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.
Merlyn was on the rooftop of a building opposite of Rachel's penthouse, investigating a possible vantage point, from which the attack might have come as he found a shrapnel on the ground.
Few hours ago, Starling General
"Rhodes, what happened?" Kate inquired as Tommy sighed.
"I don't know, it might have been a gas leak." He lied. "One moment, we were talking, the next, the window exploded and I was out. How is she?"
"Still in surgery but someone should check in on you too…"
"I'm fine, Kate, I'm just concussed!" Tommy snapped.
"Are you sure?" Kate asked as Tommy turned around.
"Just keep me posted on her condition!" He rushed down the corridor.
"Rhodes!" Kate wailed.
Present, the Lair
"I know the type of rocket launcher. They're used by a group called the Jackals." Slade said. "And somehow my son got involved with them."
"Who are the Jackals?" Diggle asked.
"Mercenaries." Slade explained.
"So, your son is in Star City?" Thea inquired. "Why?"
"Good question." Slade shrugged. "I need to find him. I need to make things right. I abandoned him… because of Mirakuru."
As the elevator dinged, Oliver and Sara entered the lair. "We got your message. What's going on with your son, Slade? Why is he working with mercenaries?"
"What happened after Lian Yu?" Diggle asked.
Slade took a breath and looked remorseful. "I went home to my son. I promised him I'd never leave but I broke that promise. I abandoned him… and he was… full of rage. Resentment… he followed in my path. When I wanted to find him after what happened with Damien Darhk, I found out he had become a mercenary, just like me. Ruthless. Without mercy. This is all my fault."
"That was Mirakuru, not you." Oliver reasoned.
"It faded off for a while… but when it returned, it was like a storm I could not control." Slade took a breath. "And that monster I had become is what my son is trying to emulate. You haven't seen the things his men have done. But it's not Mirakuru with Joe. It's anger… and resentment. And I'm not sure how that can be redeemed."
Oliver sighed. "I didn't believe you could be redeemed either. But yet, I let you help me because I saw the man you were before the Mirakuru. That's what your son needs to see." Slade nodded before Oliver changed the subject. "Where's Tommy?".
Thea took a breath. "Someone… blew up his girlfriend's house, Ollie. He's out there looking for clues."
Elsewhere in Star City
A man was in his office looking into a ledger as from outside were heard gunshots and screams as a minute later, Merlyn burst in and fired an arrow into the man's shoulder before he could reach for the gun under his desk. "John Deleon, you have failed this city!"
"You… what do you want from me?!" Deleon wailed.
"You're one of most wanted in Interpol for weapons dealing and smuggling and recently, some mercenaries used a C-100 rocket launcher, a military grade weapon, to blow up a penthouse outside Star City!" Merlyn snarled. "If anyone knows someone, who used it, it's you!" He neared him. "The only question is, how many bones will break before you will break?"
Deleon screamed in pain as Merlyn drove the arrow deeper into his shoulder. "OK, stop! Stop! Two weeks ago, a client contacted me, he wanted small arms, Katyushas, missile launchers, you name it!"
"Who?!" Merlyn demanded.
"I don't know, I swear!" Deleon wailed. "They were willing to pay top dollar though! The package was picked up by some Australian! And… he… he left me this!" He showed him a badge with nine circles as Merlyn seethed and punched Deleon in the face, breaking his nose.
"Leave town and never come back here. If I ever find out you're back in Star City, I will make you wish I had killed you right now." He left the office as Deleon groaned.
Later, the Lair
"Ninth Circle's back." Laurel banged the table. "Bastards."
"Now what?" Barbara groaned.
"Do we have any CCTV on who blew up my apartment?" Tommy asked.
Curtis typed on the computer and took a look as Slade watched at the man loading an RPG on a roof of a building few miles away from the penthouse. "I don't know him but he clearly knew what was he doing."
"How did they even find you?" Oliver asked as he turned to Tommy.
"They must be more resourceful than we had thought." Tatsu deduced.
Henry gestured to Curtis to leave the computer as he saw the message on his phone. "We have a bigger problem. Lyla says that they cross-checked the data with NSA, CIA and ELINT and three more sources and NCTC data on Star City and get any possible hits on no-fly list. Take a look at this."
Barbara scowled at the blank list. "What is this? It's empty."
"Exactly." Henry said. "Star City TSA was down for five hours last week, the no-fly registry was offline for a five-hour window."
"Which means that a lot of dangerous guys could have arrived during that window." Diggle realized.
"And look, Naomi cross-referenced the names on the incoming flights against the missing no-fly list. Eight names popped." Henry showed them a video feed on Star City airport. "Now check this out, all those eight guys arrived together."
"Wait, stop." Slade said as he pointed at the screen. "Enhance." Henry zoomed on the face as Slade's blood ran cold. "Joe."
"Kane Wolfman." Henry corrected. "Wanted mercenary. Showed up three years ago, around the same time Deathstroke was defeated." Slade winced at the statement. "This guy's a ghost. Just like Takeo."
"Now we've got at least eight dangerous world-class criminals in Star City teaming up." Tommy groaned. "What are we gonna do?"
"Wait. We have a situation." Henry said. "SWAT team responding to a hostage situation."
"Leave it to us." Barbara said.
Later, elsewhere in Star City
Batgirl, Katana, Huntress, Catwoman and Red Arrow snuck into a factory as they snuck past the armed thugs.
"Any sign of the hostages?" Henry asked.
"Just some untrained idiots with cheap gear." Huntress grumbled.
"They haven't made any demands yet. Maybe it's not the Ninth Circle." Henry tried.
"We'll find out." Katana said as she grabbed one of the thugs in chokehold and knocked him out.
Batgirl, Huntress, Catwoman and Red Arrow then went into storage room, where were hostages on their knees and guards passing by them. "Anyone of you as much as makes a sound, I'll feed them with lead!"
Batgirl then took a look at their vest. "Seeker, we have a problem. The hostages have strapped suicide vests. We can't disable them all in time."
"That's convenient." Henry quipped. "Wait, Batgirl, remember that prototype jammer we've been working on?"
"Yeah, it might buy us some time to find the trigger." Batgirl said as Huntress fired a bolt on the ceiling as it bleeped and the guards glanced up in confusion before the Birds of Prey showed up from the shadows and took the guards out before Red Arrow took a look at the hatch.
"Where does it lead?"
Batgirl, Katana, Huntress, Catwoman and Red Arrow went through the service tunnel before a flashlight shined on them. "Intruders! Kill the hostages!"
"I can't! Something's jamming the signal!"
"So much for subtle and quiet." Katana quipped as they engaged the mercenaries and dodging gunfire, while Red Arrow and Huntress were shooting them down, Batgirl, Katana and Catwoman acrobatically dodged the bullets and incapacitated the mercenaries before Huntress grabbed one of the mercs and stabbed him with a bolt from her crossbow.
"Why have you taken the hostages here?" She demanded.
"Screw you." The mercenary spat as Katana reached for his pocket and found a badge with Ninth Circle as Huntress drove the bolt deeper into the merc's shoulder as he screamed out.
"What's Ninth Circle planning?!" She snarled.
"Ahhhh! OK, OK, I'll tell you! Biological weapon… water filtration plant… they're using a disease…"
"To poison the water supply?" Red Arrow deduced as the mercenary nodded.
"Now tell us how to disarm the bombs on the hostages." Catwoman growled.
"Flash drive on my belt. A code." The mercenary choked out as Batgirl found it. "I told you everything you wanted. I helped you. You can't kill me. Please."
Most of the Birds of Prey glared at Huntress, who just smirked. "I won't kill you but I can't promise you'll walk away from here." She fired from her crossbow at the mercenary's knee as he screamed out in pain, while the rest of the girls smirked and shook their heads, amused.
Gunshots and screams sounded throughout the corridors as Deathstroke was slicing and shooting through the mercenaries, who kept shooting back but couldn't penetrate his armor as he was shooting them down with an Uzi in one hand and in the other one his sword before he entered a large room, where the mercenaries surrounded him.
"Well, I believed you had lost your edge. I must say, I'm impressed." A bearded man said as he stepped out in front of the mercenaries.
"I know he's here, Nylander." Slade said as he put down his mask. "Where's my boy?"
"Hello, father." Joe said as he stepped out with an SMG. "It's been a long time."
Batgirl, Katana, Huntress, Catwoman and Red Arrow snuck into the water filtration plant.
"Hank, we're dealing with pros now, they did a clean takeout on the plant's security."
"Not just security, it's in the entire system, I need to crack their hack to get you guys in." Henry sighed. "Should take a few… got it. You're good to go."
Huntress hid in the shadows as she fired bolts with tranquilizers at the mercenaries and stole their access cards to open the door as Batgirl took a look at the computer.
"They're pumping the bioagent at two locations."
"Can you shut down the outflow valve?" Henry asked.
"I'm trying but it's not easy." Batgirl quickly typed into the computer.
"Let me handle it, see if you can contain the contaminated water in the plant." Henry suggested. "Better hurry, we've got ten minutes before the levels in the water get critical."
Huntress and Red Arrow went to see mercenaries guarding some sort of a pump as they started to shoot them down as the mercenaries opened fire at them, while both vigilantes took cover before the mercenaries reloaded and then, Huntress and Red Arrow rushed at them, taking them down before taking a look at the pump.
"OK, I've got no idea what am I looking at." Huntress said. "This is your wheelhouse, Hank."
"Calm down. Is there a timer?" Henry asked.
"Yeah." Red Arrow nodded.
"There should be a small hatch under the timer." Henry was giving them instructions on disarming the device.
"Damn it." Henry groaned. "Babs, you're gonna have to shut down the valve manually. I'm sending you the blueprints on where it is."
Batgirl, Katana and Catwoman were going through the corridor to the main valve as they approached it before a large, muscular mercenary grabbed Katana from behind as she choked out, while Catwoman kicked him in the leg, causing for him to kneel and let go of Katana before Catwoman lunged at the man and buried her nails into his eyes as he screamed out in pain, while Katana and Batgirl tried to close the valve with their hands, yelling in exhaustion.
"I disarmed the device. It's over." Red Arrow said.
"Batgirl, have you closed the valve?" Henry asked.
"Yeah." Batgirl said as Henry heard a man screaming in pain.
"What is that?" He asked.
"You… don't want to know." Katana said as she saw Catwoman with bloodied thumbs and the man on the ground screaming with bloodied eyes.
"Never rub the cat the wrong way." Catwoman quipped.
"If I wanted a family reunion, I would have sent an invitation." Joe snapped as he drew his gun.
"Maybe you did, kid, you just haven't realized it." Slade said as he neared Joe. "I came all the way here to speak with you and no one gets in my way, if they want to live, because you're the only thing I have left in this world." He raised his voice. "What's it gonna be, son?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't swayed by the poetry." Joe lowered his gun. "But how can I trust you?"
"Trust is built upon honesty." Slade said. "I think you and I have a lot of catching up to do."
Joe stared at him in consideration. "I suppose we do."
"The Jackals are a friendly bunch." Slade quipped as he and Joe were in a small office, drinking. "Must have been hard to keep ASIS in the dark so long."
"It's amazing what the agencies overlook, when they're willing to leave their own men for dead." Joe said as he sat down. "There's something I wanted to ask you. Why did you help Oliver Queen after what he did to you?"
"We had a mutual enemy at the time." Slade said. "You know the saying, enemy of my enemy is my friend. But, in the end… he got exactly what he deserved. No more hero… just a broken man, who lost what mattered the most."
"Indeed." Joe smirked. "Actually, since you're here, perhaps you can show us how it's done. According to my intel, A.R.G.U.S. is transferring some supplies of Semtex. I'm gonna take a small team to intercept. Ready to show us how it's done, Deathstroke?"
The mercenaries put spikes on the road as the truck drove down as the tires were pierced by the spikes as the truck skidded and the mercenaries opened fire at the guards and Deathstroke shot one of the guards down before Joe approached the guard, pulling out his sword and killing the man and Slade looked surprised at his son's ruthlessness.
"We don't leave witnesses."
"Sir, we have a situation." Someone called out on Joe's radio.
"What's happening?" Joe demanded.
"The Birds of Prey. They're taking out our men at the water filtration plant."
Deathstroke, Joe and the Jackals quickly drove to the water filtration plant, surrounding the compound as the Birds of Prey were on the run before they surrounded the vigilantes.
"Well, well." Joe laughed. "The Birds of Prey. Where's Laurel Lance?"
"Not here." Batgirl sneered.
"The closest friends of the Black Canary. I assume you would want to do the honors?" Joe handed Deathstroke the sword as he looked in consideration, while Batgirl subtly shook her head.
"Son… I thought you would have learned… that assumption is the mother of all failures!" Deathstroke grabbed Joe by his arm and took him down as the Birds of Prey engaged the mercenaries in close combat, taking them down. "Get out of here!" Slade yelled.
Batgirl protested. "Wait, what about…"
"Go!" Slade insisted as Birds of Prey went on to retreat.
Batgirl, Huntress, Katana, Red Arrow and Catwoman were driving on their bikes on the road as the Jackals were chasing them before the Canary showed up on the road and screamed, flipping some cars over and then, Oliver in ski mask and with a bow and quiver, Spartan, Mr. Terrific, Wild Dog, Arsenal, Speedy and Ragman went helping them fight the mercenaries, who kept arriving in waves as the vigilantes were taking cover and firing at them and engaging them in close combat.
"Trust begins with honesty!" Joe shouted as he and Slade were exchanging glares, circling each other around. "That's what you said to me but you lied!"
"You know that life is not that simple, Joe." Slade reasoned.
"That's not my name!" Joe snapped. "And how could you forgive Oliver Queen after what he's done to you?"
"Because he was willing to forgive me for far worse, sins that I have to carry to the grave!" Slade raised his voice. "A curse I didn't want to pass onto you! All of this anger and resentment, it's time to bring it to an end, son!"
"No, this is just the beginning!" Joe pulled out his sword and engaged Slade, who drew his own sword and started to defend himself as he kept on retreating. "You used to be ruthless! What happened?!"
"What you saw was the Mirakuru." Slade said.
"Stop lying!" Joe roared as Slade flipped him over his back, knocking him on the ground. "I saw you kill before the Mirakuru! Milford Sound, our father-son trip. The one you promised would be about you and me, I saw what you did to that Chinese spy."
Slade then remembered slitting throat of a Chinese man in Australia fifteen years ago. "I was on a mission for ASIS." He neared the sword to Joe's neck.
"Here's something you don't know. Something mother never told you. I have a brother. His name is Grant. Mother didn't want him in this world." Slade looked shocked at the news as Joe got up on his feet. "But me, I'm my father's son. I made my first kill six months after our camping trip. I slit his throat. Just like you did!" He slugged Slade in his face as he fell down. "I wanted to be exactly like my father! Like Deathstroke!"
Slade knelt down, staring at Joe for a moment before putting his own sword down. "I am not Deathstroke anymore."
Joe looked at his father, betrayed. "Then, you're not my father anymore. You're just in my way!" He swung his arm as an arrow robbed him of his sword and Joe looked shocked to see an Asian woman in black hood holding a bow as she aimed another arrow, shooting Joe in his shoulder as he fell over the ledge.
"No!" Slade shouted before he turned around and widened his eye, shocked. "Shado…"
She fired an explosive arrow on the ground as the explosion sent Slade in the air flying and the next thing he remembered, was the darkness consuming him.
Later
Slade woke up in A.R.G.U.S. medical ward as near him was Oliver.
"You alright, Slade?"
"What happened?" Slade gasped out. "Where's Joe?"
"A part of the plant exploded but they didn't poison the people." Oliver explained. "There was no sign of Joe. I think we need to assume he's still alive. What happened?"
Slade took a breath. "Someone… attacked us. Tried to kill me. An archer."
"Who?" Oliver asked as Slade considered saying it was Shado but he didn't want to worry Oliver that he was hallucinating again.
"I… don't know." Slade lied. "I couldn't see his face. It was too dark. I remember an explosive arrow on the floor, then… nothing."
"We'll find them." Oliver promised.
"Lyla, the Circle needs to be stopped." Laurel said as Lyla sighed.
"I'll do what I can." She nodded. "How's Tommy doing?"
"He's been following some leads on Circle but hasn't told me anything." Laurel said. "I'll check in on him."
Later, Starling General
Tommy was at Rachel's side on her bed as she groaned, waking up. "Tommy…"
"Hey." Tommy held her hand. "I'm here."
"Where else would you be?" She smiled weakly. "Thank you…"
"For what?" Tommy asked.
"You've saved my life many times." Rachel said. "I didn't believe I could feel… what I feel… anymore… after Richard lost his mind… when we met… it was like a miracle… you fill that void inside me and…"
Tommy held her hand. "I know. You made me feel the same way too. You believed in me, even when I did not. And you… I didn't know what I wanted, until I met you. Right now, as long as I have you in my life… I'm not much worried about anything else."
"I feel the same way, Tommy." Rachel smiled. "No matter what happens, I want you to know… I'll always… love…" Suddenly, she started to choke out as the heart monitor bleeped rapidly and flatlined.
"Rachel. Rachel!" Tommy panicked as he held her arms. "No, come on! Rachel! Please, don't do this!"
The doctors rushed in and forced him out as Tommy was in the corridor, while they were trying to revive her and to Tommy, it felt like an eternity as he waited on the seat before Kate approached him and Tommy stood up and she couldn't even look him in the eye and Tommy felt like his entire world crumbled down as he stepped back and pinned his back to the wall and panted out as Laurel showed up from the corner but when she saw the devastated look on Tommy's face, she covered her mouth and broke down in tears as Tommy fumed with grief, rage and anger as he screamed out. "Nooo!"
"Tommy… I don't even know what to say." Oliver said as Tommy stared outside the window.
Tommy took a breath. "There was a time I would have thought it was my fault. That I brought this darkness upon us. But now I know that it's not my fault. It's my responsibility."
"Responsibility to do what?" Oliver asked.
"To end it." Tommy vowed. "I will find the Ninth Circle and force them out of Star City. Once and for all. Either they'll run, or I'll kill every last one of them."
"Is there anything I can do?" Oliver offered.
"Just stay out of this, Ollie." Tommy said. "You've got other concerns."
Oliver nodded before he held his shoulder. "Just promise me something." Tommy turned to him. "Don't go down that path you did last year. Don't lose yourself again."
"I'm not sure I can." Tommy admitted.
Oliver sighed. "Just remember what you still have… and don't think only about what you've lost. I'm speaking from experience." He walked away as Tommy glared at his own reflection on the window as a stray tear rolled down his cheek.
I know you guys probably hate me right now but there will be a payoff at the end of the story
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