Guest: Usually when a prophecy says 'hero', it means 'demigod', which is why Percy and Annabeth don't think it refers to Anatoly.
Lian Yu
Afternoon
"We need to find the crash site," Oliver ordered as everyone stood in the tent.
"Working on it,' Annabeth said, not looking from her tablet as she tried to track the plane.
"I can't reach Turner, something's jamming the signal," Thea said as she tried and failed to get Turner on the radio.
"The island is fighting back, just like Luke said," Percy realized.
"Always said this was place was out to get us. I never thought it was literal though," Slade muttered.
"Okay, I have Turner, but there's a problem," Annabeth said as they all looked over at her. "According to the tracker in the case, the Plutonium landed on the opposite side of the island from him."
"We will need two groups then," Anatoly noted.
"Anatoly, Percy, I want you two to head over to the crash site, find Turner. Slade, Roy, you two are with me, we're going after the plutonium," Oliver ordered.
"Wait about me?" Thea asked.
"Annabeth needs to work on the device. I want you here to protect her in case something happens while we're gone," Oliver explained.
"Here," Annabeth sad as she handed him a small tablet. "I've synced up the map with the tracer. It shouldn't lead you to the exact location, but it should get you to the general area."
"Thanks," Oliver said gratefully before turning to the others. "Come on, there's not a moment to waste."
Oliver walked out of tent and headed out. Roy and Slade exchanged a wearily glance, Roy not sure what to make of Slade before he followed after Oliver. Slade followed after them, feeling that this was going to be an interesting walk.
It was silent for a while, Roy and Slade just following Oliver for a bit. Then, Roy spoke up.
"Never thought I'd be on a mission with you," Roy said as he glanced over at Slade.
"That makes two of us. I thought I'd left this all behind," Slade said wistfully.
"Join the club," Roy said and paused for a moment. "You don't seem surprised by all this."
"Son of Ares," Slade said simply and Roy barked out a humorless laugh.
"Somehow, I'm not surprised by that," Roy said, torn between exasperation and amusement.
"I guess that makes one of us," Oliver said, speaking up for the first time since they'd left the tent. "Son of Hermes."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Oliver," Roy said apologetically but Oliver waved him off.
"I'm less concerned about your parentage and more about where you've been. Thea said you just took off in the middle of the night," Oliver said as they stopped and he turned to face Roy.
"I'm not a hero anymore Oliver," Roy said simply.
"Because of those men you killed?" Oliver questioned.
"I killed them Oliver, Bloodlust or not. I'm a killer, a murderer," Roy said in self-loathing.
"Well then join the club," Oliver said bluntly. "I've killed, I've tortured, I've done things that there are no redemption for, no forgiveness. Being a hero isn't about giving sappy speeches and inspiring people. It's about going out there and risking your life to protect people, doing whatever you have to in order to save lives. And I know that is something you've done every day since I saved you."
"Yeah? Well what kind of hero can't even save his own brother?" Roy snapped.
"I don't know, probably the same kind that couldn't save his mother or sister," Oliver snapped and it was silent for a moment. "We do the best we can Roy, we're not all powerful. Sometimes we fail, sometimes people die, people close to us. But if you can't find a way to live with that…then you are lost in more ways than one."
Underground in the Argus prison, Annabeth was working on the device as she followed the schematics. She was no child of Hephaestus, but it was coming along.
In the corner, Thea watched her work, absently swinging a knife back and forth. She watched to say something to the girl that clearly meant so much to Roy, but she was at a loss for once.
"So, you and Roy are a thing?" Annabeth asked as she started putting some of the pieces together.
"It's…complicated," Thea said lamely and Annabeth scoffed.
"It always is with him," she said bitterly.
"That's a little harsh," Thea said defensively.
"No, it's the truth," Annabeth said as she stopped what she was doing, turning around to face Thea. "He said it himself, he lets the people who care about down. When I was a kid, he promised that he'd never turn his back on me. But he still left without a word and I haven't heard from him in almost ten years before today."
"Well before you judge him, maybe you should hear why he left," Thea said, deciding that if Roy wasn't going to tell her, someone needed to.
Elsewhere on the island, Percy and Anatoly were making their way towards the crash site. It had been silent for most of the walk. Finally, Percy couldn't take the silent anymore.
"So you're like a Russian mobster?" Percy asked as he looked over at Anatoly.
"Once," Anatoly said but didn't elaborate.
"So why does it seem like Thea doesn't trust you?" Percy asked and Anatoly winced.
"Last time she saw me, I was on wrong side of things. I am trying to make up for it now," Anatoly explained lowly. "Tell me, what is this Crisis the Pariah was talking about?"
"It's kind of complicated," Percy said awkwardly.
"Today, I have learned that the Greek Gods are real and that my brother and Slade Wilson are both children of one. There is nothing you can say I will not believe," Anatoly said bluntly and Percy was silent for a moment.
"Well, since you're here, I guess you deserve to know what's going on. There's this prophecy, it talks about the end of, well, everything. If we don't accomplish what we need to do here, not only will we all die, but so will everyone on the entire planet. It won't matter if we're demigod or mortal, we will all die," Percy explained.
Anatoly frowned, whether because he was processing it or he was wrong and he didn't believe Percy, Percy didn't know. But it didn't matter, because they heard a grunt full of pain at that moment. They looked forward and saw a black, bearded man using a tree to support himself, cuts all over him.
"Ben Turner?" Percy asked as he and Anatoly approached cautiously.
"Who wants to know?" Turner asked as he eyed wearily, like he was trying to figure the best way to take them out.
"We are with Oliver. He sent us to find you," Anatoly explained.
"Come on, let's get you back to camp and fix you up," Percy said as he and Anatoly walked over and supported Turner on either side, beginning to make the journey back.
Elsewhere on the island, Oliver, Roy and Slade walked into a clearing. One that was familiar to both Oliver and Slade.
"It's time to choose Oliver!"
"Whoever did this to her will suffer."
Oliver and Slade could almost see Shado's lifeless body lying a few feet from them. Roy immediately noticed that they both seemed worlds away.
"You two okay?" Roy asked, breaking the spell over both of them.
"Yeah…just a lot of bad memories here," Oliver said as Slade nodded silently.
Roy spotted a case a few a few feet away and walked over to it. Knelling down, he opened it up, revealing the container of Plutonium inside.
"Looks like we found it," Roy said as he closed the case.
"Good," Oliver said as Roy picked it up. "Let's get back to the others."
"Leaving so soon Kapiushon?"
Oliver's blood ran cold as he, Slade and Roy whirled around. A man with greying blond haired stepped into vie, a smirk on his face.
"Kovar," Oliver breathed. "You're dead."
"As I told you once, nothing every really dies," Kovar taunted him as several men with assault rifles stepped into view, surrounding the trio from all sides as they took aim. "We've all come back from the grave to take our revenge."
"Well then you wasted a trip," Oliver said simply.
Suddenly, without warning, an arrow flew out and struck one of Kovar's men in the chest. He went down and Oliver, Slade and Roy took advantage of their surprise. Roy pulled out a gun with his free hand and fired, getting two of the men while Slade pulled out a knife and threw it, hitting one of them in the throat. And Oliver rushed Kovar, they two exchanging blows. Two more arrows flew out, hitting two of Kovar's men as Kovar pulled out a knife. He tried to stab Oliver but Oliver grabbed the knife and elbowed Kovar in the face. Kovar lost his grip on the knife and Oliver yanked it out of his hand before stabbing Kovar with it. Kovar fell to the ground, seemingly dead as Oliver breathed heaving, the trio standing in a sea of bodies.
"Who are these guys?" Roy asked.
"Not sure about them, but this is Konstantine Kovar," Oliver said as he looked down at Kovar's unmoving form. "He's been dead for eight years."
"The island really is fighting back," Slade muttered.
"Who shot the arrows?" Roy wondered.
As if in answers, someone with a familiar green hood walked into view. The trio looked over at them, Oliver and Slade's eyes widening in shock as they lowered the hood.
"If you guys are done playing with each other, there's work to be done," Shado said with a smirk.
"Shado," Slade breathed and Roy started.
"As in THE Shado?" Roy asked and Slade nodded, still in shock.
"I don't understand. What's happening?" Oliver asked bewildered.
"As you know, this is no ordinary island. Something about this place…those who die here don't move on. Their spirits linger here, like a limbo. Never has the name 'purgatory' seemed more accurate," Shado said with a grimace.
"So you've been stuck here all this time?" Oliver asked and she nodded. "That dream I had…"
"I was able to visit you as you dreamed," Shado confirmed. "Come, it's not safe here."
Elsewhere on the island, Percy and Anatoly were trying to get Turner back to Annabeth and Thea when Percy's hair stood on end. He paused, something Anatoly and Turner noticed.
"What's up?" Turner asked.
"I don't think we're alone," Percy said lowly.
"And you'd be right."
Anatoly paled as a blond haired man stepped out of the woods, accompanied by several armed black men.
"Ivo," Anatoly muttered.
"Hello Anatoly. I'll be taking that eye now," Ivo smirked.
"Friends of yours?" Percy asked Anatoly.
"No. He tortured me and many others. Oliver killed him over a decade ago," Anatoly explained in disbelief.
"So what are you then, a ghost?" Turner asked and Ivo only laughed.
"At the moment, it doesn't matter what I am. I'm simply here to kill you," Ivo as he pulled out a pistol.
Percy assessed the situation for a moment before letting go of Turner. He stepped forward, pulling out a pen. Ivo and his men laughed.
"You think a pen is mightier than the sword boy?" Ivo asked amused.
Silently, Percy clicked the pen and it transformed into Riptide, everyone stunned at the sight of the sword. Then Percy lunged forward. Ivo and his men fired but, to their shock, the bullets seemed to bounce right off his skin. Percy swung at the man closest to him, his sword cutting a clean path along his chest. As the man went down, Percy swung around, luging for the next man, running him through with Riptide before pulling the glowing blade out. The remainder of Ivo's men opened fire on Percy but he rushed them, a blur of movement and lowing steel as he cut them down. Ivo took off turning as Percy cut down his final man but Percy threw Riptide with perfect precision. The blade ran Ivo though the chest and ghostly scientist fell to the ground, apparently dead.
Within moments, the sword reappeared in Percy's pocket as a pen. Percy turned back to Anatoly and Turner, who stared at him like he was, well, not human.
"Come on, let's go," Percy ordered.
Elsewhere on the island, Oliver, Slade, Shado and Roy were walking on the path back towards their camp.
"This seems familiar," Shado noted wistfully.
"We walked this path eleven years ago when Ivo's men first arrived on the island," Oliver said and Shado nodded in remembrance. "I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault Oliver. Ivo was going to kill me no matter what you did, it was an impossible situation. I forgave you a long time ago," Shado said kindly before turning to Slade. "Just as I forgave you for what you did in my name under the Mirakuru."
Slade simply nodded as he and Oliver both felt a weight lift from their shoulders. Roy eyed her for a long moment before speaking.
"Oliver said you were the kindest soul he'd ever met. He was honestly underselling you," Roy said as she looked over at him.
"Thank you Roy Harper," Shado said as she eyed him thoughtfully. "Like your teacher, you carry the burden on a lifetime of regrets."
Roy looked away uncomfortably as Shado spoke.
"I will not pretend to know what you've been though, but I will tell you something I once told him," they all stopped walking as Shado walked over to Roy, placing a hand on his shoulder as she spoke with an almost motherly tenderness. "Everyone has a demon inside them. The 'dao de jing' recognizes the yin and the yang. Opposing forces inside all of us. The darkness. And the light. The killer and the hero."
Shado kissed him on the forehead before lowering her hands to her side, turning around as Roy got a thoughtful look on his face.
"Come on, we need to get back to your camp," Shado said as she resumed walking.
"I see what you two saw in her," Roy said as the three men gazed after her in amazement.
Back at camp, Anatoly was stitching up Turner's wounds. Turner winced as Anatoly cleaned them.
"You should survive until we leave the island. After that, it is up to you," Anatoly said as he put down the medical tools he was using.
"Always was," Turner muttered as he sat up, wincing at the pain that shot through him. "You know, last I heard, you were working with Diaz to take Oliver down. How'd you end up here?"
"I made bad choices. I always made an excuse as to why I had to make them, to compromise. But I had let myself become seduced by the power. I had become what I despised. Now…now I am trying to make up for it, to redeem myself," Anatoly explained and Turner was silent.
"If I've learned one thing from watching Oliver, he gives people second chances. He had to stop me when we first met, but when we were in prison, we fought alongside each other and then he got me out. I think the question you need to ask yourself is…what does redemption mean to you?" Turner asked.
Anatoly was silent, considering his words when Thea walked into the room.
"Hey, we've got a problem," she said.
Later, the three of them, Percy and Annabeth were in the Argus prison as Annabeth explained the situation.
"I need to transfer the plutonium to power the device, but we have a bigger problem," Annabeth said.
"These ghosts that seem to be popping up," Percy said.
"Well, yes, but that's not what I was talking about Seaweed Brain," Annabeth and they all looked at her in confusion. "If I understand this right, the device needs two triggers to activate. It needs to be activated from here and at the spot where most of the energy on this island is concentrated. The latter is going to be the biggest problem, because it has to be activated by a certain DNA sequence."
"So whose DNA activates it?" Thea asked confused.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I've been running the DNA through the Argus database, but no luck so far," Annabeth said apologetically.
"Well, we have time to figure that out," Oliver said as he, Roy, Slade and Shado walked into the room.
"You're back," Thea said in relief.
"And you brought a friend," Percy said as he noticed Shado.
"Everyone, this is Shado," Roy said as he gestured to the woman.
"Shado as in…" Thea trailed off, remembering Slade bringing her up when he had her and Oliver trapped her five years ago.
"Not all spirits who have returned are vengeful," Shado said simply.
"Well, there are many who are. We encountered Ivo and his men on our mission," Anatoly involved them.
"And we had a nasty run in with Kovar," Oliver said and Anatoly frowned.
"The dead are coming back," Anatoly muttered.
"We never left this island," Shado explained. "We lingered here, unable to move on."
"Should you succeed, we will finally be able to leave this place."
Everyone whirled around, Oliver's eyes widened as Slade gaped.
"Yao-Fei?" Oliver breathed as his first teacher walked into the room.
"Oliver," Yao-Fei greeted before turning to address the others. "The energy of this island has kept us all trapped. Once it is drained, we will all leave."
"Well then all we need to do is drain this energy, right?" Turner asked.
"It is not so simple. Edward Fyers and Baron Reiter have joined forces, they will attack the moment you attempt to do so," Shado explained as a beep went off.
"Well, here's some good news, I found a match for the DNA," Annabeth said as she looked down at the tablet, a look of shock on her face. "By Athena."
"What, what was it?" Percy asked concerned.
"I found the DNA sequence needed to activate the device…but I found something else," Annabeth said lowly. "The device, when activated…it will let out a blast of radiation that will kill anyone within a one mile radius."
"So the person who activates it…" Percy trailed off.
"Won't survive," Roy finished lowly as they all looked over at each other.
"A hero makes his final stand," Percy muttered.
"So whose DNA is it?" Thea asked almost hesitantly.
That night, at the former sight of Edward Fyers camp, Fyers, Reiter and their men stood assembled before a missile launcher when Oliver, in his Green Arrow suit, entered the camp.
"If you want revenge, I'm right here," Oliver declared.
"You are as bold as ever Queen to come alone," Reiter declared amused.
"I'm not alone," Oliver said simply.
On que, Slade, Roy, Thea, and Percy walked over, Roy and Thea having their bows as Slade and Percy gripped their swords.
"It doesn't matter if you are one or five, you cannot stop us this time!" Fyers declared arrogantly.
"We'll see about that Fyers!" Slade snarled.
"Kill them all!" Fyers ordered.
His and Reiter's men opened five as the team of five rushed forward.
One the other side of the island, Shado and Yao-Fei walked towards at the highest point of energy concentration. Behind them was Anatoly, clutching the sphere Annabeth had been working on earlier.
Argus prison
Earlier
"No," Oliver said immediately. "There has to be another way."
"Not that I can see, it's pretty specific," Annabeth said with a sigh. "The DNA sequence is keyed to Anatoly's DNA. I can change it, but I would have to make someone else the match."
"Oliver," Anatoly called out and he looked over at his friend. "I will do it."
"Anatoly-" Oliver said immediately.
"I have not lived an honorable life of late. I have betrayed you, I aligned myself with monsters, rather than remaking Bratva into something better, I made it into something worse. Let me have an honorable death. I am asking this as your brother."
Now
"Ironic," Shado said as the trio came onto the site. "It somehow seems fitting that this should be where the energy is highest."
Neither Anatoly nor her father said a word as they stared at the fuselage where she, Oliver and Slade had lived for so long on this island.
Back at Fyers camp, the battle was raging on. Oliver, Roy and Thea fired their arrows, taking out soldiers while Slade was a whirl of move, slashing his sword and taking out soldiers left and right. Bullets bounced off Percy's skin as he jumped up into the air, bringing Riptide down on a tank and cutting off the gun. Oliver fired an explosive arrow, which took out four soldiers.
Back at the Fuselage, Shado and Yao-Fei turned around, coming face to face with several Shadowspire members.
"You're not going anywhere," one of them.
"Anatoly, get to the Fuselage," Shado said calmly as father and daughter took aim at the ghostly terrorists.
Anatoly didn't need to be told twice, running for the wreckage as Shado and Yao-Fei exchanged fire with Shadowspire.
Anatoly made his way into the wreckage and tapped the Comms piece in his ear.
"I am in position," Anatoly said.
Back at the Argus prison, Annabeth held up the remote activate.
"Okay, I activate it on my end, then there should be a button for you to press. And then…" Annabeth trailed off.
"And then you have what you need to survive this Crisis," Anatoly said simply.
"Yeah," Annabeth said lowly. "Here goes."
Annabeth tried to push the button on the remote...but her finger hovered over it, unable to move.
Back at Fyers camp, Oliver threw down a Shadowspire member and stabbed him in the heart with an arrow as Slade and Percy cut down more soldiers with their swords. Roy and Thea stood back to back as they fired arrow after arrow.
"Ollie, I don't know how much longer we can keep this up!" Thea shouted.
"We have to keep it up as long as we can so Anatoly and Annabeth can stop this!" Oliver shouted as fire an arrow, letting one of Fyers men.
Back at the Argus prison, Annabeth was still struggling to push the button when a hand reached out and took the remote. She looked up to see Turner look at her with compassion before pressing the button himself.
"We're good on our end Knyazev," Turner said over the Comms.
At the Fuselage, Anatoly took a deep breath, listening to the gunfire outside before pressing a button on the sphere.
Back at the prison, Annabeth and Tuner stepped back as the main machine lit up and the lights flickered.
At the Fuselage, Anatoly stepped back as the sphere vibrated and lit up. It began to glow and Anatoly closed his eyed as a wave of light emitted from it, crying out in pain as it hit him.
Back at Fyers camp, Oliver, Slade, Roy, Thea and Percy looked around as all the soldiers and tanks vanished, leaving only the five of them there.
"Does this mean it's over?" Thea asked after a moment.
"Yeah," Oliver said thickly, knowing what this victory had cost. "It's over."
The premise of 8x07 is such an intriguing idea of the people Oliver fought coming back for revenge, but the writers, as is usual for them, never explain how they come back. Not only does this explain why the ghosts were coming back it allowed me to have fun with it and bring back characters like Shado, Kovar and Ivo as well.
I wanted Anatoly to have a heroic exit, something more consistent with the Anatoly we saw in season two and the season five flashbacks as opposed to the morally bankrupt villain the writers turned him into while also redeeming himself for his past sins.