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Run and Repeat

Diggle had tolerated a lot of unconventional plans since he'd started working with Oliver Queen in the field, but this was definitely a plan where he had more serious concerns about his associate's sanity.

"You're sure this is going to work?"

"Didn't you come up with this part of the plan?" Barry smiled at Diggle as they drove into the city. Barry had assured them that he still felt as though he had enough speed for the next stage of their plan, but they had all agreed that it would be best for him to conserve his speed until he was sure he needed it, which meant taking a few more minutes to get around so that he could use more speed for the upcoming fight. "Look, I got the tracker on Malcolm Merlyn during the fight, and we're all agreed that he's not going to have the time to check himself before he gets to the device to set it off, so all we need to do now is get to the sewers and head him off."

"Yeah, I get that," Diggle nodded tentatively as he turned another corner. "It's just… you're sure there isn't another way?"

"One thing I confirmed in the future was that these devices had to be activated in person," Barry nodded. "Malcolm Merlyn obviously had to set them to go off on a time delay or he'd have killed himself, but he's got a certain… well, he likes to do things a particular way…"

"In other words, he's an egotist who likes to know he's done things personally?" Laurel smiled uncertainly from her position in the back of the car.

"That's a good way to describe it," Barry nodded.

"I've had experience with that kind of guy in the past," Laurel grinned at the young man before her grin faltered. "I mean, they weren't trying to destroy a city because of it, but they did like it when other people knew what they were doing in their own way…"

"I get the impression we don't want to know more," Barry finished.

"Still, he seriously thinks he beat you?" Laurel looked sceptically at the younger man. "If you're that fast-"

"I've… been taken by surprise by a few regular foes who could anticipate what I was going to do next in a confrontation; it's not impossible that he could have stopped me if I'd been careless," Barry explained, giving an awkward shrug as though embarrassed at that idea before he smiled encouragingly at the two of them. "Plus, there's the advantage that nobody else in the world knows what I even am right now; Malcolm Merlyn doesn't really know what I'm truly capable of, and what I've heard about him makes it clear that he's pretty arrogant, so I was guessing that he's cocky enough he'd assume that he was just good enough to beat me on his own."

"Considering what the guy did to Oliver the first time they fought, I can guarantee that he's probably not used to losing," Diggle pointed out.

"The first time?" Laurel looked at Diggle with a new intensity in her expression. "When was that?"

"…Christmas," Diggle said once it was clear that Laurel wasn't going to stop giving him that particular stare.

"That was the reason he was in hospital?" Laurel's eyes widened in shock. "I thought he just had a- and Malcolm did that to him?"

"He's not going to have the chance to do it now," Barry reached over to place a reassuring hand on Laurel's shoulder. "I promise."

Looking at the way Laurel almost instinctively calmed down at Barry's words, Diggle wondered what it was about this guy that he was able to reassure people that easily. Oliver did a good job at kicking ass, but he wasn't that good at helping people cope with their difficult emotions after their various near-death experiences, whether he was dealing with frightened civilians or old friends.

If this guy's in the future… it's going to be a weird one, but at least part of it's worth fighting for.

"It's time."

"Already?" Moira replied, only just remembering to keep her voice low as she answered the phone; there was no question what Malcolm was referring to, but the abruptness of it was still a shock. "But you said-!"

"Things have changed," Malcolm replied. "Circumstances have made it clear that my old timetable has to be accelerated. Make sure our associates are ready to take action."

Even before the call ended, Moira had already made up her mind regarding her own next move.

Moira didn't know what could have prompted Malcolm to step up his schedule like this, but she was already certain that she didn't want to be here to face the culmination of his Undertaking directly.

By the time she had reached her room and pulled out her bag, Moira had already started to put together her own self-justification for her current actions. It wasn't even as if she was going to run away from the city for good; she just needed to get her family to the airport so that she could get them far away from the danger zone before anything actually happened. It wouldn't be hard to pass it off as wanting to give Oliver and Thea a holiday after the last few months, what with Thea's court case, and Malcolm would still need some time to do whatever he was planning to do.

Just so long as she could find her children before Malcolm committed himself to anything…

The thing that amused Malcolm the most was how easily everything was still falling into place. He was still frustrated that he had been forced to escalate his timetable like this, but what better proof did he require that he was just fulfilling a greater destiny? Even a man with powers like nothing he'd seen before couldn't stop him getting away at the last minute to achieve the goal he had been working towards ever since Rebecca's death.

I really do live a charmed life…

The trip into the city was reasonably tense, but he had enough practice getting around that it wasn't difficult to avoid any civilians as he made his way through the streets towards the entrance he'd long ago marked out as the best way into the tunnels without attracting attention. Once he was in the tunnels, it had been even easier to retrace the path he'd set out for himself to reach the second device, and while some parts of the tunnel were close to the sewers, he could tolerate a bad smell for a short while if it meant eradicating a greater stain from the city. Setting off the second device on its own wouldn't be as devastating as the planned 'detonation' of both of them at once would have been, but it should still look like a natural event, and from there it wouldn't be hard to begin his own plans-

There was a sudden spark of electricity all around him, as though he'd become caught up in some kind of storm underground, and then Malcolm found himself facing the Hood and the man's mysterious new ally, a cool smile on the face of the man in red as he held up a phone Merlyn recognised as his own.

"Tell me," the man in red grinned, "does this have the contact details for the people holding Walter Steele?"

"What-?" Malcolm replied, too shocked at this declaration to come up with a suitable denial (and how had that man been quick enough to pick his pocket?).

"I'll take that as a yes," the man in red nodded as he casually put the phone in his pocket. "Thanks for clearing that up."

"What makes you think-?"

"You can drop the act, Malcolm Merlyn," the Hood said, raising his bow as he stared at the other archer. "We already told you that we know who you are; do you think that means we only know about this part of your double life?"

"Like you don't have one yourself?" Malcolm countered; if this was going to come to a fight, he could at least try and put his opponent on-edge before the confrontation started. "I doubt you go around dressed like that all the time-"

"I don't act as though I'm associating with myself even to people who know there's a connection," the Hood countered. "Everyone aware of my secrets knows who is under this hood; you can't even trust your own son with the truth about yourself."

"I keep those secrets in the name of a greater good; the city needs to get rid of-!"

"Mass murder is never the answer, and talking about 'the greater good' is just an excuse not to care about what you're doing right now," the man in red cut him off, an earnest yet subtle disgust in his manner that suggested to Malcolm that there was a certain naiveté in this man's approach to life as a vigilante. "Killing may be necessary on some occasions when you've exhausted every other option to stop a dangerous foe, but nobody has the right to be judge, jury and executioner on this scale-"

Fed up with the other man's self-righteousness, Malcolm quickly drew and fired an arrow at the newest player on this complex board, only for the arrow to vanish mid-flight and suddenly be held in the red-clad man's hand.

"But when you're willing to kill on a scale like this," the man in red replied, his voice sounding significantly deeper for a moment, "we're willing to make-"

The man in red's little speech was broken off when he reeled back and clutched at his head, a strange spark of energy flashing around his body as he fell. The Hood looked at his associate with what was clearly shock even with the cover provided by his namesake, but that distraction was enough for Malcolm to draw another arrow and fire-

If it had been any other situation, Malcolm would concede that he was impressed to see how quickly his opponent realised what was happening and grabbed the arrow out of the air despite his apparent distraction. It wasn't the explicitly superhuman speed of his associate, but anyone capable of something like that had to be good, even before the other archer notched the arrow to his own bow and turned it back on Malcolm.

Malcolm moved to try and grab it himself, but was suddenly struck by the pain in his arm from the injury he'd sustained during the initial confrontation with these men. The twinge of pain as he moved the arm would have been a minor inconvenience at any other time, but when he was up against the Hood, the man's newfound knowledge apparently gave his opponent just enough confidence to exploit that weakness for all it was worth, the arrow piercing his already-wounded arm and practically pinning it to his own body.

It wasn't as though Malcolm had relaxed his combat training since he left the League, but at the same time, he hadn't been able to practice with the same intensity of his matches in the League. Add in the fact that he just wasn't as used to experiencing pain like this any more- God, he couldn't even remember when he'd last felt this kind of pain- and his reflexes would have been dulled even without the inconvenience of one arm being basically rendered useless.

Lost for any better ideas, Malcolm shifted his grip on his bow to turn it into a makeshift staff; long-range combat wasn't an option, but if he could get up close he might still have a chance to overpower his foe. Now prepared for the next attack, he was able to deflect his opponent's next arrow and then engage in more direct combat, but it was soon clear that he just wasn't hitting hard enough to do serious damage to a warrior this skilled. His temper rose as Malcolm redoubled his efforts to beat the other man back, but this only led to the Hood grabbing his bow and nearly pulling it out of his hand before Malcolm drove him back with a kick to the chest. Moving the bow to his other hand- the arm couldn't move much but the hand was still viable- Malcolm grabbed the Hood's arm in his good hand and tried to twist it behind his back, but a punch to his face stopped that attack before it could go any further, forcing him to release his grip on his opponent-

Something struck him in the chest, and it was only after he looked down that he realised it was one of the Hood's arrows, driven into his chest with such force that it must have penetrated something important even if he couldn't be sure how close it was to his heart.

He didn't even have time to utter a curse before the pain filled his mind and he collapsed to the ground in agony, before blackness took over instead.

As Malcolm Merlyn fell to the ground, Oliver could only stare in silent apprehension at the man lying on the ground in front of him. Considering that Malcolm Merlyn had an arrow just grazing his heart if not outright penetrating it, it was safe to say he wouldn't be getting up any time soon, but after what Malcolm had almost done Oliver felt a degree of caution was warranted.

Once he was satisfied that his parents' old friend wasn't moving anywhere, Oliver turned his attention back to Barry; the man had used a considerable amount of his speed to get them to the tunnels and search for the small signs around the tunnels that Malcolm must have left himself to ensure he could find his way around. A quick check of his new ally's pulse was enough to confirm that Barry was still alive, and that strange 'sparking' seemed to have stopped, but that didn't explain what had happened. From what Barry had told him and Diggle, the loss of his speed shouldn't actually hurt the younger man beyond any confusion he might feel at having lost his memory of the last few days, but what would it do to Barry's future if he woke up in a city he wasn't meant to visit for another year and actually had an encounter with them he'd remember later?

Hoping he wasn't about to make a mistake and have to explain an already-confusing situation to a man who'd have no idea what he was doing here, Oliver delivered a hard slap to the side of Barry's face, starting the speedster back to consciousness.

"What… Oliver?" Barry said, which at least assured Oliver that the time-traveller hadn't yet lost his memories of the future. "How did… where am I?"

"The sewers," Oliver said, hoping Barry's mind hadn't fallen too far yet. "You were helping me against Malcolm Merlyn, remember?"

"Merlyn?" Barry repeated, briefly sounding confused before he shook his head and winced. "Right… time travel… I'm in the past…"

"Are you all right?" Oliver asked, suddenly anxious at Barry's apparent confusion. "You just collapsed-"

"I'm fine," Barry said firmly as he stood up, only to wince and bend over slightly as he held his head. "No, I'm not… it's getting harder to focus…"

"Your memories?"

"I know why I'm here- how I'm here- but I have to… to keep reminding myself that's why I'm here," Barry explained, waving a hand in an uncertain gesture before he refocused his attention on Oliver. "Merlyn's down, right?"

"I still need to find the Markov Device, but-"

"Oliver!"

"Laurel?" Oliver reached up to his earpiece in surprise; even if he'd made the choice to bring Laurel into this part of his life, hearing her talk to him over the Hood's radio was still a surprise. "What is it?"

"Thea and your mother are leaving the city."

"What?"

"I just got a call from Thea; she was planning to meet a friend when your mother drove by and forced her into the car," Laurel explained. "I didn't get anything else before your mom took the phone and told me to get out of the Glades before she hung up, but considering what we know was 'meant' to happen…"

"I get it," Oliver said, unable to hide his disappointment; even after he had made his own disdain for his mother's plans clear, she was still prioritising saving her own family over saving anyone else. "Malcolm's down and I've got a phone he was using to keep in touch with the people he used to abduct Walter Steele. Barry and I think we've found the signs Malcolm left himself to find the device, and we've got a contact in the company who's been helping with the tech side of things who might be able to help us trace where Walter's being held based on the data on the phone, but that leaves-"

"Me to get Thea to safety and stop your mom leaving."

"You'd do that?"

"You're my friend," Barry replied with an openness about it that suggested he was surprised Oliver had to ask why he'd do it. "I can get Thea back to the bunker quickly enough, and then-"

"I'll take things at the airport," Diggle's voice cut in.

"Really?"

"Best way to set it all up," his 'official' bodyguard elaborated. "The new helmet arrived, so my identity's secure, and we can all agree Oliver's best suited for getting Walter out of wherever he is at the moment; I think I can handle whatever security Mrs Queen's put together on this kind of short notice to make sure she doesn't try to bail out on her own."

"On my way," Barry said before he looked at Oliver. "Think you can find the device down here?"

"I'll be fine," Oliver nodded. "Just stay focused; if you think you can't do it, you need to get yourself somewhere safe and understandable before you… black out."

Barry's only response was to give Oliver a solemn smile before he vanished from the tunnels, leaving Oliver to turn his attention back to the reason he had come down here in the first place.

Malcolm Merlyn's body could be dealt with later; he had more immediate priorities to deal with right now. He recognised that he was making a few guesses, but it didn't seem like much of a stretch to be concerned that whoever Malcolm had guarding Walter were under orders to do something to their prisoner if Malcolm didn't contact them on a regular basis, even if he also doubted that Malcolm had actually met with any of the people he'd have arranged such an abduction with in his own identity.

As for the Markov Device, if nobody had found it so far it was unlikely anyone was going to stumble across it in the next few hours, and now that Oliver had an idea of its location he could conduct a more thorough search once more immediate matters had been dealt with. As disrespectful as it might seem, compared to all the obvious loose ends he had to tie up, dealing with Malcolm Merlyn's body could wait until he was sure that no more lives were at risk.