Shado ducked down when a bō flew over her head but stood back up and swung her own towards Slade. The edge grazed his forehead, and when he had an opening, Slade brought his staff to a cross with Shado's.

The two ash wood weapons clashed against each other, creating a rhythmic echo throughout the basement. Cold lights hanging from the high ceiling lit the entire basement, including the area where several metal tables, a high-end computer system, and racks of weapons were set up. Knives, swords, bows, staffs, and other more exotic weapons were displayed off to the side of the mats, where Slade and Shado continued to swing at each other.

With years of training in ASIS before the island influencing his tactics, Slade favored a style that was more direct. It immediately gave him an upper hand, no matter who his opponent was. Whatever hit he saw necessary to win a fight was the one he carried out, and because of that, he never lost a match.

Shado was almost the opposite. Her hits were clear and precise, each one carefully calculated moments before she carried it out. While her opponent believed her moves were defensive, she would wait for the perfect opportunity to hit with a series of lethal strikes. She justified her style as one that would let her learn more about her opponent, and anyone else who fought like them.

While Slade aimed for her center, Shado countered each strike and got a few hits on his legs. He stumbled but jumped back into the fight even quicker. Their staffs continued to clash against each other until Slade aimed for Shado's shoulder. Right before it could come down, Shado spun out of the way and behind Slade, pulling him into a chokehold with her staff from behind.

She held the position for a moment before speaking. "I win."

"I agree."

Shado released Slade and walked over to one of the metal tables at the side of the mat. She tossed one of the towels to Slade, who caught it and used it to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"We should do this more often," Slade suggested, "Like we did on the island."

"Are you trying to say that some good memories came from purgatory?"

"Small ones."

"Well, since we work at night, that leaves our days open," Shado noted, "Speaking of our work nights, do you have a status on Tirrell?"

Slade walked off the mat and to another table, where he set his phone. Shado slowly followed him, but after a few moments of silence, he turned back to her.

"Still empty."

"Do you think our threat was enough, or should I have put an arrow in his shoulder for motivation?"

"We'll find out tonight, but regardless of what he chooses to do, that money will get back to the people it rightfully belongs to."

"Good. It's time men like him face justice."

Slade nodded in agreement, but Shado didn't pay him any extra attention as she walked to one of the racks where some of their weapons were displayed. He walked over to the table where he set up the computers and sat down in the folding chair as he turned them on. Occasionally, he looked towards Shado, but his focus went back to the computer as he began searching David Tirrell's name. Several articles came up, but the ones he read told him all about the effect Tirrell's actions had on the people he was supposed to be helping.

None of the articles ended by saying the family recovered from the financial crisis Novum, or the court trials, put them through.

Thea's eyes were glued to the computer screen as she rapidly typed the words that jumped to the front of her thoughts. She only stopped when anything relevant to what she was looking for came up in a search, but like most of the things she had already read, nothing helped. The search results continued to disappoint until Thea came across a link to Starling City's Central News Network. She knew it was one of the primary news sources for the city, but the title "Castaways Return After Five Years" was what made her click.

All the information was the same as what she had read for the last hour: Slade and Shado were stranded on Lian Yu, and they returned after five years of being separated from civilization. Nothing helpful, until Thea scrolled down a bit further and saw a map pointing out where Lian Yu was.

The map looked familiar, but she couldn't place it for almost a minute until she read a bit more of the article. The island was located in the North China Sea.

Thea hesitated for a moment before pulling up a separate tab and typing in the name of an article she hoped she would never have to look at again. The results came up quickly, and after pulling up the report, Thea only had to read a few paragraphs before seeing another map.

It was nearly identical to the one in the castaways' article.

Thea didn't think twice before opening a third tab, this time typing in the name of a small legal clinic in the Glades. It took a minute to find what she was looking for, but once the information she needed was displayed in front of her, Thea took her phone from the edge of her desk and dialed a number. She hesitated before hitting the call button.

A few rings went by before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, um, is this Laurel Lance?"

"Yes, this is her."

"It's, um, it's Thea. Thea Queen."

"Thea? It's been a long time."

"Two years or so…. how are you?"

"I'm doing well. And you?"

"Fine, thanks…. I know this is spur of the moment, but…. can we meet up somewhere? I need to talk to you about something."

"Is something wrong?"

"I'd rather talk about it in person."

"Um, alright, yeah. Of course, I'll meet you," Laurel stammered, "I have lunch at noon. Why don't you meet me at Big Belly Burger?"

"Alright."

"You don't sound well, Thea. What's going on?"

"I'll explain everything when we meet. I don't want someone to overhear."

"All of your men are organized?"

"Yes, Mr. Tirrell," The head of Novum security said as he watched his superior pace in front of his desk, "My men have talked with the SCPD."

"And?"

"And if those masks really do show up tonight, you can count on them being in handcuffs before they could even get into the building."

Tirrell stopped pacing and stared directly at the head of security. "I want this entire building monitored tonight. Every room, every hallway, every entrance."

"Sir, we have all the places they could get to covered."

"All the places they could get to? No, I want every part of this building covered!"

"Sir, that's a request that the security may not-"

"I don't care what you have to do to make sure that those masks don't get into this building! Just make it happen, or I'll find someone else that can!" Tirrell shouted before lowering his tone, "There's too much at risk tonight."

"Security and SCPD will continue to secure the building for tonight."

"Good, now get out of my sight."

The head of security didn't hesitate to leave the lavish office of the CEO, leaving David Tirrell alone with the half empty glass of whiskey on his desk. Tirrell picked up the glass and walked towards the wall of windows that looked down on the streets over twenty stories below. Squad cars were parked alongside the streets, and police officers were out on the sidewalk, but from the height, they looked like small, black dots. Small, insignificant figures that anyone could step on, including the masks.

The small burger joint in the Glades was nearly empty. Only a few people sat at the tables, and there was only one worker behind the counter. Thea didn't watch any of them. She kept her eyes on the door while drumming her fingers on the tabletop. A basket of fries sat in front of her, untouched and cold from when she bought them nearly a half hour ago.

The bell above the door rang as it opened, and a slim brunette wearing a blazer walked inside. Thea looked up immediately and found the words taken out of her mouth as Laurel Lance approached the booth she sat in.

"Thea," Laurel greeted, "It's nice to see you."

"Yeah, you too."

Laurel sat down across from the teenager but kept her purse strap on her shoulder. "So what's going on? Why did you want to meet me?"

"I'm just assuming that you've seen the news, about the castaways?"

"I have. It was a topic at CNRI this morning."

"Then you saw what island they came from, right?"

"If I recall, it's named Lian Yu," Laurel recalled, puzzled by the teenager's questions, "Where are you going with this?"

"Here, look at this," Thea reached into her purse and pulled out two pieces of neatly folded papers. She unfolded them both in front of Laurel, showing her the maps that had been printed out from the two articles she read earlier. "This one on the left, that's a map of the North China Sea. The circled island is Lian Yu, where those castaways came from. But this other map, don't you recognize it?"

"It's familiar, but I don't know where it's from."

"It's a map of the area of water the Queen's Gambit sank in."

"Thea-"

"I know what you're going to say. I should stop right now and walk away, but don't you see that there's now reason to believe that Ollie's alive? I mean, Lian Yu is so close to where the Gambit sank!"

"Yes, I see that-"

"And if those two castaways were able to survive on this island, then maybe Ollie's alive too."

"Thea, you know what happened. The Gambit went down, and everyone was killed."

"But Laurel, don't you see? Those castaways were so close to where the boat went down. They were there for five years, and the boat sank five years ago. They could know something about my brother!"

"Thea, do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"

"Why is it so farfetched? There's evidence right in front of you. You're an attorney!"

"This isn't enough evidence to suggest such a bold claim, Thea. You have to understand that this is all just a slim possibility that, in all reason, couldn't possibly be true."

"Well, maybe you can get more evidence."

"How would I get more evidence?"

"The castaways, Slade and Shado, they must have been interviewed by someone from the SCPD, and your father's a detective-"

"Are you suggesting that I go to my father to get private information so you can confirm a theory?"

"No, I mean, yes but…. it's complicated."

"Do you even know what you're asking for? You want me to violate oaths I swore, go behind people's backs, and snoop into some people's personal lives."

"You don't have to go behind your father's back. You could just ask him for me."

"Thea, I know what kind of grief you're experiencing, especially with the arrival of the castaways, but you need to accept that Ollie's gone. You need to move on with your life, and this is only holding you back," Laurel stood up from the booth and readjusted her purse strap, "I'm sorry, Thea."

"You hate my brother so much that you're not even willing to think about the possibility of him being alive."

Laurel stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What-"

"Ollie could be on an island right now, thinking about all the people he loves and wishing that he could be back with them. But what if he's not alone there?"

"What do you mean not alone?"

"Sara. She got on the Gambit. Maybe she's with Ollie, right now. Maybe those castaways know something about them, or even know them personally."

"These are all hypotheticals, impossible hypotheticals."

"But wouldn't you like some closure?"

"We both got closure about this a long time ago. Oliver and Sara are gone, Thea, and it is not your place to come and ask me to do something like this when it will only hurt you. And, as much as I love you and your family, and as much as I want to have my sister back, it's time that you accept what happened."

"Laurel…"

"You're in a tough situation, I understand, but you'll only hurt yourself if you go further. I don't want to see you broken again. Please, stop this…"

"Laurel, please…."

Laurel smiled softly. "I'll see you around, Speedy."

Without another word, the attorney turned around and walked out of the small restaurant. As soon as she stepped out on the sidewalk, Laurel made her way down the street to where she parked her car. She unlocked it and quickly got inside, shutting the door behind her; but as soon as the keys were in the ignition, she couldn't turn them. Laurel stared blankly at the wheel and felt tears welling in her eyes. One nearly slipped before she wiped her eyes with the side of her finger.

Her chest tightened as the events that just took place replayed in her mind. Every time the young Queen mentioned either of their lost family members' names, the knot grew even tighter. She told herself, for the past five years, that she hated Oliver, but hearing his name spoken in such optimistic conversations brought back the same pain she felt after finding out that her boyfriend and sister were gone forever. Laurel was scarred, and Thea's hope ripped the wound open again.

She drew back the bowstring and held it perfectly still while staring down the arrow shaft. Her focus shifted from the shaft to where her target would be, but before she was thoroughly prepared, a frisbee flew around the corner behind her. She released the arrow, letting it sail straight towards the black disk before another one came into view from her other side. She continued to draw, nock, and fire arrows until seven frisbees were pinned to the concrete wall by dark green arrows, and no more came into view.

Shado lowered her bow and turned around towards Slade, who was setting down the rest of the stack of frisbees.

"You've been training all day," Slade remarked, "You should rest for a bit."

"No harm in being prepared for what's to come."

"I understand, but we've worked in environments like this before."

"Starling is an entirely new place, and we don't know what surprises it holds just yet," Shado reminded, "But thank you, for helping with the frisbees."

"Happy to help."

Shado walked over to a metal table and set her bow down. She glanced over at the computer, which had the time displayed on the screen: 11:33pm.

"Where are we at with Tirrell?"

Slade stepped off the mat and walked towards the computer. A few seconds of typing passed by before he looked up at Shado. "Still empty."

Shado glanced over towards the table where her vigilante attire was folded, and Slade's was laid out. They stared at each other for a moment, but neither of them said a word as they walked to the table and began putting the garments on, silently agreeing on what needed to be done.

Flashback: Lian Yu, 4 Years Ago

Their escrima sticks crashed against each other as a cool breeze pushed past them. Oliver and Slade maintained a steady rhythm until Slade swung his escrima stick towards Oliver's legs. Oliver jumped back but got back into the fight just as fast. From where she was practicing archery, Shado looked over towards the two men and watched them. Each moved as if they knew exactly where the other would, and neither of them took the upper hand until Slade swung at Oliver's head. Oliver blocked the hit, but Slade's second stick cracked Oliver's side. He staggered backward, all while Slade stood and watched him.

"You seemed more focused today," Slade said, "But you were too focused on me. Focus more on where my weapon will be in the future."

"And you should focus on not hitting me with the stick so hard, at least if you want to keep practicing."

"Learn to take a hit now, and you'll know how to recover in the middle of a fight," Slade glanced over towards Shado. "Should we spar?"

"You should continue to practice with Oliver. He needs it more."

"You heard the woman. Get up!"

Oliver glared at Slade as he straightened his posture and held his sticks out in front of him. Slade did the same but didn't speak before jumping towards Oliver. Their strikes paired the others for most of the fight. Oliver tried to break away and hit Slade's side and knees, but Slade blocked each attempt and turned them into attacks. The sparring match dragged on longer, and the anger began to build up inside of Oliver. His moves were soon claimed by strength rather than strategy, and the next time Slade brought his stick up to hit Oliver's, Oliver smack Slade's hand as hard as he could. Slade's bamboo stick flew out of his hand to the side, but Oliver still tried to hit him. Slade blocked the attacks with his last stick and managed to smack Oliver on the side of the head when he became too focused on his own hits rather than the ones to dodge.

"You got cocky, kid," Slade asserted, "Again."

"I think what I just did proves I don't need to keep fighting you," Oliver countered, "The men we're fighting aren't on Mirakuru, like you."

"Better to be prepared than lie around here and miss your girlfriend."

"Sara wasn't my girlfriend."

"She might as well have been, considering how you talked about her, defended her, and even stared at her. It couldn't have been more obvious." Slade chided.

"You're only saying that because you think she was working with Ivo."

"And She was. Did you really think that after what he did for her, she would just turn her back on him? Do you honestly believe that she wasn't just here to sell us out?!"

"Sara was an honest person!"

"If she was so honest, then why did she sell Shado and me out after you were taken?"

"She was in an impossible position! If she wanted to maintain trust with Ivo, she couldn't just leave!"

"There was every opportunity for her to just leave and come to the island. At least that way we would have more inside knowledge on that damn operation, we would actually have a shot at getting home, and she wouldn't be rotting away in-"

Slade couldn't say another word before Oliver lunged towards him and grabbed the collar of his tee shirt. Oliver punched Slade on the side of the head, but when he went for a second hit, Slade grabbed his wrist. The two of them stared at each other, each using their own strength against each other, but Slade pulled Oliver's grip loose. Slade shoved Oliver back, but not without punching him and sending him to the ground.

"Don't you dare try to tell me what's going on right in front of me," Slade growled, "Know your place, kid."

He left Oliver lying in the grass as he gathered his escrima sticks and walked towards Shado. She stood perfectly still as he came to a stop at her side, facing the other direction as she continued to stare at Oliver.

"He still has a long way to go," Slade muttered, "I'll keep working with him, but we still need a plan to get on the ship."

"Did you pay attention to the way he punched you?"

"What?"

"There's something different about him."

"Adrenaline's taking control. Grief does that to a person."

"It seems like there's more to it."

"Whatever it is, he needs to get it under control. His motivation is more dangerous to us than Ivo if it's unshaped."

A fleet of SCPD cars and trucks lined the street across from Novum Prosthetics, while officers and members of SWAT teams moved in and out of the area they were instructed to secure. Detective Lance stood against the back of one of the black vans, watching as the men he was working with continued to do their jobs, as they were supposed to, but the reason why they had to do it in the first place still baffled him.

"Sir," Quentin looked to the side and saw Detective Hall walking towards him with another officer at her side. "We've worked with Mr. Tirrell's security and secured the entire building. If some vigilantes did decide to show up, they aren't getting off this block unless it's in a SWAT car."

"Good."

Across the street, a group of SWAT officers walked out of the building and back towards the group of vans where they were supposed to report. One of the members towards the end followed the others, but as he stepped onto the sidewalk, he glanced down at his watch: 12:03am. The officer glanced towards the others, who were too distracted on their conversations with one another to notice him. He slipped away from the group and walked down the nearest alleyway. Darkness cloaked the narrow pathway, but he could still see the female figure ahead, who wore a hood and held a bow at her side.

"Did you find what we need?"

The SWAT officer pulled down the black mask over his mouth and nose before removing his helmet, revealing his face to the vigilante. She wasn't surprised when she saw her partner's face.

"Every area of the building is covered, and if we want to get in without killing any cops, then this is going to become harder than we anticipated."

"Harder, but not impossible."

"They don't have any men on the roof. We can get in through that way if you have a way to get us up there."

Shado scoffed playfully. "Since when am I not prepared?"

"It's 12:10. If those vigilantes were going to make a move, they would have done it by now."

Tirrell turned around from where he stood at the wall of windows beside his desk. He only looked at his head of security for a moment before looking back down at the street below. "Don't slack up on security until we know for certain."

The head of security nodded and turned towards the door to the office, which was guarded by three of his best men on the security team. They let him through, but as soon as he reached for the handle on the door, a series of gunshots came from the hallway just outside.

"Secure the doors!" The head of security barked, "And find out what's going on!" While his men began to bark through their earpieces, he snatched the police radio from Tirrell's desk and turned it to the correct channel. "They're here. Those masks are here."

"Copy that."

"Mr. Tirrell, sir, the SCPD is on the-"

"I know they're on the way, I'm not deaf! What you should be telling me is why you're-"

The doors of the office burst open, and the three security members fired until the figure in the doorway dropped to the floor: it was another security member. The three of them all looked back towards their boss, but not before an arrow sailed into the room and found its way into one of their shoulders.

Before they could fire another shot, two vigilantes ran into the room, one with a gun and the other with a bow and arrow. The female shot an arrow at another security guard across the room before turning back and engaging with two other guards.

The one with the gun fired at two more guards across the room, taking them both down before looking around the entire room. Tirrell was gone, and so was the head of security.

"Where'd they go!"

Shado smacked one of the guards across the head with her bow. "Out this door! They're getting away!"

Slade reached into a pocket on the strap of his sword scabbard and pulled out a small flash drive. He ran past Shado's fight and towards Tirrell's desk and computer, where pushed the flash drive into one of the USB ports. As he rushed past Shado and the men she fought, he drew his sword and followed the path Tirrell took.

The hallway was riddled with the bodies of security guards, some with arrows sticking out of their bodies and others with bullet wounds. Slade walked past all of them and continued down the hallway.

All the doors along the dark hallway were locked and secured, except one further ahead. Unlike the others, the door was almost closed, with only a small gap telling him that it was open. As he got closer, Slade became quieter, until he was just inches away from the door.

He pushed the door open slowly and walked into the dark office. Everything looked undisturbed, but he still walked around to figure out why the door was open in the beginning. Slade took a few more steps into the room but didn't need to look further when a chair to his left creaked with a small movement. The vigilante immediately turned to the left and was greeted by a barrage of bullets from the head of security. All of them bounced off his armor, and the man jumped out from behind the desk and rushed towards Slade. He tried to knock the vigilante out, but none of his punches made a difference before Slade wrapped his hand around the man's neck and lifted him up off the ground. The security head kicked and struggled as he tried to free himself, but Slade threw his body across the room and into a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner.

Slade stepped around the desk and found David Tirrell hiding behind it. Tirrell shouted out for help, but Slade picked him up by the collar of his dress shirt and tossed him out into the middle of the room. His calls for help didn't stop Slade from jumping back towards him, picking him up by the collar of his shirt, and slamming him up against the wall.

"P-Please!" Tirrell begged, "I-I'll do whatever you want just, please don't kill me!"

"I told you to make the transfer, and you didn't," Slade growled as he grabbed Tirrell's neck, "Do you know how much suffering you've been the cause of?! How many families you've put through crises?!"

"Those people…. chose to use my product," Tirrell coughed out, "Their suffering is their own fault."

"And your business is meant to help them! Not ruin them! Families turn to Novum because they're promised help that no one else would provide! And here you are, using them for your own materialistic pleasures."

Slade let Tirrell's body drop to the floor but didn't give the CEO time to recover from the strangling before grabbing the collar of his shirt and punching him repeatedly. Tirrell tried to pull himself away from Slade, and even tried to hit back, but his attempts didn't make a difference before he was knocked out. Slade stopped hitting him, stood up, and picked up his sword from the ground nearby. He walked back towards Tirrell and held the sword above him, so the tip was lightly touching the CEO's pale skin.

Just a small push and Tirrell would be dead. All the suffering and financial hardships he had caused would be avenged, but Tirrell would get away with a quick death, not really mending his wrongs, only leaving others to deal with them.

Slade pulled his sword away from Tirrell's neck and stared down at the CEO: a pathetic excuse for a man. Footsteps came from the hallway, and when Slade turned to see the person, Shado ran into the doorway.

"SCPD's here and on this floor," She looked down at Tirrell and back up towards Slade, who still held his sword at his side. "You were going to kill him."

"I was going to."

From underneath her mask, he couldn't see it, but Slade almost saw a faint smile in her eyes.

"We can get out of here through a staircase down the hall, but we need to hurry. SCPD will be on us at any moment."

Slade sheathed his sword and followed Shado outside of the office, not looking back once towards Tirrell. They raced down the hallway and to the flight of stairs that led up to the roof. The door slammed behind him, but as they ran up, it opened again.

"SCPD! Stop where you are!"

The two vigilantes glanced down at the two detectives and SWAT officers as they continued to run up the stairs, but neither of them slowed down. The cops raced after them, even as they stepped out onto the roof.

Shado nocked an arrow as they ran towards the edge of the building, and as soon as they were closer to the side, she fired it. A long cable sailed after the hour, and when they reached the edge, Slade wrapped his arm around Shado's waist, and they jumped off the side.

Detective Lance and Detective Hall hurried to the edge of the building just in time to see the vigilantes land on the roof of a building below them.

"Secure a radius of two blocks," Quentin ordered, "Don't let them get away!"

The SWAT officers behind them quickly got on their radios and barked orders, all while McKenna and Quentin watched the two figures run across the rooftop.

"Those people really are nutjobs," McKenna remarked.

"But they can't run forever," McKenna looked towards Quentin with curiosity. "I've dealt with this before. It doesn't end well if they keep running."

A group of police cars with lights and sirens on raced straight past a black van driving in the other direction. As they passed, Shado and Slade both watched them through the rearview mirror. Their vigilante attire was hidden underneath their coats, and they removed anything covering their face, as to not raise any suspicion if someone were to see them. When the squad cars passed, neither couldn't help but smirk, first at the police cars, then at each other.

"And in an unexpected turn of events, David Tirrell, CEO of Novum Prosthetics, was arrested early this morning. After being attacked in his home and later that same night, authorities found evidence that Novum Prosthetics has been involved in a large-scale fraud directly impacting their clients. Although the evidence was provided by an anonymous source, all documents about the fraud have been confirmed as untampered. Tirrell's trial will commence…."

"You seem distracted," Shado turned around from where she stood behind the couch of the shared apartment and found herself face to face with Slade. He stared at her for a moment before looking towards the morning news that Shado had been watching just a moment prior.

"The decision to find the evidence we needed from Tirrell's computer was smart. Now he'll face proper justice according to the people whose lives were impacted because of his fraud," Shado replied, "Like I said yesterday, your knowledge of computers is still impressive, even after all these years."

"I try to stay in practice."

Slade turned around and walked into the kitchen, where he began to make a cup of morning coffee. While he had his back turned to the living room, Shado slowly looked back towards him and started walking to the counter. By the time he turned back around, she was standing right across from him.

"I'd like you to be honest with me, about last night," Shado said in a stern, yet gentle, voice, "You were about to kill Tirrell last night, but you stopped."

"I remembered the justice he should face."

"But that wasn't all," Shado said, "You had a Mirakuru flash, didn't you?"

"Shado-"

"I saw the bruises on those men, Slade," He was silent. "I want you to be honest with me. I want to help you."

Slade looked away from the woman in front of him but couldn't help and look back towards her. "You're right."

"It's been almost two weeks since the last one. Did something happen? Did you remember something? Do you know what triggered it?"

"I don't know. It just… happened."

"There has to be some reason behind it," Shado muttered, "And I'm going to figure it out."

"You've done enough, and I haven't a way to pay you back. You don't have to keep sacrificing for me."

"We've been through hell together, and we've survived what others thought was impossible. We know each other better than anyone else, and, with that in mind, do you really think that I would give up on you so easily?"

"No, I did not."

"Good. That cure from the island may not have cured you completely, but I won't stop looking until I find something that will free you permanently." Shado said before walking towards the staircase.

"I don't deserve your kindness."

Shado stopped in her tracks and turned around. "And I don't deserve your loyalty, so I guess that makes us even."