Starling City, Daybreak, Six Months ago

Getting into the limo, Thea sat across from Malcolm, her biological father who was smirking at her and hoped he could provide her with what she needed right now. "So, where are we going?" She asked him.

"Wherever you want," Malcolm answered.

"It's up to me?" She said a little surprised.

"Why not? I'm a well-traveled man. I've been every place in the there is." He said bragging slightly.

"But you want to get out of here." She noted. "Because if the police know you're alive, they come after you. The Green Arrow, too." She accurately guessed.

"You're very perceptive, Thea." He replied mildly impressed. "Knowing when people are hiding something behind their smiles. Your mother had that talent. Yes. If someone knew where I was, it would be unfortunate - for both of us." He admitted while the police wouldn't be a problem for him, Oliver and the League of Assassins would be; especially the League he thought. "So why did you reach out to me?"

"You reached first." She reminded him.

"Still."

"I don't want to feel this pain again. I don't want to hurt or get hurt. Never again. And you seem like someone who can teach me how not to." She told him adamantly.

Arrowcave, Night

Oliver and Laurel in the vigilante attire just arrived back after a night of patrol. "Who'd it go out there?" Dig asked as they walked into the room.

"Well I stopped an attempted rapist and Oliver knocked out a carjacker," Laurel told him.

"I other words it was a slow night for once," Oliver added.

"Which means for once I might be able to get a good six hours before I have to go to my day job," Laurel noted and gave Oliver a kiss on his cheek. "See you home." She said smiling as she left to get undressed.

"Well since we're having a good night for once, I also I have to head off to work," Felicity told Oliver.

"Tech Village is open this early?" Roy said with some surprise.

"Not exactly," Felicity said.

"Have you figured out where in Italy Thea's staying?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, about that - she's not in Italy," Felicity revealed.

"Hmm?

"Or Europe. Or, well, she's -" Felicity said thinking she needed to update geography knowledge.

"Where is she?" Oliver inquired.

"I had to ping her cell phone to find out where in "Italy" she was texting from." She explained while making a hand expression about Italy. "Turns out, came back Corto Maltese."

"Corto's an island off of South America." Dig pointed out. "What's up with your family and islands?" He asked and Oliver just glared at him before walking away.

"Hey, Oliver, Roy said following him. "Thea's letter said not to come find her." He reminded him.

"That letter was addressed to you, not to me." Oliver shot back. "When our mother died ... I decided to leave her alone for a while. But now, I'm starting to get worried. It's time for my sister to come home." Noticing Oliver dead certain about this, Roy went over to his suit in the glass case and grabbed his recurve bow. "What are you doing?" He asked Roy.

"Thea's gone because of me. Because of the lies that I told her. So I owe this to both of you to make things right." Roy told him.

"No. What are you ... doing?" Oliver said cracking up a smile. "You can't travel with that." He clarified as Roy looked at his bow.

"I've actually never been on a plane before." He embarrassingly revealed as Oliver left.

Diggle and Lyla's Apartment, Day

"I know. You're not doing anything and I could literally watch you forever." Dig said softly as he watched Sara in her crib, not noticing Lyla walk in on them.

"Oh, yeah? What about once she discovers boys?" Lyla questioned.

"Well, that's what my Glock is for, right, baby?" He asked Sara in a baby voice. "Right. It's my Glock." Walking over to Lyla, Dig quietly closed the door and let out a sigh of relief. "I'm going to enjoy some quality time with her for the next few days." He said taking the glass of whiskey Lyla handed him as he headed for the couch. "I'm even looking forward to changing a few diapers."

"And I'm looking forward to believing that when I see it." She said sipping her own drink. "Why the time off? I thought you quit the team." She asked joining him on the sofa chair next to it.

"No, Oliver's going to Corto Maltese for a couple of days." He revealed.

"Could you go with him?" She asked.

"Like I don't already spend enough time with Oliver as it is?" He remarked.

"Team Arrow may have Starling City purring like a kitten, but the rest of the world is still a very dangerous place. Including Corto Maltese." She reminded Johnny who just sighed.

"Lyla, I already don't like where this headed." He said.

"We have a field operative down there who's gone dark." She revealed.

"All right, so send an agent. Send a task force." He told her, as that was standard procedure.

"He's not in any kind of trouble." She clarified. "He hasn't touched his panic button. He's probably just drunk in some Belleza's Villa. Mark Shaw's been known to miss a few days from time to time." She revealed sipping her drink. "Will you just do me a favor ... and see if he's ok? Tell him to check in." She pleaded as she sat next to him. "Two more days and I'm going to have to call in the cavalry. And I don't want to get him into trouble with Waller. Mark's an old friend."

Looking over her shoulder into Sara's room, Dig gave his answer. "She better not do anything interesting while I'm gone." He said as she smiled and kissed him.

Oliver and Laurel's Apartment, Night

"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Laurel asked Oliver as he was about to head out the door with his bags in hand.

"No, I'll be fine. Besides, someone needs to be here just in case something happens in this city." Oliver pointed out to her. "Which it inevitably will."

"Cynic." She noted sarcastically.

"Realist." He corrected her. "But about you are okay? We haven't really talked about it since-"

"Since we found out I'm a walking-talking megaphone." She sassed rather sadly.

"I believe the term is metahuman." He corrected her. "How are you doing?

"I can't give you an answer because I don't exactly have one yet. But when I do you'll be the first to know. Now, before you leave I have just one more question for you?" She asked wanting to change the subject.

"Okay."

"(Are you sure you don't want me to come with you because my Spanish is pretty good.)" She said speaking the said language.

"(So is mine. Granted it's not as good as my Russian and certainly not my Chinese but still I'll manage)" He told her surprising her a bit. "Where'd you learn by the way,)

"Several years working in the Glades, I picked it up. You?" She answered and then asked.

"College, Freshmen year, I had a good tutor," He said

"And by good, you mean hot don't you?" She pressed with a smirk knowing the answer as Oliver smiled nervously. "Well, sex was one of the few things that could always get you to focus."

"Still is." He said and kissed her goodbye. "Love you."

"Love you too, have a safe flight." She replied as he exited the apartment.

Corto Maltese, Day

Arriving at their hotel, Oliver, Dig, and Roy exited from their taxicab. "So what's the play with Thea?" Roy asked Oliver.

"Do you mind if I talk to her alone first? It's been a while." He asked and Roy nodded.

"Felicity able to pin her down?" Dig inquired.

"She gave me an address," Oliver said as he left them to go there, while Roy and Dig grabbed their luggage.

Arriving at where Thea was staying which was a very nice and expensive-looking Villa, Oliver ran up to the door and knocked loudly. "Thea!" He said out loud but unbeknownst to Oliver, Malcolm was standing behind the door with his compound bow and an arrow notched for Oliver should he enter.

"Senor." A voice asked Oliver from behind, it was the gardener. "(How can I help you?") He asked in Spanish.

"(I am looking for my sister.)" Oliver answered.

"You must be Mia's brother." The gardener noted lowering his hat. "I see the resemblance."

"Is "Mia" around?" Oliver inquired.

"She works at the cafe." The gardener told him.

"Where's the cafe?" Oliver pressed.

"I'll show you." He said.

"Thank you," Oliver replied following him.

Exhaling deeply, Malcolm lowered his bow knowing that Oliver must've left.

Local Cafe

"(Here you are.) Thea said in Spanish giving her customers their drinks and left to get some napkins.

"Thea," Oliver said and Thea immediately recognized his voice. Turning around and seeing her brother, the two siblings stared at each other for a moment. Oliver noticed she cut her hair shorter as she was sporting a bob haircut. As the two finally cracked their own smiles, Thea walked over to hug him. "Good to see you."

"You, too." She said happily as she hugged him. "But how - how did you -"

"Well, it's not exactly the Amalfi Coast." He pointed out and Thea sighed.

"(I'm going to close, Ernesto.)" She told her coworker as she and Oliver sat down together for a chat.

"Didn't you flunk Spanish?" He asked remembering her senior year.

"More like skipped it altogether." She clarified as the two had a brief chuckle.

"Well, you look good. I like your haircut." He complimented

"Thank you. Yeah, wanted it short, you know. I gets hot down here." She said truthfully, although shorter hair also helped with her training with Malcolm. "I'm sorry I lied to you. About it, Ollie. I just needed some space."

"It's ok. You've had five months of it." He reminded her.

"This isn't just a visit." She realized and Oliver pulled out a plane ticket.

"Got one for you, too." He told her. "After mom, I understood why you left Starling. But Thea, I miss you. And I would really like it if you came home." He pleaded gently.

"I miss you, too." She told him. "And I love you ... so much. But I'm never coming back to Starling City." She reluctantly told him as Oliver tried hard to contain his disappointment.

Queen Consolidated, Starling City, Day

"Q.C. stock is up 10 bucks at the open. That is love, ha!" Ray told an employee of his cheerfully and as he turned around he saw his Vice-President. "Ah, Miss Smoak, good morning - I think. I've been here all night." He admitted quickly. "My predecessor left things a little, um, what's a polite way to say this? Little wonky. Sorry if I'm rambling. I'm a little over-caffeinated. I just had three espressos. Speaking of coffee -"

"Let me stop you right there!" Felicity said cutting him off quickly. "I told myself that I would stand firm on a few points, no late-night emails, no personal errands, and definitely no coffee. There'll be no espressos brought to you by me. I stand very firm on that last point." She said bitterly remembering that one time she brought coffee to Oliver when she was his secretary.

"And I admire your conviction." He noted seriously. "This is Jerry Conway, your Executive Assistant and I wanted to know if you'd like him to get you a coffee." He clarified as he introduced them. "Or are you just anti-latte in general?"

"Um ... Executive Assistant?" She said almost speechless, which is rare for her.

"I think that's a yes on the latte." He told Jerry as he left. "Thank you, Jerry."

"Thank you, Jerry." She told him in earshot.

"Should we get to work? Excellent. Applied Sciences." He said energetically. "Q.C.'s bleeding-edge research division till some wacko blew it up last year."

"I'm sure that had their reasons." She said knowing that she and Team Arrow did it to slow down Slade, in fact it was her idea.

"The point is, it's the cornerstone for my plan to rebuild Queen Consolidated and thus the city. I've had my people working day and night salvaging what they can, including this - a file server." He said touching the device right in front of both of them. "Containing Applied Science's design work. It's not working, unfortunately, on account of being caught in a massive explosion.

"You want me to access the data." She guessed.

"A brilliant mind at work already." He noted giving her the server. "Speaking of, I got to get back to work." He said leaving her alone.

"Then why are you leaving your office?" She asked.

"Oh, I'm not." He said turning around. "I'm leaving yours." Leaving Felicity once again speechless as this big office space that was once Oliver's, was now hers.

Corto Maltese

Next to a food stand, Dig got a message from Lyla. "This is Lyla's busy work, man, you didn't have to tag along," Dig told Oliver.

"Well, I don't know how to vacation like a normal person, Diggle." Oliver cracked truthfully. "What's the plan?"

"This spot's his usual dead drop. Lyla sent me over his file photo." Dig said showing a picture of Mark Shaw on his phone. "Just gonna make sure he's all right." Looking over his shoulder below ground, Dig saw Shaw near a bench. "Got him."

"I got you," Oliver said.

"He's a friendly, Oliver." Dig reminded him as he removed his shades and went to got met, Shaw. "Shaw." He addressed him, but the moment he did the ARGUS agent jumped and took a stab at Dig with a knife, fortunately, however, Dig was able to intercept it by grabbing Shaw's wrist and arm. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" He said quickly, while Oliver who was watching almost jumped in. "Listen! I'm with Lyla Michaels." He told him.

"Have you seen any capuchins today?" Shaw said giving him a coded message.

"If that's a challenge code, I got to tell you, I'm not with ARGUS, I'm just Lyla's baby daddy." Dig clarified. "Now, you didn't check-in, Shaw. She was worried. So she sent me to find you."

"If you're lyin', you'll be picking your intestines up off this sidewalk." Shaw threatened him.

"That's fair enough," Dig said and let go of Shaw as he put his knife away. "Lyla gave me a security transcoder in my right jacket pocket." Pulling it out, Shaw put the transcoder in his phone and showed Dig's ID, proving he was legit. "Pretty jumpy, Shaw." He noted.

"Better jumpy than dead," Shaw replied returning the transcoder.

"Copy that. What's going on?" Dig asked putting the transcoder away.

"Not here," Shaw said with Dig following him. "Sorry, I had-I had eyes on me all week, a whole follow team."

"Wait, Shaw. What makes you so important?" Dig asked as they came to a stop.

"I have hard intel. Someone from Corto Maltese hacked into the server and acquired the ARGUS Actual. They want to sell it." Shaw revealed.

"Did I mention I don't work for ARGUS?" Dig reminded him as he had no idea what he was talking about.

"The Actual is an encrypted data omnibus it's a complete record of agent covers, personal details, affiliated soft targets -" Shaw explained but was interrupted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, soft targets ... as in family member?" Dig asked worriedly think about Sara.

"Yeah, as in women and children. You get why this is so important?" He asked and Dig knew instantly his family would be in jeopardy should that list get out.

Arrowcave, Starling City, Night

"Okay, what exactly am I looking at here?" Laurel asked Felicity as Laurel was looking at some medical scans.

"When you were visiting your mom in Central City last year, the Particle Accelerator exploded and a piece of shrapnel from your sonic device pierced your throat." Felicity recounted and Laurel flashed back to the event.

"I know I was there," Laurel sassed.

"Well, biology isn't my specialty but I think I have a theory - I think that the sonic tech that pierced your throat essentially merged with your voice the same capabilities whenever you scream. Laurel, you're basically a living sonic weapon." Felicity explained with some slight amazement.

Walking away from her, Laurel placed her hands on her head trying to process this. "Alright, so - so basically I have the same capabilities of my sonic device whenever I scream or cry."

"Yes ... and no." Felicity corrected her.

"What do you mean?" Laurel inquired.

"Oliver told me that when you screamed it basically pushed him and Cupid into a wall to save them from getting splattered by into a million pieces. Laurel when sound waves a strong enough they distort becoming a blast wave. Basically, you were pushing them back with the force of a bomb explosion with you know, without the explosion." Felicity explained but Laurel reminded kinda confused. "What I'm saying is Laurel your "power" is a lot more powerful than your sonic device.

"How much more powerful?" Laurel asked worriedly.

"That's what we are going to find out," Felicity said and they walked over to her computer desktop with a bunch of strange devices around it and a strange wall where the sparring mat is usually kept. "These are some sound-absorbing panels that I "borrowed" from Queen Consolidated. These monitors will measure the maximum sonic input of your scream. Just let it rip." She told her.

Stepping on the mat, Laurel planted her feet and screamed her lungs out with the sound waves she was emitting hitting the panels. At first, they seemed to withstand it but eventually, the sound waves blew away the panels, destroyed the glass casings that contained the vigilante suits, and cracked Felicity's computers. "Laurel! Laurel, stop!" Felicity screamed but Laurel couldn't hear due to to the effects of her powers. Covering her ears, Felicity got over and shook Laurel who stopped.

"Felicity, uh sorry." Laurel apologized.

"Yeah, you should be!" Felicity yelled as she was rendered toned-deaf, hopefully, temporary she thought herself. "Look at my babies." She told her as Laurel looked at the damage she caused all around her. "Uh, now I'm doing the same thing for both my jobs." She sighed, while Laurel grimaced.

Corto Maltese

"I'm in position," Oliver told Dig on comms from an ideal vantage point as Dig was in a jeep with Shaw.

"The sale of the Actual is going down here," Shaw told Dig.

"Only two of us. You sure you don't want to call for backup?" Dig asked not wanting to take any chances.

"Hey," Shaw said reaching for the glove compartment, handing Diggle a gun. "That's the only insurance policy you're going to need. We're here." He said pulling over as Oliver hid and watched.

"You're not worried about them seeing our ride?" Dig asked as he and Shaw were on foot, but Shaw just ignored him as he looked anxious. "How did you know the buy was happening?" He asked.

"I've been a station agent in Corto Maltese for three years now. I got this third-world garbage dump wired." Shaw told him but Dig remained skeptical. "What's wrong?"

"There's no buy, is there, Shaw?" Dig accused as he circled the agent. He immediately clicked the gun that Shaw handed him finding out it was empty. Quickly grabbing him, Shaw pulled out a taser. "Arghhh!" He grunted in pain as the taser took him down, while Oliver reacted. "Oliver, go. go." Dig said on comms.

However, Shaw fired a barrage of bullets causing Oliver to duck for cover. As Shaw dragged Diggle elsewhere, Oliver immediately rushed to their location. "Sorry for lyin' to you, John. Well, partially lyin'. There is a buy going down, just not till tomorrow. I just needed to get this first." Shaw apologized and grabbed the transcoder from earlier. "Thanks for helping me decode the Actual."

"Diggle!" Oliver shouted as Shaw made his leave, escaping in the jeep leaving Dig pissed off at getting played.

Cafe, Next Day

While taking out the garbage to the dumpster, one of the bags broke spilling the trash causing Thea to sigh in annoyance as she knelt to pick it up. "Should have got the heavy-duty ones," Roy told her, surprising Thea. "I like your hair."

"What, are you, and my brother, like, travel buddies now?" Thea asked as she rose up and threw the garbage away.

"No, we're just worried about you." He said helping with the litter. "Oliver said you weren't going to come back, so ... I figured I'd come here and try to convince you to."

"Well, you can't."

"Look, I get it, you're hurt. I lied to you, I lied right to your face. But I - I need you to know that when I said I wanted to leave Starling with you, that wasn't a lie." He explained.

"I didn't just leave because of you, Roy." She reluctantly revealed. "My mother to lied to me, my brother. I had to get away from Starling City and all the secrets. And I found myself here."

"Isn't it lonely here?" He wondered.

"That's kind of what I like about it. There's no one here who knows me or thinks of me as Thea Queen or Thea Merlyn." She honestly admitted. "No one who lies to me, or ... tries to protect me with secrets." She said referring to him.

"All I ever wanted was for you to be happy, Thea. I'm sorry I got in the way of that. I'm sorry that I hurt you." He said finally after so many months of wanting to. "If being here instead of home makes you happy, then - then should stay." He told her and took his leave reluctantly.

"Roy?" She said causing him to turn around. "Are you ok? You look a little tired." She noticed.

"I just haven't been sleeping much lately." He said honestly. "You take care." He said as they parted, not knowing that Malcolm was listening in on them the whole time.

Oliver's Hotel Room

"Why didn't you call me soon?" Lyla told Dig and Oliver via video chat on their laptops. "I could have helped."

"I didn't want you to worry, Lyla," Dig answered with Oliver behind him. "Besides, I thought we could handle it."

"We've hacked his email traffic. He's got a buyer en route to Corto Maltese." She informed him.

"Who?"

"The tech boys are still working on that. But Waller's dispatched a Wet team to your position." She revealed.

"They're not going to get here in time." He told her.

"They might. Keep your powder dry." She reminded him.

"Copy that." He replied as she ended the video chat.

"We're not going to keep our powder dry," Oliver stated the obvious.

"Hell, no," Dig said plainly.

Felicity's Office, Queen Consolidated, Starling City, Day

"Hey. Any luck raising our digital Lazarus from the dead?" Ray asked as Felicity was deep in thought on her computer task, chewing on her pen.

"The hard drive is toast," Felicity said bluntly getting out of her chair. "And the power supply. And ... the actuator." She said showing him the item.

"Ah, I'm sensing a pattern." He said with disappointment.

Hearing her phone vibrate, Felicity went over to her desk. "Sorry, one second." She told him. "Hello?"

"Hey, Felicity, this is John. Where are you?" He asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She exclaimed still processing her new office.

"Are you near a computer?" He asked.

"Kind of." She answered.

"I'm looking for somebody in Corto Maltese." He explained.

"I'm actually a little bit in the middle of a ..." She said awkwardly looking at Ray.

"I need to know where he is. I've emailed you everything I have on him." He informed her.

"... Meeting right now." Finally finishing her sentence.

"I am so sorry. It's a friend." He said lowering her phone as she went to her desk. "Um, well, a few friends ... actually. You know what, it's a long story."

"Heh. Why am I under the impression that you have a lot of stories, all of which are long?" He witted in amusement as she was on her keyboard and her phone. "You want me to come back later?"

"What? Sorry." She said and her phone call with Dig ended. "Hello?" She answered on her other phone.

"Hey, Felicity's it's Laurel do have the results back from our little science experiment the other day?" Laurel asked walking in the streets.

"Uh, no not yet. My hearing's come back BTW." Felicity remarked as her other phone ringed again."Oh, dear go. One second. One more second." She said to Ray. "Hello?"

"We got cut off." Dig pointed out.

"According to the file you sent me, this guy is somewhat of a hacker." She said out loud catching Ray's attention.

"Let me guess - long story?" Ray imagined.

"Yeah, the guy I'm looking for broke into ARGUS's system." Dig explained

And he left a trail. It's faint - hacking-wise - but with a little bit of luck, I will find him, or his laptop. I will email you when I have something." She said hanging up and answered her personal phone for Laurel. "I'm having a bit of day." She revealed.

"Do you have the results back or not?" Laurel asked eagerly annoyed at the waiting.

"Can I call you back on that?" She asked hanging up her phone and looked at Ray wondering if her first day would be her last.

"Is this what a typical day looks like for you?" Ray asked.

"Believe it or not, this is better than most." She admitted.

Corto Maltese, Next Day

"When Felicity has Shaw's location, I want you to text me and I'll be there," Oliver told Dig and Roy as they followed him.

"Thea?" Roy guessed.

"Yeah."

"Oliver, I don't think she's going to change her mind on this. She doesn't want to hear from anyone, and I don't blame her." Roy pointed out. "I mean, we both lied to her. A lot."

"I know, it's why it's time to tell her the truth," Oliver revealed.

"Oliver, when you say "the truth" ..." Dig ponder as they came to a stop.

"What happened the five years I was away, everything we've done since I've been back, all of it." Oliver clarified.

"Well, you might want to think about that for a second." Dig recommended to him.

"Lies are what drove Thea away from Starling City in the first place. The truth is the only thing that's going to bring her back." Oliver told him.

"Except you won't be telling her the truth, will you? You'll be telling her that her brother has been lying to her face, with almost pathological sincerity for the past two years. She won't believe another word you say. And you will lose her, Oliver, forever." Dig reminded Oliver, knowing how badly this could play out.

"Well, look around. I've already lost her." Oliver countered. "I don't have any other choice." He said and left to go meet up with Thea.

Arrowcave, Starling City, Night

Setting up a new glass case for Laurel, Oliver, and Roy's vigilante suits; Laurel let down her ponytail, letting her blonde hair fall to her shoulders and tussled it a little. "Oh wow," Felicity said as Laurel turned around and saw her.

"Yeah, I figured I broke it; might as well fix it. I was just about to fix the computers." Laurel mentioned as she went over to the monitors.

"I wouldn't do that," Felicity said immediately stopping the vigilante lawyer. "I'm just, very particular about my equipment so I should fix it."

"Fair enough."

"Anyway, I got the results back from your tests," Felicity revealed.

"Lay it on me," Laurel asked.

"I was able to pull the readings from your powers, from my laptop and it showed the maximum output of your Cry at 250 decibels. And that was before it shattered my babies." Felicity explained.

"And is that bad?" Laurel asked the IT expert.

"I'm guessing you flunked science in school didn't you?" Felicity guessed.

"More like, got "Cs" actually." Laurel corrected her.

"Well, anyway. Laurel anything over 200 decibels if held long enough could kill a human." Felicity revealed causing Laurel to look frightened.

"Great, great and here I thought the worse that could happen is that I could blow out Oliver's eardrums in bed," Laurel remarked worriedly.

"Oh, so you are screamer in bed?" Felicity guessed and Laurel shot her a mean look. "Or not. Doesn't matter." She said awkwardly. "Also I hate to make matters worse but ah, that's not the worst of it."

"And what is the worst?"

"250 decibels Laurel is equivalent of a seismic tremor, in theory, you could cause an entire building to collapse if you wanted," Felicity said excitedly as she kinda thought Laurel's powers were cool, which Laurel noticed. "Which would be bad, really really bad." She added and watched Laurel sit down in a chair. "Laurel, are you going to be okay?"

"No, Felicity I am not ok!" Laurel said angrily. "I - I feel like a freak. And now ... now I worried that I could kill someone if I so much as raise my voice. God, why is this happening to me?"

"Laurel ... I don't think you're a freak. And I don't know why this is happening to you but I'm sure there's a good reason for it." Felicity said approaching her.

"How can you be so sure?" Laurel asked shaking her head.

"Cause of Barry." Felicity brought getting Laurel's attention. "I um, overheard Oliver and Barry's conversation when he "ran" over here?'

"Eavesdrop much," Laurel noted sarcastically.

"Yeah, I've picked up some bad habits working down here." Felicity shyly admitted. "Anyway, Oliver told Barry that the bolt of lightning that gave him his powers choose him. And I think you were chosen too." She expressed deeply. "Laurel your voice was always powerful, long before this. And you've used it to speak on behalf of others who needed help and to speak out against those who were causing suffering. Your scream, your Cry, it's just made your voice even more powerful." She assured her friend.

"But what if I can't control it?" Laurel worried.

"You can. Because I will help, so will Oliver. You're not alone in this." Felicity reminded her friend. "Listen, I'm going go to Central City and visit S.T.A.R. Labs. I'm gonna see everything that they have and find out if we can't use it to help you." She told her and Laurel developed a sad smile but touched smile as she hugged her which Felicity returned.

"Thank you, Felicity," Laurel said. "Even if you are just using S.T.A.R. Labs as an excuse to see Barry." She teased.

"I am not." Felicity immediately.

"Uh-huh. As if you don't wanna see the cute coma boy you've been crushing on." Laurel chuckled walking away.

Corto Maltese

"If you want to stay in Corto Maltese, it's fine, but there's not much here in the line of sightseeing," Thea mentioned to Oliver.

"Can I talk to you?" Oliver asked.

"Look, between you and your new best friend Roy, I'm pretty sure you guys have said everything." She mentioned.

"I haven't. Not yet, anyway." He said and they took a seat down at the table next to them. "Roy showed me the note you left him. And you were right about everything. I have lied, I have kept secrets. The truth is that if I tell you ... all the things that you don't know about me, then I might lose you forever. I spent five years in the worst kind of hell, and there were things that happened, there were things that I did ... that if - if you knew, you would see me differently." He admitted reluctantly and deeply.

"No, I'll always see you as my big brother." She spoke up immediately. "I mean, no matter what happened to you on that island, or who you became, it's the secrets you kept about my own life. I mean, you lied to me about who my father was." She said tearfully.

"Malcolm may have been your blood. Robert was your father." He reminded her and then revealed something he never wanted her to know about him. "I lied to you about him, too. Dad wasn't the man we thought he was. He was better. And I've kept something from you because I just ... I never wanted you to know. Dad made it off "The Gambit" with me."

"You told me he drowned." She said stunned as she continued to listen.

"We made it to a lifeboat together. There wasn't enough food and water for both of us ... so he killed himself." He admitted and as he did Thea began to cry a little as she contemplated her legal father's final actions. "And that is one secret that I'm telling you now. Because I need you to realize ... Mom and Dad, they sacrificed themselves so that we could live. But if we're not together, then ... we're not even really alive." His voice breaking almost the entire time. "You're my family. And even if you don't need me ... I need you. Please just consider what I'm saying." He asked as she nodded her head, while Oliver got up to leave.

Elsewhere in Corto Maltese

Hiding behind a crate at the exchange, Oliver, Roy, and Diggle watched and waited for Shaw to arrive. Looking through his binoculars, Dig saw the son-of-a-bitch arrive and exited his jeep. "He's here," Dig told Oliver and Roy.

"So's his buyer," Oliver said pointing out the other car that arrived with four armed men.

"I was expecting Armitage," Shaw said approaching the buyers.

"This country's soil is not worthy of Mr. Armitage." The buyer remarked. "Do you have the item?"

Opening up the case, Shaw folded his arms. "Where's the money?"

Instructing his men, the through saw a bag. "And the transcoder?" He asked as Shaw checked the money. Satisfied, he entered the device bringing up the info and pictures for all ARGUS agents including Lyla.

"We better go," Dig told the boys, seeing as the exchange was about finished.

While Diggle was loading his Glock, Oliver opened up a duffle bag and handed Roy some make-shift bows and arrows for both of them. "Where'd you get this?" Roy commented.

"Our hotel room," Oliver answered remembering he constructed these items together himself.

"Who are they?" Roy asked noticing more armed men joining the party.

"Could be ARGUS?" Dig mentioned. But as they approached them, Oliver knew otherwise.

"That's not ARGUS," Oliver stated.

"(Drop your weapon!)" One of the soldiers ordered in Spanish as he and his men got into position.

"Let's go," Oliver said as he immediately ducked behind for some cover with Roy and Dig quickly following.

"Go!" Dig said and Oliver quickly put three soldiers down with his makeshift arrow, as the rest opened fire. As the three regained their cover, the buyers and Shaw overheard the commotion. "ARGUS, they know we're here." The buyer said.

"Which is why I got a bunch of renta-soldiers to secure the perimeter," Shaw revealed. "It's amazing how cheap you buy an army for in this country."

Using his last two arrows, Oliver incapacitated two soldiers. Ducking down he removed his quiver as it was dead weight to him now. "Diggle!"

"Behind you!" Dig said throwing him a gun.

Catching it, Oliver then used it on the soldiers hitting them in the chest; knowing their vests would absorb the impact and hopefully not kill them. Noticing Roy looking at him in surprise, Oliver spoke up. "I never said I didn't know how to use a gun," Oliver revealed as Roy just sighed in annoyance.

Taking the ARGUS intel the buyers made their departure, while Shaw escaped in his jeep with Dig pursuing him on foot. Eventually cutting him off, Dig managed to grab Shaw and pull from the jeep causing them both to hit the ground.

Dealing with three soldiers, Roy managed to jump and strike one. He then followed up with a left cross to the second soldier and spun around with a sidekick that hit him in the chest.

Sneaking up behind the buyers, Oliver immediately shot out one of the tires to their vehicle so they couldn't escape. As one of them opened fire with his assault rifle, Oliver ducked and knowing the bullets would wear down the wooden crate he was behind.

As Dig repeatedly punched Shaw in the face, he managed to push him off of him only for Dig to tackle Shaw into a nearby container.

As Roy was finishing up with Shaw's hired soldiers, Oliver attacked the buyers and made quick work of them effortlessly. Dealing with the last one who held the Actual, Oliver used the said device to knock him out and then walked away with it safe in hand.

"Lyla was your friend! And you endangered her and her daughter for what, for a lousy payday!" Dig angrily reminded Shaw as he held him against a crate.

"Not a payday. It's my ticket out." Shaw revealed his face bloodied and in pain.

"Of what?"

"ARGUS!" Shaw shouted. "You don't know the things Waller's made me do. You don't know the things, the person she turns you into."

"That still gives you no right to put a bullseye on my family's back!" Dig shouted.

"I had no choice. But you do, John. Tell Waller I died. Tell her you put a bullet in me." Shaw pleaded which caused Dig to pause for just a moment before knocking him out.

"If only," Dig said.

Malcolm's Villa

"I've been thinking. I want to go back home. To my brother." Thea told Malcolm in the hallway room.

"And all his lies and secrets? Maybe you haven't come as far as I thought." Malcolm pondered.

"Let me prove it to you." She said slightly agitated and went over to the sword rack, grabbing two blades she tossed one over to Malcolm.

As their dual began, Thea used a sword thrust with Malcolm parrying her attack, and immediately began his counterattack and knocked her sword down hard with his stronger build. Circling one another as they began to grunt, the father and daughter exchanged blades with Thea ducking Malcolm's swing which broke a nearby statue. Using several overhead strikes, Thea pushed Malcolm back a bit and destroyed an antique clay pot.

"Impressive." He admitted as their swords quickly clashed again with Thea circling him.

"I had a good teacher," She said with a smile and immediately Malcolm knocked the sword from his hand. Approaching her slowly, Thea then used her foot to grab and steal his sword and eventually held it against his throat.

"Looks like you're going home." He said laughing in amusement and a victorious Thea gave him back his blade.

As she left, Thea began to wonder and turned around. "You let me win, didn't you?" She asked.

"I'll be seeing you soon." He told her, basically admitting it to be true. "Safe flight." He told as he left.

Airport

Waiting for their flight, Dig got Roy and Oliver their coffees. "You ok?" Dig asked as his friend was taking a deep breath and looked for Thea.

"She's not coming." Oliver realized disappointedly.

"I'm sorry, Oliver. You did everything you could, man." Dig said trying to comfort him.

Looking over, Roy eventually spoke up. "Oliver ..." And Oliver and Roy smiled as Thea arrived with her suitcase taking a seat next to her brother.

"I'm glad you changed your mind," Oliver told her gratefully.

"Still not sure about flying commercial, though." Thea sassed causing the boys to chuckle. Eventually, an accident occurred causing the man sitting next to Thea to spill his hot coffee on her hand.

"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry." He apologized

"Thea, are you ok?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She told him wiping the coffee from her hand, thanks to Malcolm's training she's had an incredible threshold for pain now.

Diggle and Lyla's Apartment

"There we go. Yeah. There we go." Lyla said putting her daughter down for the night. "Yeah." She mumbled covering her with a blanket. Sneaking up behind her, Dig kissed her neck.

"I love you. I love you both. The two of you were all I could think about." Dig said then kissed her and she then hugged him.

"I'm just trying to put her down." She mentioned.

"That's ok, I just want to look at her for a while." He said.

"Ok. I have to head to the office." She told him.

"So late?"

"I do whatever Amanda Waller asks, remember?" She reminded him. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Just hurry back." He told her as part of him was worried if Waller would someday turn Lyla into someone like Shaw.

Queen Consolidated.

"Do you know how many of QC's techs said this data was unrecoverable?" Ray asked Felicity. "Only all of them." He said giving her back the device.

"Seems like this would be a good time to ask for a few days off, then," Felicity said with a smile.

"You just started." He said scoffing at the idea.

"I know. But ... my friend was struck by lightning and is in a coma. So - well, was." She corrected herself. "I don't know. Um, it's -"

"A long story." He finished for her and she nodded. "See ya."

"Thanks." She said leaving. After she did, Ray pulled up the blueprints schematics for QC's Advanced Weapons project, O.M.A.C.

Oliver and Laurel's Apartment

Working on some paperwork for her job, Laurel saw Oliver coming in through the door. "Hey," Laurel said softly.

"Hey yourself," Oliver replied as he went over and kissed her. "Missed you."

"Missed you too. Where's Thea?" She asked.

"She's staying in a hotel for the night." He answered. "How are you?"

"With a being a metahuman, you mean?" She asked.

"In general but yeah that too?" He admitted.

Letting out a sigh, Laurel answered. "Honestly, Oliver I'm scared. And not just of what I can do now but - but of all the changes this means to me. To us. I'm scared of just how much our lives seemed to be changing."

"Yeah, I'm worried about that too." He revealed. "Thea, she - she seems different now?" He mentioned.

"Well, her hair's shorter. Or so I've heard." She stated the obvious.

"It's not what I meant." He chuckled and then took her out of the chair and into his arms. "In the meantime, let me show you how much I missed." He said starting to kiss her.

"Um, just hold that thought." She said and briefly, he got annoyed as she walked away from him but came back with something in her hand that she gave to him. "Here."

"Earplugs?"

"Yeah, just thought you could use some extra "protection" in case things get a little too loud." She said with an embarrassing chuckle that he joined her in as they slowly resumed their deep kiss. Outside of their apartment, watching from the rooftop across their building; the lovers were being watched by a member of the League of Assassins.