"Rise and shine, Princess."

The brown bag was yanked off of my head. A bright light blinded me as the van door was pulled open. Two men from the Queen Mansion robbery stood outside of the van while the leader beside me grabbed my zip tied hands roughly. I slammed down against the floor of the van, hands digging into my ribcage from the harsh landing.

None of them bothered to wear face masks now. They were too confident in believing they would not be caught for breaking into the Queen Mansion and kidnapping me. I wiggled around on the bottom of the van, attempting to roll over on my back. The group of men roared with laughter.

Tears blurred my vision. I woke up in the middle of the drive. I screamed and cried loud and long enough for the leader to wrap a cloth around my mouth, preventing me from making any noises that couldn't be drowned out by music. I didn't know where we were or where they planned on taking me. There wasn't a way for me to call my brother or dad.
I was on my own.

"Let's go, Princess." The leader yanked me up from the van by my upper arm.

I tumbled out of the van, nearly collapsing on the ground when my feet didn't fall right underneath me. If it hadn't been for the leader, I would have crashed to the asphalt. The other men snickered, amused by my turmoil. A sob break through around the wet cloth in my mouth.

My head snapped around the area we were in, hoping to find a familiar building or landscape. The area was near an abandoned warehouse with a large parking lot behind it, where we found ourselves standing in. I blinked my eyes several times to clear the tears that made it hard for me to see what name could possibly hanging from the warehouse. Unfortunately, the sign was so rusted, the letters were barely there and left no signs giving me an idea of where I could be.

I've lived in Starling City all my life. This wasn't Starling City.

If I figured out where I was, I could escape if given the right opportunity. These men were strong and well built. There was a slim chance I would be able to outrun these guys, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I was a Merlyn after all.

"How much do you think we'll make for her?" One of the men stepped closer to me, wrapping a strand of my dark hair around his finger. "I always thought Hensley Merlyn was beautiful."

I stared at the men, fearfully. I flicked my head away from him to get my hair out of his hold. I wanted nothing more than to get away from these mine. I definitely did not want one of them to touch me.

The man laughed at my reaction. The same hand wrapped around my back, forcing my body to press flush against his. "Aw, come on, beautiful." He stroked my cheek. "Take the compliment. I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more soon."

Wicked grins spread across the rest of the mens' faces. The looks on their faces made it seem, like, they knew something I didn't, something I would not l like. I thrashed around in the man's hold until he dropped his arms. In the middle of my wild moves, the cloth slipped down from my mouth and fell around my neck.

"P-Please just let me go." I begged the men that kidnapped me. "I can g-get you all the m-money you want. Ju-Just let me call my D-Dad, p-please..."

"Oh, Princess," The guy with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped up to me. As he moved closer, I stepped away from him until my back pressed against the side of the van. "Your Daddy couldn't get us the kind of money we are going to make off of you." He pressed his nose against my cheek before he kissed it.

The action made my stomach flop. A wave of nausea slammed into my body. In a brief moment of adrenaline, I slammed my knee against his groin and punched his eye with my hands. The other men made noises of surprise, continuing to laugh as their own friend tumbled back to the ground.

I pushed off of the van and took off running. The zip ties around my wrists made it harder to run, but I refused to give up. The abandoned warehouse was the best place for me to run. I had a good chance of finding a place to hide inside until the men got tired of looking for me and decided to just give up altogether. I raced like my life depended on it, and I hated the fact that it did.

Sobs wracked out of my body. I was in some random city with a group of men who kidnapped me. The way they touched me made my skin crawl and stomach churn. The looks they gave me was enough for me to understand that I was about to be placed in something very dangerous if I did not get to safety.

"No!" I screamed at the feel of someone slamming into my back. My feet tripped over themselves and I tumbled against the asphalt ground. "No! P-Please! Tommy!"

The person pressed my shoulders in the ground. My face turned to the left, cheek scraping against the rough ground, slicing right through the skin. I screamed louder, praying someone somewhere would hear me. I kicked my legs around, attempting to harm the man in anyway I could.

"Let me go! Let me go--"

"Hensley! Hensley, it's okay!" The hands on my shoulders were softer than the ones that had me pressed to the ground.

My eyes flung open at the sound of my brother's voice breaking through the dream. I gasped for a breath, realizing I had been crying in real life and covered my mouth with one hand. The light beside my bed was turned on, illuminating my bedroom. Through the sides of my curtains, the darkness of the sky was shone, reminding me that it was the middle of the night.

I was in the safety of my bedroom in our shared apartment. The door to my bedroom was shut, yet I could still faintly hear Chase's footsteps on the other side of the door. This wasn't a rare occurrence since I was rescued. Chase was able to get the apartment next door and had a second bodyguard come in at night, but he often still heard me when I had nights like this. He always ran over to come check and make sure everything was okay.

Dad hired him as my bodyguard, for the most part at least. Over the past four years, we had grown close and we both cared for each other in a friendly way. 

Tommy's hands rubbed my arms up and down in a comforting manner. He sat beside me in my bed, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and black shirt. His hair was disheveled from sleeping, probably woken up by my screaming and crying. "It's okay. You're safe, Hens." He promised me, a saddened expression on his face. "It was just a dream."

I shook my head, crying. "No, it was worse. It was much worse." I whimpered, pushing myself up to lean against my headboard. "It was a memory." A loud sob broke through my lips.

"You're safe. You're safe." Tommy repeated. The sad thing was I wasn't sure if he was saying it for me or for himself. His arms wrapped around my body as he pulled me against his chest, letting me sob into his shirt. "They will never hurt you again. I promise."

|

A brown, paper bag of Big Belly Burger was placed down on the wooden desk of the office. The light blue walls and wooden paneling of the office was something I've grown to love over the years. I smiled down at my father as he tore his attention away from whatever he had been typing away at on his desktop computer. His gaze darted from the brown bag and up my arm that was clasped onto the crumpled up top of the bag to keep the warmth inside.

"I surely thought you would be cancelling on me," Dad commented, seeming rather surprised to see me standing in front of his desk. The clustered area of his desk was soon cleaned up to make room for his lunch. "Considering Oliver Queen is alive and home."

"Well," I pulled one of the chairs in front of his desk closer before I plopped down in it. I unraveled the top of the bag, letting the greasy smells fill the office. "You thought wrong. Why would I ever miss out on a visit with my dad and Big Belly Burger?"

He caught the wrapped burger with one hand when I tossed it his way. "I do remember how close Tommy and you used to be with him," Dad said. "I figured you three would be out planning a party for his return."

I handed him his friends before I propped my legs up against the corner of his desk. My food rested in my lap and partially on my stomach. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if they were doing that right now." I popped a fry into my mouth, pausing, "There's something weird about Oliver now."

"He was on an island for five years by himself." Dad unwrapped his burger, eyes never leaving the thick stack in his hands. "He's probably changed a lot."

"I know, but he knows Russian now." I shook my head, unwrapping my own burger. "Five years ago, I know for a fact that Oliver did not know another language. He could barely say a full sentence in Spanish. So, explain to me how he could return back from an abandoned island and know how to speak Russian?"

Dad eyed me from across the desk. "So, you think someone else was on that island with him?" He questioned, understanding exactly what I was thinking.

"That's the only thing that makes sense." I took a bite of my burger, chewing and swallowing before speaking again. "How else could he have learned it?"

"If you think something is off about him then don't give up on it. The one thing I have ever told you since you were a kid was to always follow your gut feeling."

I nodded. "I think more happened on that island than he is willing to tell, which I completely understand because when you go through a traumatic experience like that, the last thing you really want to do is share it with everyone else."

Dad cleared his throat. "Uh, speaking of," He fidgeted with his blue, striped tie around his neck. "Tommy said you had another bad night last night."

The fry pinched between my fingers fell back into my lap. Tommy always told Dad when I had a rough night. The two of them kept each other updated on what happened in my life, more so when something happened that related to me being kidnapped. I should have expected this conversation to pop up today.

"The dreams never go away," I lowly whispered. "I thought the dreams after Mom died were bad, but I never have those anymore. I either dream about that whole year or I don't dream at all. I don't think I'll never not dream about what happened to me."

"How's the list going?" Dad asked, casually.

I broke into a smile, grateful for the subject change and amused. "Such an odd thing for a father to ask how his daughter's kill list is going. I took out Phil Mortson. Didn't you see the news?"

"Well, I did teach you everything I know," he reminded me. "And I helped you make part of the list." The burger was lowered from his mouth. "I saw the news and knew it was you, but everyone else thinks some drug dealer decided to take action with him."

"Father-daughter bonding. Gotta love it." I shoved two fries into my mouth, chuckling. "Of course they wouldn't know it was me. I had you as my teacher. Us Merlyn's never leave anything behind."

||||

I decided to give you guys a flashback. I actually love writing flashbacks and I love that Arrow makes that a huge part of their show. It just gives me more of a reason to do the same for Hensley.

This chapter gave you a chance to see how much closer she is with her dad now. I actually love Malcolm so much. I know he's technically the "bad guy" but I don't care one bit. I always get so excited when I see him on the screen. Side note: totally flipped out when I saw him on Legends of Tomorrow.

Those nights are not rare for Hensley at all. They happen quite often.

I read who you guys wanted her to eventually end up with and I was surprised to see some say Roy. I do want to tell each and every one of who what I have planned for Hensley, but then that would be no fun. Just keep in mind that I love torturing you guys and LOVE plot twists.

Also, I have so much planned for Hensley that even lasts until season five. So, you will be reading about her for a while.

Question: What do you think of her relationship with her dad?

So, yeah!