Oliver walked across the bay's beach, accompanied by his campaign manager, Alex.
"There's a lot of trash and garbage here, but we can certainly get it clean." Oliver informed.
"Yeah, think of it like Earth Day." Alex joked, kicking a stray can. "You do realize this is about a week and a half from the holidays, right?"
"I do." Oliver replied. "But I can't think of a better time to get to work."
"So, when do we start?" Alex asked.
"In ten days." Oliver answered, before hearing his phone ring. After turning his back on his manager, he picked up his phone and accepted the call. "Hello?"
"Hi, Oliver, we need you to get back here right now." Felicity spoke quickly. "A body was found in an alley with his…"
"Felicity, what is it?" Oliver asked in a stern voice.
"His… eyes were cut out, and the fingers were cut off and shoved down his throat." Felicity managed, sounding as if she was going to throw up. "Just get back to the Bunker quick, Quentin's here with the details." Oliver quickly ended the call, and turned back to Alex.
"I'm so sorry, but I have to go." Oliver apologized. "Family emergency."
"Is something wrong with Thea?" Alex asked. Oliver frowned.
"Not that I know of." Oliver lied, before leaving.
The Bunker
"What do we got?" Oliver asked.
"Just that he was definitely a Ghost." Quentin told him, pointing to Felicity's monitor. "Either that, or someone killed the guy, then put a Ghost uniform over him."
"I don't know if this is sending a message or what." Diggle spoke up. "But if this is Darhk, why go to this length to kill his own man?"
"Maybe it was Machin?" Thea asked.
"I don't think so." Laurel interrupted. "Dad said that before he escaped the ambulance, Machin left a calling card."
"Either way, were there any leads found?" Oliver asked.
"Actually, yes." Quentin replied, taking out a tiny piece of blue fabric with a tag on it. "Whoever killed that Ghost dropped this. The tag is labelled 'Good Guys'."
"Felicity?" Oliver cued, and Felicity looked into the brand.
"Says here that Good Guys was a line of dolls created by Play Pals." Felicity announced. "After multiple incidents where a boy claimed his doll was possessed, the company shut down."
"Any idea where someone could get a doll?" Laurel asked.
"Most likely at the Star City branch of Toys Are We down in the Glades." Felicity replied. "I'll tap into the security footage, and give you a layout."
"Thanks." Oliver said. "I think I can take care of this alone."
"Probably a good thing, Ollie." Thea spoke up. "I'm having someone over at my place later tonight."
"And I'm gonna have a chat with my brother Andy to see if he can give us anything about this." Diggle added, and the two left.
"I'm going to go with my Dad, see what we can pull up." Laurel told Oliver, and left with Quentin to go back to the precinct.
"I'll need to finish things back at the office." Oliver murmured. "I'll check the place out later tonight."
Flashback
"Taiana, don't move." Oliver warned. "You're standing on a landmine."
"Can you defuse it?" The woman asked. Queen shook his head.
"No." Oliver bluntly stated, remembering his time with Slade Wilson. "A man showed me how to escape these, but without someone else…" Just then, Oliver looked up, seeing one of Baron Reiter's men walking towards them. Oliver began to run away, blending in with the forest.
"Wait!" Taiana yelled. "Where are you going?"
"Well well, what are you doing so far from camp?" The soldier asked, approaching the woman. "Hey, wait a minute, you're that bitch-" Oliver ran out from behind the tree, punching the man in the face and putting him in a chokehold, before snapping his neck.
"Now, be still." Oliver ordered, and crouching down while holding onto the body, he pushed Taiana over, rolling the body on top of the mine and preventing it from exploding.
"Thank you." Taiana said.
"Couldn't let you die, I need you." Oliver replied, helping her up and pushing onward.
Now
Diggle walked to another part of the Bunker, approaching his brother Andy. Ever since he found out that his brother was alive and working for HIVE, it was almost like seeing a completely different person sitting in that cage.
"Andy!" Diggle shouted, coming to a stop mere inches from the bars. Andy turned around, but didn't walk forward, keeping his hands behind his back. Diggle simply took out a picture of the Ghost that was murdered. "The police picked up this body in an alley, with his fingers cut off and shoved down his throat, then the eyes gouged out. Any idea what that is about?" Andy looked at the photo, showing no feeling in his eyes.
"Nope." Diggle's brother said smugly.
"And this doesn't bother you one bit that he was a Ghost?" Diggle asked.
"Maybe Darhk thought he outlived his usefulness." Andy replied.
"I doubt this was him." Diggle shot back. "Doing something this gruesome isn't Damien's style. Maybe it's someone targeting Ghosts."
"Or maybe it's a friend of Mister Darhk's." Andy told him. "We'd heard stories of someone that was more of an urban legend…"
"Who, Andy?" Diggle asked. "Answer me, dammit!" Andrew just smirked and turned his back on his brother, who hit the bars with his fist and walked off.
Thea's Apartment
Thea sat on her couch, as Malcolm Merlyn entered her apartment, nearly spooking the young archer.
"Hey, it's me." Malcolm reassured, seeing that Thea had pulled out a knife for protection. "I came to give you a warning."
"About what?" Thea asked. "You here to let me know about what I was thinking could cure my blood lust?"
"No." Malcolm replied. "I'm still working on it. But, I have gotten word that Damien Darhk has called in a new assassin to kill the Green Arrow and his team."
"And, how do you know this?" Thea asked.
"I'm Ra's Al Ghul." Merlyn reminded his daughter. "Unfortunately, the last man I sent for information got killed. He was found with the claw end of a hammer jammed through his eye."
"My God." Thea exhaled.
"I just want you to be careful." Malcolm added, hugging his daughter and leaving.
Toys Are We
The Green Arrow walked through the dark hallways of the toy store, bow at the ready for any trouble.
"Felicity, has there been anything that's come up?" Oliver asked in his comms.
"Negative, Oliver." Felicity responded. "But there is someone in there with you. One of the cams in the north west corner of the building is just static." Oliver quickly ran down the aisles, getting to the area with the faulty security cam, only to find a man being strangled with a slinky. Oliver's eyes followed the slinky, seeing what appeared to be a midget killing the security guard. It was dark, so Queen couldn't tell.
"Let him go!" Green Arrow shouted, nocking an arrow. The midget cocked his head.
"If you insist." The small man cackled, pulling back on the slinky so hard, he decapitated the guard. "See? I let his head go!" Oliver fired an arrow, hitting the midget in the chest. However, the silhouette of the man got back up.
"Won't do you any good!" The midget laughed. "You can't hurt me!" The man pulled out a gun, firing multiple rounds into the Green Arrow's arms and legs. Oliver cried out in pain, as he watched as some Ghosts began to join the midget. Thinking quickly, Oliver pulled out a flashbang arrow and set it off, covering his escape. When the Ghosts could see again, they looked around, noticing that not only had the Green Arrow escaped, but Damien Darhk's friend had left as well.
