'There's someone at the door for you, Aria,' Thea called for me as I helped Oliver take down the Christmas decorations after what had been one of the most memorable Christmas holidays of my life.
I found Leyla on the doorstep, looking like she was dying to tell me something.
'Thanks, Thea,' I smiled. 'I'll be back later.'
'I'm surprised you dared to turn up at the Queen house, exposed,' I commented as we got into Leyla's car, the driver who had dropped me off at Barker Street at the wheel.
'It's because I have vital information regarding Mr Steele and Mr Merlyn,' she explained, nodding to the driver so he would set off. 'I looked into why Mr Steele went missing, and I found something rather interesting. He and some Queen Consolidated IT employee found out about The List.'
'I remember now,' I was transported back to when I had heard Walter calling a woman called Felicity Smoak about a list. 'I overheard him talking about it to her. That's why I had heard of The List before.'
'I still am astounded that Mr Queen never mentioned it to you,' Leyla commented. 'The List.'
'I know what it is now,' I told her. 'Diggle's been pestering Oliver about carrying on his work with The List ever since he hung up his bow and started having a break from being The Hood. They just hadn't gotten round to telling me about it.'
'I see,' Leyla just uttered.
'Why was Walter looking into The List?' I inquired in a confused tone. 'He has nothing to do with it; how did he even find out about it?'
'He has his connections,' Leyla stated. 'The List isn't only something Robert Queen gave to his son shortly before he died. Moira Queen and Mr Merlyn both know of it's existence.'
'How on earth did you find that out?' I asked my sister, astounded.
'Mr Steele does a poor job of hiding his digital footprint,' Leyla informed me with a smirk. 'I scanned his history for any clues as to why he was abducted. And he had been searching an organisation called Tempest. Naturally, there is no proof of Tempest on the internet.'
'Maybe he just really likes Shakespeare?' I remarked, making Leyla raise her eyebrows at me before slightly laughing.
'Tempest exists, Aria,' Leyla informed me definitely. 'See the work they have done for yourself.'
We had stopped outside an old warehouse, it's exterior looking old and unused for years.
'Are you sure we're at the right place?' I questioned Leyla, but she merely nodded her head.
Stepping out of the car, I quickly looked over the area for any signs of hidden assassins or sinister businessmen. Leyla showed me to a door at the top of a few steps, a modern keypad with a touch-screen interface attached to the wall beside it.
Leyla typed in the word 'Tempest', but that was rejected. She then tried the names 'Queen', 'Merlyn' and 'Chen', but they were also incorrect.
'What are you trying to do?' I wondered as she took a moment to calm down.
'Unlock this door,' she said, assuming I was being stupid.
'I know that,' I rolled my eyes, taking a look at the keypad myself. 'Who set the passcode?'
'Mrs Queen,' Leyla explained briefly.
'Isn't it obvious?' I asked her, entering 'Robert' into the keypad.
The door unlocked, quickly swinging out towards us. We both shared a look of delight and entered the building, finding something I could've never imagined.
The remains of the Queen's Gambit, the ship I had been thrown off of and had witnessed sink to the bottom of the ocean, were contained in the warehouse we stood in, most of it intact apart from a huge rip in the middle of the vessel.
'I am so sorry, Aria,' Leyla apologised as she realises what she had brought me to. 'I didn't want to remind you about the awful things you went through because of this boat. I didn't know what would be behind that door, but I could never have suspected this.'
'It's fine, honestly,' I could barely speak, my voice disappearing with my shock. 'It just feels... Surreal, to see the boat like this.'
'I'm sure it does,' Leyla placed her hand on my shoulder.
'Just out of curiosity, why did you enter those names in the keypad?' I asked my sister. 'Queen, Merlyn and Chen?'
'Moira Queen, Malcolm Merlyn and Frank Chen essentially are Tempest,' she explained to me. 'They founded it with Robert Queen when he was alive.'
'Frank Chen seemed so nice at the party,' I sighed. 'I guess I should warn Ollie of him.'
'No, you can't,' Leyla shook her head at once. 'He would find out about his mother and Mr Merlyn's involvement. We are putting ourselves in a tremendous amount of danger by trying to end Merlyn, but Mr Queen doesn't need this exposure.'
'Okay then,' I accepted what Leyla had said. 'Do you know what Tempest are planning?'
'No,' Leyla said. 'I barely managed to find this warehouse. Discovering Mr Merlyn and Mr Chen were also involved in Tempest was even more difficult.'
'How did you find out?' I wondered, confused as to how my sister knew so much.
'I have my sources,' she responded vaguely, not wanting to drag me into anything else.
'Anyway, do you know what Tempest is for, well, apart from salvaging the boat?' I pressed.
No organisation as secretive as this would be set up just for the fun of it.
'They have plans,' Leyla expanded on the subject. 'Big plans. But unfortunately, I have no idea what these plans are.'
'If we found out these plans, wouldn't they help with defeating Merlyn?' I suddenly had a wave of inspiration. 'We would know what he's up to and we could stop him from fulfilling them.'
'And he would be so upset,' Leyla grinned at the idea of Merlyn's misery. 'Good thinking, sister.'
'But what if we can never find out his plans?' I quickly started to worry. 'You have contacts all across the city who seem to keep you updated about the secrets of Starling, but even you don't know them, Leyla.'
'Then we question people,' Leyla told me. 'The people who know of Tempest's existence.'
'There might be one person,' I thought back to Walter's call with Felicity. 'And I think I know where she may be.'
---
'Hi, it's... Felicity Smoak, right?' I approached my newest victim of interrogation friendlily with a smile.
'Do I... Know you?' Felicity turned, a look of recognition on their face.
Somehow she knew who I was, but why? Did she recognise me from the SCPD?
'My name is Aria,' I carried on my introduction. 'Aria Coleman. I work in the Forensics Department at the SCPD.'
'Oh, I know who you are!' Felicity exclaimed, before turning to utter sadness. 'Sorry, I remember you from the... Funeral. Isaac, the... Guy who used to work here-'
'I know who you're talking about,' I tried to carry on smiling as a way to reassure her and stop her from feeling bad. 'Don't worry about it. Isaac was a good guy; I understand why you would know him, since he worked for Queen Consoidated in IT, like you.'
'He wasn't just an IT guy, he was the best computer scientist I have met in a long time,' Felicity praised Isaac's past work. 'He became the Assistant Head of the Computing and Statistic Department, whereas I've always just been a regular IT girl.'
'Well, I'm sure you'll move onto greater things,' I started to warm to Felicity, her bubbly, comedic personality making it hard for me to want to get information out of her.
I was starting to like her, which greatly hindered my inquisition.
'Anyway, what exciting things do you do here?' I tried to carry on. 'Moira tells me that the company is always busy with new investments and projects.'
'You know Moira Queen?' Felicity asked me, looking shocked. 'Like, in person?'
'Yes, I'm friends with the Queens,' I nodded. 'I... Just celebrated Christmas with them this year.'
'So now I know who the girl is who Oliver talks abou-' Felicity stopped herself, closing her eyes in embarrassment. 'Sorry, it's just, he mentions you a lot...'
'It's fine,' I laughed slightly, causing Felicity to smile instead of worry. 'But you could be mixing me up with a Laurel Lance?'
'I wouldn't be so sure of that,' Felicity murmured just audibly. 'Anyway, I really got backtracked there. What did you want to talk to me about?'
'I was wondering if you knew anything about an organisation me and... The SCPD are investigating,' I started, trying to be as unsuspecting as possible. 'They go by the name Tempest.'
'...Tempest?' Felicity conferred with me, her face falling rapidly. 'I have... Never heard of Tempest before. Tempest...?'
'Felicity,' I said softly, trying to gain her trust. 'It's okay, you can tell me anything. I know you've only just met me, but I only want to help and protect the people around me, like you do. I just need more information.'
'Well, I guess you are trying to help,' Felicity convinced herself that I was trustworthy. 'But you cannot tell any of the SCPD about this, seriously. I don't really believe you are doing this for the SCPD anyway, but I think I can trust you. Well I hope so, anyway, because a few weeks ago, I found that Mrs Queen had transacted over two million dollars to a company called Tempest.'
'So that's how they did it,' I thought aloud, before realising Felicity had heard me.
'You know about the warehouse?' Felicity inquired with intrigue.
'Like you and Walter, I've been doing my research,' I confirmed, before realising yet again that I had said too much.
'How do you know Mr Steele is involved in this?' Felicity suddenly wondered, her voice worried and concerned.
'Well I didn't think you would have looked into Tempest without your boss telling you to,' I explained quickly. 'And I'm sure Walter's disappearance is related with you both delving too deep into things you shouldn't have.'
'You are probably correct,' Felicity nodded sadly. 'Do you know what's happened to him? Where he is?'
'That's what I'm trying to find out,' I smiled reassuringly. 'I am not going to let Tempest get away with any of this.'
'Do you think it could be to do with the... List of names he found?' Felicity proposed hesitantly. 'I mean, I don't know if they're completely connected, but-'
'A list of names?' I asked her, pretending to be confused as to why she would know about The List.
After all, I had heard Walter talking to her about it.
'Yeah, here,' she showed me a document on her tablet, full of people's names like The List Oliver had.
Reading through some of the names, I recognised some from cases at the SCPD. And then I spotted the name Adam Hunt just above Jason Brodeur and Martin Somers; three men Oliver had confronted as The Hood. This was an exact copy of The List, but just why had Walter found it?
'These men, they're not good people,' I shook my head.
'I didn't think good people would be on a secret list written by a shady company,' Felicity interjected sarcastically.
'Wait, what do you mean?' I immediately questioned her. 'What has this list got to do with Tempest?'
'What we think is the Tempest logo was drawn into the book this list is written in,' Felicity told me.
She found a photo of the drawing and showed it to me, it's design looking strangely familiar. It was circular and made up of random shapes and lines.
'How strange,' I muttered.
Why did Tempest have a copy of The List, let alone maybe having compiled it? But this was all theory and nothing was clear; all Felicity had told me were assumptions. But there wasn't enough to support her theories.
Leyla was not going to like this.
'I knew we should've done it my way,' Leyla growled as I returned to the car, annoyed that we had failed.
'But what if she really doesn't know anything?' I pointed out, but my sister would have none of it.
'She knows,' Leyla pushed. 'No one can just happen upon the The List! And all you extracted from her were uncertainties. She cannot be that certain just from predictions. She knows something and she was smart enough not to tell you.'
'Then what are you saying?' I asked impatiently.
'We are going to approach this my way,' Leyla smirked with intent. 'Suit up, sister.'
I had a bad feeling about this.
---
'Felicity Smoak,' Leyla growled, her eyes covered by a lacy mask and her lips coloured with dark berry lipstick as we cornered Felicity in the IT room back at Queen Consolidated that night.
My sister had an interesting disguise, her hair no longer in the bun I had seen her always wear but straightened and flowing like mine, and she wore a black jumpsuit and leather jacket while somehow still maintaining an aire of professionalism.
'What do you know about Tempest?' She carried on scarily, Felicity looking terrified.
'I'm... Sorry, but I don't know anything about them,' Felicity shook her head at once. 'I swear.'
'See, I told you!' I hissed at my sister. 'All you've done is frighten her!'
I took my mask off in shame, trying to get Felicity to calm down and trust me.
'Aria?' Felicity gasped. 'You're the- that Vigilante from a few years ago? And you're here- now- threatening my life.'
'My sister just gets a bit... Carried away,' I rolled my eyes. 'But we weren't going to kill you, don't worry. The work you're doing to find Walter, to help this city, it's brilliant.'
'Thanks, but I'm not really helping the city,' Felicity denied. 'I'm just trying to find out who Tempest are.'
'And by doing that, you are,' Leyla piped up, her too taking her mask off. 'I... Apologise for what I just did then. But you must understand why I did this! This city is riddled with corruption and crime, and we think we can stop one of its largest perpetrators.'
'Isaac used to think like that,' Felicity remembered my late friend's legacy. 'He mentioned things to me that sounded interesting. Scary, but interesting. I'm sure he was like, a conspiracy theorist or something, he kept talking about this 'Dark Archer'-'
'What did he say about this... Dark Archer?' I quickly interrupted her from going off course.
'He said he was making a file about him, or something,' Felicity informed me. 'But he told me it was top secret. I was the only one who knew that it existed, and I think I still am.'
'Do you know where, or if, he stored it somewhere?' I pressed on with the subject.
'He gave me the drive, actually,' Felicity remembered, scrambling through her things beside her computer monitor. 'I've always kept it on me in case it came to good use. He encrypted it really well, so I've never been able to get into it.'
'Thank you so much!' I exclaimed in complete happiness. 'Isaac's work won't go to nothing now.'
'I'm glad I could be of assistance,' Felicity smiled, still looking in shock at my identity.
'I suggest you don't tell anybody about this,' Leyla told her seriously, almost like a threat.
'I don't think anybody's going to believe me if I did,' Felicity laughed.
'We need to get to a safe place,' Leyla told me as we hurried outside, dodging the security guards and cameras.
'I would suggest the Arrowcave, but I don't think we should drag Ollie or Diggle into any of this,' I thought wisely.
'You are correct,' Leyla nodded. 'Luckily for us, I have somewhere we can go.'
My sister led me to a dingy, semi-underground building in The Glades, it's entrance seeming a mystery. We walked down a hidden set of stairs, it's building material appearing to camouflage into the pavement.
'Where are you taking me?' I almost was too scared to ask as Leyla unlocked the door silently.
On the other side of the door was what looked like a beautifully decorated penthouse apartment. I felt like I was stepping through a portal into another world, the interior being truly majestic compared to its exterior.
'How did you find this place?' I gaped as I walked through the building almost fit for a Queen.
'One of my clients gave this to me as a gift when I acted as their Private Investigator,' Leyla explained proudly. 'And now this is where my top clients come to meet me. Only the ones who know the right people can find me.'
'I understand why you're so secretive, with Merlyn and everything,' I realised as Leyla found her laptop and brought it to the lavish sofa she showed me to. 'But this is secretive to the extreme.'
'I've made enemies in this city,' Leyla expanded on her reasoning. 'It's not just Malcolm Merlyn who would like to see me dead.'
'I... I didn't know,' I uttered empathetically, feeling upset for my sister.
'But there are more pressing matters at hand,' Leyla reminded me, waiting for me to plug the drive into her computer.
As soon as I had, the drive's presence made the screen flash with some software and a video tab popped up before us, nothing to ask for a passcode or way to identify the user.
'If you're watching this video, it means I am long gone,' Isaac's voice sounded, his face appearing on screen. 'This file contains the very information that could destroy Malcolm Merlyn, or the Dark Archer, if that's what you want to call him.'
Damn, Isaac.
'Aria, I am sorry I never told you about this file, but if I had, you would have also been dead,' the video continued. 'And congratulations for getting into this drive, I wasn't sure if it would actually be able to recognise your fingerprints; the Biometric Metal covering the drive was a prototype from S.T.A.R. Labs.'
This was all too much to take in. Isaac had been finding out Merlyn's worst secrets, but why without telling anyone else about it? And why had S.T.A.R. Labs, some research facility in Central City, freely given Isaac next generation technology?
'I hope Elliot is okay,' pre-recorded Isaac went on. 'Tell him I'm sorry I messed up, that I got myself killed. And if you're there, El, I wish I was there in person, with you.'
But Elliot had moved away from me and my fatal crusade as soon as Isaac had died, not being able to cope with his loss. And I felt terrible for that.
'So, without further ado,' Isaac finished his video. 'I give you, the secrets of Malcolm Merlyn.'
The video tab disappeared to show a huge database of files, systematically ordered under intriguing but rather self-explanatory names such as 'Life In Nanda Parbat' and 'Becoming A Father'.
'What in the world...' Leyla gasped as she looked at the file in awe and curiosity.
'I had no idea Isaac had been doing all of... This,' I shook my head in amazement. 'I can't believe we managed to get this, either.'
'So my methods were successful,' Leyla grinned at me. 'Even if Miss Smoak was none the wiser.'
'I can't believe I'm saying this, but you were right,' I agreed. 'Sometimes you have to be tough to get what you want.'
'That's what we're going to have to do if you want to defeat Mr Merlyn,' Leyla pointed out.
And she was true. I had become softer in my time away from vigilantism, but now, Leyla was showing me the way to success.
'What's this?' Leyla clicked on a file eagerly.
It was named 'Moira Queen', the name itself making me wonder what on earth Isaac had found.
'It's probably just her involvement in Tempest, right?' I supposed.
But I was so wrong.
It seemed that Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn had been close, extremely close, while Robert had still been alive. Incriminating pictures of them together popped up on screen, exposing them for their lies.
I scrolled down the file some more, not able to comprehend what I was seeing.
'This must be because of Tempest,' I concluded.
'Or rather, it caused Tempest,' Leyla suggested, squinting at the screen.
And then we found the most scandalous piece of information Isaac had discovered. It was all there, in black and white, potentially for the whole world to see.
Thea Queen was Malcolm Merlyn's daughter.