhk was league trained, his magic wasn’t the only thing making him deadly. They were trading spells over defence and offence throughout the cave but Zatanna wasn’t being modest when she said that as long as he had the idol she wasn’t strong enough to take him down. He pinned her against the wall with his forearm and channelled his strength through her body. Zatanna’s screams caused the walls to shake; her body felt like it was tearing apart and she couldn’t summon anything to fight back. Pain tore through her chest and Zatanna looked down to see a league blade sticking out under her heart. Darhk was smiling as he twisted the blade and Zatanna’s breath caught in her throat with a gargle. His smirk was the last thing she saw.

Oliver paced. He couldn’t sit still while Zatanna and Laurel were off the grid. They had easily broken Thea out from the idyllic underground wonderland and out from under the nose of her drugged boyfriend. But that was all because Darhk wasn’t there. They couldn’t destroy the underground base with all those people still down there and they had no idea where Darhk was. Oliver continued to pace. Laurel wasn’t responding to Felicity after the line went silent when they arrived at the cavern. At first they thought it was just magical interference but as time passed and there was still nothing, it looked worse and worse. “I’ve got to go,” Oliver snarled, picking up his bow again.

“Where Oliver? Zatanna is the only one who could find that cavern and she is AWOL,” Felicity stated, always the voice of reason.

“I can’t just wait here. They could be dead,” he replied, he had dragged Zatanna and Laurel into this so their deaths would be on him. Both women argued they could defend themselves but there was only a certain amount you could do against a man like Darhk especially in the area that was the epicentre of his evil power. As Oliver resumed his pacing, a white noise crackling echoed through the liar and Laurels voice croaked.

“Licity,” she coughed through the crackling. “Can any’un ear me?” she continued and Felicity managed to cut out the background noise.

“Laurel, we’re here are you two okay?” Felicity call out into the microphone as all fell silent.

“He took Zatanna, said she was the only risk to his rule but he couldn’t kill her. Something to do with magical politics. But he stabbed her, he stabbed her but I couldn’t help … Told me to pass the message on to you,” she continued to wheeze and Oliver’ heart dropped. “She put up a fight but he was so strong,” she coughed and Felicity took over and sent Diggle out to make sure they didn’t lose another member of their team that night. Darhk was still stronger than ever and he was setting up a trap. He took Zatanna out of the picture and was daring Oliver to come and rescue her. He wasn’t going to disappoint.

“We can’t rush into this,” Diggle stated as he stitched up Laurel’s wounds. She had a nasty concussion and was bruised all over but that was the worst of it. She was lucky that Darhk wanted her to pass on a message or she wouldn’t have made it out of there alive. It did mean she would have to sit out the rescue mission; mostly due to the fact she couldn’t walk in a straight line let alone fight.

“I know, this was Darhk’s plan all along. He wants to divide the team and we let him. But we can’t leave her there any longer than we have to. Who knows what he has planned now,” Oliver replied. They needed to first work out where he was holding her then they could come up with a plan to break her out.

“Wait how was Zatanna finding Darhk?” Felicity murmured, his fingers clicking against the keyboard in front of her.

“She used the magical connection through the idol to track his location,” Oliver answered and Felicity grinned.

“Which means that magic has a signature, maybe if we can build something to hone in on that signal then we can track both Darhk and Zatanna,” Felicity continued. “I’m going to call in all the troops,” within seconds of the message going out, Cisco and Curtis were looking stunned in the middle of the lair. “Let’s get to it,” she cracked her knuckles.

Oliver was really getting irritated with the feeling of being useless now. He was definitely not technologically gifted and his crude knowledge of the magical arts was no use here. Felicity, Curtis and Cisco were firing off terms that sounded like made up words and Cisco was hurriedly building. They seemed to have an idea but couldn’t test it out. Possessions of Zatanna’s weren’t working and the background magical signal was too strong to differentiate without someone to hone it. He had gathered that much. At first they had thought of the spellbook but it appeared like Zatanna had stashed it after she had formed a connection with the idol. Oliver couldn’t stand the waiting and not knowing. “I’m going out on patrol,” Oliver stated, walking past the tech team. The device began to beep in earnest and Cisco snapped out a hand to stop Oliver walking.

“Is there something you aren’t telling us, because this says you are magical Mr Queen,” Cisco stated, slowly removing his hand as Oliver glared daggers at him.

“Constantine gave me this, but I don’t know what it does,” he lifted up his shirt and the tattoo began to tingle with proximity to the beeping sensor.

“Well whatever it is it is magical, and we can use that to isolate only on the strongest magical signals,” Felicity stated with a beaming smile. They had their lead.

There was a surprising number of people with magic in Starling City but they had found a site with the two strongest spots they had seen. That had to be them. Oliver, Diggle and Thea were kitted up and out the door within minutes. Felicity’s science experiment had given them enough time to plan an approach. They had to free Zatanna first; she was their best chance of getting out of their alive and even defeating Darhk in one fell swoop. So that would mean two of the team would have to distract Darhk and face his wrath head on. It was decided that Thea, as the smallest and quickest of them, would sneak in and Oliver and Diggle would act as the distraction. “Be safe out there,” Felicity sighed with a frown as she sat with Laurel in front of the monitors. She didn’t like it that they were deliberately walking into a trap but there was nothing else they could do. At least she would have their backs from down here. Laurel refused to go home while Darhk was still a threat and Oliver did have to concede when she brought up the fact the lair was probably the safest place for her right now.

Zatanna came to slowly and in pieces. The first couple of times all she remembered was a choking sensation and a pain in her chest. Soon as she started to be more aware of her surroundings, the events of her fight with Darhk came back to her. Sitting up caused pain to storm through her body but she had to take stock of the damage. Bruises coated the vast majority of her body but the largest concern was the bandages and shimmer of magic over her chest. There was no one around in this quite large and spacious bedroom; on further investigation her arms and leg were chained to the bed with a little bit of leeway to move but not enough to get up or for her arms to reach anything of use. Although Darhk should know that her power wasn’t in her hands. However as soon as she started to try to speak, her chest roared with pain and breath eluded her. It felt as it her lungs had been punctured and blood was filling the vital organ. Slowly her body nitted itself back together and Zatanna was left panting and exhausted. That was what the enchantment on her chest was doing; every time she tried to speak it would inflict the wound that Darhk had inflicted on her. It was clever magic. Clever magic it would take her a while to circumvent.

Oliver did not feel comfortable as he jumped down the ladder back into the underground suburban hell. His hand twitched around his bow as Diggle slid down next to him. All was quiet, too quiet for either of them to be comfortable. “He’s watching us,” Diggle stated, he could feel the eyes on him as they prowled.

“I know,” Oliver stated, they had to move fast if they were going to pull the wool over Darhk’s eyes. Thea was sneaking in through the back entrance and they hoped that at least one member of the team would be able to get to Zatanna and free her. Although they didn’t know what sat Zatanna would be in if they did find her. Darhk couldn’t kill her or it would bring the wrath of Zatanna’s probably magical family down on him. She had to still be alive. Guards were swarming around the house that they had rescued Thea from. There was their target.

Zatanna had a plan, if she could pick the handcuff then she could channel her latent magic into her chest and hopefuly short circuit Darhk’s magic. Then she could deal with all the internal bleeding. Unscrewing one of the screws on her lamp on the bedside table was slow and agonising work with her chest protesting at every movement. Darhk either wasn’t watching or was enjoying her futile efforts. Her hands were rubbed raw and at every cut magic pooled and healed the abused skin. Finally it pinged loose and hope swelled along with pain in her chest. Lock picking was a still every stage magician needed to know; Zatanna thanked her father for insisting magic shouldn’t be used for tasks that you can accomplish yourself. The handcuff clicked free and Zatanna collapsed back against the bed. Darhk would definitely come to investigate as soon as he felt her magic do its work. Ideally she needed a distraction. Gun fire pierced the tense silence and Zatanna choked back a hysterical laugh. The fates were smiling upon her today. She pressed her shaking hand against the wound and channelled everything she could reach. The vast majority of her power had to be targeted by her voice but she could let off a burst. Pain seared her skin as she let out a cry and felt her magic burn away Darhk’s. Her throat starting to constrict as he breath gargled. But Darhk’s influence was gone. “Laeh,” she choked out and the warm flow of her magic spread across the tears and stitched everything back together. Zatanna rolled over and coughed up the blood remaining in her lungs. Now she had to get out of here without being shot. It was one challenge after another ever since she had met these foolish vigilantes.

Oliver and Diggle’s stealth mission had not gone according to plan to say the least. They had been spotted by a patrol as they tried to sneak through the suburban hell and the orders seemed to be shoot on sight and so the ghosts did. They were all swarming in front of the house Thea had been kept in but there was no way to get through. They had to hope for Thea’s stealth and Zatanna’s resourcefulness to break her out before Darhk arrived. And of course as soon as the thought crossed Oliver’s mind, Darhk arrived and strode through the group. It was time to put their training to use. Darhk threw Diggle out of the way and zoned in on Oliver. Arrows were flying but they were burnt away before they reached Darhk. Hand to hand it was then, Oliver leapt forwards, over a blast of dark energy and managed to get one kick to Darhk’s abdomen before his throat began to constrict. Darhk’s party trick was really starting to get on his nerves now. But Zatanna had been teaching him, Oliver stepped forward, fighting against the deep dark pit that he was teetering on the edge of. A moment of surprise flittered across Darhk’s face but he just channelled more power into Oliver’s body. This wasn’t a long term plan; he was only supposed to have to occupy Darhk for long enough so Zatanna could strike. Dots started to flicker in his vision as Darhk grinned. Where was Thea and Zatanna? Diggle fired off at Darhk causing the magician’s power to slip for a moment. Enough for Oliver to scramble a few breaths before the onslaught began anew. The plan was not working, all it was doing was making Darhk angrier.

“You’ve got stronger, but you will never be able to face me Arrow,” he snarled advancing closer.

“Esilibommi eht rewop fo eht tneicna tcafetra, rehtet eht lleps ot ym lliw. Sa gnol sa I niamer no siht ylhtrae nialp Khrad lliw ton esu eht tneicna skcigam,” Zatanna’s voice swirled around them and Dahrk froze.

“No, you can’t. You don’t have the power to restrain me,” Oliver was crudely discarded as Dahrk raised his hand to attack Zatanna. Nothing happened. Zatanna was heavily leaning on Thea, her fingers bloodied and her skin a shade of white that Oliver didn’t think people could go. She had been through the wringer and was still managing to hold Darhk back. They couldn’t waste this chance. “Get her!” he screamed and the Ghosts jumped out of their stupor. Diggle returned fire and Thea stayed by Zatanna fending off the bullets using a makeshift shield and firing on the ghosts. Oliver’s job was Darhk. The assassin had realised that trying to use his magic was hurting Zatanna and was testing her strength. They had not planned for a time sensitive mission; Oliver fired off arrow after arrow as Dahrk was preoccupied. He dodged every attempt before turning his attention to Oliver. They dived into hand to hand combat; Oliver had to fall back on his Bratva and Island training as nothing league taught would make a dent in Darhk’s armour. They fought too alike, trading blows like a sparring match not a fight to the death. Oliver managed to get the upper hand when an explosive arrow from Thea blew up behind Darhk’s feet. It was just the distraction he needed to end up looming over a startled Darhk with an arrow in his white knuckled grip. This was the moment of truth. Would he do what was right or what was necessary? Oliver hesitated despite his conversation with Zatanna when they first met; at that point in time he was focused and knew what needed to be done. But now all that had faded, he had fought so hard to become the man he was today. Was he strong enough to throw all that away to finish this vendetta? “Do it,” Thea stated, all sound raced away apart from those two words. Thea had always seen the best in him, if she could believe in him after this then maybe he could believe in himself. Zatanna was fading, she couldn’t hold him back for much longer, Oliver had to decide. The arrow plunged down through the air and impaled Darhk’s heart. The last breathe rattled out of his throat and it was done.

The team didn’t see each other for a few days. They needed that time apart that deal with the things they had done. Felicity stayed in her apartment and threw herself into Palmer Industries work hiding from the world. Thea went to visit Roy in Metropolis where he was hiding out for the time being; Superman was appreciating the help of a red clad archer and Thea needed some time away from the dark streets of Star City. Laurel was staying with her father, helping him through losing his job and Diggle was spending some time with little baby Sara. Zatanna was in a coma in the lair, she hadn’t woken up for days after the ordeal with Darhk. It had taken all the power she had to throw off Darhk’s curse, heal herself and then hold back his magic for Oliver to finish the war. Oliver kept an eye on her, he stayed in Star City. It was his city and he couldn’t leave it to rebuild on it’s own. Ruve was on the run leaving the city mayorless but that was the least of their concerns. The devastation had hit ever part of their city. But slowly the team reassembled, and Zatanna awoke.

She gasped awake when it was the whole team down in the lair; the Green Arrow was by her side in an instant as she trembled with the phantom pains of her wounds. Felicity and Thea darted over as the chanting began. Her eyes were deep crimson and the words were non-sensical as her usual spells were but these thrummed with a malicious power. “Ollie, the idol,” Thea gasped. They had tried to break the infernal device but every time it seemed to be protected. Now it was glowing with the same hue as Zatanna’s eyes and vibrating.

“We need to destroy it,” Oliver screamed as a wind quick up around them, throwing papers in the air and rattling the tables. Oliver, Diggle and Thea were holding Zatanna down as her body thrashed against them leaving Laurel and Felicity to do something about the indestructible idol. Laurel started with the most obvious, she hit it with a large hammer that was stored in the cave after the renovations. Not even a crack but Zatanna’s struggles were renewed in their efforts to break free. “No!” her voice was deep and demon like, reverberating off all the walls. “It must be done,” she growled and the light bulbs popped and plunged them into darkness. Emergency lighting clicked on and Zatanna was still trembling with the mystical force. All of a sudden she threw her arms up in the air sending Oliver, Diggle and Thea all flying across the room. She walked towards the idol like a woman possessed. The idol’s glow intensified and Zatanna rested her hand on top of it. There was nothing Laurel or Felicity could do to prise her away. But in an instant the glow stopped and the idol shattered like a pane of glass. Zatanna crumpled to the floor with a pained moan.

“Well that’s new,” Thea stated as they all just laid there gawping.

They had to wait for Zatanna to awake to get some form of an explanation. This time it only took a few minutes for her to come round and there was no ominous chanting. “Did someone hit me round the head with a baseball bat or something?” she moaned, sitting up where they had left her on the floor.

“I wish we had,” Laurel grumbled but was silenced with a glare from Oliver.

“You were possessed then destroyed the idol,” he explained and Zatanna nodded.

“While I was weakened the idol’s power tried to take over through the link. I managed to fight it off and overwhelm it with my power. That must have destroyed the idol,” a smile twitched at her lips and she took Diggle’s hand to help her stand. “That was the end,” she added and Oliver finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Weeks had passed and Zatanna still had barely said a word to Felicity. The blonde had thought that once the threat of Darhk had passed then the witch would warm up to her but it didn’t seem to help. “Why don’t you like me?” Felicity exclaimed as Zatanna walked back into the liar. She had been trying to work it out but she hadn’t done anything to the other woman.

“I don’t like how you manipulate Oliver,” Zatanna replied, placing her batons back in her draw and the top hat on the manikin Oliver had put in for her when she decided to stay.

“I don’t manipulate him!” she exclaimed and she didn’t, he lied and pulled her around.

“That man will do anything you tell him to and you still play with his affections. You tell him you can’t care for him because he kills but yet you order him to kill when it suits you,” Zatanna argued, turning to face Felicity and prowling over slowly. She didn’t, of course she didn’t want him to kill but Darhk was an exception, and Slade, and Ra’s, and Meryln. Her heart sunk as she remembered the conversation before he went to fight Ra’s al Ghul. “Then you tell him to do everything it takes but are unwilling to admit that sometimes that may conflict with your ideals. There are necessary evils. You can’t fight evil with hope and love. That is just not how it works. Having the moral high ground wins you nothing,” she shouted from behind the screen.

“Then what is the point!” Felicity screamed back, she was done with Zatanna questioning them all and changing how they do things here. “What is the point in doing this if we stoop to the level of the villians? And don’t you dare tell me that there are people in this world that deal only in extremes and it’s naïve that anything less will stop them because that isn’t how the world works,” she continued to rant, Zatanna just looked over the top of the screen with one eyebrow cocked.

“This is how the world works Smoak, in a shootout you shoot first or you die. Honour has no part in this. You tell him not to lie but you don’t realise the damage the truth can do. He’s lost his son because you pushed for him to tell the truth. And then you walked out on him. That can crush a man more than torture ever could,” the sorcerer continued, walking over and looming over Felicity. “You claim to love him but do you love the Oliver Queen in front of you or do you love the phantom idea?” she asked, disappearing behind the changing screen with a set of workout clothes.

“I do love him but a relationship cannot be built on lies,” Felicity replied, defending her choices even though the seed of doubt was planted. Had she been manipulating Oliver? He had been playing with her heart but had she been playing with his.

“Lies are a necessity of life. Do you think that Oliver should stand up and announce to everyone in the world that he is the Arrow?” the witch continued, of course she didn’t. But that was the point. The door at the top of the stairs clicked open and Zatanna had to have the final word. “Relationships don’t have to be built on honesty, they do have to be built on trust.”

“What’s going on down here?” Oliver asked, putting his bow down as Zatanna stepped away to hang her jacket on the mannequin.

“Nothing,” Felicity squeaked. Zatanna’s words kept on circling round in her head; had she been subconsciously manipulating Oliver and was her choice to terminate the relationship really affecting him as much as the sorceress believed?

The whole team sat on the front row and Oliver took his oath. As Ruve had been revealed to be a fraud and working with the mastermind responsible for destroying the city, she was currently on the run from the CIA, ARGUS and every other government agency you could think of. It also meant that Star City needed a new mayor. Who better than mayoral candidate Oliver Queen? Felicity and Thea both glowed with pride as John, Laurel and Zatanna watching on with a more reserved attitude. It had set Zatanna thinking; everyone else in this endeavour had a cover identity. She was going to have to get a new job. Starling wasn’t the most prolifant gambling city in the country but she was sure she would be able to get a position in one. But a job like that would mean working nights and that was when Team Arrow did its business, she shuddered. This meant, getting a regular job. But it turned out that Oliver already had a plan in the works. After the ceremony, the whole team retreated to Oliver’s campaign offices with a couple of bottles of champagne to celebrate and drink the night away. “I have a job offer for you,” Oliver pulled Zatanna away from the group after the first glasses of champagne had been poured. “You need a position that will leave your nights free and I need to surround myself with people I can trust. I want you to be my personal assistant,” he stated and Zatanna was glad they were both on the same page.

“Thanks Oliver," Zatanna smiled, she was definitely warming to these fools and their endless mission. It did feel good to be in a team again and using her powers for something more than just magic tricks. 
"You start tomorrow," Oliver gave her a smile in return.

The mayor was pleasantly surprised when we walked into his offices in City Hall. Zatanna was stood waiting for him but she wasn't in her usual revealing get up. She was dressed in a deep blue blouse with a black pencil skirt and black moderately high heels. Her hair was still as wavy as ever but was tied back in a ponytail with only a couple of strands framing her face. The most defining change was actually her glasses. Now Oliver knew that Zatanna didn't need glasses, she was a magical being of course she had perfect vision, but they completed the look and no one would ever guess she was the new magical vigilante. "Nice glasses," Oliver stated as he walked past her and she followed. 
"Thanks, thought they completed the look," she smirked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I really don’t think a disguise like that is ever going to fool anyone,” Oliver settled down at his desk and Zatanna shrugged, pushing the thick rimmed lenses back up her nose.

“You’d be surprised.”

“So,” Zatanna began, leaning against the wall as they waited for the target to arrive. There had been rumours of ghosts, probably under the control of Ruve, trying to continue Darhk’s evil network. They were hoping to follow the ghosts back to whoever was controlling them.

“What is it?” Oliver huffed. He knew that Zatanna didn’t like silence and patience was not her strong suit.

“Felicity, you and her to be more exact,” she stated and Oliver groaned internally. He knew this was coming ever since Zatanna saw into his sub-conscious and saw his dreams. He had hoped she would choose not to meddle in his lack of a love life but his prayers weren’t answered today.

“There is nothing there,” Oliver replied at a loud whisper, implying that Zatanna should quiet down to avoid scaring away their prey.

"Oh really, because I saw what you want from this life and it isn't a quick fuck and a secret identity. You want a family, daughters but I'll leave the psychoanalysis for a less pressing moment," Zantanna continued her character dissection despite Oliver's best Arrow glare.
"Why don't we just leave it all until a less pressing moment or just never?" he interrupted her and Zatanna just rolled her eyes.
"Queen, despite my best efforts not to care about you amateurs, you’ve wormed your way into my life and it is physically painful to see you two moping,” she complained and Oliver really didn’t know what to say to that. Luckily he didn’t have to respond. He was shushed, a surprisingly frequent occurrence now that ‘old Oliver’ would never have permitted, as ghosts crept out of the shadows near where the two were hiding. They were making no effort to be stealthy or examining the locations around them; with Darhk gone they were getting sloppy. It made their job a lot easier. Zatanna nodded to him and Oliver slowly pulled on arrow out of his quiver. It felt as if any disturbance in the air would alert the militia on the ground of their presence. Only one needed to get away to lead the team back to their commander. The rest could be dealt with now.

“Wait!” Felicity exclaimed over the headset. Oliver’s arm stopped in mid-air with the arrow resting in his fingers. “There’s another heat signature. This is a meeting,” Felicity explained and Zatanna quietly growled, her hands falling back down to her sides. They were all on the same wavelength; if the ghosts were meeting someone they needed to know what was going on.

“I was really looking forward to kicking ass, are you sure it isn’t just another ghost?” she hissed and Felicity glowered.

“This is my job and I’m always sure,” Felicity snapped back and was growled at again.

“This is now a surveillance mission,” Oliver ruled, no argument. Their mysterious figure entered the warehouse and Zatanna bit back a laugh. His apparel screamed hacker, there wasn’t anything else he could be in a black zip up hoodie with a leather jacket over the top; the artfully ripped jeans and bright red converse didn’t help the stereotype either. And they had been scared of this new player, he was barely into his twenties and a wind would knock him over let alone the Arrow. “We’ll see what he has then we’ll move in,” Oliver mouthed and Zatanna nodded.

“Do you have the hard drive?” Ghost One, as Zatanna was calling them in her head, asked as the kid was looking around the warehouse. Hacker, they got it in one.

“I do, my turn for a question, why does your boss want nuclear missile codes?”

Both Oliver and Zatanna tensed and Oliver knocked the arrow he was holding onto his bow, ready to attack once the urgency of the threat had been analysed. “You weren’t supposed to look at the hard drive kid, just decode it. Our boss won’t like it. Hand over the drive,” Ghost One continued as his colleagues raised their weapons.

“Where’s my payment?” the kid asked, slowly removing the hard drive from his pocket as not to spook the trigger happy mercenaries. Ghost Two raised a briefcase and stepped towards the hacker. Oliver pressed the emergency beacon do summon the team to their location. It wouldn’t take them long to get to their location. There was no way any of the figures below could be allowed to leave with that hard drive. Zatanna slowly lowered her voice recorder down to record the rest of the conversation. “One more question, is your employer Ruve Darhk? Because there are a lot of mentions to the late Mr Darhk and the only person I could think,” he was cut off, his hand dropped and the hard drive clattered to the floor. His body crumpled and Ghost One lowered his gun. It must be Ruve, they wouldn’t kill a man who was barking up the wrong tree.

“Tell Miss Darhk we have the codes,” Ghost One ordered. Ruve Darhk was trying to finish what her husband had started. Zatanna had a recording to prove it now they just had to get the codes.

“We’re outside Green, just give us the signal,” Thea stated through their comms and Oliver nodded to Zatanna, it was time to get to work.

Felicity sprinted across the roof top, Oliver was screaming in her ear to stop and let him deal with it but he was too far away. Oliver, John, Thea and Zatanna were all overwhelmed with ghosts about a block away. Even with magic on their side, there was only a certain number of men you can take out at a time. They had been swarmed and Felicity was the only one not to enter the building. She was on her own and had to stop the ghost from getting away with the key hard drive, and that meant chasing him across rooftops. “Felicity!” Oliver shouting in her ear but she had to keep going. Until the man she was pursuing jumped down into an alley into a roll and hobbled forwards looking up at Felicity. It was a long way down and if someone built like a body builder hurt himself doing it then so would she.

“Felicity what’s going on?” John shouted over the sounds of gunfire through her headset.

“He jumped down into an alley, there’s no way down,” Felicity replied, leaning over the ledge hunting for a ladder or a fire escape she could safely make her way down.

“How far is it?” Oliver asked and Felicity chuckled tensely.

“Too far, the guy jumped and he’s hurt his leg. There’s a van below me that I can hotwire but I need to get down,” Felicity explained but the last word turned into a yelp as she stumbled forwards just managing to grab onto a pipe to keep herself from falling.

“Felicity what’s going on?” John shouted at her scream. Felicity couldn’t speak, she just kept thinking to herself not to look down.

“I slipped,” Felicity eventually managed to squeak out, “and I am holding on.”

“How far down is it to land on the van?” John asked and Felicity squeezed her eyes even tighter shut, she was not even going to consider that option because she was not letting go of that pipe, ever.

“Too far,” she replied, her voice leaving no room for argument.

“Felicity we might not,” John began but was interrupted by Zatanna.

“Felicity just let go,” she stated, the sounds of battle roaring in the background but the sorcerer didn’t sound frazzled in the slightest.

“I am not letting go, I can hold on till you get here,” she continued, refusing to look down.

“Oliver will not get there in time. Slowly your palms will begin to sweat and the metal dig into your hands. Mentally time will begin to slow and you’ll feel your arms are going to pull out of your sockets. Then you’ll fall to the floor and not be able to land correctly as you’re just so tired,” Zatanna growled, it was as if everything had stopped.

“Zatanna you are not helping,” Oliver snarled and Felicity could hear the scowl through the airwaves.

“Felicity, you need to listen to me. You are the strongest out of all of us,” she continued and Felicity scoffed. How could she be? She was just the tech girl; they had been through this before and she knew she wasn’t a hero, not a vigilante but her work was just as important.

“We go out there to fight but we have magic or army training or superior archery skills. You don’t have any of that Felicity but you are still willing to fight. You are strong and you need to stop waiting for Oliver to save you,” Zatanna continued, and Felicity actually started to believe her. It may have been witchcraft but she was being convinced. She could stand up for herself and she didn’t need Oliver to save her.

“You are never going to grow and get stronger if you use all of this team as crutch. Man up, kick yourself up the ass and become a superhero Smoak,” Zatanna shouted before her voice was used to send a bunch of ghosts flying.

“I can do this,” she muttered under her breath.

“You can do this, save yourself, let go.” And Felicity did.

She thumped down onto the roof of the van as Zatanna instructed, feet first and falling onto her knees. It hurt and her knees would be bruised in the morning but she was alive and could move. Slowly, Felicity lowered herself off the van and pulled her jacket over her arm as she smashed the window of the van and unlocked it from the inside. The team always joked about her misspent youth but it did come with some handy skills; one of them was her ability to hotwire a car. The engine was purring within a minute and Felicity tore out into the street. The hacker hadn’t got far and Felicity managed to cut him off and send him slamming into the side of the van. It knocked him out cold and Felicity retrieved the hardrive. She crushed it under her boot without a moment’s hesitation; nobody could have those nuclear codes. “I’ve done it!” Felicity shouted over the comms and Thea whooped in support.

“We’re nearly done here, the police are on their way with the Lance’s. See you back at the base,” Oliver replied, but Felicity could hear the pride in his voice. Zatanna was right, she was still hung up on Oliver and she didn’t need anyone to save her; whether it was from ghosts, heights, or her dismal love life.

“We need to talk,” Felicity stated, standing over where Zatanna was meditating.

“Do we?” Zatanna inched open one eye to look at Felicity sceptically. The blonde wheeled over one of the stools and settled down in front of Zatanna.

“I want to propose a truce,” she stated, trying to summon the courage that she had gathered on that roof top.

“A what?” Zatanna questioned, finally fully opening her eyes to look at Felicity.

“A truce, an agreement between enemies or opponents to stop fighting or arguing for a certain time,” Felicity replied before her brain could catch up.

“Felicity, I know what a truce is. I want to know why you think we need one?” she asked, stretching out on the floor and stretching the cracks out of her neck.

“Because you clearly don’t like me and I was still harbouring some hostility over you kidnapping Oliver but you really helped me out there on that rooftop and that helped me realise that you really are just looking out for all of us so I think we should both just agree to be friends and maybe you could help me get over some of my fears and train me or something so I don’t feel so useless sat here behind a computer. I mean if you have time with being sorcerer supreme and managing Oliver’s schedule which is a really difficult task let me tell you that,” Felicity rambled until she stopped herself and took a deep breath. Zatanna just sat there and waited for her to finish.

“You done?” she asked and Felicity just nodded, not trusting herself not to start babbling again. “Firstly, I am not sorcerer supreme. That title goes to someone else much more powerful than me. Secondly, I do like you Felicity. Which is why I get so annoyed. You are letting your relationships with other people define your life. You want to sit behind a computer and save people’s asses then do it. You want to get together with the mayor, then do it. But you are scared of committing and saying, ‘damn, I like where my life is’,” Zatanna explained and shushed Felicity when she tried to interrupt. “Hanging onto that rooftop was just one example. You need to learn how to save yourself, and I can teach you, but you have to want to,” Zatanna stood up and offered her hand. “Do you want to?”

“Yeah, yeah I do. What’s first?” she asked with a small smile and shook Zatanna’s hand.

“Go get your man.”

“Mr Queen, Miss Smoak is here to see you,” Zatanna stated, when she returned from her lunch break with Felicity in tow. Pushing the blonde through the door she left the two alone and chuckled to herself.

“Felicity, what can I do for you?” Oliver asked, putting down the file he was supposed to be dealing with.

“Nothing, I mean obviously something but I mean I’ve been talking to Zatanna and she made me realise I’ve been leaning on you guys and blaming you when things go wrong when really I should be going out and fixing them myself. So I’ve decided that Zatanna is going to train me to fight and I am going to fight in a metaphorical sense to get what I want,” Felicity babbled. Oliver had a little smile and was watching her like the sun had risen in front of his eyes. “And I want you, secrets and all,” this time she managed to stop herself before her mind went to truly dirty places.

“For better or for worse,” Oliver smiled, leaning over the table to catch her lips with his. Felicity grinned, leaning into his embrace. She guessed that was a yes.