How Ra's is defeated. For my followers this is where this story has been going from the beginning, from the 1st chapter. Please let me know what you think. AU now. I am no longer cannon since I wrote this before the season's end aired.

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Ra's words still echoed in his mind, "I set in motion the dead of your city. Four instruments of death, and I doubt your friends will have enough time to stop all of them."

Oliver walked toward his certain death to fight Ra's and the league with Starling City in shambles. People were evacuating, streaming from the city like rats, leaving a sinking ship. Oliver couldn't control the chaos. It so reminded him of China. People were dying in the streets, and there was nothing, nothing, he could do about it. Caitlin, and Crisco had arrived with the truck load of the vaccine, and Barry was doing everything he could to save as many people as he could help get out of the city but it wasn't enough to save everyone.

His team, and his other friends, even Captain Lance had done everything they could to prevent this destruction but Ra's was right. His friends couldn't stop all the Omega viruses, and even Barry couldn't be everywhere at once. They had the vaccine but how do you vaccinate all these people in so little time?

All these thoughts plagued him, as he and Nyssa faced Ra's and the league on a bridge in the middle of Starling City. Ra's stood now and bragged to him, "The last thing you will ever see is your beloved city succumbing to disease and death. You refuse to be Al Sal-Him and wish to be Oliver Queen. Well so be it, for I am going to rip Oliver Queen to shreds this time. You have written your own epitaph."

Oliver attacked Ra's and steel flew against steel. Nyssa joined the attack, and Ra's fought to keep the two of them from besting him. Other members of the league engaged the fight, and then Merlyn was there too, fighting like the dark archer he was.

He caught sight of Tatsu out of the corner of his eye, taking down league members, and Laurel, trying to hold her own, while members of the police department joined the fight, all of them fighting the league. He could hear shots fired, but he blocked it all out. Suddenly he saw Thea in Roy's red suit also join the fight, and for an instant, he faltered, and Ra's sliced his arm.

Oliver forced himself to not concentrate on what Thea was doing. He had to defeat Ra's, had to match him blow for blow, thrust for thrust, but as always whenever he fought this man, he mis-stepped, and Ra's knocked his legs out from under him. It infuriated him that Ra's could best him. In a blink of an eye, Ra's knocked the sword from his hand and backhanded him, sending him flying to the concrete. Rolling with the fall, he retrieved his sword and attacked again.

Ra's turned his sword and hit Nyssa hard in the head with the hilt, and she collapsed to the ground and lay still. Tatsu attacked Ra's but she lasted only a few seconds as Ra's sent her flying through the air with the back of his hand. Her sword clattered on the pavement, and she lay prone on the ground. Again and again, his own sword crashed against Ra's, but he was not winning.

The man was so strong, so fast that there didn't seem to be a way to best him. He faltered and Ra's kneed him in the stomach, then punched him in the kidney, making he doubled over. Falling forward, he lost his sword, and Oliver knew he had lost yet again to Ra's. Trying to rise, on his knees now, he caught Ra's sword with his hand and punched him in the stomach, but Ra's kneed him in the face. Again he crashed to the ground, and Ra's kicked him and kicked him, knocking the air from his lungs. Rolling away, he made it to his knees before he found Ra's sword at his throat and knew that his good fight was over, and he had lost again.

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Felicity ran onto the bridge with Diggle beside her, running cover for them both. People were fighting everywhere. She watched as Merlyn shot a league member with an arrow that was sneaking up behind Thea.

Merlyn turned and said, "Have you lost your mind? Get out of here. I don't have time to protect you." He shot another arrow. "And this is no place for you."

"Like I want your protection? It's Oliver that needs help. He had fallen to Ra's," she said as she ran toward him.

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Ra's pushed the sword into his throat, and he wildly considered running himself through. Especially when Ra's said, "Al Sah-Him, I was going to kill you outright, but now I think that would be too easy on your traitorous soul. No, for your ruse, your betrayal, I am going to keep you for a pet."

"Kill me you demon. End my torment NOW."

"I think not. Instead, I am going to drag you back to that dungeon in chains, and this time, when I finally ALLOW you to see daylight again, you will do exactly as I order you, for I am going to eliminate Oliver Queen once and for all this time."

Ra's pressed the sword against his neck, nicking him as Ra's pointed at two league members. "Bind him," he ordered, and the two men pulled his arms hard behind him and placed the chains on him, linking his feet to his hands so he was hogtied, while Ra's held the sword to his throat to ensure he didn't move.

Ra's demanded, "Bind Nyssa and the sword woman too."

Removing his sword, Ra's leaned in and looked him straight in the eye and said, "I am going to destroy everything that makes you Oliver Queen, and I mean everything. This city will be dust when I leave it. Trick me? Defy me? Use my own daughter to attack me? I will make you sorry you were ever born."

"I already am, so kill me now." He spat the words at Ra's. "Do what you will, for I will never obey, NEVER OBEY!"

Ra's backhanded him, snapping his head back, and he welcomed the pain, deserved it for losing to this man again. Oliver spat blood on Ra's shoes, and he hit him again and said, "Boy, I will teach you to obey. If I torture you long enough, not only will you obey, you will beg to obey me."

He fought the chains as he screamed at him. All his charade was done now, all that left was his dark fury at this injustice. "I will die first. I will make you kill me this time. I will hold out until you end my misery."

Ra's stared him hard in the eyes, then spat the words at him, "Then I will put you in the pit and it will all begin again. The beatings, the torture, the drugs, until you are mine in every part of your soul. I own you, Al Sal-Him. Embrace your destiny. I OWN YOU!"

"I own MYSELF! Damn you to hell, Ra's. I hate you!" He fought the chains hard, cutting his flesh, trying to escape them.

"Yes, hate me, feed that dark side of you. I will make you hate so deeply that you will never know love again. I am going to teach you real hate, for I going to kill everyone you have ever known or met and make you watch. And this time," he pointed at a blonde woman coming their way, "I am going to start with her. I'll make sure she stays dead this time."

His heart plunged when Ra's yelled out to the league, "Give the woman safe passage. I will deal with this myself."

Then in voice, meant just for him, Ra's said, "I warned you what would happen if I had to teach you another lesson. This time I will beat her to death before your very eyes."

Oliver screamed in real pain as he fought the chains. "NO," he screamed when he saw Felicity walking calmly toward them through the league, like Moses parting the water, the dark soldiers just let her pass, and he had no hope, no hope at all that he could stop Ra's from hurting her, from killing her this time. Where was Barry or anyone that could help when he needed them?

"Hold him, don't let him look away." Ra's told the two men behind him. "I want him to watch."

One of the men grabbed his hair and held his head, so he was forced to watch. He fought them and the chains. The pain of what was about to happen was over whelming him, constricting his chest for her knew Ra's was going to do more that blacken her eye this time, and he couldn't save her this time either. No, he was helpless.

"Run, Felicity," he yelled as Ra's waited for her to come closer, and he earned another slap in the face. "Damn you to hell, Ra's. Don't you touch her. I swear I will find a way to kill you. I will never stop trying to kill you. I swear it."

"I warned you that love is weakness, but I will destroy that love yet. Yes, Felicity," Ra's said in a sweet voice as he motioned her closer, "Come here, child. I have another lesson to teach Al Sal-Him that requires your assistance."

She stopped just out of Ra's reach and said, "No, I think I will teach you a lesson this time, Ra's Al Ghul." In a flash, she pulled a small handgun out her pocket and said, "It's called welcome to the 21st century."

Then Felicity shot him.

Oliver had never been more shocked or more proud of her in his life, though it was a shame she wasn't a better aim, as the bullet only struck Ra's in the shoulder, driving him backward, but not killing him.

With a look of pure disbelief, Ra's recovered with a roar and screamed, "How dare you shoot me?" The wonder of her brave act, and pure disbelief came out in Ra's words, "How dare you shoot me with a gun?"

Ra's stepped toward her, and she shot at him again but this time Ra's reflected the bullets with his sword and each shot missed him.

Oliver's heart flipped over. He had thought for an instant that he had a chance to escape his doom, though he would have never believed Felicity could harm anyone let alone kill Ra's. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought, but he was really proud of her for trying to kill Ra's to save him.

Felicity emptied the clip, shooting her last bullet, when an arrow suddenly flew over her right shoulder, and while Ra's reflected her bullet, he couldn't stop the arrow too, and Oliver watched in disbelief as the arrow plunged deep into Ra's chest.

Another arrow followed, flying through his wrist and another knocking Ra's sword from his hand. Then yet another plunged in his chest. With clear disbelief written on Ra's, and no doubt his face, Oliver watched Ra's clutch at the arrows in his chest. Managing to pull one out, Ra's threw the arrow to the ground. But two arrows remained in his chest and the blood poured out of him.

"You!" Ra's screamed as he clawed at the other arrows in his chest. "I knew I should have killed you the first time. You dare to try to take the life that saved you? I should have never have saved you even for Al Sal-Him."

Oliver now looked up in disbelief as his sister, Thea, came around Felicity and stood tall in Roy's red suit holding a bow, arrow notched and screamed at Ra's, "His name is Oliver Queen, and he is my brother, and YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM." Then his sweet, bad ass sister, put an arrow through Ra's throat, and he had never loved her more. She finished with the words, "And that one is for killing me the first time and leaving me to bleed out."

Ra's face crumbled and he collapsed, and this time it was him that was bleeding out onto the pavement, as his heart pumped out his life giving blood from his chest and his throat. And no one from the league moved, as Ra's breathed his final breath and went still.

Oliver stood for an instant as shocked as the rest, then he barked orders. "Release me. Release my friends. Ra's is dead. I am the heir to the demon. I am now the Ra's Al Ghul. Release me NOW! This battle is over. Put away your weapons. Return to your homes until I call you."

The men rushed to release him, and Oliver suddenly realized that the two women he loved the most had just risked everything for him, even though they were so angry with him, they had just saved him, and he could come home. He could really come home.

Ra's threat was now gone and he was FREE of Ra's stronghold, free to live his life, free to love, and he thought his heart would explode when both Felicity and Thea ran to him to engulf him with their arms. Hugging them hard, he hugged them like he would never let them go.

A few minutes later Diggle, Merlyn and the rest had made their way to them, and he released them and shook hands with his friends.

He had to smile when he heard Diggle asked Felicity, "What were you thinking? I told you NO BULLETS."

"Well it worked for Indiana Jones. Remember the scene with the sword guy?" she said, patting the handgun in her pocket.

And everyone but him laughed and it was such a wonderful sound, as it filled the air.

However, that was one movie even he had seen, so he smiled with them. Carefully, he reached out for her, and though she hesitated slightly, Felicity allowed him to take her hand and he said, "Thank you for coming for me. You and Thea saved my life. Ra's was never going to let me go. It makes me love you even more."

"I told you that I couldn't leave you. I told you I didn't want to leave you." She smiled her soul warming, light filled smile up at him and said, "And you're welcome, though you're not out of trouble yet, just wait, you have a lot of explaining to do."

He couldn't stop himself, he pulled her to him and kissed her soundly in front of everyone, silencing her, and not caring who knew he loved her.

Suddenly, Barry, the Flash, appeared before them, and Oliver broke the kiss and really smiled when Barry said, "What did I miss? My bad?"

And everyone laughed and this time he actually laughed with them.

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