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.
When Oliver woke up, he felt a familiar déjà vu, as he was lying in bed in an apartment, while next to him on a night desk was lying the interdimensional extrapolator.
"I warned you not to interfere." Novu said as he appeared in front of Oliver.
"You didn't bring us here?" Oliver asked, as he recovered from his shock.
"No. I discovered what had transpired on Earth-2, that you intervened to save Laurel Lance and Thomas Merlyn. I redirected you."
"What… the hell happened back there?" Oliver demanded slowly.
"A herald of what is to come, an entire world erased from existence." Novu explained.
"Where's my mother? Where's Rene? Where's Dinah?" Oliver demanded.
"They are no more." Novu said bluntly.
"Did you hurt John, Tommy and Laurel?" Oliver asked.
"They are alive and nearby, but now you know that if we fail to stop the coming Crisis, what you witnessed will occur on infinite Earths across the expanse of time." Novu explained.
"How did I fail? Your dwarf star particles are right there." Oliver gestured to the duffel bag.
"You disobeyed my instructions to avoid entanglements on a parallel Earth. You confronted Adrian Chase. You altered the fate of Laurel Lance." Novu said.
"You said I wasn't supposed to interfere in the events of Earth-2 and I wasn't trying to but I had no choice, if I wanted to get the dwarf star particles! What was I supposed to do? Let Chase kill thousands of innocents and then take them? Besides, I wouldn't have been able to stop him on my own and I was not going to watch my friends die again, so don't you dare lecture me!" Oliver exploded.
"You are not a man accustomed to following orders, but the survival of the multiverse requires that you obey mine." Novu said.
"I will do whatever it takes to save the multiverse but you should know that sometimes things don't go as planned and you need to improvise." Oliver sneered, having enough of Novu's lecturing as he looked around, realizing there was something familiar about this place. "Where are we?"
"Your home Earth, where you will complete your next task. There's a man named Dr. Robert Wong. Bring him to me." Novu ordered.
"Why?" Oliver demanded.
"Now, that is not your concern." Novu said as they heard pounding on the door. "Do not fail me again."
Novu teleported, just as Diggle entered. "Oliver, we have to get out of here… now."
Oliver followed Diggle into another corridor as they heard sounds of fighting.
"Who are they?" Oliver inquired.
"Local gang. I think we busted up a deal." Diggle said.
From around the corner, several Asian men entered the corridor and attacked Oliver and Diggle but Oliver and Diggle fought back and took them down before they heard a Siren Cry as Laurel and Tommy entered.
"Nice of you to show up." Laurel quipped.
They went out as Tommy frowned as they looked around. "Is it just me or does this place look like…"
"…Hong Kong." Oliver realized.
"What the hell happened back there?" Tommy asked.
"You saw that energy wave on Earth-2 back in our manor, right? Our parents disappearing in the energy wave?" Oliver pointed out.
"And you're saying it happened on the whole Earth?" Tommy demanded.
"The Monitor told me it did." Oliver nodded.
"The Monitor?" Tommy repeated, confused.
Laurel took a breath. "Tommy, it's complicated but there's this… omnipotent entity calling himself 'The Monitor' but his real name is Mar Novu."
Oliver nodded. "Before I arrived on your Earth, he put me and the Flash of my Earth and another hero through this… test for a crisis that he said was coming, threatening the entire multiverse and he told me that if I wanted to prevent the crisis, we needed to do what he asked us to."
"Which is why I came looking for you, when I returned to Earth-2." Laurel said, turning to Tommy.
"This… this is insane." Tommy shook his head. "There… there has to be a way back to our Earth."
"That's assuming there's anything left of our Earth. You still have that breach device?" Laurel asked as Oliver handed it to her and she tried to open a breach. "It's not working."
"Probably damaged on our jump through the portal." Diggle realized.
"We don't have time to go all the way to S.T.A.R. Labs." Laurel said.
"Can't we find someone else who can fix it, someone local? Maybe someone from our Earth survived." Tommy said.
"I'm sorry, but we need to focus on the mission." Oliver said, not ungently.
"There's no one left to save. The only thing that we can do right now is prevent this from happening again by doing what the Monitor tells us—" Oliver started.
"I don't care about the Monitor, there must be a way back!" Tommy exploded.
"Tommy, I get it." Laurel held him by his shoulder. "Look, I get it but there's nothing we can do anymore."
Tommy breathed out in frustration as he walked off.
"Tommy!" Oliver yelled.
"Tommy!" Laurel shouted as she sighed. "I knew that the Crisis was gonna be bad but I didn't think it'd be this bad. Let me talk to him."
Oliver and Diggle entered an internet café as Diggle approached an elderly manager.
"Harbinger sends her regards." Diggle whispered.
The manager nodded as he pressed a hidden button and the door opened, revealing a hidden room and they entered.
"Oh. This would have come in handy ten years ago." Oliver said.
"Well, it helps to be married to Lyla Michaels, who is en route even as we speak." Diggle said.
"John, I didn't even want to get you involved in this." Oliver pleaded.
"I know, but if what you told me is true, which is that we're facing the destruction of… well, hell, man, pretty much everything, then to me that's the very definition of 'all hands on deck.'" Diggle said as he turned to the computer as Oliver sat down. "Check this out. Now this machine is hooked up to A.R.G.U.S.'s intranet, so we can access all the information it has on Dr. Wong." He then noticed Oliver sighing in frustration. "You want to tell me what that face is all about, or are you gonna make me guess?"
Oliver sighed, feeling guilty. "The Monitor warned me not to get involved, and, I don't know, if I'd just found a way to get the dwarf star particles without trying to stop Chase's Undertaking, then—"
"Oliver, what were you supposed to do, just sit back and let it happen?" Diggle pointed out.
"I ignored the orders of a cosmic being, and as a result, I watched an entire world just disappear, so…" Oliver took a breath. "I'm just trying not to make the same mistake twice."
"Well, if this cosmic being wanted someone willing to watch the mass murder of innocent people, then… he picked the wrong hero. You shouldn't blame yourself, man." Diggle assured.
"Well, what about my behavior over the past seven years has given you the impression that I would?" Oliver asked sarcastically as Diggle chuckled before Oliver looked at the computer. "Got him."
"Good." Diggle looked at the screen.
"Dr. Robert Wong, renowned biophysicist. Won the Nobel Prize in the specialty of complex proteins and antibodies." Oliver read.
"First the dwarf star particles, now a mysterious scientist. Can't the Monitor just snap his fingers and get both?" Diggle wondered.
"Well, he's not the biggest fan of sharing information." Oliver pointed out before they looked at one of the reports in dismay. "OK. Looks like Dr. Wong might not be that easy to find. He's been missing a week. This is the last known photo."
"Wan Chai university. He's a professor." Diggle noted.
"That's where we start." Oliver ordered.
"We need to do this quietly, stay under the radar." Diggle said as they went out, just as armed thugs entered.
Oliver sighed in frustration. "Too late."
Oliver and Diggle engaged the thugs as Diggle slammed a monitor at one of them and kicked back another. Oliver was exchanging blows with another thug and threw him away before knocking him down on the ground. Diggle took down one of the thugs before two more entered with SMGs.
Suddenly, an Asian dark-haired woman in black hooded cloak and wearing a white mask with red sun on her forehead, wielding two katanas, jumped in through the window and cut the thugs before stabbing them in their chests and she lowered her hood as Oliver and Diggle recognized her.
"Tatsu?" Oliver asked in surprise.
"You will be safe here." Tatsu said as they entered her safehouse.
"So who were those men, Triad?" Diggle inquired.
"Shu Gang, their rivals." Tatsu said.
"Why are you in Hong Kong? I thought you were with the Crescent Order." Oliver said, looking at her in confusion.
"I was until I gave Nyssa the Lotus cure to save your sister, and they called for my head." Tatsu explained.
"So you decided to become a vigilante?" Diggle asked.
"My son died in this city." Tatsu reminded with a firm look in her eyes. "No more Akios will die here as long as I'm here to protect them."
Oliver glanced down in sympathy and shame, knowing that Akio's death was in part his fault.
"That explains what I'm doing here." Tatsu said, narrowing her eyes at Oliver.
"It's all you, man." Diggle shrugged.
"Right. We're looking for a scientist named Dr. Robert Wong." Oliver explained.
"Why?" Tatsu inquired.
"There's a crisis coming that quite literally threatens the entire universe." Oliver said, piquing her interest. "A man… something like a man has asked me to help him stop it."
"You mean Mar Novu?" Tatsu demanded.
"You've heard of him?" Diggle inquired, both him and Oliver looking at Tatsu surprised.
"When I was with the Crescent Order. A being who transcends universes, a crisis brewing." Tatsu said.
"He believes Dr. Wong can help him stop it." Oliver explained.
"And you believe him?" Tatsu asked warily.
"I have to." Oliver nodded.
"Then how can I help?" Tatsu offered.
Oliver shook his head. "Tatsu, what we're doing is very dangerous. I… I can't ask you to be involved."
"You're not asking. I'm offering." Tatsu insisted.
Oliver pulled out a file and handed it to Tatsu. "Dr. Wong was seen last leaving his classroom at Wan Chai university. That was a week ago."
"We're trying to figure out why he would have left town." Diggle said.
"I don't think he has." Tatsu said as she picked a magnifying glass, examining a picture in the file, taking a look at the pins on the jackets of the suits of the men in the photo. "Those pins, they're only worn by the Security Wing, Hong Kong version of the secret police."
"With a very healthy reputation for silencing political enemies of the state." Oliver added glumly.
"Yeah, but why would they be going after Dr. Wong?" Diggle wondered.
"We need to find out." Oliver said.
Tommy was sitting in an alley with his hands crossed and head placed on it, contemplating.
"I just can't believe it. Our entire world gone because of some Crisis?" Tommy demanded.
"I know how it all sounds but we need to work together, or what you saw back there, that's going to happen here too and on every other Earth." Laurel said.
"Look, how do you even know you can trust this Monitor guy?" Tommy demanded. "I mean, my parents gone, your sister—"
"I know what I have lost, but that's nothing in comparison with what billions of people are going to lose, if we don't help Ollie too. Imagine billions of Theas, Malcolms, Moiras dead, if we do nothing." Laurel pleaded as she held Tommy by his shoulder. "You once told me that when we are down, we need to get up on our feet and remember why we're fighting and what we're fighting for, otherwise, our mission will have been for nothing. And you need to believe it too."
"She's right."
They turned to see Lyla approach.
"Johnny called me, thought you guys might need some help." Lyla explained. "Look, I know what it's like to lose people."
"Do you know what is it like to lose an entire universe, a whole world, where you had people you cared about?" Tommy pointed out.
"No." Lyla admitted.
"Then how can you understand what we're going through right now?" Tommy snapped.
"Because I know survivor's guilt." Lyla said as they looked up at her. "When I was in Afghanistan, my unit got sent out on patrol on a day I drew base duty. It was a routine op. We'd done it a hundred times before. Only this time, there was an IED in the road. None of them made it back. I used to lie in bed at night asking myself, 'Why them? Why not me?' And I made every deal I could think of with any god I thought might listen."
"Did it work?" Tommy asked.
"Not exactly." Lyla admitted as she gave Tommy and Laurel an understanding look. "So you're right. I don't know what you're going through, but I do know something about survivor's guilt."
"Does it get any easier?" Laurel wondered.
"No. All we can do is try and move forward." Lyla said.
Tommy and Laurel looked on verge of tears.
"How do you expect us to move forward, when everyone we have ever cared about, is dead?" Tommy demanded brokenly.
"By not giving up. By doing the right thing. We honor the dead by fighting for the living." Lyla said as they considered. "This world needs you, too."
"I spoke to contact on Hong Kong police force." Tatsu said as she returned. "As soon as I mentioned Dr. Wong's name, he stopped talking. He seemed afraid."
Oliver sighed. "I think we know why. It seems that Dr. Wong has been working on a top-secret project for the Chinese government."
"Exactly, which means the Security Wing wasn't kidnapping him. It was trying to help him." Diggle said.
"He must be in protective custody." Tatsu realized.
"Safehouse in the Wan Chai district but they're planning on moving him out tonight." Oliver nodded.
"Then we better get moving." Tatsu said.
Later, Wan Chai district, Hong Kong
Dr. Wong and his guards went out, when the protection detail was hit by darts as they passed out before Green Arrow, Spartan and Katana showed up.
"Don't hurt me." Wong said, terrified before bikers in black appeared.
Oliver, Diggle and Tatsu took cover behind cars as the thugs pulled out Uzis and fired.
"Triad!" Tatsu realized.
"We can't let them get away with Dr. Wong!" Oliver ordered as Wong was running away.
"We won't! Go, go, go!" Diggle ordered as Oliver ran off after Wong and Diggle fired at the thugs, who took cover behind their bikes.
"Out of the way! Out of the way!" Oliver yelled, running through the crowd of panicked people and chasing Wong before an Asian woman with stark white hair leapt down from above, getting in his way as Oliver's ran cold.
"Welcome back to Hong Kong." China White smirked.
Oliver and White exchanged blows before Oliver slammed her to a table, while the bikers managed to kidnap Wong. White recovered, while Oliver blocked her kick but the following one sent him crashing against the glass before she threw a smoke grenade, concealing her escape as Tatsu and Diggle approached.
"It's gas." Tatsu noted.
"We need to get these people out of here." Diggle said.
"John, Tatsu, evacuate the street, I'm going after Wong!" Oliver ordered as he jumped up on the poles above, pursuing White and Wong before he jumped down on the line on which were lanterns hanging but noticed that Triad had managed to get away with Wong.
Later
Oliver, Diggle and Tatsu returned to the safe house.
"No sign of Dr. Wong. Triad must have taken him deep underground." Diggle said as he was examining the CCTV footage.
"I thought China White was in Iron Heights." Oliver said.
"Yeah. Well, so did I, and as far as I know, Lyla did, too." Diggle nodded.
"Well, our situation just got a whole lot more complicated." Oliver grumbled.
"You seemed ready to let those people die back there." Tatsu said, crossing her arms.
"I knew you had it handled, and you knew that Dr. Wong was the priority." Oliver reminded.
"You sound like someone I used to know. You. Nine years ago, single-minded about your mission." Tatsu reminded.
"Tatsu, with due respect, if you had seen what I have seen, you would understand. The Monitor is our best chance at preventing it from happening again." Oliver pointed out.
"I've seen that blind faith in you before, as well, with Amanda Waller." Tatsu reminded.
"That wasn't blind faith. She threatened my family, Tatsu. Right now, the stakes are every family in existence." Oliver said.
"Guys, I really hate to interrupt this, but none of this matters if we don't find this missing scientist, right?" Diggle reminded.
"Why does the Triad want him? His work does not seem harmful." Tatsu wondered.
"Yeah? Well, innocent men don't work on secret government projects." Diggle pointed out.
"We need to know what this project is. Then we'll know why the Triad is after him." Oliver said.
"There's nothing in any governmental databases about the project Dr. Wong was working on." Diggle said as they accessed the computer.
"So we're back to square one?" Oliver grumbled.
"No, not exactly. An A.R.G.U.S. mole led me to a paper trail, some equipment that Dr. Wong purchased. He shipped it to this address." Diggle said as they looked at some invoices.
"Well, it's his lab. It has to be. We need to get in there." Oliver ordered.
"That may not be so easy. I know this place. It's a PLA garrison." Tatsu said.
Oliver sighed in frustration. "Those garrisons have a reputation for being almost impenetrable."
"Almost. But not quite." Tatsu typed on the laptop, showing some blueprints on the screen. "There are certain vulnerabilities."
"Yeah. Well, even if we could get in that place, it's gonna be heavily fortified." Diggle argued.
"That's never stopped us before." Oliver pointed out.
Later
The PLA guards were in the elevator before Green Arrow entered through the hatch and slammed two guards against the walls. Green Arrow punched one of them and kicked another one back before slamming them both to the ground, knocking them out.
"I'm almost at the sublevel." Green Arrow called out on his comms.
"The elevator will take you straight to the lab." Tatsu said.
"Most likely will be guarded." Diggle said.
As the elevator opened, Green Arrow threw a dart, knocking out a guard as an alarm went off.
"Alright, I've definitely been made." Oliver said.
"You only have few minutes." Tatsu said.
Oliver plugged in a flash drive as the data were bring uploaded. "I'm starting the upload."
Back in their hideout, Tatsu and paled, her blood running cold as she saw the photos and data, containing information on BTHK Biotech.
"What? What is it?" Diggle asked, noticing the terrified look in Tatsu's eyes.
"I know what the Triad is after." Tatsu said. "Dr. Wong has been trying to recreate the Alpha/Omega virus."
Oliver looked at the glass case and paled. "He's not trying. He's already done it."
Later
Oliver returned to the hideout as everyone looked worried.
"After what happened last time, you'd think the Chinese government would have learned its lesson." Diggle muttered.
"The Alpha/Omega is a powerful weapon." Tatsu pointed out.
"Yeah, and the Triad could already have it." Diggle grumbled.
"If they had it, they wouldn't have any need for Dr. Wong. It's just a matter of time before they make him recreate it." Oliver pointed out.
"Which means, Oliver, that we have a ticking clock and absolutely no plan." Diggle said.
"We have this." Oliver pulled out from the bag a glass tube as Tatsu and Diggle stared, widening their eyes in disbelief.
"You stole the virus?" Tatsu demanded incredulously.
"This is what China White wants, this is what I'm gonna give her." Oliver said.
"Oliver, you more than anyone else knows how dangerous this is." Diggle reminded.
"Which is why I'm not actually going to give it to her, we're using it as bait to draw her out." Oliver said.
"My husband tried this gambit once already and you're the one who told him he made a mistake." Tatsu reminded.
"This is different. Maseo had every intention of actually giving the virus to China White. I don't." Oliver said.
"It's too risky." Tatsu insisted.
"It's riskier to do nothing." Oliver pointed out. "If anyone has a better idea, I'm all ears."
"I'll start making arrangements." Diggle said after a moment, knowing that they had no other choice.
"You're not talking me out of this." Oliver said as he saw Tatsu approach, while he was gearing up.
"I know." Tatsu nodded.
"Trust me, Tatsu. I will not let China White get the virus." Oliver assured.
"And what if you fail?" Tatsu pointed out.
"I'm not gonna fail." Oliver insisted.
"Nine years ago, you failed to stop the virus, and my son died." Tatsu reminded with a haunted look in her eyes.
"And I regret it every day." Oliver nodded.
"You must remember it because of what happened after." Tatsu added.
"I tortured General Shrieve." Oliver admitted painfully.
"Your grief, your anger, your guilt over the failure, it stole your humanity." Tatsu said, not ungently.
"This is different. I'm not angry. I'm simply doing what has to be done." Oliver argued.
"How do you know that?" Tatsu questioned. "It is said that Mar Novu believes order comes through chaos."
"So he's bringing us order?"
"But first maybe chaos. He's asking you to bring him a man who recreated a deadly virus. Why? How do you know he won't use it for something worse than the Triad?"
"I don't know, but I have to believe him. I have no other choice."
"Even if that is true, he does not seem to care who he hurts along the way. Sometimes, the mission is not worth the cost." Tatsu said as Oliver looked away. "You know that, so why are you still doing what he asks?"
"Because if I'm wrong… if I'm wrong, then all of this is for nothing. Do you understand, Tatsu?" Oliver said brokenly. "I'm making a huge gambit to save Barry and Kara, I've left Sara and my friends behind so if… if… if the… if the Monitor can't fix this and if he is not here to help, then all of these things that I've sacrificed and all the things that so many other people have already sacrificed will have been for nothing."
Tatsu looked at Oliver in sympathy as both her and Oliver's eyes were getting wet.
"I need my family and my friends to live, which means that I need this to work." Oliver said firmly.
"You're risking too much." Tatsu pointed out.
"There's no other choice." Oliver said.
"There's always another choice." Tatsu reasoned.
Later
Later, China White and her men waited at the docks as Oliver approached with the briefcase with virus.
"You're late. I thought you changed your mind." White said.
"Deal's a deal. Thank you for meeting me." Oliver said.
"Anything for a friend." White smirked.
"Now I have the virus. Where's Dr. Wong?" Oliver demanded.
"He's nearby. I'm surprised, when I got your call." White noted.
"Well, I'm surprised that you're not in Iron Heights." Oliver said.
"It's not the first time someone has escaped that place, remember?" White smirked as she looked around. "I assume your friend Mr. Diggle is here too."
"Perimeter's clean." Diggle said, as he was at a vantage point, aiming his sniper rifle at White. "Tatsu, any sign of Wong?"
Tatsu climbed up on the rafters as she looked around. "Not yet. I don't think he's here." She noticed a car driving in. "Wait. Someone's coming."
"Oliver, keep her talking." Diggle said.
"You and I… we have been enemies since the very beginning, but there's something coming. It is bigger than us. It's something that threatens our entire Earth." Oliver said, trying to reason with White. "Let me see him."
"Give me the case." White ordered as Oliver handed the case to one of her henchmen, while she picked the glass container with the virus.
"Tatsu, we have to move, now." Diggle said.
"I see him. I'm going in." Tatsu said as White's men pulled Wong out of the car but then she noticed something. "Wait. He's wearing some kind of a vest. It looks like explosives."
"China White must have the detonator." Diggle realized as White's henchman put the vial into an analyzer that bleeped green as the henchman nodded at White.
"It's real." White said in satisfaction as she put the vial with the virus back in the case and turned to her men, speaking in Chinese. "Bring the scientist."
"That vest is not part of the agreement." Oliver growled, pointing at Wong as White's men dragged him in.
"I had to be sure you weren't gonna do anything stupid." White sneered as she pulled out the trigger and shoved Wong towards Oliver. "I'll deactivate it once I'm safe in the car. Until next time, Oliver."
"There's not going to be 'next time'." Oliver said, much to her confusion. "Now."
On cue, Tatsu jumped down from above and cut down two of Triad's thugs, while Diggle provided covering fire from the distance. White and her men were trying to escape with Wong and picked the case as they ran off.
"Damn it! I'm going after the virus!" Diggle said as he got up and followed the thugs and Oliver followed Wong.
Diggle rushed into the warehouse and shot down one of the thugs before engaging the other two. One of them disarmed Diggle but Diggle kicked him in the leg, knocking him down before grabbing the other one by his arm and they exchanged blows before Diggle broke his arm. The other thug had recovered in the meantime but Diggle threw him on the thug he had knocked down, taking them both out.
White jumped from one ship to another as she ran down the docks, while Tatsu was chasing her before they faced each other.
"Chien Na Wei." Tatsu said.
"Tatsu Yamashiro." White smirked. "You really think this will go better than the last time?"
Tatsu glared as White pulled out her karambit knives and Tatsu pulled out a pair of katanas.
White dodged Tatsu's blades before blocking them with her knives.
Oliver ran up the upper walkway and jumped down, shooting one of the thugs dragging Wong away before he kicked the other thug in the face and knocked him down before slamming him on a table and punching him in the face, knocking him out.
"I have Dr. Wong." Oliver said over the comms.
More thugs showed up and Oliver was about to notch an arrow before they were shot down by arrows as Oliver looked up to see another archer in green hood, who smirked.
"What? Did you think I'd let you have all the fun, Ollie?" Tommy quipped as they smiled at each other.
Diggle was still fighting other thugs before Lyla entered, shooting them down.
"Hi, honey." Lyla smiled at Diggle.
"Virus is secure." Diggle said as he tapped his comms.
Oliver examined the suicide vest on Wong. "I can't remove the vest without triggering it. We need that detonator."
White dodged and retreated as Tatsu attacked with her swords and White used her knives to attack, while Tatsu blocked. They exchanged blows with their weapons before Tatsu kicked White in the stomach and dodged as White attacked with both weapons before Tatsu grabbed her by her wrist and knocked the knife away and pinned her to the wall, with the blade to White's neck. Both women struggled before White shook Tatsu off but Tatsu kicked White in the chest as White grunted and fell down, while Tatsu pointed the tip of the sword at her.
"The detonator." Tatsu ordered.
White glared before handing Tatsu the trigger as she smirked. "You better kill me now."
"I have the detonator." Tatsu called out over the comms.
White used the opening to stab her in the abdomen and Tatsu groaned, staggering as she dropped her sword, while gasping in pain, holding her wound.
White got up on her feet and picked Tatsu's sword, about to finish her off but suddenly, a Siren Cry sounded off, sending White flying to the water as they heard 'splash.'
"Looks like I'm not the only one who needed backup." Laurel said as Oliver relaxed.
"Tatsu's resting in the infirmary. She'll be in pain for a few days, but she'll be fine." Lyla explained, once they returned to the safehouse.
"She would have been dead if you hadn't have come back and fought with us." Oliver said, looking at Tommy and Laurel gratefully.
"I don't know if we'll ever get over what happened on Earth-2, but if you're trying to make sure something like that never happens again, we've got your back, Ollie." Tommy assured and Oliver nodded.
"Well, at least we accomplished our objective. How's Dr. Wong?" Diggle asked.
"He's fine. In a secure location. The virus is, too." Lyla assured.
"And so what, we're gonna write a letter to the Monitor or something like that? I mean, how will he know we got our guy?" Tommy asked.
"Don't think he sends letters." Diggle noted.
"I don't want to hand over Dr. Wong just yet. I want answers, and if he is not gonna give them to me, I'm gonna find them somewhere else." Oliver said.
"Oliver, what are you talking about?" Diggle inquired, confused.
"Tatsu... she told me that I had to be absolutely sure that I was making the right choice." Oliver said, worry flooding him. "She almost died, John. A lot of people have died already for the sake of this mission. I owe it to all of them to find out who the Monitor really is."
"And, Oliver, what if we don't like the answers to those questions? What do we do then?" Diggle pointed out.
"We find another way to stop it. There's always another way." Oliver said as he got up.
"Oliver, so what's the plan?" Laurel asked.
"I need to apologize to a friend of mine first." Oliver said.
"Think the doctors would have preferred you stay in the hospital." Oliver said as he approached Tatsu, who was lying on the couch, clutching the wound on her abdomen.
"I have survived worse." Tatsu assured.
"Brought you something." Oliver handed Tatsu a pouch.
"Herbs." Tatsu noted as she looked into the pouch.
"There's a rumor going around they help with healing." Oliver smiled.
"I have seen many battles. For a moment, I believed this was my last." Tatsu said with a haunted look in her eyes. "I saw Akio and Maseo, but... this was not my time."
"Tatsu, you almost died because of me. I'm sorry." Oliver said and Tatsu nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, you were right when you said that some missions aren't worth the cost, so I'm gonna make sure that this one is."
"So where will you go?" Tatsu asked.
"You heard a rumor about the Monitor and a coming crisis?" Oliver inquired.
"I doubt the Crescent Order will have the answers you seek." Tatsu said.
"Thankfully, there are organizations on this Earth far, far older than the Crescent Order." Oliver said and Tatsu's eyes lit up in realization. "I'm going to Nanda Parbat." He got up and pulled out his phone, dialing a number.
"Hello?"
"Sara, it's Oliver."
"Ollie, where have you been? Felicity, William and everyone's been freaking out." Sara said.
"How long will it take you to get to Nanda Parbat?" Oliver asked.
Somewhere in the woods, a breach opened as from it jumped out dark-haired a man in mid-50s with a bag as he tried to open a breach again with the interdimensional extrapolator but couldn't, much to his confusion.
"What the hell happened? Jesse…" Harry Wells said worriedly.
In another part of Hong Kong, Lyla drove the docks, facing a tall figure in the shadows.
"You should have told me what was going to happen on Earth-2." Lyla said as Mar Novu emerged from the shadows. "John was there. He could have been killed."
"The destruction of that Earth was a necessary sacrifice." Novu said.
"And what about Laurel Lance and Tommy Merlyn? Their friends, their families..."
"Countless more like them will perish if we do not ensure that Oliver Queen is prepared for what is coming." Novu said as Lyla stiffened. "Were you successful?"
Lyla nodded. "Yes. I have Dr. Wong."
"Then let us proceed." Novu said.
Frankly, Novu and Laurel blaming Oliver for the destruction of Earth-2 was stupid and annoying, since that was nothing but more Oliver hate from Guggenheim and it's not like Oliver had a choice regarding interfering in the events of Earth-2, but as if the writers would ever learn from their mistakes.
And did anyone else notice how they nerfed Oliver in 8x02, when fighting White and the guards in the PLA base? I'm guessing that was a parallel to how Oliver was also nerfed in Season 3 flashbacks in the Hong Kong arc as well, despite that he had been trained by Shado and Slade but boy, is it annoying, whenever they nerf Oliver.
And I went back and forth whether I should have Lyla work for the Monitor or not, since Lyla is one of my favorite secondary protagonists in the entire Arrowverse but the revelation of her working with Novu leaves one with a bit of a sour taste on her, because you have to wonder if she had been manipulating Oliver and Diggle for years, but I just couldn't find a way around it.
Yup, I had Harry escape to Earth-1 as well, when the antimatter wave wiped out Earth-2 but I have no plans for him until I get to the Crisis story. Frankly, what ticks me off is what they did with him and the other Wellses after the Crisis, since, despite my issues with Harry, such as his ego, which he had lost in Season 4, due to his brain damage, even though, in Season 6 he had regained his intellect, he was probably the best Wells in The Flash so far, with Sherloque and Nash right behind him, so he ran to Earth-1 as well to escape the antimatter wave, but I myself don't really give a damn about Jesse, considering the ego she had grown after getting her speed and ditching Harry. If they were going to write Jesse off, because of Violette Beane's unavailability, they could have done it better.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.