Lessons Learnt Chapter 11: Tori-Shima, an arrow fanfic

Chapter 11 – Tori-Shima

An: This chapter is dedicated entirely to Tommy and covers his time on Tori-Shimato Mariko's 's not as long as the other you want to skip it, feel free to but I highly suggest you read the last scene in the chapter (S-10) as that's in the present you do read the full chapter,S-8 is very dark, violent and rape is implied.

A little reminder, the last flashback had Tommy being drugged as soon as he arrived on Tori-Shima.

Tommy slowly started to regain consciousness. His eyes fluttered open to see where he was but the light from a nearby window caused him to close them immediately. That probably wasn't a good idea because his head started to throb. He tried to remember what Tatsu had taught him but his mind was a bit foggy. Whatever they had drugged him with was strong. He supposed step 1 should be to establish that he was alive. He inhaled deeply and exhaled and concluded he was in fact alive. He was curled in the fetal position and he decided to wiggle his feet, his hands and his hurt so he took that as a great sign. He didn't hear anybody comment on him being awake so he assumed maybe he was in an empty room. He tried to stretch and his feet and hands hit metal wiring.

Alert bells started going off in his head. He forced his eyes opened and waited for them to adjust to the light. He adjusted his head a bit so that the ray of light from the window didn't fall directly on his face. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a narrow two by four cage. Did they think he was some type of dog that needed to be caged? He then realised that there was a cage next to him with an occupant who appeared to be asleep.

He turned his head to survey the room. Tommy counted 31other cages in the room, some occupants awake, some still asleep. Everyone wore the exact same black overall. Tommy looked down at his clothes and he realised that someone changed his clothes! None of his gear or his sword were visible in the room. This was supposed to be a fighting tournament not some human science experiment.

If he was still on Tori-Shima, then he would be in the abandoned observatory building. That was the only building on the island. Slowly others started waking up and kicking at their cages trying to get out. No one had been successful yet and Tommy didn't want to waste his energy. At the moment, sitting back and observing seemed like a better idea. He realised with everyone wearing the same thing he had no idea what Ravager looked like. In all the pictures he had been shown of Ravager he was always wearing the same bluish outfit.

A short time later, the door opened and Tommy expected to see a short balding man in a white lab coat, with large bifocals and a large pointy needle. Instead an old man dressed in ceremonial robes flanked by four guards stepped into the room. He walked slowly among the cages observing everyone. Some spoke to him angrily demanding why they were in cages, others were silent.

"Welcome to the Tori-Shima tournament," the man finally said in a thick Japanese accent.

Others started asking questions but the old man ignored them.

"The tournament starts now." He signalled to his men who opened two cages and dragged the men inside the cages out. They were escorted out. The old man followed them out and a guard returned and removed one of the cages. A couple hours later one of the men that had left was returned to the cage. His black overalls looked stained with blood and there was a slash across one of his arms. The guards then moved on to two more cages and the process repeated itself.

S-2

Tommy waited anxiously for the guards to reach to his cage. The cage opposite him barely contained the man that was in it and that was who his opponent was going to be if they kept up with their current pattern. Some of the men that came back from their first fight were in terrible condition. They were handed first aid boxes and told to patch themselves up in their cages. Tommy watched in disgust as one man sewed up a rather deep cut in his arm. He had seen such things on Lian Yu but he had never been the one being patched up.

The moment of truth eventually came and he was hauled out of his cage. The sudden change in position from cramped to space made him realise how stiff his muscles were. He glanced across at his opponent and estimated him at7 feet tall and built like The Rock. Hopefully he was as slow as one as well. He followed the men outside, trying to stretch his legs and arms as he went. The first thing he noticed was the albatrosses nesting on the hillside and he knew he was still on Tori-shima. It also confirmed they were being held in the observatory building.

His opponent was led towards the volcano in the north. The last time any activity was recorded for the volcano was in 2002. He sure hoped it didn't pick while he was on the island to decide to get active. They lead him westwards towards where there was a valley made from the previous lava flow. Most of the flora on the island were shrubs. No real tall trees to hide behind.

The waters around the island were looking much rougher than when he arrived and he couldn't see any boats around. His emergency evac was supposed to be a boat.

"This is your starting point," a guard said when they stopped.

Another guard pulled his sword out from a bag and it was given to him along with the instructions, "Find your opponent and kill him."

They backed away slowly from him, never taking their eyes off of him. When there was about 100 feet between them they stopped and waited. Tommy watched them for a moment before he decided that they were just observers. He unsheathed his sword to inspect it to see if they tampered with it but it looked intact, even the secret emergency beacon that was located in the hilt seemed to be undisturbed.

He decided to let his opponent come to him instead of wasting energy running around the island looking for him. To occupy his time, he would do some stretching exercises and some katas with his sword to get his muscles back into shape after being locked in that cage for who knows how long. He noticed his guards appraise his skills favourably.

Half an hour later he spotted his opponent walking towards him with a giant axe. He suddenly felt like he was in one of those video games he used to play with Oliver. It was kind of ironic because he like to fight with the character with the large axe. He loved to swing the large axe around and watch a huge chunk of his opponent's health disappear with one hit. Oliver preferred the ninja characters. Even though their hits were weaker, they were quicker and could easily land a succession of hits taking out as much health as one hit from the bigger characters. He hoped that his opponent was slow with the axe.

The man approached slowly before he came to a stop about fifty feet away from him. Tommy did not move. He was going to wait for the man to make the first move.

Suddenly the man broke out in a full sprint at him. He raised the axe over his head but Tommy still stood still waiting. He waited till the man started to swing the axe down to his head in an attempt to cut him in half from head to toe before he ducked and rolled to the right. It was too late for the man to correct and the axe went into the ground. Tommy drew his sword quickly and severed the man's Achilles' heel. The man howled in pain and tried to approach Tommy but his left foot gave out. Blood poured out of the wound as the man tried to stand again. He got up on his knees and started moving towards Tommy, swinging the axe wildly. Tommy backed quickly away from him.

At the rate blood was gushing from his foot, the man would pass out eventually, Tommy just had to wait him out. He had no desire to try and deliver a killing blow. He may have killed people but Tommy did not have a killer instinct. When the man finally keeled over, Tommy didn't feel the urge to bend over and puke his guts out. He had done that the first time he killed a man on Lian Yu. He didn't know if that was a good or a bad sign. One of the guards drew his attention and he was led back to the observatory building. They relieved him of his sword before he was placed back in his cell.

S-3

At the end of the first round there were 16 people left,four of them without a scratch. He was one of these four and thus he became a front runner in the tournament. The other three were a Japanese man named Akahara who was part of the Yakuza, a middle aged man who refused to give any details about himself to anyone, and a tall African man that simply went by the name The African. Tommy had given his name as Draken. It was announced that there would be a three day break before the next fight to allow participants to rest and recover, though Tommy didn't know how much rest and recovery they thought could be done in their dog cages.

After the first day in the cage Tommy with nothing to do, he started talking to the guards that patrolled.

"Do you have any form of entertainment for us," Tommy asked aloud.

The middle aged man looked at him with scorn, "Whiney little brat!"

Tommy ignored him and continued talking to the guard, "Why do you have to keep us in cages?" Tommy protested. "We're supposed to be fighting. These cramped little cages slow me down."

Instead of the guard responding it was Akahara who chose to provide him with an answer, "What do you think would happen if we were all free to walk about?"

"We won't suffer muscle cramps?" Tommy said trying to stretch his arm to make a point.

Akahara pointed to The African, "He looks like he would slit all of our throats in our sleep."

"I would," The African proudly admitted.

"This tournament is 500 years old and in order to maintain honour, these are the measures that have become necessary. It did not start out like this but it was found that once the competition was opened up to outsiders with no honour," Akahara said looking at The African, "We needed to take measures to ensure that honour was maintained. The food isn't poisoned, that happened one year, there are no gang ups of weaker opponents to eliminate stronger fighters, the integrity of the tournament is maintained. The fighter that wins, is the strongest fighter of the decade."

Tommy nodded, "Wouldn't it just be simpler to allow only people with honour to enter!"

The African laughed, "Honour is overrated. Even the Yakuza don't follow their old codes anymore."

Akahara smiled, "I follow the old codes and I shall take great pleasure in killing someone like you."

Silence settled over them and Tommy decided to dedicate his time to trying to figure out which competitor was Ravager. There was no way he would have been knocked out in the first round. He read his file, and knew his skill. Ravager would at least make it to the semi-finals. Based on the blurry pictures he had seen of Ravager, the little bit of skin exposed around his mask revealed he was a white man. That meant Tommy could eliminate over half of the persons remaining. He carefully observed his suspects and listened to any conversations they had to determine who his target was.

His round two opponent was a fan of using Sais but Tommy was able to handle him easily. During the fight, Tommy noticed a fishing boat about five miles offshore casually drifting by. That could have been the ARGUS boat doing a sail by. They could at least update Waller that he was still alive and was about to dispense with his opponent.

After round two, 8 people were left and his options for Ravager had significantly narrowed down. He highly suspected that the middle aged man was Ravager. They were given a week's rest that Tommy had no idea how he was going to survive in the cramped cage, until the guards came through the doors with much bigger cages. Tommy greatly appreciated the extra space to stretch his limbs and keep his muscles in good condition. He also struck up quite a rapport with Akahara. He spent many hours learning about the intricacies of Japanese society and how the Yakuza was allowed by authorities to fit into society for centuries.

His quarterfinal opponent was a tall, lanky man that used two short swords as his weapons. His skills were equivalent to Tommy's and they fought for a long traded blows, his opponent successfully slashing him on his thigh, for many hours. In the end, Tommy had the better endurance and persevered. He really owed Tatsu for that.

After the fight, he had to sew himself up. That was definitely a new experience for him. He winced every time he put the needle through his skin and Akahara laughed at him. They were down to four, Akahara, The African, the middle-aged man who he was 100% sure was Ravager and himself.

"Someone's not accustomed to injury," Akahara mused. He still didn't have a scratch on him.

"No, I usually have a sexy nurse to take care of these nuisances," he boasted.

"You won't need a nurse after the semi-finals," The African smirked.

"No I might need a doctor," Tommy agreed, "but at least I won't need a mortician like you."

Akahara chuckled again, "You will all need morticians."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Yakuza," the middle aged man said. "My predecessors have won this tournament before and they usually won it by cutting Yakuza to pieces."

S-4

On the last day of rest, the old man entered, "The semi-finals start now."

All four cages were opened.

"A four-way fight?" Tommy questioned.

"No, you fight him," the old man said pointing at Ravager, "And Akahara fights The African on separate parts of the island."

"Oh, simultaneous fights." Tommy knew one thing for sure; he was not going to fight Akahara. He was going to activate his emergency beacon and get off the damn island. ARGUS's fishing boat had to be close by.

Akahara and The African were led away and Tommy and Ravager were taken to an area of the island that had steep cliffs that dropped off into 50 feet of water. They were given their weapons and Ravager wasted no time in drawing his sword. Tommy looked closely at the sword his opponent was holding. It was the last piece of the puzzle to confirm that it was Ravager. The skull on the hilt was undeniable and Tommy activated the emergency beacon in his sword. He was not planning on a long drawn out fight. His leg was still hurting from his quarter final flight.

Ravager charged at him, swinging at his head, Tommy blocked and Ravager quickly changed his stance to slash at Tommy's side. The man was very fast and the blade of his sword cut through the material of Tommy's overalls. Ravager then turned and continued his attack forcing Tommy to remain on his defensive.

Everything he heard about Ravager was true. Tommy barely had any time to plan an attack or force an opening because he had to use all of this skills to defend himself. This was the first time during the tournament that Tommy felt like he was the weaker fighter. The guards observing on the side probably thought he was the underdog.

Tommy had mastered the skills Tatsu taught him but his inexperience in sword fighting was showing. When he trained with Tatsu, at the back of his mind, he always knew she wouldn't kill him, injure and maim, yes, but not kill. He had also become very comfortable defending against her fighting style.

Things were very different against Ravager. He needed to think faster and add quick forceful counter attacks to his defensive blocks and parries. Even when he tried those things, Ravager just kept coming at him harder and harder. At one point Tommy was finally able to get a kick into Ravager's stomach and the man backed off. That gave him a much needed reprieve to think and regroup.

Ravager smirked and pulled a small dagger from the hilt of his sword, "You should be honoured, I haven't met a fighter that I needed my dagger for."

"Seriously," Tommy said exhausted. As if blocking the sword wasn't hard enough he had to keep track of a dagger too.

A boat came into his view and he knew his ride was there. He abandoned all thought of capturing Ravager alive. He decided to lure Ravager to the edge of the cliff. He also made the grim realisation that to get close enough to Ravager to kill him, he was going to have to take a hit. Mariko had taught him where he could get hit and possibly survive. Major arteries need to be avoided and major organs, though he did have a spare kidney and his appendix really wasn't that important.

Tommy noticed Akahara appear off in the distance watching the fight. He had won his fight against The African. There was blood on Ahakara's face, several slashes on his arms, torso and legs. At least it proved that he wasn't invincible but Tommy still wasn't sticking around to fight him.

He let Ravager back him up to the cliff and then he let Ravager run him through with his sword on the right side. Tommy purposely moved his sword very slowly towards Ravager. The man let go of his dagger to use his hand to grab a hold of Tommy's right hand. Tommy then used his left hand to catch the falling dagger and stabhim in the heart. He then pulled him with him as he fell backwards over the cliff into the water.

S-5

The water was very cold as it surrounded him. The weight of Ravager's body pushing him down. As they sank, a column of blood rose above him. Ravager's sword was still in his side and it hurt like hell. He was going to need to breathe soon and that required getting to the surface. He pushed Ravager off of him and then tried to kick towards the surface. The sword in his side was holding him back so he put his hand over the hilt to pull it out when a hand closed over his. He turned to see a diver who took his mouth piece out of his mouth and handed it to Tommy.

Tommy took a big gulp which he wasn't supposed to do. The diver moved his hand away from the hilt and started pulling Tommy towards an underwater scooter. After a few breaths the diver asked back for the mouth piece and Tommy reluctantly handed it back to him. The diver held onto him with one hand and used his other hand to hold the scooter.

The scooter started to pull him through the water and the resistance against the sword hurt. Tommy used both his hands to hold the sword steady so that it didn't hurt so much.

They surfaced on the side of the boat that was away from the island. Tommy was carefully pulled up and taken below deck where he discovered a full medical unit awaiting him. He was placed on his side on the operating table.

"Tommy!"

He turned his head and was met with the view of Mariko's worried face.

"Hi," he said softly.

"I thought you said you wouldn't die," she teased him lightly while medical professionals rushed around him connecting him to all sorts of machines.

"I'm dead?" Tommy questioned, "I kinda thought heaven wouldn't have this much pain."

Mariko laughed and Tommy's hope soared. He was about to assure her that he would survive when she was pulled away by a doctor.

"We're going to sedate you and then remove the sword. The procedure is probably going to take three times as long because a rocking boat is hardly the best place to do this but we can't wait till we reach to shore. As soon as we reach far away enough away from the island. You'll be evacuated via helicopter to our medical facility in Hong Kong."

A mask was placed of Tommy's face and his eyelids started to grow very heavy. The last thing he saw before he fell into the darkness was Mariko's worried face.

S-6

Tommy held one bag with two bento boxes from their favourite restaurant in one hand and two bags with incense, candles and teain the other as he approached their apartment door. He shifted all the bags to one hand and opened his door. Today was a special day. It marked six months since he moved in with Mariko in her tiny apartment in Japan. He still worked with ARGUS running missions in Asia and he had no intention of going back to Starling City. He hadn't even googled his father or followed what was going on in Starling City. His life was in Japan now andonly Japanese news concerned him.

He had seen Oliver once after his Hong Kong Mission finished. They discussed their lives and they both felt the same way about Starling City. Tommy tried to convince Oliver to come to Japan with him but Oliver decided to board a boat to Coast City and he heard through his ARGUS connections that his best friend was running around at nights with his bow and arrow.

Tommy had everything planned for their six month anniversary. It was his first ever six month anniversary and he was determined to make it as special as Mariko was to him. Since both of them were hopeless in the kitchen, he knew he had to order a special meal for their day as well as decorate the apartment to set the mood.

After leaving his shoes by the door, Mariko didn't allow shoes inside, he sprinted to the kitchen. He had an hour left to prepare everything. He left her at the ARGUS black ops facility working with a patient that claimed he had been attached by Ravager. That was a mystery he was determined to leave for another day. Besides that was Harbinger's mission not his. Tonight was for celebration and he planned to make sweet love to his girlfriend all night. He also wanted to introduce the idea of one day making this arrangement more permanent. It wasn't a marriage proposal. He knew they weren't ready for that. It was more a goal that they could slowly work towards.

Each day the picture of her as his beautiful wife became clearer and clearer. He had even begun to add a little girl to the picture, who had a beautiful smile like her mother and his cheeky sense of humour. He could imagine his daughter teasing him about grey hair in the future. He would love her and never abandon her the way his father abandoned him.

After his bath, he put on the monsuke Mariko bought him last month. She had added her own special touch to it by embroidering a blue dragon outline on one side. The head of the dragon rested over his heart. It reminded him that he was her dragon protector.

Mariko seemed to be running a little late so he collapsed on the couch and turned on the TV. He switched to the station that showed Korean soap operas. In the middle of a particular tense moment the screen went blank and Tommy sat up straighter, cursing at the TV in Japanese. He was ready to call the cable company when the picture was restored to a close up of the Ravager mask.

"Ah Draken, it took me a long time to locate you," a chillingly calm voice stated.

"You're dead," Tommy replied. A sinking feeling settled in his gut and he glanced at the clock again. Mariko still wasn't home.

"No the previous Ravager is dead. I'm the new and upgraded version and I'm here to make you suffer starting by torturing this sweet little thing." The camera panned outwards and Tommy saw Mariko on her knees facing the camera. Ravager was standing behind her with the sword Tommy used at the tournament at her neck. She was bound and gagged but he could see the fear in her eyes.

"If you want her you need to come down to the private hangers at the airport. You'll know which one when you get here. Oh and if you tell anyone, you'll find her body scattered about this hanger. You have ten minutes to get here before I start carving into her."

Tommy sprung into action jumping over the table and sofa to the table by the door where the car keys were. He pulled the sword Mariko gave him for his birthday off of its spot on the wall and raced down to the car.

S-7

Tommy couldn't hear anything over the beating of his heart. He was sure that at least one driver would have softly beeped their horn at him for his ridiculous driving but he hadn't heard him. Had he been in the States they would have cursed him but the Japanese people were much more polite and reserved.

Tommy knew what it felt like to have a sword slice through your skin. Mariko's skin was flawless, not a scar or blemish on it. She looked like she was 21 but according to her birth certificate, which he forced Mariko to show him because he didn't believe her, she was actually 38. She was far wiser than him. He could not lose her. He could not imagine living in a world without Mariko. What he had thought was a nice life in Starling City paled in comparison to the life he currently live.

He arrived at the airport in record time. He started at the first private hanger and continued until he found Mariko. The first few hangers were empty, then one had a photo shoot and another had a party. Eventually he came to a dark hanger that had a spotlight on Mariko gagged and tied to a chair. He couldn't see into the darkness around her. He drew his sword and cautiously approached her. She was shaking her head furiously telling him not to approach her but he had to. How else was he going to save her?

As he approached, he surveyed her. Her kimono was pristine, no signs of stains or blood on it. It did not look like she had been hurt. Just as he reached her he felt a sharp pinch on his neck. He reached up and pulled a dart from his neck. His vision started to blur at the edges. He reached for Mariko and his arm felt like it weighted 100lbs. His hand landed heavily on her shoulder.

"Mariko," he slurred.

He tried to lift his arm up to untie the gag around her mouth but it wouldn't respond. His body started leaning forward and his vision darkened. He fought as hard as he could to stay awake. He couldn't pass out. He needed to save her. He needed to at least make sure she got out of that hanger alive. Despite his will, his body betrayed him and he fell forward on to Mariko and lost consciousness.

S-8

Something cold and wet landed on his forehead and he spluttered awake. His eyes opened and he was thankful that it was dark because he was fairly certain if it were bright sunlight it would have made his headache much worse.

His bare chest was pressed against a tree and his hands were wrapped around it like he was hugging it. The base was large because his hands weren't touching but they were connected by rope. He tried pulling his hands free but the ropes only got tighter around his wrists. He tried to move his legs but they were also tied around the tree.

He called for help but no one answered. He was in the middle of wilderness somewhere. He was only able to turn his head to the side to see anything. There was a large plain off to one side and more trees on the other.

The sun started to rise and the plains he was looking at illuminated with light. He saw Kangaroos and realised that they were in Australia. How the heck did this imposter get him to Australia without being caught? It could be worse, he could be in Africa waiting for the lions to come feed on him. Really what were a bunch of kangaroos going to do to him? His real worry was Mariko. From his limited vision he couldn't see her and that made him worry about what the imposter could be doing to her.

He heard the sound on an engine and thought maybe help had arrived. He tried to strain his neck to see behind him but he couldn't. He cried out for help and heard the vehicle stop followed by the door opening and closing. The imposter appeared in his line of vision.

"Finally awake!" he said cheerily.

"Where is Mariko?" Tommy asked in a deadly tone.

"Right here," he said walking away.

He returned with Mariko clutching her by her hair. He threw her onto the ground. Her wrists were cuffed together and she was still in her kimono from the day they were taken, however there were several rips and tears on it and he could see from the tears that she wasn't wearing any undergarments. A strong surge of anger when through him when he thought about what that meant.

"Mariko, are you ok?" Tommy asked.

She looked him dead in his eyes and lied, "I'm fine."

"Do you know where you are?" the imposter asked.

"Gee, I don't know Australia?" Tommy answered bitterly.

"Wrong! Australia is a few miles that way," he said chucking his thumb behind him. "We're actually on Kangaroo Island. Do you know what the aboriginal people call this place?" he asked earnestly.

When Tommy glared at him he decided to answer his own question.

"No? They call lit Karta, which means Island of the Dead. I think this is the perfect setting for what I have planned. You see when you take over the Ravager mantle your first mission is to kill the person that killed your predecessor. Originally I thought you were dead until I heard from a client that his ARGUS contact tod him an ARGUS agent kill me, well my predecessor, but the client doesn't know the difference. I investigated and imagine my glee when I discovered that there was someone for me to kill!"

"So kill me already and let Mariko go," Tommy said.

Mariko protested, the sounds coming out as a garbled mess because of the gag.

"That's too easy. I think I want to start a new tradition, plus I have other reasons to torture you," he said turning to study the horizon. "We don't have much time. ARGUS isn't that far behind. We probably just have enough time for you to watch me take your girlfriend apart."

Mariko looked Tommy in the eyes. He could see that she had accepted that she going to die.

"Please," Tommy begged, "You want to kill me. I was the one that killed your predecessor. Mariko has nothing to do with this. Kill me. Leave her alone," Tommy pleaded.

"She has everything to do with this," Ravager sneered. He pulled the gag from Mariko's mouth. "This will be much more effective if you can hear her scream properly."

"Tommy, this will not break you. You hear me. You will not break. You will bend and flex but never break," she insisted tears leaking out of her eyes.

"Mariko," Tommy cried.

Ravager swung his sword down and Mariko's hands fell to the ground while blood sprouted out of the stumps left behind. Tommy wasn't sure who screamed louder, Mariko or him. Ravager then stepped away from Mariko and carved a line into Tommy's back. Tommy didn't even feel the blade. He was pulling at the ropes trying to get free to get to Mariko.

Ravager stepped away and with another swing of the sword, her feet were gone. Mariko fell forward into the pool of blood. She looked up at Tommy weakly. He could see the light in her eyes fading.

"One last thing," she said weakly. "You will find love again. Promise me Tommy. This will not break you. Promise you will move on stronger than before."

"Mariko!" his voice was horse from screaming.

"Promise me," she said softly. Her light was fading. He was losing her.

"I promise," Tommy conceded as Ravager made another mark in his back.

"I love you," she said with her last breathe.

"I love you too," he screamed loudly.

Ravager swung the sword again and separated her left shoulder from her body but Marko didn't cry out for she had already passed into the next world.

Tommy screamed at the top of his lungs. The pain on his back was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. Ravager continued to desecrate Mariko's body. For every cut her made to her, he made one accompanying cut on Tommy's back. Tommy tried to turn his head away from the sight but Ravager wouldn't let him. He pulled out a roll of duct tape and taped his head down to the tree so he was forced to look at Mariko's desecrated body.

"You did that to her," Ravager said as he swung his sword to decapitate her. "This is all on you."

Ravager stopped and angled his ear in one direction.

"Ah ARGUS is coming. Right on time," he said walking behind Tommy and adding another cut to his back.

"See you around Draken," he said walking out of sight. Tommy heard the engine start and drive away before the sound of a helicopter got clearer. ARGUS was coming but he didn't care. He let the darkness take him.

S-9

The apartment in Japan was very hollow without Mariko there. All the happiness he had before was gone and instead a cold dark void remained. Was this how his father felt when his mother died? He called Mariko's phone repeatedly to hear her voicemail. Her phone had been found by ARGUS at the bus stop. It had been left behind for them to track. Tommy's phone too had been turned on when they arrived at Kangaroo Island. Ravager wanted them to find them. No traces of Ravager had been found since. He had appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared into thin air. Harbinger had informed him that they had been missing for five days.

"Tommy,"

"What?" he snapped turning to face Harbinger. He had no idea when she let herself into the apartment.

"Today is the memorial service in her honour. You need to go," Harbinger told him.

Tommy turned away from her and stared at the picture of Mariko on the wall.

"Tommy she wouldn't want you to shut down," Harbinger said softly to him.

"I failed her! Why should I go? It's my fault she is dead. I killed her!" he screamed.

"Ravager killed her. Don't distort the facts!" Harbinger snapped.

"I failed her. I'm her first student to ever fail her. I was supposed to protect her. I was supposed to be her personal Samurai but I failed," Tommy moaned sadly.

Harbinger grabbed him roughly by the face, "You listen to me. I worked with her a lot longer than you and I know she would want you there. Do you want to disappoint her? Answer me Tommy do you want to disappoint her?"

"No," he said.

"Then have a shower, shave, and put on your best suit. I'll drive you to the memorial," she said.

Tommy walked into the bathroom and momentarily stopped when he looked in the mirror. He did not recognise himself. His beard was long, his hair unkempt and his eyes sunken. He looked terrible. He forced himself through the motions and eventually presented himself to Harbinger.

"This ok Harbinger?" he asked tonelessly.

"Tommy," she said softly, "You don't need to keep referring to me by my code name. You can call my Lyla. Let's go."

He followed her out of the apartment to the ARGUS Black Ops building where the memorial was being held. The room was filled with many flowers and a large picture of Mariko was placed in the front of the room. He took a seat in the front row and stared at the picture.

She was smiling serenely. He would never see that smile or the smile she gave him when he made a corny joke or the smile she had when he did something monumentally stupid like try to fry an egg. His heart felt dead in his chest. How on Earth did she expect him to move on when he was ready to die? He missed the sound of her voice, the feel of her skin under his fingertips, the way her eyes would light up when he made a joke, he missed everything about her. It would be so much easier if he could just follow after her.

"Tommy," Lyla said.

He forced himself to pull his eyes away from the portrait, "What!" he asked angrily.

"The service is over," Lyla said softly.

Tommy turned around and the room was empty. "Then leave," he said brusquely.

"Ok," Lyla said. She walked up to the portrait and took it off its stand.

"Hey! What are you doing with that?" Tommy asked outraged.

"This," Lyla said looking down at the portrait that was now tucked away between her arm and her body. "This is ARGUS property. I'm returning it to headquarters."

"I need that!" he said reaching for the portrait under her arm.

"Do you?" she questioned moving the portrait away from him.

"Yes I do," he said taking a step closer to get to the portrait.

Lyla kneed him in the groin and he fell to the ground in pain.

"Let's make a deal," she said walking around his prone form on the floor.

"No," Tommy managed to breathe out.

Lyla continued on as if she hadn't heard him. "I'll give you this portrait if you report to work bright and early on Monday."

"Work?" Tommy rasped out.

"Yes work. You can't sit and stare at her picture all day and blame yourself. No one knew this was going to happen. Mariko would not blame you. You did your best. Mariko was an agent of ARGUS. We live knowing that we could die on missions or someone might come after us or our families. Mariko knew, understood and gladly accepted the risks. Mourn her loss Tommy but don't blame yourself for it. Honour her by becoming the man she knew you could be."

S-10

Present Day

It was cold outside but he and Helena were in a park in Novus district with portions of Chinese food they ordered from Jade Dragon. Tommy knew China White was probably somewhere in that building and he had been very surprised that Helena even suggested Chinese food since he knew she was well aware that it was a front for the Triad.

He was also concerned because there seemed to be someone targeting her father's organisation. Five more men had been assassinated since he read about the first one in the paper. He worried that Helena might be next. He was trying to figure out how to raise the topic with her when she asked him a surprising question.

"Who was Mariko?" Helena asked out of the blue.

Her body language conveyed she was curious and he knew if he didn't want to answer she would drop it but he had no clue how she knew about Mariko. He must have been telecasting his confusion because she volunteered an answer.

"The first time we tried to be intimate. When I touched the scars on your back, you turned ghost white and you whispered the name Mariko. I assume she's a ghost from the past?"

Tommy exhaled. He had a decision to make. Did he lie, did he tell her the truth or did he brush the question off? He looked around the park and decided to take a leap of faith. It had been two years since her death and he had promised her to move on.

"Let's get out of here. I have a picture at my loft that can help answer that question."

They packed up their takeout containers and went back to his place. The entire way there he tried to figure out how to speak about his past to her. When he arrived at his loft, he decided the easiest way was to take off his shirt.

Helena arched an eyebrow, "I thought we were talking, not that I don't appreciate the view," she said licking her lips.

"There are different forms of communication besides the spoken word," he said turning around to show her his back. "While I was on an island, it wasn't always the same island during my time away. This is the Kanji for the word vengeance."

He nodded his head for her to follow him to his bedroom. He opened his closet and pulled out his chest. He opened it and pulled out the picture of him and Mariko taken during the Cherry Blossom festival.

"This is Mariko. I met her two years after the Gambit sank. She was my world," he admitted honestly. "The man that did that to my back killed her."

He stared at the picture. They were so happy but the fates never allowed Tommy Merlyn to be happy. It was only because he promised Mariko that he would not break and that he would move on, that he was here in Star City. There had been no one since Mariko. Helena was the only one to attract his attention, probably because they were both so broken.

Her hand slid into his, "I understand," she said. Her other hand came up to gently caress his face. It was only when she removed her hand and he saw the moisture on it did he realise that he was crying.

"I failed to protect her. I don't even know if I can protect you," he said to her.

Helena wagged her finger at him, "Uh-uh, I protect myself. If I fail, I fail. It is not your responsibility. If I want to do something dangerous. I will. That's not your decision to make for me."

Tommy walked over to his bed and pulled out his sword from under the bed. He unsheathed the blade, the light from the window reflecting off his blade. "And if I came at you with this sword?" he asked to prove a point.

Helena gave him a sarcastic smile as she reached into the small purse she had with her and pulled out a Beretta. "Then I put a bullet between your eyes," she said seriously.

"And what if I move faster than you?" he asked.

"Then I should have been faster," she responded.

Tommy adjusted his grip on the sword and in a blink of an eye he held the blunt side to the side of her neck. Helena levelled the gun at his heart.

"I thought it was a bullet between the eyes," Tommy quipped.

Helena shrugged, "For you I thought the heart was more appropriate,"

"How do you even know if I have one?" Tommy asked darkly.

"I'll take the chance," she said dropping the gun and putting it away in her purse. She then stretched out on Tommy's bed, turned on her side and propped her head up with her hand to look up at him. Tommy gladly jumped on the bed and mirrored her position.

"If you hate it here, why did you come back?" she asked curiously.

"If I wasn't looking for Tempest I wouldn't have come back," he mumbled to himself but Helena heard him.

"Tempest? What do you want with them?" she asked concerned.

"You know who they are?" he asked surprised.

"Sort of," she admitted. "I've heard my father complain about them pushing him around. Based on certain conversations I was able to list a few names."

She sat up reached for her purse and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "These are the names I've been able to gather thus far," she said handing it to him.

He glanced at the paper and at the top of the list he saw Malcolm Merlyn – Chairman.

An: Thanks for reading. Next chapter picks back up in the present and a very tense conversation between Oliver and Tommy.