Chapter 5

Emotional Assassin

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. And I gotta say, the response to this has been absolutely fantastic and I am loving it. Also a few points to respond too for Mr. Guest Reviewer, which… Would it kill ya to sign in!? I honestly forgot about Constantine being scared when it came to Darhk but the almost constant use of he's in Hell got old in my view. Which I've already said so yeah. No doubt it did hurt her pride as she seems like she would be a very prideful woman. I actually like that idea about Nora Darhk (whom I didn't even know her first name to be honest so thanks for that) going to live with Samantha and William. Though would Social Services really allow for that considering where she comes from and the fact Samantha's a single parent?

As for your last point, not to worry my friend. Felicity's condition is in good hands. And I mean good, good hands where her fate is concerned. Now… On with the show!

March 26th, 2016 at City Hall

Several days had passed since Andy Diggle had placed at the prison on Lian Yu and things had been surprisingly quiet as well since then. Making for some slight paranoia on the parts of Oliver, Waller, Lance, and Anatoly. Whom Lance was greatly surprised about Oliver even knowing and being a freaking Bratva Captain of all things. A private talk with the archer had assured the man that he had never taken part in the more unsavory aspects of the organization that involved human trafficking. Though whether or not he'd been lying was something Lance wasn't sure about but left it alone as he wasn't sure he even wanted to go digging there. Currently Oliver himself was on the front steps of City Hall giving a press conference. "The past few days have been wonderfully quiet and while it has me on edge as who knows what Damien Darhk and HIVE have in mind, I'm still making a small attempt to enjoy the quiet. Though I strongly wish my fiance Felicity Smoak was able to enjoy it with me. Which I strongly urge all of you to enjoy the peace for as long as it lasts as you may never know what day could be yours or a loved one's last."

Reporters fired questions after that and one in particular had the man answer it. "I strongly believe that before long, the war against Damien Darhk and HIVE will come to its end. Especially with my fellow citizens, along with ARGUS and other individuals being willing enough to help us as we are stronger together when uni-" He was suddenly cut off as a bullet hit him in the chest, causing panic as he fell to the ground with Diggle soon next to him and yelling for an ambulance.

ARGUS and police officers were scrambling to find where the shooter was but so far were unable to find him or her. Across the street on one of the highest floors of a building was a man in a blue armored outfit with a blue mask that had jet black eye pieces to go along with it. He was crouched down as he calmly dis-assembled his sniper rifle to place back in the case and when his cell phone rang, the man paused in his task to answer it. "Thanatos." Answered the sniper.

"Just saw the good work on television Mr. Thanatos, keep up the excellent work!" Came the jovial voice of one Damian Darhk.

"As you command, it shall be done Master Darhk."

A chuckle could be heard from Darhk before the line disconnected and Thanatos then went back to his work. And before long, he was on his way back to base and not catching anyone's interest thanks to the fact Oliver had been shot.

The Beach of Lian Yu

Oliver was confused as he found himself staring into the crashing waves of the ocean against the hardened surfaces and sand of Lian Yu. As he could have sworn he was just in Star City and feeling a bullet hit him. Unless he was just having a fever dream again which would really just be sucky for his luck. Which would make sense anyway as why the Hell would the city get re-named to Star anyway!? He was drawn from his thoughts as a hand touched him on the shoulder, making him look back and seeing the smiling face of Shado. S-S-Shado!?" Spoke the man stunnedly as he turned around fully and placed a hand on her face that she leaned into.

"Another fever dream again Baobei?"

He could only nod at that. "Here is to hoping that that will have been the final one." Came her soft voice as for her, those dreams were worrisome.

Especially with the fact that Oliver tended to end up in various areas on the island after each dream without him even realizing it. "Come, let us head back to the plane." Reaching down for his free hand, she grabbed it and started to walk away. While Oliver was so happy to have found himself such an amazing and caring woman like Shado.

It was then that he awoke with a gasp and some pain as he tried to sit up. "Whoa! Easy Ollie!" Came the concerned voice of one Thea Queen.

"Thea?"

"Yeah, who else?" Asked the girl jokingly.

"Where…? Where am I?"

She looked at him in concern before replying. "At the hospital, you were shot at the press conference remember?"

As he looked up at her while blinking in surprise, memories started to flood him as everything came back to him. Making him realize that he'd just been dreaming about Lian Yu and Shado. "Oh."

Then he got a serious look on his face. "Did they find whoever shot me?"

Thea shook her head and then had to stop him from trying to get out of the bed. "Would you stop!? You were shot for God's sake Ollie! That bullet had poison in it!"

He looked up at her in shock over that one. "Like Curare?"

"Um, no. Something none of the doctors had ever seen before actually. If it wasn't for those herbs from the island you probably wouldn't have made it." And God had that been a scary thought!

Oliver closed his eyes as he leaned back into the bed, trying to shake off the image of Shado from his mind while attempting to block out any pain he was feeling. The fact he was shot by a sniper using poison was worrisome as it just felt too much like Floyd Lawton. And whoever this sniper was, there was no telling what they would do next. Especially if they were working for HIVE like he thinks this one is. The doctor soon came in after Thea got him and it wasn't long before the others started showing up after she called them. Lamb had been iffy about the herbs but he couldn't deny the progress they had made in helping eradicate the poison from Oliver's system. Oliver would be forced to stay in the hospital for several days much to his dislike as he'd rather be out in the streets hunting down whoever shot him.

But at least he was able to spend more time by Felicity's bed so that was something for him at least. After he was finally and thankfully released, he and Jessica Danforth on the steps of the hospital publically condemned the cowardly attack on him and eagerly looked forward to the arrest of the one who had done it. Which got him a visit later that night at the loft where he was thankfully alone at the time. His visitor being none other then Thanatos himself as he smashed through one of the windows and immediately went after Oliver. The archer gave as good as he got, even if it was somewhat hard thanks to the gunshot wound he was still recovering from in the chest. Thankfully however, Laurel, Roy, Constantine, Diggle, and Thea showed up to help him fight the intruder. Each of them thankful for the fact that Curtis had installed some cameras while Oliver had been in the hospital in the event of something happening.

Their opponent proved to be a challenge and if it wasn't for Constantine's spur of the moment idea to use a little magic to make a curtain wrap around the man's legs, the fight would have probably gone on longer and an injury or worse would have been bound to have happened. Thanatos' head hit with an audible thump on the floor as the British magic man muttered lowly for a binding spell to be placed on him, trapping him where he lay. Oliver stalked forward to find out just who the Hell the man was under the mask and when he pulled it off, what he found shocked not only him but the others greatly. As the man under the mask was none other then Tommy Merlyn himself in need of a shave. Oliver stumbled back in shock at the sight of him as it shouldn't be possible! "T-Tommy!?" Voiced Laurel in a stunned tone of voice.

He moved his head up to look at them and there was not a trace of emotion to be found. "That name has no meaning to me." Replied the man monotonely.

Both Laurel and Thea shook their heads in denial, not wanting to believe that this was Tommy as the Tommy they knew was a good soul who always had a smile on his lips and happiness to be heard in his voice. Diggle wondered if Darhk's own private Lazarus Pit was somehow responsible for this and Constantine admitted it was certainly possible. Though the fact the man before them hadn't had any sort of fighting skills prior to his death and now apparently did was troubling for the British figure. As it spoke of some potentially very dark magics that may have been involved in order to make him seem like such a well trained fighter. "Alright then mate, it looks to me like you're gonna be a guest with us for awhile. Hopefully I can fix whatever dodgy bollocks Darhk and his mates have done to ya." Voiced the man with a plan of action since the others aside from Diggle were a bit out of sorts with this particular revelation.

Not that he could blame them mind you as it wasn't everyday someone showed up back from the dead and apparently a well trained assassin as well. Damned barmy blighters messin' about with things that should be left well enough alone. Groused the man in his head.

Diggle moved forward with some cuffs but it seemed the universe would have other ideas however. "I'm afraid that will not be possible John Constantine." Spoke up Tommy and garnering more than one look of confusion.

"Considerin' your current state of affairs mate, I think it certainly is possible."

And as if to prove the man wrong, Tommy was somehow up in a flash with a smoke bomb going off that had everyone coughing. Once the smoke was cleared, their old friend was gone from the loft save for his mask. Oliver would be too stunned to do much and prodding from Constantine and Diggle would help get the girls into doing anything to try and find him. Laurel would even reach out to Nyssa in the hopes her friend somehow possibly knew anything, but the lack of response from her was greatly troubling considering how punctual she normally was when it came to responding. Once past his shock and able to come up with something to say, Oliver would go before a press conference with a picture of Tommy with a warning for everyone to be on the look out for the man who had the face of his brother in all but blood. As he was armed and highly dangerous.

If anything, this war had just gotten even more personal then it already had been after he and Felicity had been shot at in the limo. And it motivated him that much harder to see Darhk and HIVE at its end before they committed even more abominable actions.

Author's Notes: Chances are if you read my Suicide Protection story, you may remember that Thanatos was first introduced there. And the plan had been to make the reveal about him a story or so later after the events of that one. But lack of feedback and the like had been fairly horrible, prompting me to decide to end that particular line of stories since I felt there was no real reason to continue if there wasn't much interest. Up Next: A look into a problem Nyssa and the League of Assassins are being forced to deal with. Now for some other responses. Not sure what the 'R' word is so you may want to explain that one for me. That's as good a guess as any other I reckon with the lack of summary. It'd be cheesy if Black Siren went bad partly cause of Oliver dying. But that's just me and my view. Could be she fell heavy into drinking instead of her father and its what leads her to being a bad guy. R and R!