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The world was a funny place sometimes. One minute you’re chasing after serial killer who was stealing your motif and the next you are stumbling downhill through a thicket of tropical brush. However for The Emerald Archer, Green Arrow, this wasn’t a joke he had been clued in on. Apparently the punchline was him— a punchline he wasn’t quite the fan of.

It didn’t take a genius intellect to realize that he had been transported outside of Star City, but as far as the four w’s went he had no idea outside of the fact that he felt sore. The last thing he remembered was closing in on what the Star City press had called “The Rainbow Archer” and to say he was unhappy about having a proven psychopath slip out of his fingers was an understatement. The Rainbow Archer had eighteen confirmed kills. Honestly during the course of his investigation he nearly sent out a message to The Caped Crusader himself asking how he dealt with all of the copycats in Gotham. Having someone make a mockery of what you did by using an inspiration of what you do to facilitate senseless murder was like seeing a mirror image of yourself— albeit one twisted, cracked, and tipped topsy-turvy. And now somebody was responsible for The Rainbow Archer endangering more people.

The Emerald Archer’s teeth clenched as his fall came to a sharp halt.

Whoever is responsible for transporting me to wherever I am is going to be really sorry.

On that point, the blonde-haired vigilante didn’t remember someone sneaking up and hitting him upside the head— there was none of the “morning after” pains of blunt force trauma. He wasn’t drugged, he’d know if he was. So it all came to an answer that nearly made him groan audibly: magic. He had rarely dealt with enemies of that… type; so to deduce it had to be magic was rather annoying.

Who did he piss off that could just blink him out of Star City? Or for that matter…

…where the hell was he?

He got up to his feet, cracking his sore neck from the abrasive fall. The island wasn’t inherently recognizable but it felt… familiar. The look of it reminded him of his days on Lian Yu... but something was off. It wasn’t like he had put to memory the entirety of Lian Yu, but the trees were wrong – that much was apparent by the color of the bark. Trees on Lian Yu were not birch white nor did the species of the Mecynorhina Ugandensis exist in the Southeastern Pacific.

That’s not right.

A rustling right behind the vigilante made him turn sharply, on instinct, with arrow nocked. His brows narrowed he saw something that threw him off.

Now, he had just been dealing with a poor imitation of himself… but this was ridiculous. Green Arrow found himself surprised by the enemy that looked back at him. He had no idea what a mirror image was before today, really— because who he was staring down at was another blonde-haired, green cloaked, bow-at-the-ready, handsome individual. Another Green Arrow… another Oliver Queen. What the hell was going on?

“I’m sorry, pal, this isn’t a good time for a Green Arrow convention. Your costume is terrible by-the-way.” He remarked at the intruder with a nervous grin.

Oliver Queen had never been particularly fond of the supernatural. He was no stranger to the occult – hell, a day in Star City isn’t complete without some rich guy making a deal with some devils – but over the course of his time as Green Arrow, there hasn’t been a day where he wasn’t tempted to just call onto Zatanna or John Constantine. And something was telling him that today… was one of those days.

He’d been patrolling Adams Heights with Mia and Connor when it happened. The change was instant, like a scene changing in a movie. The urban jungle of Star City’s CBD was replaced by a literal jungle, thick underbrush crowding around Oliver’s feet. Panicked, He looked around frantically for his ward and his son, his panic soon replaced by familiarity as he realised where he was. There were differences, that’s for sure, but there was no denying it: he was on Lian Yu.

His mind raced for an explanation as to how he’d gotten here, but despite his best efforts, nothing came to him – nothing but a single word. Magic. The archer swore at his misfortune. Of course it had to be magic. It couldn’t be Lex Luthor’s newest death machine, or the Toyman’s new and improved interdimensional, technological teleportation device. No. Magic. Honest to god, Doctor Fate-style magic. If Oliver didn’t know any better, he’d have punched a tree by now.

Instead, he decided to do some recon. Whoever brought him here – to this cheap mockery of his island – must have brought him here for a reason. As far as he knew, this was one gigantic trap waiting to snap its jaws at him. With an arrow nocked on his bow, he began to creep through the tangle of green, looking out for anything that might clue him towards a threat.

It wasn’t long before he found one. The years he spent surviving on the real Lian Yu honed his eyes to the point that some mistook his vision to be at metahuman levels – so where someone else may have dismissed the camouflaged hooded figure as part of the vegetation, Oliver knew better. As he crept closer towards the man, a quiver and bow came into sight. A guy wearing green, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows? This person was a fan.

Gaze transfixed on the man’s back, Oliver didn’t notice the small bush until it was too late. It rustled loudly as his foot waded through it, and the man turned with speed that rivalled his own, arrow pulled back tight on the bowstring. Oliver’s brows furrowed. This guy looked near-identical to him, bar the severe lack of goatee. It didn’t make any sense. Then again, magic never does, he thought.

“I’m sorry, pal, this isn’t a good time for a Green Arrow convention. Your costume is terrible by-the-way,” said his impostor, wearing a grin that Oliver knew all too well. The grin he’d flash whenever Dinah was mad at him, or when Connor made him talk about his feelings. He was nervous.

“My costume’s terrible? Hey, now, listen, guy – ” he cut himself off before he said anything brash. The last thing he needed was to fight the person that could very well be his only means for some answers. “What the hell is going on here?”

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The expression “seeing double” could not have ever in the universe been more on point.

Oliver Queen took a step back as the appearance of this... other version of himself appeared as if he had just rolled out of bed— onto a floor of shattered glass... though it probably was grass in this case. With a brow raised he was unsure what to do in this situation. Outside of being transported to a random island this was the second strangest thing to happen him in his life. If this was the standard for issues he was going to have for the rest of the day he was wondering when the dinosaurs with jetpacks and pew pew guns would show up.

“Well, that is the question of the year isn’t it? Is this your doing?” He snarked.

A hysterical laughter cut from the trees.

“No, it was me!”

The sound made both of the Green Arrow’s cock their head toward the northwestern side of the island— above them was an impish man floating in front of a large tree branch. The description reminded him of something he had read in some dossiers Batman had sent his way and it made him feel a whirlwind of dread. This was the worst type of magic. This was the worst type of day.



Mxyzptlk. There was nothing good about this answer— that much he knew for a fact. This was a foe of Superman and others way outside his paygrade. If he fired an arrow at him the damned imp, from all reports that he could gather, would just make the arrow cease to exist or some other interdimensional bullshit. He knew Mxyzptlk was a trickster and someone who broke the rules of time and space like his chili broke digestive tracks. But why did Mxyzptlk pick a vigilante archer of all heroes to play with? And why couldn’t he have done it on a Sunday?

“Well, shit.”

“No! No no no, not shit, quite the opposite actually! Welcome, welcome, welcome one and two; light and dark! Welcome!” The inter-dimensional trickster laughed as he pointed to each of the men below.

“I think the game is almost ready to begin! This is wonderful! Two Earths, one winner! or maybe no winners? It should be fun fun fun to find out! Who can survive Mister Mxyzptlk's Most Dangerous Game?”

Oh, great. Mxyzptlk, thought Ollie Queen as the interdimensional magician appeared from thin air. Though he didn’t want to admit it, the sight of the imp filled him with insurmountable terror. The eccentric fiend flashed a smile from above their heads, waving as he announced that it was, in fact, him that brought them here, to this strange imitation of Lian Yu. Him.

Mr. Mxyzptlk.

“Well, shit,” said Ollie’s doppelganger.

“You took the words right out of my mouth…” muttered Oliver as Mxyzptlk, the being even Superman was hesitant to go up against, “welcomed” them.

“No! No no no, not shit, quite the opposite actually! Welcome, welcome, welcome one and two; light and dark! Welcome! I think the game is almost ready to begin! This is wonderful! Two Earths, one winner! or maybe no winners? It should be fun fun fun to find out! Who can survive Mister Mxyzptlk's Most Dangerous Game?”

Oliver groaned. This was just what he needed. A gladiator match against an alternate version of himself. He turned to his double, who Mxy had designated as “Two”. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Ollie Two?”

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“That I’m not really into self-harm?”

Oliver Queen sighed as he moved his aim from his “doppelganger” to the magical imp. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hit the inter-dimensional trickster, but given the impression he was currently getting led him to believe that the enemy wasn’t who he had initially took aim on. He really wanted to be stupid and let loose his arrow— his frustration at the whole scenario was particularly vivid and how he was scooped up in the middle of an important matter did certainly not help.

“Okay, I get it. Funny funny funny! The game is yet to make sense, so we’ll see how speedy you lot come to a conclusion with no hints to the objective! Enjoy the game, my fellows!”

There was a flash of inter-dimensional energy and Mxyzpltk had disappeared faster than he had debuted to the archers.

They were robbed of a chance to understand what exactly was going on. Where was the chance he would’ve at least given him half-answers to his questions? Even if they would probably have been accompanied by clownish giggles and keks instead of the full understanding he wanted, could they have gotten something more? Answers muddied with giggles and keks were better than no answers at all. This day was going to be terrible.

“Great. He wants to toy with us.” He sighed, a little irritated.

As he shot out the comment he thought back to what the imp had said before departing.

Did he just make a pun about his sister? Was Emiko in danger or was the egotistical imp just playing mind games with him? A chill ran down his spine as he looked over the other version of who he was— trying to gather a clue about them from his mannerisms, dialogue, and cues. Because why else would the inter-dimensional asshat give them reason to be nervous? There was the possibility that he was just messing with their heads, but given their current situation they probably could not have been any more confused. But then again, Mxyzpltk was a damned enigma who was very fond of making his victim’s riddled in confusion; a tactic that brought much amusement to Mxyzpltk.

But nobody jeopardized his family for their own sick amusement.

Nobody.

That… was not what he was thinking. But despite himself, Oliver couldn’t help but agree. Self harm was not at the top of his priority list, much less on it, and whether or not the harming in question was to be done to an alternate version of himself or not did nothing to change that.

Oliver managed a light chuckle before levelling a glare in Mxyzptlk’s direction. Before a second could pass his hand was in his quiver, grabbing an arrow and nocking it on his bow. He wasn’t going to take any chances. If Mxyzptlk was anywhere near as much of a wildcard as Superman said he was, then there was no telling what the imp would do. Granted, an arrow wasn’t likely to do anything – not even the explosive arrow currently pulled back on his bowstring – but as he said before.

No chances.

“Okay, I get it. Funny funny funny! The game is yet to make sense, so we’ll see how speedy you lot come to a conclusion with no hints to the objective! Enjoy the game, my fellows!” said the extradimensional sprite, disappearing in flash before you could say, “Magic sucks!”

Oliver slowly released the tension from his bow, carefully placing the arrow back in his quiver. Did Mxy just allude to Mia? Just what exactly did he mean by speedy? If he hurt Mia, if he did anything to her…

“Great. He wants to toy with us,” said Oliver Two, his frustration evident. Ollie didn’t blame him. To be stranded in an unfamiliar, magical plane of existence, at the mercy of a crazed, all-powerful, magical elf, no less, made “This is frustrating,” the understatement of the century. It was infuriating. Terrifying.

“If there’s one thing Superman always told me, it’s that I do not want to tangle with that four foot pile of crazy,” he said. “You have a Superman in your universe, right?” He chuckled. “‘Your universe.’ I never thought I’d have to say that before.”

And just like that, his expression turned dark. No longer was there an easy smirk lining his face, replaced instead with a determined frown. “He mentioned Speedy. Now, if I know this kind of villain – the manipulative, conniving kind – and believe me, I do – he didn’t just say that because he felt like it. You have a Speedy on your Earth, right? Well, if you’re anything like me, then I know that there is no way in hell that you’d let a scumbag like Mx hurt her. So I say we start looking. Trap or not, I’m getting our Speedies out of here. What do you say?”

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He nodded to the reply with a slight smirk.

“You’re damn right. It’d be wildly out of character for me to be a coward in any “universe”, big green.”

There were only a small number of people he considered himself personally responsible for— and while there was nothing he could’ve done to stop this “game” from involving himself and his sister it certainly did not stop his big brother complex from kicking in. The other version of himself was right that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her on his watch. But the inter-dimensional villain hadn’t exact lined up a road riddled with bright streetlights to where Speedy was.

Lowering the pressure on his bow much like his counterpart had he decided to get a closer look at his environment; while this was a perversion of his experiences on the island that served as his crucible to becoming the famed emerald archer it was still somewhat familiar. He wasn’t sure if every crashed helicopter, overturned submarine, and underground military base were the same… but the imp wanted to make this a game so he was obviously going to mock them with illusions to what once was. But this wasn’t just a perversion of what he knew— there was another Green Arrow involved, after all. He wondered what exactly went down with their time on the island that he presumed forged him as well. There were many things to gather information from beyond the island having the wrong fauna and flora to a degree.

It would be important if this game was to be won in their favor they would have to understand each other beyond simply noting they liked shooting people with arrows in padded green leather.

“I’m going to guess this place isn’t exactly the island that served as your hell either, right?”

“Right. It’s… different. As if Mx just took its landmass and threw whatever he wanted on here. It’s missing drug smugglers, too. Throw in an elite international assassin and it’d be just about perfect.”

In the past, talking about his time on Lian Yu would have been difficult, to say the least. The things he went through, the horrors he endured, had made a mark on him, leaving scars that could be reopened with just the slightest mention of an island. China White, Natas – the drugs, the murder – it was more than enough to leave someone with PTSD. But through some miracle, be it Oliver’s personality, his family, his friends and his loved ones, he pulled through – and with Green Arrow’s help, the Island was soon just another time in his life, no longer the nightmare he knew it to be.

He looked at Ollie Two, studying him. He wondered what kind of torture he had to pull through on his island, and what kind of circumstances led him there. Was he just as much of a party boy as Oliver had been, his irresponsibility ultimately the catalyst for his hell? Or did their similarities end with sharing identities and an island?

“I think I recognise the place this is supposed to be, though. Near the end of my first year here, I found a drug smuggling operation led by a woman called China White. If I remember right, the poppy fields were just a half mile away from here, further inland,” he said, pointing in what he guessed was west. A grim shadow of a smile crawled its way onto his face. “I burned it all. She left her slaves’ bodies for me to find.”

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“Chien Na Wei.”

The brutality made some sense to him, and it brought old memories to the surface; memories he thought he had buried, but this island he wagered would be a new trial of sorts where he would have to dig up the skeletons in his closet and face them. When he had fought the woman known as China White it had been in the early 2012 winter and the city was tense, and the winter was terrible. Count Vertigo had been behind bars when she moved into the power vacuum and started poisoning the citizens of Star City with her narcotics. He started investigating and ended up working closely by a girl who had been hurt by China White by the name of Tatsu Yamashiro; he nicknamed her “Katana” after her weapon of choice, which was a sentiment she found amusing as the two became friends throughout their venture to reveal China White’s criminal actions and bring her justice.

But they never truly succeeded. China White disappeared before she could be apprehended by the police and slipped through both of their hands. Katana was livid and continued her pursuit.

I should have gone with her, I owed that much to her.

He took a light breath as he pushed back the thought.

“She was just a drug lord?” He paused, “Did you catch her?”