A/N: Ok, sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out. I was having one of those writer moments where I knew exactly what I wanted to happen but just couldn't seem to get it all out on paper in a way that would do what I was seeing in my head justice. So, here is the much anticipated finale battle…

Please, read and review!

Chapter Twelve: On the Edge of Darkness

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths of darkness. These people have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

Elizabeth Kubler Ros

The battle had progressed greatly over the last thirteen hours. There were over five-hundred League members fighting with Law enforcement in the streets of Starling City. The League seemed to be in awe of the fact that they were indeed losing their fight. The police were winning, miraculously, against them. Later, Oliver would come to realize it was the fact that the Police were fighting for something that was worth it: their lives, their families, and their freedom. While the League was fighting based on their own ideals of their twisted form of justice. And that made all the difference in the world. It didn't matter that the League was better equipped or better trained.

So, the fight went out…

Oliver spotted Digg and Slade fighting in the streets not far from him, facing off with their own League opponents. Deadshot had placed himself high on the rooftop of City Hall – the building directly behind them where the battle had broken out into all-out war – where he could pick the League members off one by one. Every now and then he'd have to use hand-to-hand combat on a stray League member or two that would make their way up to his position on the roof.

Tabitha had been fight alongside them, but she had been drawn away from the main fight when she had chased after a lonesome Nyssa. There they were in the alley leading to the underground entrance to where the two reactors had been connected under the river in Wayne's very own flood-room that he had built in case the reactor became too dangerous to use. It was also the only place capable of holding both reactors while connected.

Nyssa and Tabitha were both one of the bests that Rhas had ever taught – next to his greatest students Wayne and Bane, that is – and as such their fight seemed to be never ending. Nyssa flipped. Tabitha lunged. Nyssa punched. Tabitha blocked. Their movements a flurry of motion that was barely discernable to the human eye.

Meanwhile, Lucius Fox and Felicity had finally detached the two reactors from the elevated carrier in the flood room. However, they had come across a bit of a pickle when they realized that the League had sabotaged the actual flood gates making it impossible to drown the bomb in water. After all, water and electricity do not mix. On top of that, the reactors had been practically fused together, their metal shells melted into each other, making it equally impossible to separate them. Their only hope was to get the bomb out over the river and towards the open bay of water, away from the city. So, Felicity was busy dragging the damned thing behind her on the bat-pod-motorcycle that Wayne had let her use. The screeching of the metal reactors-turned-bomb against the cement floor made her spine prickle and her ears literally flinch with the sound of nails on a chalkboard echoing off the stone walls around her. Fox had already left to send a message to Wayne that they would need the B.A.T. to carry the bomb out of the city. Felicity found him a few minutes later kneeling at Tabitha's side when Felicity finally made it up and through the lift. He was holding pressure over a wound that stretched across the White Tiger's throat – her blood flowed smoothly and quickly like red rivers down her chest and to the ground – but Felicity, just with a look at the sever wound, already knew that it would not be enough.

Felicity jumped off the bat-pod and ran to her mentor's side, the only mother she had known in a long time, and fell to her knees next to her fallen friend. "Nana…Tabitha…" Felicity's voice cracked, and it was not long before the only sound she could make were gasping sobs of pain. A dull aching feeling crawled up her legs, slowly making its way to her heart, but the walls that she had put up long ago held strong. This death would not break her, she wouldn't let it.

"Ssshhh. No tears. No tears. It was always going to end like this. Let me go with no regrets…and no tears," said Tabitha in a soft gargled voice as she used what little strength she had left to brush her cold fingers across Felicity's cheek, before it fell to the ground – pale and frozen.

Felicity turned then, her eyes catching on the fallen figure of the now dead Nyssa who had her own knife plunged into her heart – much like Nyssa's dagger at killed Felicity months ago. It appeared that as soon as Nyssa had slit Tabitha's throat, the White Tiger had used her mere force of will to turn the knife on its owner and repay her in kind. Felicity pushed the dull ach back down until it was settled firmly in her gut. She would not let them break her.

A loud roaring sound echoed through the alleyway as a large truck came screeching to their sides. The side doors rolled open and out jumped Detective John Robin Blake and with him Detective…Officer Quinten Lance. Felicity looked at Lance with a shocked frown drawn across her face. "This is my city, too. You guys didn't honestly think I'd let you have all the fun?!" said Lance with a sad but hopeful smile flying over his mouth. It appeared that he had not followed his family to Central City where it would be safe. Gotham Police Commissioner, Jim Gordon, jumped out of the driver's seat of the van and together the three men with Felicity and Fox's help loaded the reactor-bomb into the van where they planned to meet Wayne near the harbor where they could get it over the bay with the B.A.T..

They made it halfway there when their van was flipped and soon surrounded by at least twenty League members. The reactor had landed over Fox's left leg and was clearly crushing the older man. Blake and Lance quickly shifted it off of him to see that the leg was broken…badly. "Stay with him," order Lance to Blake as he followed Gordon and Felicity out of the overturned van to face their enemies. Lance had just enough time to txt Digg to let them know that they had been cornered with the bomb before the twenty or so assassins made their first move against them. The fight broke out with high battle cry from both sides before everyone was engaged in a fight to the death.

Oliver was quickly confronted by Malcolm Merlyn as the others dealt with the lesser League members. A sharp jab to the gut put Oliver onto his knees, but her parried Malcolm's move with a sharp up-thrust of the side of his bow into Merlyn's throat. Malcolm was left breathless as Oliver used his fists and bow to pummel the father of his long deceased friend. Malcolm broke free briefly, but it was enough time for him to raise his right leg for a strong kick to Oliver's abdomen. Oliver raised his bow and arms, prepared to block Merlyn's attack, but the force of the kick still drove Oliver to fly back and land awkwardly on his side. His bow, now broke in two, lay a few feet away…forgotten.

Malcom's strong grip around Oliver's neck as he lifted him from the ground and used his superior strength to squeeze the life out of Oliver Jonas Queen. Oliver could feel the dark ocean heading for him, the edges of his vision blurring and his breathing stopped before it all suddenly came back to him. He gasped for breath as he reached for the helping hand that was held before him, slowly and unsteadily he climbed to his feet and turned to face none other than the Dark Knight.

The fighting around them ceased all of a sudden as Bane yelled out in some ancient foreign language to the rest of League. Digg and Slade were thrown unceremoniously away from their enemies and landed at Wayne and Oliver's feet, but hey quickly rose to their feet as they all watched the few members of the League that were still fighting run off and follow Bane as he left their proverbial battle field.

Deadshot quickly made his way down the rooftop of City Hall and to his fellow team members. "Is it all over?! Did they surrender?!" asked Floyd Lawton as he and rest of them looked around to see that Malcolm Merlyn had disappeared, too.

"No. They've gone to join the real fight. The League has Felicity and the others cornered with the bomb a few blocks from here," growled Wayne as he raced to climb into the B.A.T. quickly followed by the others. They took off and flew over the City…

Catwoman fought with a vengeance, anger, and a deep aching emotion that seemed to terrify any and all of her opponents. She was winning, until a sharp black Arrow flew through the air and scraped her side viciously. It was a mere flesh wound, but it distracted her from her latest attacker as the Dark Archer, Malcolm Merlyn, lunged from the shadows and used her pain and injury to his advantage as they engaged in an age old fighting-dance.

Felicity was quickly driven to her knees as Malcolm raised his dagger to deliver his final killing blow, but it never reached its preferred target as Bane blocked him. Perhaps Malcolm had not realized that it was Bane that stopped him from killing Felicity – Talia Al Ghul – or perhaps he just didn't care that it was Bane, but his dagger moved through time and space before reached Banes left side. It plunged deep before giving a sickening twist, leaving Bane to his fate. With a quick blow to the back of the head by a very large and impressive gun, Deadshot put Malcolm on the ground in a dark unconsciousness as he jumped from the just landed B.A.T..

Oliver moved next, charging to the just fallen Bane, his knee driving Bane from his knees to his back and holding him there on the ground. Felicity sharp cry of "No!" froze everyone

The League stopped. Everyone stopped.

The members of the League of Shadows were cold, heartless, assassins that fought only to follow orders, the orders given to them from their leader, but now…they had no leader – Bane lay dying on the ground – and as such, the fought for nothing. The left like the shadows they are and nothing but destruction was left in their wake. Slade pulled Oliver off of Bane as Felicity fell to her knees for the second time that day. The ach traveled up from her gut and landed just below her chest. She held her sobs and tears inside of her. A lone hand reached up to caress Bane's face. Wayne kneeled down next to his enemy and put pressure on the wound. It would not be enough.

Bane looked at Felicity, his Talia…his salvation. "Forgive me," Bane's words were released on his final breath. His voice rough and distorted due to his mask.

"Goodbye…my friend. My protector," gasped Felicity. This was the second time he had saved her, and for that she could forgive him anything. Her father had made him into the man he was, but even in his final moments, Bane's true nature revealed itself, and he wasn't as dark as Rhas had made him to be.

"Guys?! There's only three minutes left on the clock!" Yelled Blake from his place next to Fox. Everyone broke into a flurry of motion as they quickly dragged the bomb from the van and hooked it to a retractable cable that was connected the back end of the B.A.T.. "We can get it to a safe distance with the autopilot and send it over the bay," said Blake as he stated the obvious.

"Just one problem," said Wayne as he slowly went to stand in front of Felicity and cup her cheek. "No autopilot."

Felicity closed her eyes and turned into Wayne's touch. "Please, don't leave me."

"I don't have a choice, baby," said Wayne as he leaned to place a gentle but loving bittersweet kiss to her forehead.

Slade moved to stand behind Felicity as he placed a strong halting hand on her shoulder. Digg moved to her side and grasped her hand firmly. This was one fight they would not let her join.

The roar of the B.A.T echoed in the space around them as it lifted up cloud high, soaring over the dust and remains of Starling City, past the edges of Gotham, Metropolis, and Central City. The sound became more and more faint as it moved away from them. Slade, Digg, Oliver, Blake, Lance, Fox, and Gordon all looked on in awe as the Dark Knight left…taking their fate with him.

Felicity did not look. She kept her eyes place firmly in front of her, facing the rubble of their finished war. Her mind focused on the words that Wayne at whispered against her hairline before his lips had said their goodbye. Words that she and only she had heard him utter.

"I will see you again."

And she would…

The fading sound of the B.A.T. was broken as the nuclear bomb reached their ears. The mushroom cloud rose over the bay, safely away from their city. And then there was just…

Silence.

Silence and tears.

"There is a sacredness to tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than 10,000 tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love."

—Washington Irving

Rant VI) "Unthinkable"

I am not sure about the rest of you but I have to say that the final episode of season 2 has made me seriously confused. Once again the writers of the series show just how much they lack in writing due to their constant inability to fill in even the smallest of plot holes. Now, I know we all hope that the (fake out) "I love you" scene will be taken care of in season 3 with some much needed answers, but I have come to accept that the likelihood of that happening is few and far between given the fact that the writers have (in the past) refused to deal with other Olicity moments that have yet to be fully explained. For example, the fact that Oliver was very much willing to kill the Count when he kidnapped Felicity, but he did NOT kill Mathis when he took Laurel. This has yet to be addressed by the writers of the show.

Now, while I LOVED the fact that is was Felicity who essentially defeated Slade by being the one to give him the cure, and while I agree that the plan to "out think" Slade was ingenious, but like many of you I am worried as to whether or not Felicity was in on it. If she was not then Oliver once again used her feelings against her. So, let us all prey that she was part of the plan.

Anyone else worried that Oliver is once again going to hook up with Laurel? OR the fact that Laurel is going to insert herself into Team Arrow? God I hope not!

Not to mention the fact that if Laurel and Oliver do hook up in season 3 I believe it would be a complete disregard and insult to Tommy's memory as well as Sara's. Plus, am I the only one that thinks that Laurel being suddenly all accepting of Oliver as the Arrow (once Slade finally tells her and she gets her proof) is a bit contradictory of her attitude towards the Arrow throughout about 75% of the entire second season – I mean she blamed him (unjustly) for Tommy's death – and now all of a sudden she's supportive about it. Laurel just becomes more and more of a contradiction with every single episode…and not in a good way.

Her biggest contradictions in the past were when in season 1 she was still pissed at Oliver for cheating on her with her sister, but Laurel was willing to get involved in a love triangle between Oliver and Tommy. Not to mention the time when she had secret lunch plans with Oliver that she hadn't told Tommy about in the "Home Invasion" episode of season 1. Then she spends most of season 1 blaming Oliver for the cheating things even though it takes two to tango. Plus, up till the point when Sara returns she longs to have her sister back, but when she does come back she gets angry (with good reason) but it contradicts her past attitude. Then there was how she got over her alcohol and drug addiction in like one episode – so not realistic at all. Also, the fact that she seems to think that she knows Oliver like she "knows her own name" is ridiculous b/c she couldn't even figure out that Oliver was the Arrow until Slade told her and then she had to look for proof. Both Digg and Felicity both strongly hinted that they suspected that Oliver was the Arrow long before they became a team.

Another thing that one of my AMAZING reviewers pointed out to me is that the League of Shadows/Assassins is all about loyalty, faithfulness, and honesty with each other. The League is a group of people that take even the smallest crime seriously. I mean in Batman Begins they were willing to kill a man just for stealing, but they still accept Sara – a woman who stole her sister's boyfriend, lied, and cheated with him – into their inner circle?! Rhas Al Ghul would never have allowed that, so the entire Sara being part of the League is unlikely in itself due to her past, unless of course she kept what she and Oliver did a secret which is unlikely in itself. So, once again it begs the question of whether the writers of the show actually respect their characters considering they are willing to let them get away with practically anything. Also, I read in an interview with one of the two main producers of the show who admitted that they plan from episode to episode, instead of an overall storyline for each season. This shows in their writing and storyline considering many (not all, but many) past episodes contradicts what is happening in the most recent episodes.

Character development still seems to fall through the cracks. They had an amazing villain in Moira Queen (she was evil, but I LOVED to hate her…if that makes sense). They could have easily worked on her character development and had her gradually become more evil or find a good side to her and slowly make her a better person, but instead they couldn't so they killed her off. I fear that whenever they can't develop a character fully they will just go with the lazy option of killing said character off. Now, I am a BIG fan of Once Upon A Time. It is a show that focuses a lot on all of its characters. I mean look at Regina/The Evil Queen – she started out as the villain and now she is slowly and gradually becoming a good guy (not quite on a hero level yet) – and it's taken her 3 seasons to get there. ONCE worked with their characters and instead of making them just good or just evil they develop them on a human and realistic level and give them a reason to being who they are. The Arrow show very rarely does that and when it does it does so with characters that the audience is sick and tired of having pushed down their throats (cough *Lance Sisters* cough).

I pray that season three will open doors to other characters and that the writers will stop leaving so many unnecessary plot holes and start working on more character development with more of their characters (Felicity/Digg/Roy).

A/N: Also, haven any of you noticed that whenever we have a flashback to Laurel and Oliver before the island they are never really happy (at least not from what I've seen and interpreted)?! Why be with someone if they don't even make you happy?! Lastly, one of the reasons Sara Lance never appealed to me as a person is the fact that she (sort of inadvertently) is 50% at fault for Shado's death on the show. The other half of the blame lies solely with Ivo, of course. But, when Shado died Sara didn't even seem all that sorry for her death and that just made me mad because next to Felicity, Shado was my favorite female character on the show. And like my thoughts on the possibility of Laurel getting back together with Oliver in later seasons being a big insult to Tommy's memory, I felt that when Oliver got together with Sara it was not only an insult to Felicity but also to Shado's memory. Hope that explains some of my thoughts on the Sara Lance character.

Coming Next: The last chapter, the Epilogue. So, no one panic…the story is not over yet (I did finish writing said Epilogue so the wait won't be long – I promise – I'll post it within the next week).