While the three women chatted and laughed—really, it was mostly Thea and Barbara teasing Felicity—Laurel soon arrived as well.
Walking beside her was naturally Thea's other biological brother, Tommy Merlyn. The two had been tempered through bloodshed and hardship in Gotham. As fellow crime fighters, the restrained aura they carried was even stronger than Shado's back in Star City.
As the leader of the Birds of Prey, Barbara naturally intended to go over and greet them. But after taking just two steps, she stopped, because she saw Oliver pulling Shado aside and intercepting the pair from an angle.
"Laurel. Tommy." Watching his best friend and former true love holding hands, Oliver didn't know what he was feeling. Still, he couldn't pretend not to know them, so he stepped forward and greeted them warmly.
"Oliver!" Laurel and Tommy were much the same. They didn't know how to face him either. Although recent headlines had been dominated by Thea saving Metropolis, there were still bits of news circulating about Oliver's return from the island. Naturally, they had seen those reports as well, which was precisely why they had delayed returning to Star City.
Longing, guilt, lingering love, friendship, romance—everything was tangled together. Let alone outsiders, even they themselves probably couldn't sort it all out clearly.
"I heard your brother was also involved with Laurel's sister. He's really promiscuous enough!" Barbara said with clear displeasure as she watched from a distance.
That's nothing yet! Thea cursed inwardly. In the original timeline, Felicity—and even Helena, the Huntress from your Birds of Prey who didn't come today—had both had flings with Oliver. Several women knew full well that he loved Laurel, yet they all forgave him anyway! What kind of absurd, overpowered charisma was that?
Barbara only said it in passing and didn't expect Thea to mentally roast Oliver. Seeing how awkward the atmosphere among the four of them was, she quickly pulled Thea and Felicity over to join in.
With the three of them added, the mood immediately became much livelier. These seven people all had connections to one another in one way or another.
Laurel herself also felt a bit awkward about the newly blended family, but she had always been generous and didn't reject Felicity. Felicity, though a hardcore introvert in private, had served as Vice President of Queen Consolidated for several years and had no trouble handling social situations. After cracking a few jokes, the scene really did take on a sense of sisterly harmony.
"Thea, did you see Sara back when you went to Lian Yu?" Oliver quietly pulled Thea out of the crowd and asked in a low voice.
Thea's high intelligence allowed her to replay past events in a split second. She had indeed saved Sara back then, and afterward she boarded the Waverider; the future Sara had then handed her over to Nyssa. In other words, Oliver hadn't seen Sara on Lian Yu—he shouldn't know that Sara was still alive.
With time travel, the Waverider, and a whole pile of messy issues involved, Thea considered it for a moment before telling him part of the truth. "I did see Sara, but I ran into a lot of trouble afterward and got separated from her. Unless something unexpected happened, she should still be alive."
"Can you use that magic of yours to find her?"
"No. I could find you because of our bloodline connection. Finding Sara among countless people is extremely difficult, and the spells I've learned aren't from the divination school." Thea rejected his suggestion outright. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing for Sara to receive some training. Judging by the fact that she once stole her sister's boyfriend, her personality as a teenager had been pretty terrible. Thea had helped her back then because they crossed paths by chance; she had no intention of going out of her way to search for her now.
"Uh, hello. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but are you looking for someone? I'm a crime scene investigator—maybe I can help..." Before the siblings could finish their conversation, a magnetic voice suddenly cut in from the side.
A young man with a sunny face and upright posture smiled as he extended his hand. "Barry Allen, forensic investigator with the Central City Police Department."
The siblings shook hands with him in turn and exchanged names, becoming acquainted.
Oliver felt immediately comfortable with the young man, and his impression of him rose sharply.
Thea didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Did Joe West think Star City had been too peaceful these past few years, with Detective Lance's salary rising steadily, and decide to expand his network? He'd even brought along Barry Allen—someone completely unrelated to the wedding—to meet people.
In truth, Barry Allen himself was also rather conflicted. Joe West meant well, bringing him along to meet people within the police system. Even though they weren't in the same city, law enforcement shared information, and who knew when they might need help from another city's police department.
At this point in time, Barry Allen wasn't yet the Flash. He had already paid his respects to several senior figures in law enforcement at the venue, especially after meeting a titan like Commissioner Gordon. Finding himself with nothing else to do, he happened to notice Thea and the other young people chatting and decided to come over and join them.
Thea didn't want to get too deeply involved in Speedster-related matters. After exchanging a few pleasantries with him, she left the conversation space to Oliver, who seemed naturally compatible with Barry.
Before long, Tommy—finding himself surrounded by women—also joined the conversation. Eight people in total, five women and three men, began chatting together.
"Ollie, is that your sister? The hero who saved Metropolis?" After just a few exchanges, Oliver and Barry had already become quite familiar. Barry glanced at Thea, who was surrounded by the women. Even though she deliberately restrained herself, her temperament and bearing still overshadowed everyone else—like the moon in the night sky, calm and reserved, yet impossible to ignore.
Oliver took a sip of wine, his heart filled with pride for his sister. "Yeah. I heard Metropolis has already started casting a bronze statue of her."
"Then... are aliens really real? I heard their sudden disappearance was caused by aliens?" Metropolis vanishing into thin air for an entire week was something that couldn't be concealed. The U.S. government wasn't bold enough to claim responsibility themselves, so aliens became the official explanation.
Barry had spent years investigating the truth behind his mother's death. That strange red lightning often appeared in his dreams. He desperately sought answers, painstakingly trying to uncover the truth hidden in that night.
Becoming an outstanding forensic investigator hadn't brought him any closer to the truth. And then, at this very moment, Metropolis abruptly disappeared from the world.
Aliens neatly explained the doubts that had plagued him for more than a decade—but they left him with one burning question: why? Why was he chosen, and not someone else?
Faced with Barry's question, Oliver paused in thought. He knew some things about aliens; Thea was responsible for coordinating all alien-related matters, and she hadn't hidden this from the family. Over a hundred thousand aliens couldn't possibly be confined to a small area forever.
Like casual dinner-table conversation, Thea had selectively shared some details about the aliens with her family.
At first, Oliver had been deeply shaken. Superman was one thing—after all, there was only one of him. But now, with more than a hundred thousand appearing all at once, his worldview had taken a tremendous blow.