Disclaimer: Arrow is owned by The CW, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. The characters of the Green Arrow and the Justice League is owned by DC Comics. I own nothing; I'm just playing in their universe.
Chapter 35: The Scientist
"There are ways for a person to slow down their own body's processes to simulate death. And as Malcolm himself said, he had resources available to him- including resources in the coroner's office." Mia leaned forward. "As to how he survived, that is one of the oldest secrets of the League of Assassins." She sat back in her seat. "What do you know about Ley Lines?"
Thea looked at her, confused. "Some kind of new age mumbo jumbo."
"Not exactly. They are line of mystical energy that run through the earth. At several points around the Earth, the lines converge. At those convergences, a Lazarus pit can be created."
"The thing that Ra's used?" Thea asked, causing Malcolm to look sharply her way.
Mia nodded. "Malcolm discovered the secret of creating a pit." She continued. "And he had one created up in Canada. He had his associates place him in the pit, and a few hours later he was healed." She looked over at her father. "That was one secret that Ra's never found out you knew about, by the way. I'd keep it that way."
Malcolm nodded, but before he could say anything the door opened and a red and yellow streak burst into the room. It zipped around the room at blinding speed, startling the viewers and amusing the Justice Leaguers.
"Barry!" Mia said, laughing. "We can't hear you when you talk as fast as you run!"
The streak stopped, and the first surprise everyone got was that there wasn't one person, but three. The first was an the oldest, around 40-smething, with sandy brown hair that was exposed as he pulled back his cowl. The second was a tall, somewhat lanky African-American, younger by a few years. They were both dressed in a red one piece suit that were decorated with lightning bolts. The third was a younger man, only in his twenties, with the same brown hair as the first and the same twinkling eyes. He was dressed in a similar suit to the first two, though his was yellow and his hair was exposed from the open cowl. Mia looked at the three speedsters in amusement. "What is this? Family night out?"
"Well, I was checking the logs to see where you were on this little adventure," Barry started with a grin, "And when I realized what was coming up, I thought the boys here would get a kick out of watching it."
"Yeah, I can't get enough of seeing him make an ass of himself." The younger man said with a cheeky grin.
"And I miss those days sometimes." The other man said.
Mia gestured for them to turn around, then rose to introduce them to the stunned visitors. "Everyone, this is Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen- The Flash, The Flash, and Kid Flash. Or have you graduated yet?" she asked Bart in mock confusion.
"Nah, I'll always be a kid at heart." Bart said with a grin. "Besides, there are already two Flashes and a couple Reverse Flashes. No need to confuse it anymore." Bart suddenly zipped over to Thea, and the next moment he was sitting on her lap. "Hey babe. How YOU doin'?" he asked to her stunned amusement.
"HEY!" Roy protested, neither stunned nor amused.
"If you ever get tired of that looser, look me up." He whispered to her conspiratorially, then zipped back over to his family.
"Uh, you're the one-er, ones?- that have been dropping off food and drinks and stuff?" Felicity guessed. "Thanks, for that, by the way. You make a mean cocktail."
Barry looked at Felicity and smiled, then zipped over to her and gently pulled her into a hug. "It's good to see you again, Felicity." He said warmly. "It's been too long."
Wally moved over to Mia and leaned in. "We figured you three would need some time to get your gear together." He whispered to her. "We'll spell you for a bit, and be in here when it goes down."
"Kara?" Mia asked.
"On her way." He promised. Mia nodded, then schooled her face into a pleasant expression. "Roy, Sara and I have to go take care of something." She announced to the others. "Wally and the Allen's will stick around, mostly because they want to see Barry looking all shy and awkward."
"I know. You'd never guess it by looking at me." Barry said with a self-deprecating grin. "But I was a total nerd."
As the three Flashes settled down to watch the latest memory set, Mia, Sara and Roy made their way to the control room. They were greeted by Rose, who handed the two archers their quivers. "Loaded for bear." She informed them. "Shock, explosive, and injection arrows."
"Load?" Roy asked.
"Cure only." Rose replied. "After you stick him with that, hit him with a shock arrow. Or an explosive arrow; I don't really care."
"No killing." Mia said firmly.
"Did anybody tell HIM that?" Rose asked.
"When?" Sara asked. She opted for a dart pistol like Rose was carrying, along with her batons.
"I'd say about an hour and a half." Rose replied. "Maybe he'll wait until the memory stops; but probably he won't."
"Malcolm's settled down." Mia noted. "Maybe Slade will, too."
Rose just gave her a pitying glance.
The memory set opened on the Queen Consolidated Applied Sciences building. As a storm brewed outside, two security guards were walking the floor. They were walking past a loading bay door when suddenly it shook with a heavy impact. The two men stopped and stared, and soon the door was hit again. "What was that?" one of the guards asked the other. They watched as the door was struck again and again, and as it started to buckle they drew their guns. One last hit sent one of the two doors crashing to the ground, and the guards opened fire.
Before them was a man in a black, featureless mask. He ran forward, shrugging off the bullets hits and punched one guard, sending the man flying into several barrels that toppled on top of him. The other guard tried to make a run for it, but the man stopped him. He lifted the guard up by his neck with one thick hand and squeezed, crushing his throat. Then he threw him head first into a heavy metal barrel, finishing him off. With no further resistance, the man walked on into the building, searching for his objective.
Tommy blinked. "Uh… when did the Juggernaut get there?" he asked.
"Mirakuru." Slade said, one word explaining everything.
"It makes you bullet proof?" Felicity asked in amazement.
"In a way." He replied. "Your skin and muscles become extremely dense, and you heal so fast, you don't really register the hits."
The scene changed to Queen Consolidated proper the next day. Oliver, Moira and Diggle exited the elevator on the executive floor and were greeted by Felicity.
"Mrs. Queen, welcome back to the company." She said happily.
"Thank you." Moira said graciously.
"You look fabulous. Really, better than ever. Did you do something to your hair?" she rambled, unable to stop.
"Yes, I shampooed it without eight women and a guard watching me." Moira quipped.
Felicity laughed, but then forced herself to stop. "Is it ok to laugh? Because I was ordered not to say anything about you being in prison, just to avoid any awkward exchanges." Moira walked off.
"Like that one." Oliver said, following his mother.
Felicity groaned. "Right." She said. Diggle just shook his head in bemusement.
Moira gave Felicity an amused glance. "It's really quite endearing when I know what to expect from you." She told the hacker.
"Uh…thanks?" Felicity replied unsurely.
Inside the boardroom, Isabel was going over the latest projections with the rest of the board. "We need to drill down on these numbers before the earnings call." She looked up in surprise to see Moira enter with Oliver right behind her. "Oliver. I didn't realize your mother was stopping by for a visit today." She said.
"Well, it's not a visit." Oliver said, pulling out the chair at the head of the table for Moira, and then sitting down in the chair at her right. "This is her company, too."
"Well, THIS will go over well." Moira noted wryly.
"Of course." Isabel turned to Moira. "How are you, Moira?" she asked with forced pleasantness.
"Back, Isabel." She said firmly.
Isabel paused, and then turned back to Oliver. "Mr. Queen, may I speak to you for a minute?"
Moments later the two were out in his office. "What sort of message does it send to the investment committee, to the city, if we hand Queen Consolidated right back to your mother?" Isabel argued.
"She was acquitted." Oliver pointed out.
"By a jury. Not by the city." She shot back. "Oliver. Stop thinking like a son and start thinking like a CEO."
Moira sighed. "And as much as I hate to give her ANY credit, and as much as I know she wants to keep me out of the company, she does have a point." She conceded.
Oliver gritted his teeth as she walked back into the boardroom, but before he could join her, Diggle came into the office.
"Oliver. There's been a break-in." he informed him.
At the Starling City Train Station, a young man climbed off a train. He carried a heavy wheeled suitcase and tried to shield himself from the rain with the latest issue of Science Showcase that featured an article on the new particle accelerator. He looked at watch. "Damn!" he muttered, grasping the handle on his case and taking off at a brisk walk down the station.
Barry shook his head. 'Always running late…'
The scene shifted to the Applied Sciences building. Diggle and Oliver were looking at the wrecked door as Felicity stood behind them.
"This door was made of expanded reinforced titanium." Diggle noted. He turned to Officer Lance, who was one of the cops working the scene. "What did they use to do this?"
"Not sure yet." Lance said. "No sign of any explosives. Maybe a crane, maybe a forklift." He walked around the scene. "I'm guessing there was at least three of them, maybe four. And given how quick they got in and out of here- they were fast." He guessed.
Outside the train station, the young man tried to flag down a taxi, who took off anyway. "Whoa, hey, stop, wait!" he shouted after the cab. "You don't even have a fare!" He sighed and stated walking again, then stopped as another passing car sent up a large plume of water, drenching him.
Wally and Bart were both snickering now.
Back at the Applied Sciences building, Quentin was started asking questions. "Any idea what these guys were so hot to break in here for?" he looked at Oliver. "You didn't happen to leave a spare earthquake machine lying around, did you?" he quipped. Oliver gave him a look. "Sorry." He apologized.
"This is what we're able to pull off the security cameras." Kelton said, coming up to the group and pulling up the video on his tablet. The clip showed the man in the mask killing the two guards, and then the man picked up a box and flung it at the camera, taking it out. "He was the only guy we got on video. The rest of the crew must have come in after him."
"Actually, it was only one guy." They all turned to see the young man from the train, who was examining the scene. "Ah, sorry I'm late. But actually, my train was late. Well, the second one. The first one I did miss, but that was my cab driver's fault. I've got this great traffic app, and… but he thought that he was right. I'm here now, though. So…." He babbled.
"Great." Lance said dryly. "Who the hell are you?"
"And do your parents know that you're here?" Oliver added.
Wally and Bart both laughed at that, and Thea and Laurel joined them.
"I'm Barry Allen." He said, pulling his ID out of his jacket and showing it to them. "I'm from the Central City police department." He explained. "I'm with the crime scene investigation unit. We're working on a case with some similar unexplained elements in Central City, so when the report of your robbery came over the wire, my captain sent me up here."
"And you think one guy ripped through this door like it was tin foil?" Lance said skeptically.
"One very strong guy, yeah." Barry replied. Oliver looked off, suddenly lost in a memory. "Uh, it takes about 1,250 foot pounds of torque to break someone's neck." He pulled up the autopsy photos of one of the guard and showed it to them. It showed the man from the shoulders up, focusing on the bruising of the neck. "You see the marks on the guard's neck? The bruising pattern suggests the killer used only one hand. I'm guessing you don't know how hard it is to break someone's neck." He said to Oliver.
"I'm sure he has no idea." Tommy said dryly.
"Hmm?" he looked up, his mind having been in the past briefly. "No. No idea." He lied.
"Uh, we're going to need a list of the entire inventory here to figure out exactly what was stolen." Kelton began.
"Actually, I think I know what was stolen." Barry put in. "A centrifuge. An industrial centrifuge. Probably the Kord Enterprises 2BX 900. Maybe the six series." He led them to a concrete base, on which something had been attached and was no longer. "Both have a three column base. Here, you can see the three sets of broken bolts where the thief just ripped it out of the ground."
"And what exactly is a centrifuge?" Lance asked.
"It separates liquids." Felicity explained. "The centripetal acceleration causes denser substances to separate out along the radial direction."
"And lighter objects move to the top." Barry added.
Felicity smiled at the scientist. "What did you say your name was again?"
"Barry. Allen."
"Felicity. Smoak." She said, introducing herself.
"When nerds flirt." Bart said with a snicker.
Oliver gave the younger man a look, so he continued with his analysis. "Um, you can see the cracks heading towards the door." He stated, pointing to the footprints embedded in the floor. "Footsteps. One guy." He stood. "Anyway, it's just a theory. One backed by a lot of evidence." He added.
"You got all that just from looking around?" Lance said to the former CSI agent, whom nodded in reply. "Well, I'm impressed."
"There has to be another explanation." Lance protested.
"Yeah. I'm sure you're right." Barry said to placate the cop.
As Oliver knelt down besides the base to examine it more closely, Lance moved over to Felicity. "You might want to fill our mutual friend in on this."
"Yeah. Don't worry. I'm sure he's already on it." She assured him.
5 YEARS AGO
The four castaways trudged through the forest, moving towards the coordinates on the Hozen. Shado took point, Sara brought up the rear, and Oliver helped the injured Slade move down the steep incline they were on.
"We need to change directions." Slade said with a groan.
"We need to rest." Oliver countered.
"If Ivo and any of his men survived that blast, they'll be tracking us. We keep moving." Slade said determinedly. Then he stepped over a tree branch and dropped several inches. The impact, slight as it was, hurt him tremendously. "Five minutes." He gasped reluctantly.
Oliver helped him sit on a rotted stump. "You watch him, please." He asked of Sara.
"Of course." She said.
Oliver walked over to Shado. "Do you believe them?" she asked of him. "That this Hosen will lead us to a wrecked Japanese sub?"
"Ivo seems to think so." Oliver pointed out. "I just hope whatever miracle serum they're after is actually onboard." He looked back at Slade. "For his sake."
"How do you know that girl?" Shado finally asked him.
Oliver sighed. "Sara was on my father's boat with me."
Shado scoffed in realization. "What about the girl in the picture? Laurel?" she asked in disbelief. "The girl you told me you were in love with."
"Sara is her sister." He admitted, ashamed. Shado gave him a look of disgust.
"She finally began to see through the lies he constructed around himself." Slade said smugly.
Slade staggered over, rested enough of the moment. "I feel like taking a walk." He said with forced levity, throwing an arm over Shado's shoulders to help support himself. "Anyone care to join me?"
The two started walking again. Sara paused next to Oliver. "I guess a lot's happened in the last year." She noted before following.
PRESENT
In Queen Consolidated, Oliver was staring out of the window as the rain fell, his mind deep in thought.
"Oliver." He looked over to see Diggle coming into his office. "Got the final inventory from applied sciences." Dig said. "That CSI from Central City was right. The only thing missing is a centrifuge." He handed him the inventory.
"You have to see this." Felicity said a moment later. She walked over and showed her tablet to the men. "I pulled up CC traffic camera footage from across the street of applied sciences. This is three minutes after the alarm went off." She played the video, and they watched as the mask man carried the two-ton centrifuge on his shoulder to a waiting van.
Oliver looked up to see Barry Allen out in the waiting area. "Can we help you with something, Detective?" he asked.
"Oh, CSIs aren't actually detectives." Barry said, moving into the office. "We don't even carry guns. Just some plastic baggies." He chuckled. Felicity did as well, causing Oliver to look at her askance. "Uh, where should I set up my equipment?" he asked.
"I'll show you." Felicity offered.
"You two are so cute together." Wally noted.
"It's like the high school chess club co-captains are hooking up, though." Bart said. Thea snickered.
"What's going on?" Oliver asked, thoroughly confused.
"Your assistant said that you preferred to keep the investigation in house, so I cleared it with my captain to give you a hand." Barry explained.
Oliver smiled at the man, but took Felicity by the elbow and led her closer to the window. "What are you doing?" he asked her quietly.
"We need to find this intruder." She said. "And he seems to know more about it than any of us. Forensic science isn't exactly my forte, so I'd say we need him." She added. "Wouldn't you?"
Oliver gave her a pained smile. "Mm-hmm." He said grudgingly.
Felicity smiled, and then walked over to Barry. "I'll show you around." She offered.
"Why am I getting the feeling you know more about this than Felicity's new friend?" Dig asked after the other two had left.
"Pray I'm wrong." He said simply.
The scene shifted Queen Manor later that day. Moira was in the parlor, looking at a picture of a younger Thea when Oliver walked in.
"Hi." He said. "I'm sorry about what happened at the office this morning."
"There are a lot of people who think I got away with murder, Oliver." Moira noted, putting the picture back. "Maybe I did."
"Mom, the trial, the Undertaking, Malcolm Merlyn, all of that is behind us now." Oliver told her. "And we need everyone to see that."
"How are we going to do that?" she asked skeptically.
"We throw a party." He said decisively.
"Well, THAT'S going to be epically bad." Thea guessed.
Before she could say no, tow more people joined them. "Thea. Roy." She said, greeting them in turn.
"Did I hear you guys say something about a party?" Thea asked.
"A welcome back to Queen Consolidated party for mom." Oliver said.
"I don't think so." Moira started to protest.
"If things are going to get back to normal, then we need to start acting normal." Oliver argued. "Normal for us is a lavish party."
"He's not wrong." Laurel noted.
Roy's phone beeped, so he pulled it out to look at it. He sighed. "Oh. I'm sorry, Mrs. Queen, I can't stay for brunch." He apologized.
"I guess we got to go." Thea said, kissing her mother on the cheek. "Bye." The two walked out under Oliver's watchful eye. After they had gone, he looked back at his mother and smiled.
"I'll take care of everything." He promised.
"And maybe even show up." Tommy added.
The scene changed back to the Applied Sciences building. Barry was setting up a ring of ultraviolet lights around the base of the stolen centrifuge as Felicity looked on.
"What exactly are you looking for?" she asked.
"Your thief's shoes touched the ground, which means he tracked in dozens of clues as to where he's been the past few days." He explained from the floor as he examined the footprint from all angles. He smiled and pulled out a pair of tweezers. "Got ya." He said. He snagged the small pit of evidence with the tweezers and stood, walking over to the mass spectrum analyzer. He grinned at Felicity as he put the evidence in the machine and closed the tray. "Shouldn't take long." He told her.
Felicity moved over to the monitor to watch as the picture of the evidence started to appear on the screen, along with the chemical makeup.
"So you've seen him, right?" Barry asked. "The Vigilante? I read that he saved you." He said offhandedly. "What was he like?"
Felicity froze. After a moment's silence, she merely said "Green."
Tommy snickered. "Green? That's what he was like?"
"What about moody," Thea suggested, "obnoxious, pushy, over-bearing…"
"Green." Barry said excitedly. "That's interesting, right? I mean, why green? Black would be better for stealth, and urban camouflage."
"See? Everything Batman knows, he learned from me." Barry told them all with a wink.
"You DO know he probably has this room bugged, right?" Wally stated. Barry's face fell slightly.
"Me, personally," he continued as Felicity did her best not to make eye contact, "I think that he trained in some sort of like forest or jungle environment, and the green is a nod to that."
"I don't give the vigilante much thought." She said, walking around the table and turning off the UV lights.
"Police reports show that he uses carbon arrows, but if he switched to an aluminum carbon composite, he would have far better penetration." Barry continued, oblivious to her nervousness.
"Maybe he thinks he penetrates just fine." Felicity noted, so nervous she didn't even feel embarrassed at the double entendre.
"And I'm sure you'd be willing to test out that theory of penetration-" Tommy started, before getting smacked in the arms by Thea and Laurel. "-Ow._
"Do you want to know something else?" Barry asked. "I think that he has partners. Definitely someone with a background in computer sciences."
"Wow." Thea said, impressed. She looked to Barry. "You pegged all of that without even meeting him?"
"It was kind of obvious, if you knew what to look for." Barry replied.
"Yeah." Felicity moved back in front of the computer. She looked at him askance. "Why are you so interested in the Vigilante?" she asked.
Barry exhaled heavily, his excitement gone in a flash. "When I was 11, my mom was murdered."
"I'm so sorry." Felicity said at once.
"Welcome to the club." Tommy said darkly. "I should have jackets made."
"They never caught the guy who did it." Barry said. "Maybe he would have." The computer beeped, snapping Barry back into scientist mode. He stared at the results on the screen. "The soil…there's a crystalline structure in it." He squinted. "That's weird." He said after a moment.
"What's weird?" she asked.
"It's sugar." Barry stated curiously.
The scene changed to Verdant. It was already night by the time Roy and Thea were finally able to meet up with Sin.
"Sin, you said this was an emergency." Roy started.
Sin looked askew at Thea. "No offense, but Thea, you shouldn't be here." She said bluntly.
"In the alleyway of the club I own?" Thea replied sarcastically.
Sin sighed. "It's my friend Max." she began. "He's missing. I haven't seen him for a week, no one has. Something happened to him." She looked at him significantly. "I figured you knew someone who could help." She said.
Roy was frozen, he most DEFINITELY couldn't reveal to Thea that he was informing for the vigilante. Fortunately, Thea saved him.
"Roy can help you." She said confidently.
He glanced over at his girlfriend, puzzled. "I thought you wanted me to stay out of trouble." He said pointedly.
"I kind of like that you never turn away from someone who needs help." She said, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'll just get someone to cover the club." She said, heading towards the back entrance.
"What do you mean?" Roy said at once.
She glanced back at him. "Oh, I'm coming with you." She said, smirking. She headed back into the club, and Roy gave Sin a look. The other girl just shrugged her shoulders.
Moira rolled her eyes. "It's bad enough that one child goes jumping off rooftops…."
The scene changed to Queen Manor. Moira walked into her room to finish getting ready for the party downstairs when a voice startled her.
"I hear you're throwing a party." Moira gasped and spun to see Malcolm Merlyn standing by the French doors that led out to the patio. "I didn't get my invite."
Moira took a moment to compose herself. "Where exactly should I have addressed it? Starling City cemetery?" she asked acerbically.
"I know that's where you wish I was right now." Malcolm stated. "Lying beside my son."
"Great." Tommy said sarcastically. "First you use mom's murder, now you use my own. Great parenting, Dad." Malcolm said nothing.
"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you, Malcolm?" Moira asked. "You killed Tommy. You killed your son. You cannot have my daughter."
"Our daughter." He said, cutting her off. He moved in closer. "I think we both needed someone that night. I felt so bad about betraying Rebecca's memory that I left Starling." He continued. "Left Tommy behind. That's when I made my way to Nanda Parbat, where I found my new purpose." He smirked at her. "In a way, Moira, you made me the man I am today."
"Thea is innocent." Moira argued fearfully. "She loved Robert. Please don't take that away from her, I'm begging you."
"Thea is all I have left." Malcolm said coldly. "Tell her the truth, and tell her soon." He turned and walked back out the way he had come in, leaving a red-eyed Moira alone in her room.
Thea turned to snarl at her 'father', but the look on her mother's face stopped her. It wasn't fear, or even resignation; it was a calculating look, a look of someone who was coming up with a plan… "What is it?" she asked Moira.
Moira glanced over at Malcolm. "I think he just made a mistake." She said. Malcolm looked back at her, puzzled.
The scene shifted to Applied Sciences. "You found something?" Oliver asked as he and Diggle walked in.
"We found something." Felicity clarified, looking to Barry.
"There were trace amounts of sucrose and a spec of dirt the killer dragged in here on his boot." Barry revealed.
"Which got me thinking." Felicity continued. "There is a sugar refinery two miles from here. The land around it is suffused in waste sugar. So I checked. They had a delivery truck stolen a few days ago."
"Their truck matches the make and model of the truck the thief used to steal the centrifuge." Barry added.
"Can you track the vehicle?" Oliver asked.
"We've been trying." Felicity started, but was cut off when her computer beeped. She looked at it in astonishment.
"What was that?" Oliver asked.
"You're not going to believe this." She said. "The truck, it was just used to rob a blood bank."
The feeling of dread in Oliver's stomach grew. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yeah." Felicity confirmed. "Our guy just made off with 30,000 cc's of O-negative."
Diggle scoffed. "What, he has super strength, likes blood? Please don't tell me we suddenly believe in vampires." He joked.
"Um..." Bart started
Diggle looked at him in astonishment. "You're kidding. Vampires?"
"There are older and darker things in this world than you've ever seen, Mr. Diggle." Malcolm said. "Vampires, demons, a pit of water that can raise the dead- they are ALL real."
"Well, THAT'S a comforting thought." Tommy said.
"We should give this information to the local police." Barry said, slightly confused by the dynamic in play.
"I'll take care of that." Oliver said. He gave Barry a look. "Did you say that you were working a similar case in Central City?"
Barry blanched slightly. "Oh, yeah, um…" he stammered. "Yeah, you know, it's similar. Has similar elements. A lot of similarities. Right. Yeah." He finished lamely.
Oliver smiled tightly at him, then he and Diggle turned and started walking out. They stopped a short distance away.
"I want you to look into this Allen kid." Oliver told Dig. "There's more to him than he's letting on."
"Just like Batman." Wally noted dryly. "Always questioning people's motives."
"His intentions seem pretty clear to me." Dig said wryly, looking over at Barry who was standing very close to Felicity as they worked on the computer.
"Just do it, please." Oliver said tiredly.
"Oliver, when are you going to tell me what exactly we're up against?" Dig asked. Oliver just gave him a look.
A short time later. The Arrow pulled up behind a speeding sugar delivery truck that was loaded down with stolen blood and missing the driver's side door. He tried to speed past the truck, but Cyrus kept cutting the wheel to the left and right, cutting him off. Frustrated, Oliver fired an arrow at the passenger side mirror, taking it out, then pulled to the driver's side. Cyrus looked out the open space to see Oliver's bike speed past- with no one on it. He was confused for a moment before The Arrow swung in from the roof of the cab, landing a hard boot to his masked face. He replied with a single punch that sent Oliver tumbling back out.
"Uh… ouch!" Tommy exclaimed.
Slade smiled maliciously. 'This will be fun...'
Oliver hung on desperately, finally managing to pull himself back up. He threw three hard right crosses that did nothing more than piss Cyrus off. Cyrus responded with a single punch that sent Oliver flying out and up onto the hood of the truck. Cyrus punched through the windshield shattering it, then grabbed The Arrow by his hood and yanked him back into the cab. A little dazed, Oliver pulled a flechette from his thigh quiver and jammed it into Cyrus' leg. The other man grunted in annoyance, then threw one last straight punch that sent Oliver- and the passenger side door- crashing to the pavement. The momentum caused it to skid into a pile of trash by the side of the road. He pulled himself up, wincing in pain, and looked at the bloody, bent arrow he had managed to hold onto, covered in Cyrus's blood.
"Jesus, that guy packs a punch!" Quentin noted.
Malcolm glanced over at Slade, who was watching with a small grin on his face. 'If that man was a mindless brute,' Malcolm thought, 'what could someone with decades of combat experience do with that kind of power?' he shuddered at the thought.
The scene changed to the Lair.
"Yeooww!" Oliver yelped in pain as Felicity taped up his ribs.
"Sorry." Felicity said softly, trying to be gentle.
"Big baby." Thea joked.
"Ahh." He winced as he pulled on a sweatshirt. "Thank you." He said softly to Felicity. He let out a breath. "You were right to ask if I knew more than I was letting on." Oliver admitted to Diggle. "I've seen men with abilities like that before."
"You have?" Felicity asked. "Where?"
"The island." He said tiredly. "My second year marooned there, we- I came across the remains of a Japanese World War II military project." Oliver explained. "It was a serum designed to create human weapons."
"Human weapons." Diggle scoffed. "My God, what's next, aliens?"
"Well, you've already met one…" Bart noted.
"We have?" Laurel said.
"Supergirl." Slade noted with distaste. Wally looked at him with narrowed eyes.
Tommy blinked. "She looked human to me." He said, a small smile on his face. "Very human…"
Laurel rolled her eyes and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Nope." Bart said, shaking his head. "Kryptonian. Also," he looked to Tommy. "You're not her type, FYI."
"This is real, Diggle." Oliver said sharply. "Those five years that I was away, I came across things that just defy explanation." He sighed. "There's a doctor, his name is Ivo, and he came to the island to test the serum on people. The ones that survived, their endurance, reflexes and strength were all enhanced."
"And you think this Ivo's in Starling City?" dig asked.
"He's dead." Oliver said confidently. "And so is everyone that he injected with the serum. The last of which I burned."
"You think someone found the recipe." Diggle surmised.
"The centrifuge and a large supply of blood." Oliver stated. "I think someone wants to make more of it. A lot more."
Felicity sighed sadly. "Why couldn't you have been marooned on Aruba?" she muttered.
"Amen." Laurel muttered.
"There's a third component- a strong sedative." Oliver revealed. He handed the bloody arrow over to Felicity, who took it timidly.
"I think I preferred it when you left these in people." She noted sourly.
"Look at the arrowhead." Malcolm noted. "It's crumpled like tin foil!"
"I need you to analyze the blood on the arrowhead." Oliver ordered. "If we can figure out which sedative they're using—"
"We can figure out where the next robbery will be." Diggle finished.
"Barry and I will get right on it." Felicity said, walking off.
"I think our Miss Smoak is smitten." Dig noted.
"Diggle, what did you find out about Mr. Allen?" he asked the bodyguard quietly.
"He's not who he says he is." Dig replied.
"Who is?" Thea asked darkly.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The four continued their trek through the wilderness. As they came down a steep incline, Shado looked back at Slade with concern.
"How are you holding up?" she asked, noting his labored breathing.
"I could do with a better looking crutch." He joked, referring to Oliver.
They started moving again. Oliver glanced over at Slade. "You two seem like you've gotten pretty chummy." He said casually.
"We're here." Shado announced suddenly. They stopped at the top of a steep cliff. Down below was a lagoon that must have fed into the ocean- because sitting near the middle up against a rocky outcropping was an ancient Japanese submarine.
"There must be a fissure in the island below the waterline for it to come that far inland." Slade stated.
Oliver shook his head. "Unbelievable." He remarked.
"You know, if they could get it unstuck…" Tommy said in realization.
"They'd have a way off the island!" Laurel finished.
PRESENT
In the Applied Science's building, Barry was climbing the shelves looking at the setup in horror. "They have nitric acid next to hydrazine? Permanganates on top of acetone? This is the definition of dangerous." He exclaimed.
"Is this-" Wally started, excitedly. Barry shook his head no.
"If it's so dangerous, maybe you shouldn't be touching them." Felicity noted. Thunder cracked overhead, and Barry glanced up at the ceiling. "Barry." She said, getting his attention back. "I managed to get a sample of the perpetrator's blood from the police department. We need to isolate a sedative in the blood." She told him a she prepped the arrow. "It could lead us to the thief."
"How did the police get it?" Barry asked.
"Apparently the Vigilante shot him with an arrow." Felicity said offhandedly.
"You're kidding." He climbed down from the shelves and ran back over to the examination table. "You know what this means, right?" he asked excitedly. "This means the Vigilante's working the same case we are! Heh." He chuckled. "Go figure. How did you get it?" he asked her.
"He pulled it out of the perps leg and handed it to her." Quentin noted dryly.
"Oliver has a lot of connections." Felicity replied casually.
Barry chuckled again. "Wow. Pays to work for a billionaire." He noted.
"Actually my take home's nothing special." Felicity said. "Especially given I am rarely at home, since I'm with him every night."
"Ah." Barry deflated slightly. "Well, I didn't realize you and he were…"
"Oh, no." she quickly denied. "Work. He and I are not, no," she shook her head. "I do not like Oliver." She said firmly.
"Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt." Tommy teased.
Barry smiled and turned back to the shelves. "Um, I was invited to a work function." She continued nervously, causing him to turn back to her. "It's a party. And I have a plus-one. I was thinking you would make a really good plus one." She asked.
"That's so cute." Thea said, grinning at Felicity.
He smiled warmly at her, and then looked momentarily panicked. "There's not going to be dancing, is there?" he asked worriedly. "I'm not just not too good on my feet."
Wall and Bart snickered. Barry looked over at Felicity and winked; the blonde blushed.
Felicity just smiled.
The scene changed to the Glades the next day. Sin let herself, Roy and Thea into her friends' small apartment.
"Ohh." Thea gagged, covering her nose. "It reeks in here." She looked around at the dozens of paintings- on the floor, on the wall, some still on easels. All of them showed an eerily familiar interpretation of Brother Blood's skull mask. "I guess your friend wasn't too into painting seascapes." She quipped.
Sin picked up a pizza box with a few fuzzy pieces still in it. She grimaced and put the box back down, closing the lid.
Roy looked around, scouting for clues. Looking down on a chair, he noticed an advert for a blood drive sponsored by Sebastian Blood.
"Max is like any starving artist- starving." Sin said. "But I could always crash here when I didn't have a place to stay."
"Hey, this blood drive was a week ago." Roy said, holding up the pamphlet. "When did you say he went missing?"
"Look at Roy, the junior detective." Wally said with a grin. "And someday when I grow up, I'll wear the green leather pants!" he said in a teasing voice. Thea laughed.
Sin looked at the ad. "That day." She said.
Outside, Officer Daily was seated in his police cruiser, parked just down the street that faced the building. He noted with interest as the three left the building. He picked up his phone and hit the number one speed dial. "It's Daily. Someone's looking for Maxwell Stanton." He said into the phone.
"And they should find him." Blood replied.
"Yes, Brother Blood." Daily said, and then hung up.
"Freakin' traitor." Quentin growled.
In his warehouse, which now housed the cooler of stolen blood and the Kord Enterprises TBX-900 centrifuge, Sebastian took a bag out of the cooler and walked over to Cyrus. "Blood provides life." He said. "Blood provides power. And with power- there's no limit to what I can do." He told his superman.
The scene changed to Queen Consolidated. Felicity and Barry were at her desk watching the latest news report about the particle accelerator.
'…Central City is just a day away from making history when the controversial S.T.A.R. Lab's particle accelerator is finally turned on.'
"Pretty cool, right?" Barry asked excitedly.
"You know there's been a hundred percent increase in earthquakes since they've turned on the Large Hadron Collider." Felicity teased.
"That data is misleading." Barry started to argue.
"Oh, do tell." Felicity said with a laugh.
"You know about misleading, don't you?" the laughter died as the two saw Oliver walking powerfully towards them.
"What are you talking about?" Felicity asked.
"He's not from CSI, he's an assistant." Oliver revealed. "Whose bosses don't know you're in Starling. And there is no similar case in Central City. So tell me, Barry," Oliver glared at the younger man. "What are you really doing here?"
"Busted!" Bart crowed.
Barry exhaled heavily. He looked over at Felicity. "I told you my mom was murdered." He started.
"By your father." Oliver put in.
"He didn't do it." Barry said defensively, walking around the desk to stand in front of the imposing man.
"You said that the police didn't find the man who killed her." Felicity stated.
"The police think they did." Barry replied. "My dad has been serving a life sentence. They didn't believe me." He said sadly.
"About what?" she asked.
"I was 11. One night something just came into our house, like a tornado. A blur. Somewhere inside The Blur, I saw a person." He turned back to Oliver. "My dad went to fight it. I tried to get 'em when suddenly," he sighed. "I was 20 blocks away from our house. Nobody believed me." He chuckled humorlessly. "They thought I was trying to cover for my father. But what I saw that night was real. As real as the man that ripped down that metal door with his bare hands." He said pointedly. "That's why I look into cases like this. The ones nobody believes are possible. Maybe if I can just make sense of one, I might be able to find out who really killed my mother. And free my dad." His shoulders slumped and he looked back to Felicity. "I am sorry I lied to you. Better find another plus one." He said sadly before walking out.
Felicity glared at Oliver. "He did lie about who he really was." Oliver said lamely, trying to defend himself. It sounded hollow even to his ears.
Felicity scoffed. "And what do we do every day?" she asked emotionally before walking out, leaving Oliver alone in the office.
"Wow. I've never seen Oliver act that jealously." Tommy said.
"Jealousy can be a powerful motivator." Diggle noted, glancing at an amused looking Slade.
The scene changed to Queen Manor later that night. The three Queens walked down the stairs into the foyer and were greeted by Felicity.
"Hey. How's everything going in there?" Oliver asked.
Felicity smiled at Moira and Thea. "Good evening, Queens." Then she looked pointedly at Oliver. "Can I have a word?"
"Yeah." He said. He took her arm and led her off a bit. "I'm sorry if I overreacted a little bit earlier." He apologized.
"Oh, you think?" she replied sarcastically. "Look, right now you need to apologize to your mother." She told him. "Not me."
Oliver looked at her, confused. "For what?"
"Your being wrong." She said sadly. Oliver frowned and walked over to joined his Mother and Sister at the entrance to the parlor-
The almost empty parlor.
There was a three string orchestra playing classical music, there was a bar set up to serve drinks, and there was about six people in the large room.
Moira sighed. "Well, I saw THIS coming…"
"I guess these days, I only draw a crowd when I'm on trial for murder." Moira said glibly.
Thea's face fell; Oliver's was set in stone. Thea put a hand on her mother's arm. "Mom, you don't have to—"
"We have guests." Moira said, smiling determinedly. "However few of them there are." She walked in and began to greet the few people who had arrived.
"You're a hell of a lady, Mrs. Queen." Tommy complimented.
"Ain't that the truth." Thea agreed.
Thea stepped over to her brother. "This is not your fault, Ollie." She whispered to him as she walked into the room. She saw Roy, once again dressed in a sharp suit, and moved over to him.
"How's your mom doing?" he asked.
She forced a smile. "Oh, you know us Queen women- nothing gets to us." She said.
"You must take after your dad." Roy quipped, and Thea chuckled.
Thea winced at that.
He frowned as his phone rang. "Sorry." He said to Thea as he answered the phone. "Sin. What's up?"
Down in the Glades, Sin was looking at the ground in front of a chain linked fence. "I found Max."
Back at the party, Roy frowned. "Where?" he asked. His frown deepened. "I'm on my way." He hung up.
"They find Max?" Thea asked.
"Um, no." he lied. "She just wants me to stop by."
"I can come with you." Thea offered hopefully.
"You should stay here. Your mom needs you." He told her truthfully. He kissed her on the cheek. "Ok, I'll call you later." Thea sighed as he walked off, and then moved on to mingle.
"Well, at least he's keeping you away from the dead bodies now." Moira said.
"In his defense, the last time he put me near a dead body, it was actually Detective Lance's fault." Thea reminded her mother.
Felicity was walking through the ballroom, doing her best to stave off boredom for the Queen's sake. She came to stand next to Oliver, not looking at him.
"Time for a dance?" he asked her with a small smile.
She glanced at him. "Not really feeling like dancing with you, Oliver."
"I know." Oliver turned back to the entrance. "And that is why I called him." Felicity turned around, and was surprised to see Barry Allen standing there. "FYI- they will card him at the bar." Oliver told her before he walked off.
Bart and Wally snickered. Barry just sighed.
"Hi." Barry said as he came up to her.
"Hi." She said with a smile.
"I was serious about not being able to dance." He told her. "But I'll hold your hands and sway."
Felicity chuckled. "Sold." She said, beaming. They awkwardly came together and started swaying to the music.
Then he stepped on her foot
"Sorry." He said, and they both chuckled.
"It's like a high school dance." Thea said, tittering.
"Isn't it?" Bart replied. "All we need now is the Glee club, and we'll be set."
"Don't make me ground you, Bart." Barry said, crossing his arms.
"Gotta catch me first!" Bart replied.
Oliver walked up to the bar, where he found Isabel. He signaled for two shots of vodka.
"I tried to warn you." She said, taking the shots and handing one to Oliver.
"I tried to ignore you." He replied. They drank their shots; across the room, Moira watched them, concerned.
"I am sorry, Oliver." Isabel told him, sounding sincere.
Oliver nodded. "Yeah." He turned and walked back out into the room, passing his mother as she headed towards the bar.
"Oliver threw you a lovely party." Isabel told her.
"Oliver's a good son," Moira replied with a smile as she picked up a fresh glass of champagne. "If not the best judge of character." Her smile at Isabel could freeze fire. Isabel smiled back, absolutely predatory.
Sensing the tension, Oliver headed back over. "Is everything ok?" he asked.
Isabel's smile widened. "Everything's going perfectly." She said, turning to go back out onto the floor.
"Bitch." Moira and Thea both said at once.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The four castaways climbed down the sail into the interior of the sub. Shado and Oliver went in first. Slade made it halfway down, but his flagging strength finally failed him and he slid down the ladder and hit the deck hard. Oliver grabbed him and helped move him into the next compartment as Sara made her way down. Oliver helped Slade sit down as Shado and Sara started looking for the Mirakuru.
Shado looked at Slade in worry. "He doesn't have long." She said plaintively.
"If this miracle drug is on board, then we need to find it now." Oliver said. He looked at his friend. "Slade, be back in a few minutes, ok?"
"I'll just get comfortable." Slade gasped.
"Come on." Oliver urged. The three made their way into the next compartment, but found nothing. They opened the hatch to the following compartment, entering what appeared to be a rudimentary sick bay. Shado shined her light around the compartment for a moment before the beam fell on a small wooden crate on the floor.
"There." She said. She dropped to the floor and opened the crate. Inside was sectioned off into several smaller compartments, and reaching in to one, she withdrew a syringe, its needle sealed with a cork, containing a greenish liquid.
"Mirakuru." She announced.
"Miracle." Oliver breathed.
"I was never sure it was real." Sara admitted.
"What happens if we give it to Slade?" Oliver asked her.
"He needs a sedative in his bloodstream first." She said.
Shado jumped up and started going through the cabinets. "They might have potassium bromide or barbital." She said. She moved to the opposite cabinets and rooted around. "Ohh." She withdrew a broken glass bottle. "It's empty." She said, dejected.
"What happens if we give it to him without the sedative?" Oliver asked. "Sarah!" he urged when she didn't reply immediately.
"He'll die, for sure." She said sadly.
"He's going to die anyway." Shado said. Suddenly there was a loud clanging sound. They all looked up in alarm. "What was that?" Shado asked.
"Ivo and his men." Sara said in dread. "They're on the sub."
"That doesn't sound good." Diggle said.
Slade shook his head. "I should have made them leave me behind." He said. "They were able to track us so easily because I was too injured to take a longer route."
PRESENT
Moira stood in the now empty ballroom, staring out at the grounds. In the reflection of the glass, she saw a man approach.
"Have you made contact?" she asked him.
"Yes." He replied. "He said to tell you that your information was gratefully accepted."
Malcolm glanced sharply over at Moira, who had a small smile playing on her lips. Surely she didn't…
"Thank you." She told him. She turned and watched him walk out just as Thea and Oliver walked in.
"Who was that?" Oliver asked.
"Nothing to worry about." She told him with a smile. "Thank you for tonight, Oliver. It was a lovely party." She said warmly.
Oliver sighed. "I'm so sorry that I put you through that." He started. She cut him off.
"Oh, listen, I don't care what anyone else in this city thinks of me." Moira told them sincerely. "I only care what you two think."
Oliver's phone started to ring. He looked at the face and Saw Felicity's picture. He smiled at his mother. "And I have to get back to the office." He said ruefully. "Excuse me." He walked off, answering the phone. Thea turned to follow him out when Moira's voice stopped her.
"Thea." Moira said, causing the younger girl to turn back. "There's something I need to tell you."
"Sure. What is it?" she asked.
Moira walked up to her daughter. She thought about telling her, she started to tell her- but in the end, she just couldn't. "I love you." She said instead, pulling her in for a hug.
Thea smiled at her. "I love you, too." she replied. She turned and walked out of the ballroom, leaving Moira alone with her thoughts.
The scene changed to the Applied Sciences building. Barry was on the phone with his furious boss, trying desperately not to be fired.
"Yes." He was saying as Felicity worked on the computer, looking up every few moments in concern. "Yes, sir. I- yes, director, I know that this is not the first time. Yes, sir, I do value my job, very much." He assured the man. "Look, I will be on the next train. Mm-hmm. I'll be back tonight. Ok. Thank—" the other man hung up first. Barry sighed. "Well, my boss found out I don't have food poisoning. I need to get back to Central City if I still want to be employed. Which I do." He grabbed his bag and threw the strap over his shoulder before grabbing the handle of the suitcase. "Tell the SCPD that the sedative in the thief's blood is Ketamine." He told Felicity. "It's a schedule three controlled substance. It shouldn't be too hard to track."
"Yeah, I'll make sure they get it." Felicity said. "Thank you."
"It was really nice—"Barry started.
"Thank you for—" Felicity said at the same time.
"- working with you." Barry finished after a moment.
"-everything, We couldn't have done it—" Felicity said at the same time again. She paused.
"Without you." She finished. They both chuckled.
"It's almost painful how cute you two are together." Thea said teasingly.
Barry stared at Felicity for a few moments, and Felicity thought he would make a move. Instead, he smiled warmly at her. "Good-bye, Felicity." Barry said.
"Good-bye." She said, watching him walk out with a wistful smile.
The scene changed to the Glades. Roy arrived as the cops were manhandling Sin, trying to force her behind the barricade.
"Max! Get off, let go!" she was screaming in anger. "Max! Get off of me!"
"Hey! Let her go." Roy demanded. "Cut it out!" The cops practically shoved her at him before stalking off.
"Stupid cops." Sin snarled. "They're saying Max OD'ed."she told Roy.
"Was he using?" he asked.
"No!" she said hotly. "He made extra cash donating blood. You really think the hospital would let him be a donor if he was an addict?" she asked.
Roy glanced around; all of the cops were busy elsewhere. He quickly slipped past the barricades and ran over to the body, taking out his phone and taking a quick picture. He noted the bloody tears running down his cheeks as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
"Hey." A cop said as Roy moved back towards the barricade. "Can't be here, kid."
Roy grabbed Sin's arm. "Let's go. He said, placing his arm around her shoulder and leading her out of there quickly. Officer Daily stood there and watched them leave.
"I got a bad feeling about that." Felicity said.
The scene shifted to the lair.
"They found trace amounts of Ketamine in the thief's blood." Felicity told Oliver and Diggle as she walked in and headed for her computers. "It's a common surgical anesthesia derived from hydrochloric salt."
"Can you use that to track him?" Oliver asked.
Felicity started running a search on the computer. "With the current concentration ratio in the blood sample, there's only one possible location with a large enough quality of the sedative that correlates with the amount of blood the stolen centrifuge can process." She pulled up an image on the screen.
Diggle leaned in, frowning. "What is it? There's no sign." He said.
"A.R.G.U.S. doesn't like to advertise." Felicity said. "It's a disaster bunker. Right on the edge of the Glades. A.R.G.U.S. has them all over the country. They store relief supplies- food, clothing…"
"Medicine." Diggle finished.
"I'm on my way." Oliver said, walking over to the weapon's case and picking up his bow.
"Oliver," Felicity said hesitantly. She opened the small case on her table and pulled out the bloodied arrow. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this." She said, walking over to him. "The way this arrowhead is bent, it means our thief's muscle density is at least 120 pounds per cubic foot. That's almost the same density as common concrete." She looked at him worriedly. "Your arrows may cut this guy, but they will not stop him."
"Well, I've beat someone like this before, Felicity." Oliver said confidently. "I can do it again."
Slade scoffed. "So arrogant."
"What if you can't?" she asked.
The computer beeped, and Diggle glanced at the screen. "Oliver." He said. Oliver looked at the screen, which showed the alley outside the club. In the utility pole, a read flechette was stuck in it. Oliver frowned.
5 YEARS AGO
As Sara battened down the hatches, Oliver and Shado knelt in front of Slade. Oliver held up the syringe. "Now this-, it could save you; or it could kill you."
"By the looks on your faces, I'm going to die anyway." Slade gasped. He reached out and grasped Shado's hand, and Oliver stood and backed off to give them a moment. "Sorry." He rasped.
"For what?" she asked.
"For not telling you how I really feel." He admitted. He looked up at Oliver. "Do it." He ordered.
Oliver dropped down, pulled the cork off of the needle, and plunged it into Slade's leg. He injected the Mirakuru, and then withdrew the needle. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then suddenly, Slade began to twitch, then spasm. He threw his head back and screamed in pain, and Oliver and Shado both tried to hold him down as bloody tears started to fall…
Slade watched the processes impassively. He didn't need to watch this; he still remembered the day perfectly. How weak, how DAMAGED he had been, unable to move anymore, unable to defend the woman he loved.
A hand slid down his shoulder and onto his chest. 'Soon, my love.' Shado said. 'Soon you'll see yourself grow strong once more. Soon you will avenge me.'
PRESENT
Roy was pacing in the alley when The Arrow finally arrived. "What?" the vigilante growled shortly.
"I need your help." Roy said. "A friend of mine's friend, well, the cops think he OD'ed, but we think he was murdered."
"Why?"
"Well, he wasn't an addict, for starters." Roy said, and then showed him the picture on his phone- Max, dead on the street, with bloody tears. "And this… this doesn't look like any OD I've ever seen."
Oliver looked at the picture in horror. "Stay away from that." He ordered.
"You know something?" Roy asked. "What happened to him?" The Arrow remained silent, so Roy exploded. "You're the one who told me to be your eyes and ears on the streets. You know what, that is not good enough for me anymore!"
"Fine." Oliver ground out. "Then we're done altogether." He started to walk away.
"I don't need you! I have friends that can help me." He yelled at his back. "You can't stop us." Roy turned and started walking down the alley.
"Boy, THAT was stupid." Thea muttered.
"Slow you down." Oliver growled. He spun, drew an arrow and fired, hitting Roy in the leg. He then turned and walked off, leaving Roy wounded and bleeding in the alley.
Thea blinked. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed. "Did he just shoot my boyfriend?!"
"I'm liking Oliver more and more." Malcolm noted wryly. Thea glared at him.
"Well, he all but said he was dragging you into this Mirakuru thing." Tommy said. "So sure, he makes sure he can't."
"By making sure he can't walk?!" she exclaimed. "And leaving him to bleed in an alley?"
"I'm sure he can make it back into the club." Tommy tried. "and then you can yell at him for getting shot. And then you cannot investigate the Mirakuru thing."
The scene shifted to Queen Manor. It was late and Moira was pouring herself a nightcap when she heard the floorboards creak behind her. "And I thought it couldn't hurt to add extra security guards." She said dryly, turning to face Malcolm.
"It hurt them." He said, tossing their guns on the floor. "Badly. Have you prepared Thea?" he asked.
"You're talking about me like I'm a Christmas turkey." Thea noted crossly.
"No." she said, putting the stopper back in the bottle. "You will not go near Thea, you will not speak to her and you will never set foot in this house again."
"I set you free, Moira." Malcolm seethed, moving closer. "Your life belongs to me."
Moira finally turned to face him. "I am through being afraid of you." She said.
Malcolm chuckled. "You think you can stop me?" he asked with a smirk. "Even the Vigilante couldn't kill me."
"No, he couldn't." Moira admitted. "But I know someone who can. Ra's al Ghul."
Malcolm looked shocked, then thoughtful.
Malcolm was taken aback. "How do you know that name?" he asked warily.
This time it was Moira who smirked. "Well, I didn't. Until you mentioned Nanda Parbat." Malcolm stood there in stony silence as Moira continued. "The League of Assassins, however twisted their aims, believes very deeply in a code of honor. Your undertaking betrayed that code." She explained as if to a small child.
"You told Ra's I'm still alive?" he asked with a slight quiver in his voice.
"He was so grateful to hear it." Moira revealed. "Because he so very much wants to kill you himself. So my advice to you, Malcolm: Run."
Malcolm turned to Moira and nodded appreciatively. "I guess I never learned NOT to underestimate the Queen women." He said graciously.
"No, you never learned not to underestimate what I would do to protect my children." Moira said. "You'd best remember that." She added coldly.
Malcolm smiled proudly at Moira- she had beaten him at his own game. "This isn't finished, Moira." He said as he turned and walked out of the room
The scene shifted to the depot. Oliver walked in, warily looking around. Hearing a noise, he glanced behind him- and barely dodged a large crate that was thrown into the shelves he had been standing in front of. He looked up and spotted Cyrus and started shooting arrow at him. Cyrus jumped down from the high catwalk, landing in front of Oliver. He swung with a wild haymaker that the vigilante ducked under. As The Arrow came up, he fired a cable arrow that wound a strong steel cable around Cyrus's neck and the support pole behind him, binding the man and holding him there.
"Who are you?" The Arrow demanded.
"Merely a follower." He replied.
"Of who?! "
"My brother." Cyrus said.
"Did he give you the mirakuru? Did he inject you with it?!" Oliver demanded hotly.
"No. He saved me with it." With that he ripped the cable in two and charged at Oliver, who fired an arrow into each of his feet, pinning him again in place.
"Smart." Diggle said. "Stick and dodge, don't let him get a hit. Wear him down."
"He won't be able to wear him down." Slade said confidently. "He won't be able to beat him."
"He beat you." Barry noted with narrowed eyes.
Slade chuckled. "No, he did not." He said. "He merely removed me from the board for a time."
Cyrus groaned in anger and started swinging, but liver merely ducked under the swings and started belting him both with his fists and with his bow. Cyrus managed to land one shot that sent the bow flying, and that gave him a moment to rip out one of the arrows. Oliver sidestepped another punch and stepped behind Cyrus, kicking him I the back of his knee and sending him down. Cyrus batted him back and ripped the other arrow out and took the fight to the vigilante, blocking one hit, taking two more, and then landing a solid punch to The Arrow's midsection that sent him sailing down the aisle. He rolled over and started to get up, but Cyrus was on him. One kick sent him sailing up into an air conditioning vent, and as he came down, Cyrus punched him hard that sent him into a shelf full of different medical supplies. Cyrus gave him one last glance and walked off. Oliver tried to get up, to move, to do anything- but then he spotted two self-injecting syringes that had pieced his leg. All he could do was open his com link before passing out.
"See." Slade said with a cold smile. "As I said before- arrogant."
5 YEARS AGO
Slade was still screaming, the blood was running down from his eyes like tiny rivers as Oliver separately tried to hold him still. He arched once more, gave one more scream, then a gasp,- and then was still. Sara knelt down and felt for a pulse. She shook her head.
"No." Oliver said, pounding on Slade's chest. "Please. Please!" Shado pulled him up and away and embraced him as they both started to cry. "Please."
Slade scoffed at the display. "Sentiment…" he said in disgust.
A moment later, the pirates and Ivo bust through the hatch with weapons drawn. "Put down your weapons!" the new Captain screamed as Oliver and Shado looked on, defeated.
PRESENT
Diggle and Felicity ran through the bunker, looking for their friend.
"Oliver! Oliver!" Diggle was shouting, "Oliver!"
Felicity spotted him first. "Oliver!" she screamed, running over to him. She dropped beside him and felt for a pulse.
"Is he alive?" Dig asked.
"His pulse is weak, but it's there." Felicity said shakily. "Oliver! Can you hear me?" she forced his eyelids up to look at his eyes. "His pupils are dilated!" she looked around, and then she spotted the two syringes stuck in his leg. She yanked them out quickly and examined them.
"What the hell was that?" Dig asked.
"I don't know, it's coded." She scrambled up and ran to the computer to pull up what it was. "Damn it." She cursed when she saw that the computer was destroyed. "Damn it! I can't break into the dispensary files. I have no idea what he was injected with! Poisoned with." She corrected herself tearfully.
Tommy leaned forward, a worried frown on his face.
"All right, we have no choice." Dig said, pulling out his phone.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Calling 9-1-1." He said.
"Dig, wait!" she shouted.
"Can't wait!" he countered.
"How are we supposed to explain this? Everyone's going to find out Oliver's the Vigilante!" she exclaimed.
"Which won't matter if he's dead." He finished dialing, but she yanked the phone from his hand and shut it off. "Felicity, we can't save him!" he yelled.
"I know, you're right… WE can't." she replied as a plan started to form.
The scene changed to the Starling City Bus Terminal. Barry Allen was running in, late as usual. He round the ticket booth just as the man there was closing up. "One way to Central City." He asked, huffing.
"It left ten minutes ago." The man replied.
Barry hung his head. "Of course it did." He said dejectedly. "When is the next one?" he asked.
"In the morning." The man replied before turning off the lights and walking away. Barry resigned himself to spending the night in the deserted terminal, and he had just sat down on one of the uncomfortable wooden benches when he was struck with a tranq dart. He gasped in pain and reached up for it, but the tranquilizer was too powerful and after a moment he slumped over, unconscious.
A short time later, Barry started to wake up. As the world started to come back into focus, the first thing he realized was that he was not in the bus terminal anymore. It was an industrial building of some sort that had been converted. He winced at the bright overhead lights and turned his head, only to see a glass display case with a bare mannequin in it. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, groaning and rubbing his face. As he moved his hand away, he saw the weapon's case with the compound bow and rows of arrows. He gasped in surprise, which deepened when he continued to look around and spotted the vigilante, lying on a metal table, still as death. The hood was down and he was shocked to see the face of Oliver Queen, and then shocked again when Diggle moved to stand on the other side of the table, standing over his friend and looking at him, helpless. Finally he was shocked a third time When Felicity walked up to him.
"Please save my friend." She pleaded to his astonishment.
"THAT'S how you got involved in all of this?" Wally said in disbelief. "You got drugged and kidnapped?"
Barry frowned. "Well, when you say it like that…"
"It still sounds bad." Everyone looked up to see Mia, along with Roy, Sara and Kara, walking in the door. All four were in their full outfits and were carrying their gear. "Damn, I missed seeing Roy shot, didn't I?"
"Is everything okay?" Barry asked at once, feigning worry.
"Yeah." Roy said. "Batman wants us on standby for a possible mission. But while we're waiting, we figured we come back in. And for the record- I DON'T mind that I missed seeing myself get shot." He frowned. "For that matter, I'm not going to like what happens next, either." He realized. The four heroes took their seats. For a moment, Mia's eyes flickered to Slade. He stared back impassively, but as she looked away, she could have sworn the corner of his mouth ticked upwards.
TBC
Man, this week has sucked. Let me just say RIP to The american Dream Dusty Rhodes, and RIP to the legend Christopher Lee.
A/N- something that came to mind- if Sin texted them with an emergency, and Roy and Thea left before brunch… why did they wait until after nightfall to meet up?
Something else I just noticed- when the Scrappy gang goes to Sin's friend's apartment (in daylight. Continuity? What's that?), all of the paintings are of Blood's skull mask. Did this friend design Blood's mask I wonder?
So… a bit about the Flashes. I'm sure people are wondering why the hell I made Wally West, the red-headed and white second Flash (and first Kid Flash) Black? Simple- 1) Iris and Joe are black on the show, so it only fits that Wally would be as well, and 2)they are going this direction in the New52. Now I'm not fond of the New52 (I think I may have mentioned that once or twice;), and I hate that they've changed characters that have been around for 50+ years for the sake of diversity, but I figured that I'd follow the Flash from the show more than the comics, so what the hell. And Bart Allen is of course Kid Flash, or Impulse to those who read Young Justice first (the comic, not the cartoon).