Ellie Bishop: Yep. Well, if there's one thing the Arrowverse is consistent about, it's reusing the same storylines over and over again. You'll see. Well, there was more of an emotion connection between Sara and Sin than there was between Oliver and Roy at the time, so Sin is more likely to listen to Sara than Roy was to Oliver at that point.
Arrow lair
Night
"What's up? You sounded urgent on the phone," Sara said as she entered the lair, finding Oliver, Diggle, Felicity and Roy standing by the computers.
"We've got a problem. Another problem," Oliver said as Sara joined them by the computers.
"Oliver went to the Bratva for help locating Emiko, they told him to go rob an architect, Ted Mosby," Felicity said as she pulled up a photo of Mosby on the computer.
"But Emiko got there first. The place was ransacked and, before he died, Mosby told me to stop something called the Ninth Circle," Oliver said and Sara started.
"The Ninth Circle, you're sure that's what he said?" Sara asked in alarm as everyone looked at her oddly.
"Yeah. You know something about them?" Oliver inquired and she nodded.
"They're sort of like the League except instead of being a group of assassins; they're a group of anarchist terrorists. War of the Roses, the French Revolution, you look back at history and find a point where a Regime fell, The Ninth Circle was there, pulling the strings, manipulating events from afar. Ra's al Ghul has been trying to take them down for decades, but they're elusive," Sara explained.
"And now they're in Starling City, great," Roy said sarcastically.
"Any idea what Emiko wanted from Mosby?" Sara asked.
"Yeah actually. She took some of his blueprints, including the plans for Malcolm Merlyn's house," Felicity said as she pulled up a picture of the Merlyn mansion. "I don't know anything about architecture, but a terrorist group wanting the blueprint to it can't be good."
"Sara, you say you've heard of the Ninth Circle. Ready to meet them up close?" Oliver asked and Sara nodded.
"With pleasure," Sara said.
Merlyn Mansion
Later
"Must be weird for you, being back here after all this time," Sara said as she and Oliver began making their way through the mansion. "I'm not sure if I've said this, but I'm sorry about Tommy. I know you two were close."
"Thank you, but can we talk about this late?" Oliver asked.
He didn't mean to be rude, but it was hard enough being back here. Every time he turned a corner, he was assaulted with another memory of Tommy. He needed to focus on stopping Emiko. Fortunately, Sara seemed to understand, as she simply nodded.
Suddenly, they heard a screeching sound. The pair looked at each other, not needing to speak to know they were thinking the same thing: the garage under the house.
In the garage, Emiko's men had pulled a van into the garage. Three men got out as Emiko notched an arrow and took aim at a small door a few feet away. She fired and the arrow hit the keypad. It sparked as it unlocked. Emiko and her men walked over, Emiko yanking the door opened to reveal what was inside. Wilson would be pleased, Emiko thought with a smirk.
Emiko's hair suddenly stood on end and she whirled around, catching an arrow inches from her face. Throwing it to the floor, she saw Oliver aiming an arrow at her, a blond woman in black behind him, holding a baton. Oliver stiffened as he saw what was behind her.
"Get away from that Emiko," Oliver ordered.
"No brother, I don't think I will," Emiko sneered.
Suddenly, several more men dressed like Emiko's companions dropped down from the ceiling. They were surrounded.
"We'll deal with them. You get it out of here," Emiko ordered the men who had come with her.
"No!"
Oliver fired at Emiko, who knocked the arrow aside with her bow before she and Oliver rushed each other. They began trading blows as Emiko's men began heading towards their target. Sara tried to get to it but Emiko's backup engaged her. Sara whirled her Baton, taking them out of the fight. But for each one she knocked down, another seemed to get up and rejoin the fight, stopping her from going after the ones who were loading the prize into the van.
"Do you have any idea what that thing can do?!" Oliver demanded as he and Emiko traded blows.
"Yes," Emiko snapped, sending a kick towards his abdomen that Oliver had to jump back from to avoid. "I just don't care."
Emiko tried to strike Oliver with her bow but Oliver blocked with his own. They struggled before Oliver managed to get behind her, putting her in a chokehold.
"We don't have to do with Emiko," Oliver tried to reason with her.
"Yes, I think we do!" Emiko snapped as she broke out of Oliver's chokehold.
As she saw that Emiko's men had loaded their target into the van, Sara stopped playing around. Pulling out her sonic device, she activated it. The garage was filled with a loud, sonic screech. The windows in the van shattered as everyone was forced to hold their ears. Sara rushed towards the car, which Emiko noticed. She fired an explosive arrow, which hit near Sara's feet. The small explosion sent her flying back as Emiko turned to avoid Oliver's attempted strike. They exchanged a few more blows before Emiko delivered a strong kick to his abdomen. As he stumbled back, Emiko leapt back.
"Bye brother," she quipped before throwing something to the ground.
It landed in front of Oliver and he realized it was a bomb. He ducked to the ground as it went off in a small explosion. But it was apparently a distraction more than anything else, as it didn't do much damage and just filled the garage with smoke. He and Sara got to their feet as the smoke faded. Emiko was gone and they saw the truck had headed out. Oliver notched an arrow and fired. It hit the truck, bouncing off the side as the arrow hit the ground harmlessly.
"You missed," Sara noted.
"No, I didn't. It's a Tracer Arrow; I'll help us find them wherever they go. So we find the Ninth Circe and we get the device back before it hurts anyone," Oliver explained.
"What did they take anyway?" Sara asked, knowing from Oliver's reaction it wasn't good.
"Malcolm Merlyn's earthquake device," Oliver said darkly as he remembered the destruction it had caused nine months ago.
Arrow lair
Later
"A prototype at least," Oliver said as he finished recounting the events at the Merlyn mansion to the rest of the team. "It won't destroy the city, but it will cause a lot of damage."
"And now the Ninth Circle has it. great," Roy said with a humorless laugh.
"I hit the truck with a tracer Arrow; it should allow us to find it. Hopefully, before it's too late," Oliver said grimly.
Starling City
Same time
"You alright sweetheart?" Quentin asked as he and Laurel had dinner in a restaurant. "You haven't said much during dinner."
"I just have a lot on my mind," Laurel said truthfully.
It wasn't a lie, because she did. She wanted to tell him about Sara being back. It was all she could think about but Sara had made her promise not to say anything, explaining in vague detail that people were after her that wouldn't hesitate to kill her or their father in order to get to her.
"What's going on Laurel?" Quentin asked and Laurel wrestled with herself for a moment.
"I got fired," Laurel said, deciding to go with another truth. "Being associated with the guy who apparently murdered Sebastian Blood does not reflect well on the DA's office. I got a full severance package and a bunch of excuses but I know why I was being fired for doing what I believe in."
"I'm sorry Laurel. Is there anything I can do?" Quentin asked concerned.
"I don't know," Laurel admitted. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said the night of Tommy's birthday bash four years ago."
"Please don't remind me of that," Quentin said, wincing at the memory of him going off on Thea.
"Not your drunken rant," Laurel quickly assured. "About how I wanted to help make the world a better place. And I realized that I made the same mistake I was making four years ago. The biggest thing I've done at the DA's office was try to get Moira killed. That was never the kind of lawyer I wanted to be, someone who just takes a job, I wanted to help people."
"So what are you gonna do?" Quentin asked after a moment.
"I'm not sure yet. But something needs to change," Laurel decided.
Quentin nodded before the waiter placed a glass of watch in front of him. Unnoticed by Quentin, the waiter had slipped something else in beforehand. Quentin picked it up and took a drink before continuing his conversation with Laurel, not noticing anything amiss.
Arrow lair
Same time
Oliver was sitting in a corner of the lair, staring at a picture of himself and Thea when they were younger. Sara walked up behind him, seeing the picture.
"Wondering if that could have been you and Emiko?" Sara asked after a moment.
"No. I know what she's done, I know what she is. But-" Oliver started.
"But part of you isn't ready to give up on her yet," Sara said and Oliver was silent. "Ollie, I get it, she's your sister. But she isn't Thea, she made her choice. Maybe her mother turned her into this, but Tommy was raised by Malcolm Merlyn of all people. It didn't turn him into a monster, did it?"
"No," Oliver admitted.
"At a certain point, we're all responsible for our own choices," Sara told him. "Maybe Emiko would have turned out differently if your father had been in her life, if she'd gotten to grow up with you and Thea and the rest of us. But Emiko is responsible for Emiko, no one else."
Oliver frowned, considering her words as Roy walked over to them.
"Hey, Felicity got a hit on your tracer Arrow," Roy said.
"It's in a warehouse about ten minutes away from the Merlyn Mansion," Felicity them as they all stood around the computers. "Perfect place to hide an earthquake machine."
"Roy, do you have one of your red hoodies?" Oliver asked as he turned to his student.
"Do you even have to ask?" Roy asked dryly and Oliver nodded.
"Put one on. John, you two are coming with us. I'm not taking any chances," Oliver said with authority.
Warehouse district
Not long after
Oliver and Sara were dressed in theirs suits as Roy and Diggle followed after them. Roy had a bow and quiver on his back while Diggle was armed with two pistols. Oliver gave the single and group burst into the warehouse to find…nothing.
The track from the Merlyn Mansion was there, but it was empty. The device was gone.
Unknown location
Same time
"Well done," Slade said as he gazed upon the device. "Oliver wasn't too much trouble?"
"He's blinded by family loyalty," Emiko said and Slade chuckled.
"Yes, that does seem to be the kid's weakness," Slade agreed.
"What do you plan to do with this?" Emiko inquired as they both looked at the device.
"At the moment, nothing. When all is said and done, this will be the key to making Oliver pay for everything he has taken from me," Slade promised with a dark smile.
Arrow lair
Later
"Emiko must have ditched the van and loaded the device onto another vehicle after the fight at Merlyn's mansion," Oliver said as they all stood in the lair.
"So what do we do now?" Diggle asked.
"We can't do anything right now," Oliver said as they looked at him incredulously. "It's been hours since they took the device. If they wanted to, they could have set it off. Why haven't they?"
"Because they don't want to. Not yet at least. They're waiting for something," Sara realized and Oliver nodded.
"And we need to find them before then," Oliver said as he started walking out of the lair.
"Um, where are you going?" Felicity asked as they all stared at his retreating form in confusion.
"Somewhere I promised myself I'd never go again," Oliver tossed over his shoulder.
Argus base
Later
Amanda Waller walked into her office, holding her gun as she saw that her guards were out with tranq darts in their necks. Seeing the man responsible, she lowered her gun.
"Hello Oliver," Waller greeted as he turned around to face her.
"Hello Amanda," he said blankly as he lowered his hood.
"Still mad at me?" she asked smugly.
"Fortunately, you've been pushed down that list," he said lowly.
"Who do you want to kill more than me?" she inquired.
"Have you ever heard of a group called the Ninth Circle?" Oliver asked.
"Can't say I have," Waller admitted.
"Well, they are a group of terrorist who special in bringing down Regimes. They're in Starling City, I think they plan to take down the government," Oliver explained. "I need your help to find them."
Starling City
Same time
"You didn't have to walk me home Dad. I'm not a little kid anymore," Laurel told him amused.
"You'll always be my little girl, no matter how old you get," Quentin told her.
She laughed before something happened. Quentin swayed on his feet, his vision blurring. He stumbled forward, using the wall for support as Laurel looked at him worried.
"Dad?" she asked alarmed.
Quentin then fell to the floor, dazed as Laurel rushed to his side.
"Dad? Dad?" Laurel cried out as Quentin succumbed to unconsciousness.
The Ninth Circle seems like a threat the League of Assassins would try to deal with IMO.
Honestly, even the horrible drug addiction Arc aside, season two took Laurel's character into a completely different place than she should have gone. She went from doing something to help people to the DA's office. Even if CNRI couldn't reopen, there were certainly other avenues for Laurel to pursue so she could keep helping people. Instead, she goes to the DA's office, when she has noticeably had issues with how the politics of the DA's office works. It's just a really strange choice for Laurel's character at that point.