Ellie Bishop: Yep. Yeah, it's not gonna be pretty for the Queen family. It's just plot contrived idiocy.
Agent N: Yep.
Green Hal37: They really don't care, they have no reason to care and their focus is on Chase. She's been held captive for a few days. Chase meets William the day after they free her.
Guest 2.0: Don't plan a sequel, sorry. No kidding.
Guest 1: Well, first off, don't make him the son of Clayborne. Since this was supposed to be about Oliver's season one past coming back to haunt him, have Chase be the son of someone we actually saw during season one instead of someone we'd never heard of. Then, instead of making Chase run circles around Oliver mentally to the point that it makes Oliver look braindead, have the mental battle between them be more equal. Have Oliver make some counter plays where Chase is caught by surprise. Smart hero versus smart villain is far more interesting than smart villain runs circles around dumb hero. Also, have Chase be exposed earlier and make it so that Oliver can't tell the truth about him for some reason, because we've never seen Oliver in an environment where he knows who his enemies is but isn't able to tell anyone.
Guest 2: Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, Chase was good the first half, but then everyone around him had to be nerfed in the second half; he was basically the precursor to Diaz. Glad you enjoyed the action and Easter egg. No kidding, Oliver enjoying killing just makes little sense. Everyone I've ever come across who buys the confession is never able to supply actual evidence he enjoyed it from season one, they stick religiously to season five, specifically Oliver skinning a man alive, ignoring how inconsistent that is with Oliver's season one portrayal.
Guest 3: No kidding, the confession was just stupid. Well, the entire lot of Batwoman seems to be 'man bad/woman good', so not that surprising.
Arrow lair
Night
Oliver stood on the platform, zealously going over footage from the traffic cams as Laurel walked up behind him.
"So, looking for Prometheus?" Laurel inquired.
"Seeing if he left behind anything on camera. Chase may be smart, but he's also arrogant and frustrated. That might make him slip up," Oliver growled and Laurel nodded. "Chase is under near constant surveillance while at City Hall and the SCPD put him in protective custody after his wife's death. He can't make a move yet, so it's time to strike back."
"Where's Curtis?" Laurel asked, having noticed the absence of the resident tech expert.
"Rene hasn't shown up today and isn't answering my calls. I sent Curtis to drag his ass down here," Oliver growled.
Star City
Same time
"Rene, it's me. Come on, you know that Oliver is mad you haven't shown up today," Curtis said as he knocked on the door to Rene's apartment.
To his shock, the door slowly opened. A pit forming in the pit of his stomach, Curtis entered the room, looking around. There were signs of a struggle, broken class and overturned lamps. Curtis quickly pulled out his phone and dialed Oliver.
Arrow lair
Same time
"Curtis, you and Rene better be on your way," Oliver said as he answered.
"I think he was robbed, things are broken and knocked aside and…I think there's someone here. If there is anyone here, I know martial arts," Curtis called out into the apartment.
"Curtis, what's going in there?" Oliver asked but only heard the sound of Curtis grunting. "Curtis!"
Receiving no answer, Oliver hung up and turned to Laurel.
"Call John, tell him to meet us at Rene's apartment," Oliver said hurriedly as he brushed passed her, knowing there wasn't a moment to lose.
Rene's apartment
Not long after
Oliver, Diggle, and Laurel burst into the apartment, looking around for any sign of Rene or Curtis. After a moment, they all lowered their weapons. Oliver knelt down, seeing Curtis' phone.
"Well, we've got a phone, but no tech expert or puppy," Laurel snarked.
"Whoever's doing this is good," Diggle noted grimly.
"We know who's doing this," Oliver said and they looked over at him. "It's Chase. He's picking us off one at a time."
"You said yourself that Chase was near constant surveillance. And I don't think even Chase can do this while or at work or under watch from the SCPD," Laurel pointed out.
"He had to have help," Oliver said as he spotted something.
He walked over to a shelf, pulling off a black flechette. Laurel and Diggle walked over, looking at it.
"Is that League?" Diggle asked stunned and Oliver shook his head.
"Talia al Ghul. Call Thea and Quentin, we need to get them somewhere safe," Oliver ordered.
"There's an Argus safe house across town we can use," Diggle offered and Oliver nodded in agreement.
"Get them there, then the two of you meet me in the bunker," Oliver ordered as he walked off.
"Wait, where are you going?" Laurel called after him.
"I'm gonna go talk to Chase," Oliver tossed over his shoulder.
Queen Mansion, Earth-2, four years ago
Night
Robert Queen opened his eyes, his vision blurry at first. He quickly realized he was tied to a chair in the foyer. Moira was nearby, also tied to a chair.
"Moira, Moira," he hissed and she stirred.
"Robert?" Moira said groggily as she came to.
"Good, you're awake."
Robert and Mira looked towards the sound of the voice. Robert was shocked to see Laurel walk in, even more so to see his daughter behind him, eying her mother with a look Robert couldn't place.
"I'm sorry that you had to be dragged into this Mr. Queen," Laurel said as she looked over at him. "You're not my target."
"Laurel? You're one of those Metahumans?" Robert said shocked.
"Yeah. I was watching the news one night; saw the report about you when I got hit by some blast of energy. Woke up the next day with a scream that could shatter bones," Laurel said nonchalantly.
"What do you want?" Robert asked wearily.
"Answers from your wife," Laurel said as she looked over at the still Moira, who hadn't said anything since Laurel had spoken. "You see, she sold me to Hydra. I want to know why. Then, depending on her answer, I may let her live."
City Hall
Now
Adrian was at his desk, appearing to be doing some paperwork when Oliver walked in.
"Where are they Adrian?" Oliver demanded.
"Who?" Chase asked innocently and Oliver snapped.
"You know-"
"You know damn well who!" Chase quipped and laughed as Oliver fumed. "You're right, I do know. Just like I know your every move when it seems you know none of mine."
"Tell me where they are," Oliver growled.
"Or what? You can't exactly attack the DA in City Hall. Kind of weakens your leverage," Adrian mocked him and the phrase 'if looks could kill' came to mind.
"I'm gonna find them and I'm gonna get them back," Oliver snapped as he stormed off.
"Is that what you came here to tell me or are you just wasting time?" Adrian called after him, chuckling as he resumed his paperwork.
Arrow lair
Later
"How'd it go with Chase?" Diggle asked as Oliver walked in.
"He's not giving me anything and I can't make a move on him with the constant surveillance. What was once an advantage is now a disadvantage," Oliver grumbled. "How'd it go with the safe house?"
"My dad and I Thea weren't happy about it but they're there," Laurel said.
Argus safe house
Same time
Thea was bored out of her mind, absentmindedly playing with the chess set in the room when one of the guards tried to call on his comms when, instead, there was a loud, static sound coming from the comms.
"Hey Sharon, we got a problem with the comms," he tried but got the same result.
As Thea and Quentin got to their feet, he looked over at them.
"Stay here," he ordered as he walked out.
"Well I don't know about you, but I sure as hell am not staying here waiting," Thea said as she looked over at Quentin.
"You read my mind. Let's go," Quentin said as he pulled out a pistol.
The two of them walked out of the room and down the hall, finding the guard unconscious. Thea picked up his pistol and they split up. Quentin walked into a room only to find a pistol drawn on him by a familiar face.
"Liza," Quentin greeted coolly.
"Hello Quentin," Werner said as neither of them moved.
"Just when I thought you couldn't go any lower, you sign on with Chase?" Quentin said in disgust.
"We do what we have to Quentin," Werner said simply as Thea walked in from the other door, taking aim at Werner. "Now.
Thea suddenly gasped, dropping her gun as a tranq dart hit her. Quentin turned towards her when he was hit as well. He went down as China White lowered her pistol, smirking.
"Time to go," White said.
Later, Argus agents roamed the house as Oliver, Laurel, and Diggle looked around.
"Where are we?" Oliver asked the lead operative.
"Well Mr. Queen, our technical specialists have been able to pull some footage from the security cameras around the safe hose. It clearly shows Mr. Lance and your sister having a standoff with Liza Werner before a second attacker tranqed them. The operative on duty was able to ID her as Chi Na Wei," the operative explained.
"In other words, Chase is behind breaking them out before they were sent back to Iron Heights," Laurel noted.
"Why though? What's his plan here? Having his lady friends pick us off one at a time doesn't sound very satisfying," Diggle wondered.
"Who knows what goes through the mind of a man like Chase," Oliver growled as the operative got a call.
"Director Flag I was just about to," the operative paused, paling as he heard whatever Rick had told him. "I see. Yes, I will inform them."
"What's going on?" Oliver asked as the operative hung up.
The operative ignored him, nervously looking over at Diggle.
"Mr. Diggle, I'm afraid I have some bad news," he said nervously.
Elsewhere in Star City
Later
Rick Flag stood in a room full of bodies, picking up one of the murder weapons, an arrow with a red arrow head. He was examining it when he heard a commotion outside. He sighed, expecting it and walking out to find Oliver attempting to stop Diggle from attacking the operative that was refusing to let Diggle through.
"It's alright, let them through," Rick ordered and the operative stood aside as Diggle stormed over to Rick, Oliver and Laurel following behind him.
"Where are my wife and son?!" Diggle exploded.
"I honestly do not know," Rick explained. "The guards missed their last call ins and weren't answering their comms. We found all agents in this safe house dead and Lyla and your son missing. Security footage showed that they were abducted by Carrie Cutter and a woman dressed in black with a red shirt."
"The woman who interfered with our fight with Cutter, China White, and Werner," Laurel looked over at Oliver and he nodded.
"We ran her face through facial recognition. Her name is Dinah Drake, she was undercover as Tina Boland in Sean Sonus' criminal organization three years ago when the particle accelerator exploded," Rick exploded.
"She's a Metahuman, like me," Laurel said, remembering her scream and Rick nodded.
"I don't care who she is, just tell me where she is!" Diggle snarled.
"I don't know Mr. Diggle! If I did, I would tell you! I want them back safe just as much as you!" Rick finally snapped.
"John, he's right. This won't help," Oliver reasoned and Diggle sighed, trying to quell his rage. "You and Laurel need to leave the city."
"You must be out of your mind if you think I'm leaving," Diggle snarled as he whirled on Oliver.
"He's right, I'm not abandoning you," Laurel agreed.
"You're not abandoning me and you're not abandoning your wife and son," Oliver said as he looked back and forth between them. "Chase, he knows that if he puts you in danger-and he's gonna try to-that my instinct will be to pull you close."
"So do something he's not expecting, split up," Laurel realized and Oliver nodded.
"If I'm not worrying about you two, I can focus on finding Thea, Lyla, and the others. If you won't do this for me, do it for them," Oliver pleaded.
Diggle growled but, without another word, stormed out of them room. Laurel glared at him but also left.
"Do you really think you can find them on your own?" Rick asked once they were gone.
"I have to," Oliver said before he walked out.
Queen Mansion, Earth-2, four years ago
Night
"Wait, Hydra? Like the Nazis from World War Two?" Robert asked in confusion.
"Turns out they're still around. A few months ago, Moira here paid me a visit and stuck a needle in my neck. Next thing I knew, I was waking up to be experimented on like some lab rat," Laurel snarled as she stood in front of Moira. "Do you have any idea what they did to me?"
"I didn't want to do it Laurel, I had to. They threatened Thea if I didn't," Moira said as she looked at her daughter, pleading with her to understand.
"So Laurel was just expendable?" Thea asked in disgust.
"Apparently so. Since I'm a Meta, apparently I no longer have human or civil rights," Laurel said in anger.
"Laurel, please, this isn't what Oliver would want," Robert tried to reason and Laurel stiffened.
"Ollie is dead," Laurel hissed.
"Yes and his wish was that he would make it back to you," Robert said and Thea looked at him in confusion.
"You said that Ollie died on the Gambit, that you were the only survivor," Thea said confused.
"I lied. I lied because I didn't want you to find out the truth," Robert said and now all three women were looking at him in confusion.
"What truth is that Robert?" Moira demanded and Robert hesitated. "What truth!?"
"That Ollie isn't alive…because I killed him," Robert announced to the shock and horror of the women in front of him.
Arrow lair
Now
Oliver walked into the lair, surprised to see that it wasn't empty.
"Come on, did you really think I would leave you alone?" Laurel asked.
"You should've," Oliver said as he walked in. "Chase-"
"I can handle myself against Chase," Laurel said confidently as she walked over to him. "I'm not the old Laurel. I don't follow orders blindly. I'm staying here with you."
Laurel reached up and pulled into a kiss. Oliver let her for a moment before he felt his hair stand on end.
"We're not alone here," he whispered against her lips.
Laurel tensed but didn't react as Oliver wrapped his arm around her waist, walking her over to the suit display. He stopped in front of Thea's suit as they heard someone drop down from the rafters. Oliver quickly drew a flechette from Thea's quiver and threw it at the intruder as he drew Thea's katana. However, three long, metal claws emerged from the intruder's hand. He sliced the flechette before it reached his face. As the pieces fell to the floor, Laurel stared at the intruder in shock while Oliver was on guard.
"You sure can pick 'em kid," Logan said as he looked towards Laurel. "It's good to see you Laurel."
"Logan?" Laurel breathed.
Honestly, it never made any sense to me that Chase didn't try to round up Lyla and JJ when he was picking off Oliver's friends and family. Since Chase's whole motivation was to prove that Oliver destroys the lives of everyone he touches, what better way than to drag his best friend's wife and son into his masterplan? And since Lyla had taken JJ out of town, this would have given Chase the perfect opportunity to capture them. But, I also found it weird that Roy was neither a hostage or a member of the team Oliver assembled.
