![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_findlowTitle: How it should be
Fandom: Arrow / Legends of Tomorrow
Characters: Malcolm, Tommy, Rebecca
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 699 words
Content notes: none
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Summary: Malcolm's alliance with the Legion of Doom finally pays off.
'Good evening, Mr Merlyn,' came a voice as he entered the foyer. The diminutive Puerto Rican woman reached for his overcoat which he handed to her, trying to remember her name and failing. 'How was your day, sir?'
Malcolm Merlyn smiled at the question. 'The best day I've had in a long while.'
'They picked up that Vigilante, I saw on the news.'
Malcolm had to repress an even bigger smile. The Vigilante had been despised by Starling City for so long, wreaking his own version of justice and finally it was the very public he claimed to be protecting that had ousted him. The city's police now had him in custody, revealing the mystery hoodlum to be none other than Oliver Queen. If the Queen Consolidated empire hadn't been crumbling beforehand, this morning it had utterly imploded. Only before it did, Merlyn Global had quietly come in and cherry-picked the valuable parts and absorbed them into his conglomerate. The rest he'd enjoy watching being liquidated as their chairman was sent to prison for twenty years. That was assuming Oliver Queen survived prison. He wouldn't have many friends behind bars.
'And a safer city we now have for it,' Malcolm replied.
'All thanks to you, sir,' the woman replied.
He nodded quietly and proceeded into the plush living room where a glass of scotch would be waiting for him. Along with his son it turned out, relaxing back on the sofa.
'Hey, Dad,' Tommy greeted him, raising his glass.
'What are we toasting to?'
Tommy smirked. 'You losing a bet, as if you don't remember.'
Malcolm remained coy. 'Which one would that be?' He never lost a bet. Not one that mattered.
'Oliver Queen as the Vigilante,' Tommy replied. 'Didn't I tell you he was messed up when they found him on that deserted island? Real whack job. Not to mention that punch he threw at me when Thea decided to move in with us.'
Malcolm picked up his glass and raised it in toast. 'Then here's to us being rid of bad rubbish.' They clinked glasses and drank.
'Mom's in the kitchen cooking dinner,' Tommy said. 'Something about wanting to celebrate Humanitarian of the Year. Third year in a row, Dad. Really? It's getting boring now.'
Malcolm ignored the jibe and headed for the kitchen, not somewhere he'd usually spend time. His breath caught in his throat as he saw his wife stirring something over the stove. Age hadn't diminished her beauty as the honey-coloured hair fell neatly around her shoulders just as it had nearly twenty years ago when he'd lost her in that other place.
'Oh, hello darling. Good day at work?' She abandoned the stove to come over and kiss him. It was difficult not to flinch at the sudden intimacy. No one had touched him like that for so long that he'd almost forgotten what it felt like. She still smelled just the same, that gentle mix of florals that came in a long tapered bottle of which he could never remember the name.
'Not as good as coming home to you,' he replied. It was part truth and part lie. The Spear of Destiny had done its work perfectly. It wasn't so much a rewriting of time itself as it felt like stepping into another world. One where Malcolm Merlyn led a perfect life, his wife still alive and whole, never mugged and murdered in the Glades for the sake of a few hundred dollars. One where his son never hated him, and his daughter loved him equally. One where Oliver Queen was crushed underfoot like the vile insect he was.
There was only one problem. Whilst history had been permanently altered, Malcolm had been at the centre of the changes when the Spear had been activated. He still held all his old memories - losing his family, being broken and built back up by the League of Assassins, being Rhas Al'Ghul, being the Dark Archer. He wasn't the same person anymore. He was colder and darker, at odds with the perfection of his happy life. He just wouldn't dare tell Damien that. He needed Darkh to think that he'd gotten everything he wanted.
'Good evening, Mr Merlyn,' came a voice as he entered the foyer. The diminutive Puerto Rican woman reached for his overcoat which he handed to her, trying to remember her name and failing. 'How was your day, sir?'
Malcolm Merlyn smiled at the question. 'The best day I've had in a long while.'
'They picked up that Vigilante, I saw on the news.'
Malcolm had to repress an even bigger smile. The Vigilante had been despised by Starling City for so long, wreaking his own version of justice and finally it was the very public he claimed to be protecting that had ousted him. The city's police now had him in custody, revealing the mystery hoodlum to be none other than Oliver Queen. If the Queen Consolidated empire hadn't been crumbling beforehand, this morning it had utterly imploded. Only before it did, Merlyn Global had quietly come in and cherry-picked the valuable parts and absorbed them into his conglomerate. The rest he'd enjoy watching being liquidated as their chairman was sent to prison for twenty years. That was assuming Oliver Queen survived prison. He wouldn't have many friends behind bars.
'And a safer city we now have for it,' Malcolm replied.
'All thanks to you, sir,' the woman replied.
He nodded quietly and proceeded into the plush living room where a glass of scotch would be waiting for him. Along with his son it turned out, relaxing back on the sofa.
'Hey, Dad,' Tommy greeted him, raising his glass.
'What are we toasting to?'
Tommy smirked. 'You losing a bet, as if you don't remember.'
Malcolm remained coy. 'Which one would that be?' He never lost a bet. Not one that mattered.
'Oliver Queen as the Vigilante,' Tommy replied. 'Didn't I tell you he was messed up when they found him on that deserted island? Real whack job. Not to mention that punch he threw at me when Thea decided to move in with us.'
Malcolm picked up his glass and raised it in toast. 'Then here's to us being rid of bad rubbish.' They clinked glasses and drank.
'Mom's in the kitchen cooking dinner,' Tommy said. 'Something about wanting to celebrate Humanitarian of the Year. Third year in a row, Dad. Really? It's getting boring now.'
Malcolm ignored the jibe and headed for the kitchen, not somewhere he'd usually spend time. His breath caught in his throat as he saw his wife stirring something over the stove. Age hadn't diminished her beauty as the honey-coloured hair fell neatly around her shoulders just as it had nearly twenty years ago when he'd lost her in that other place.
'Oh, hello darling. Good day at work?' She abandoned the stove to come over and kiss him. It was difficult not to flinch at the sudden intimacy. No one had touched him like that for so long that he'd almost forgotten what it felt like. She still smelled just the same, that gentle mix of florals that came in a long tapered bottle of which he could never remember the name.
'Not as good as coming home to you,' he replied. It was part truth and part lie. The Spear of Destiny had done its work perfectly. It wasn't so much a rewriting of time itself as it felt like stepping into another world. One where Malcolm Merlyn led a perfect life, his wife still alive and whole, never mugged and murdered in the Glades for the sake of a few hundred dollars. One where his son never hated him, and his daughter loved him equally. One where Oliver Queen was crushed underfoot like the vile insect he was.
There was only one problem. Whilst history had been permanently altered, Malcolm had been at the centre of the changes when the Spear had been activated. He still held all his old memories - losing his family, being broken and built back up by the League of Assassins, being Rhas Al'Ghul, being the Dark Archer. He wasn't the same person anymore. He was colder and darker, at odds with the perfection of his happy life. He just wouldn't dare tell Damien that. He needed Darkh to think that he'd gotten everything he wanted.
