Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.


"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Tatsu demanded as Oliver was limping out from the cabin.

"I have to get back." Oliver replied as he turned to her.

"You have to rest." Tatsu protested. "I suppose you planned to leave without telling me."

"Well, I knew that you wouldn't approve." Oliver said. "You and Talia saved my life."

"Maseo saved you." Tatsu corrected. "And you are going to undo all our work, if you try to leave now."

"I can't stay here any longer." Oliver pleaded. "Sara, my sister, my city…"

"Will mourn your passing, I'm sure." Tatsu said.

"You're too stubborn to give up, are you?" Talia smiled. "Always have been."

"You could come with me." Oliver reasoned. "I'm sure Sara would like to…"

"There's nothing waiting for me out there, Oliver." Talia said. "Like I said, I'm living on borrowed time." She pointed at the scars on her face. "And the sanctuary may have been rebuilt but there's nothing holding me there anymore." Oliver sighed as he turned around before Talia spoke up, stopping him for a moment. "Oliver. Consider this a final advice from your teacher." He turned around. "If you want to defeat my father, you must be ready to give up everything that makes you who you are. Otherwise, you'll lose everything. Either you're willing to do whatever it takes to save lives and those you love, or you should not be out there at all."

"Or you could teach me how to use a sword." Oliver smiled before he turned to Tatsu. "I seem to remember you two were pretty good at it."

"Mastery of swords isn't only about technique." Tatsu explained. "To defeat this man, you must think like him. Be like him. You must fight in the ways he does."

"Only the student has hope of defeating the master." Talia finished. "I would have trained you but…" Her scars seemed to be more visible on her face. "I have only enough time to give you my final advice. All I can say is, good luck and be careful."

Oliver nodded as he left the hut, while Talia's face was decaying faster.


The Glades

Brickwell's thugs were smashing a diner before Arsenal and the Canaries entered, taking them on as Black Canary hit one of them in the head with her nightstick while the Canary attacked another one with her staff and Arsenal threw the last one against a wall as they took them down.

Then, as they went out, a girl with pixie haircut and punk outfit noticed two blondes as she stared. "Sara?"

The Canary turned around and smiled. "Hey, Sin."

Sin smiled, happy to see her old friend doing what she does best as the vigilantes rode off on their bikes.


Later, the Lair

Quentin was in the lair, handing Chloe a pile of folders as Sara, Roy and Laurel entered.

"Here's everything we have on Brickwell."

"But it's all like… almost twenty years ago." Henry eyeballed the files. "I'm not sure how is it gonna help us."

"So, this is what Brick has reduced us to." Laurel sighed. "Grasping for straws."

"There's gotta be something, we're just not looking in the right place." Chloe wiped her face as she went to the computer.

"What are you doing?" Diggle asked.

"Looking for anything that would stick to Brick permanently. Maybe he's got an M.O. or something that might help us track him down." Chloe said. "I'm cross-referencing the murder of alderman Ford with the evidence from SCPD." Then, the computer bleeped. "Speak of the devil."

Henry looked closely. "The same gun was used in a murder twenty years ago."

"The same gun?" Roy scowled. "Either that's arrogance or stupidity."

"Stupidity in this case." Sara said as Chloe pulled out a news article.

"Oh, my God…"

"Daniel Brickwell killed Tommy's mother." Laurel whispered.

Sara wiped her face. "It's all on him. Malcolm went to the League because of his wife's death. Then, the Undertaking, sabotaging the Gambit… it all started with him."


Later, SCPD precinct, Glades

As Chloe cut the power, Arsenal and the Canaries took on Brickwell's men before Brickwell took a shotgun from the weapons locker and filled it with flare shells, forcing them to take cover.

"You want to get me?!" Brickwell then pulled out his gun. "This is what we do, when we get you in our sights."

"Daniel Brickwell." The Dark Archer said as he showed up.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" Brickwell demanded.

The Dark Archer fired an arrow, hitting Brickwell in the shoulder as he screamed out and the ceiling collapsed, separating them.

"We need to talk." Malcolm said as he took off his mask.


The Lair

"What the hell is he doing here?!" Henry demanded as he glared at Malcolm.

"Daniel Brickwell." Malcolm said. "It seems we have a common interest."

"You know that Brickwell killed your wife." Laurel realized.

"Her name was Rebecca." Malcolm explained as he leaned onto the table. "Since my 'death', maintaining my usual network of associates has been, shall we say, problematic but the fact that you were able to locate Mr. Brickwell despite the fact that he has gone to ground demonstrates your group's capacity."

"You followed us." Roy realized. "We led you right to him."

"And I saved your lives in the bargain." Malcolm finished. "So why not continue our association?"

"You want us to work with you?" Henry stared incredulously.

Malcolm straightened himself. "I guess the question before you is whether your scorn for me outweighs your need to see Mr. Brickwell dealt with."

"You mean 'killed'." Sara realized.

"You have your options. Weigh them." Malcolm said, leaving them with their thoughts alone.


For a while, they were debating on what they should do.

"This is insane." Henry wiped his face. "I mean, would Oliver be OK with us teaming up with this guy, after everything he's done? How are we gonna live with ourselves?"

"We'll be doing whatever it takes to save this city." Sara said pointedly. "Look around. we're barely able to track down Brick and Ollie would do whatever it takes to take Brick out, even if it meant joining forces with Malcolm?"

"She's right. We don't have any more options left." Chloe agreed. "Malcolm may be our last hand.

"Even if he's responsible for the five years of hell he put you two through?" Henry snapped at Sara. "He killed Oliver's father and was responsible for god knows how much more suffering. He killed the man my sister loves and my nephew's stepfather, not to mention Oliver's best friend and five-hundred and two more innocent people and using Thea as his own weapon? I get that we're desperate but joining forces with Malcolm Merlyn is not gonna make us any better than he is."

"He has a point there." Diggle said.

"But wait, Merlyn's not the only one we can ask for help." An idea sparked in Sara's brain.


The Glades

Henry and Laurel approached Ted in an alley outside the Wildcat Gym as Ted sighed. "I thought I made it clear that I can't train you anymore."

"Ted, we need your help." Henry pleaded. "The whole city might be at stakes. Please."


Sara and Roy met Sin outside a buffet as she hugged them both tightly.

"Hey."

"Hi, Sin." Sara smiled. "I'm sorry I haven't been here for you."

"It's OK, don't worry." Sin smiled. "You've saved me many times, so I think I can give you a pass."

"Look, we need your help." Roy pleaded.


"Are you sure about this?" Jack asked as he turned to Sara in the car, looking at her leg.

"We've been through worse, remember?" Sara smiled as Henry was loading his gun.


"This is crazy." Chloe muttered as she was in the van with Diggle, Roy and Laurel.

"It needs to end here. One way or another." Roy said.


Brickwell went outside with his henchmen, approaching a car before an arrow hit the lights on the roof as they exploded. Brickwell turned to the street, facing Arsenal and the Canaries as he laughed. "My favorite trick-or-treaters. Well, look at that. Didn't anybody tell you that Halloween was three months ago?"

"Daniel Brickwell…" Black Canary said.

"You have failed this city!" Arsenal finished.

"And you seem to have failed in your maths." Brickwell said as his army of thugs showed up. "Can't you see there's a lot more of us than there is of you?"

"Guess again, Brickhead." Sin sneered as she showed up with her baseball bat with Diggle, Jack, Henry and Chloe with their guns and people of the Glades.

"Is this little parade supposed to mean something?" Brickwell gloated. "I'll tell you what it means. It means the population of the Glades is going to plummet severely. Get them!" He ordered to his thugs as both groups rushed at each other and started to fight.

Diggle, Arsenal, Henry, Jack and Chloe were shooting at the thugs as Sin was beating another one up with her baseball bat as Black Canary and the Canary were back to back, fending the thugs off before Black Canary saw Brickwell beating up Ted and Arsenal shot Brickwell in his arm as he pulled out a gun and Arsenal ran as Brickwell fired at him, while Black Canary and Henry went to check on Ted.

Then, the Canaries and Arsenal saw a green arrow shoot down one of the thugs as they smiled.


Malcolm had Brickwell's gun aimed at him as he knocked the crime lord on the ground before the Arrow showed up. "Don't do it!"

"You are too late." Malcolm said.

"Drop the gun." The Arrow ordered. "No more death."

"That's easy for you to say, you just returned from the grave." Malcolm scoffed.

"Killing him won't balance the scales." The Arrow pleaded.

"When you have killed 503 people, including your own son, you tend not to worry about scales and don't tell me it won't stop the pain and it won't bring her back because you don't understand!" Malcolm snarled. "If I had taken care of him back then, it could all be different. The League, the Undertaking, Tommy…" He said emotionally. "Every choice I have made since my wife died." Malcolm pointed the gun at Brickwell again.

"Then you make a different choice now, for Thea." The Arrow reasoned.

"Thea will never forgive me." Malcolm pointed out.

"Start giving her reasons to." The Arrow pleaded again as Malcolm decided to knock Brickwell out instead.


Later, Laurel's apartment

Sara rushed to Oliver, hugging him tightly and kissing him fiercely. "You're back. I can't believe you're back." She sobbed. "I thought I had lost you again." Her voice broke as she sobbed into his chest.

"It's OK. It's OK, Sara." Oliver hugged her and fondled her hair. "I'm here."

"How…" Sara whispered. "Malcolm had a sword, there was your blood on it, how did you…"

"Talia and some old friends of mine saved me." Oliver said as Sara widened her eyes.

"Talia? But she's…"

"She is dying." Oliver nodded. "Somehow, she survived, when the sanctuary collapsed but she told me that… the well that you were guarding there had become corrupted."

Sara nodded. "Anyone who would drink from it would become Untitled at worst, dead at best…"

"That's what happened to her." Oliver nodded. "Right now, she's living on borrowed time and dying. Before I returned, she told me one thing. If I want to defeat Ra's al Ghul, I must think like him. Be like him. So, that's why I'll have Malcolm train me." Sara widened her eyes as he raised his hand. "I know. I know. But now that Ra's knows he can defeat me, he'll come for me and him… and Thea. I couldn't defeat Ra's… but Malcolm knows how."

Sara sighed, realizing his point. "And then what?"

"Once I stop Ra's al Ghul, I'm gonna finish what we should have done with Malcolm two years ago." Oliver vowed as Sara nodded.


Author's Note:

So, what do you guys think about it?

Please review and let me know if you are enjoying this so far.