Arrow
"Bye, daddy. Bye, mama." John heard Sara say over the phone.
"We'll see you soon, sweetie. I love you, baby girl." John said as he hung up.
"Argus has a chopper waiting to take us to Coast City, so at least we'll all be together." Lyla said.
"If we can't stop the end of the world." John said.
"In these situations, you're usually the one offering hope." Lyla pointed out.
"I'm fresh out, Lyla." John said.
"Because of what happened with Andy? It was self-defense, John. It was a clean kill." Lyla said as Oliver walked up to her.
"Lyla. Are you having Argus move on city hall?" Oliver asked and Lyla nodded.
"John told me the source of Darhk's power is there, that he might be looking to harness the deaths from the nuclear attacks." Lyla explained.
"No, he's already done that with the first attack. He will decimate your team. You should pull them back." Oliver told her.
"And what if his hacker's down there with him?" Lyla asked.
"Cooper Seldon is not going to be anywhere that we think to look. He'll be in a secure location." Felicity said.
"If your team goes down there, they will all die." Oliver told her.
"It's not your call, Oliver. It's mine." Lyla said.
"Assault team sledgehammer has engaged target. Switching you to their feed now." A man on the radio said and all the team heard was static, gunfire and the sounds of men screaming.
"Turn it off." Oliver said.
"Those missiles hit, and he's going to become even stronger, isn't he?" Lyla asked.
"He already is with the souls of all of those Argus agents that he just killed." Oliver told her in an I-told-you-so kind of way.
"Wait. I'm in. I'm through Cooper's firewalls." Felicity said.
"Well, shut it down." Oliver said.
"That's what I'm trying to do." Felicity said when suddenly Ghosts burst in at all angles, causing the team to jump into action
After fending off the Ghost attack, Oliver and Laurel were picking up display dummies and trying to clean up the bunker while also trying to avoid thinking about the certain doom they were facing.
"How much time do we have?" Laurel asked.
"I think 27 minutes. It's kind of hard to tell now. But we can't just lose all hope here." Oliver said.
"You have. I can see it in your eyes." Laurel pointed out.
"I just can't believe that I thought that I'd be the one to unite this city while Damien Darhk was trying to kill it. That was arrogant. It was the same arrogance that made me feel like I could be the Green Arrow without descending into darkness. Bottom line, it was foolish." Oliver said.
"You don't believe that." Laurel said.
"I didn't until Nyssa died." Oliver said.
"I thought you weren't blaming yourself for her death anymore?" Laurel asked.
"I made a decision to come back here. I tried to do things differently, and for a time, I did. And now I am left here to wonder if I hadn't, would things here be different?" Oliver asked.
"You're not just talking about coming back here last year were you?" Laurel asked.
"No, I wasn't. So many people might still be alive if I'd just never come home from Lian Yu 4 years ago." Oliver said, but before he could walk away, Laurel grabbed his arm.
"No Oliver, if you hadn't had come home, even more people would be dead. You've always found a way to save the day. Because that is the type of man you are. A hero. That's why I fell in love with you all over again." Laurel said before she could stop herself.
Oliver was quiet for a minute and Laurel realized that he'd walked away to speak with Curtis, making her unsure of whether or not he'd heard what she just said.
"Curtis. You shouldn't be up." Oliver said to Curtis.
"Tell me about it. Someone's got to provide a little optimism. Doesn't seem like anyone around here is in the head-space to do it." Curtis said.
"Then you know we've lost the city." Oliver pointed out to him.
"No. I know that you're running out of time to get it back." Curtis said, causing Oliver to look at him.
"Look. Living in Star City requires a special kind of tenacity. A sane person wouldn't live here. It's a fact that Paul likes to remind me of weekly. We were this close to leaving Star City last October. After 3 terrorist attacks, we were done, but then the night before we were going to start packing, the Green Arrow popped up on our TV, and he reminded me that this city is worth saving, that my home- that my home was worth fighting for. That guy gave me inspiration. He gave me hope. And if he could give me hope then, why can't he give it to others now?" Curtis asked and Oliver slowly began to realize that Curtis was right. He was running out of time to take back his home.
Flash
"You going somewhere?" Barry asked Thea as he watched her pack up.
"Home. My city and my team need me back. I can feel it." Thea said.
"I get that, but we could still use you here." Barry said.
"You're the one Zoom challenged to a race Barry. Not me. I need to go help my team." Thea said and Barry nodded in understanding as Thea picked up her back.
"What should I tell the others?" Barry asked.
"Tell them that I had to go stand with my city and I will be back as soon as things with Darhk are done so that we can resume our training." Thea said and Barry nodded.
Arrow
Oliver climbed on top of an abandoned car and saw the people of Star City, his city, were running through the streets, tearing each other and the city apart.
"Hey, stop! Stop! Please." Oliver shouted trying to get their attention and eventually he did.
"I know what you're feeling right now. I'm feeling it, too, the sense of- of helplessness, of hopelessness. I don't know how we even begin to process what might happen to us right now, but there are a few things that I do know. I know that this city has been through tough times before, and we have pulled through. We survived the Undertaking. We survived the Siege. We survived the Outbreak, and somehow, someway, we will survive this. A friend of mine told me that living in Star City, it takes a special kind of tenacity, but we do live here, because this is our home. This is our home! It is our friend, our family, our lives, and we will not- we will not throw those precious gifts away by descending into chaos. We will look to each other for hope. We will cling to each other for strength, and if we do that, no matter what happens, then we can all stand here united." Oliver said and he could feel his hopelessness melt away as new hope replaced it, only to have it dampened as he saw the nuke incoming.
The team was currently watching Oliver's speech on the TV in the bunker and they also felt new hope, right as they saw the missile.
"Oh, my God. It's here." Laurel said.
"That's terrifying And also kind of great." Curtis said.
"I think you got hit on the head harder than you realize." John said.
"No, no, he's right. I can't hack this system. But if the nuke gets close enough, which it is We could use the line-of-sight attack on the missile itself and disarm it." Felicity said.
"I'm not going to pretend to understand what you just said, but if it means that you can stop the missile, than go." Laurel said and Felicity and Curtis nodded before they left.