'Tommy' – Malcolm begun one of the most difficult conversations in his life, one that may as well cause him to lose his son forever.
"The place I went to… Nanda Parbat. Like I told you in the hospital after the curare, I met a man there. And he made me what I am today. Gave me a purpose, a way to avenge your mother."
"What exactly is the way?"
Now came the hardest part.
"Tommy." – Malcolm steeled himself – "You know Oliver is the Vigilante"
"Yes. A killer."
The moment came.
"I am a killer as well." – the admission fell from his lips, no way to take it back.
"Wh…?" – Tommy turned his way, not understanding anything.
"I am the Dark Archer, Tommy, or the 'copycat vigilante' as they call me." he smirked bitterly for a moment.
Tommy just stared, so Malcolm went on. "When I went away, made my way to Nanda Parbat eventually. I trained as an archer, a warrior. That's what I became there. A killer."
His son looked at him, staring. Eyes met eyes. The truth was out. More truth than Malcolm expected to ever say tonight.
"What?" – was all Tommy managed to say.
"It is the truth. The answer to all that disturbed you."
Tommy downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.
"You?" was all Tommy managed.
"Yes, I am this monster."
Tommy stood up and shook his head, then closed his eyes.
Malcolm realized the boy would not believe him unless he saw it for himself, so he went out to his car and retrieved his bow and Dark Archer leathers.
He laid them out on the couch while Tommy kept staring, wide eyed.
"How much more do you hate me now?" – Malcolm asked, almost in a whisper.
"I need to go out, I need a drive." – was all Tommy said and Malcolm flinched at the sound of the door closing loudly again after him.
He did not know anymore if the pain in his chest was from Oliver's poison or from the feeling that he might have just lost his son.
Emily ran out of the room just after Tommy left. She just heard parts of the conversation, but she did hear the one when Malcolm admitted to Tommy to being who he was.
Malcolm was sitting on the couch. She had not touched her drink, too preoccupied with listening in and checking out his book collection in the office/library room.
She figured now was a time for a stiff one, handed him his and downed hers. Malcolm drank his too, his eyes distant and pensive. The three in the basement clearly had not heard Tommy leaving, so Emily and Malcolm were left mercifully alone for now.
"I lost him." Malcolm said levelly, like a person used to loss would do.
Emily noticed his haggard breathing. Damn Oliver and his poison revenge ideas!
She grabbed him in an embrace and he leaned into it gratefully. "I'll get us some food. Pizza, pasta, Chinese? What's your choice?"
He just shook his head, not caring. "Whatever you pick."
She decided that after the ordeal they have been through, they both needed meat to regain strength. So she ordered spaghetti Bolognese with extra extra meat and salads for them both.
Thoughtfully, she also went down to the basement, asking if the three down there needed something to eat. They asked for pizza, so pizza she ordered as well. She told them she and Malcolm needed some alone time upstairs. She worried they'd been bored, but OF COURSE Felicity had a notebook in her purse, and was now entertaining Oliver and Diggs with some funny videos.
The delivery guy looked a little weirded out by the house overgrown with vines and so not care-taken - of -looking in such a rich neighborhood.
Emily had just the perfect line for him, not to alert anyone. "Yeah, we are remodeling. Doesn't look much like now, but the crew is inside." The guy nodded, fooled by her lie. She gave him an extra tip and he went away happy. Thankfully, these Italian restaurants had both pizza and pasta so she only had to call one.
She took the pizzas down to the basement, then brought the pasta and salads upstairs for herself and Malcolm.
She noticed he had brought two more drinks, wine this time, to fit with the food. Red was her favorite and he had guessed right. She put the food out on the plates, not wanting to eat from the plastic containers.
Malcolm did not look to have much appetite, but he forced himself, and as the taste hit his mouth, he ate with more and more eagerness. Emily smirked. Vanderbilts knew how to choose their restaurants. There were no toasts this time with the wine. They drank theirs slowly after finishing the food.
At some point, aunt Sophia came by to clean up upstairs.
Emily went down to check on the "crew" in the basement, they seemed to be having fun and enjoying the pizza.
Then they all heard the doorbell. They shared a shocked look with her. Emily yelled "Stay here", then ran up to open.
To her very much NOT veiled surprise, it was Tommy. She held the door wide open to him, it was his house after all. "Hi Emily. I need to talk to my father."
Uh-oh…
"He is in the living room, we just ate some dinner."
"There is some wine and pasta and pizza"- she offered, walking after him.
Partly in her hopes, partly in forethought, she had ordered three portions of Bolognese and one more pizza. One could never have too much food, right?
"Yes, I could use some wine… or maybe that whiskey from before. Definitely pizza."
"Coming right up", she said as he followed her to the kitchen. He ate the pizza there, but took the whiskey she brought him to the living room where Malcolm was sitting. With forethought, she poured more glasses of whiskey for both Tommy and Malcolm, just putting them on the table, then making her way to the office/ library room.
"Dad…" Tommy held himself stiff in his suit, but Malcolm thought, all circumstances considered, this word was a good beginning.
"Why did you do all this?" Merlyn sighed. He had decided to tell the truth, so truth he would tell.
"Your mother was murdered in the Glades, as you know. After she was gone… I felt lost. I went… I ran on this trip and at some point ended up in Nanda Parbat. I met a man there, who helped me become what I am now. A killer. A vigilante, of sorts." he admitted.
"Like Oliver?" Tommy asked, clearly clueless and curious.
Truth.
"Worse."
Malcolm took a gulp of his drink, then said "Oliver has refrained from killing as of late. I have not."
The words hung in the air.
"Why?"
"He is a better man than I am. You should give him a chance, Tommy. He is your childhood friend. He deserves it more than me."
Tommy saw the haggard look of his father, it seemed like he had not slept in days. The man was finally honest with him and he finally felt warmth, instead of ice, radiating from him.
"Dad. Tell me why you do all this."
"Tommy, there are no more excuses. I do it because…" he stopped for a beat, searching for an answer within him. "I feel there are people who deserve it. Like rats. They need extermination."
Tommy stood up and paced. "They said many people were killed by this… Dark Archer victims were innocents."
A long pause followed.
"That is why told you that I am a monster. Innocent bystanders get killed too. Collateral damage."
Tommy looked closely at his father's face. The man had made choices and now he had to live with them. It clearly had not come without a price.
Suddenly Tommy found himself collapsing onto the couch and sobbing.
Where were they? His father and his mother from all those years ago, that happy family.
Then, suddenly, his crying stopped as realization hit. It had all ended when Rebecca was killed.
"The Glades." He said.
"What?" – it was Malcolm's turn to be surprised.
"That is where mom was killed."
Malcolm waited for him to continue.
"She tried to help all these people and look what reward she got for her efforts." – Tommy said, bitterly.
Malcolm Merlyn was suddenly flabbergasted at how similar his son was to him, deep down inside. At the vehemence in his voice.
"Death." He said flatly and moved closer to his son on the couch.
"Tommy."
"What more is there to say? She died, you became a killer, I lost both of you!" – Tommy suddenly sprang up from the couch and screamed the words at Malcolm.
Merlyn also stood up.
The pain in his chest was growing stronger, but he forced himself to take a deep breath and speak.
"You have not lost me, son. I'm here." – he said, trying to keep his voice level.
"What about all those years you've been gone, when I was just a child?!"
"I cannot take them back, Tommy. I wish it had been different."
Emily's aunt Sophia ran down hearing all the screaming, but she saw this was a conversation she should not barge into and climbed back upstairs.
Tommy downed the drink Emily had left him and said:
"I wish so too." He threw the words over his shoulder as he donned his jacket and went out.
"I need another drive" The front door slammed closed again.
Malcolm downed his drink too, the pain in his chest growing. He lay down on the couch, breathing heavily.
Emily ran up to him, but saw the man clearly needed rest.
Again, damn Oliver and his poison!
She felt like going down to the basement and suffocating him, but reason won. She fumbled, searching for a blanket in one of the closets, gave it to Malcolm and he took it thankfully. He fell asleep almost at once and she sat there, by his side.
Vigilant and ever watchful.