Starling National Bank, Night
On Channel 52, news anchor, Bethany Snow was reporting on tonight's lead story. "To repeat we're just getting word from the authorities that Roy Harper, a Glades resident with a long history of run-ins with the police, has been identified as the culprit for several murders over the past few days including Mayor Castle. Mr. Harper has declined to give his reasons, but sources say that he portrayed himself as a copycat to the vigilante known as the Green Arrow." She went on as the bank guards were watching the news with mild interest when immediately the lights began to flicker all of the sudden.
"What the hell was that?" One of the bank guards asked.
"Probably just a power surge." The other guard reasoned.
"That wasn't a power surge. Check it out." He ordered as the lights flickered once again.
Heading to the area with a flashlight out, the security guard searched the area but continued noticing the lights flickering until they eventually went out altogether. But not just that, for some reason, his flashlight also shorted out. Knocking it some, thinking it was just bad batteries, the guard then noticed someone hiding in the shadows - a man. All of the man's eyes began to glow with red energy and immediately projected that energy as a beam that hit the guard and lifted him off of the ground. As the other security guard came to check on him, he arrived just as his coworker was being tossed against the wall. Noticing the glowing red eyes, the guard ran for his life. But the mysterious man fired energy at his back, killing him. And headed to the bank's vault.
"Transported to SCPD by police caravan, and should be arriving immediately. We're now going live to the SCPD." Snow finished
SCPD
As Roy arrived via his police escort, there were dozens of police, reporters, and protesters outside the SCPD. "All right, let's go. Get him, come one." Quentin told the other officers.
"Is it safe to assume you're calling off the manhunt for the real Green Arrow?" One reporter asked the police captain.
"No comment. Come on, bring him through." Quentin replied and ordered as Roy looked around and couldn't help but feel nervous as this was the most attention he had ever received in his life.
Inside the police station, Oliver, who had awakened after being drugged by Roy, stood and watched him being escorted to a holding cell. Noticing Oliver, Quentin immediately approached him. "You proud of yourself? Letting the kid take the fall?" Quentin said in a completely judgmental tone.
"I didn't know he was going to do this?" Oliver shot back.
"Oliver," Laurel said getting both her boyfriend's and her father's attention. "Not another word. Give us a minute." She asked her father who left.
"What the hell are you doing?" Oliver asked.
"I'm just making sure you both don't end up in prison," Laurel answered and reluctantly Oliver decided to leave.
Palmer Tech, Morning
After an incredibly long night, Felicity was working on her current project, a subsonic ionizer. Noticing her in her office, Ray approached her. "Hey." He greeted her getting her attention. "What are you doing here?"
"Proofing the quarterly earnings report. And finalizing the subsonic ionizer patent application. And I'm trying to debug the sequential -"
"I mean, what are you doing here?" He cut her off with a chuckle, he said getting a rare moment of silence from Felicity. "Roy Harper is in handcuffs."
"I have a lot of work to do." She said sitting back down at her desk. "How do you know about Roy Harper?"
"Apart from it being plastered all over the television, I'm able to put one and one together. And I get that Oliver's sister's boyfriend is obviously part of your team." He explained.
"Obviously." She shrugged.
"You ok?"
"Yes. How are you?" She asked.
"Pssh, yeah. Let's - let's not get into that. Uh ... you said "I love you" and we haven't really talked about it."
"You know let's not make it a thing," Felicity said uncomfortably and awkwardly. "Um ... you know, I had just saved your life,"
"Yeah, and I had 6.2 billion nano-robots coursing through my epithalamus and my emotions were a little wonky." He reasoned and Felicity wanted to speak up but couldn't. "Well, I'll let you get back to work-slash-worry, and um ... keep a good thought for Roy."
"Ok." She uttered as he reluctantly left.
SCPD Interrogation Room
Wearing an orange jumpsuit and cuff to the desk, Roy anxiously tapped the table when Oliver walked in. "What were you thinking?" Oliver asked but Roy wouldn't answer. "Roy? Tell me why?"
"Do you remember what I told you when I found out you were the Green Arrow?" Roy inquired.
"Yeah. You told me I save your life." Oliver recalled.
"Now I get to save yours," Roy replied.
"I can't let you do that," Oliver argued.
"Oliver, ever since I found out that I killed that cop, I have been trying to make it right as Arsenal. But maybe what I need to do is make it right by doing this." Roy explained.
"No, Roy ..."
"I killed a police officer. Mirakuru or not, I should be punished for that. I should be in prison." Roy told him.
"That won't bring the officer back. This city still needs you." Oliver reminded him.
"It needs you more." Roy countered. "For the first time since I remember what I did ... I'm ok."
Restaurant in Starling City
Waiting in the restaurant for Laurel, Sara eventually saw her come in and smiled as she greeted her. "Hey," Laurel said.
"Hey yourself," Sara responded and gave Laurel a quick hug before the sisters then sat down again. "So, how pissed off was Oliver at you and Dig?" She inquired due to the two of them staging Roy's capture as the copycat killer.
"I don't know, he doesn't know yet," Laurel revealed. "And I am currently grateful for all the paperwork I've got to do to keep that from happening at the moment."
"To being swarmed with paperwork, then." Sara smiled as she and Laurel clank their glasses of water and sipped them.
"Shall we order?" The older sister asked.
"Uh, not yet. We're waiting on a third person." The younger said and immediately saw their third wheel. "And there she is." She said getting up out of her chair.
Turning around, Laurel was then moderately surprised to see that it was her mother, Dinah, who had arrived. Seeing her and Sara hug, Laurel immediately felt something stir inside her.
"Hey baby," Dinah said hugging her daughter and as they parted she turned to see Laurel. "Hello, Laurel." She said greeting her other daughter, after not speaking to each other for almost a year.
"Mom," Laurel said plainly as Dinah then took a seat next to Sara. "I didn't know you were joining us for lunch, or that you were even in Starling for that matter." She expressed.
"Yeah, I wanted to surprise you. I thought it be nice for the three of us to go out together like the old days." Sara revealed.
"Well, maybe you should've checked with me first instead of springing this up on me," Laurel said getting up from her chair.
"Laurel, please." Dinah pleaded.
"What are you talking about?" Sara inquired.
"Ask Mom," Laurel replied coldly as she then put her jacket back on and left. Leaving Sara confused as she look at their mother.
Outside Verdant, Night
Listening to the sirens in the background, Oliver waited for Malcolm and immediately saw him walk out of the shadows. "What do you want?" Oliver asked.
"Setting Harper up as your patsy. I applaud the gamble -"
"I had nothing to do with Roy turning himself in ... but I will get him out," Oliver said angrily.
"And then what?" Malcolm countered. "Ra's turned the whole city against you to divert your attention away from him. But now that the Green Arrow has been cleared, you're now able to focus on him once more."
"I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to break Roy out of prison," Oliver said walking away from him.
Back inside the ruins of her club, Thea was watching the news report of Roy's arrest on her phone. "Ironically, before turning to vigilantism, Harper was a career criminal, with an arrest record for breaking and entering, petty theft, and grand larceny. Until recently -"
"Thea," Oliver said getting her attention as turned her phone off.
"Please tell me it wasn't you that put him up to this." Thea angrily asked.
"Of course not, but I'm going to do everything in my power to make it right," Oliver told her.
"You ok?" Dig asked as walked in on them with Felicity.
"I'm fine. But we need to get Roy out of prison." Oliver told them
"Well, it looks like we might have another problem to add to our ever-growing list," Felicity said and showed the three news footage on her computer tablet. "Multiple homicides at Starling National Bank. Channel 52 has acquired surveillance footage of the incident."
"Makes sense. As a bank-robbing metahuman, why stay in Central City when you have plenty of banks and the whole city's after the Green Arrow?" Dig remarked.
"Ok. Ok, we need a plan to extract Roy. In the meantime, Felicity, call S.T.A.R. labs, and see if they're tracking any metahumans that have left Central City." Oliver ordered.
"Yeah, we might have a problem with that." Dig brought up.
Going down to the Arrowcave, Thea and particularly Oliver were shocked by just how destroyed his base was. All the computers were destroyed, almost all of the floors were covered in trash, and the whole place was covered in burns. The League of Assassins had effectively destroyed the place that was his life's work. Taking everything in, Oliver then sighed before asking his next question. "What do we have left?" He asked and immediately a piece of debris slowly started to loosen from the ceiling.
"Some weapons that can be reused, your suit also survived but has some damage that can easily be fixed, and that trunk box of yours." Felicity listed off.
As the dust from the ceiling, fell and hit Thea, Oliver's instinct immediately kicked in once he saw it. "Thea!" Oliver shouted and then tackled as the debris then fell on him - most of them several large chunks of rumble.
"Ollie!" Thea uttered.
"Oliver!" Both Diggle and Felicity shouted.
"Argh," Oliver grunted in pain as he slowly and painfully got to his feet. "We need to get out of here." He struggled to say and get up.
As the four were back outside in the alley, Thea was about to leave until turned to face Oliver again. "Ollie, are you sure -"
"Thea, I'll be fine," Oliver assured her and then watched her leave.
"Oliver, if you think for a second you're going out in the field in your condition; your crazy. Even with those herbs, you'll need at least two days." Dig pointed out to him. "Not to mention half the city's still divided on you and the whole copycat killer thing at the moment."
"Somebody needs to protect this city. We are dealing with a metahuman, call Barry." Oliver suggested.
"Oh, he can't help right now, mm-mmm, he's got on a lot on his plate with Dr. Wells, I think." Felicity turned down the suggestion getting a confused look from Oliver. "It's really hard to keep up with him. But ... what if there's someone else that could help?" She brought up a nervous smile.
Palmer Tech
Working on his A.T.O.M. suit and wearing a neural headset, Ray knew Felicity was walking in due to her calling him earlier. "Oh, hey, Felicity, check this out. I finally got the neural network online, so when my brain tells the gauntlet to wave, and ..." He said as the robotic hand was waving at Felicity he turned around and saw Oliver accompanying her. "Hi." He greeted Oliver.
"Hi," Oliver said lowly.
"Sorry to hear about what's happening to you. Uh, if there's anything I can do to help ..."
"Well, actually, that's why we're here," Felicity revealed.
"Oh,"
"You know how I try to keep my work life and my other work-life separate. I meant to tell you that. Did I tell you that?" Felicity wondered and asked. "Well, there's a -
"There's a meta in Starling City that's killing people," Oliver spoke up immediately.
"A meta, as in human?" Ray inquired.
"Yeah," Oliver admitted.
"So, obviously we need to catch this plasma death thing guy," Felicity said as she brought surveillance footage of the meta attack on the computer table. "Ugh, now I see why Cisco gives them all names." She admitted. "Oliver's injured and with everything with the police, so ... we need you."
"And you're ok with this?" Ray asked Oliver.
"We need your help." Oliver reluctantly admitted.
"So it's a team-up," Ray said with an enthusiastic chuckle. "High-Five!" He said raising his hand, and for some reason, probably due to his frat boy days, raised his and let Ray smack it much to his annoyance
Iron Heights Prison
Now transferred to the prison, Roy was now surrounded by criminals that had been sent away by the Green Arrow; so they made it pretty clear that they didn't approve of Roy, who now appeared to be a copycat killer. "You better watch your back in here, Harper." One inmate told him as he was being escorted by the guard. "You're dead, wannabe, you're dead." Another inmate threatened him.
As he was escorted to the visitor's center, Roy saw that it was Thea, sitting behind the glass window. As the guards, left them alone, the two young lovers grabbed the phones. "How are you?" Thea asked with concern.
"I told the guards I didn't want to see you," Roy replied after a brief pause.
"Why?" She asked but Roy didn't answer. "Roy, please. Tell me what is going on."
After a deep exhale, Roy finally spoke up. "When we got back together, hell, even before that, I ... I made a promise to myself that I would never lie to you again."
"Ok."
"That's why I didn't want to see you. I don't want to break that promise." He explained.
"Why would you?" She asked but once again he stiffened up. "Roy!"
"Thea ... Thea, please just ... know that I'm going to be fine." He told her.
Immediately, Thea began tearing up. "Is that a lie?" She asked but Roy wouldn't answer and looked even more torn up than usual as he finally decided to hang up his phone as he left.
Palmer Tech
"Thea, don't worry. Roy's not going to be in there much longer." Oliver told her over the phone. "I'm working on it." He added as he hung up.
"Roy holding up?" Dig asked him.
"For now," Oliver said.
"Hot off the presses," Ray said cheerfully as he waltz in with papers in his hand.
"What are those?" Oliver questioned.
"I visited the bank today. Uh, the manager's a friend of mine. I beat him at Squash every Tuesday." Ray explained going through the papers. "And I took a few photos of the crime scene. Actually, "photos" is a bit reductive. These are enhanced resonance scans. It occurred to me that if we can't see his face because of the radiation, we need to remove the radiation."
"Oh, I could kiss you right now," Felicity said flirtatiously as she moved in to do just that but the two stopped. "Awkward, sorry. Boundaries. We're working on it." She told Oliver and Dig.
"So, if we interlace the resonant scan's frequency with our news footage we get this," Ray said and immediately the four had a clear picture of the meta.
"There he is," Dig stated the obvious.
"Run a facial recognition," Oliver told her.
"Way ahead of you," Felicity said doing just that and quickly got an ID of him. "Jake Simmons. He's already in the system. Serial bank robber, which explains Starling National. Last known address, Central City."
"Where is he now?" Oliver asked.
"He was last seen on a traffic camera at the corner of Gantner and Yount," Felicity said narrowing down his location. "There's a processing plant there; he went in, never came out."
"On it," Oliver said as he was about to leave.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second." Ray brought up stopping Oliver, who stumbled in pain. "I thought the whole point of this team-up was because the Green Arrow couldn't go out at the moment."
"Stop calling it a team-up, Ray. This Jake Simmons is not just a metahuman, he is a killer. And you're not ready for that." Oliver explained.
"Look, I'm - I'm not going to try to equate our experiences, but superpowers are based in science, and I am a man of science. So if there's any way to defeat this guy, I'm the one who's best able to figure it out." Ray countered.
"Fine." Oliver relented and Ray smiled. "The second that you get in over your head ..."
"I'll run. Fly, probably." Ray witted and Oliver gave him an annoyed look that cause Ray to immediately leave and suit up.
Plant at Gantner and Yount
Slowly descending and then landing at the location, a thought popped into Ray's head. "How many abandoned warehouses do you think are in this city?" Ray asked Felicity as she, Oliver, and Diggle were watching him over the monitors. "No, no, I'm - I'm genuinely curious."
"Stay focused, Ray," Oliver told him.
"Maybe Simmons isn't in there." Felicity speculated.
"Do you get this anxious when I'm out in the field?" Oliver asked as this was strange for him to not be out there.
"I honestly can't think of an answer to that question that doesn't get me in trouble." She winced and Oliver shot Diggle a look, who basically told him not to press it.
"Still nothing," Ray said walking around the plant. "Not a visual sighting or any other reading at all from the ATOM. And when I say ATOM, I mean the suit, not myself in the third person."
"There's a decent chance that you and Palmer are related." Oliver cracked and Felicity shot him a look he usually gave to her.
Coming to a stop, Ray then noticed the lights flickering until they shorted out. "Well, that's equally fascinating and terrifying," Ray said and activated a button on his right gauntlet to activate his suit's firing system.
"Be my eyes, Ray, what's going on?" Oliver asked.
"Oh, tin man? You shouldn't be here." Simmons said wearing some kind of glasses.
"Actually, I should. See, you're the bad guy, and I am -"
But immediately, Simmons took off his glasses and fired his energy blasts from his eyes which hit Ray dead-center and knocked him back several feet into some metal cans from behind.
"Ray!" Felicity said worriedly.
Groaning, Ray eventually fired a hard light blast from his suit at Simmons. But it didn't do anything to him, as Simmons seemingly absorbed the energy. "Thanks for the top off," Simmons replied and immediately the energy began emitting into his hands as he began punching Ray around with ease.
"Ray! Ray!" Felicity said with increasing worry.
Immediately, putting Ray in a headlock, Simmons began to chock the life out of him, however, Ray eventually decided to leave the fight and flew up into the sky escaping Simmons. However, the damage that Simmons had done to the suit had caused it to short circuit and Ray then fell from the air and crash-landed into some garbage bags a few blocks away.
"Ray, where are you?" Felicity asked. "Ray, Ray!"
Oliver and Laurel's Apartment
Bringing a lot of paperwork from home, Laurel eventually saw Sara walk-in into her apartment. "Still on paperwork?" Sara asked curiously.
"My job's harder than pouring drinks," Laurel remarked.
"Well, with Verdant currently a wreck, I'm technically out of a job." Sara reminded her and then pulled out a chair, to set at the table where her sister was working. "So, what exactly was that with Mom?"
"She didn't tell you?" Laurel wondered.
"She did, but she also told me to hear your side too," Sara revealed.
"I'd still like to know the cliff notes." Laurel insisted.
"She told me that she left dad and you after I "died", she told me that she told you that I was getting on the Gambit with Ollie, and she told me about a big fight you guys had and you haven't really spoken since." Sara listed off.
"That does sum it all up," Laurel admitted as she crossed her arms.
"Laurel, I'm sorry. I didn't realize just how messed up you and Mom were because of me." Sara apologized.
"Sara, no," Laurel said immediately cutting her off. "Look, what's going on between me and Mom, that's us not you. At least, not all of it." She said as noticed Sara's skeptical look. "Look, Mom doesn't want to be a part of my life. Okay, I gave her another chance and she has made it clear that ... that I am just not important enough to her, to stay in touch with."
"Laurel, I'm sure that's not true," Sara assured her.
"It is true, Sara." Laurel shot back strongly. "Look, if you want to have a relationship with Mom; go ahead, I won't stop you and I'll understand. But as for me and her ... well, she's made that perfectly clear where we stand." She finished as Sara felt saddened and guilty, for what she played a part in.
Palmer Tech
Putting down his helmet, Ray groaned in pain. "Oh, my god, Ray, are you hurt?" Felicity asked worriedly.
"Heh, "Hurt" would be a step or two up from how I feel right now. But ... just a second." Ray replied as he went to take off his ATOM suit.
"You're lucky to have gotten out of there alive," Oliver shouted.
"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Ray asked.
"It was way worse, Ray," Dig told him.
"Right. I need shields!" Ray realized as he raised his fingers only to take it down very quickly in pain.
"That's not the answer." Oliver countered. "You need to anticipate your opponent. You need to trust your instincts and not just your tech."
"My instinct is to trust my tech," Ray replied.
"Ray when I'm out in the field, my bow, my arrows, those are just tools. I'm the weapon." Oliver made his point.
"That's poetic." Ray chuckled.
"My point is that if you rely on that suit more than you rely on yourself ... it's going to get you killed." Oliver clarified and Ray seemed to finally take his words to heart.
Iron Heights Prison
Escorted back to his prison cell, Roy looked around and began to feel uneasy as he noticed one or two prisoners out in the open. Immediately he then noticed a prisoner with a shiv walk up in front of him but also immediately the inmate who was mopping the floors then broke the mop at the end and made a sharpened weapon. Hearing the snap, Roy shouted to the guard. "Get down!" He yelled but the guard was then stabbed in his back.
Immediately, two of the inmates grabbed and held him behind as the inmate with shiv held it to his throat, the rest of the inmates then began cheering at getting to see a vigilante be killed. "Let's see how good you are without your arrows." One inmate said.
"Good enough," Roy replied.
Kneeing one of the inmates on his left. Roy then ducked the shiv swing but was then grabbed and held Roy from behind. Kicking the inmate in front of him as hard as could the force sent him and the inmate behind him back to the ground. As the janitor inmate tried to kick him while he was on the ground, Roy evaded it and then manage to maneuver his handcuff hands so that they were in front of him instead of behind. Using his cuffs, Roy blocked the broken mop and then kicked off his attacker taking the weapon for himself. Smacking one inmate in the face with it, he then jabbed it into the ribs of the other before swinging his fist upwards to his face. As Roy then used a spinning sidekick to the inmate that was still behind him, he then felt the shiv slice his back from one of his other attackers. Hitting his knee to cause him to stumble and then kicked him away, Roy then took a punch to the face as he then throw one inmate to the ground. Parrying the last inmate's punch, Roy then hit him back in the face. Blocking his follow-up punch with his cuff, Roy then kicked his attacker in the back of his knee which caused him to stumble, and then finished him off with a spinning roundhouse kick to his face.
"Just remember - that was without arrows," Roy told his attackers on the floor as he was catching his breath.
Seeing the cell door open, Roy saw the prison guards come in. "Get down, on the floor!" The guard ordered as Roy did just that. As the guard pressed him all the way to the ground, Roy began gasping in pain from his back and hoped he would be able to survive this place long enough.
Palmer Tech
"The suit recorded over ten terabytes of data, which were uploaded in real-time to a geosynchronous satellite," Ray explained to Felicity who was next to him while Oliver only paced anxiously as Dig also watched.
"That is a huge energy suck," Felicity remarked.
"This is all fascinating. How do we find, Simmons." Oliver asked in an irritated manner.
"Lightbulb, literally," Ray said raising his hand. "I - no, actually. Figuratively." He chuckled. " Uh, just before Simmons beat me, I blasted him with my compressed light beams, and he thanked me for topping him off."
"He absorbs energy and turns it into weaponized plasma." Felicity realized what Ray realized.
"And if we can manually get into the city's power grid, we might be able to track where he's getting his extra juice," Ray explained and Felicity immediately began typing to find out.
"Ollie!" Thea shouted getting her brother's attention.
"What's going on?" Oliver asked.
"It's Roy!" Thea said immediately hugging her brother. "He was attacked by a bunch of inmates. He's fine, but there's hundreds of them in there!" She explained as she let go of him and both Diggle, especially Oliver began to worry.
"I'm going to break him out," Oliver said immediately.
"Oliver. You can end up in a cell right next to him." Dig reminded him as he got in front of Oliver intending to stop him.
"John, if you know what's good for you, you'll get out of my way." Oliver threatened him.
"Oliver, if you know what's good for you - and for Roy - you're going to need to stay put," Dig told him.
"I can't do that."
"Oliver, listen - " Dig said placing a hand on his brother's chest.
"Get your hands off of me!" Oliver yelled pushing him away.
"Listen, I know what you're going through, man! You have to rely on Palmer to take care of this meta while Roy sits in a prison. But listen to me, man - you have to throttle this back, Oliver. You have to. Before you lose everything." Dig explained to his amazingly stubborn friend.
Taking a moment, Oliver spoke up. "I lost enough. I'm not gonna lose, Roy." Oliver told him as he left, leaving Diggle and Felicity to contemplate everything they were putting him through.
Leaving Palmer Tech through the front door, which ironically was his company at one point, Oliver was then turned around by Felicity who ran to stop him from doing something reckless. "Oliver!" She said opening the door.
"I can't believe that you and Diggle are ok just sitting on your hands while Roy fights off all of Iron Heights!" Oliver angrily accused.
"It's not that simple!" Felicity shot back.
"No, Felicity, if anything was ever simple, it's this." He said still pissed off.
"Then what? You're going to jail, too?" She asked.
"I can't just do nothing." He told her as he was calming down a little.
"I think John's right. I think you're struggling with doing nothing; with Roy, with Ray, but right now, you need people to help you. You need to let them." She reminded him of something Tatsu once told him a long time ago. "Besides, even if you were a hundred percent; I don't think you could break Roy out of prison. And even if you do, how's it going to look if the real Green Arrow breaks out the fake Green Arrow from prison?" She argued.
"I don't know, how to sit around and do nothing," He admitted.
"Well, uh, Ray finished that transponder." She said showing him the flashing device. "I have to upload it to a power source and uh, hopefully, it'll bring us right to Simmons."
"I'll go with you."
"It is adorable how you think I need protection, 24/7, but, uh, it's a quick errand and you need practice in letting people help you." She told as she left to do her task.
Iron Heights Prison
Back in his cell after getting patched up in the prison infirmary, Roy sat as he saw Quentin being let into his cell by one of the prison guards. "Thank you. Can you give us a minute?" Quentin asked the guard as he went away.
"I already signed my confession." Roy reminded the police captain.
"Yeah, it's a hell of a story," Quentin remarked holding up his bogus confession papers. "Shame it's all crap."
"What are you doing here?"
"You remember that, uh, that corpse I showed you? The one that the Hood killed? I knew you had an obsession with the vigilante. And, hey, I was trying to wave you off 'cause I knew just somehow I knew, that if you stayed obsessed with him, that you would come to a bad end. And here I am, two years later, I'm still trying to save you, son." Quentin
"I don't need saving," Roy remarked.
"Look, I know you got to be doing this 'cause you owe Queen something. But you don't. You don't deserve to be here."
"Patrol Officer Gabe Vincent. Left behind a wife and a nine-year-old boy."
"I know," Quentin recalled the name.
"I killed him. I stabbed him in the chest with an arrow. So don't think for a second that I don't deserve to be here." Roy angrily revealed.
"No. You don't think for a second that what you're doing here makes up for any of what you did out there." Quentin bitterly replied knowing that it was something Roy would have to live with and let out a sigh. "Guard." Quentin leaves leaving Roy to himself.
Oliver and Laurel's Apartment
Finished with her work, Laurel decided to go to Palmer Tech to help Oliver and the others with their meta-problem. But she opened her door, she found her mother outside of her door, just about to knock apparently. "Mom?" Laurel said a little stunned. "What are doing here, this late?"
"Why wouldn't I come to see my own daughter, when visiting another city?" Dinah brought up.
Breathing out a bit of frustration, Laurel then leaned against her door. "Did Sara put you up to this?" Laurel inquired.
"She did. But, I planned to come here anyway." Dinah reluctantly admitted.
"So, what? You pick Sara being alive to finally start being a mother to me again?" Laurel said with some aggression.
Dinah then let out a sigh. "I deserve that. In fact -" She admitted and turned around and looked out the hallway, where she and Laurel had their little screaming match. "I deserved everything you said to me last year." And despite some reluctance, Laurel found herself listening. "Look, Laurel ... I've ... I've made a bunch of bad choices over the last couple of years and it all started with Sara. I know your father and I never played favorites with our girls but I was always closer to Sara than I was with you; just like you were always closer to your Dad than she was." She shamefully admitted, and Laurel barely reacted to that comment. "Laurel, the bottom line is that I'm sorry for all of it. But Sara's back now, and ... it doesn't make sense for me to not have a relationship with one of my daughters and not the other. Sara and I are meeting for drinks tonight, and I like you to be there."
"Mom, the time to tell me all of this was last year - arguably you should've said it a whole sooner than that." Laurel brought up. "As for meeting up with you two, I can't, I have to help Oliver with something."
"Well, if you change your mind," Dinah said and walked away from her but then turned around halfway. "You know, Laurel. You once told me that you can forgive Oliver because he was trying to make things right between the two of you. And I can see that you're doing the same for Sara. And after everything they've done ... can you really not forgive me? Especially, now that I'm really am trying here." She pointed and as much as Laurel hated to admit it her mother had a point; as she watched her finally leave.
Power Station in Starling City
Looking around for a place to upload the transponder, Felicity eventually found one while searching the area on her computer tablet. "Perfect," She said attaching the device. "We have lift off."
"Excuse me, miss," Simmons said wearing a security guard uniform and dark sunglasses getting Felicity's attention. "But I don't think you're supposed to be here."
"I'm supposed to access your grid for the city. Think you can help?" Felicity answered and asked.
"Sure. It's this way." He told as he nodded in that direction.
"Thank you." She said following him. "So, uh, what's with the sunglasses, man? We're indoors and it's, well, night. Do you have a sensitivity to the -"
"To light? No." He said taking off his glasses Felicity saw the lights flicker and then saw Simmon's glowing red eyes. "I love the light." He told her menacingly.
Palmer Tech
"Do you think the plan to find Simmons will work?" Oliver asked Ray.
"Well, it's Felicity, so, yes," Ray replied and then ran a tracking program on her. "Heh, except the tracking firmware seems to be malfunctioning." He noticed.
"What?" Oliver said with worry.
"It's not a malfunction." Ray corrected himself. "It's Simmons. He's drawing energy directly from a power station."
"Which one?" Dig asked as Ray then tried to call Felicity.
"The one Felicity just went to," Ray said. "Come on, Felicity, pick up."
"I'm sorry, but the blonde can't come to the phone at the moment," Simmons said answering Felicity's phone, angering all the men in the room that cared about her.
"I swear to God if you hurt her -"
"You'll what ... fly away again?" Simmons remarked on the phone while holding Felicity by the throat with his other hand. "I am talking to the man in the suit, right? The one who thinks a piece of scrap metal makes him some kind of hero? It doesn't." He told him and then crushed her phone as he turned to Felicity. "I am sorry for the interruption. Where were we?"
"Waiting for you to come closer." Felicity struggled to say as pulled a string lever that she noticed earlier and it released steam, which burn Simmons and released her from his grip and began to flee.
"Diggle."
"Oliver, you can't go out there in your condition." Dig reminded him.
"It's Felicity!" Oliver barked back.
"Oliver, you won't make it in time," Ray told him. "Power station is still eight minutes away going 60 on the Ducati. But the Atom? Well, the Atom can fly."
"You need more than your tech this time!" Oliver reminded him.
"You're right. My tech and your instinct. Maybe there's a way we can get him." Ray said and Oliver was admittedly confused.
Power Plant
Back in his Atom suit, Ray landed at the power station. "Ok, I'm entering the power station now," Ray told Oliver and Dig on comms, while Oliver was typing on the computer where some tech on his arms and a headset. "Activate the link." He told the archer. Doing just that, Ray then suddenly chuckled as he felt the tech working. "It's working! Oh, I'm just a passenger now. Ooh. Let's get this guy." He said as thanks to his neural headset, Oliver was now controlling the Atom suit and by extension Ray from Palmer Tech.
Still running, Felicity then reached a dead-end and as she turned around to double back she then saw Simmons again; she also felt his hand grabbing her throat, also again. As he pinned to a wall again, Simmons spoke up. "Sorry. But I have to kill you now." He said,
"No. And you're going to leave her the hell alone." Ray said getting his girlfriend and her would-be killer's attention. "Kick his ass." He told Oliver on comms. Firing a compressed hard light blast at Simmons, the blast sent him back several feet and freed Felicity from him. "You ok?" He asked her as she was gasping for breath. "You got to get out of here!" He told her.
"No! I'm not going to leave you here alone." Felicity told him.
"Ray, get her out of there!" Oliver told him.
"I'm not alone, but I can't fight him and worry about you, now, go, Felicity!" Ray demanded.
"No!"
"Felicity, go! Get out of here!" He shouted and she reluctantly left. "I'm really hoping you played video games as a kid," Ray said to Oliver.
"I'm trying to concentrate," Oliver replied.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just, I'm trusting you with my -" Immediately, Oliver turned around and throw a punch. While, at the same time, Ray did the same and punched Simmons in the face. Continuing to control Ray's movements, Oliver, and by extension Ray, threw several more punches at Simmons's face. But as Simmons' hands glowed with the energy he countered with a few swings of his own.
"Ray, can you take this beating?" Oliver asked as he saw Simmons gaining the upper hand through the Atom's visual link on the computer. "I can pull you back."
"I'm fine. Get this bastard!" Ray said in frustration, still taking the hits.
With Oliver in control again, Ray used his forearms to push down Simmons's arms and then ducked back to avoid his follow-up punch. Ray then threw two jabs, a cross, and then a left cross all of which connected and brought Simmons to his knees. But with a powerful backhand, Simmons sent Ray flying into a nearby power box. The attack broke the connection to the neural network.
"Ray, I've lost control," Oliver told him.
"The transmitter's been severed," Ray grunted from the ground. He looked up he saw Simmons, and the repeatedly saw Simmons strike him in the face with his energy fists.
"Get up. Get up, Ray!" Oliver shouted but Ray just got knocked down again. Lifting him up, Simmons intended to finish Ray for good. "Fight back, Ray. Fight back! Ray!"
"He's too strong!" Ray remarked with his bruised and bloodied face.
"This is not about strength. This is about heart. When the mayor was killed, you put yourself in harm's way to save Felicity. Normal people, they don't do that. Heroes do that, fight back!" Oliver reminded him. "Come on, Ray!"
As Simmons's eyes started flashing, Ray found his second wind, and place his gauntlets over Simmons's eyes stopping him. Throwing half a dozen jabs to Simmons's face, Ray then used a gut punch. "Take him out, Ray!" Oliver shouted, using the Atom's enhanced strength Ray delivered a gut punch that sent Simmons back a couple of feet into a wall which knocked him out.
As Oliver and Diggle let out a sigh of relief, Felicity went over and hugged Ray. Only for her rescuer, to grunt in pain, from his beating just now. "Oh, I'm sorry, sorry!" Felicity apologized.
"Are you ok? I was so worried." Felicity said.
"I'm fine. Everything's ok now." Ray told her.
Bar in Starling City
At a local bar, Sara liked to visit, she and her mother, tasted their drinks. Sara's was a scotch on the rock and Dinah's was a Pinot Noir; eventually, Dinah look at the entrance to the bar but still didn't see Laurel arrive. "I'm sure she'll show, Mom," Sara assured her.
"I haven't shown up to a lot of things in her life recently, I can't blame her if she doesn't show up just 'cause I ask her to," Dinah admitted.
As the entrance doorbell rang, Laurel showed up and walked in. Immediately, both Sara and Dinah looked elated to see her. Walking over to them, Laurel sat down next to Sara and then looked at her mother. "Back at my place, you had a point. But I wanna be perfectly clear, I'm doing this for Sara." Laurel clarified both Sara and Dinah reacted to that. "I don't want her to feel like she has to choose between us. But as for you and me ... let's just see how things go after this." She finished.
"Fair enough," Dinah said with a reluctant smile as the three Lance women enjoyed a night of light drinking and conversation.
Iron Height Prison
Walking in line with all the other inmates, Roy grew anxious. "Eyes front, Harper." The guard told him and Roy did as he was told. As another line of prisoners came out on the opposite end, several of them were eying Roy, and two began passing a shiv. Suddenly, Roy was ambushed by the prison guard pressing him against the wall. "I told you, eyes front." He told him.
"My instincts are to keep my head on a swivel." Roy pointed out. "Won't happen again."
"No, it won't." The guard said and pulled out a retractable knife and stabbed Roy in the gut.
Grunting and pain as the guard left, Roy clutched his side and looked at his palm covered in blood. Coughing, Roy eventually collapsed on the ground; alone.
Thea's Loft
Entering Thea's loft, Oliver saw her and Quentin on the couch. "Thea?"
"It's Roy," Thea said crying.
"Harper was killed an hour ago," Quentin informed Oliver as he stood up, and immediately Oliver felt anguish and pain. "I'd say I'm sorry but I think we both know whose fault this is." He told him casting judgment as he left, leaving the Queen siblings to mourn Roy by themselves.
Arrowcave
In the ruins of the Arrowcave, which Oliver blamed Felicity for letting that catch on. Oliver looked at the destroyed and burnt wreckage of his base. Finding an arrowhead on the ground, Oliver picked it up and found himself looking at it intently. Hearing Felicity and Diggle come in, Oliver dropped it as his two friends just watched him. "I shouldn't have listened to either of you," Oliver said tearfully, still thinking about Roy. "I might not have been able to save Roy ... but I'd feel better right now if I tried." He revealed.
"We know that, Oliver. We also know you may never forgive us." Dig said.
"I make my own choices, John. I made this one." Oliver retorted.
"He doesn't mean forgive us for that." Felicity corrected him as someone else walked in. "He means ... forgive us for this." She said as Roy then walked between them and Oliver saw his protege alive and well.
Feeling a mixture of confusion, anger, and grief; Oliver could only say. "How?"
"Don't be mad at them. This was my idea." Roy declared as he remembered the plan to save Oliver and the Green Arrow
Flashback
"Unless we can actually give them the copy Green Arrow, the city going to keep hunting after Oliver." Sara pointed and gradually, an idea began to form in Roy's mind.
"I might have something," Roy spoke up and looked at Oliver's Hood. "If one of us deserves to go to prison, it's me."
"Roy, we can't allow you to do that," Felicity argued immediately.
"There's no way in hell Oliver's going along with it." Dig followed up.
"That's why we're not going to tell him," Roy told him. "If I take the fall, the cops will back off the Green Arrow. And with my background, the whole city won't have a hard time believing me to be a copycat vigilante. Once that happens, Oliver and the rest of you can focus on stopping Ra's and the League."
Arrowcave
"You could have gotten yourself killed for real," Oliver stating the obvious
"I figured that I could hold off until Dig's guys got into position." Roy rationalized.
"One of Lyla's contacts, an A.R.G.U.S. freelancer. Has a special talent for knifing people in just the right way. Leaves a convincing amount of blood without the kill. He laces the blade with a beta blocker, crawls the heartbeat, and gives the illusion of death." Dig explained how they were able to fake Roy's death.
"The copycat killer is officially dead, so the Green Arrow is cleared." Felicity pointed out to Oliver.
"You did all this without asking?" Oliver asked.
"How many times have you saved one of us, without asking? This time we had to save you." Roy reminded him.
"If everyone thinks you're dead ... then what happens to Roy Harper?" Oliver curiously inquired.
Streets of Starling City
"Tell Thea, well, tell her I'm alive, first. Then tell her that I'm sorry I had to leave without saying goodbye." Roy said in the middle streets to Starling's exit with Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle; Laurel and Ray also joined them. But Ray stayed behind with his limo, as the five were saying goodbye with a red car on standby for Roy.
"I feel like you're throwing your life away," Oliver said
"I'm not." Roy countered. "I'm starting a new one."
"Anywhere, anytime. You need something, you call me." Dig offered. "Take care of yourself, Roy." He said patting him on the shoulder."Call me if you ever need a good lawyer." Laurel said and gave him a quick hug.
"I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow." Felicity joked as she referenced the Wizard of Oz while also trying not to cry. "Just be ready to get a million calls on that untraceable satellite phone I stuffed in your bag." She said hugging him goodbye as they both laugh slightly.
"Thank you," Roy told Oliver, who then shook his hand.
"Thank you," Oliver said likewise.
Getting in the car they got for him, Roy started it up and drove away.
"So, on a scale of one to ten, how ... mad at us are you?" Felicity asked worriedly.
"I need to learn to let people help me," Oliver stated.
"Yeah," Felicity chuckled in agreement. "You could use some practice in that." She said and went to go join Ray.
"I'm sorry, I kept this from you," Laurel admitted and Oliver nodded. "You know, I think I know why you have a hard time letting people help."
"Why?"
"Because sometimes I think you're so focused on helping the people you love you forget ... to see that the people who love you, would do the same." She suggested and Oliver nodded to himself in agreement.
Ray's Limo
On their way to Felicity's apartment, Felicity reluctantly looked at Ray in the passenger's seat. "Ray, can we talk?" Felicity asked.
"Sure, about what?" Ray inquired.
"About, how I said "I love you" and you didn't say it back. That what?" She brought the topic back up.
"I thought we weren't gonna talk about that?" He reminded her nervously.
"Well, I was almost shot to death by a guy who shoots lasers out of his eyes. Uh, I can't believe what my life has become." She remarked. "And I just said goodbye to one of my closest friends in this city."
"Yeah, I guess that does put things in perspective." He said in agreement. "Felicity, I really do care about you. About us." He said deeply after some brief reluctance.
"I know that - but you don't love me, do you?" She asked.
"No ... I mean, maybe I could. Maybe I just need more time." He suggested but then realized what he said. "But, you shouldn't be with someone who might love you someday."
"No," She shook her head slightly and sadly.
"Felicity, I'm sorry." He apologized.
"Ray, it's okay. I get it. About Anna, I do." She said in understanding. "Truth is - until you, I hadn't really dated anyone in quite a while; for a lot of reasons. Thanks for reminding me of how fun it can be." She said with a smile which Ray then slowly shared. Eventually, the limo stopped as they arrived at Felicity's apartment building. "This is my stop. Bye, Ray." She said kissing his cheek and opening and getting out of the limo. As the door shut, she immediately then opened it again. "And by "bye", I meant "bye" as in our relationship. Not "bye" to me to still working with you 'cause I really like being a VP."
"Of course." He chuckled as Felicity did so too, awkwardly, as she shut the limo door again.
S.T.A.R. Labs Prison Pipeline, Central City.
"What about ... Deathbolt," Ray suggested to Cisco Ramon as they both looked at an imprisoned Jake Simmons.
"Nice!" Cisco said high-fiving Ray in approval. "Mmm. You know you're the only other person who's good at the names." Cisco compliment the Atom as he then closed the pipeline.
"So, uh, how do they get fed? And you know, complete the transaction, so to speak?" Ray asked the engineer but Cisco remained surprisingly quiet as he looked at his computer tablet. "Cisco?"
"You said Simmons is from Central City, right?" Cisco inquired.
"Yeah. Last known address. 4160 Dixie Canyon. Why?"
"According to this, Jake Simmons was at the Opal City police department on December 11th, 2013," Cisco said reading the file from his tablet.
"What do I know that date from?"
"That was the date of the Particle Accelerator test. But if Simmons wasn't in Central City the night of the Dark Matter explosion, then ... how can he be a metahuman?" Cisco explained and asked out loud. And suddenly it dawned on the two genius, that they might have a mystery on their hands.
Oliver and Laurel's Apartment
"Yeah, it's good that Roy's plan worked out," Sara said over the phone talking to Laurel. "Yeah, I wish I could've said goodbye to him too. Yeah, Mom got to her train okay. Listen, thank you, for coming tonight. It was nice. Alright, see you soon. Love you, sis." She said and hung up her cell phone. Heading to the kitchen, Sara got herself something to drink from the fridge but then she suddenly felt someone sneak into her sister's place. Immediately turning around, she saw, much to her horror that it was Ra's al Ghul.
"I must admit, I did not expect Queen to sacrifice one of his own." Ra's expressed to Sara, his arms behind her as he casually talked to her.
Putting down her drink on the kitchen counter, Sara eyed down her old master. "It wasn't exactly, how it happened. But right now, I'm wondering why the hell you're here?" She asked.
"I warned, Queen, that if he wanted to save those he cherishes to heed my demands. Now he will suffer once more for his insolence." He told her.
"This is much more than that, isn't it? This is another distraction." She realized.
"Yes," He replied almost, mournfully. "You should know something, Sara Lance, I do this out of duty; not out of any personal ills. Many countries and militaries have condemned those to death for desertion, including this one. I was willing to ignore yours because, despite your immense skill, I never considered you one of us. However, the fact that you withheld the scroll vital to the League's future. I cannot ignore that." He explained.
"Well, I'm not gonna make it easy for you." She stated and immediately grabbed a kitchen knife behind her and threw it at Ra's, but with his almost superhuman reflexes, it caught the knife with his bare hands.
Making a run for the door, Ra's quickly got in front of Sara; cutting off her escape. Using a high kick aimed at Ra's face, he simply pulled back to avoid it. But that was Sara's intention, as she ducked down and then rolled backward. Pulling out her extendable batons, she then combined them into her bo-staff. Seeing her arm herself properly, Ra's did the same as he unsheathed his sword. Rising up, while spinning her entire weapon, Sara struck at Ra's as he blocked it with his sword. As she spun her weapon around her behind her back, Sara then alternated between high and low strikes with her staff but Ra's blocked all of them. And then kicked Sara away from him, but not letting the blow slow her down, Sara pressed on with a horizontal staff strike to his face which Ra's blocked. Swinging a horizontal strike to Sara's face she ducked the sword and then struck Ra's back with her weapon and then maneuvered behind him to follow up with a spinning sidekick in the same location which pushed him back.
Not wanting to lose her advantage, Sara threw two spinning roundhouse kicks at Ra's face, he avoided them and then caught the third by Sara's ankle. Immediately, following up with a reverse roundhouse kick, to escape, which she did, Sara then jabbed her weapon at Ra's face but swung upwards slicing Sara on her right calf. Like all members of the League, Sara was conditioned to have an incredible pain threshold, but even she had her limits especially when Ra's kicked the same spot where he cut her causing her to stumble. Grabbing Sara by her shirt, Ra's then threw her back as she rolled to the ground. As tried to sweep his feet with her staff, Ra's then brought his blade straight to the floor blocking it, then kicked Sara's left forearm. Blocked by the sword, the force of the kick caused Sara to lose her weapon as it fell to the ground. Grabbing Sara by the throat, Ra's held her against the wall.
Breaking free from his hold, Sara threw several punches at Ra's face which he parried with his empty hand. Using a spinning back fist, Ra's blocked it with his forearm and then got around Sara, and then used a sidekick to knock her back into a wooden sofa table destroying it to the table and the glass items on it. Kneeling down, Ra's then pulled Sara up and then impaled her with his sword. "(Forgive and have mercy upon her. Excuse her and pardon her. Make honorable her reception. Protect her from the punishment of the grave and the torment of the fire.)" Ra's said his prayer in Arabic to Sara out of respect for her as a warrior and he rose up. As Ra's watched Sara, he saw her cling to life for as long as she could but eventually, that ceased, as she lost too much blood and stopped her struggle
As Ra's made his departure, Laurel then walked into her place. "Sara?" Laurel asked but then saw her younger sister bleeding on the floor. "Sara!" She shouted as she then rushed over and clutched her now lifeless body and looked at her beautiful blue eyes which had already lost their light. "No! Sara! Sara!" She cried tearfully as tightly into the body of her murdered sister.
Author's Notes: Since the cops weren't watching Oliver this time around, I needed a reason to take him out of the field briefly. Personally, I don't think Ray and Felicity would've lasted long as a couple even without Oliver in the picture, I just think that it was probably too soon for Ray to date again after losing his fiancee. Although, I acknowledge that it is not always the case for everyone. As for Laurel and her mother's relationship, I felt the need to address it now that Sara's back in the picture. TBH, like other people, I'm not a fan of Dinah Lance, but I can see Laurel doing this because she's a good person.
Don't miss the next chapter, I'm particularly proud of it.