14 Phenomena
Johnny stood against the starboard edge of a ship, leaning on a rail watching as Starling City's coast and the rest of California were disappearing over the horizon. The night sky was crystal clear, the stars shone down upon him. A small grin rested across his lips as he brought a nude cigarette to his lips, taking out his lighter and flicking it open.
However from the corner of his eye he saw something unnatural coming towards him. A brow raised slightly as he turned his head to face the disturbance. "Oi. That's not something you see everyday."
There was almost nothing he could do to avoid this wall of translucent energy which was coming towards him. It stretched all across the ocean, as far as he could see.
Tucking his lighter and fag back into this trench, he too several steps back and walked into the main bridge, sliding the door open as he did so. He taken upon himself to gain access to a cruise liner that supposedly had some sort of otherworldly problem prior to what he had just seen.
"Mate, we have a problem! We have to –" Suddenly the wave energy passed through the ship without causing any damage, causing him to stop speaking for a moment. He stood there dumbfounded, for a brief moment having seen something surround him and protect him from being whatever the wave would had done to him. "What was that...?"
"What was what?" The Californian ship captain asked as he glanced over at British man with blond hair and dark brown eyes. He seemed to have not seen the wall of energy, it felt off, as the Captain was a completely different person from which he last remembered.
"Nevermind...?" He took a step back and walked out the door and took out the vial of green flames which was glowing brightly. "Hm... Cheeky little Dragon," John looked back towards Starling City as the wall of energy was heading straight for the United States. It was clear it had originated elsewhere, "Just what was that?"
He further began to analyze what he had seen, searching his mind for an explanation. This hadn't been something he had seen himself, or remembered seeing before. Then his mind went back towards the Golden Helmet which was in his friend Jasper's Millhouse.
Dimensional Energy, someone was altering or restoring reality? This conclusion confused him slightly, just what was being corrected or changed and why was it coming from the West toward the United States?
"Hm..." The British 'gentleman' found himself pulling out a cigarette again and planting it between his lips. As he drew his lighter after putting away his little vial of hellflame, he lit the end of his fag and took a puff.
...
Materializing in Thea's bedroom, their disguises wore off revealing their casual workout clothes, with Thea herself resting in Caden's arms. He walked over to the bed, only a few steps away, and rested her down upon the soft mattress.
She was wearing a black and neon green compression tank top, made primarily of polyester and elastin patterned with hexagons, with a pair of matching superpose shorts.
A small smile was warped across his lips as he gazed down at her. He'd proceed to take off her running shoes and drop them to the ground. Her mother and step father believed they had gone out for an evening run, though they had obviously lost their tails.
Thea was nonetheless smiling back up at him, even as he'd roll her over onto her stomach. She rested her head to the side and looked up at him as he felt his fingers slip beneath her compression top and slowly move it up to reveal not even a mark on her back. The weapon had merely knocked her down on top of him, it hadn't done any real damage to her. Her smile turning into a sly grin, looking at him with one eye as the other was blinded by the comforter.
"You made me believe you were hurt," Caden spoke as he made the observation rather than making an accusation. He just shook his head and seemed to chuckle about it.
Then he paused as he felt something strange coming their way. What was it? Before he could even turn around, a wall of dimensional energy ripped through the house. Very little changed, nothing was damaged. The two of them just remained in the bedroom a bit dumbfounded, not knowing what had just happened.
Though when it did pass over Thea, he noticed she was being protected by what looked like a personal field of some kind emanating from the ring he had given her.
However both of them then glanced over towards the open closet door of her bedroom, this was the first change they noticed. On the door, hanging up, was the pink cami and golden skirt she had originally intended to wear to the party.
Caden's eye twitched slightly seeing this, recalling another show known as the Legends of Tomorrow where he had seen a similar wall of energy before.
"Caden?" Thea asked as she sat up on the side of the bed. Her legs would freely swing back and forth idly with her hands propped to the sides for support.
Looking over at her when she asked for his attention by addressing him by name, "Yes?" Caden raised a brow as she was showing him the cellphone that had been left on her nightstand beside her bed.
Caden stared at the news bulletin, CEO of Claybourne Pharmaceuticals and Son missing. The last he remembered, there had been News that they had burnt alive and turned to ash. Yet they were reported missing? Looking at the date of the article of when it had been submitted, he paused. It had been the same time as the one which had stated they were burnt by strange flames.
"So... That was rewritten?" He glanced at the ring for a moment before looking out the window. "Just what did that wave of energy redo?" He thought out loud before hearing someone walk up to the bedroom door, it was Moira.
When she opened the door, she paused seeing Caden before looking to Thea. "Where do you think you're going?" It was as if she hadn't known about their evening 'job' in the middle of the night after having gone out on a date.
"No where?" Thea said with a questioning tone, as if she had no idea what her mother was talking about. "I just got back from a jog with my boyfriend." She pointed towards Caden with a brow raised.
Moira Queen looked at the young man who was now looking at her with an equally confused face. Both of the characters looked like they were dressed ready to go for a jog, but neither of them were sweaty.
"You're grounded. And when did you get a boyfriend?" Moira asked as it seemed the wave had erased any evidence or occurrence of Caden in the timeline. At least, for those who didn't have an item he had given them; such as his flame, the portal talisman or the ring. "What is your name even?"
"Caden Price," Caden closed his eyes for a moment as he wanted to see what became of Starling City's Starling Port. Using his magic, he projected his sight to where the port was. It was still as it was, but the people who he had killed with the gun he acquired from one of the guns, all appeared to be alive. The individuals and structures destroyed by the flame, stayed destroyed.
It was clear that anything he had broken, incinerated, or destroyed could not be restored by that wave of energy of unknown origin.
He opened his eyes and looked at Moira who stomped her way over to him. "Uh... Pleasure to meet you?" Caden said as his flicked his eyes toward Thea, then back to Moira, his hand out awkwardly by his side for a handshake.
Raising a brow at him, Moira shook his hand and quickly released it. "Much better," She said as if she had expected him to do what he had just done. "Since it's one in the morning, let's get you set up in a guest room?"
For a brief moment, he didn't say anything before letting out a sigh as it seemed Moira was enthusiastic about her having a boyfriend that visually appeared on the straight and narrow.
"If you don't mind Mrs Queen, I'd very much just prefer to sleep on the floor in here, or above the blankets." Caden responded with a polite tone and choice of words.
Moira's enthusiastic expression soon vanished when he asked to be able to stay in the room, or more like requested. That's when she paused seeing a familiar book in his pant pocket, but she had just seen the same book on the shelf before coming upstairs. Why did he have one?
The wall of energy seemed to have created a duplicate of the item.
Moira turned her head toward Thea, then towards Caden, "Are you holding my daughter hostage?" Her name wasn't in the book, but that book could be used to blackmail her, she started thinking up countless assumptions.
"No, why would I do that?" Caden retorted with a casual tone as if she was losing her mind, just scoffing at her assumption as if it was nothing to him. He took the book out from his pocket, glanced it then towards her.
"Why do you have the list...?"
Caden just smiled at her as she didn't remember his warning from before this event. "What's past is prologue," this seemed to be his favorite quote from the Tempest by Shakespeare. Though his favorite screenplay was Hamlet rather, mainly because everyone died in the end, just like Romeo and Juliet. Except, it was far less romantic.
Moira appeared to be confused when he had quoted the play. He knew the name of their organization, it was likely he knew how to read the book. "Just who are you?"
"I am Caden Price, can call me Cade for short. I believe we've already gone there though." He knew that wasn't what she meant, so he just gave a cliche response that didn't answer her the way she wanted.
Moira shifted in her step and looked towards her daughter. "Where did you meet him?"
"He was paying respects to Dad," Thea responded with a dull tone, she completely lied to her mother and she didn't feel a thing.
Moira raised a brow slightly when her daughter told her that she had met him while he was trespassing in their backyard. "I... I see." She looked over at Caden once again, "So you were related to someone associated with my late husband?"
"Not exactly," Caden shook his head at the question, yawning slightly. "Robert was going to China in order to get help against Malcolm's plan to destroy the Glades. Except as you already know, he sabotaged the ship, after you recovered it in 2009. So Robert never made it..."
Moira flinched as she heard him say this to her outloud, then looked to Thea, but seemed rather confused as to why she had no reaction. Had she already known? Guilt was written all over her face.
"It's okay mom," Thea was now smiling smug, a dimple appearing on one side of her face as she did so. "I also already know that Malcolm's my biological old man." Though after she said that, she had a look of disappointment toward the fact that she was related to him.
Moira's head began to pound, with all this being revealed, her anxieties were getting all riled up. "And you're the help he was looking for?" She asked as she shifted her attention back to Caden, as she swallowed dryly.
"No... Not exactly, but I'm a Master of the Arcane, I can do well against him." He responded as he folded his arms over his chest, looking at the only blonde in the room.
"Arcane?" Moira laughed as if it was a joke before she recalled the missing CEO who was on the List. "Are you involved with Claybourne's disappearance?" She asked curiously as she closed the door behind herself, knowing Walter was down in the common room still waiting for her to come back.
Caden simply smiled at her when she asked this question, "He's not missing, he's dead. He was planning on weaponizing a virus and using it against the people of Starling City in the name of profit... As he had the only cure."
"What has his done to do with it?" Moira asked with a frown on her lips.
Caden shook his head as she assumed he was killing an innocent person. "He's a serial killer and unstable psychopath who killed people who'd threaten his father." In a sense he wasn't lying, if someone were to have killed his father like Oliver did, he'd go on a killing spree.
Moira seemed to find that she was in the presence of a dangerous individual. Her eyes moved to Thea, was she involved too?
"Mom, I'd like you to get out of my room." Thea suddenly spoke up as she slipped off the side of the bed. "We're tired, you wanna talk to us? Do it tomorrow." She opened the door and gestured for her mother to leave.
Moira was about to retaliate angrily as her daughter had demanded she leave the room. Yet, she didn't. She was a person of power, and she knew what people of power could do.
The mother gave her daughter a worried glance before striding out of the room. She wanted so badly not to cry. She couldn't explain to Walter why she was shedding tears, at least not truthfully, she'd have to lie...
