Chapter Fourteen
At the top of the mountain it was cold. There was a fresh layer of snow on the ground, as well as patches of black ice. Oliver and Malcolm stood in contrast to Ra's, Nyssa, Sarab, and four other of Ra's' men. It was nearing sunset and Ra's whispered something to Nyssa, who then spoke to Sarab. He approached Oliver and Malcolm.
"It is time. You can either submit to an execution or face Ra's Al Ghul in a battle to the death," Sarab said.
"Maseo, you know the answer," Oliver said.
"I know that you are stubborn," Sarab said.
"Tatsu misses you. She has been staying with me," Oliver said.
"I will tell my master that you wish to fight again," said Sarab.
Sarab rejoined his group. Oliver looked at Malcolm, who stood there in his assassin's gear. Malcolm undid his mask.
"I truly wish you luck," he said to Oliver.
Malcolm started to help him off with his winter coat then his shirt. Oliver shivered because of the cold.
"The cold is just one more obstacle," Malcolm said.
"Beating him is the only obstacle I care about," said Oliver.
"If you defeat him they will rush his body off to a Lazarus Pit where for the next fourteen days he will be indisposed," said Malcolm. "If you are able then remove his head. There is no coming back to life from that."
"I'll keep that in mind," said Oliver.
Oliver walked over to where the swords were hanging. This time he chose a katana. Ra's, who has removed his cloak and shirt, joined him.
"This time I will chose a sword," he said.
"Chose well," said Oliver.
Ra's chuckled at his bravado. The two men proceeded to the open area on the mountain. Ra's looked at Oliver with a kind of warmth and understanding.
"This is your last day," said Ra's.
"You've said that before to him. I'm still here," said Oliver.
Ra's smiled then said, "I like you, Oliver Queen. It would have been better if you joined me."
"This is the way it should end," said Oliver.
Ra's nodded and waited for Oliver to make his attack.
Arrow
Thea was seated that the dining table that Tatsu bought on the second floor. Oliver had given Tatsu access to an account in order to buy things to make herself more comfortable. She decided to make his home more of a home. Thea was eating the bowl of homemade ramen with noodles, barbecue pork, vegetables, and delicious broth.
Someone had buzzed to come in, so Tatsu went down to check who it was. The freight elevator stopped and Tatsu and Felicity got off of it. Thea was surprised to see Felicity.
"Hi," she said. "What brings you here?"
Tatsu took over overcoat and motioned her to sit. Felicity sat across from Thea.
"I wanted to check on Oliver," Felicity. "See if you heard from him or Malcolm."
"No," said Thea. "According to the schedule Oliver and Ra's are probably dueling."
Tatsu put a bowl of ramen in front of Felicity.
"Have some lunch," she said then sat down with her own bowl.
Felicity sampled the broth. It was delicious. She was tempted to tell Tatsu that she was Jewish because of the pork, but she had barbecue pork with Roy just two days ago.
"This s delicious," she said.
"Thank you," replied Tatsu.
"Malcolm said that it is almost impossible to get a message out from the location. If Oliver wins they would need to leave quickly before Ra's people overreact, and if Oliver loses…," Thea stopped talking.
"He's not going to lose this time," said Felicity with assurance in her voice.
Tatsu smiled then said, "You seemed less confused."
"No, I'm still a confused idiot when it comes to Oliver. It's just that I really need to see him again," said Felicity.
"I see," said Tatsu.
"You'd be good for my brother," said Thea. "He not only cares about you; he listens to you. That's something."
"He doesn't listen to anyone," barked Felicity.
"No, Felicity, he really does listen to you," said Thea. "By the way, have you heard about the latest vigilante, the Atom?"
Felicity sighed internally. She not only heard about him, but was dealing with his growing pains. Ray was making plans to expand the suit and offer versions of it to the police department. Diggle was against the idea. He kept telling Ray that you have to be careful with that kind of power. If the wrong person gets ahold of the suit then it becomes a force for evil not good, but Ray believed in the suit more than the person.
"I've heard about him," said Felicity.
"When Ollie gets back, I hope they get along. He considers this his city," said Thea.
"He can be overprotective," said Felicity.
"There is something wrong when you haven't earned the power. Just putting on a suit of armor and gaining great power leaves you unprepared for certain enemies and susceptible to think that you are invincible," said Tatsu. "This Atom should be careful."
"I agree," said Thea.
Felicity sipped her broth. She also agreed and was having a difficult time getting through to Ray.
Arrow
Oliver was out of breath. He had a deep wound on his left side and a slice across his tricep. The battle had lasted long this time, but Ra's was still the superior swordsman. Oliver expected this and still hadn't set his trap. It was time now, though.
Ra's blocked his katana ten twisted around and buried his sword in Oliver's right side. Again, it wasn't a fatal wound, but combined with a quick strike to his throat, it sent Oliver down to his knees. He looked defeated.
"You once again proved worthy," said Ra's. "This time it will be an honorable death and a final one."
Oliver looked defeated there on his knees. Ra's raised his sword to strike him with the death blow. Oliver suddenly moved faster than he had since the beginning of the fight. He ran his katana across Ra's abdomen then got into position to deliver a death blow as Ra's went to his knees. Oliver leaned forward and whispered in his ear.
"I know of the Lazarus Pits. Remember that I chose not to take your head. When you revive remember that Starling City is protected by me and I defeated you," he said then he ran Ra's through with his katana.
Ra's fell dead to the ground. Oliver planted his katana in a rock and stumbled towards Malcolm. Malcolm rushed to his side, as Nyssa barked orders. Oliver caught a look at Sarab's face. He looked confused and relieved.
Nyssa came forward, as the men gathered Ra's body and wrapped it in a shroud.
"You won Oliver Queen. The slate is wiped clean, even for Malcolm Merlyn," she said with some bitterness.
"No more bloodshed between us," said Malcolm, as he supported an injured Oliver.
"We shall see," she said then she saw the men were ready to carrying Ra's away. "Come, Sarab, we have a short time to get the Demon to a pit."
"Yes, mistress," said Maseo.
He started to leave then stopped beside Oliver and said in a low voice, "You give me hope."
Sarab left with Nyssa. Malcolm gently helped Oliver to the ground. He then and went to grab the backpack Oliver brought with him which was filled with first aid items, including Tatsu's salve.
"I'll patch you up then we need to get out of here. I'll have a private plane pick us up when we get to an airport. We are going home," said Malcolm. "Well done, Oliver. Well done."
Arrow
Roy came into the Arrow cave holding his left arm. Laurel was supporting him and John looked to be fuming. Felicity stood up out of her chair and rushed towards them.
"What happened? I lost contact with you," she said.
"Atom. We were closing in on some arms dealers when he decided to intervene," growled Diggle. "He let loose with some weapons fore when they fired on him and nearly blew Roy to kingdom come."
Laurel helped him onto the exam table. Without even taking an x-ray you could see that his arm was broken.
"We need to get him to a doctor," said Laurel.
"Roy, we have to get you out of your gear then I'm going to put an air cast on your," Diggle explained. "Once that is done I'm taking you to a hospital."
"We tell them that it was a training accident," hissed Roy in pain. "I was practicing parkour."
Laurel turned and looked at Felicity.
"Ray is getting bolder and bolder and it is endangering people," she snapped.
"He doesn't have any tactical awareness or enough experience to know how much force to use and when," growled John.
Diggle as easily as he could he started to remove Roy's gear with the help of Laurel. Felicity stood their feeling guilty. She told Ray he needed more training and needed to trust his suit less.
"We have to do something about him," said Diggle.
"I'll talk to him," Felicity said.
"Yeah, talk to your boyfriend," snapped Laurel then she saw Laurel's expression of pain and felt regret. "I'm sorry Felicity for snapping at you. He needs to be careful."
"He needs to be a taught a lesson," said Diggle.
"Like what, John? Would it be the right lesson for him to get his ass kicked by some villain and hurt?" Felicity asked.
"Felicity, I don't want him hurt. I want him to see that his suit is a powerful weapon and that he needs to be more in control of it and more aware of how he uses it effects people, said John.
"I'll talk to him, John," said Felicity.
Felicity looked at her watch. It was ten o'clock at night. He was going to drop by Oliver's before going home tonight, but now she just needed to go home after making sure that Roy was okay. She really needed to talk to Ray.
Roy moaned in pain as they got his jacket off. Laurel held his right hand, as Diggle put his left arm in an air cast. Roy looked over at Felicity and tried to smile.
"I'm fine," he said then joked. "Since Oliver isn't here, one of us had to get injured."
"You better be fine," Felicity said.
Arrow
Thea slept in the bed that Tatsu bought for her. She had set up an area for herself using Japanese scrims. Tatsu did the same. They had also set up a bedroom for Oliver for when he came back. It was three in the morning. Suddenly both Tatsu and Thea were awakened by the freight elevator moving. They got out of bed, each young woman reaching for their sword.
The freight elevator opened to expose Malcolm supporting an injured Oliver. Malcolm smiled at them and said, "Oliver defeated Ra's Al Ghul."
"Thank God," said Thea, as she rushed to her brother's side.
Tatsu looked at Oliver and asked, "How bad are his injuries?"
"Bad enough. He was run through on the left side and right side and has a would on his tricep," Malcolm said.
"Let's get him upstairs and check his wounds. I'll start brewing some tea penicillin and herbal tea using the herbs from Oliver's island," said Tatsu.
"We'll be upstairs waiting for you," said Malcolm.
Thea took Oliver's left side and support him as they got back in the elevator. He looked at her and smiled.
"Hi, Speedy," he said.
"Hey, Ollie," she said.
"I won," he said.
"You look it," she said then he laughed.
Arrow
Felicity stormed into Ray's office. He looked tired but happy. She intended on confronting him about how he was acting as the Atom.
"Good morning, beautiful," he said.
"Ray, we have to talk," said Felicity.
"Sounds serious," Ray said. "I think I might need more coffee before we talk."
Felicity opened her mouth to speak when her smart phone rang. Instinctively, she looked at it and saw that it was a call from Tatsu.
"I really have to take this," she said.
"I thought you needed to have an important talk," said Ray with a grin.
"I need to take this," she said then walked away from Ray's desk.
"Hello," she answered the smart phone.
"He's home," Tatsu said.
"Really? Can I talk to him? He is injured. Right now he is sleeping," said Tatsu.
"I'm coming over now. I need to see him," said Felicity.
"We are here," Tatsu said then hung up.
Felicity turned and looked at Ray. He was waiting for her to speak.
"I need to go. A friend has been injured and I need to check on him," she told him.
"Is there anything I can do?" Ray asked.
"No, nothing. I might be a day or two," said Felicity.
"Felicity, take whatever time you need. If you need my help or anything else, call me," he said.
She smiled at him. This was the Ray she trusted not the Ray obsessed with his A.T.O.M. suit. She stormed out of the Ray's office.
Arrow
Felicity was let into the building by Tatsu and brought up to the third floor. When the security door opened, she saw Thea was sitting beside a sleeping Oliver. Tatsu was explaining his injuries to her.
"His left side is healing without a problem. The right side there is a slight infection, but the herbs and my tea penicillin will take care of it. All the wound on his tricep needed was stitches. He should be fine in a few days," said Tatsu.
Thea stood up and walked over to Felicity and gave her a hug then said in her ear, "He's home."
Felicity shook her head in the affirmative.
"I'm going downstairs. Do you want to sit with him for a while?" Thea asked her.
"Yes, thank you," she said.
Thea and Tatsu left Felicity alone with Oliver. She sat down at the vacated chair. Felicity looked at the sleeping Oliver. Tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Thank God, you're back," said Felicity. "I really need to talk to you, Oliver. You have confused me, really, really confused me."
Oliver started to shift in the hospital bed. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked over to his left to see Felicity there. Just seeing her there made him feel better. He smiled.
"Hi," he said in a dry voice.
"Hi," she replied.