Ellie Bishop: Yep on both Moira and Sin. Huh, did not know that. You have no idea.
SpongeBob: No SpongeBob, that's the chorus line.
Guest: Glad you enjoyed it. Glad to hear it.
Queen Mansion
Morning
Thea stared out her bedroom window at the front door, seeing the two guards stationed outside. After Slade's attack, a protective detail had been assigned to Moira. Knowing they couldn't very well refuse without raising suspicion, it had become difficult for Oliver and Roy to sneak out without the security noticing. Moira and Thea had done their best to cover for them.
In Oliver's room, he was currently having a conversation with Lyla over the phone.
"No news on Slade then?" Oliver asked in frustration.
"He's been off the grid since his attack on your mom failed. No news on Emiko or Johnny either. Either they are really that good or some of my operatives are helping them avoid detection," Lyla said and Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"So you think Sara might be right about the Ninth Circle infiltrating ARGUS?"
"It's the only way they could have known about those drones Oliver. Even I had no idea they existed until I looked at Amanda's files on that base," Lyla told him. "Listen, I have to go, but I'll keep you in the loop if anything changes."
"Alright, thanks," Oliver said with a sigh as he hung up.
"No news then?" Sara asked as she stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in a bathrobe as she dried her hair with a towel.
"Just the same news we've had all week: none," Oliver said in a near growl and it was silent for a moment as Sara eyed him.
"You're still letting him get in your head," Sara noted.
"Can you blame me?" Oliver asked as he turned around to face her. "He nearly killed my mother. And we both know he's not going to stop just because we stopped him. He is planning something big and I have no idea what it is or how to stop him."
"And you letting it eat you up is going to change that?" Sara asked pointedly. "I get it; its personal, you and Slade have so much history between you. But if you let Slade get to you, he's already won."
"I know that you're right, I just…I don't know what to do. I can't figure out any of Slade's plays whereas it seems like he can read me like an open book. Until I stop him, everyone I love is in danger, including you," Oliver said as he looked at her in what she now realized was fear.
"I'd be in danger either way; he blames me for Shado's death as much as he blames you, remember?" Sara pointed out and Oliver had to begrudgingly admit she was right. "Try taking a step back Ollie."
"A step back?" Oliver repeated incredulously.
"My Dad used to tell me and Laurel that when a case seems impossible to solve, take a step back, look at all the evidence and you might find something you missed. It's a long shot, I know, but it might help you to do the same," Sara pointed out.
"Maybe," Oliver said thoughtfully.
"Listen, I need to go check in on Laurel, but we will stop Slade," Sara said as she walked over, taking his head in her hands. "Together?"
"Together," Oliver repeated as they shared a kiss.
ARGUS base
Same time
"Thanks for coming," Lyla said as her guest walked into her office.
"When the director of ARGUS asks you to come meet her, you come," Roy joked as he closed the door behind her. "What's going on? Is this about Jade?"
"No, it's about your father," Lyla said and Roy stared at her in shock. "Sara told me about the file Slade gave you. She asked me to look into your father."
"You found something, didn't you?" Roy realized with a sinking feeling.
"Yeah, I did," Lyla said, pulling out a file and putting it on the desk.
Hesitantly, Roy reached out and picked it up. As he opened the file, Lyla spoke up as he began reading the file.
"Your father came to his superiors a few months before he was killed, voicing concerns that their unit was being used in some kind of conspiracy to turn the military against our own country. His superior, a man named Avery Walker, was someone that, in her investigation, Waller found to have ties to Dante," Lyla paused as she Roy's hands tighten around the folder. "There were numerous incidents where your father and Walker were shown to have an altercation where Walker tried to get your father to drop the matter and your father refused."
"You're saying that my dad caught onto a Ninth Circle plot and they had him killed because of it," Roy said lowly, his hands tightening around the folder until his nails started digging into the file.
"I think it's a very high possibility," Lyla admitted, looking at Roy in concern. "You okay?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Roy admitted as he put the file back down on her desk. "I wanted to know and now that I do…it doesn't bring my dad back, doesn't stop my mom from falling off the wagon after he died. Doesn't stop me walking into her room to find her dead after an overdose. It doesn't change a damn thing."
"Your entire life was affected by this Roy. It's okay to be angry," Lyla said soothingly and Roy laughed humorlessly.
"I've been angry most of my life Lyla. This is…I don't know what this is," Roy said with a heavy sigh. "I…barely even remember him to be honest. Why do I feel this way?"
"You're grieving what you lost, what you could have had, what you could have been," Lyla said gently as she reached out and took his hand, hoping it brought him some form of comfort. "It's perfectly normal for you to feel that way Roy. Is there anything I can do?"
"Yeah…you can help me kill Dante," Roy said darkly as he looked up at her with a hard look in his eyes.
Laurel's apartment
Later in the morning
"So no news on Slade then?" Laurel asked as she poured Sara and herself a cup of coffee.
"Not since he tried to kill Mrs. Queen," Sara noted. "It's really getting to Ollie. Slade knows just how to get inside his head."
Laurel merely nodded. It was hard for her to reconcile the man she saw in the recordings with this monster that was hell bent on destroying Oliver's life. She understood Oliver's weariness of Slade in the recordings better now.
"So how's the job hunt going?" Sara asked, breaking Laurel out of her thoughts.
"Not so great. Apparently no one wants to hire the lawyer who helped the vigilante break into the department of records," Laurel said dryly with a sigh. "You know, I was passing by what used to be CNRI the other day and I remembered that I used to want to make the world a better place. But after I joined the District Attorney's office, the cases just became a job, a chore. That was never the kind of lawyer I wanted to be."
"So what are you gonna do?" Sara asked after a moment.
"I don't know," Laurel admitted.
Before Sara could say anything, her phone rang. Looking at Laurel apologetically, Sara pulled out her phone. Seeing Oliver's face flash across the screen, she answered.
"Any change?" Sara asked in answer.
"Meet me at the safe house. Bring Laurel," Oliver ordered.
Sara was confused but, before she could ask why, Oliver had hung up. Sara lowered the phone to her side, looking at it as Laurel looked at her in confusion.
Queen Mansion
Same time
Moira was in the sitting room, reading a book as she tried to take her mind off her worry about Slade's next move. Hearing footsteps, she looked up as she saw Thea enter.
"I just need a minute away from those…" Thea tried to come up with a polite word for their security detail.
"They are overzealous, aren't they?" Moira agreed with a tight smile, gesturing for Thea to sit down next to her as she put the book down.
"I just wish they'd stop hovering," Thea complained as she sat down next to her mother.
"They are simply doing their jobs," Moira said, although she shared her daughter's frustrations with being hovered over all the time.
The only places she could go to without them hovering over her like a shadow were the restroom and her room. Ironically, she'd had more freedom in prison.
Suddenly, she realized something was...of. It was quiet. Too quiet. And the guards outside hadn't come in to hover them. Moira had just come to this realization when she heard footsteps. She looked up just as her son walked into the room.
"Come on, we're getting out of here," Oliver ordered.
"What?" Thea asked but Moira immediately understood.
"Let's go," she said, urging Thea to her feet.
Oliver led his mother and sister into the hallway, where they saw their security detail all out cold, tranq darts in their necks.
"You don't mess around," Thea muttered as she took it all in.
"We don't have a lot of time. We have ten minutes before they have to check in. We need to be gone by then," Oliver ordered.
Thea was silent as her mother and brother led her down the wall and out the front door, where the two guards were slumped into the wall, a tranq dart sticking out of their neck. Clearly, Oliver had come to some sort of realization about Slade and Emiko. She just hoped it could help them end this madness.
Safe house
Later in the afternoon
"It's nice to be around other people," Felicity said as Sara and Laurel met her downstairs, where Sin was lying on the table, hooked up to an IV full of Tibet Viper Venom. "It's really hard being in this place with only an unconscious teenage girl for company."
"How's she doing?" Sara asked as she looked at Sin in concern.
"We're almost out of venom. We can't keep her under for much longer," Felicity said and Sara frowned, clearly displeased by this news.
As she watched her sister looked down at Sin's unmoving form with such worry in her eyes, Laurel realized Sin wasn't just a friend to Sara. There was clearly a far deeper bond there.
"Hey," the three looked up as Roy walked down the stairs. "Oliver wants us all up there."
With one last look at Sin, Sara followed Roy up stairs, Laurel and Felicity trailing behind her. Walking into the living room, they saw Oliver setting up some kind of evidence board as the others watched. Not only had he called all of them and Moira, but Lyla and Anatoly were there as well.
"Thank you all for coming," Oliver said as he finished. "First, Anatoly, Lyla Michaels. Lyla, Anatoly Knyazev."
"It is nice to meet you," Anatoly said politely as he looked over at Lyla.
Lyla merely nodded as she eyed him wearily. She knew all about Anatoly, having heard about him from chatter at ARGUS. She didn't know why Oliver trusted him, but she'd trust his judgment…for now. Didn't mean she was going to take her eyes off Anatoly for now.
"What's this all about Ollie?" Sara asked.
"You told me to take a step back earlier, that's exactly what I'm doing," Oliver said before looking around the room. "All of the people I trust without question are in this room. I think we all need to look at everything that's been happening with an objective eye."
Oliver then stepped aside so they could see the evidence board. There were various pictures on the board, assembled in a circle. From the right corner was a picture of The Hoods, followed by a picture of Isabel, then a picture of Sebastian Blood and Cyrus Gold from Laurel's own evidence board, then one of China White followed by a police sketch of Emiko from Thea's description of her. That was then followed by a picture of Diggle, which was followed by a picture of Jade and then by a picture of what Felicity and Sara recognized as Malcolm's prototype earthquake machine. The final link in the circle was a picture of a drone and in the center of the circle was a picture of Slade.
"This is everything we've been dealing with since I came back to Starling City," Oliver said, staring at the picture of Slade. "And all of it is connected to Slade and his plan."
"So you think what, that if we go over this we'll find the needle in the haystack?" Felicity asked uncertainly.
"I think if we go over this together, we might be able to find that one piece of information that'll lead us to Slade. I know, it's out there, but what do we have to lose, really?" Oliver asked and it was silent for a moment.
"It's worth a shot I guess," Laurel finally said.
"Da. If you think this will work, I trust you my brother," Anatoly said.
"Bring us up to speed Oliver," Lyla said and Oliver nodded.
"Okay, after the Undertaking, Slade recruited Sebastian Blood to help build his army of Mirakuru Soldiers," Oliver said as he picked up a black marker, drawing a line from Slade to Blood before drawing a line to The Hoods. "Blood, on Slade's orders, recruited The Hoods to draw me back home."
"He also told China White your secret," Felicity pointed out and Oliver nodded, drawing another line from Slade to White.
"She obviously wanted revenge for Hong Kong and the vigilante interfering in the hit on Laurel and Malcolm Merlyn," Lyla noted.
Unnoticed by anyone else, Moira looked uncomfortable about this. Oliver saw it out of the corner of his eyes but decided it wasn't important when Thea spoke up.
"And what about Isabel Rochev? They were working together, right?" Thea asked.
"Yeah. She wanted revenge for Dad choosing us over her and Slade recruited her. She was supposed to gain my trust before betraying me, but since Mom told me the truth, I never trusted her. She's currently sitting in a cell at ARGUS," Oliver said as he drew a line from Slade to Isabel.
"Cheers for small miracles," Moira muttered, drawing a slight smile from her son
"One thing that doesn't make is why Emiko would come out of the shadows just to kill China White. Isn't she supposed to be part of some secret society?" Laurel asked in confusion.
"The Ninth Circle," Oliver said as he drew a line from Emiko to White. "When I took down Pollard, I took down a lot of corrupt politicians and other people in our legal system. That probably didn't factor into the Ninth Circle's plans. I became a threat and framing me for murder was Emiko's retaliation."
"I guess that makes sense, but if Slade and Blood were working together, why would Slade have Emiko kill him?" Roy said as Oliver drew a line from Emiko to Blood.
"Because of me," Laurel said and Oliver nodded.
"When Laurel uncovered the connection between Blood and Cyrus Gold and pointed me in the right direction, Slade's plans were nearly undone. Emiko took advantage of that, came to Slade with the offer of an alliance. After that, Blood's only use to Slade's plans was as another innocent victim of the vigilante," Oliver said as he drew a line from Slade to Emiko before drawing a line to the earthquake device. "The first thing Slade had Emiko do once they started working together was to have her break into Merlyn Mansion and steal a prototype earthquake machine that Malcolm Merlyn left behind."
"What on earth would either of them want with such a thing?" Moira asked horror and shame welling up in her.
She thought, after Oliver killed Malcolm, that she could finally leave that chapter in her life behind. It seems she had been wrong.
"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Oliver said and it was silent for a moment.
"What about Jade?" Roy asked as he looked at his ex-girlfriend's picture. "How did she even get involved in this?"
"By her involvement in the Chinese Triad," Lyla said as he looked over at her. "After you told us about her, I did some digging. Her real name is Rose Wilson. What I found out about her early life seems to check out with what she told you while you were held captive: her mother was Lillian Worth, a woman Slade started a relationship with while he was separated from his wife Adele when their son was very young. She was ten when Slade was shot down over Lian Yu. Slade returned home six years later and that's when things get a little murky. Apparently there was a custody dispute between Slade and Lillian and Rose ran away, changed her name to Jade Nguyen. She somehow ended up with the Chinese Triad and began being trained by China White as her successor; Interpol calls her Ravager because of how violent her kills are."
"Like father like daughter," Felicity muttered.
"So it's basically just one crazy coincidence that Slade ended up aligning with China White and his daughter happened to be her apprentice," Sara noted as Oliver drew a line from Jade to White.
"Lucky me then," Roy said darkly as Thea looked at him in concern.
"How is John Diggle involved in this?" Anatoly asked as they all turned to the picture of Diggle.
"I think Johnny was recruited by the Ninth Circle four years ago, after his brother's death," Lyla explained sadly, thinking back on that dark time. "He was at a low point in his life, then he just…we lost touch for a long time. During that time, he allegedly began working with a private security firm. But he never said much about it, to anyone. Then, out of nowhere, he started working as a bodyguard after you came back home Oliver."
"I remember getting recommendations for Mr. Diggle as soon as I began looking for a bodyguard," Moira remembered.
"Ninth Circle plants probably. Emiko would have wanted to make sure Dig got the job so he could spy on you all. Then, once he found out Ollie's secret, he was probably ordered to distract you so you couldn't interfere in Ninth Circle operations. It's how they operate," Sara explained and Oliver nodded as he drew a line from Diggle to Emiko.
"And John killed Amanda Waller and helped Dante escape custody, raiding an ARGUS base in the process," Oliver said as he drew a line from Diggle to the drone. "But their real objective was to get their hands on these ARGUS issued drones."
"They are more advanced than any fighter jet will be in the next twenty years," Lyla said, picking up for Oliver in explaining. "A shot from just one will take out a building twice the size of this safe house. It can be piloted remotely and has stealth mode. By the time you see one coming, it'll be too late."
"Whatever Slade and Emiko are planning to do with them, it won't end well," Oliver noted. "Which is why we need to figure out what they're planning and how to stop it."
"And does anyone have any idea on how to do that?" Thea asked and it was silent for a moment.
"Perhaps we don't need to," Anatoly said and they all looked at him. "Perhaps Slade left you a way to find him."
"What?" Oliver asked confused but Sara caught on.
"Anatoly's right Ollie. Slade has done all this as a giant 'fuck you' to you. He wants to tear away everything you love and he wants you there to see it. He left you some way to find out where he'll be when it happens. We just have to figure out what that is," Sara said and it was silent for a moment as Oliver stared at the board.
"Not a what…but a who," Oliver said as they all looked at him. "You two are right…and I know just the clue that Slade left me."
And the mystery of Roy's father has finally been solved. Roy's father was murdered to cover up a Ninth Circle plot. Those of you who watch NCIS: New Orleans will obviously recognize Dante's man Avery Walker as the main villain of season five.
And after taking a step back and going over everything that has happened over the course of the story, Oliver, with some help from Anatoly and Sara, has figured out a way to find out where Slade is. Get ready, the Siege is about to begin.