Correction 7: Season 6 Episode 22 Entitled "The Ties That Bind"

"So far Ricardo Diaz has been unstoppable. He has aligned himself with the most powerful criminal organization in the country. He controls Star City's government, its infrastructure, and its police force. I can't stop him on my own", Oliver explained to the person sitting across from him, the former's arms folded as he stood before her and feeling resigned. "I should've come to you sooner, and I know that street crime and corruption is not within your purview, but I'd really appreciate your help to stop Diaz and free my city."

Lyla Michaels, the director of A.R.G.U.S, wife of his friend and fellow team member John Diggle, and one of his closest friends, gazed at him with sympathy and understanding.

"Actually Oliver, I've been following what's been happening within your city and I honestly wish either you or Johnny had come to me sooner", she replied to him and then stood up from her seat behind her desk and moved to stand in front of her friend. "And yes, while it's true that regular criminal organizations and citywide corruption aren't normally within A.R.G.U.S's purview or a true concern for National Security, Diaz is different in this case."

Oliver's eyebrows raised up in response.

"What do you mean?", he asked her curiously, wondering as to what the exception was while feeling hope in his chest. Lyla pressed her lips together while taking a breath.

"As Diaz was gathering power throughout your city and cementing his stranglehold over it while your conflict with him intensified, I had directed for an extra thorough investigation into him and all of his activities in order to find something to aid you in your war against him", she explained to him. "And I managed to uncover that he has ties to an immensely powerful, well connected, and international terrorist organization known as the Ninth Circle, led by the elusive Dante, and it has been operating for centuries.

"From what we've learned, his network has been behind numerous instances of wars, terrorism, global corruption, the funding of other terrorist networks and illicit arms dealing, and they've shown themselves to be a tremendous threat to not only our national security but to global security as well. As for Diaz himself, and while this is circumstantial evidence at best, I have reason to believe that he may be a member of the Ninth Circle and not just due to his association with Dante but also the support he's been receiving from a terrorist operative and very high ranking member named Virgil.

"Due to all of this, Diaz has shown himself to be a threat to National Security due to his association with terrorists, possible membership with a terrorist organization, and the possibility that his control over Star City could draw in the Ninth Circle and might allow them, directly or indirectly, to also take control. Because of this, and also pulling some strings and in addition to persuading the president of the severity of this situation, I've been given formal authorization to use this agency and all of its resources in a government sanctioned operation to move into the city and capture Diaz, dismantle his entire network and operations, and use any and all means necessary to achieve this."

Oliver listened to everything Lyla had shared with him and once she's finished, took a moment to absorb all of this. The Ninth Circle, Virgil, terrorism? If all of this was true and if Diaz was a member or even loosely connected to them, everything that had been happening was even bigger than he'd previously thought and to hear that his friend before him had been on top of all of this? At that moment he was filled with tremendous gratitude for all of her work and efforts to help him.

"Thank you so much for looking into all of this, the work you put into figuring out a way to help me and even before I came to ask for it, and for having my back, even when I'm unaware of it", Oliver said to her gratefully, smiling at her.

Lyla on her part returned his smile warmly.

"I'll always have your back Oliver, and the backs of your team and your allies", she reassured him. "And now let's get to work shall we?" The two of them then went ahead and did exactly that, strategizing their plan to remove Diaz and his forces from Star City. After having formulated everything, Oliver gathered his team together, including his wife Sara, and shared with them the joint operation they would be conducting with A.R.G.U.S to take back their city and that the president had blessed their operation, filling them all with excitement.

That evening, Team Arrow, led by Oliver, and multiple A.R.G.U.S operatives, led by Lyla, first stormed the SCPD department and apprehended all of the corrupt cops within and would later stormed the rest of the city and apprehended everyone throughout its institution that were on Diaz's payroll. The latter portion was achieved when Oliver engaged Diaz in a brutal one on one battle to the death during which he ripped the necklace around Diaz's neck which contained that info.

The battle itself took place on a rooftop and while they were both almost evenly matched and gave it all they got, Oliver ultimately won the fight and subdued Diaz, after which A.R.G.U.S agents surrounded the madman and placed him in custody, using shackles to bind him.

Following all of this, Quentin, who'd signed off on A.R.G.U.S's operation against Diaz, did not die by the hands of the latter and instead moved swiftly to maintain order within the city and steer it towards the right direction, working hard to restore people's faith in its institution due to level of corruption exposed. It was a difficult process but he would succeed in the end.

Diaz on his part was placed inside of a highly secure A.R.G.U.S cell indefinitely while Lyla would get to work on extracting from him the info she needed to bring down the Ninth Circle, a task which proved difficult since he was unwilling to talk until Oliver, Sara, and Nyssa, using methods learned from the League, got him to reveal all he knew. In addition, Oliver and Sara led a sanctioned task force consisting of both the team and A.R.G.U.S agents to destroy any leftovers of Diaz's network that were still around, which they did.

Once it was all said and done, Oliver, Sara, and William traveled to Hawaii for a long, relaxing, well deserved vacation while the team agreed to hold up the fort for them, everything having turned out all right for them in the end and for Oliver especially.

A/N I personally understand why Oliver's deal with the F.B.I. had to happen since it set up S7, and I personally found the resulting first half to be excellent except for Felicity, and Dinah to an extent, being annoying. But if you look at this objectively, Oliver did not have to go to them for help. He could've done anything else, perhaps even requested Lyla's assistance, and she might've figured something out.

And while I have not done research into whether or not an agency other than the F.B.I. can take control of a city for emergency reasons or if that's only fictional, I decided to do so since it worked for my plan with this chapter.

I wasn't going to add Sara but then felt like adding Canarrow anyway, and Quentin lives here so that there can be someone to guide the city from the chaos Diaz caused.

As for Diaz, while I still suspect he might've been a Ninth Circle member or had some kind of major connection to them, I respect the opinions of those who disagree and also don't believe Diaz trained him.

Have a wonderful day.