I was suited up in an office building after dark, in a hallway, jumping down from the rafters to land behind two men, using the smooth edge of my sword to hit Man 1 in the head, making him fall, catching the briefcase that he dropped, using it as a shield for the gunshots that Man 2 fired at me, standing, using the briefcase to hit Man 2 in the head, making money fall out of it, letting the briefcase go. Man 2 tried to punch me repeatedly. I ducked all the punches, spinning to kick him in the head, making him fall, looking over my shoulder toward him. 

I stepped over his unconscious body into the office where another man was waiting. "Harold Backman..." I pushed him against the wall. "You have failed this city."

"I'm only an accountant," Harold told me. "I'm just the money."

"The money that leads to extortion, kidnapping and drugs," I told him. "It's the destruction of innocent lives."

"You think you scare me more than the people I work for?" Harold asked.

"No," I answered, letting him go. "They can deal with you."

I punched him in the face, making him fall unconscious, taking his laptop, walking out, leaving.

⚔

I got back to the hideout, taking off my mask, putting the laptop on the table next to Felicity and Oliver.

"Mm, let me guess," Oliver told me. "Some bad guy missing his fancy new laptop."

"Harold Backman," I told them. "He's who Starling City's worst call when they want to launder money in the Caymans."

"Shouldn't we just turn this over to, I don't know, the IRS?" Felicity asked, going through the laptop.

"We will," I told her. "Just as soon as you return the money to the rightful owners."

"Well, it sounds like a very nice idea," Oliver told us.

"Backman's files are all protected with an asymmetric encryption algorithm," Felicity told us. 

"Really?" Oliver asked. "So it's gonna take a while to break in."

"Days, at least," Felicity told us. 

"Better get started, then," Oliver told her, walking away.

I walked toward my box to put my knives and swords away.

Felicity stood. "At the risk of ending up with an arrow or a knife in my eye, can I ask... when are you planning on making peace with Diggle?"

"He's the one who left, Felicity," I told her. "It was his choice. I promised I'd help him track down Floyd Lawton, and I had to make the call to take down Edward Rasmus. I apologized."

"You made a choice that you can live with," Oliver told me. "If he can't, then we don't need him."

I sighed. "Oliver..."

"I need to get back to the club, and you need to stop blaming yourself for doing something right," Oliver told me. He looked at Felicity. "Let me know when you break in."

Felicity walked toward the computers. "I wish someone would send me off to the Caymans."

Felicity sat down.

Oliver walked upstairs to return to the club.

I turned to my trunk to change into normal clothes.

⚔

Verdant was closed in the morning.

I was prepping the bar for the night before the club opened. I took out a bottle, looking it over, pouring myself a drink.

Oliver walked closer. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she drinks from the bar that she runs."

I took a drink. "Would you like one?"

"Absolutely," Oliver answered. "But it's coming from paychecks."

I knew he was kidding, chuckling, pouring him a drink. "Mm. Well, my drink shouldn't be too hard to pay for since every night, some guy decides to hit on me with a 100 dollar bill."

Oliver chuckled. "Billionaire playboys. What can I say?" We both started to drink. Oliver looked at me curiously. "You look tired. Overexert yourself last night?"

"Nah," I answered. "Too much worrying."

"How long are you going to beat yourself up for the thing with John?" Oliver asked.

"About as long as you beat yourself up for the thing with Tommy," I answered. Oliver knew I had him, sighing, looking down. "See? I'm not the only one that worries too much about our friendships."

Oliver looked up, shaking his head. "No, you're not."

Felicity walked in. "Guys, I need to show you what..." She looked at the drinks in our hands. "I just totally walked in on a thing, didn't I?"

I sighed. "No, you didn't. What is it, Felicity?"

"I need to show you something," Felicity told us.

We walked downstairs.

"Tell me you got in," Oliver told her.

"Better," Felicity told us. "I hacked Cayman Fidelity and put together a list all the deposits Backman made last year."

"Felicity, what good does that do us if we don't know whose money it was?" Oliver asked.

Felicity picked up a list, handing it to me. "Look at the biggest deposit Backman made last year. Bottom of the page."

I looked at the list. "$2 million on Decem... December 12th. That's..."

"The day Walter disappeared," Oliver finished.

"What if one of Backman's clients was paid 2 million to kidnap Walter?" Felicity asked.

"Then we find out which client it was and use them to find Walter," Oliver answered.

Oliver and I exchanged a look, nodding.

⚔

I looked at Felicity. "Okay, back trace the account, follow the money." Felicity sat at the computer to do as told. "Hopefully it will lead us to whoever kidnapped Walter."

"After all this time, do you think Walter might still really be alive?" Felicity asked.

"I don't know," Oliver told us. 

Felicity pulled up information on a man. "Got it. Dominic Alonzo." Oliver sighed. "Name ring any bells?"

"Yeah," Oliver answered. "Alonzo runs the biggest underground casino in Starling City when he's not busy kidnapping."

"He looks like the kind of lowlife someone would hire to kidnap Walter," I told them.

"How many arrows or knives do you think you'll have to put in him before he gives up Walter's location?" Felicity asked. "Say a lot?"

"It's not that simple," Oliver told us. "That casino has its own private army. We need to access Alonzo's computer, but without setting off any alarms."

"Looks like we're gonna need all the help we can get," Felicity told us. "It's too bad there's not someone else we could call."

"That's enough," I told her. "We can do this on our own."

"Well, then, looks like someone's going gambling tonight," Felicity told us.

"Those guys would make me the minute I walked in there," Oliver told us. "Oliver Queen would never be caught dead in a place like that."

"All right," I told him. "They might know of Jill Wright, but they don't know the kind of clubs that she used to go to. I used to have a real big thing for raves."

"For the first time, we have a real chance at finding Walter," Felicity told us. "Let's try and not screw this up."

⚔

Oliver and I were walking down an alley that night toward the casino.

I was dressed up for the casino like we knew everyone would be.

"Are you ready?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Just to be clear, the plan is for me to get caught counting cards in an underground casino filled with hardened criminals."

"So you can get a friendly warning from Alonzo and plant a bug on his office computer," Oliver finished. 

"Right," I agreed. "Which will hopefully lead us to Walter."

"Okay," Oliver told me. "If anything happens..."

"I'll handle it," I told him.

"And if you can't handle it alone?" Oliver asked.

"Then I'll call," I answered. "But I'll be able to handle it."

I turned around, walking toward the casino.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're stubborn as hell?" Oliver asked.

I smirked. "On more than one occasion." 

I walked toward the door. 

Oliver spoke to me through comms. "Password is snapdragon."

I walked up to the men standing on either side of the door.

"Password," a man told me.

"Snapdragon," I answered.

Man 2 opened the door for me.

I walked inside.

The club was filled with people dressed formally.

"What do you see?" Oliver asked.

I looked around. "Six armed guards, two pit bosses, and a floor man."

"All right. I'll be with you the entire time."

"I know," I told him. "You always are." I walked toward a table, taking a seat, setting out a stack of money. "One stack of high society, please."

The waiter took the money, turning to his guards.

I smirked.

⚔

I slid chips over the table. 

The waiter placed out cards. "Black jack!"

I smiled, chuckling, taking a drink of wine.

The waiter slid more chips toward me.

A guard walked toward me. "Miss, could you come with me?"

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Get up," the guard told me.

"Oh, since you ask so nicely," I told him sarcastically, following him toward the back. "Oh, look. There's the bathroom. I should have known the manager's office would be down the hall and to the right of the bathroom."

The guard led me into the office. "Mr. Alonzo."

Alonzo hung up. "Yeah." He looked at me, gesturing to a chair across the desk from him. "Have a seat." The guard closed the door. I sat down. "You're her, right? Jillian Wright."

"You can call me Jill," I told him, reaching into my jacket pocket.

"Do you know where the term '86' comes from, Jill?" Alonzo asked.

"Yes," I answered. "It happens I do. It's from Prohibition. There was a--an illegal casino, not like this one, located at 86 Bedford Street in New York."

I took a chip out of my pocket, sighing, surreptitiously placing it on Alonzo's computer without him noticing.

"And now it means to ban someone,  someone who's cheating," Alonzo told me. "You're 86'd. Leave your chips and go."

"Thank you," I told him, standing, turning to leave.

"Oh, yeah, Jill, one more thing," Alonzo told me. The guard pulled out a radio. Alonzo stood, walking toward me. "You see, the thing about card counters is, uh..." He brushed a piece of my hair back. "Is that sometimes they work..." He pulled out my ear comm. "With a partner."

Alonzo tossed the ear comm down, stomping on it. 

"Believe me when I tell you you don't want to meet my partner," I told them. "He's worse than I am." We heard fighting from outside in the main room. I looked at Alonzo and the guard. "See? Now you've made him angry."

I kicked Alonzo in the stomach, backhand punching the guard in the face, pushing him into the wall. The guard tried to punch me. I ducked, grabbing him by his tux, lifting him from the floor, slamming him onto the glass table, making it shatter. 

Oliver bursted in through the door, suited up as the hood, pushing Alonzo against the wall. "Where's Walter Steele?"

"What?" Alonzo asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Six months ago, you had him kidnapped," Oliver told him. 

"It was just a job," Alonzo told us. "I was given a name. I didn't ask any questions."

"Last chance," Oliver told him. "Where is he?"

"Below ground," Alonzo told us.

"You're lying!" Oliver told him. 

"I'm not," Alonzo told us. "I delivered him and they killed him. I heard the gunshot. He's dead."

Oliver slowly let him go, punching him in the face, making him fall unconscious. He pulled back his hood, turning to face me solemnly.

I looked at him sadly.

⚔

The next night, I walked into the hideout, turning on the night.

Oliver was sitting on the floor, wearing his suit without his hood up.

I walked closer. "I've been sitting in the dark all night, too. All these months, I kept thinking if we could find a clue or get a lead on him... guess it wouldn't have mattered. I can't imagine what your family's going through."

"Walter's alive," Oliver told me. 

I looked at him in confusion. "What? But Alonzo said..."

"I had Felicity pull up Malcolm Merlyn's phone records," Oliver told me. "He made a call from his office to wherever Walter is being kept at 10:30 PM."

"Malcolm Merlyn?" I asked. "Tommy's father? Why would he kidnap Walter?"

Oliver looked down, sighing, standing. "L.U.D.s showed that Merlyn made a call to a tenement complex located in Bludhaven. There's a lot of security there for low-income housing. There's two guards stationed at all access points. There's no other buildings in that area."

I nodded in understanding. "Let's go save Walter."

I walked away to get suited up.

⚔

After dark, we were both suited up at the house.

I came up behind one guard outside, kicking him in the back, making him fall into Guard 2, spinning to kick Guard 1, punching Guard 2 in the face, grabbing onto Guard 1's shoulders to kick up both legs onto Guard 2's shoulders, flipping them both to the ground, slamming their heads onto the ground hard enough to make them fall unconscious.

I stood, walking into the building, through the hallway, turning a corner.

Guard 3 was waiting with a gun, trying to shoot me. I ducked out of the way, punching him in the face. Guard 4 ran toward me from behind. I kicked Guard 3 in the face, making him fall, spinning to slash my sword against the gun in Guard 4's hands, making him drop it. Guard 4 tried to punch me. I backed away enough to make him miss, kicking him in the stomach, slashing him in the arm with the sword, making him fall. Guard 5 ran toward me with a stun gun trying to hit me with it. I used the sword to block the move, spinning to backhand punch him in the face. Guard 5 tried to punch me. I ducked, kicking him in the chest. Guard 6 ran up from behind Guard 5. I punched him in the chest, making him fall. Guard 5 tried to punch me. I caught his arm, kicking Guard 6 in the head, making him fall unconscious, flipping Guard 5 to the floor. Guards 7 and 8 ran toward me from either side, trying to shoot me. I ducked to the floor, throwing knives into both of their hands to make them drop the guns, standing. Both guards tried to kick me from either side. I ducked, making them kick each other, pushing them both through a door at the side of the hall, making them both fall to the floor. Guards 9 and 10 ran toward me from either side. I kicked Guard 10 behind me without looking at him, spinning to slash Guard 9 in the cheek with my sword, making him fall. Guard 9 stood, trying to punch me. I ducked, turning to kick the legs out from under Guard 10, making him fall to his knees next to me, hitting him in the head with the hilt of the sword, making him fall unconscious, standing, spinning to kick Guard 9 behind me in the head, making him fall unconscious. Guard 11 ran toward me. I elbowed him in the face. Guard 11 tried to punch me repeatedly. I blocked the moves with my arms and my sword, making him cut himself. Guard 11 tried to punch me. I ducked, turning to stand next to him, wrapping an arm around his neck, spinning to flip him to the floor. I walked out of this hallway and into the next.

The point of that was to draw all of the guards to me while Oliver had found Walter.

⚔

The next morning, Walter was in the hospital.

Oliver, Moira and Thea were with him.

I brought in a bouquet of flowers. "This is totally a family thing, isn't it? Maybe I should come back later."

"Nonsense," Walter told me. "Please, come in."

I smiled, chuckling, walking toward the table to put the flowers down.

Moira smiled. "We're all together again. Everything's gonna be all right."

I smiled a small smile, watching them be happy together for the first time in a long time.

⚔

I walked out of the room into the hallway to give them some time alone.

Malcolm walked toward me. "Jillian." I made a face that he didn't see, sighing. "Ah. What a miracle." I turned to face him. "How's Walter? The police are saying that he was rescued by the vigilantes."

"Yes, he was," I told him.

"Has he said anything about his ordeal?" Malcolm asked. "Was he able to identify any of his captors?"

"No," I answered.

"That's too bad," Malcolm told me. 

"There'll get what's coming to them," I told him. "I'm just glad that they got their family back together."

Malcolm nodded. "We all are."

Laurel walked in. "Jill."

I looked at Malcolm. "Excuse me."

Malcolm nodded.

I turned around, walking toward Laurel.

"Is Walter okay?" Laurel asked. "I saw it on the news."

"Yeah," I answered. "Oliver and his family are with him right now. Listen, why don't you wait here for them, okay? There's someplace I need to be."

Laurel nodded. "I hope you're okay, too."

I smiled a small smile. "Now I am."

I walked away, leaving.

⚔

I went to talk to John at his apartment, knocking on the door.

John answered the door for me. "I guess you do know where I live."

"I've always known where you live," I told him. "May I?" John invited me in. I walked inside. John closed the door behind me. I turned to face him. "I just wanted to give you some time. Before I tried to apologize again."

"About Deadshot?" John asked.

"About everything," I answered. "You were right about Moira. She's involved in the Undertaking. Oliver caught her talking to Malcolm. She's working with Malcolm Merlyn, and she lied to Oliver and Thea. They're planning something. Something... terrible. I don't know what yet. But I just know one thing. We need your help to stop them."