"Any calls this morning?" Oliver asked as he stepped into the news room, as the other members of Team Arrow had affectionately dubbed it.
"Let me think about that." Felicity muttered as a phone rang behind her. "Oh, yes."
"It can't be that bad." Oliver replied with a chuckle.
"Well, twenty minutes ago, LexCorps started buying QC stocks in massive chunks and each time they purchase, the market responds, causing the price to drop which makes it even easier for Luthor to buy stocks."
"I'm amazed he can buy at all."
"Well, he's probably not the one actually buying." Felicity replied seriously, obviously missing the joke. "And I know that you have your secret, awesome plan to stop Evil Bald Man from taking over your company but no else knows that! Seriously, why couldn't you have told the Board yesterday?"
"Because while I do trust them to give me their opinions, I don't trust them not to talk to anyone about this and I don't know who they would talk to and I know that at least one person they would talk to, I couldn't trust."
"Why wouldn't you want this to get out?" Thea asked softly. Oliver could tell that she was nervous about the responsibility that a place at QC could potentially place on her. He could tell in the way that she asked that she was worried about being perceived as stupid or ignorant.
"So that Luthor would waste his money."
That voice was not Oliver's. Instead, it was the voice of Queen Mansion's newest resident, Laurel Lance. While Laurel and Oliver hadn't really had much of a chance to talk since she had returned to town, she had been aware enough to accept his request that she stay at Queen Mansion. She had obviously read the look of worry on his face and acted correctly.
"She's right." Oliver confirmed. "Luthor was exceedingly confident in this purchase, even after last night's issue. So confident, in fact, that he had to liquidate 12% of LexCorps stock in order to purchase the requisite number of shares in order to become majority owner."
"Or at least split it with Wayne." Diggle added. "I've noticed that he's still buying this morning."
"It's what we talked about. He will buy until LexCorps starts buying in massive chunks and then sell back. Once he starts to sell back, the price will continue to plummet, forcing Luthor to sell for pennies on the dollar. He won't be able to repurchase his 12% stock. Tomorrow, Wayne and I announce a joint venture complete with contract, our prices climb and I purchase that 12%. Since we already own 3% in LexCorps stock, we'll own 15% which would allow Thea and myself, who are currently acting as one financial entity, a single place at the LexCorps Board of Governors."
"You really thought this out." Felicity replied, obviously impressed with her boss and friend.
"Like I've said numerous times over the past month or so, being the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company is a good training into how to be a better businessperson."
That evening, Team Arrow minus Felicity who was elsewhere in the mansion, sat in front of the TV to monitor their handiwork.
"In what could only be described as an awful day for Lex Luthor, his so-called joint venture to purchase Queen Consolidated failed today. By noon, Wayne and Luthor had purchased a reported 37% share of the company when Wayne instantly started selling his shares back to the market. Wayne reportedly had issues with Lex Luthor's earlier reported ties to major players in the international terrorist market. Once Mr. Wayne discovered this information, he immediately called Mr. Luthor and broke off their arrangement."
"In a letter sent to Channel 52 News, Oliver Queen detailed the efforts he and his sister, Thea Queen, took to protect their company, including the creation of the Queen Trust, a fund run jointly b the Queen siblings with almost 70% ownership on the company. Economists say that Luthor and Wayne would have needed to sell nearly half their companies' stocks in order to complete the takeover. Mr. Queen, along with Ms. Queen and Mr. Luthor, were unavailable for comment. All Mr. Wayne had to say was that he looked forward to working with Queen Consolidated in the future."
"And for our final story this evening, a shocking turn of events in Metropolis. Earlier today, a school bus stalled while on a set of railroad tracks as a train was barreling down the track towards it. Just when it seemed that the two were going to collide, something miraculous happened but you'd have to see it to believe it."
Oliver sat, content in his days work, and watched the video. Sure enough, it looked almost certain that the school bus was going to get blasted by the train. But then, something that couldn't really be explained happened. Literally a second before the bus was going to be hit, it simply teleported out of the way.
"What the hell?" Roy muttered as he watched the TV.
"Rewind that." Oliver ordered to Roy, who instantly complied. Sure enough, the bus was there one second and then the very next, it was forty feet away from the tracks, well out of range of the train.
"All of our TV video is synced to the computers, right?" Oliver asked Sara who was already running to the other room. Quickly, Oliver unpaused the video and let the anchor return.
"Authorities are completely baffled by these events. No evidence exists of a doctored attempted and nearly every student on the bus, the bus' driver and the train conductor had similar stories."
Quickly, Oliver shut off the phone before dialing Barry Allen's phone number.
"Barry?"
"Oliver? What can I do for you?" he replied, surprised to hear from his hero friend.
"The Flash hasn't been making any appearances in Metropolis, have you?"
"So you saw that video too?" Barry asked.
"I did. Is it you?"
"Nope." Barry replied simply. "I haven't left Central City since Coast City held that Subatomic Convention. Which was a great event by the way. You missed a great deal."
"Thanks but no thanks." Oliver replied, hanging up abruptly before dialing again.
"I figured saving your company would be enough to get you to stop talking to me."
"Have you seen the news?" Oliver asked in a hurry. "That story from Metropolis."
"Yes. Slow down the video. That will you give you our answer. We have something new."
With that, the line on the other end of the phone went dead. Instantly, Oliver went over to Felicity where she had already brought the video up for analysis.
"Slow it down as much as you can." Oliver said shortly as he fell in behind her.
"Why?"
"You'll see." Oliver replied cryptically as the rest of the team crowded around him.
As quick as she could, Sara worked the video, stretching the one second it took for the bus to move into a complete one minute video. For nearly forty seconds, the group gathered watched as the train inched closer and closer to the bus in slow motion.
Then, something completely remarkable happened. With a speed that couldn't be imagined considering they were playing the video at 1.6% of its normal speed, a man flew from off screen, made contact with the bus and picked the bus up with no effort whatsoever.
"What the fuck." Oliver muttered softly.
Then, before any of them could even get used to the man being there, he flew back off screen, disappearing. In real time, this had all occurred in 1/4 of a second.
"That can't be real." Diggle replied.
"Why not?" Oliver said softly, collapsing into a chair next to Sara's desk. "We have Barry. There was Slade. Powers on this level aren't impossible."
"Oliver, Barry runs fast. Faster than anything I've ever seen, I'll give you that. And Slade was strong but this man was as fast as Barry is, maybe even faster, and he picked up a god damn school bus!" Diggle barked. "Like it was nothing! We've never seen anything with that kind of power."
"Yet." Felicity uttered, walking into the room. "I watched the clip over your shoulder. Barry is that fast. We know he is but Barry always said that he didn't even think that he was the pinnacle of humanity. He just had this feeling that there was someone out there who was better."
"So Barry predicted this mega man coming?"
"Not really." Felicity replied. "He said he thought that there was always some "super man," something that defied all laws of physics and what we know about human evolution. With what we've seen over the years, he could be an alien, he could be from the future, we can't rule anything out."
Sitting there, Oliver couldn't believe they were having this conversation. He still was having trouble reconciling what he had seen. But now, he really couldn't believe that he wasn't questioning the video. He just accepted it as much as it blew him away.
"What happens if that Superman goes rogue?" Oliver posed to no one in particular. "What happens if instead of saving school buses, he's using that power to blow them up?"
For a few seconds, everyone sat and let that question sink in. But, of course, Felicity, who else, had an answer.
"Talk to Wayne. Talk to Barry. Between the three of you, you should be able to combine forces and defeat him."
"Like some noble version of The Suicide Squad?" Diggle asked skeptically.
"I guess." Felicity replied. "I'm sure you'll come up with a fun name later but it's a conversation the three of you should have. You never know, there may be more of you out there."
Now that was a thought that truly frightened Oliver Queen and he was not one to get frightened easily.
It took nearly two more weeks before there was any updates for Team Arrow, which was good when they finally came because Team Arrow was on the verge of killing each other. Despite most of them being able to go out each night, the amount of time they spent pent up inside the house together was killing them.
Thankfully, Sara Lance saved the day.
"I've got her." Sara announced as she stepped inside the news room. Instantly, everyone's eyes locked onto the printout The Canary held in front of her. Even her sister, who had a very limited understanding of what was going on, was interesting.
"What do you have?" Oliver asked sharply.
"Talia returned to the League two years ago." Sara started, skimming through the paper in front of her. "According to some of my contacts in Nanda Parbat who don't particularly care for Ra's, she's been leading training for the last eighteen months. However, she only rarely actually made physical appearances."
"What do you mean?" Roy questioned.
"Apparently, the League has gone high tech in the past few years. She was mostly training her students via video conference. They said that they believed she was somewhere in the States. Following one of the aliases that I know she used in the past, she spend a significant amount of time in Gotham City and some other time here in Starling."
"She was here?"
"Yes. Only for a few months, right after The Undertaking."
That timing certainly worried Oliver. If Talia al Ghul had been in Starling just after The Undertaking, then it was more than likely that she was the one responsible for Malcolm Merlyn's resurrection, which then lead into Tommy's return from the grave.
"Sara, did you ever meet Talia while you were with The League?"
"Once." Sara confirmed.
"What do you know about her?"
"Not much." Sara admitted. "I do know that she's just as dangerous if not more dangerous than her sister. Nyssa may be a better fighter but if things were up to Talia, the fight would never happen."
"Why is that?" Felicity asked softly.
"There's a reason they're called Assassins. If Talia even had a thought that Nyssa had it out for her, she would have her killed moments after the plan was formed in her head. According to Ra's, she's the second best tactical mind he had ever known."
"Who was the first?" asked Diggle.
"The American she left The League for."
"Do we know who that is?" Laurel asked, finding all of this fascinating. Laurel had apparently heard of Nyssa before. At least, Oliver assumed that was his connection to this story and why she was so interested.
"We don't." Sara admitted. "I'm pretty sure that he was the reason she was in Gotham but if she was in contact with him, we wouldn't know. Either way, whoever she left with wasn't there when I was there."
"Is it possible that he was out on a mission of some kind?"
"No."
"How do you know that?" Oliver asked skeptically.
"Because he is The One We Do Not Speak Of." Sara replied, reverting to some form of Assassin training as she spoke. She spoke the name fearfully as if she expected to be hurt for even mentioning the title.
Oliver actually had to suppress a laugh with how ridiculous a name that was. Leave it to someone like The League of Assassins to create such a long and drawn-out name.
"The One We Do Not Speak Of?" Oliver asked with a smirk. "Why is he called that?"
"Because he blew up the home of The Head of the Demon."
"Excuse me?"
"He was apparently the intended of Talia al Ghul. However, when he refused to take a mission, Ra's al Ghul banished him from the records of The League of Assassins and ordered his execution. Siding with him, Talia fought her father, although she was taken by the men of Ra's al Ghul. She was imprisoned within the walls of Nanda Parbat for five years as punishment for her crime." Sara informed them. Listening to Sara was remarkable. She rarely spoke of her time with The League and when she did, she suddenly reverted back to some form of reverence for Ra's al Ghul. More than likely, she respected Ra's because he saved her, although there was always a part of Oliver that feared Sara had done things as an Assassin that Oliver could not fathom.
"Unfortunately for Ra's," Sara continued. "The Unspoken One was a better fighter and a smarter man. He fought Ra's al Ghul to a draw, resorting to explosives to win the fight. He detonated a small explosive inside Ra's home, causing it to catch fire. Within minutes, the house had burnt to the ground and The Unspoken One had vanished."
"Do you know what the mission was that he refused to take?"
Suddenly, the look on Sara's face was one of shock and understanding as if years of hearing this story finally made sense.
"He refused to kill the Mayor of Gotham City." Sara said softly. "He was to be the point man of Ra's' plans in Gotham City. First, he would come to Gotham and establish himself as someone of money, power and repute. Then, he would assassinate the Mayor and run to take his place."
"Sounds vaguely familiar." Diggle muttered darkly.
"However, The Unspoken One didn't believe in murder and told Ra's he would not murder a man to save a city."
"He was against murder?" Oliver asked, the pieces suddenly coming together. "Do you know when The Unspoken One blew up Ra's' home?"
"At the end of his formal training nine years ago."
Suddenly, the puzzle made sense.
"Where was the first place Talia went after she was released from her imprisonment?"
"Gotham City. Four years ago." Sara replied. "She stayed for eighteen months before moving to Starling. She was here until she left...three weeks ago."
Instantly, Oliver was up and moving towards the computer room with Sara and Felicity on his heels.
"Felicity, find out just how long Isabel Rochev was in Starling City."
"Got it." she replied as she got down to work.
"Sara, don't you think it's a bit conveinent that the man they supposedly wanted to kill the Mayor wouldn't because he didn't believe in murder." Oliver replied as he started working his own computer.
"I do. What are you thinking?"
"You know what I'm thinking." Oliver replied as he flipped his computer screen around, showing the headline of an old edition of The Gotham Gazette. In large, bold letters, the title read: Gotham's First Family Murdered!, with Thomas and Martha Wayne dead.
"The boy billionaire who watched his parents die on the sidewalks of Gotham City. He would either be a murderer or the exact opposite: he would oppose murder of any kind. The billionaire with power, money and repute just waiting for him when he does return. Doesn't that seem like the kind of person ideally placed to strike at the heart of Gotham City?"
"It does." Sara replied as Felicity suddenly interrupted them. "You two have to see this."
"What is it?"
"So, we have Talia al Ghul, working under the name Melisandre Head, was in Starling City for three years. She first appeared about a month before Oliver returned from the island the second time and disappeared three weeks ago. There's no record of any public appearances, purchases, internet records, nothing."
"So?"
"On the flip side, we have Isabel Rochev. She first appeared, oh look at that, about a month before Oliver returned from the island the second time and she also disappeared, rather she was killed, three weeks ago. Meanwhile, we have a bevy of public records on her."
"You think they're the same person?"
"I don't know. You tell me." Felicity replied as she clicked. Instantly, the two passport pictures of Melisandre Head and Isabel Rochev appeared. They were identical. "Now, it is possible that we're wrong about Melisandre being Talia but if we're not."
"Then, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul has insider knowledge of every single thing my company has done for the last four years." Oliver replied nervously.
"But, we do have one plus." Felicity replied. "Because we know one thing she doesn't."
"That the Unspoken One is none other than Bruce Wayne." Sara replied. "Oliver, you know this means that Wayne knew Rochev was Talia the whole time."
"I know." Oliver said softly. "We'll talk to him about that the next time I see him."
"You guys about ready to call it quits for the evening." Oliver asked into his comms.
"Evening? It's almost 7:30AM." Roy grumbled back. "We've been out here all night."
"We never know when Ra's is going to attack. We need to be keeping an eye out for things that are out of the ordinary."
"So you're going to deprive yourself of sleep?" Felicity said, before failing to stifle a yawn. "Not to mention depriving me of sleep, which is never a good thing. Then I turn into zombie-Felicity, an evil monster of drowsiness! Either way, we're not finding anything else tonight."
"True. Let's head back in." Oliver replied as he reached his motorcycle. In truth, he was exhausted as well. They had been keeping extended hours on patrol for nearly a month now and the lengthened evenings with less sleep in between was starting to wear on him.
"Gonna have to cancel that, GA." Diggle called into his mic. "Pull out your phone and go to .com"
"Why?"
"You'll see."
Quickly, Oliver did what he said. As the website loaded, he saw that it was a website for an unidentified illusionist, calling himself The Mirror Master. The only thing on the website was one video. Clicking the play button, Oliver sat on his motorcycle and watched the video.
It started out with a blank auditorium stage. No music. No sound. Just the stage. Then, in an instant, the man calling himself The Mirror Master appeared. He wore a plain black suit with a black tie and black gloves. He was a thin, bald man with gaunt features and nearly black eyes. The look made his appear to be a skeleton in a suit. Slowly, he looked up at the camera and spoke.
"We all have our skills." he said slowly in a deep baritone voice. "The Flash in Central City is the World's Fastest Man. The Batman in Gotham City is being called The World's Greatest Detective. Here in Starling City, we have The Emerald Archer, The Green Arrow, The World's Greatest Archer."
The mention of himself in the distasteful tone of the Mirror Master made his stomach churn unsteadily.
"However, not even The World's Greatest Archer can hit a target that isn't there." he said softly. "Tomorrow evening, I will be hosting a performance at The Veterans Memorial Theatre. There, some of The Arrow's greatest supporters will be in attendance. Supporters like Detective Quentin Lance of the Starling City Police and Mayor Adam Donner."
Instantly, both men appeared on the screen tied up and standing in front of mirrors.
"You may think yourself this city's savior, Green Arrow. However, we both know that you are truly the one who has failed this city. You couldn't stop The Undertaking. You couldn't stop Deathstroke and now, you won't even be able to stop me. As my name suggests, I am a master of mirrors. Using them, I can make things disappear..."
With that and a simple wave of his hand, Quentin Lance disappeared.
"And reappear with ease."
Another wave and Detective Lance returned to his position.
"Here is the gamble, Green Arrow. At ten o'clock tomorrow evening, I will begin my show. At the end of my show, if you have failed, your friends will disappear, never to return. How can you be successful in stopping this, you ask? You will have three options. First, you can pay me 10 million dollars not to make the Detective and Mayor disappear. Second, and most likely the option a simpleton like yourself will take, you can try and stop me. Your final option, and the most likely outcome, is that tomorrow evening at 10:10, these two men will disappear, never to be heard from again."
With this, The Mirror Master chuckled softly, looking directly into the camera before the video ended.
"Return to Base." Oliver ordered.
Thirty minutes later, minutes after 8 o'clock in the morning, the entirety of Team Arrow and its allies sat in the Arrow Command Center, breaking down the video. Thankfully, it was Felicity who found something to start the meeting.
"He should have worn a mask." Felicity muttered. "Not only would we have been slightly more scared of him, but he wouldn't have revealed his identity."
"Who is he?" Oliver asked.
"Samuel Kenton Scudder. A former illusionist turned con artist and convict. For years, he operated under the name The Majestic. However, when one of his mirror tricks went wrong, a young assistant fell through one of the mirrors, paralyzing her from the waist down."
"Yikes." Roy whispered.
"From then on, no one would touch him. Scudder had taken out large business loans to pay for his solo act and had only barely begun to pay them back. So, he went to the only other people in town who would lend him money."
"The only question is did he go to the Italians or The Russians."
"Thankfully, he went to the Russians." Felicity replied.
"I'll call Anatoli later." Oliver said softly. "Everyone needs to go and get a couple hours of sleep."
"Well, hopefully not everyone."
Looking across the room, Oliver shouldn't have been surprised that the man in the doorway had been able to answer without raising any kind of suspicion. Standing in his doorway was The Flash, Barry Allen, and his wife, Iris.
"Everyone else, go get some rest. Apparently, Barry has something he wants to talk about." Oliver said with a tired smile.
Quickly, everyone, including a reluctant Felicity, left the room, leaving Oliver alone with the Allen couple.
"Sorry, I missed the wedding." Oliver started.
"We understood." Iris said softly. "We figured you didn't want to see her."
"I'm still amazed that you invited her to your wedding in the first place."
"Well, ex-girlfriend or not, she was one of the few people who knew my true identity. It seemed not fair to leave her out of things."
"So, confirmation, huh?" Oliver replied with a grin, although he didn't quite feel as happy as he showed. "Neither of you would ever actually tell me whether you were a thing or not."
"We were." Barry replied, looking down in embarrassment. "Briefly. For whatever reason, things just didn't work out. Personally, I think we both had other people we were pining for."
"Well, you had Iris."
"And she had you." Iris said simply.
"Not at all. We've had this conversation about a hundred times now. We simply can't do it."
"Doesn't mean that you don't love each other." Barry replied knowingly. "I mean I kept telling Iris that we could never get married because of who I am."
"It's a good thing I don't listen very well." Iris interrupted with a grin.
"Why did you decide to get married so soon?" Oliver asked curiously. "You'd only been dating six months, right?"
"Five." Barry corrected. "I don't know why so soon. It was just something we felt like we needed to do. Maybe one day, you and Felicity will get your shit together."
"Whatever." Oliver groaned, not wanting to discuss this particular topic at all. "Anyway, I'm sure that you didn't come all the way to Starling, in the fourteen seconds it probably took you to get here, to talk about my love life."
"Well, firstly, we flew." Barry replied, before nodding towards Iris. "She doesn't like being carried."
"Especially not at Mach 4." Iris said, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, and secondly, it only takes me twelve seconds on a good day."
"Oh, I'm sorry, twelve seconds." Oliver said, mocking The Scarlet Speedster. "Anyway, what did you want to discuss?"
"Samuel Scudder, actually." Barry said simply. "We've had some experience with him. He was originally from Central. He only came here after I chased him out of town."
"Literally, I'm sure."
"Of course." Barry replied with a grin. "Anyway, we knew that Felicity was back in Starling and so we wanted to let you know that his illusions aren't really illusions."
"What are they then?"
"They're traps." Iris said softly. "He intentionally rigs his illusions to fail. We think it's a counter to his obsession with the one that did fail. Now, they all fail but they all succeed in their purpose."
"What's their purpose?"
"To cause mayhem. Panic. Pain. Take your pick." Barry answered firmly. "He's completely lost it at this point. As you saw, he's mostly doing jobs to pay back the mob. He hasn't gotten his money yet and so he keeps moving around, hiding from the Mob while trying to hit cities with generous billionaires. He figures the heroes of each city have some form of contact with the wealthy in the city and they can provide money for him."
"Little does he know."
"Exactly." Barry replied before standing up. "We have to go, Ollie. We just wanted to warn you. Do not give him the money without ensuring that Lance and Donner are out of the illusion first. If you don't..."
"We may be having a couple funerals."
"Exactly." Barry said before extending his hand. "If you need help, just let me know."
"Will do." Oliver replied, grasping Barry's hand. "It's good to see you."
"Same to you, Queen."
After only a few hours of sleep, Oliver was up. While the rest of the house was asleep, Oliver pulled out his phone, sat in one of the recliners in the news room and dialed. Very few people had powerful friends and even less had the head of the Russian Mafia on speed dial.
Thankfully for him, Oliver Queen wasn't most people.
"You had better have good reason for calling." Anatoli replied as he answered the phone. "I am getting ready for sleep."
"Sure you were." Oliver said jokingly. "I have a problem."
"You always have problem. Either friend in gulag, friend on boat, dead friend. Always friends, always problem."
"This one is directly related to you."
"Oh? How so?"
"Do you know who Sam Scudder is?"
"Is that name meant to be familiar?" Anatoli asked.
"He owes you money."
"Half world owes me money." Anatoli replied simply. "If I am expected to remember name of everyone who owes money, that is all I would remember."
"Fair enough. He's an illusionist from Central City. He borrowed money from the Bratva to pay for his business loans."
"Business is business, Olliver. If I do remember correctly, you are Bratva."
"Technically, I was banished by Alexi before Slade killed him."
"Not banished by me." Anatoli replied. "You are Bratva. As such, this man owes you money."
"Scudder doesn't owe me anything. But, he has taken two of my allies hostage and is threatening to kill them if he doesn't get ten million dollars from me."
"So pay the man."
"It's not that simple."
"Always that simple. You pay man, he goes away."
For the man's line of business and his general level of ruthlessness, Oliver enjoyed having Anatoli as a friend. His black and white view of the world was one that Oliver even marveled at, a black and white man himself.
"Anatoli, a friend of mine has faced Scudder before. He told me that he was paid the money and he still killed his hostages."
"Bad luck."
"Damn it, man!" Oliver shouted, before remembering that his Team was still asleep. "I need your help. I've helped you in the past."
"And I helped you. Or did you forget about Mister Diggle's problem?"
"I didn't forget about it. Listen, you help me this time and I will be in your debt. I know you, Anatoli, and I know that more than anything else, you love having someone in debt to you. Well, I would be very much in debt to you if you did this for me."
"What exactly are you ask of me?"
"Find out who exactly he owes the money to. They'll have contact with him. Give me that information so I can get some more background on the man."
For a few seconds, the Russian mobster did not answer. Instead, he sat in silence. Oliver prayed to everything that he was considering it. With Sara and Laurel living with him for the time being and Laurel recently returning to an uneasy alliance with him, he could not be responsible for her father's death. Not when things like Ra's al Ghul and his League of Assassins were bearing down on them.
"I will make call. Send information."
After getting off the phone the second time with Anatoli, Oliver motioned for Team Arrow to suit up. It was a bit strange for everyone to be suiting up with two house members, Laurel and Felicity, not changing into a more stealthy attire. The pair of them would remain behind and monitor the situation for the rest of the players in the field.
Once they were dressed, they loaded into the back of a non-descript black passenger van with Diggle driving. Once they were on the move, Oliver linked his comms with Felicity and Laurel's before beginning his prep announcement.
"It's going to take us roughly ten minutes to get downtown so listen up." Oliver said quickly. "I talked with Anatoli today about our man. As we know, the Mirror Master's identity is really Samuel Scudder. Scudder specialized as an illusionist before turning to crime to pay back his debts. According to Anatoli, who contacted some of Scudder's former employers, Scudder's weakness is that most of his illusions rely on electricity."
"Which is where I come in." Felicity uttered into the mic.
"Exactly." Oliver confirmed. "Now, I worry about any of the rest of you coming in. He was very specific that he was challenging me, so here's the deal. I go in alone-"
"Ollie-" Sara interrupted.
"No, Sara. We do this my way." Oliver shot back. "I go in alone. The rest of you will surround the building and cover all exits. Once I go inside, I want radio silence to me unless it's of absolute importance. I'll have my comm on open mic, you'll be able to hear every word that the two of us say. Felicity, when I say the word redeem, that's your cue to cut the power."
"Got it."
"Now, we have to assume that he'll have backups. If he does, I'll know. If the power inside the Theatre doesn't go down, you will hear me say the word: money. If you hear that word, that's a go signal. That means that I can't figure out a way to stop whatever he's doing and the power didn't go down."
"That means get in there and bust heads."
"More than likely it will just be one head." Oliver replied. "According to Anatoli, Scudder likes to work alone."
"Good news there."
"Doesn't make him any less dangerous." Oliver warned. "Don't underestimate him."
As Oliver said that, Diggle slowed the car down.
"We're in front of The Vet." Diggle said simply. "Police have set up a perimeter around the building. The rest of us will have to work around that to get our position."
"Let's do it." Oliver said, flipping on his voice scrambler and throwing his hood over his head. Quickly, the group of them got out of the vehicle. The second their feet hit the ground, they were running and scaling buildings getting to their location while Oliver quickly approached the head police cruiser where the Chief of Police stood.
As of last year, the new Chief of Police in Starling City was a familiar face, Quentin Lance's long-time lieutenant Frank Pike. Pike had come to support The Arrow and had, on occasion, passed information to Oliver on cases that the SCPD couldn't solve with conventional tactics.
"Pike." Oliver growled as he approached him.
"Ah, the man of the hour." Pike mused softly. "Do you actually think they're still alive?"
"I've learned a lot about The Mirror Master in the last day. They're alive. He won't kill them until he's had the opportunity to challenge me."
"Whatever you say. You're the resident authority on crazy people in this town."
"If you say so." Oliver replied before stepping past the barricade and towards the large set of steps to the front of The Vet. As he did, Oliver spoke into his comm: "Check in."
"Arsenal in position."
"Canary in position."
"Hood in position."
"Obviously, I'm still in position." Felicity chuckled.
"Oracle." Oliver growled, utilizing her new code name.
"Fine, Oracle checking in."
"Condor checking in." Laurel said before adding. "Why do I have to be a condor?"
"You know why." Oliver said with a grin. With everyone in position, it was ready for the show to begin. Taking a deep breath, Oliver opened the front door of the Vet and strode through. Everything inside the lobby of the giant theatre was lit, like a show was actually about to begin. Nervously, Oliver quickly raced through the lob and into the theatre.
The Veterans Memorial Theatre sat nearly 6,000 people, making it one of the largest theaters in the country. As such, when Oliver entered the auditorium, he could barely see the three people at the front of the stage. However, as he approached Oliver could see the contraptions and he was horrified by what he saw. Both Quentin and Mayor Donner were tied up to a chair. Surrounding that chair were what looked like four panes of one-way mirror, allowing Oliver to see in but certainly preventing the two hostages from seeing out.
The panes were bolted together to make a box. On top of that box was another box of the exact shape and size, this one filled with water. In between was a meshy kind of material that appeared to be holding the water at bay, although Oliver could already see a few inches of water in each box.
"The Mirror Master is such a misnomer, isn't it?"
As Oliver stepped on the stage, the aforementioned illusionist appeared out of thin air between the two of them. He was just as thin and skeletal looking as he had been in the video, more so in person, if that was possible. However, it was the look of desperation in his eyes that Oliver could not have seen through the video.
The only way to see that was in person.
"You see before I was known as the Mirror Master.-"
"I know all about you." Oliver interrupted.
"Oh, you may think-"
"Samuel Scudder, born February 29, 1961 to Michael and Willa Scudder. Lived in Central City for almost his entire life. Became fascinated with illusions at the age of 6. Studied as an apprentice under several of the world's most famous illusionists. Repeatedly accused of stealing tricks. Eventually forced out of the illusion business when one of your stunts failed, dropping an assistant 100 feet to her death. Sound about right?"
For a second, The Mirror Master looked deflated. Then, with a shake of his head, he corrected himself, stood tall and glared defiantly at Oliver.
"Of course, I should have expected The Green Arrow to do a background check." Scudder replied, mocking him. "Do you work before hand? Right?"
"My motto is smarter, not harder."
"If you were smart, you would have brought me 10 million dollars. So, unless you are very clever or have hidden it very well, your mantra has fallen flat."
"Did you seriously think I was going to pay you?"
"I did not." Scudder admitted. "You're too virtued to pay off a mad man like me, right?"
"There's still time for you to redeem yourself, Scudder. Let them go."
"Got it." Oliver heard in his ear.
Seconds later, the only reaction that Oliver got to Felicity's action was a small beep. Slowly, The Mirror Master pulled a phone out of his pocket and looked at it menacingly.
"Trying to cut the power, are we?" Mirror Master asked softly, as if scolding a child. "Oh, you have just made your mistake, Green Arrow. As you can see, the water from these tanks is now starting to drip just that much faster."
Sure enough, the mere trickle that had been leaking into the boxes before was now more like a gentle rainfall.
"Now, I will take my leave. Before I leave, I will explain to you how these devices work. Each is set on top of a panel that can push out 700 volts of electricity. If the combined weight of the tank and the person lowers in any way, the charge goes off, killing the prisoner within seconds. Meanwhile, the tank above them will release water at a steady rate for the next thirty minutes. However, the chair they are tied to will float, meaning that it will take every bit of that thirty minutes to get them completely submerged. Just long enough for them to panic, I think."
At this point, Oliver could see that Scudder wasn't really after the money anymore. In the past, he may have been. Now, he was completely gone, as mental as mental could be.
"The finishing touch is the tank itself. Made of one-way glass, you can see in but our hostages cannot see out. As it is completely bulletproof and arrow proof, trust me, I've checked. Oh, and in tradition with the great old illusionists, it holds one of the most iconic items in the business, the trick lock. This particular model is the most famous one. Unfortunately for you, unless you've been trained by an illusionist, you will never break the lock."
With that, The Mirror Master grabbed his hat next to him, a simple fedora, and placed it on his head. Turning back slowly, The Mirror Master smiled.
"I know you must be terribly disappointed." he said softly. "You were expecting a disappearing act instead of drowning assistants. Maybe next time."
Suddenly, there was a shift in light in the room that blinded Oliver. When his sight had returned, The Mirror Master was gone. Unfortunately, his voice still plagued the theatre.
"Looks like you have about twenty-five minutes left. I would suggest you get to work."
"Any suggestions?" Oliver asked into his comm.
"This is totally out of my comfort zone. Especially without being able to see it." Diggle replied.
"Same here." Roy added.
"Thanks, guys." Oliver said, rolling his eyes. "Felicity, is the power off in the building?"
"It is showing that it is off. He either disconnected the remote override, which I doubt, or he intentionally pick The Vet because he knew that it would have an emergency system."
"It would have to be the second one. He had hooked the machines to start releasing the water when the power switched from the main grid."
"Would it be possible to turn it off there?" Laurel asked.
"Unlikely. The alternate power source is probably in the foundation of the building. Not accessable from the theatre itself."
"Now that I can do." Roy uttered. "Hood and I will move to the sewers and see if we can't access the remote power source."
"You do that." Oliver replied, not sure if it would help but it was better than nothing. "Canary, keep your distance and watch for Scudder. If he makes any kind of appearance outside of the theatre, he's yours."
"Got it."
Looking at the contraptions, there was nothing Oliver could see that would work. Blowing the cases up would reduce weight, electrocuting the two of them. He couldn't break the glass and any attempt at the lock was certain to be folly since it didn't operate like a normal lock.
"Any information on trick locks, Oracle?"
"You know for the amount of information that we store on the internet these days, it's amazing that there is hardly anything on trick locks and nothing on how to break them. These illusionists take their code of conduct seriously."
"No joke."
"Can you disable the electric platform?" Laurel questioned
"No, not enough time. He built the electric platform right into the stage. I would have to cut around the whole thing to get at the real hardware of it."
"Great."
Quickly, Oliver looked at his watch. Fifteen minutes had already passed. According to Scudder's estimates, he had ten minutes left. Looking inside the tanks, they were significantly more than halfway full with each prisoner floating face up towards the roof of the tank.
"What if I knock the tank off the platform?"
"Excuse me?" That was definitely Sara.
"I have a couple concussion grenades with me. They're designed to knock things backwards with a concussive force but they don't have enough power to really cause any damage."
"So you want to put them next to the tanks and try and knock the tanks off the platform? You do know that my dad is in there, right?" Laurel fired back.
"Well, would you prefer him electrocuted, drowned or blown up with a small chance of him surviving!?" Oliver shouted into the mic.
"Oliver, check the lock."
"It's a trick lock, Felicity." Oliver slipped, accidentally using her real name. "I can't just pick it like a normal lock. There's a secret set of instructions on how to open it."
"Yes, but part of the trick lock is the sliding compartment that is used to break out. When someone does a trick like this one where they're trying to get out of a water tank, there's a sliding door at the top of the tank. They slip the knot, slid the door back and pick the "unpickable" lock."
"It's worth a shot." Oliver muttered as he reached towards the top of the tank. As gently as he could, he reached and began to pull on the panel behind the lock. Sure enough, the panel slid away leaving a small gap in the top of the tank.
Unfortunately, The Mirror Master seemed to have anticipated this. As Oliver slid the panel, a projector above Oliver turned on, shooting a warped image of The Mirror Master over the balcony of the auditorium.
"Oh dear, did you really think it would be that easy? You needed to figure out a better way than simply to tamper with the machine. Unfortunately, this means that we need to punish our friends here for your transgressions."
The second the words were out of his mouth, the video disappeared. A moment later, the rest of the water from the top of the tanks came rushing into the bottom of the tanks, completely submerging the two hostages.
"Diggle, are you there yet?" Oliver shouted.
"GIVE ME A MINUTE!"
"Don't have time!" Oliver replied with a bellow before reaching into the underside of his quiver. In there, Oliver kept various items that could come to use. One of these was the concussion grenade Oliver had previously mentioned.
"Oracle, get ahold of Pike. Tell him to send paramedics in now."
"Why?"
"Because even if this does work, there's no telling what happens other than I'm fairly certain this glass isn't going to fell nice when I vibrate it into explosion."
"Good point."
As quickly as he could, Oliver dropped two of the grenades right next to the tanks before racing off the stage, leaping into the second row of the auditorium as the two grenades exploded. Instantly, the shock wave of the blast decimated the two tanks and blew the two hostages over. As he heard the explosion, Oliver instantly turned and jumped back to the stage. Just as he did, Adam Donner's left foot came down just inside the platform, sending a giant electric shock through him.
Moving as quickly as he could, Oliver grabbed the Mayor and pulled him just out of the platform's range, suffering a small amount of the shock as he did. Just as he pulled him away, he saw paramedics racing into the theatre and to the stage where Mayor Donner and Quentin lay tied to their chairs. Stumbling due to the amount of shock he had received, Oliver was thankfully to feel someone come under his shoulder just as he would have fallen.
"Got ya." Sara said softly.
"Thanks." Oliver mumbled softly, the pain really starting to get to him.
Oliver barely remembered being dragged by Sara and then by both Sara and Roy to the van. He really didn't remember the drive back to Queen Mansion. All he knew is that when he was able to register something again, he had changed (or been changed) into gym shorts and was lying in his bed.
And at that point, he didn't care.
The next morning, Oliver woke up aching everywhere, vividly remembering what he had done the previous night. Gently, he dragged himself out a bed, put a t-shirt on and walked across the hall to the Arrow Command Center. There, he saw Felicity leaning over her computer, sleeping gently on the keyboard. Looking at the screen, she seemed to have been typing 6 for the last few hours as she was apparently Google searching 6 repeating forever. Smiling at the techie in front of him, Oliver leaned down to wake her.
"Felicity." he whispered softly. He wanted to wake her but knew from experience that waking Felicity abruptly was a bad idea. "Felicity."
"Ghmhmg."
"Excuse me?"
"Good...morning." she whispered back, her eyes not opening.
"Are you actually awake or are you talking in your sleep?"
"Yes."
"That's not an answer."
"It is."
"I don't think so."
"What time is it?"
"10:24" Oliver said, looking at his watch. "What time did you fall asleep?"
"Last time I looked at the clock, it was midnight."
"Plenty of sleep."
"That's what you say."
"It is." Oliver replied, grinning wildly at his beautiful friend. There's that word: friend. He always wanted them to be friends. But, the more time he found himself around her, he wished they were more. "Why were you still working after I got back?"
With that question, Felicity's eyes snapped open in a panic.
"Felicity?"
"You don't remember? We told you but you were so out of it with the amount of electricity you had come in contact with."
"Felicity, what is it?" Oliver asked in confusion.
"You really don't remember." Felicity mumbled, almost to herself as she sat up. "Great. Well, I suppose someone will have to tell you again."
"What?"
"While you were busy getting electrocuted, Tommy struck again."
The way she said it, Oliver knew it was bad. It had always been bad before but there was a sadness in her eyes that Oliver had rarely seen. She had barely known Tommy but she knew the Tommy that Oliver had known: happy, carefree and mostly harmless. If Felicity looked like that, it had to be bad.
"How many, Felicity?"
"Nine last night." Felicity said softly, a tear falling from her eyes. "I know this weren't good people but he's just killing them all. He's just murdering them. No remorse, no warning, just death."
"We'll stop him." Oliver said firmly.
"We'd better. I got a call from Frank Pike last night after he had killed his seventh target. If we can't stop Tommy soon, the city police will change his status."
"Status?" Oliver asked in confusion.
"Currently, he is the most wanted person in the city. However, if we can't stop him, Pike will petition the federal government to allow for shoot on sight permissions. Oliver, if we can't stop Tommy, the city police will. Permanently."
