Disclaimer:

I do not own DC Comics. I do not own The CW. I do not own anything related to DC Comics in general, or Arrow specifically. Except maybe a few DVDs of old DC movies that I haven't given away yet.

Following Through

Chapter Two

Fundamentally Flawed

By The Shroud

A/N:

The second long shot in this series. Please review on whatever you can, suggestions, ideas, etc. Going along the theme of this series, this chapter imagines if Oliver finished his 6x18 attack on Diaz and the SCPD (which has its own consequences, obviously, as he's not getting away free from that). Expect inconsistencies with S6, as Diaz was badly developed, the team was badly used, and Oliver was weakened way too much… and badly. I'm redoing the split, and I'm keeping the team somewhat self-righteous, but I'll try to keep them from acting like, for lack of a better word, jerks. As much as possible. Well, that applies more to the sequel chapter. I also took the lethality of the Hood to a slight extreme. Now that's explained... so it begins.

Middle April, 2018

Star City

Oliver paused for a moment, alone, to gather his thoughts… before he heard Adrian's voice taunting him again. "I'm sorry, Oliver. For what it's worth, I always thought you were a half-way decent mayor. Not a great track record when it comes to hiring DAs, though."

He ignored Adrian, to try to deny his existence even more, "This Vertigo… it's going to be out of my system, and once it is… you'll be gone."

His persistent hallucination of Adrian walked around to in front of him and shook his head. "Not possible. I'm not here, remember?"

Adrian pointed a finger and held his hand up to Oliver's head, with his thumb stretched out vertically and reminding him of how Adrian shot himself. "I'm here. I'm you. The Vertigo's already wearing off. But you've been seeing me ever since the island [1], because you couldn't live with your own regret. Now, that's leading you all the way back to me. Or rather, I should say, you. I'm just in your head; you're the one you're talking to. Which is why you're going to need to listen to me when I'm going to tell you what you have to do. The only way to prove that you can truly be a hero and keep being mayor is to take down Diaz, tonight."

Oliver refused. "That's… suicide. He's got an army."

His subconscious explained to himself, "You mean all those cops at the SCPD? That's the risk a hero takes, isn't it, Oliver? Diaz is there, every night, 10:13 PM. Question is… will you be there to meet him?"

Oliver nodded, and Adrian smiled before elaborating, "Besides, you know you can do it. You just have to stop holding back. The 'real' Adrian wanted to show you that you were a monster, but what I'm being used to show you… is that sometimes, to defeat other, malevolent monsters like this Dragon before they can harm anyone else, you yourself need to be a monster."

A.R.G.U.S. Safehouse

Slowly, in a private safehouse he had gotten Amanda to give him about a year before her death, Oliver forged the new tools to accomplish his mission, like it was supposed to be accomplished. He recreated the bow he used at the beginning of the journey, changing it only slightly to include tips sharp enough to cut through flesh easily. Oliver dragged the right tip lightly on the tip of his thumb to test it, where a small, red drop of blood formed without any significant pressure. Harsh language and some light punches would not be enough to save his city, not with the threats that existed in this world. So instead, he would go back to the fundamentals, and deliver death where he had to in order to survive and succeed.

Satisfied with the bow, he continued to make custom arrows and flechettes, not unlike those of Merlyn, that would split through bone without difficulty, such as through the rib cage to the heart or through the skull and into the brain. Oliver swapped out the explosive compound in his explosive arrows to a more powerful and less diluted form of the same substance that would be more deadly than the usual lightshow, and made an additional fragmentary explosive arrow that would act similar to a grenade, using a small explosion to launch small pieces of shrapnel in all directions. Diaz would protect himself with as many corrupt cops as were in the SCPD, and so he would have to prepare for that.

Oliver searched through the storage he had here, full of old reminders of the past, and found his original, more flexible (and thus better for evading bullets) suit with the hood that brought back so many memories in and of itself. Yao Fei, Shado, working for A.R.G.U.S., being trained by Talia, returning to Star City as the Hood...

Shaking himself out of his mind, he removed the capsules that contained a variety of devices that could be useful from his new suit and placed them on the straps to his old suit, while also including the old voice modifier and grabbing the mask from when he was Al Sah-him [2].

And so the monster returned, in order for it to destroy the Dragon.

10:14 PM

Star City Police Department

Oliver fired an arrow, taking down a corrupt cop on guard duty. Before he could walk forward, he heard Quentin call out, "Hey! What are you doing in that old thing?"

He answered with vigorous determination without looking, instead searching for the best way to invade the building, "Getting back to my original mission."

Quentin tried to protect him. "You cannot go in there! You're outnumbered."

Oliver replied calmly, sensibly, "I can handle it. This ends tonight. Just let me do what I always do, and save the city. I've let Diaz live and run around hurting people for too long, and so this shall be his last day on the Earth. And if I die… that will be the last life he ever takes."

Quentin reluctantly stepped back, requesting one last thing, "Just… please try to stay alive."

He nodded abruptly, and Quentin stayed back as he advanced into the Dragon's lair, ripping out the arrow he had fired into the guard outside to use again.

Within, two cops were talking about trivial matters in a corridor, before the lights failed as the power lines were cut. One moved to grab the radio to call for backup as the other reached forhis gun-

But he dropped down from his perch, fired the radio out of the former's hands and stomped on the former's chest to incapacitate him, while forcing the latter up against a wall.

He demanded, "Where's Diaz?!"

The cop answered, "Somewhere inside, surrounded by a hundred cops. You'll never g-"

Already sick and tired of hearing people telling him what he could or could not do, the Hood interrupted the statement by slamming the corrupt officer against the other wall, knocking him out and then removed the arrow he had used.

He moved back around a corner, evading the line of sight of two more cops.

One said, "He's here. How predictable."

The other moved further down the corridor as the first radioed in, "Lockdown mode, now. Protect Diaz."

While she was distracted, he fired the arrow he had used earlier at her, causing her to run away as fast as she could. It would not be fast enough.

Minutes later, Oliver was deeper inside the building, punching another cop twice in the stomach and then in the throat, before throwing him through a window. He swiftly moved around a corner to see another cop running straight at him, who he simply tossed out the window behind him and out of the building. Three more came out, and he fired an arrow at the first before kicking the second squarely in the chest, and then shoving the last down to the floor and stomping twice on their back. He moved up against a wall to avoid a shot from a fourth officer, who he punched a few times before throwing them into a window, where they stayed, unconscious.

A minute later, he took down two more cops, and a third tried to point a gun at him, but he whacked it aside with his bow, pushing them against the wall and commanding slowly, menacingly, "Tell. Me. Where. Diaz. Is."

When they didn't respond, the Hood threw the cop against another wall, cracking it slightly, and they fell to the ground.

He asked a second time, "Where's Diaz?"

When they tried to reach for a gun, he took out a flechette and stabbed it through their thigh, before twisting it and shouting, "Tell me!"

The cop finally relented, and pointed, gasping, "In there."

The Hood picked up their gun, disassembled it, and then walked forward to stand in front of the door, planning. Inside, unseen to him, there were fifteen cops, with Diaz at the back, watching a monitor at the side of the entrance that showed him the Hood. He commented, "This is gonna be fun."

Outside, Oliver was right next to the door, only to hear Felicity. "No, no, no, no, no! Do. Not. Open. That door. On the other side, there's a bunch of trigger-happy cops, just waiting for you. It is a trap."

He turned, and answered sarcastically, "No, I didn't know it was a trap. I thought he just let me know that he was here, and that he would just let me kill him, without having a bunch of cops guard him. Get out, Felicity. The crossfire is going to be very dangerous. I'm going in there now, so. Just. Get. Out."

Without listening to any more, he pulled a powerful explosive arrow and a fragmentary explosive arrow from his quiver, moved off to his right side, nocked the first… and let it fly through the air.

It started blinking, and Felicity finally understood his resolution and quickly hid outside of the room he was in.

The arrow exploded, sending shrapnel from the door and smoke from the explosion itself into the room, the shrapnel piercing the chests of six officers that were in front of the door. For a brief instant he moved in front of the door, counting ten people left, including Diaz, and released the second arrow, before moving back for cover. The arrow cut through the smoke, embedding in the opposite wall before exploding. The shrapnel from the fragmentary explosive arrow killed four more officers, causing Diaz to become unsettled.

Two cops slowly came out of the door through the smoke, looking forward. He threw his bow, and the tips at the ends sliced their throats, killing them from the blood loss just as the bow embedded itself partially in the far wall. The Hood crouched, before rolling across the floor in front of the bodies while throwing a flechette at a dark shadow in the smoke. A slightly audible thud confirmed that he hit them.

The Hood grabbed his bow and charged into the room. Seeing three guns pointed at him by Diaz and two cops, he rolled to the side and, using a sharp end of the bow, slit the throat of the closest cop while using their body as a shield as it was pumped full of lead by Diaz and the other officer. After a moment, the officer had to reload, but Diaz was smart enough to avoid wasting any more ammo, instead trying to wait for an opportunity. The Hood made his move, throwing the corpse at Diaz while lunging forward, grabbing a flechette, and embedding it in the officer's heart.

Diaz had thrown the corpse aside, but before Diaz could shoot, the Hood threw his bow, knocking the gun out of Diaz's hand. Diaz drew a knife and sliced through the air repeatedly at the Hood, forcing him back to the door, before the Hood saw an opportunity, grabbing the hand with a knife, turning around, yanking the right arm downward and to his left as he crouched, causing Diaz to flip over his head, falling to the ground with a painful impact. The Hood twisted the knife out of Diaz's hand and held it to Diaz's throat, ready to finish Diaz once and for all. "Stop, or I'll shoot her!"

He looked up, to see a corrupt cop he had left alive earlier had Felicity in a firm chokehold with a gun to her head. The moment Oliver was distracted, Diaz grabbed a flechette from Oliver's suit and stabbed it into his leg, before ripping it back out. Oliver fell over in momentary pain, and Diaz stood up, exhausted, before slowly making it to Felicity, and talking apathetically, "Well, well. Your lovely wife, I see. You know, you nearly got me there. I'm impressed, finally. That's the great Green Arrow I heard so much about. Though, judging from the amount of dead bodies, I'd say it's more reminiscent of the Hood. My plan with the Vertigo might have had some fundamental flaws, as you were able to get through it, but I was still able to stop you, it seems. This was a good dance, a challenge I haven't faced for a while. But now, just like all the others, such as my teacher and namesake, Richard Dragon, there you are, lying on the floor and beaten, and here I am, standing up and alive."

Oliver looked up and retorted, "You haven't beaten me yet. And you won't."

Diaz smiled. "No, I haven't. But now I will."

As Diaz finished his statement, he shoved the flechette he grabbed earlier in between Felicity's ribs on her left side, piercing her heart. Diaz nodded, and the officer dropped her, as she bled out, lifeless.

Seeing Diaz take the gun from the officer led the Hood to act on instinct, not willing to risk emotion piercing his heart, moving to the closest place of cover, back into the room that still had some smoke in it, which could be used as visual cover.

Inside the room, he grabbed his bow and moved quietly to the side, before moving out with two arrows drawn, firing the first at the officer and about to fire the second until he saw Diaz had his gun on him at the exact same time. Instead, he paused, and Diaz offered, "I wanted to get a real round with you. Let's go for round two, then. This time, no more guns, no more blades, no more bows, no more arrows, and no more holding back. From either of us. Just you and I, Oliver."

The Hood nodded slowly, dropping the bow as Diaz dropped his gun, and he agreed. "You and I."

Diaz punched at him only for Oliver to step back, once, twice, three times, four ti- this time, Oliver parried the blow with his left hand and jabbed at Diaz, who dodged to his own right. In response, Diaz punched him in quick succession, with him blocking with both arms. Diaz tried to land a powerful punch directed downward to the left at his neck with his own right hand, but Oliver blocked it with his left before jabbing his right elbow and then right fist into Diaz's chest. He grabbed Diaz by the suit and pushed him back, only for Diaz to push his arms off to the side. Oliver evaded a wild punch from Diaz before delivering two powerful punches from his left fist to Diaz's jaw, pushing him back against a wall. He placed his right forearm up against Diaz's throat, until punching him and then throwing him down to the floor. Oliver circled around as Diaz got up- but Diaz pulled a switchblade from his suit. "I guess this won't be a real round then. Doesn't matter too much, just so long as I succeed!"

Diaz charged with the last few words, slicing at Oliver. He moved to stab Oliver, but Oliver grabbed his hand firmly with both of his own hands.

Diaz started punching Oliver in the jaw, forcing him to find a path in the dilemma of either letting Diaz punch him into unconsciousness or risk his hold on the knife and probably die. He looked down-

And he pulled it towards him, in between two of his lower ribs, using it as leverage to grab Diaz's elbow and break his arm. In pain, Diaz staggered, and Oliver stepped back, yanking the knife out from his own chest. Diaz tried to land a punch with his left arm, but Oliver blocked it and, using his left hand, stabbed the switchblade into Diaz's shoulder and into a vital artery next to his neck, before Diaz punched him down to the ground, and then fell down, bleeding to death.

Oliver let himself fall to the ground, before sitting up and pressing his wound with his right hand. Diaz spoke one final time, "I guess I'll be seeing you, Oliver."

Oliver replied back acerbically. "No, you won't. I might be going to purgatory for what I've done, one day… but I think you'll be going to hell. Today."

Slowly, grunting, Oliver stood up, and walked away, limping from the sheer pain. He looked at Felicity's body, closed her eyes with a mournful tear, and then walked forward, back to his own private hideout, where he could rest, and heal, without the recently continuous disruptive interference and irrationality of the team, while Raisa would keep William safe. He recited to himself a phrase in Russian he heard from Anatoly, and continued walking through the pain. "The shark that does not swim, drowns."

A/N:

And that concludes this chapter. In real life, I might be moving within the week, which will cause an intermission as I work on everything, and so I wanted to deliver a few new chapters. As a result, I'm posting some other chapters early, in this and maybe other works.

[1] This is a ret-con, so that I can use Adrian some more, have Oliver be stable, and also explore inside Oliver's head. That is to be explored... in sequel chapters.

[2] I really feel like the voice modifier is not used anywhere near how it should be. I think he made a speech in S4 out in public, where people were definitely recording it to post publicly on the internet, and voice analysis like the stuff the FBI have… you know, would probably reveal his identity, or at least narrow it down considerably. The mask is because surveillance footage can definitely see his facial hair otherwise, which again, looks suspiciously like that of the mayor. It also serves as a minor form of protection, and the voice changer has a second use of interrogation.