Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.
"Good morning, 4587." Felton said as he approached Oliver's cell.
"A beautiful day." Oliver said.
"Be ready for an escort to receiving and releasing in six hours. As of this afternoon, you will be pain in someone else's ass." Felton said.
Oliver was in the mess hall as Stanley sat across him. "I can't believe it. You're gonna get out of here, be able to eat real food, not this crap. I'm really happy for you, man." He smiled as Oliver narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion. "I mean, I'm gonna miss you, but the Green Arrow never should've been put behind bars."
Oliver did wonder, whether Stanley did deserve to be behind bars, though.
"Remember when I told you that I was wrongfully accused? I was thinking maybe now that you're getting out, you could ask your friend Laurel to help with my appeal, too." Stanley pleaded.
"Stop." Oliver shook his head.
"I know. It's a big ask, but, honestly, I don't know how long I can survive in here without you." Stanley said.
"Stanley, I'm not gonna help you, OK, because in here is exactly where you belong." Oliver said.
"What are you talking about?" Stanley asked, confused.
"You killed Dunbar, and then you manipulated me into blaming Turner for it." Oliver explained.
Stanley scoffed. "What are you talking about? Oliver, we're, like, best friends."
"We were never friends." Oliver sneered.
Stanley looked disappointed. "I was just doing what the Green Arrow always does to bad guys."
"I don't kill innocent people." Oliver pointed out.
"But you hurt them. Remember what you did to Yorke? To those other guards to get sent to Level 2? Prison changes people." Stanley reminded.
"It didn't change me. When I get out of here, I promise you... you will face justice for what you did." Oliver vowed.
"If you do that, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in here." Stanley said, terrified.
"I know. That's what you deserve." Oliver said coldly as he got up and left.
"Don't do this. Don't do this to me." Stanley begged.
"I heard the news. Early release. You're a lucky boy." Brick noted as he and Sampson eyed Oliver, who was walking down the courtyard.
"Too bad Turner wasn't so lucky." Sampson said and Oliver realized that he needed to make things right with Turner.
"You know, after today, you're never gonna see my face again." Oliver promised.
"Tossers like you don't stay on the outside for long. Wouldn't be surprised if you was back here pretty soon. This ain't goodbye, Queen." Brick said.
Oliver entered the solitary confinement and opened the window of the door to Turner's cell. "Turner."
Turner looked up at Oliver in confusion. "You have a death wish or something? I'm gonna find my way out of here. And when I do, I'm coming for you."
"I know that you didn't kill Officer Dunbar." Oliver said, knowing he owed Turner an apology. "I made a mistake, and I'm sorry."
"What the hell do I care if you're sorry?" Turner sneered.
"I'm getting released. I'm gonna make this right for you." Oliver promised.
Turner shook his head. "Of course you're getting out today."
"I'm gonna speak with Lyla Michaels at A.R.G.U.S., and I'll just see if we can make some kind of deal, OK?" Oliver offered.
"Yeah, I know how much promises are worth to people like you, especially when you make them to people like me." Turner sneered.
"That's not true." Oliver protested.
"Yeah. You think I'm a criminal. You said it yourself. And criminals belong behind bars, isn't that right?" Turner pointed out.
"I think that years ago, you saved Lyla's life. Now, I don't know if you can be that kind of hero again... but I think you deserve the chance to try." Oliver said and Turner seemed to consider before they heard P.A. announcements. "I have to go. I'm gonna make this right."
Oliver was in his cell, reading before Felton approached. "Get up, 4587. You got a visitor."
Oliver entered the visitor room and approached the booth to see a man in a hoodie wearing a cap but his blood ran cold as he saw the visitor's face.
"Hello, Oliver." Diaz said.
Oliver cautiously sat down as they picked the receivers, while Diaz eyed Oliver's bruised face.
"Huh. I see that prison life hasn't been treating you so well." Diaz noted.
"You listen to me very carefully—" Oliver started.
"I don't think you're in the place to be giving demands right now..." Diaz glanced at a woman and two children next to him, making his threats clear. "Not unless you want a whole bunch of innocent people to die. When I heard that... you were getting released today, it felt as if... my last chance at payback was getting away. And I couldn't have that."
"So that's your play? You're gonna come after me in a federal prison?" Oliver realized.
"Mm-hmm." Diaz nodded. "See, I've been in and out of places like this my whole life. I know how to handle guards like that. Now, you, brother... they don't see you as Green Arrow in here. You're just a number. It's pretty dehumanizing, isn't it? Bet you weren't thinking about that when you were locking these people up in here."
"Well... I'm not gonna do that to you. I'm gonna end you." Oliver promised.
"You're gonna die today." Diaz vowed. "And I'm gonna be the one who's gonna do it. But before that... I'm gonna make you suffer... the way you made me suffer. And when I'm done with you, oh, I'm just gonna, you know, pay a little visit to your family... Sara… little William… and I'm gonna make sure that this time, I finish the job."
Having enough of it, Oliver banged the receiver on the glass as it cracked.
"Hey! Get in there! Get in there now!" Felton ordered as the guards restrained Oliver and pulled him away.
"Hey! Let me go! That's Ricardo Diaz!" Oliver shouted before the guards tazed him and he passed out, while Diaz walked away.
Oliver was dragged back into his cell as Felton approached. "You're lucky we didn't throw you in the hole, inmate. I don't care if this is your last day. As long as you are in here, you will still follow the rules."
"You don't understand." Oliver groaned as he got up. "That was Ricardo Diaz. He is here inside the prison. You need to let me help you stop him."
"Slabside is a Level 4 supermax facility." Felton said confidently.
"That doesn't matter." Oliver protested.
"We have fifty officers on duty, each one of them a trained professional. Trust me. We have it covered." Felton assured.
"Trust me. That is not gonna be enough against him." Oliver said.
"You only have a few hours left in here, inmate. I suggest you stay quiet until then." Felton warned as he left.
"Diaz is here?" Stanley demanded. "Oliver, please talk to me. What are we gonna do?"
Oliver picked a deodorant and soap and a razor, ignoring Stanley.
"I know you're still mad about the Dunbar thing, but this is Diaz. I mean, everyone deserves a second chance, right?" Stanley begged.
Oliver chewed a gum and taped it onto the deodorant with the soap before he made it leak.
"Oh, my God. You're 'Shawshanking' out of here." Stanley realized.
Oliver threw the deodorant at the cell lock as it exploded and Oliver opened the door and went out.
"Oliver, you gotta take me with you." Stanley begged.
"Stay out of this!" Oliver snarled as he went out before facing Felton.
"4587, stand down." Felton ordered.
"If you are not gonna call for backup, then I will." Oliver said as the guards were surrounding him. "Let me go. You don't want this."
"I said, stand down." Felton said as he pulled out his nightstick.
Oliver punched Felton in the stomach, knocking him down as the inmates started to yell as Oliver threw more guards down on the ground and then ran up, throwing out of his way more guards engaging him before he jumped onto an opposite walkway.
"Kiss your early release goodbye!" Felton yelled as Oliver ran off into the corridor and Felton reached for his radio, ordering lockdown on Level 1 and followed Oliver. "Secure perimeter door now!"
Oliver ran down the corridor and slid down as the door closed.
On the courtyard, the inmates were all on their knees, with the guards surrounding them.
"Hey! Are we gonna be here all day?" Brick demanded.
"You are gonna be here as long as we say. You got that, inmate?" A guard said.
"Inmates!" Diaz yelled as he entered the courtyard. "Look at yourselves. You're on your knees. You're cowering before men who are weak. Men who are beneath you. I've been where you are. I know how it feels to be treated like an animal. You can only take that for so long."
"Hey, why don't you zip it, pal?" The guard said as he neared Diaz but Diaz slit the guard's throat and shot down the guards stationed above and stabbed one of them in the abdomen before he fired into the air.
"Stand up!" Diaz ordered as Brick, Sampson and other inmates got up on their feet. "These guards, they imprisoned you. They disrespected you."
"Yeah!" The inmates cheered.
"They taunted you!" Diaz said.
"Yeah!"
"You all want to make them pay?" Diaz asked.
"Yeah!"
"You all want to make them pay?"
"Yeah!"
"Make them pay!" Diaz ordered as the inmates ran off, wreaking havoc in the entire prison.
Oliver was hidden in the shadows as he knocked out the guards searching for him in the corridor before facing Brick and Sampson.
"You made quite the mess there, Queen. Taking out prison guards doesn't seem a very Green Arrow thing to do. I guess this place really has changed you." Brick said.
"I don't have time for this. Ricardo Diaz is here! And he will not think twice about killing us all." Oliver snapped.
"No, he won't think twice about killing you." Brick corrected. "You see, I just met him. He seems a reasonable chap."
"Of course you're working for Diaz." Oliver grumbled.
"No. I don't work for anybody. You see, me and Sampson, we got our own plans, as per usual, but I could always take a little time out for a bit of fun." Brick said as he and Sampson neared Oliver.
Oliver slammed Sampson to the wall and hit him in the groin and ducked, when Brick threw a punch and they exchanged blows before Sampson threw him to the ground. Sampson pinned Oliver to the wall, while Brick picked pepper spray from one of the knocked out guards and sprayed it on Oliver's eyes, blinding him before they both proceeded to beat Oliver up as he fell down.
Suddenly, Turner showed up and stabbed Brick in the shoulder and kicked Sampson back before he pulled the knife out and Brick groaned in pain.
"Been waiting to do that for a long time now." Turner smirked as he dropped his knife.
"Bad move, Turner." Brick growled.
Oliver cut Sampson in the leg as Turner punched Brick, while Oliver got up on his feet.
"Sampson, that was your femoral artery. You've got maybe six minutes before you bleed out." Oliver said as Sampson limped away.
Brick and Turner exchanged blows before Turner slammed Brick to the wall but Brick dodged Turner's kick. Turner managed to land few good hits, staggering Brick back, who walked off, realizing he was in over his head.
"You're not going after them?" Turner asked as Oliver walked down the corridor.
"I've got better things to do." Oliver said as he picked the keys from a guard. "Thanks for your help."
"It doesn't mean I like you." Turner said.
"Turner... how did you get out of your cell?" Oliver asked.
"How did you get out of yours?" Turner countered and Oliver nodded.
Oliver handed Turner his knife and opened the door to the locker room and looked around before picking a radio and looking into the lockers.
"What are you looking for?" Turner asked.
"Ricardo Diaz broke into the prison." Oliver explained.
"People usually break out of prison." Turner said sarcastically.
"He wants to kill me, and he will kill as many people as he has to in order for that to happen." Oliver said.
"I thought I had a lot of enemies." Turner shrugged as Oliver tried to reach out with a phone.
"Don't have a signal. Come on." Oliver grumbled.
"Hello. Are you having technical difficulties?" Diaz called out over the radio. "It's a little, uh, little going away present from the Longbow Hunters. They jammed the signal, so no calls in and out. You are so predictable, you know that? You're trying to make a call for help? You're trying to save the day? I have someone here that wants to say 'hello' to you."
Oliver then heard a dying guard speaking hoarsely. "Don't do anything he tells you to do."
Diaz punched a wall next to the guard and neared the blade to his throat. "Try again."
"You have failed this city, Oliver Queen." The guard whispered.
"Diaz, that's enough. Let him go!" Oliver snapped.
"You speak and people do as you say? That's how it goes? Doesn't matter if you're right or wrong?" Diaz challenged. "Not this time. Not anymore."
Oliver heard gagging sounds, realizing that Diaz killed the guard.
"How's that feel? How's it feel, somebody else playing God?" Diaz gloated.
"This is between you and me, and no one else needs to die, OK?" Oliver pleaded.
"Wrong! Wrong again. I want you to spend the last hours of your pathetic life knowing that these men, they died... they died because of you." Diaz said.
"I'm coming for you." Oliver vowed.
"But will you make it in time to save the guards? It was hard enough getting through a few prisoners. I wonder what it's gonna be like going against the entire prison." Diaz said.
Suddenly, an alarm blared and all the cells in the entire prison and all hell broke loose as the inmates took on the guards.
Oliver and Turner walked down the corridor past the inmates, who were fighting the guards.
"Keep your head down." Oliver cautioned.
"They're not gonna mess with me. They know better." Turner said.
"It's not about them." Oliver said as he glanced up at the cameras. "Diaz knew we were in the locker room, which means he's watching us. There are only two rooms with camera access. There's the main security room—"
"No way he got in there. It's too fortified." Turner shook his head.
"Then he's in the control room in the mess hall. That's where we have to go." Oliver said.
"There's no 'we.' I saved your ass so you could get me a deal with A.R.G.U.S., doesn't mean we're some kind of team." Turner pointed out.
"Did you hear Diaz? He's killing hostages." Oliver reminded and Turner seemed to consider. "You said I was wrong about you? You said you've changed? Prove it."
Turner considered before sighing. "The only way to the mess hall is through the cell block. It'll be ten times worse in there. This place is already a powder keg, and it's about to blow."
"It's the only way to the mess hall." Oliver said.
Oliver and Turner entered the cell block but saw the inmates beating up the guards and hanging them over the railings.
"These inmates are gonna kill them." Oliver noted.
"And if we don't get out of here, they may kill us, and, clearly, we'll never make it to the mess hall." Turner pointed out.
"I'm not gonna let innocent people die." Oliver said firmly.
Oliver and Turner took on the inmates, with Oliver grabbing one and Turner kicking other inmates away as they fought their way up, beating up the inmates getting in their way as they helped the guards.
"Come on." Oliver said, helping Felton on his feet as they went downstairs into the corridor.
"Thanks, Queen." Felton panted out.
"Where are the rest of the guards?" Oliver inquired.
"A few of them made it to the panic room. Some were taken to the mess hall. Diaz set the inmates loose. He convinced them to gather up the guards." Felton explained. "Listen, a few of my buddies have already died. It's like Diaz is killing them for sport."
"How many inmates in the mess hall?" Turner asked.
"Last I heard, around thirty." Felton said.
"You good to walk?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah, I'm good." Felton nodded.
"All right. Take them to the panic room, and I'll meet you at the commissary." Oliver said as he handed Turner his knife.
"Not the time for a snack." Turner drawled.
"If we're gonna fight our way through thirty inmates, we're gonna need weapons." Oliver said and Turner nodded as he accompanied Felton and the other guard.
Oliver entered the commissary but then felt a sting in his neck and his vision blurred as he saw Stanley with a syringe in his hand.
"I really, really need to talk to you." Stanley said before Oliver passed out.
Oliver came to a moment later, bound to a shelf.
"Oh, good. You're awake." Stanley said and Oliver sighed in frustration. "I'm sorry about the sedative. I was just trying to get your attention."
"It's OK. I... I understand, Stanley. I was just… busy trying to stop Diaz from killing everyone in the prison, you know? So, honestly, Stanley, I think I could use your help." Oliver said.
"Really?" Stanley asked in surprise.
"Yeah. Really." Oliver nodded. "Just, why don't you untie me, and we'll make a plan and you can be my sidekick?"
"Actually, I already have a plan. You know how to get out of here through the morgue, right?" Stanley asked as he knelt down. "So why don't we escape this place, you... you and me?"
"Yeah, we could but what about Diaz, right?" Oliver pointed out.
"Who cares about Diaz? These people deserve whatever he's gonna do to them. You know that." Stanley said indifferently as he got up.
"Yeah. I... I can't leave all these people to die." Oliver said.
"You were gonna leave me." Stanley said, looking on verge of a breakdown as he knelt towards Oliver, pointing his knife at him. "You were gonna abandon me to Brick and Sampson, and I shouldn't even be in here. I did nothing wrong."
"Hey, come on." Oliver said softly, trying to calm Stanley down.
"It was just because you were going to attack me. OK?" Stanley muttered as he got up.
"Why would I attack you?" Oliver inquired, wondering what was Stanley talking about.
"Because you're the Green Arrow, and you fight bad guys, and you think I'm a bad guy. And you just think that I'm what everyone says that I am." Stanley said hurtfully.
"How could I? I don't... I don't know what people say." Oliver said, trying to reason with him.
"That I'm a killer, that I'm a monster, that everything I did, everything I did... that whole Dunbar thing. It was just like the Dunbar thing. I... I didn't have a choice! I didn't have a choice! And all those people had it coming." Stanley snapped.
"You killed other people before Dunbar?" Oliver realized.
"Honestly, what you and I do is not so different, right?" Stanley pointed out and Oliver realized how insane Stanley had been the whole time, cursing himself for not seeing it sooner. "So, like, we make such a great team. So why don't we just get out of here, maybe we could work together again?"
Oliver kicked Stanley in the leg as he fell down as Stanley looked at Oliver in confusion. "Why'd you do that?"
Oliver wrapped his legs around Stanley's neck, breaking it before he freed himself from his restraints and entered the commissary, where Turner was sharpening his knife.
"What the hell took you so long?" Turner demanded.
"It's a long story." Oliver sighed as he picked a bag and started to fill it with cans. "How are Felton and Miller?"
"They're safe." Turner assured. "I can't believe I'm working with the Green Arrow."
"You aren't." Oliver said as he stopped and considered. "Hey, maybe... maybe prison has changed me, compromised my judgment of people."
"You sure that's a bad thing?" Turner pointed out as he got up. "Look, no offense."
"OK." Oliver shrugged.
"But the old Green Arrow, he wasn't the best. He saw the world in black and white, but now you... you know there's grey out there, too. Maybe that makes you a better hero." Turner said and Oliver considered that Turner might have a point before he picked a soda can. "And I know it's bad for you, but do you really think you're gonna stop Diaz with a can of soda?"
"We're about to find out." Oliver said.
The guards were hanging on ropes in the mess hall as the inmates were beating them up and then Oliver entered, looking up at the control room. "Diaz!"
"Look who decided to come to my party." Diaz said as he went out with Brick.
"Let those guards go." Oliver ordered.
Diaz went downstairs, nearing Oliver. "I told you... the only thing I wanted was to see you suffer... before you die."
"You're not gonna get what you want." Oliver sneered.
"No?" Diaz taunted before punching Oliver, knocking him down. "Ooh. I've been waiting to do that for a long time."
Oliver got up on his feet, glaring. "Well, get your shots in while you can because I'm gonna see to it that you spend the rest of your life eating your meals in a spot just like this."
"I promised myself I'm never gonna die in prison. And I'm gonna take you with me." Diaz sneered.
"Oh, you sure about that?" Oliver asked rhetorically.
On cue, Turner dropped a bag of soda cans from above and Oliver used it as a weapon, bashing the inmates with it and Turner cut down the guards and then neared Brick. Brick threw a punch but Turner wrapped a rope around him, while Oliver hit Diaz and Sampson in the faces.
"Queen!" Turner yelled.
Oliver looked up as Turner threw down the rope and Oliver grabbed it, while Turner dropped Brick, using him as a counterweight and breaking his neck as he hit the floor and Oliver ascended on the upper walkway. They entered the control room and saw some device attached to the fuse box.
Sampson limped towards them and then exchanged blows with Turner.
"Queen! Calling for help won't save you!" Diaz shouted as Oliver looked outside the window, seeing Diaz rip utility cables out of a pillar. "This place... is gonna be ash long before anyone gets here."
Diaz put the cables together as they sparked and overloaded the fuse box, causing for lights to flicker and Oliver turned to the computers and saw the system overload alert, realizing what was Diaz doing as the lights exploded and the electrical wiring was going up in flames.
Turner scratched Sampson across his shoulder and kicked him towards the burning pillar, engulfing Sampson in flames as he screamed, while falling over the railing to his death.
Oliver and Turner jumped down as the inmates ran off and they went out from the mess hall, helping the guards on their feet. "Come on. Get up! Get up! Come on!"
"Let's go. Go! Go! Go! Go! Get going." Turner said as they went out. "What the hell happened?"
"Diaz has some sort of device. It must have triggered an electrical fire." Oliver said.
"The whole place is gonna go up." Turner realized as he looked at the fire.
"You need to get them to the secure courtyard." Oliver said.
"What about you?" Turner asked.
"I'm going after Diaz." Oliver said.
"You'll need these. No half-measures." Turner said as he handed Oliver a knife and he walked off.
Oliver returned to the cell block and looked around the upper walkway, seeing the place on fire before he heard a blade drawn and ducked and punched Diaz in the groin as they faced each other.
"Just the two of us?" Diaz taunted.
Oliver and Diaz exchanged blows before Diaz scratched Oliver in the wrist with his knife as Oliver groaned. They both attacked with their knives again but Oliver was in a disadvantage due to being exhausted from fighting the other inmates and somehow, Diaz had become faster and stronger than the last time they fought as he scratched Oliver in the other wrist and kicked him in the leg and Oliver fell down. Oliver got up on his feet and they resumed their fight before Oliver grabbed Diaz by his hand, forcing him to drop his knife and cut him in the shoulder as Diaz staggered back. They traded blows briefly as Oliver attempted to stab Diaz but Diaz grabbed Oliver by his wrist and cut him in the leg and kicked him, forcing Oliver to kneel and knocked the knife off his hand before punching him in the face.
Diaz then grabbed Oliver by his throat, forcing him to get up and kicked him in the chest as Oliver fell down. Diaz then grabbed Oliver and tried to throw him down but Oliver held onto the railing before Diaz kicked him off as Oliver fell down and hit the railing below before crashing down on the ground, groaning in pain before Diaz jumped down from above and neared Oliver.
"I'm a lot stronger now." Diaz gloated and Oliver coughed out in pain, trying to reach for his knife but Diaz grabbed it and stabbed Oliver in the shoulder as he screamed in pain and then Diaz got up. "Prison's made you weak."
Diaz kicked Oliver in the face and then in the chest as Oliver grunted. Oliver leaned onto a pillar, staggering on his feet as Diaz smirked. "Come on. Get up. Yeah. Yeah." He kicked Oliver in the face as Oliver weakly grabbed Diaz by his jacket but Diaz pummeled Oliver in the chest and grabbed him by his arm. "You're not surviving this."
Diaz kicked Oliver as he crashed against the wall and Diaz entered the cell. "You just don't know when to quit, do you? I guess what you and Sara have in common, huh?"
"Don't you say her name." Oliver snarled with whatever strength he had left.
Diaz picked Oliver's picture of William as he showed it to Oliver, taunting him. "I'm gonna make sure your family suffers as much as I did. Then… I'm gonna go after Sara, then Laurel and everyone you care about."
Gathering whatever little strength he had left, Oliver got up and grabbed Diaz's knife and plunged it into his heart and twisted it and Diaz gagged, coughing out blood as Oliver seethed as Diaz glared before drawing his last breath as he fell down, staining the mirror with blood and light left his eyes.
Oliver got up and groaned, picking up the photo of William and limping away, leaving Diaz's corpse in his cell.
When it was over, Turner was back in his cell and found the book "The Comte of Monte Cristo" that Oliver had been reading, realizing Oliver had left it as a parting gift.
"Turner..." Turner looked up to see Felton limping to his cell. "Thanks."
"For what?" Turner asked, confused.
"Without you, we would all be dead." Felton said and left as Turner stared with a contemplative look, wondering if there was any redemption for him.
Oliver limped towards the exit, where were Sara, Diggle, Felicity and William waiting and Diggle and Felicity gave Oliver a comforting smile and William rushed to Oliver, hugging him tightly before Sara neared him as they kissed, happy to be reunited.
Honestly, how Diaz was still alive past 7x07, when Oliver fought him in prison, is mind-boggling, since first of all, he was among the lamest villains in Arrowverse and there is no explanation on his fighting skills and Oliver should have been able to easily beat him in Season 6, yet they nerfed Oliver so much and made Diaz an overpowered rip-off of MCU's Wilson Fisk and Adrian Chase, who himself was a rip-off of Thawne and Diaz just kept causing more trouble until he was killed by Emiko and the Dante and Ninth Circle plot was just plain stupid and more hate for Oliver and the Queens. Before anyone brings up the Longbow Hunters to explain Diaz's fighting skills, there is no confirmation that Diaz had met them prior to 6x23, so I'm chalking up Diaz able to fight with Oliver on equal footing to the serum he had injected himself with and Oliver being physically exhausted from fighting off Brick, Sampson and other inmates. They should've killed Diaz off here, when Oliver fought him in prison, so that they could focus fully on other things.
And I just didn't want to deal with Stanley, so, good riddance to that bastard.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.