Disclaimer: All rights belong to CW, Warner Bros, and the DC comics. I own nothing. (Check bottom for longer Author's Note)
Tommy sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping downward. The television had been momentarily paused, Oliver's face still frozen on the screen. The silence allowed his mind to wander to the world that Barry had taken them from. Were they even still on Earth? Tommy supposed it didn't really matter in the long run. But, the more that he watched, and the more he thought about home, the more he wondered if he ever really knew the people around him. Oliver was a no brainer. A stranger in some ways, familiar in others. But his dad? With the gun and the fighting? Secrets had begun to infect his world.
Maybe it was already infected, and these were just the symptoms.
Tommy leaned back in his seat, his legs shifting against Laurel's. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at her. She was talking to her dad, her voice hushed. The hair that had been tucked behind her ear had fallen forward, brushing lightly against her lips. His heart squeezed painfully. Things would never be the same between them. He knew that, but he was also pretty sure that she didn't. Laurel turned back to him, apparently the conversation with her father over, and she took his hand in her own, giving him a shaky smile. God, he loved her.
The television was still paused, and Tommy frowned, turning around to look at Barry, who was staring at nothing in particular. Tommy held his gaze for a few more moments, hoping to eventually catch his eye. He never did.
"So, where are we?" Tommy asked, breaking Barry's trance. Barry glanced at him, apparently surprised. "Or, should I ask, when are we?" Barry grinned at him. Tommy instantly was reminded of Oliver in this moment. The switch that he could just turn off and on at a moment's notice, to turn into some goofy, lovable person, untouched by pain. Barry could do it, too.
"I see why Oliver liked you so much." Tommy raised an eyebrow. 'Liked?' "I took you guys to a neutral location from when I'm from. Don't worry, though. You'll all end up at the time and place I picked you up from." Tommy didn't even bother trying to understand it. Time travel was weird.
"That didn't answer his question," Quentin said. Tommy glanced over at him, and they made eye contact for a second.
"Technically?" Barry questioned. Quentin raised an eyebrow.
"Is there an untechnical part to this answer?" Barry smiled, opening his mouth to answer. "You know what? Forget I asked. What's the technical answer?"
"We're technically in the year twenty-forty-six." Quentin scoffed. Loudly. Tommy honestly didn't blame him.
"You have some way to prove that?" Barry looked at him, remaining quiet for a few seconds. His eyes lingered on Quentin's face for a few moments, and Tommy watched as the switch within Barry changed again. The pain was back. There were a few more beats of silence, and then Barry sat back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. Tommy watched Barry's hand tremble as he did so.
"I can prove it," Barry said slowly. "Just later." Barry nodded towards the screen. "Right now," Barry's voice hitched slightly, "this is more important than a tour around Star City." Quentin didn't say anything, his face void of emotions. But, he seemed appeased. Tommy, on the other hand, couldn't help but wonder why they would change the name of the city. And at that, bother changing it to something four letters different than the original name.
"What are these exactly?" Laurel chimed in. "I mean, how did you get these?" Tommy was confused for a second before he realized she was referring to the videos. Good question. Barry's face fell, his mouth twitching downwards.
"They're Oliver's memories. Well, most of them at least. It's a compilation of multiple people's memories." His eyes scanned the room. Tommy tilted his head to the side slightly. "This is the future, ya' know." His tone was joking, but his words held finality to them. Quentin apparently didn't take the hint.
"So we're just supposed to believe you?"
"Quentin, do you really not believe me?" Barry's eyes were wide, curious almost. Tommy leaned back, thinking for a moment. There hadn't really been a moment where he had doubted what he was seeing. He had just kind of accepted it from the beginning. If this all was some sort of elaborate prank, then consider him punk'd. Barry watched Quentin, who just turned back towards the screen, a scowl half-heartedly spread across his face. The television resumed. Apparently, the conversation was over.
Oliver lay against the wall of the cave. He looks groggy.
Every time the television started, Tommy flinched. Each time it paused, he found himself hoping that this was all some sort of cruel joke. But the videos resumed, and so did the nightmare. The problem was that he knew things were going to get worse. The Oliver that came home wasn't the one they were watching. The hell they were watching was nothing compared to the hell they were going to see.
The man returns, stating that it is good that Oliver is not dead.
"No thanks to him," Thea said bitterly. She knew that the man had been trying to help Oliver, she wasn't stupid. He could have gone about "saving" him in a different way. Maybe a way that didn't involve Oliver nearly starving to death?
He brings water and a rabbit. Oliver asks where he has been. He says he ran out of food and water days ago.
"Damn, how long was he down there?" Tommy murmured to himself. He glanced over, catching Moira's glassy stare. She had been quiet for a while. Tommy mentally noted to talk to her later. Watching this was hard, but he was Oliver's best friend, not his sister or mother.
The man walks out of the cave and Oliver calls out to him, asking him where he is going.
"Is he leaving him again?" Thea asked, this time more directed at the rest of the people on the couch. Nobody spared a glance in her direction, not even Diggle, who had been keeping a careful eye on her the whole time. Nobody had an answer, anyway. She frowned, sitting back and crossing her arms. Fine.
Oliver is about to drink the water when the man comes back and throws Fyres on the ground. Oliver punches him.
Quentin couldn't help but feel a twinge of happiness flutter through him. What could he say? The man was an asshole, he deserved it.
The man throws Oliver back and Oliver protests, saying he is the person who had him tortured. He says that Fyres would have killed him if the man hadn't showed up. The man hands Oliver a knife and tells him to kill Fyres.
"What?" Thea exclaimed. "He wouldn't actually do that." Tommy looked at her, steeling his face. "Would he?" Moira glanced over, offering her a smile of support. It didn't reach her eyes. Thea leaned back in her seat, chewing on her lip, her eyebrows narrowed in worry. She couldn't help but cast a worried glance over towards Quentin. If Oliver did anything even slightly incriminating, she knew he would stop at nothing to incarcerate him.
He then says that Fyres can take him home. The man says that Fyres has a way for him off the island.
"Something tells me this doesn't work out too well," Tommy said. Moira gave him a scathing look, but said nothing. He frowned inwardly. Part of him wished that Oliver was here with them. It felt wrong to watch this part of his life without him. He had tried so hard to keep his past from them. Tommy wanted to respect that, he really did. Part of him was glad Oliver wasn't here. Tommy didn't know if he would ever be able to look Oliver in the eyes after this. Not without sympathy, or pity, or something. God, he wished he could go back to not knowing.
Oliver, the man, and Fyres are walking in the forest.
Diggle sighed. The man was powerful. He wouldn't let himself become a hostage without some sort of plan in place.
Fyres says that Oliver is a good man and that he could see it underneath the privilege and wealthy upbringing.
Thea huffed. So privilege meant she was a bad person?
He says he saw it when he torture Oliver and Oliver wouldn't give up his friend. Fyres then asks what Oliver knows about the man.
Diggle tilted his head slightly to the side, watching the screen. As much as he hated the man, he was right. Oliver was only going on his instinct in trusting the man. Sure, the man had helped him, but what did that really mean. Diggle couldn't help but think back to Ted Gaynor. Trusting people hadn't really worked out in his favor.
He then asks if Oliver knows what the island really is. He says it's a prison.
"What?" Moira exclaimed. She couldn't help but see some truth to the man's words. Even if the island wasn't literally a prison for criminals, it was still a prison. At least it was for her son. One he didn't deserve to be in.
He said the Chinese operated the island as a penitentiary. The criminals here were so dangerous that they couldn't be on the mainland.
As he heard the rest of the people on the couch take a deep breath in, Quentin instead narrowed his eyes. After finding Oliver they hadn't heard anything about this island being a prison. He called bullshit.
They came to dispose of the men except for two. The man is one of the two men. Oliver asks who the other is and the man says it is the person that tortured Oliver.
"Yeah, right," Thea muttered. As if the man who had saved Oliver and the man who had tortured Oliver were even remotely the same. The man may have left Oliver for dead, but he never actively pushed him towards death like the masked man did.
Oliver protests and says Fyres tortured him. Fyers defends himself by saying he had information that he needed. He then asks Oliver what he would do to capture the man who slaughtered dozens of people. Oliver pushes him forward.
Moira couldn't help but be slightly relieved as she watched him push Fyres away. Oliver had always been a little too trusting of the wrong people.
The man hands the radio to Fyers and tells him to call his people and to tell them to bring the plane. Fyres says there's no need and that his people will be there shortly.
Quentin sat back in his seat, but his satisfaction was instantly met with worry. It didn't seem like Queen had the best of luck in these situations. He glanced over at Laurel, whose face held the same amount of worry on it. Watching as Tommy whispered reassurances to her, he turned back to the screen, pushing down the feeling of happiness at the sight. His pride could only afford to forgive one billionaire playboy today, and the man his daughter was dating was not on the list.
Fyres then asks if the man didn't think it was convenient that he was captured so easily.
Diggle hated being right. At least when it came to being right about things that involved Oliver he did.
The man that tortured Oliver appears, and the man from the cave tells Oliver to run. Oliver runs as the men fight.
"Thank God," Laurel whispered to herself. There were times to play hero, and this was not one of them. Oliver was a lot of things when he left, but he wasn't a fighter.
Oliver runs to hide behind a tree and holds a knife.
Tommy couldn't help but let out a light scoff. The Oliver now? Sure, he could do some damage with that. The Oliver then? He could hardly cut a piece of steak, let alone defend himself against an armed soldier.
He watches as Yao Fei was captured. Oliver makes a fire and warms his hands.
"I never took him for a boy scout," Quentin said.
He hears a noise and quickly covers back up the fire. A man comes around with a gun and sees the remnants.
The tension returned to the room, but not nearly as strong as before. The masked man wasn't there, and neither was Fyres. Whoever the soldier was, he was only half the threat Oliver had been facing before. And he had lived through each of those times. At least, that's what they all tried to tell themselves. Seein the gun in the man's hands didn't ease the tension.
He radios to somebody and says he has contact. Oliver hides behind a tree. His hand shakes. He runs out to attack the man and drops the knife as the man begins choking him.
"Shit," Tommy swore. Nobody chastised him. Tommy didn't know why he felt so worried in the moment. He knew at least one of them lived, and unfortunately for the man, Tommy knew it wasn't him. It didn't help. Tommy glanced down towards Thea and Moira, each clutching each other.
They then fall and roll down the hill. They hit a rock and Oliver falls into water. Oliver is floating face down in the water.
Moira glanced away from the screen, biting her lip. Oliver looked dead. He looked dead, her baby boy. It was no comfort in this moment that he had returned home. Where was he now?
The man is on the rock, apparently dead. Oliver then jerks upwards and takes a deep breath. He looks at the body.
Quentin couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Oliver's first kill was an accident. He inwardly flinched at his words. His first kill. It was the first time in a long time where he didn't blame Queen for Sara. It almost felt wrong.
The scene changes and Olivier has switched clothes with the man.
Tommy's mind couldn't help but conjure up the mental image of Oliver trying to strip the man and change clothes with him. He didn't know whether to feel uncomfortable or amused. Probably both.
He then buries the man under some leaves and walks away. He pulls out a map and inspects it. He puts it back in his pocket and grabs a gun and cocks it.
Diggle wondered if Oliver had ever even held a gun before now. It looked unnatural in his hands, especially after months watching him exclusively with the bow and arrow.
He climbs up and hears people talking and then quickly pulls the mask over his face and enters the camp. He gets in line for food. Another soldier walks up to him and says different day same slop, then asks if Oliver is new.
Thea shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Wherever this was going, it wasn't going to end well for Oliver. He was never a good liar, in fact, he seemed to have gotten worse since he got home.
Thea stopped herself.
He hadn't gotten worse. His cover stories were undeniably horrible, that much was true, but the way he lied to her and mom, putting on a façade that he was okay after all of this, that he was the same playboy that had left, Thea couldn't help but wonder just how good of a liar Oliver truly was.
Oliver says yes and then asks where he's supposed to go as he is supposed to be transporting a prisoner. He describes Yao Fei. The man says that he was taken to East Camp.
"How big was this operation?" Laurel whispered, half to herself. Her mind instantly questioned how it was funded. Maybe they were being paid?
He says he is heading over that way and tells Oliver to come with him. Fyres yells for them to wait. He gets n the car with Oliver.
"He can never catch a break, can he? "Tommy said, lightness coating his words. Thea glanced down towards him, offering him a light smile, but said nothing. He could see her eyebrows furrow worryingly at the scene.
"No, he couldn't," Barry whispered, watching as the next scene began.
Oh my gosh I'm sorry this took so long. Not only have I been incredibly busy but this chapter was so hard to write! I'm sorry it's not my best piece of work, hopefully, the next one is smoother. Anyways, I was rewatching Arrow, and I got to season five, and then I stopped. The whole thing about Oliver liking killing? Oof. This concept maybe could've worked if they had it in mind when they started the show but it's pretty obvious season one and two that Oliver doesn't enjoy it. Oh well. Anyways, thank you so much to Speedsters and Arrows, Evy 47, red lightning, GabiShea17, Star1X, summernoice, Stephane Fleiin, and SandorthienLiza! And another thank you to the kind guest reviewers on the last chapter! Have an awesome week!