Ellie Bishop: No kidding. It's a pattern with Felicity, she'll do some morally questionable thing and, rather than owning up to it, she'll try to turn it around and make it Oliver's fault, every time. No kidding. The whole 'double agent' plot was the thinnest plot I've heard, because what did he actually do to stop Diaz and Cayden James? Glad to hear it.
Green Hal37: Yes, Felicity got what she deserved. Glad it was amazing. Yeah, it's a real tragedy.
Agent N: Glad it was great. Yep. Glad to hear it.
Guest: glad you enjoyed it. Glad you liked the Vigilante twist. No kidding. I was fine with her in the first two seasons, I tolerated her in season three, and then season four broke the camel's back and season five made it worse. Glad to hear it. I'll try.
Argus base
Late morning
"Alright, so let me get this straight, you let the Punisher out of an Argus prison cell?" Diggle asked in stunned disbelief as he and Oliver stared in disbelief at Lyla.
"With some precautions. That collar around his neck will shock him with enough electricity to knock him out and he'll find himself back in his cell if he steps out of line," Lyla explained.
"Why-what on earth made you think letting this psycho out of his cage was a good idea?!" Diggle finally exploded.
"The fact that Prometheus was coming after you guys. I figured it couldn't hurt to have some back up. And since he saved Oliver and Thea, I think it's safe to say I was right. Besides, Barry certainly seems to think there's good in him," Lyla said, taking them both back.
"I thought Barry was locked up in an Argus prison," Oliver said confused.
"He was. Alexei, one of the people working for Savitar, and Roy staged a break in and let all the prisoners out of their cells. Barry, Frank, and another prisoner teamed up to stop Alexei and take back the prison. And the only reason Roy is free from Savitar's control instead of in a grave is because Frank Castle chose to save him rather than kill him. Frank Castle may be a monster, but he's a monster that's on our side," Lyla said passionately.
"Gee, you say the nicest things," Frank said, lingering in the doorway and the two vigilantes whirled around. "So, Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow. Should've seen that coming."
"You have to have lost your mind if you think we're gonna work with him," Diggle snapped as he glared at Lyla.
Oliver simply stared at Frank, who met his gaze evenly.
"You may not want my help, but you definitely need it," Frank said simply but confidently.
Oliver knew he was right. Of his team, only Laurel and Diggle stood a chance in a fight against Vigilante, and that was without backup. With Felicity gone, they needed all the help they could get.
"If you give me half a reason to think you're a threat to the mission or someone I care about…I won't hesitate to take you down. And if I do it, you won't have to worry about being locked back in a cell," Oliver growled and Frank nodded as Diggle looked at him incredulously.
"You can't be serious Oliver!" Diggle exclaimed.
"He's right John. As much as we don't want his help…we need it," Oliver said grimly. "And if Barry trusts him to do the right thing, he can't be all bad."
"Well, since we're all on the same page," Lyla said, ignoring her husband's scoff as she pulled out the piece of Vigilante's visor. "Frank knocked this off Vigilante's visor last night. My operatives have been trying to track it back to its manufacturer."
"And did they?" Oliver asked and Lyla shook her head.
"No. It's like this suit came from nowhere," Lyla said frustrated as she handed the shard to Oliver. "Maybe Curtis will have better luck. In the meantime, I think I have an idea on how to take the heat of you."
Arrow lair
Later in the morning
"I can't believe Felicity stabbed us the back," Curtis said as he was toying with the T-spheres.
"Blondie has issues," Rene shrugged as the elevator doors opened up.
"You have no idea," Oliver said and Curtis and Rene jumped at the sight of Frank with him and Diggle.
"Um, why is the Punisher in our secret lair?" Curtis asked, trying not to freak out.
"Because I'm gonna be working with you," Frank said, smirking as Curtis paled.
"Is he for real?" Rene asked in disbelief.
"He's for real," Diggle grumbled, his voice conveying his dissatisfaction with the arrangement.
"We need all the help we can get right now," Oliver said before tossing the piece of Vigilante's visor to Curtis. "That's a piece of Vigilante's visor. Argus couldn't find anything on it, but you might have better luck with it."
"I think I have just the thing," Curtis said as he walked off, eager to get away from Frank and test out his T-Spheres.
"Where's Laurel?" Oliver asked as he looked over at Rene.
Laurel was working out her frustration on a training dummy when Oliver walked up.
"You okay?" Oliver asked as she took a breath and she shook her head. "What's going on?"
"I guess I feel…responsible for what happened with Felicity," Laurel admitted.
"You didn't make her contact Helix," Oliver pointed out.
"No, but I killed her boyfriend. And I didn't exactly endear myself to her afterwards. I guess I let my issues with my Felicity rub off on this one," Laurel said.
"What is your issue with Felicity's doppelganger anyway?" Oliver inquired what he had never had the courage to ask before.
"She caused me a lot of pain," Laurel said but didn't elaborate.
"We are all responsible for our own choices. Whatever you did or didn't do, Felicity made the choice to try and take you down. She played with fire and we all got burned. That's on Felicity, not you," Oliver told her.
Earth-2, unspecified location, Earth-2
Unknown time
Laurel awoke to find herself on some table in what looked like a mad science lab from a horror movie. She was cuffed to it and she couldn't move her hands far enough to get out of the cuffs.
The door opened and Laurel looked up as a black haired woman with her hair tied back into a bun and blue eyes walked in. She had a clipboard in hand and was dressed in a lab coat.
"Ms. Lance, I'm happy to see you're awake," the woman said with a tone that conveyed anything but.
"Where am I? Who are you?" Laurel demanded but was ignored.
"It says here that you have the ability of sonic screams, is that right?" the woman asked and Laurel paled.
"How do you know that?" Laurel demanded and the woman flashed a cool smile.
"We know a great many things about you Ms. Lance," the woman said idly.
"Well, you should know you've kidnapped me and I'm pretty sure this violates about a dozen human rights laws," Laurel said angrily.
"You are a Metahuman. And here at Hydra, we believe discovery requires experimentation," the woman said coolly.
Laurel's stomach was in knots as she realized just how dire her situation was. She tried to scream but, to her shock, her powers didn't work.
"Your powers won't work in here," the woman said smugly as she pulled out a remote.
Suddenly, a machine with three long syringes came down from the ceiling. Laurel frantically tried to get loose by thrashing, trying to get her hands out of the cuffs but it was no use. The three syringes stuck her, one in the upper chest and the other two in her shoulders. Laurel cried out in agony, feeling like her insides were set on fire.
Star City
Night
Diggle, Frank, and Curtis were in a car, Curtis using his T-Sphere to track Vigilante's visor.
"Stop," Curtis said and the car stopped. "This building, right here."
"Okay, stay here kid," Frank said and Curtis looked indignant.
"Hey, I want to help!" Curtis protested.
"You have Curtis," Diggle assured him.
"But you're just gonna get in the way now. Queen never should have let you out into the field, you're not ready," Frank said simply before he and Diggle got out, leaving a seething Curtis behind.
In a car in front of the court house, Laurel got a phone call and picked it up.
"Yeah? Okay, got it," Laurel hung up before looking over at Oliver. "Vigilante's across the street, ready to shoot you the moment we get out."
"Are the others on sight?" Oliver inquired and she nodded. "Then I'll be fine."
In the building across the street, Frank had an automatic rifle in hand and Diggle had two pistols as they searched for Vigilante. Suddenly, they had to take cover as bullets broke through a door. Vigilante walked through as they got up and returned fire.
As Frank took cover behind a pillar, Vigilante fired and got Diggle in shoulder. As he went down, Frank jumped out from around the pillar and opened fire. The barrage of bullets hit Vigilante's visor and he fell back, his visor shattered. Vigilante threw off his helmet and jumped up, returning fire at Frank.
At that moment, Laurel appeared, using her Canary Cry and sending Vigilante flying back into a wall, which broke down.
"You okay?" Laurel asked as she helped Diggle to his feet.
"Remind me to thank Cisco for the upgraded Kevlar," Diggle muttered.
Together, the trio moved towards Vigilante, Frank's gun at the ready. When they walked over, they finally saw his face and Diggle gapped.
"Lawton?"
"Hey John, long time," Floyd said with a smirk.
"But how, you died in that explosion!" Diggle exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Then I woke up about a week later, burns covering my body and my shooting arm gone," Floyd looked down at said arm. "Hive got to me, rebuilt me, and gave me this suit. I realized I still a prisoner though, until Damien Darhk kicked the bucket. Then, I fought my way out. When I discovered what happened, that the senator who caused all that got propped up while I was thrown to the wolves, I decided to fight my way. I was going to take down every last criminal, either a petty crook or corrupt politician, down so they couldn't get back up. I-"
Whatever else he was going to say, Floyd Lawton never got the chance. There was the sound of thunder and Diggle jumped back as Floyd's head exploded in a fire of blood. Frank lowered his gun, looking satisfied.
"It's over," Frank said as he turned and walked off.
Inside the court house, Oliver stood before the city council.
"After considering your testimony, we find you-" Kullens began.
Suddenly, the doors bust open. Everyone looked up, shocked to see Lyla walk in.
"Excuse me, who are you?" Kullens demanded eagerly.
"My name is Lyla Michaels, I work for the CIA," Lyla said as she pulled out a fake badge that only thorough study would determine was fake. "You won't be charging Oliver Queen with anything."
"And why is that?" Kullens demanded irritably.
"Because he didn't cover anything up, the CIA did," Lyla said to the shock of everyone. "We believed that if people found out the Green Arrow was manipulated into killing Detective William Malone by the Throwing Star Killer, it would cause panic."
"How did the CIA know about Detective Malone's death?" Kullens asked suspiciously.
"I'm afraid that is classified. The only reason I am coming forward now is because I cannot in good conscience allow Mr. Queen to suffer for something I did," Lyla said before she looked over at Oliver. "Mr. Queen, I am truly sorry for all you've had to endure."
City Hall
Later
Oliver was staring out his window, deep in thought as Quentin walked in.
"I gotta say, I was not expecting that," Quentin said. "What's gonna happen with Lyla?"
"I don't know, I doubt she had authorization to do that. She'll probably take a lot of heat for this," Oliver admitted. "I can't believe she did that for me."
"Well, you look like you could use some good news, which thankfully I have," Quentin said and Oliver looked over. "The Council has decided not to charge you with anything. You're still the mayor."
"Small victories huh?" Oliver smiled tightly.
Argus base
Same time
Diggle walked into Lyla's office, surprised to see her packing things up.
"What's going on?" Diggle asked surprised.
"I've been fired," Lyla said simply.
"Just because of getting Oliver off?" Diggle asked angry on his wife's behalf.
"Not just that," Lyla said and Diggle was confused. "Rick went to get Frank at the extraction point; all he found was the collar on his neck. Frank cut it off somehow, he's in the wind."
"And you took the heat for that and Oliver," Diggle noted and Lyla nodded. "I'm sorry Lyla."
"I'm not," Lyla said and Diggle was surprised. "This job, it takes a special kind of moral flexibility. It gets exhausting after a while. I let Frank out of his cell because I thought it was the right call. I helped Oliver because I thought it was the right thing to do. And if given the choice, I'd do both again."
"I know I wasn't very…supportive when I found out about Punisher. I'm sorry about that. But if they can't see what a mistake they're making by letting you go, it's their loss," Diggle said and Lyla smiled warmly at them.
"My thoughts exactly," Rick said as he walked in. "Am I interrupting?"
"No, I'm finished here," Lyla said as she put the last item, a picture of Diggle and JJ, in her box before turning to Rick. "I'm sorry I let you down Rick."
"You didn't let me down Lyla; you stood up for what you believed in. I'm sorry it cost you so much," Rick said and Lyla smiled slightly.
"Me to. Good luck Rick," Lyla said, holding her hand out to Rick and he took it. "You'll need it. You're director of Argus now."
Oliver's apartment
Later
Oliver opened his door, surprised to see Laurel standing on the other side.
"Hey, something wrong?" Oliver asked, letting Laurel in.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay after everything that happened," Laurel said and Olivier raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you can't really be okay when a member of your team stabs you in the back but I'm getting there. How about you?" Olivier asked, remembering how responsible she felt.
"I'm getting there," she repeated and Oliver nodded cautiously.
"Are you sure everything's okay?" Oliver asked, feeling like something was off with her.
"I'm not…good, with letting people in," Laurel said and Oliver nodded. "Usual, I just take what I want when I want it, because that is what kept me alive when I became a Metahuman and Earth-2 declared I was no longer entitled to civil or human rights. But its…different with you. I don't want to just rush in and take. So…am I alone in that?"
Oliver was silent for a moment. Then he took Laurel's face in his hands and drew her into a brief kiss.
"No," Oliver said and she smiled slightly before they shared another kiss.
Star City
Same time
Susan was walking to her car when a voice called out.
"Susan," she looked up to see Adrian walk over. "I'd like to talk to you about an exclusive."
"Can we pick this up tomorrow, because I'm really late for a dinner," Susan said politely.
She tried to open her car door but Adrian stopped her, pushing the car door closed. Susan then looked up at him, fear beginning to course through her veins.
"The thing is this story is important. You might even say…life or death," Adrian said in a tone that chilled her to the bone.
Not entirely happy with how I ended Lawton, but I'm really not sure how else I could have done it.
Yes, the Hydra agent who tortured Laurel in the flashbacks is Earth-2 Felicity. This is why Laurel has such a hatred of Felicity.
