A/N: To those of you upset that Sara is gone, trust me: no one is more upset than me. However, I do my best to get into the head of each every one of these characters, including the terrifying ones like Ra's al Ghul, and that seemed like a tactic that someone like him would have used to throw Oliver off from the very beginning.
A/N2: To Guest: When Oliver said that he thought of Tommy and Sara as siblings, it was not in the true familial way. Instead, it was in a closeness and a bond that he felt with them. Also, Oliver didn't make a mistake by agreeing to train her. The key word in that sentence is train. He's not agreeing to her going out on the streets and he's not taking them time that he would normally take patrolling to do it. He's using his own time to do something he thinks is right. If it ends up that she doesn't work out, then he pulls the plug. Also, if you notice at the very end, Felicity understands why he's made this choice. Yes, he probably should have thought about informing the rest of the team about this but that isn't the way that Oliver works.
Finally, having recently seen X-Men: Days of Future Past, I will be attempting a return to my X-Men franchise. So, I intend to alternate between the two stories with a new chapter for each coming out every two weeks in an alternating fashion. So, go to my profile and get caught up on that!
And now, enough with my ramblings and let's get on with the stuff that you actually want to read.
Oliver couldn't believe what he was seeing. Glad in another one of the cut suits that he had worn during their previous meeting, Oliver still couldn't help but think that the man cut a powerful image into whatever room he walked into.
Unfortunately for Oliver, it was his sanctuary that Ra's had chosen to walk into this time.
Just as Ra's went to open his mouth, Laurel walked out of the locker room, ready to train. Instantly, she looked at Oliver, a look of confusion on her face. The look on Oliver's face was thankfully enough to keep her rooted to her spot. However, the sudden appearance of The Head of the Demon had thrown Oliver for a loop and he too was stuck in one place staring at the man in front of him.
"So quiet." Ra's muttered to himself. "You seem quite shocked."
"How did you get in here?" Oliver growled, noticing Roy and Diggle moving slowly behind him. Quickly, Oliver waved them down, begging them silently to remain in place.
"Seriously, Mr. Queen, I've had Slade Wilson, Tommy Merlyn, Malcolm Merlyn and even Ms. Lance's sister in my employ at one time or another. There is very little that I don't know about you."
"So that's why you hired Slade?" Oliver said firmly. "You just wanted him for information."
Behind his back, Oliver found one of his recording arrows and subtly hit record. He was certain that Ra's knew what he was doing but Ra's didn't stop him, so he kept going.
"Of course." Ra's said as if it were the obvious thing in the world. "He's skills are adequate but it was the information I needed. You see when I indentified Starling City as a potential target, I knew that you were going to be an issue. So, I made it my business to get as much information as possible on you. I brought Malcolm Merlyn back in the fold and then, once I had the information I needed from him, I killed him. I brought Tommy Merlyn back to life for information on you. He actually turned out to be a believer so he lived. I hired Wilson for more information on you. But the kicker was the information that my daughter was able to get out of Sara Lance."
"Excuse me?" Laurel asked hotly.
"When I knew that Sara Lance knew Oliver Queen and that Oliver Queen was the Arrow, I asked Nyssa to get close to Sara. Now, she may have taken that a bit too far but in the end, she got the job done. She talked all about you and Laurel and how much she loved you and on and on. It was a bit pathetic actually listening to hours of her babbling about the two of you."
"You bastard!" Laurel shouted, launching herself at him.
Oliver was too far away to stop her, despite his best attempts. It was no problem, however. Ra's obviously had no real interest in killing Laurel, yet. So, he simply grabbed her by the throat as he launched herself at him, squeezing in just the right place to cause her to pass out. Oliver quickly looked down to make sure she was still breathing. When he saw that, he looked back up at Ra's, who had a strangely satisfied look on his face.
"You'd better get to work on her training quickly, Mr. Queen, or else she may face the sting of death's hand sooner rather than later."
"Why are you here?"
"To accept your surrender."
"You've got to be kidding." Diggle said, finally breaking his silence. "You come in here outnumbered at least three, if not four, to one and accept our surrender?"
"I do." Ra's confirmed confidently.
"Man, this dude is crazy."
"Crazy and confidence can often be confused, Mr. Diggle." Ra's said in return. "Now, if you choose, right now, to metaphorically lay down your arms, I will spare the lives of everyone else in the room, Mr. Queen. Before you ask, regardless of what you say, I will not believe that you intend to give me your city. You are simply too stubborn. However, if you lay down your life, I promise, on my own life, that your family and friends will not be harmed."
"Don't even think about it." Felicity growled, venom firing from her mouth in a way that Oliver had rarely heard from her. It was then that Oliver remembered that Sara had been the only real female friend Felicity had ever had. In a way that was different from Laurel and Oliver, Felicity was probably just as hurt as they were.
"Agreed." Roy said softly from behind him.
"Your friends seems intent on dying with you instead of simply watching you die." Ra's said, rubbing his temples in obvious frustration. "I do not seek the death of anyone in this room. Even you, Mr. Queen, are not essential to my plans. I have no interest in you, your family or your friends. However, you stand between me and what I want and in the last four hundred years, no man or woman that has done that has lived to tell the tale."
"Every streak is made to be broken." Oliver quipped softly before reaching sideways for his bow. Seeing that, Oliver expected Ra's to rush him. Instead, Ra's simply nodded and readied himself for attack.
In an instant, Oliver went from stationary to moving at full speed, launching himself at Ra's. Behind him, Oliver could see Roy following him with his pair of knives and Diggle behind him with a pair of escrima sticks.
However, even three on one, this was not a fair fight. Roy and Diggle, despite their experience over the years, simply weren't equipped to fight someone on the level of Ra's al Ghul. Even Oliver was only barely qualified as he had fought a Mirakuru-enraged Slade Wilson to a standstill after taking a beating from him.
But fighting Slade Wilson was so different from Ra's al Ghul, there wasn't any sense in making a comparison. While Slade's fighting style was brash and forceful, seeking to cause injury through blunt force, Ra's al Ghul was quick and deft using every motion thrown at him against his opponent.
Oliver's first swing caught Ra's in the forearms. Quickly, Ra's dropped his arms, forcing the bow down and lowering Oliver's defense. Taking advantage of that, a solid right hook struck Oliver in the jaw. The second the fist hit its mark, Oliver could feel his jaw crack. Dropping to the floor, Oliver watched as Ra's quickly took out Diggle and Roy with by striking Diggle's already broken arm with a vicious strike and then following it up with a crushing kick to Roy's knee cap, severely hyper-extending it.
Instantly the pair fell to the floor and despite trying with all their might, Oliver knew they weren't getting back up. Instead, Oliver fought the pain in his jaw and stood, falling in line face to face with the Head of the Demon. As Oliver stood, he noticed that Laurel had wisely not moved. He worried that she intended to get involved in this fight. However, Oliver was pleased to see that her mind finally caught up with her. As Oliver threw a careful left jab, Laurel jumped forward and grabbed Felicity, pulling her away from the two fighting men.
Oliver's jab was blocked simply and countered with a pair of stiff uppercuts to his chest. A third was about to strike its intended target before Oliver blocked it, striking back with a solid elbow to Ra's' jaw. Stunned, Ra's fell back into a defensive stance, a smirk on his face.
"Wilson wasn't lying. You are quite talented, Queen. Another hundred years and you could probably match me evenly. Unfortunately, your stubbornness means that you wouldn't have seen that long anyway."
Quickly, Ra's launched himself at Oliver. Oliver, taking a step back, thought himself prepared. He was wrong. Ra's strong high strike was simply a way to raise Oliver's defense too high. When that happened, a knee came up into Oliver's stomach, knocking the air out of him and doubling him over in pain. Following that, a kick to the face blasted Oliver back and flat onto his back. Looking up, Oliver watched as Ra's boot came down firmly on his face, finishing the breaking of both his nose and his jaw.
Another foot went to come down but Oliver was able to roll out of the way before it landed. Rolling to his feet, Oliver noticed that his feet were unsteady, his vision blurring. I've probably got a concussion, he thought to himself. However, that could not stop him. Steadying himself, Oliver jumped forward. Unfortunately, Ra's was ready and waiting. When Oliver planted his left foot in front of Ra's, he simply stepped up and kicked straight through Oliver's knee, forcing Oliver to collapse to the ground. At the very least, Oliver's knee had been hyper-extended. At its worst, Oliver could be looking at a tear of his ACL, something which he would recover from faster than normal but would require him to very much change how he fought.
Just as the pain started to overwhelm him, Oliver saw Ra's lean down in front of him.
"You won't die yet, Mr. Queen. I will save that for when your city is mine."
Then, Ra's disappeared from view. Having done everything he could, Oliver slipped into the familiar state of unconsciousness.
For just about a month after Ra's' appearance at The ArrowCave, no one heard hide nor hair of Ra's, Nyssa or any other member of The League of Assassins. Tommy made no strikes against former Tempest members and the city seemed to think that the worst had passed them.
Oliver knew better. Oliver had a sneaking suspicion that Ra's was simply waiting. Being over four hundred years old probably gave you patience that no one else had mastered and it mattered in this case. It was Oliver's best guess that Ra's was waiting for another appearance of The Arrow before continuing his assault.
Oliver's injuries had been almost exactly as he had expected: fractured jaw, dislocated knee and broken nose. All three of them were fixed relatively quickly but the combination of the three prevented Oliver from returning to his nightly activities. Not that they had stopped working. Every night, Oliver and his injured team, including Laurel, convened at The ArrowCave to continue digitally scouring the city for any record of The League.
Of course, they found nothing.
But good things did happen during this time. In one month, Laurel had proven to be a very dedicated student. Often showing up before nine to get a workout in before she worked with Oliver. At this point, however, the training was simply physical. Oliver knew that both he and Laurel were dealing with Sara's death difficultly. Neither of them spoke very often and when they did, it was in short sentences. Neither of them sought guidance or assistance from anyone else.
Even Oliver's relationship with Felicity had become testy. Numerous times over the last month, Oliver and Felicity had ended up screaming at each other in the cave before apologizing to each other for their behavior the next morning. However, Oliver knew that if things didn't change soon, she was going to give up on Oliver.
And he couldn't blame her but for whatever reason, he was unable to let Sara's death go. Ra's had been right. Sara's death did weigh heavy on him. Almost every night he woke screaming as he watched Sara's eye close one final time or listening to her repeatedly blame him for her death.
Needless to say, Oliver didn't sleep much. However, Oliver did hope that when the time came for Oliver to talk to Laurel about Sara, and the time was coming soon, that it would bring some much needed closure to the two of them.
God could only hope.
"You look nice." Oliver said to his sister as she raced around the living room at Queen Mansion. Oliver had taken to spending much of his time there since he had no real work to do during the day. Unfortunately, Felicity did and much of their current work, she was required for. So, Oliver spent a lot of time simply wandering around The Queen Estate, his mind wandering in a thousand directions.
"Thanks." Thea replied. "Some guy from Metropolis is coming in for an interview."
"Metropolis?" Oliver asked, his interest suddenly piqued. "What's his name?"
"Dent or something like that?" Thea answered. "I'm not exactly sure. One of your assistants got us the interview."
"His name is Kent. Clark Kent." Oliver replied, suddenly very nervous before his mind turned to the other part of that response. "Us?"
"Yes, he wants to interview us as a pair. How we're dealing with the changes at QC or something like that."
"Sure." Oliver said, suddenly not sure before gingerly standing. "I'll go change. When will he be here?"
As if by providence, the doorbell rang.
"You know what I'll just go grab some stuff and meet you in the foryer" Oliver replied softly, hoping not to worry her.
"OK." she said as she walked out of the room.
Now seemed to be the best time to test his knee. So, Oliver raced up the stairs and grabbed his bow, several arrows, a vial of pit viper venom and a case of throwing knives. Once he had them, he raced back down the stairs and stashed each item in separate places in the living room before joining Thea and their guest in the entrance hall.
Their guest was most certainly Clark Kent otherwise known as Superman, the newest hero in Metropolis. Approaching the pair, Oliver was glad that he had snuck a single knife into his pocket, just in case he had to use it.
"Mr. Queen, Clark Kent."
"Clark." Oliver said with a smile as the two shook hands. The second they made contact, Oliver could feel the strength coming off this man and was suddenly afraid for his sister's life. Regardless of whether Clark had said he meant no harm, he wasn't sure that he trusted the alien yet. "Please come to the living room."
"Absolutely." Kent said with a grin before taking a step forward. Oliver watched as Kent tripped over the edge of the carpet and fell suddenly to the floor, his glasses coming off in the process.
If anyone else would have been watching, they certainly would have been fooled. Unfortunately for Kent, Oliver wasn't just anyone. With a grin, Oliver helped Kent to his feet before speaking again.
"She knows that I am The Green Arrow, Kent." Oliver growled slightly. "You can cut the act and come in and sit down."
"Ollie, what is this?"
"I'll explain in a second." Oliver replied as he led the pair of them to the living room.
Once they were in the room, Oliver pointed for Clark to sit in a chair opposite himself and Thea. Upon being seated, Oliver spoke again.
"Thea, this is Clark Kent. He's also Metropolis' Superman."
"Excuse me?" Thea uttered.
"He is. The flying, fighting super machine from Metropolis is this man right here."
"Bullshit."
"It is." Oliver confirmed. "He tries to act as if he's a simple, bumbling reporter. However, to anyone with a trained eye, the act is obvious. He makes it too deliberate and for that reason alone, it's pretty easy to spot."
"I'll keep that in mind." Kent grumbled.
"You do that." Oliver replied. "Now, what the hell are you doing in my house?"
"Straight to the point, I see." Kent replied simply before taking his glasses off. Without them on, it immediately became obvious to both Thea and Oliver that this truly was the Superman. Oliver would fill Thea in on the more outstanding details later. "Well here's the point, The Green Arrow hasn't been seen for almost a month and we were worried that you had decided to quit."
"Far from it." Oliver confirmed. "Unfortunately, I was injured and was forced to take a leave of absence."
"I see."
"Who do you mean by us?"
"You know who." Kent replied cryptically.
"Of course." Oliver replied, dumb founded that he hadn't thought of it.
"He wanted me to ask if your injuries have something to do with Ra's al Ghul."
"They do."
"Do you need help?"
For a second, Oliver considered asking Kent for his help. However, Oliver needed to know that if they weren't there that he was still capable of stopping someone like Ra's al Ghul.
"No." Oliver replied shortly. "I have made some mistakes in how I chose to approach Ra's but I do believe that I've learned my lesson."
"Good. Now, there is something else I want you to discuss with you."
"And that is?"
"This." Kent said, holding out the surprisingly durable suitcase that he brought with him.
Bringing it closer to him, Oliver opened it to see an arrowhead. But not just any arrowhead, this was an arrowhead made of a very recognizable material: Kryptonite.
"What is this?"
"A Kryptonite arrowhead. Attached to one of your bows, it can be fired from your bow just like a normal arrow."
"For what purpose?" Oliver asked in confusion.
"To take me down."
For a moment, Oliver thought this was some kind of joke. Then, Oliver noticed the look on Kent's face and realized that he was entirely serious.
"I don't understand."
"You know my power." Kent started slowly. "You know that without any assistance, you would never be able to bring me down even with their help. However, if I do have one weakness, it is this. Kryptonite, as a substance, are irradiated chunks of my former planet. The explosion of my planet's sun caused the remaining pieces to be imprinted with the radiation of its sun. Well, it is a combination of the much lower atmospheric pressure and your yellow sun that give me my abilities. Kryptonite reverses that process by introducing Krypton's red sun radiation to my system. While it won't stop me completely, it will put the two of us on a closer level."
"Why are you giving me this?" Oliver replied. "Do you intend to go on a killing rampage any time soon?"
"No, Oliver. However, I cannot say what the future holds or what powers there are out there. It is entirely possible that there is someone out there who can get in my head and force me to commit horrible atrocities. It is possible that something terrible occurs in my life and it puts me over the edge, driving me to a dangerous insanity. In any case, I have equipped you with the ability to stop me should something like that happen."
"Why me though?" Oliver asked softly. "You could have picked any of us."
"Us?" Thea finally asked. Oliver ignored her.
"I could have. However, I don't think Barry has it in him and I know that Wayne wouldn't do it."
"Kent, you are saying that if you go off the deep end, you want me to kill you."
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Kent replied firmly.
For a few seconds, Oliver thought for a second about what Kent was proposing. Then, he asked himself what would happen if someone like Kent was terrorizing his own city, what would he do?
Oliver quickly closed the case and looked up at Kent, a grin on his face.
"You've got yourself a deal."
Clark Kent comes to Starling to interview Thea and Oliver
After Clark Kent's surprise visit to Starling City, Oliver decided that he needed to get down to brass tacks with Laurel. Laurel's training had been going very well thus far. She was quick to learn with each of the weapons that Oliver had given her, she understood the computer system almost as well as he did and she had been right that her legal background would be an assistance as she understood the infrastructure of the city better than anyone.
However, her murderous tendencies, including her tendency to go for kill spots during training with Diggle, needed work. So, Oliver decided that tonight would be the night that he finally informed Laurel of her sister's story, all of it, from beginning to end. The end, when Oliver revealed the identity of Sara's killer, was going to be particularly rough. Ra's had mentioned Laurel right in front of her. Thankfully, the shock of being attacked inside the ArrowCave and then dealing with Oliver's injuries after the fact had made it so that he imagined Laurel had forgotten.
Oliver went to the ArrowCave at half past eight and only had to wait a few minutes before Laurel showed up. Oliver, knowing what he intended to do, had asked the rest of the team to not show up until ten, just in case Laurel had questions that required privacy.
"Laurel." Oliver said with a grin and a nod before gingerly standing. "Tonight's the night."
"What night?"
"When I started training you, I told you that you would eventually learn all of Sara's story or as much of it as I know."
"You did." Laurel replied softly.
"So, tonight is that night." Oliver said before walking over to the case where Sara's uniform, now replaced by the one she had actually worn upon her death, rested.
"Why do I need to know?"
"Because it's a part of my story and it will become part of yours. All three of us started in a place where death was our agent of change. If someone was in our way, we killed them because we thought that simply getting rid of the problem people would fix things."
"It won't?"
"It won't." Oliver confirmed. "Sara's story starts with the boat crash. She lay floating in the ocean for days before a freighter picked her up. This freighter was full of evil men, Laurel. But their leader, a man by the name of Dr. Anthony Ivo, was the worst. He was searching for The Mirakuru, a serum supposedly created by the Japanese during WWII. We now know that's not true but nevertheless, they searched for it. They performed experiments on men, imprisoning them on the freighter in between test."
"That sounds awful."
"It was." Oliver replied. "I was there, both before and after Ivo was there."
"After?"
"We'll get to that." Oliver said softly before continuing. "Before they were able to experiment on her, Ivo spared her, turning her into an assistant of sorts. Sara felt gratitude towards the man for saving her from his man and from the ocean. About a year after she was found, I was brought aboard the ship by Ivo's men. Sara recognized me and was able to save me. Eventually, the pair of us got off the freighter and back onto the island."
"Why would you want to go back to the island?" Laurel asked in horror.
"We didn't but as bad as the island was, the freighter had been worse. Now, we spent the months fighting Ivo for control of the freighter. However, this is where Slade Wilson comes into the picture, do you remember him?"
"How could I forget?" Laurel replied, obviously thinking to that night at Verdant.
"Exactly. He had been with me since almost the beginning. However, at one point, to save his life, we injected him with the Mirakuru. It drove him mad and when he discovered that I had been incidentally responsible for the death of the woman he loved, he imprisoned me on the freighter, leaving Sara and some of the survivors on the island."
"The woman he loved?"
"We'll save that for another day." Oliver said sadly. "Anyway, Sara made a play to get me off the freighter, trading me for another survivor of the ship. Unfortunately, when we tried another attempt at getting to the freighter, Sara was kidnapped. I snuck my way onto the ship and got to Sara. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave without trying to cure Slade. But, by the time I had gotten to the cure, Slade had beaten me to it. We had a fight. During this fight, one of our allies was on a submarine just a few yards away from the ship. Upon my instructions, he opened fire on the ship."
In his head, Oliver could feel the freighter rock and the lights flash as the explosion rocked the ship. Instantly, he could feel the water rising around him once again, just as it had all those years ago.
"Instantly, a hole opened up in the side of the ship and Sara was dragged out. I was certain she was dead."
"Oliver..."
"Let me finish." Oliver growled. Even a month after Sara's death, talking about her was difficult. Talking about this part of her life, the part that Oliver had unwittingly pushed her towards, was the worst.
"When she had gotten pulled out of the boat, she swam back to the island. There, a ship found her."
"Her? Where were you?"
"This is Sara's story, not mine." Oliver said with a grin. "Let's just say that for a brief time, they weren't going to find me on the island."
"OK?"
"Anyway, the ship belonged to Nyssa al Ghul, the daughter of the man who attacked us a month ago. You've met her."
"The woman at the docks."
"The woman at the docks." Oliver agreed. "She brought Sara to her home in the forbidden city of Nanda Parbat, high in the Tibetan mountains, home of The League of Assassins. There, Sara, who had already become a tougher version of the one that had left Starling City, again felt gratitude towards her rescuers. She swore allegiance to The League of Assassins and began training."
At this point, Oliver's leg was starting to ache so he sat, continuing his story.
"I never found out exactly how long she was there or what exactly she did." Oliver said softly. "She never told anyone I don't think."
"She never told me any of us." Laurel said sadly. "How did I even feel like I knew my sister? You knew all of this but I didn't."
"Laurel, do you feel like you know me?"
"Yes. For the most part." Laurel replied after thinking for a beat.
"There's more about me that you don't know. My time on the island, my time away from the island, my first few years as The Arrow. It's hard to talk about, Laurel. It's not that we didn't trust you. It's that reliving these things was so hard on us."
"OK. So what happened next?"
"Like I said, I'm not sure." Oliver reiterated. "However, I do know the League's philosophy: if someone disagrees with your ideology, kill them. And I do know that Sara did a lot of that. She was one of Ra's al Ghul's top international assassins. She told me stories from China, South Africa and Argentina. Those were just the few stories she told me."
"Why didn't she come home?"
"Because, in her mind, Sara Lance was dead. She took a new moniker, one that would become her name here."
"The Canary." Laurel whispered.
"Yes, The Canary, in honor of you, I believe."
All Laurel did was nod her head.
"It was The Undertaking that brought her back. She first came back in the shadows, hiding from all of us, watching us from afar. Eventually, she approached me and then in turn, revealed herself to her father and then the rest of you. Once she was here, she joined my team. But this is the single most important part. She and I did not see eye to eye anymore."
"Anymore." Oliver said. "After Tommy's death, I realized that killing everyone was not a way to go. Tommy had seen me as a murderer and to honor him, I changed. I came back from my hiatus and made it my business not to kill everyone I faced. Sometimes, I was unsuccessful but for the most part, my new creed worked."
"Sara's creed was different. Her's was still in the vein of The League. So, when it came to those we fought, she asked me to kill. I refused. She would kill indiscriminately. I would scold her. We may have been dating but we were fighting about our evening activities often. Then, Roy went on his rampage through the city. When he came to Verdant, Sara had him lined up. She would have killed him if I hadn't intervened."
"God."
"It was at that moment that Sara realized that I had a point. That death wasn't the only option and that was there was always a chance for redemption. That is something that as you keep moving forward with us, I need you to remember. I need you to remember it like your life depends on it."
"Why?"
"Because you are going to be very upset by the last part of this story."
"What's the last part of the story?" Laurel asked with concern.
"Her death." Oliver said sadly. "What do you already know?"
"I know she was at The Starling Plaza. I know that she was fighting The Dark Archer." Laurel replied, listing things off. "What did Malcolm Merlyn want with Sara?"
"Well, he didn't want anything with her because he's dead."
"Excuse me?"
"Malcolm Merlyn is dead." Oliver replied. "I know that before Slade's return, we saw him again. Well, I've seen his corpse and it was him."
"Then who is The Dark Archer now?"
"Tommy."
The look on Laurel's face surprisingly didn't change. During Oliver's story, she had been watching him with interest as she was informed about the side of her sister that she barely knew. However, once she realized what Oliver's words had meant, she sat in the seat next to him, slumping as she did.
"How?"
"The Mirakuru. It has a surprising number of abilities, like, if given quickly, the ability to bring people back from the dead. From the moment of his death, Tommy's body was taken by The League as punishment for Malcolm's crimes. He was then resurrected and made an Assassin. As you heard, it was initially so that he could provide information on me. However, Tommy proved to be very successful as an Assassin and was allowed to live."
"I can't believe it."
"I sent Sara to fight Tommy."
"What?" Laurel roared to life.
"It was the situation at hand. I knew that Tommy was trained by The League and Sara fought well against Assassins. So, I sent her. Unfortunately, Ra's had planned for that and had trained Tommy to fight Sara specifically. She walked into an ambush of my making."
"Oliver."
"Don't, Laurel." Oliver growled, standing and coming face to face with Sara's mask. "I will take Sara's death above every other that I have survived in my life to my grave. This was my fault. Ra's beat me at a game that I didn't even know I was playing and I should have."
"Oliver."
This time, Laurel came up from behind him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him, placing her head in between his shoulder blades. "Sara fought with you. She fought because of you. Like you said, this is part of your story too. Your part is that you allowed someone to out-think you."
"It won't happen again."
"I'll help." she muttered softly.
"That's the plan." Oliver said before turning around. "Sara started as someone who craved murder and death as a means to an end. She ended her life as a hero, someone who fought for others without destroying themselves in the process. Remember that when you take up her mantle."
"The Black Canary."
"No, it's just The Canary." Oliver corrected.
"Not anymore." Laurel replied. "If I'm doing this to honor my sister, it's also my way to mourn her. To feel close to her. It only seems fitting that this Canary be black."
"Works for me."
That night had been another slow one. Occasionally over the past month, they had found traces of The League in Starling City. Unfortunately with Oliver out of commission, they were forced to follow these hints digitally, never pressing them in person. After Oliver had finished talking to Laurel, he had settled down with Felicity and Diggle, working the computer.
After a long night of finding nothing, Oliver sent the rest of the team home, promising to lock up after the computers finished working their magic.
This was not at all his intention. Over the last month, Oliver had discussed with each member of his team individually what they thought they should do with Slade. For a month, they had kept him in the cells in The ArrowCave, not once letting him out. Felicity still favored letting him get hit by an airplane, Roy had no opinion and Oliver hadn't asked Laurel.
However, Diggle did have an opinion.
"I know you recorded that conversation with al Ghul."
"I did." Oliver had confirmed.
"Show it to him." Diggle replied. "It may not get him off our back permanently but it may point him in the right direction for awhile."
"It's worth a shot."
So, that's what he did. Slowly, he released the locks before stepping into the tiny cell.
"Queen. I thought you had forgotten me."
"Oh, I could never forget you, Slade." Oliver replied with a grin. "You look like shit."
He truly did. While Oliver never inflicted any pain on him, he had only fed him what was basic to his survival. He had only been allowed one shower at this point and his beard had gone from neat and trimmed to a shaggy mess in only a month.
"I appreciate the company, kid, but why the hell did you come here?"
"To show you this."
Oliver pulled out his recorder arrow and hit play, letting Slade listen to Ra's al Ghul brag about Slade's "adequate" skills and the fact that he was only needed for information. The more Slade listened to, the more obviously angry he got. Finally, he'd had enough.
"What do you want?"
"Well, if you are anything like the Slade Wilson I know, you don't like being played? I imagine you want to tear Ra's al Ghul's throat out right now."
"With my bare hands!" Slade roared.
"Then do it." Oliver whispered softly towards him before clicking the button on Slade's cuffs, letting them loose.
"What?" Slade asked, suddenly confused.
"Do it. Go after him. Take him down."
"What's the catch?"
"There's no catch, not really." Oliver replied. "You may have tried to destroy the city but Ra's wants something worse: control. He will kill everyone slowly and take control over the years. No city deserves that. So, I'll release you. I'm not taking you to ARGUS or the Feds or anything like that. However, your release has a condition: you help me stop Ra's. When you do that, I let you leave Starling City and assuming you never come back, I won't chase you."
"What makes you think that I would believe you?"
"You think that I want to do this?" Oliver asked harshly. "Slade, you nearly destroyed my city and I still think that Ra's al Ghul is worse than you. Plus, I have seen you in the video clips as time as gone on in here. Regardless of what you would say to me now, I know that there's more of the old Slade in there than you would ever care to admit. That version of Slade Wilson had my back, saved my life quite a few times and that's a version that I trust."
With that, Oliver stood.
"When I shut that door, this room will gas up since the cuffs are off. If you are in here, you will wake up with a migraine that you cannot possibly imagine. Your other option is to step out of that door, retrieve your armor and find Ra's al Ghul. You find him and let me know and then we can take him down together. We work together one more time and then you get out of town. What do you say?"
Oliver extended his hand towards his friend and enemy, hoping that he would come to his sense. Finally, he snorted, shook his head and then grasped Oliver's hand.
"One more for the road, eh kid?"
"Not like I have much choice, do I?"
