Chapter 9

Ghosts Of

The Past

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. And what's this? A guest actually reviewed the story itself rather then talk about the show!? That boggles my mind it does! Nice idea with Constantine, but realistically he wouldn't be alllowed to do that unless he snuck in while her body was in the morgue. As for the actual result of her death? Well, you and everyone else will learn soon enough! And frankly, I find what Barry did at the end of the finale to be a dumbass selfish thing as he had all the support in the world from Iris and the others and yet he's gonna throw all that way? Bah. Bullshit. I did enjoy the Arrow 4 season finale though and I'm glad Olicity wasn't re-united. Greatly enjoyed the street fight scene. Anyways… On with the show!

As Oliver stared at the three un-masked individuals, he continued to shake his head in denial of what he was seeing. Clearly believing that what he was seeing was nothing more then a trick on his mind brought on by either Darhk or the alcohol he'd consumed recently. Hell, knowing his luck as of late, it was likely a combination of both since the man probably had his Ghosts following him to try who knows what with him! "What is problem Comrade?" Asked one of the Bratva members.

His question was ignored however. "Son, I need you to stop with the denial and accept that we're here." Spoke one Robert Queen firmly.

"You father right. Denial never good and can get you killed." Spoke Yao Fei.

"Come with us Oliver, we can make it all be better." Added Shado as she stood next to her father.

"Master Darhk would happily accept you amongst us Oliver. All this fighting is just useless in the end and only serves to get others hurt." Voiced Thanatos.

A beer bottle would end up shattering at the blue clad man's feet as the archer looked on at the foursome angerly. "I know, I know I'm drunk but I'm not stupid! This is some trick by that bastard! And he's gonna pay! I'll break every damn bone in his body before I finally kill him for what he's done!" Raged the drunken Queen and the three Bratva members nodded in approval of that idea.

After all, it would be further justice for those they had lost to the damnedable man. "Oliver, I promise you this isn't a trick. Our master would never do such a thing like that to you." Implored Shado.

"She's right son, Damien is a good man who wants the best for everyone."

"Hah, Damien Darhk is monster who needs death by knife to throat."

"Or crowbar to head many time."

"Acid good choice too."

Well, one couldn't say the Bratva aren't creative in punishment! "Interesting friends you have there son. But they aren't the type of people Master Darhk wants around him."

"Well its a good thing I don't give a f**k what he wants then."

"Come with us or things will not be pleasant, and I won't mind being unpleasant." Thanatos informed his old friend.

Instead of saying anything, Oliver charged at him and threw a punch, one that missed thanks to the fact Thanatos had some pretty good reflexes and the second fact being that he didn't even really need to use them since Oliver was pretty damn drunk at that point. His three Bratva buddies decided to get involved as well and soon it was a four on four fight, or rather, a three on four fight since Team Good had a drunken member. One thing that seemed odd however is that while Shado and Yao Fei could fight rather well as proven in the past back on Lian Yu, it seemed as though Robert wasn't as effective. Though he certainly held his own as well as he could despite that. Oliver was thrown to the ground rather hard by Thanatos at one point while the others continued to fight in increasingly brutal ways that was definitely going to take some time to heal. Stepping up next to his old friend, Thanatos looked down at the still awake Oliver who was trying to get up but finding it hard to do. "Enough of this foolishness and come with us."

A loud scream could then be heard in the area, making everyone present aside from Oliver to drop to their knees in pain. Thanatos looked up and saw that the Black Canary, Arsenal, Speedy, Spartan, and Constantine were in the alley with them and they all looked ready for a fight. At least until Speedy caught sight of her father. "Daddy!?"

Robert stood up and looked towards his little girl. "Have to say, I'm a bit disappointed you've decided to follow in your brother's foot steps sweetheart." Spoke the man in what should have been a tone of actual disappointment but instead it just being toneless.

That hurt the girl greatly and she was a bit grateful for the fact she had Roy with her as he placed a hand of comfort on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Better her brother then some fool from the telly." Responded Constantine and the man could practically feel the magics from the three newcomers coming off them in waves.

And it didn't make him happy one bit as it was very dark and made him feel a bit ill too. The fact Darhk used such dark magics told the magic man one thing, and that one thing is that these weren't fakes but very clearly the real deals. And obviously meant to disrupt ol' Ollie boy and his bunch from being able to fight effectively. "Your presence here is un-needed, leave or we will force you to leave." Threatened Thanatos as he stood up.

"Not happening pal." Responded Diggle with his gun trained on the man.

"Then so be it."

And with a yell, Thanatos charged at the rest of Team Arrow with his trio behind him while the three Bratva members who were lucky to still be alive went over to Oliver and checked on him to see if he was okay. They were actually rather happy with the fact the Green Arrow's men had shown up as they all knew they would have very well likely have died this night. And even though death wasn't something they feared, they still wanted to live for a little while longer at least. Oliver didn't want them bothering him but they ignored his requests and even helped him up much to his annoyance. He swayed some as he stood and watched the fight in front of him. The man hoped that the ones who had the faces of his father, Yao Fei, and Shado had gained them unwillingly and could re-gain their old lives again if they were stopped and taken somewhere else to try and save them from the fates they now had thanks to Damien Darhk. Thea by some cruel twist of fate had ended up facing her father but thankfully wasn't alone as Roy was with her.

Though even he was a bit hesitant in fighting the man due to his connection with Thea and his age! Laurel had ended up against Tommy which was proving to be rather bitter sweet for the woman as this was never something she wanted to do. "You've some skill Laurel, but it is no match for mine."

"You didn't exactly have any skills either before your death Tommy." Pointed out the vigilante lawyer reasonably.

"Were I the type to respond in a negative manner to such things, I believe the right response would be 'hey!' but alas I am not the type. And Tommy was a weak willed fool and that is not who I am. I am Thanatos, highly trained assassin of HIVE." And with that, he lunged at her with his sword and she was able to block it with her nightstick.

Leaving a nice little cut in the nightstick thanks to the sword's sharpness. "You are Tommy! You are the man I loved and still love to this day! Tommy Merlyn was never a weak willed fool and I know this for a fact!"

"Hmmph, whatever helps you sleep at night."

Eventually he would get the moment he needed and end the lawyer and send her to the afterlife where her weak willed lover was at. And he would use his words to help achieve that objective all the faster. As those two continued to fight, Diggle took on Yao Fei and the Chinese man was certainly proving that even death hadn't affected him that much when it came to his skills. Digg was trying to get through to the man even if he didn't know him that well but it wasn't working out that well for him unfortunately. Constantine had the honor of taking on Shado herself and was regretting the fact he never really got any sort of training in when it came to fighting skills. Sure he could brawl but that was only so effective! "Heh, I see why ol' Ollie boy was so captivated by ya luv. I'd be too with a looker like you that can kick arse so well."

"Thank you for the kind words, but they will not save you this night."

That's what you think luv.

He ducked an incoming blow from the Asian Beauty and brought forth his hands and with a few muttered words, the girl was blown back by a force of wind to her side. Sending her flying right into a wall and landing with a thud on the ground and no longer able to fight thanks to the attack. "Score one for me." Smirked the magic man and used another spell to magically bind her in place so that she wouldn't be able to get up again if she happened to re-gain consciousness.

A few fireballs from him had the other lackeys of Darhk doing what they could to dodge the attacks while attempting to fight their opponents. Robert managed to get lightly singed in the leg much to his annoyance and when Constantine decided to direct most of his magical attacks on Thanatos, the man soon decided to make a tactical retreat. Even attempting to try and grab Shado as they went but being unable to do so thanks to a shield being around her and Constantine's fireballs continually coming their way. "And there's more of where that came from mates! So just let ol' Johnny know if ya want some more and I'll be happy to show ya!" Called out the man and getting smacked in the arm by Thea who wasn't exactly happy he had been throwing fireballs at her dad!

The man was about to say something to her when Oliver spoke up angerly. "Why the Hell are you guys even here!?"

"Because man, we weren't about to leave you on your own. Hell, we've been lookin' all over town for you." Answered Diggle and not even caring about getting glared at by his brother.

"I would have been just fine!"

"If getting drunk mean just fine, hate to see when sober." Remarked one of the Bratva and earning a few snorts of amusement for it.

"What we do with girl?" Asked another of the trio.

"We take her with us and see if we can help her out somehow." Answered Laurel immediately.

"And leave me the f**k alone!" Threw in Oliver as he started to walk back towards the bar.

Only to stop in his tracks when he felt something hit him in the back, causing him to look back towards his friends and sister in a confused way. "The Hell….?" He then collapsed on the ground as Roy lowered his bow, satisfied with having successfully knocked out his mentor with a tranq arrow.

"We'll handle dealing with him too." Informed Diggle to the trio and though reluctant, they nodded as it was known their knocked out Comrade had himself allied with the vigilantes.

"We inform Anatoly of events." Replied one of the trio and got a nod from the helmeted man.

The trio then made their leave while the group picked up Oliver and Shado and transported them to the Arrow Van and were soon on their way back to the Bunker. It'd be hours later when Oliver finally awoke with a groan as his head was hurting him like Hell! And once his eyes cleared up enough, he realized then and there he was in one of the Bunker Cells and was not happy! "Some of us are trying to sleep." Groused Shado from her bed in the other cell next to his."

Oliver didn't respond as he kept yelling about being let go and his loud protests kept on going unheard. Or at least he thought so anyway as Curtis, Lyla, Digg, and Thea watched from the camera feed. "Well, he's definitely NOT happy." Remarked Curtis.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Replied Thea with a sigh.

But it was necessary to keep her brother from being hard to find again and doing stupid crap like getting drunk! As it provided Darhk easy access if he was so inclined! And it was proven already that he was willing to exploit it too! They watched as he started shouting at their new guest who never once flinched from all the yelling and was just so damned calm about it all as she talked back to him. Another screen showed the results of some blood work they had done while Shado had been out and they were proof that she was in fact the real true deal. Which would be damned troubling for Oliver when he found that out and none of them were sure how he was going to handle it in addition to Felicity's death, Barry's problems with Zoom, Tommy, Robert, and that Asian man all being alive and all the while dealing with Mayor related issues.

They knew that sooner or later he was bound to snap and it was most definitely not going to be pretty! And they could only hope that maybe it might happen while he was locked up and let his rage out on the bars of his cell. As at least then it wouldn't have as nearly as many consequences aside from his own possibly broken hands. Shado's blood work also showed signs of drugs in her system, implying that she was using the pill Darhk's Ghosts were given in order to have their complete loyalty to Darhk and HIVE. They hoped that once it was flushed out of her system fully, she would be more of an aide in helping them fight Darhk and HIVE unlike how Andy had been.

Iron Heights

Damien Darhk himself was happily strolling through the prison that contained quite a few individuals, though only one of them was of interest to him. As for how he was doing this without any problems? Well, it involved magics hiding what he looked like and showing off a different face to everyone else. The whole thing made him giddy as a kid in a candy store since he could have all sorts of fun with the glamour if he really wanted to. And once he got to where he was going, he didn't have long to wait as the person he was here for soon made an appearance on the other side of the glass. "And just who the Hell are you?" Asked the mystery person from their end of things.

Damien just smiled at her and briefly let the glamour fade, making his target look in on surprise. "Now that you know who I am, I think you'll like what I have to say as its a pretty interesting proposition. One involving your favorite subject for that matter."

His target leaned in, curiousity burning in their eyes. "Alright, I'm interested."

The man's smile widened at hearing that. "Miss Larvan, I think you and I are going to get along just fine." He then went on to further discuss the proposition for her while making sure to word it in a way that the guards wouldn't have cause to try and arrest him.

And in the end, Brie Larvan was sold on the idea and the Government's newest acquisition as the guards and warden were led to believe, was in a limo and on to her new and exciting life! As the Queen was back baby! And a few certain subjects of her's was in serious need of judgement for their actions against her!

Author's Notes: Apologies if the big reveal wasn't as shocking as it probably could have been. Though a few of you did guess right on a few of the names involved of the trio. So, Shado's a guest at the Bunker! Just how well will that work out? Find out soon! And whatever the proposition is, it certainly can't mean anything good for Team Arrow either! R and R!