The previous piece regarding Kol in Corto Maltese and in route to Nanda Parbat, took place around the beginning of Arrow season 3, so this is not current, Oliver's party will not encounter Kol at Nanda Parbat. As of right now, this happens before Elijah awakes his other siblings, so the remaining Originals are all still daggered.
Now, back to the present"I could just speed us across the water it's a lot faster." Barry suggested to Oliver and Dinah who were waiting for Dinah's private SCPD Helicopter to land. Mari had already activated a pigeon and was hovering in the air above her comrades, ready to commence when given word or signal.
"Thanks, but no thanks, Barry, we got it covered. Besides, I'm sure Oliver's had enough of your running him around already for the week." Dinah nudged with a grin in Oliver's direction as the helicopter landed. The ladder came out Oliver Dinah and Barry boarded. Barry wanted to run but Oliver had made a note to him to conserve his energy for the battle ahead. Mari recognized that as well, as instead of flying, she activated the powers of a frog and used her hands as flippers to attach herself to the top of the plane. Oliver called home to Star City.
Diggle picked up.
"Dig, what's up?" Oliver asked, wanting the scoop on his inner-circle of family and friends and their status during his extended absence.
"Oliver, where the hell are you, we're in over our heads right now with Cayden James and his 'legion of doom' for lack of a better name. We're kinda undermanned here as well. At least with those of us who know how to stay level-headed in the heat of battle. Dinah's MIA, and apparently, per your request, Felicity has been spending extra time with William in your absence, which, as a father, I understand, but as a field operative, when your best help is Rene, it's kind of difficult. At the very least, Cisco has tapped in and has been helping us on the comms at least, and Curtis too." John informed.
"Understood, but I'm on a mission with Barry and Mari right now that I can't disclose, and it demands my immediate attention. Dinah is here with me. Please, stay vigilant, and make sure the others are safe." Oliver requested genuinely.
"Always, my brother. I will not fail you, and I will not fail this city." Diggle reassured before hanging up.
"Always Dig, huh, the reassuring voice of reason," Barry jokingly implied.
"Of course, without Diggle, our entire operation in Star City would fall apart." Dinah replied.
"That's why I can feel comfortable taking on missions like these because I know, with Dig at the helm back home, the team won't miss a hitch," Oliver responded, with a sigh of relief.
'Approaching Nanda Parbat in approximately five minutes.'
"Suit up, I won't need to, the league-The Thanatos guild, and everyone associated with Nanda Parbat, knows who I am. However, they do not know your secret identities, so if we encounter resistance, The Flash and The Black Canary might just be our ace in the hole." Oliver suggested. Barry quickly got into his suit, while Dinah reached for hers.
"Hey, I heard that! Am I not here?!" said Mari from on top of the helicopter, banging it with one hand as she continued to grip it with the other.
"Sorry Mari, not used to you tagging along," Oliver apologized with a grin. Just then, the helicopter landed. Mari hopped off and activated a cat spirit from her necklace so that she could land gracefully, as the others descended off the latter. Just as the four heroes were about to proceed on the island, another helicopter landed a keen to theirs. With a look of confusion, the four heroes watched as someone off-boarded the aircraft. It was none other than Nyssa Al Ghul.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't husband, Oliver Queen, and his misfit band of heroes. It's been a long time since you've stepped foot on this Island." Nyssa noted, referring to the league binding marriage between herself and Oliver a while back.
"Nyssa, stop that, you know I'm married now." Oliver barked back.
"I know, that adds even more fun to it!" Nyssa added.
"And I haven't had reason to come back here, until now. As I'm certain you have your reasons as well" Oliver informed/implied.
"Well, yes, in the middle of our quest to shut down the remaining Lazarus pits, your sister requested my presence here to disband the league. Thea and Roy beat me here, but they were met with resistance," Nyssa informed.
"Resistance, by who? Talia?" Oliver questioned.
"No, at least not yet no one quite knows the whereabouts of my sister as of right now. It was Merlyn's league of misfits, the bootleg/copycat league; The Thanatos Guild, led by Athena, Merlyn's former second in command. They came in conflict with them, forcing me to arrive much sooner than intended." Nyssa informed.
"Athena, huh? It was wrong of me to assume then, huh, that after the death of Merlyn, the league's followers would take kindly to Thea as the demon's heir." Oliver noted.
"You know all too well don't you, Al-Sahim." Said a voice from above, it was Talia Al-Ghul, with a sword directed at Oliver as she was coming down. Oliver, by a millisecond, managed to evade it, but Talia did not relent, quickly recovering the blade from the ground.
"Speak of the she-devil," Nyssa commented towards her sister as she unsheathed her own sword.
"Well two for the price of one, ehh?! If it isn't the traitorous baby sister of mine. You dare side with the man who killed our father?!" Talia screamed in a rage, as she swung her sword towards Nyssa, attempting to decapitate her. Nyssa managed to block it with her own blade.
"Our father was a tyrant!" Nyssa screamed while parrying another strike by her sister's blade, this time to the left leg.
"He still didn't deserve to die!" Talia exclaimed.
"You're right, for people like him, death was too easy a punishment, he should have suffered as he forced me to," Nyssa exclaimed, striking her sister in the center of her right arm.
"Barry, take the others and catch up with Thea and Roy, we'll catch up," Oliver said as he unsheathed the sword he had not used since he Merlyn's hand.
"But, Oliver, man, I don't want to leave you- "Barry was cut off.
"Barry, that was not a request!" Oliver screamed as he charged into the foray between the two sisters. Barry grabbed Dinah as Mari activated a cheetah and ran as fast as she could trying to keep pace. Barry slowed a little so Mari could catch up.
"Who made him leader, captain, or whatever. Last time I checked, this is a team, and we're partners." Mari retorted through breaths.
"That's just Oliver, don't let him get under your skin." Dinah responded as Barry put her down.
"Yeah, you haven't seen anything, the first time I went on a mission with this dude, he shot me with an arrow, two actually." Barry joked, referring to the first time The Emerald Archer and The Scarlett Speedster actually worked together.
"Albeit the rest of us don't really know this place quite like he does," Dinah noted.
"Well, I've been here before," Barry noted, grabbing Dinah and taking off as Mari followed closely behind. The three soon arrived as Thea struggled to fight off Athena and three of her followers, the rest of whom were down with arrows in them as was Roy. Barry sped through and knocked them all out, save Thea of course.
"Barry! Dinah! And um?" Thea ran and gave Dinah a hug. And then turned to give Barry a hug.
"I'm so happy you guys are here, but why exactly? Did Oliver send you? Is he here too? Is something wrong in Star City?" Thea beckoned.
"Oh, um, I'm Mari, by the way, Mari McCabe?!" Mari said.
"Oh, I remember you now, the vixen out of Detroit, you helped save William from Damian Darkh," Thea recalled, as she ran up to hug the yellow-clad heroine. Barry checked over Roy to make sure he was okay.
"Oh, and to answer your questions, yes Oliver is here, we came together, unfortunately, he and Nyssa got caught up dealing with an unexpected guest. And of course, you know things are never silent in Star City." Dinah answered.
"Oh, so Nyssa did make it then. Unexpected guest, who in the world could that be?" Thea asked curiously.
"Talia Al-Ghul," said a battered Nyssa limping into the room, with a bruised Oliver holding an injured Talia with a blade to her neck following. Oliver tossed the semi-unconscious Talia to her sister who subdued her on the floor with a knee on her back and a blade to the back of her head.
"OLLIE!" Thea squealed, elated to see her brother, running up to him and giving him an extremely tight hug.
"Ollie I've missed you so much," Thea sobbed, tears of joy, sorrow, and relief all rolling down her face as she continued to hug her brother as tight as she could.
"I've missed you too speedy," Ollie exclaimed returning the hug with one arm while using the other to ruffle his baby sister's hair.
Dinah had been splashing water on Roy and tending to his injuries, while he remained unconscious, finally, he started to come to.
"What happened, where am I," Roy said, finally opening his eyes, but his vision was still blurred.
"Roy, be still, this is going to hurt, a lot," Barry said, pulling the arrow out of Roy's abdomen.
"Barry is that-aaaahhhhhhhhhh," Roy screamed, the agonizing pain only lasting for a second. Dinah and Mari sat him up against the wall, his vision finally returning clear.
"Oliver, Dinah, Barry, what are you guys doing here?!" Roy said, happy but confused.
"Saving your asses, apparently. Roy, when the three you left Star City, I gave you one task, protect her, that simple, but we walk in on you unconscious and her fighting off Athena. Quite the role-reversal." Oliver chuckled as he walked towards his apprentice, now standing up, and gave him a hug.
"All I can say is, they caught me off guard," Roy chuckled back as he returned the hug.
"In all seriousness though, as great as it is to see you all again, why are you here?" Thea asked.
"Yeah, the four of you didn't just come to Nanda Parbat to check on us, though we do appreciate the assist. I suppose." Nyssa noted.
"Yeah, and whatever it is must be serious, considering Vixen, Green Arrow, The Black Canary, and The Flash, are together." Roy added.
"We're following up a lead, which seems to have some basis in mysticism, and whenever mysticism is involved, I come here, this place seems to know everything about magic. My only other option is John Constantine, who's literally in hell right now." Oliver replied.
"Now, what type of lead would make you leave Star and Central City, respectively?" Roy asked.
"Vampires." Barry and Mari said in unison.
"Vampires?! Don't make me laugh. Now Allen and this girl it can be expected but from you Queen, and the star city police captain, that's hilarious, I expect better." Nyssa scoffed.
"I know it's hard to believe but hear me out. We fought aliens, doppelgangers, an immortal Savage, and our friends, including Sara, are on a time ship, so after all of that, can we really rule anything out Nyssa?" Oliver said, trying to come to grips with the world they all now encompass.
"He does have a point, Nyssa, and after everything I've seen, I can vouch, anything is possible." Barry chimed in.
"Speedy, did Merlyn ever mention vampires to you?" Oliver asked his sister.
"We never spoke of it, but once, when we were in Corto Maltese, we had this visitor, I think he said his name was Kol. He came in and spoke with Merlyn, and I never saw Malcolm scared like that, especially once he mentioned the big bad wolf, his older brother, Niklaus." Thea recalled.
"Niklaus!" Nyssa and Talia both gasped.
"Does the name Niklaus mean something to you ladies?" Dinah lightly interrogated.
"Niklaus Mikaelson, if our father is to be believed, was the one who suggested the idea of The League of Assassins to the first Ra's Al Ghul," Nyssa informed.
"Yes, that's the same story Malcolm mentioned. Kol said he could've made us forget, but there was no need." Thea responded.
"Now it's all starting to make sense, this is the same Niklaus Mikaelson who curated that piece at the museum that Mari saw," Barry realized.
"And also, the one that Drake and Lucien were fond of." Dinah added.
"The ripper of Monterey, the book I picked up at the library, also mentioned Niklaus Mikaelson, he wasn't the ripper, that was Stefan Salvatore, but he was apparently a heavy influence on him as well." Mari mentioned.
"The book, that's it! That's how we find him! Mari, where was that book written, does it speak on where the author originated?" Oliver asked, enthusiastically trying to probe answers of his comrade.
"While it doesn't say where she's from, it says the main character, Stefan Salvatore, is from Mystic Falls," Mari responded.
"Mystic Falls? Lucien mentioned that as well, he also mentioned New Orleans. We might need to just cross-reference the name Mikaelson, there's at least two of them, Niklaus, and Kol, find one, we find the other." Oliver conjured.
"There's only four of us, you don't you think it's time to involve the others yet?" Barry suggested.
"No, I'm quite sure both are teams are already spread thin as it, as a matter of fact, it might be a lot to ask, but, Thea, Roy, could the two of you go back to Star City in my absence, Roy help Diggle and Rene, and Thea, spend time with William so Felicity can return to the comms?" Oliver requested.
"Sure thing, Ollie!" said Thea, with Roy nodding.
"So, I'll have Cisco cross reference," Barry suggested.
"No, Curtis is our best bet if we want to keep this under wraps for now. "Oliver retorted. He then sent a text to Felicity reading 'Dig and Rene needs you back on comms, Thea and Roy are on their way.' Oliver texted. Then he proceeds to text Curtis, 'Need your help'. He sent. 'On it' Curtis replied.
After Nyssa knocked out Talia, Oliver and his crew helped Thea and Roy clean up The Thanatos Guild Members by placing them in an Argus Facility, like the one Death-Stroke and Captain Boomerang, were being held in on Lian Yu. Talia had her own Cell, as did Athena next to her.
Just then, Oliver's phone rang, he picked it up, it was Curtis.
"Okay Oliver, I cross-referenced the last name Mikaelson, as well as Kol and Niklaus Mikaelson, the locations were narrowed down to Sunnydale California, New Orleans Louisiana, Salt Lake City Utah, and Mystic Falls, Virginia." Curtis informed.
"Thank you, Curtis, for keeping this hush from Felicity. It is imperative that the rest of the team can't find out right now." Oliver bestowed his gratitude. Nyssa sat upon the throne, and as the team of heroes prepared to board their helicopter, Thea and Roy were about to take off on Nyssa's next to theirs.
"No splitting up, Mystic Falls, Virginia seems to be the most common location name, so I advise we check there first," Dinah suggested.
"Mystic Falls, Virginia, that name of that city keeps coming up, why does it sound so familiar?" Oliver questioned himself aloud. Just then, Oliver had a flashback to his early days as The Hood/The Vigilante when he was crossing names of corrupt businessmen and politicians off his list; those who, like his father, had failed the city, the city that was back then known as Starling. One of the names on that list was Bill Forbes. Forbes funded both Merlyn Global Group and Queen Consolidated with their illicit dealings and even funded the doomed from the start Queen's Gambit. Of course, Oliver had never gone after him because he wasn't in Starling upon Oliver's return.
"Bill Forbes, a name on the list. He resides in Mystic Falls, Virginia." Oliver said.
"The list, I thought we didn't work off that anymore. That was The Vigilante's and The Hood's MO, not necessarily the Green Arrow." Roy commented.
"I'm willing to make an exception, this one time," Oliver said, everyone could hear vengeance in his voice. Oliver hugged Thea and Roy, and then those two boarded the aircraft for Star City. Then, the four heroes boarded their aircraft, Mari coming inside this time.