Ellie Bishop: Yeah, Robert always was a selfish person, but at least the Earth-1 version had some decency in him, not counting the season seven recon of Robert being a horrible person who refused to acknowledge his own daughter. Yep, Frank would help regardless if there was a kid involved.

Green Hal37: Yep, it's accurate. Glad you liked that. Me to.

Agent N: Yep.

Guest 1: Yeah, that's probably right, but the problem is that the writers act like it's the former.

Guest 2: Glad you enjoyed it. Me to, Slade is my second favorite Arrow character and third favorite Arrowverse character, not to mention my favorite Arrowverse villain. I personally disagree, I think the way he went out in season six was a perfect ending for his character, even if season seven and eight kind of ruined t with bringing back Joe and introducing Grant in the present day. Yeah, Chase might as well run back home to mommy at this point. Glad to hear it.

Lian Yu

Morning

Oliver watched silently as Slade Wilson pulled himself to his feet.

"What brought you back to the island?" Slade asked curiously.

"Like I said," Oliver said with a sigh, walking over and putting the key to the cell in the door, unlocking it. "I need your help."

"What the hell is going on here?" An Argus guard demanded as he burst in, training his weapon on Oliver.

"We have a problem and I need you to get off the island," Oliver explained as he turned around, walking over to the guard.

"I'm not going anywhere and neither is he," The guard said firmly, gesturing with his head towards Slade.

"I'm taking him and I'm taking Digger Harkness. There's an Argus supply boat docked on the eastern shore. You take it and you go," Oliver ordered.

"I'm not abandoning my post," The guard said slowly, as though Oliver was stupid.

"Suit yourself," Oliver said before slugging him.

Oliver's hit was hard enough to knock the guard out cold. He went down, his gun sliding across the floor. Oliver sighed regretfully before he turned around to see Slade was already out of his cell. Slade closed the door and pulled the key out of the lock before turning to face Oliver.

"Would you like to explain what's going on here?" Slade inquired, holding out the key.

"I'd like to talk about you for a minute. You seem…" Oliver trailed off as he eyed Slade.

"In possession of all my marbles?" Slade supplied and Oliver gave a slight nod. "The Mirakuru wore off a long time ago kid. I mean, I remember everything that happened, I'm not trying to escape that, but it feels like some bad dream. Now, regardless of my sanity, why do you want to help me after everything I've done?"

"There is a man here on the island named Adrian Chase. He is holding my friends and my family hostage, including Thea…and my son," Oliver revealed.

"Since when do you have a son?" Slade questioned with a slight chuckle.

"Slade, are you gonna help me or not?" Oliver demanded, in no mood for games.

"I think I'm stating the obvious when I say I killed your mother. For that alone, you should have killed me," Slade said bluntly.

"Maybe what's happening now is the reason I didn't," Oliver said as he pulled out a flash drive and held it out to Slade. "This is all the Intel Argus has able to gather on your son, Joe, including his recent whereabouts."

"Are you offering to help me find my son?" Slade asked in disbelief as he took the flash drive.

"I want us to find both of our sons," Oliver told him.

Oliver then turned around, walking over to the duffle bag he had brought in with him at the start. He kneeled down, opening it up before reaching inside. He pulled something out and turned around. Slade backed up at the sight of the familiar helmet, looking at it as though it would come alive and attack him while Oliver walked up and held it out to him. After a moment, Slade took the helmet, staring at it with a mix of emotions.

"You and me kid, like old times," Slade said as he looked back up at Oliver.

A little later, on the shore where the plane was parked, Frank was loading up as Logan walked up to him.

"Sure you got enough ammo Frank?" Logan asked dryly.

"You know what we're up against. Sure you don't want any weapons?" Frank said as he loaded an assault rifle and Logan smirk.

"Only weapon I need is right here," Logan said, popping his claws before retracting them.

A little away, Laurel watched the pair talk, a part of her hardly believing that Logan was really here. Something Nyssa noticed.

"Are you alright?" Nyssa asked.

"Fine. Just…never thought I'd see him again," Laurel admitted.

"I understand," Nyssa said, looking at Laurel with that look she'd grown quite familiar with over the last few months.

It was the look everyone got when they looked at her and were comparing her to her late doppelganger.

"You and this earth's Laurel. You were close?" Laurel asked and Nyssa nodded.

"She was my friend. Perhaps my only friend," Nyssa mused. "When all I could see was darkness, she showed me the way, showed me that I could be more than what I was."

"I'm sorry," Laurel said, finding she meant it.

Nyssa simply nodded. It was at that moment Oliver returned with Slade and Harkness. Slade was decked out in his Deathstroke armor while Harkness was dressed in the clothes he'd been wearing when Oliver and Barry had imprisoned him here two years ago, trench coat and all.

"Have we offloaded the supplies?" Oliver asked as the trio reached them.

"Most, still need to get the guns and ammo off," Logan said with a pointed look at Frank.

"Can't believe we're working with criminals," Frank said in disgust as he eyed Slade and Harkness.

"I am sure they think the same thing about you Mr. Castle," Nyssa pointed out.

"I like him," Slade said and Oliver fought the grin that threatened to cross his face.

"What do you need an RPG for anyway?" Frank inquired, ignoring Slade.

"Chase has Talia, an army of her students, Evelyn Sharp, China White, Carrie Cutter, Liza Werner, and a Metahuman mascaraing as Lady Shiva. I have no intention of this being a fair fight," Oliver explained.

"Ironic," Nyssa said ad they all looked at her. "The original Lady Shiva of legend, at least the woman who inspired it, was Talia's mother."

"…so many things about your psychotic sister suddenly make sense," Oliver muttered. "Okay, that's enough talk. Let's offload the rest of the gear."

"Wait!" Logan shouted, moving and stopping Oliver from moving forward.

Suddenly, they heard it to: the roar of a rocket. They looked up to see a RPG fly down and hit the plane. They could do nothing but watch as it exploded, destroying their way home.

"Well, so much for our gear," Harkness drawled.

"There goes our ride home kid," Slade said grimly.

Central City, Earth-2, three years ago

Night

Laurel used her Canary Cry, bringing down the building to her satisfaction. She smirked, walking off. It had been a year since she had taken her revenge on Robert Queen. Since then, she had joined Zoom's army, determined to take revenge on the world that had discarded her, treated her as expendable. And she would have her revenge.

"Laurel."

Laurel stopped, the familiar voice causing her to stiffen. She slowly turned around, coming face to face with Logan, the look of shock and horror on his face cutting her deeply. But she masked it well.

"Logan," she said coldly.

Lian Yu

Now

"The RPG that took out our plane came from other there," Oliver said, gesturing to the left as he led the group through the mountains. "The call from my son came from just west of here."

"Hostages could be in either place," Harkness noted.

"Or neither. This is a large island," Slade pointed out.

"We check both places. Laurel, take Logan and Nyssa and check the RPG site. The rest of you, we'll check where my son's call came from. Stay on Comms," Oliver ordered.

"Are you sure that is wise?" Nyssa asked as she eyed Slade and Harkness suspiciously.

"Why it's almost like you don't trust us," Slade said dryly.

"It's exactly like we don't trust you," Laurel sneered.

"Enough," Oliver said, silencing them. "I'm not letting the three of them out of my sight. Now move out."

Without further protest, the group split up.

"Why do they get weapons and I don't?" Harkness whined as they trekked through the forest.

"I trust them more than I trust you," Oliver said simply.

"Didn't Wilson kill your mother?" Harkness asked and Oliver ran out of patience.

"You listen to me very carefully," Oliver snarled as he whirled around, stalking over to Harkness. "You help me take down Chase, you walk. You screw with me, even a little, and you'll wish that I'd left you in that cell to rot. Are we clear?"

"Just a gun is all I'm saying," Harkness said but Oliver was pleased to see a hint of fear in his eyes.

"Kid," Slade called him over in a soft voice.

Oliver turned his back on Harkness and they walked over to where Slade and Frank were standing. Through the trees, Oliver could make out Thea's short hair and Curtis' dark skin. He could see they were in the cages Fyers had used when he first arrived on the island. There were two more there, but Oliver couldn't tell who else was in the cages from this distance.

"Stay sharp," Oliver ordered as the four of them moved toward.

As they neared the cages, Oliver could make out the other two people in cages. One of them was Samantha, and the other was John Junior, who sat with knees pulled up to his chest, crying quietly.

"Oliver!" Curtis shouted as they noticed the four of them.

"Keep your voice down," Slade hissed quietly.

"What is he doing here?" Thea demanded as she glared at her mother's murderer.

Oliver ignored Thea, he ignored Curtis, he even ignored JJ. He made his way over to Samantha's cage instead, his focus purely on his son's mother.

"Where is William?" Oliver demanded.

"I don't know, we were separated. Oliver, what is going on?" Samantha asked.

"Some weird shit is going on here. Why doesn't Chase have anyone standing guard over them?" Frank wondered suspiciously.

"Seems pretty obvious to me mate," Harkness said a hint of smugness in his voice.

At that moment, two figures jumped down from the trees. Oliver, Slade, and Frank whirled around as Talia aimed her bow and Evelyn aimed her gun at them.

"It's a trap," Harkness finished.

"Don't even think it over or your son loses his mother," Talia said, aiming at Samantha.

Glowering, Oliver lowered his hand as Frank also lowered his hand, unwilling to let an innocent woman suffer death. For a son to lose his mother.

"Oh, and don't worry about that gun mate, Mr. Chase gave me this nice new one," Harkness said as he pulled out a pistol and took aim at Frank's head as Frank gave him a look that promised death and suffering. "Along with a better offer."

"Chase said it would be pointless to reach out to you Wilson," Evelyn said as she looked over at Slade.

"Although given this turn of events, perhaps you've changed your mind," Talia said thoughtfully.

"What's it gonna be Slade? Care to side with the winners?" Harkness offered and Oliver glanced over at his old friend with a hint of dread, wondering what Slade would do.

I know so far, it isn't that different from 5x23, but next chapter, there will be plenty of creative differences from the finale, I promise.