Oliver found himself at Malcolm's safe house, a penthouse in the more affluent part of Starling. He knocked on the door and called out to Merlyn.
Merlyn opened the door with a small grin. "Oliver, what a pleasure to see you." He left the front door open and walked further into his penthouse. Oliver closed the door, and walked up to Malcolm, grabbing him by the throat and pinning him against the polished ebony desk.
"This was you, wasn't it?" Malcolm smirked, which made Oliver enraged, he had put his relationship with Laurel on the line to protect the man that killed her sister. "I figured since I spared the man that murdered my mother I would never kill again." Oliver wrapped his dominant hand around Malcolm's throat tighter. "I was wrong."
Malcolm gasped for air, and his face turned red. "You may wish to reconsider…" He rasped out.
"Why?" Oliver asked, glaring at the man that had caused everything bad to happen since he blew up The Gambit.
"For Thea…"
Oliver held him against the expensive table, hearing the desk groan from the weight on top of it. "What?" He growled.
"Check your phone. I'll wait." Malcolm said, as Oliver released him, he took a step back. Oliver retreated back a step or two and pulled out his phone to see an encrypted message. He opened it to see something that made his blood run cold.
Oliver watched his phone, Sara was standing on a rooftop, smiling wistfully as she watched her sister and nephew leave. Sara walked towards the roof's edge, she hesitated when she heard someone speak in a modulated voice.
"Hello, Sara."
Sara stopped and looked at the person in shock. "What are you doing here?"
Instead of answering, the person let loose several arrows that embedded themselves in Sara's chest and stomach. The force of the missiles forced Sara to stagger back and fall off the rooftop. Oliver's stomach churned. It reminded him of what he had done to Laurel when they had fought. When the Bratva ordered him to kill the Black Canary.
The person in black turned around, to reveal Thea. His sister had killed Sara.
Oliver felt sick. His beloved little sister killed someone. How was he going to explain that to either Laurel or Thea? Thea would be guilt-ridden, and Laurel would be distraught. And despite her new outlook following Central City, he couldn't risk her relapsing and attacking Thea. Even if it was a very unlikely scenario. He would have to tread carefully.
Malcolm smirked. "I don't think you want The League to see that. And if you kill me, they will receive that video from an anonymous source. They will kill your sister." He then waltzed around Oliver, "I trust that during your travels, have you heard of Vortua? A drug that makes people susceptible to suggestions, whilst retaining no memory of the incident. So, what I told Nyssa and you weeks ago was true, Sara's blood is not on my hands."
"I will tell this to Ra's. Explain that she was drugged. Coerced."
"He will still kill her, then he will destroy anything important to her." Oliver froze. "She fired the shots, as much as I was responsible for her actions, League blood is on Thea's dainty hands."
Oliver looked at Malcolm, he couldn't believe that someone would do that to their own child. He never fathom doing that to Connor, or any child that he and Laurel may have in the future. Nor could he see his own father do it to him, nor Quentin to either of his daughters, Maseo to Akio, Slade to his boys, nor John to Sara. A father is supposed to protect their child. A father does not groom them, or coerce them to become murderers.
"You gave her a death sentence," Oliver muttered out loud, more to himself than Malcolm. He would never understand how a father could murder one of his children and force the other to be a murderer. And that was a good thing. It meant that he was a good person. That he wasn't a monster.
"No." He said resolutely. "I have provided you with an incentive."
"To do what?" Oliver gritted out.
"Tell Ra's that you killed Sara Lance. By League law and customs you will be given the right to trial by combat. His…or your own death will erase any and all blood debt The League has with you and yours." Malcolm then sniggered. "I must confess, I thought that killing would be an issue, I'm glad that your family, that Thea is still a sufficient motivator for you."
Had he thought of endangering more of his family? Oliver wondered, as his fist curled.
Malcolm then smirked as he walked towards one of his rooms. "Don't take too long Oliver, considering what Ra's has already done, his patience is already waning. The streets will be bathed in blood if you don't act decisively. I'm sure you know your way out."
:-: :-: :-: :-:
Oliver sat staring at Thea's red suit. He couldn't believe that Malcolm had ruined her. That Merlyn had corrupted and made his mischievous but loving sister.
He looked at the suit as he spoke to the silent room, not knowing that someone was in there with him. "Thea was always so kind. A smart-ass for sure, but… She was never born a killer. Laurel saw the light in her and trained her to be a hero, and Malcolm has returned and with what I found out… It will break her."
A hand came, and patted him consolingly on his back, and heard Roy's voice. "Speedy will cope. Tell Ra's the truth, perhaps he will grant Thea clemency since she was forced against her will? Just give Malcolm up to Ra's it's more than what he deserves."
It was never that easy. "Can't, Merlyn has the video. He has contingencies."
"You know that from what we know about Ra's and The League, from what Digg and Grant have heard, and what we know from Sara and Nyssa, Ra's will kill you if you challenge him."
"And if I don't fight him, the city will be razed and slaughtered. No, I have to fight, I have to do whatever it takes to protect my family."
"I'm the last person that would want you to back down from protecting Thea, but what about your family? Laurel and Connor?"
Oliver exhaled and looked to the ceiling as if it had the answers he needed. Laurel would be pissed, but she understood the life that they lived. They had agreed that they were giving their sweat, blood, and tears to make Starling a safer place. To help people, make the world a little safer for their son to grow up in. And to do that, there may come a situation where they would have to give their lives for the cause.
It was a hard, irrefutable truth. There was a good chance that if they continued their line of work, they would never witness their son growing up in the safer world his parents died for.
He would have to tell both Thea and Laurel the truth. He would have to resolve any friction that would lie between them. If the worst should happen, Thea was the only real family that Laurel and Connor had.
But before he did any of that, he had to ensure that it was her. Caitlin and STAR Labs were given the DNA from Sara's murder. Hopefully, it will come back with something that he could work with. That Thea was innocent somehow.
He moved to the computer to see if there were any encrypted emails or messages from Barry, Cisco, Wells or Caitlin. He exhaled as he saw the inbox was empty.
:-: :-: :-: :-:
Laurel, Thea were standing in front of their father's grave, a beside his was Sara's. Laurel gave each of her deceased family members a small bouquet of flowers. She missed them, and her heart ached every time she thought of Sara and her father.
She watched with teary eyes as Thea helped Connor lay some flowers of his own onto his aunt's and grandfather's graves. The ground above Sara's final resting place was still soft, and unsettled. It provided a sharp reminder to her that the gravestone lied about the date of Sara's death. She desperately wanted the date on her headstone corrected. If only to let strangers that didn't know her that she didn't die a spoilt rebellious girl. That she was a hero.
But outing Sara, even when she was gone, would put a target on their heads. They had more than enough as it was, and Connor didn't need any more threats on his beautiful little head. She had to focus on her family, on Connor. She couldn't protect Sara, but she would be able to protect her remaining family.
Thea and Connor returned to stand next Laurel, as Thea wrapped a spare arm around her sister. "I promise, Laurel. We will get whoever did this. Once the League backs off, and we are sure that it was my mother's sperm donor, we will lock him up in the deepest, darkest hole we can find."
Laurel said nothing, other than rest her head against her baby sister's shoulder, and take solace that she still had another sister, a son, and Ollie. And nothing could take that away. Ted was right she had to focus on what she could control.
:-: :-: :-: :-:
Felicity was sitting next to Ray, as he slept soundly after his surgery. She leaned over, and grabbed the television remote, and turned on the television, considering that phones and computers could affect the hospital equipment.
As she switched it over to channel 52, she saw a picture of her friend. Oliver was dressed in his Green Arrow suit. With big bold red word plastered over the top. WANTED.
"In the wake of the murders committed by The Green Arrow, Captain Pike has issued an arrest warrant for the vigilante known as The Green Arrow. Pike is now conducting the largest manhunt in this city's history. Captain Pike has also confirmed that other arrest warrants have also been issued for each of the Arrow's known companions; Arsenal and Speedy."
Felicity quirked her brow, as she wondered why Laurel wasn't a part of that list. Surely people in Central City would have seen or heard Laurel when she was working with Oliver?
"No, mention of the Black Canary." The reporter said."Though it is still believed that she had perished in or during The Undertaking. There are some uncorroborated rumors state that Black Canary was spotted working alongside Central City's Flash, and her former partner, the now-notorious Green Arrow. Sources close to Central City Police Department have officially denied any sightings of the Black Canary."
So apparently, Barry, Team Flash, and Joe West were attempting to keep at least one hero in Starling without their reputation being tarnished. At least someone would be able to keep the city safe and keep busy, even if it was someone who hadn't fought in over a year in the field excluding one mission in Central City, where the stakes were different.
It would mean that while the rest of the team were on the lamb, Laurel would be forced to shoulder the city on her shoulders. Considering her last outings here at home, when things got tough for her with Lacroix, Felicity didn't think that Laurel would handle the stress.
The woman at the best of times was a strong formidable ally, though, Laurel was also extremely stubborn to the point of exhaustion. Perhaps, she could help Ray with his suit, and convince Thea to suit up as Black Canary, and utilize a technological substitute to Laurel's metahuman power or at the very least to supplement it?
:-: :-: :-: :-:
Oliver, Thea, Roy, Diggle, and Laurel were in The Bunker, they had witnessed a faint purple smoke rising above the Magnuson Plaza. They believed it was a rallying point for The League to launch further attacks on the city.
Oliver watched as Laurel pulled up the map of the plaza. It was way too large to go in as a small group and cover the area. They would need to split up. It would make them vulnerable. Divide and Conquer.
Oliver looked at the four people in front of him. "We are going to need to spread out if we are going to be able to cover that in time before The SCPD get a whiff of us."
Diggle nodded. "True, but it will spread us out too thin, easier to pick us off." Diggle voiced Oliver's thoughts.
Oliver agreed, it wasn't something he wanted, but Ra's and his horsemen were tactical geniuses. They had to be able to serve and live as long as Ra's did. "Digg, I want you on over-watch, Speedy, you take the garage, Roy the level above that."
Diggle nodded, as he pulled out a bolt action sniper rifle from one of the cabinets. Oliver then looked at Laurel, she knew why she was on the bench, even if she had decided to be out in the field.
Barry had called telling them that Pike had called Captain Singh to see if the rumors of Black Canary being alive was real. Barry, Eddy, and Joe convinced him that it wasn't the case. Only the Green Arrow was present and utilized an arrow that mimicked his former partner's banshee wail.
"Laurel," Oliver said while Thea and Roy were suiting up. "Stay on the comms. And when we finish tonight, I need to tell you and Speedy something."
:-: :-: :-: :-:
Green Arrow converged on the designated regrouping point, to see both Speedy and Arsenal waiting for him.
"Scoped out the floor, nothing," Arsenal said.
"Same with the lower garage levels. Are we sure that it wasn't a false alarm?"
He doubted that. Weakness and mistakes would be beaten out of the initiates. They either survived the beatings and learned, or were killed. "The League is an ancient institution that thrives for these kinds of situations, they don't make mistakes."
Speedy swung her bow from one arm to the other. Green Arrow hit his comms; "Diggle?"
"North-side rooftop is clear, as is the visible perimeter of the building."
Arsenal looked at the two siblings, "We sure that they aren't baiting us? Making us run around on a wild goose chase while they do something else?"
It was certainly possible. Oliver mused until he heard Diggle. "Hang on, I have movement. Upper level, southwest corner."
The Three hooded archers ran up the stairs, and walked out of the fire escape to the roof, to see a man dressed in League Regalia, and had a strange lower face mask, that separated him from the rest of the assassins. A Horseman. According to Sara and Nyssa, they were the best and most respected soldiers in The league second to Ra's himself.
The Emerald Archer shot an arrow at the Horseman. The man grabbed the arrow, and threw it on the ground, before ripping off his mask to reveal, Maseo Yamashiro. A man that Oliver had respected. His former ARGUS handler, his friend.
"Maseo?"
"Maseo Yamashiro is dead. Only Sarab remains." Sarab then ordered his handful of men to attack the archers in Arabic.
Both Speedy and Arsenal took out several league members easily, before they engaged with the other two assassins, leaving Oliver to deal with Maseo— Sarab.
Oliver deflected all of Sarab's sword strikes with his bow, and ducking under the high kicks, before finally kicking the back of Maseo's leg and pinning him to the floor by aiming his bow at him.
He then heard someone clapping from a short distance away. A man with slicked-back hair, a mustache, anchored by a beard that just covered his chin. He wore an exotic, almost royal cloak. This man must be Nyssa's father. Ra's Al Ghul.
He stood in front of the three vigilantes. "I see that even your fellow soldiers are trained well enough to defeat my unseasoned assassins. Very few can boast that." He then looked at Oliver. "I will ask this but once. Hand over Sara Lance's killer or watch as the people of this city make you a pariah, a villain that they must seize and eradicate."
Oliver closed his eyes. "We still need more time."
Ra's gave a small scoff. "Come now, Mr. Queen. We both know that either you have the killer's name and are biding time until the inevitable arrives, or you remain ignorant of the killer. And will never find the man or woman responsible." Oliver continued to aim his bow at Ra's. "Lower the bow, boy."The master assassin spoke to Oliver as if he were a mere child. " I will humor you. You have until either you are caught and put in a cage to rot or grant me a name, and I will solve the issue you have."
"You won't capture me."
"No. I won't." As Ra's retreated with his men, disappearing in the shadows as if they were never there, A helicopter illuminated the rooftop, and the three archers in particular with a blinding white light.
"This is Starling City Police. Put your weapons down, and your hands up." An officer commanded from the helicopter with a megaphone. "Green Arrow, have you and your people stand down now!"
The three archers looked around them to see SWAT, Police cars, and the spotlight with a couple of red dots aiming at their chests.
Pike jumped out of the police cruiser, aiming his pistol at them. "Get on your knees, and hands behind your head! Don't be stupid."
The Emerald Archer and his Ruby Archers ran in the opposite direction, avoiding a few bullets before he heard Pike ordered them to cease firing their weapons. Oliver, Roy, and Speedy dived off the building firing their grapple arrows and rappelled down to the ground safely.
They ran down the alleyway, Oliver called out to his team members providing support. "Diggle, Pretty Bird?"
Diggle's voice came first. "I got eyes on them. Blues everywhere."
He heard Laurel swear before she actually spoke to them. "I wish that this technology was more intuitive, I'm trying to erase footage and prevent them from tracking you through the street cameras. Until I can get a hold of Felicity."
Diggle's voice came over the communications again. "Go, move! Four tangoes headed your way. You gotta move, move, move, move!"
Green Arrow, Arsenal, and Speedy sprinted down the alleyways, and side streets, as they were about to head out of the labyrinth of alleys and side streets, a police sedan blocked their path.
Oliver commanded his sister, and Roy to head together in a different direction. He would distract them, and take most of the heat off of them. He fired a small explosive arrow that caused a massive amount of steam to block their field of vision of his sister and her boyfriend as they escaped.
Oliver waited for the haze to dissipate, and allow the spotlight to hit him before he ran in the opposite direction to the others.
After sprinting, and vaulting over fences to avoid the police tracking him, he turned around to see that he had escaped them. He breathed heavily. "Diggle, Pretty Bird? Has Arsenal and Speedy escaped?" He waited for a beat. "Pretty Bird? Diggle?"
No response, he looked behind him, before looking around, to see the spotlight back on him. He turned and ran in a different direction with that provided more cover from their aerial scouts. Eventually, Diggle appeared in the van and opened the door. "Get in!"
Oliver ran from the spray of bullets and dived into Diggle's bulletproof van. "Speedy? Arsenal?'
"Canary has directed them to an old prohibition tunnel, that she has used in the past to get around. They should meet up with us in the tunnel off 8th. We can get there, but we need to clear those squad cars."
"On it." Oliver jumped to the back of the van, and opened the doors and fired a flash bang arrow that disorientated the driver of the closest police cruiser, and caused them to swerve and block the army of cops behind them.
:-: :-: :-: :-:
Oliver walked with Diggle, Thea, and Roy into The Bunker, as he saw Laurel, he rushed over to her and brought her into his embrace.
"I was worried." Laurel mumbled into his ear.
"I know." He whispered back. "I love you."
"I love you too."
The couple pulled back, as Oliver pulled out his phone, and called Frank Pike. Oliver prayed that he could persuade Pike to see reason and to give them some space while they dealt with The League. He needed time to look at the results of Sara's killer, that had pinged while he was in the van with Diggle.
Twelve out of thirteen markers found belonged to him, or a close blood relative. That left; Speedy or Connor. It was true that Malcolm had forced his cheeky, gentle-hearted sister to become a killer. Something against her DNA.
"Hello, Captain."
"How did you get this number?... It doesn't matter. I have three men in the hospital thanks to you, not to mention Castle and Palmer."
"I understand that you and I have often butted heads, but you cannot be that angry to believe that I would go around killing innocent people as if the city was my personal shooting gallery."
"Lance and Hilton may have given you the benefit of the doubt. Hell, Lance was one of your vocal supporters here in the SCPD and look what happened to him? Next time when what is left of City council meets in an undisclosed location, I will tell them to take a sledgehammer to the statues of the vigilantes. There is only one way this ends. Turn yourself in." Pike then hung up on Oliver.
"I thought after seeing Maseo, one of Ra's horsemen, I could end this. But Ra's seemed almost amused. I've underestimated Ra's. And now we are all paying for it. I'm sorry." He said looking at his close friends and family.
Thea frowned, looking slightly put off that she was out of the loop. "What are you talking about. Ra's is here because of Malcolm. What don't I know?"
Oliver let out a shuddering breath. He hoped that Merlyn and Ra's hadn't forced him to shatter what was left of his family. Due to both of these men, and their machinations. He and Laurel had barely even planned their wedding yet.
"Malcolm killed Sara…" He looked up at Laurel who dug her nails into her palms. Meanwhile, Thea scoffed.
"Then why are we protecting him?" Thea asked, rubbing Laurel's arm.
He didn't know what Laurel was going to do, would she allow Thea to comfort her, to apologize? He didn't know, and he was now forced to tell the two most important women in his life the truth that could potentially break their bond. A close relationship that had developed since they were young, and was reinforced when Laurel returned home.
"Malcolm was smart about it; he didn't do it directly… He used someone, he drugged her so she wouldn't know what she was doing."
"She?" Laurel and Thea both asked simultaneously.
"She, who?" Thea asked again, feeling dread filling her stomach.
Oliver's eyes darted from Laurel to Thea and watched his fiancée with his peripheral vision. Laurel tensed, as Thea looked up at the woman, that she considered to be her elder sister. "Laurel…"
A hundred different thoughts sped through Laurel's head. Malcolm had used the woman she considered a baby sister to kill her own blood. Thea killed Sara. Her mind reeled back into the dark thoughts she was having a few months ago.
Perhaps, people like her are better off being alone, so they don't infect others. So that people like Malcolm couldn't use her friends or family against her?
She turned to look at Speedy, her eyes were full of tears, and her cheeks were tear-stained, she could feel her hand around hers, begging for forgiveness. Laurel's hands curled into her fist and felt her nails dig into her flesh.
Thea's voice hitched, as she kept speaking her voice trembled with sadness, guilt, and remorse. "Laurel… I didn't know, I promise you. I didn't know it was me, I'm so sorry, Laurel." When Laurel didn't move a muscle, didn't utter a word, Thea continued. "I'll… I'll hand myself over to Captain Pike. I can't make this right, but I can atone for it by serving time. I can't hurt Connor, you and Ollie. I'm so sorry, Laurel. You're my sister, and I killed yours."
Laurel swallowed down the anger she felt; Thea didn't deserve it Malcolm did. She tightened her jaw and felt a warm droplet of blood trickle down her fist. Malcolm was smart about it. He knew that she would want revenge but Thea was an innocent, a victim as much as Sara was. Thea was just as much her family as Sara was.
"If Merlyn drugged you it wasn't your fault." She then looked at Oliver, the man that was protecting her sister's killer. The killer of their son's maternal aunt. "How can you protect him? How long have you known?"
His sad blue eyes looked at her with remorse. "Malcolm showed me a video of it, a day ago. I only confirmed it a few minutes ago, after Caitlin isolated the DNA. I wanted to tell you both under better circumstances but…"
"Ra's and Malcolm forced your hand," Laurel answered for him in a clipped tone. Every time she felt like she was taking a step forward the universe seemed determined to throw her back five steps.
"Yes," Oliver replied with a tone of voice that was laced with his guilt.
Laurel closed her eyes. She had to focus on what she could change. If she looked back, she was lost. She just had to keep her family safe and ensure that Connor was safe.
