Unknown Location, Unknown Time
His vision was obscured when he woke. From personal experience, 90% of such abductions were conducted by people who knew the abductees, and often as not, when the bag was removed a lot of intense life-or-death conversations followed.
Of course, this time, he wasn't the one orchestrating the kidnapping, like he had done with his mother to coerce her into admitting the Undertaking.
But this was not the time to reminisce; the men in black who had seized him had knocked him out with a stun dart a second after he surrendered. Beneath total darkness, he didn't know where he was, his wrists were bound with cord, and the air had noticeably dropped several degrees until goose bumps formed under his sweater. From the drip-drip of water he was certain they were underground beneath a pipe network.
The bag was removed. He was temporarily blinded by the sudden glare of the artificial light coming from the overhead lamp. Once that subsided he saw one of his captors, tall, slender, dead eyes, wearing an all-black uniform, standard combat boots, and high-collared jacket, heavy with Kevlar beneath. The recognizable insignia on the breast-pocket coiled his stomach with rage.
He heard the scrape of footsteps on concrete; the footfalls belonged to a man, six feet tall, he was struggling.
After a sharp turn, Diggle saw Oliver, sitting and bound, underneath the glow of a ceiling lamp, it swung like a pendulum above his head, illuminating him and casting shadows intermittently. He stopped giving the guards a hard time and complied. Their gazes met with a mix of relief and surprise.
"Oliver?"
"Digg?"
There was a chair for him beside his comrade and he was shoved into it. Two guards stationed themselves behind them, they all appeared to be waiting for someone's arrival. He was just about to ask Queen why he was here too, when the familiar clack-clack of stilettos caught the attention of the room.
"Mr. Queen, Mr. Diggle", Waller greeted with a smile that did not reach her eyes.
John scowled at her, "was this really necessary Amanda? If you missed us so much, you could've just asked us to visit."
"Where are we?" Oliver demanded, he knew Felicity and Roy must be going crazy searching for them.
"An ARGUS black site, which was why I had to exercise discretion when apprehending you." She waved dismissively and the guards untied their wrists. Oliver glared at Amanda; standing statuesquely, neat chignon angled on her nape she folded her arms behind her back. "I don't have to tell you why you're here, since you already know. I specifically warned you not to meddle with our classified intelligence and you disobeyed me."
"Maybe you shouldn't make your mainframe so easy to hack into", Oliver retorted.
"And besides, I don't work for you Amanda", said Digg.
A chair was brought out for her and she sat across from them, taking her time to cross her legs and get comfortable. "No you don't, but neither would you want me as an enemy. Mr. Queen understands that message very clearly", she gave him a sharp, knowing look. "I can only tolerate his vigilantism for so long."
"You must be hiding something since you felt the need to put this show on, and we're going to be involved whether you like it or not. People were getting murdered in Starling because of CADMUS, so I gotta ask, are you behind them? Who am I kidding? You wouldn't tell us either way."
"As you said, I won't be able to stop you from pursuing this unless I put a bullet in both of your heads."
"Kind of narrows down your options doesn't it?" Said Oliver with a frosty voice.
"Indeed, but I did not bring you here to kill you", she leaned forward; "I brought you here because the matter I must discuss concerns our most clandestine operation; I think it's time you both learnt the truth of ARGUS' mission."
The Foundry 20:29 PM PST
When Felicity arrived she replayed the Foundry's surveillance. ARGUS had Diggle and likely Oliver too. For what purpose, none of them had a single clue but most likely delving into their private archives had pissed off Amanda Waller. Lyla had been trying to contact her colleagues at ARGUS but Waller was not on site, and no one knew where she was, or they didn't want to tell her. It angered Lyla, which was understandable, if my co-workers were lying to me about the location of my kidnapped ex-husband/baby daddy I would want to cross their names off Christmas party invitations too, thought Felicity.
Currently the IT Tech was searching through street cam footage to see which direction they took Diggle from the club and where Oliver had been when he was taken too. As for Roy he got dressed in the back to head out on patrol and feel out any signs of his teammates. Tensions were hitting the roof in the foundry and Felicity had snapped at him more than once in the past two hours.
"Felicity, you don't think Amanda would turn on us like that? I mean it's not like she's on our side but we've always been here and she could take us out whenever she wanted. What if she's changed her mind about us?"
"I don't want to think of her as anything other than what she is; a sociopathic woman with more power than she knows what to do with and no conscience" she replied with edge in her words.
Down the stairs Laurel descended, both of them were a little disappointed it wasn't their teammates. "Where's Oliver?"
"Currently being held prisoner by Amanda Waller, commander of a American intelligence spy agency", said Felicity matter-of-factly, not greeting Laurel as she focused on tediously running through footage.
Lance was nonplussed; she looked at him for an explanation. "Long story".
"Shouldn't we be trying to get him out?"
Felicity said, "They have Diggle too. And no, we can't get them out because we don't know where they are".
"What does Amanda want with them?"
"If the odds are in our favour we'll find out within the next 24 hours. I don't even know how to find them, and if they go missing…"she swallowed.
A sharp smell stung Laurel's nose. "Why do I smell tear gas?"
Roy kept his head down and sharpened his arrows, getting ready to go out and look for Diggle and Oliver. Even though he knew it would be like finding a needle in a haystack he desperately needed the distraction. How do I stop my best friend from tearing the city apart? Do I hand him over to the police? He's a criminal… but I also owe him my life. But what Jason said about being a killer was what stayed with him the longest...
"I got into a confrontation with the Red Hood" he said nonchalantly, it was the same story he told Felicity when she asked.
"I heard beat cops talking about him. Is he as a big a threat as they make him sound?"
"Not sure yet", he sighed tiredly, Jason Todd the Red Hood he thought. "We have so much going on right now; I don't even know where to start".
"I guess everyone has something to do while I idly twiddle my thumbs". Lance gave a lopsided smile, though he could tell it was plastic, "I'll come back later".
"But are you okay?" He asked before she could leave, "I heard about the jail murders. You were working on that case for weeks. It's brutal how it ended."
She gave a forlorn look and rested her briefcase on a table, "I actually came to talk to Oliver about that, anyone really".
He shrugged, "I'm all ears". Roy wasn't in the mood to elaborate on his encounter with the Red Hood. It would be nice to listen to someone else's problems instead of banging his head on the wall trying to figure out how he was going to stop his best friend from taking over the city and killing more people.
"I've never been as angry with myself as I am now" she slapped her forehead. "If I'd just realized Baston was working for Vertigo in the first place then none of this would've happened. It's so stupid. My whole life I wanted to work in criminal justice. Then they made me defend actual criminals who I knew were horrible people, yet I did as the system expected me too. I didn't even realize how corrupt it actually was. How can I even talk about helping people in the courtroom when I can't protect them anyway? Even the worst of them. It just makes me feel so powerless." From the get go of the case she felt it was subverted, ignoble, and unclean, and then it had spiraled down to this.
"It's not stupid Laurel" said Roy, "whatever your intentions were to become a lawyer, they haven't changed. What happened was completely out of your control."
She was not satisfied with that, there was no way she was brushing this off as 'not her fault' and accepting the elementary explanation that nothing could be done because there were 'forces working against her'. Letting this go was not an option, and with Oliver detained by ARGUS and God knows what other enemies, how on Earth was he meant to defeat all of them with his team? She had nothing against Harper, John or Felicity but a hero could only be in so many places at once. Something had to be done; she had the resources, the will and the courage. The latter two weren't material objects but they could move mountains if she kept them strong. "It's not enough. I was on this case to get insider information to stop Vertigo, and he's back anyway. He manipulated us, and he won. There's no way this is over. I have to get to the bottom of this." Laurel snatched her briefcase and stormed towards the stairs.
"Just don't go putting on a mask and beating up bad guys alright?" Roy called, "Oliver would be pissed if I knew anything about it."
The lawyer smirked; it was ludicrous to even imagine her in Sara's leather jacket and mask. "I'll leave the ass-kicking to Sara. Thanks though, for the talk. When Oliver and Diggle come back, do me a favour and let me know."
"And if you find anything, tell me. I want to help you".
"I will."
ARGUS Black Site, Unknown Time
"You protect the interest of the United States of America in which ever method you see fit and systematic to eliminate the threat", Oliver answered coldly with a scorching glare that told her he would never forget what she did to Maseo and Tatsu.
"And that comprises an all-inclusive range of fields; we have gone through re-incarnations, world wars and thousands of counter-intelligence and anti-terrorists missions to protect our nation and the world as well, though most often they are thankless to this or oblivious." She asked them, "but it never really ends does it? There is still evil. But why does it thrive? As you said Mr. Queen whilst encouraging your team to infiltrate our servers—'we need to get them at the roots'. But roots are not what we need to be pulling out, the threat we are facing is an organisation, formed on the basis of a twisted vision to drive human evolution with chaos. And in our attempts to stop them we are not so different, they see people like you and me hindering their progress." Waller circled her finger to indicate the three of them, Oliver was not happy to be lumped with her. She held their gaze. "Its members have resources and those resources are pieces of a larger entity, an organism you might say, a hive."
It was then when the hammer hit the anvil.
Diggle's eyes widened and Oliver repressed a spasm of shock.
After a moment to let it sink in she said, "That name means two different things to both of you." They looked at each other, mirroring the other man's astonishment, his perplexed countenance asking 'how do you know them?' Oliver wanted to get out of that room, it was suddenly suffocating.
"Deadshot didn't miss", Digg explained. "My brother was HIVE's mark. What does it matter to you?"
"I heard it in a rumour an old friend told me", said Oliver and that was all he wanted to say concerning the matter.
Amanda redrew their attention, "I hate to beat around the bush, so I'll be blunt, we have a common enemy here which threatens to dismantle our structured peace, and it would work to both of our advantages if we worked together instead of against each other." She directed the full force of her gaze on John, her tone business-like as she did what none of them were expecting, which was offer him a job.
"Mr. Diggle I am offering you a position in ARGUS on the task force I have designated to gathering intel on HIVE's latest and ongoing endeavours, as well as giving you full reign over eradicating any of its leaders you might happen upon in your inquiries. I know you would prefer to have men on your team whom you can trust and so would I, with what we're facing. Therefore I expect Mr. Queen to be a close ally of this task force."
The abruptness of her offer rendered them speechless, Oliver was fuming, how can she dictate us like that? Digg was more curious, he's actually entertaining the idea!
"Why me?" John asked.
"If I were you I would want to know why my brother was killed. I also know you have not been an active member of Team Arrow. I see no reason why you should not join us, you have the training, the clearance, and the will. I have not made this decision lightly. As for Mr. Queen's involvement, HIVE was the mastermind behind CADMUS, conducting its research into biotechnology and nuclear weapon, until we shut it down. HIVE destroyed everything but we were able to acquire a fraction of CADMUS' research. There were residuals that HIVE thought were necessary to eliminate to wipe out the facility's existence. This included the CEO's of the companies who invested in it like Alliance Tech and Ray Palmer. You attempted to detain Komodo, a former League assassin working for HIVE as a mercenary, but for external reasons you were unsuccessful". She looked at Oliver then as if to blame him, how much does she know? He thought.
"That puts a target on your back too" Oliver said darkly, "Because you know their secrets."
"Does that make you happy?" She asked scornfully.
"I won't deny it."
They had a stare off for a moment like two rival cowboys in an old era Wild West movie. She glanced away from him and addressed them both, "Nevertheless, whether you join me in this war for personal reasons or to save your city, in the end it would make a difference in the world if HIVE was not in it."
"No", Oliver said without a second thought, "this is not our war and we are not your soldiers."
Diggle was askance, "you're making this decision without me?"
Predicting an argument, Amanda Waller stood and smoothed her pencil skirt, she would rather let internal disagreements be sussed out without her intervention. "I'll leave you two to discuss it."
They both stood, once the door closed behind her Oliver went straight to the end of the discussion.
"There is no decision to make Digg."
"This is a chance for us find the sons of bitches behind CADMUS, they tried to murder you and Felicity remember? We still have no clue why that was."
"She may tell you, you have full reign but that's only an illusion, a lie she makes up to get your compliance." It had worked countless times before, to Maseo, to Edward Fyers, they were her puppets, and Oliver would not allow Diggle to become the same. "Lyla obviously has no idea this task force exists or else she would be on it, Amanda doesn't care about your family but she'll use you for her own means".
"We've circumvented her guidelines before and we'll do it again."
"We'd only end up on her bad side", he swiped his hand over his face it was time to tell someone else the truth. "Digg you don't understand, Amanda and I have history. She got me off the island and used me as an assassin in Hong Kong instead of taking me home. Many innocent lives have been lost because of her methods of 'eliminating the threat'." There was more to it but he didn't want to explain further.
Instead of expressing shock or curiosity John crossed him arms the way he did when he was annoyed with Oliver. "Do you know how much of a difference it makes when you share your secrets with us? We could save a lot of time avoiding these pointless confrontations."
He has a point there. "Look, you yourself said that we needed to take measures if we wanted to defeat our enemies, so bury the hatchet Oliver."
"That does not mean I have to start taking orders from her, I wanted to defeat our enemies on our terms not hers. I won't be manipulated into working for her again."
Digg uncrossed his arms, "manipulated?" He asked flabbergasted. "Is that what you think I'm trying to do? Are you forgetting that HIVE had my brother assassinated?"
"It will never end with Amanda Waller, even after Hong Kong she is still part of my life and her name is on my father's List."
John narrowed his eyes at Oliver, "You obviously don't think she's a threat since you haven't crossed her name off yet. Help me find HIVE and end them." He said through gritted teeth.
He was right again, despite their enmity sometimes having an 'Amanda Waller' around helped, but this was as far as he would go with his association with her."We can find them without ARGUS."
"No we can't!" Amanda's enjoying this, creating this rift between us. "You may have Starling City down to a T, but the rest of the world is still a very dangerous place. You can't save everyone on your own."
"I am not working for Amanda Waller!" Oliver snapped whilst trying to keep his cool, he breathed in, "If you believe that she won't use you, kill you if she needs too, then you don't know her at all. I have a choice now and I can't take that risk and neither should you. Think about Rose."
"I am thinking about her. You didn't see what I saw when I opened the CADMUS file, these people may endanger all of us one day."
"John, revenge isn't worth it if it risks your life." But even as he said it he knew the deduction was misguided, and that he was trying to find any reason not to lose his closest friend.
Digg rolled his eyes, "What I'm going through and what happened with Slade is different. Besides, this isn't just for revenge. You know what it's like wondering what secrets your brother was keeping that he had to be killed for? I need closure. I'm asking for your support, and you can't even do this for me? After everything I've done to help you in your crusade?"
"This isn't the same John!"
Diggle clenched his fist at him, earnestly trying not to explode. "Explain to me then, I would like to know why someone who I consider my best friend won't help me bring my brother's killers to justice."
"It's a matter of principle, Digg."
His friend shut his eyes, and turned away as if no longer wanting to be in his presence. "I'm done arguing with you, you've made up your mind", he said to the wall.
John glanced back at him with an icy look; he could hear the iron curtains being pulled down. "You know, of all people who I thought would fight for me; the last person on that list would've been Amanda Waller. I guess now I know who has my back and who doesn't."
Oliver had taken arrows to the chest that hurt less. John stormed off out the door Amanda exited from. He lingered in that basement, the conversation replaying in his mind; he wondered how he could have ruined a friendship built over two years in less than two minutes.
He exited the holding cell, and it was as if he stepped into a different world. The black site was fully equipped and operational, outfitted with high tech. Uniformed agents were bustling down the hallway on Amanda's orders. Diggle was nowhere to be seen, waiting for him though, to his displeasure, was Amanda Waller herself.
She gave him a sly smile, "I underestimated your IT girl's capabilities; her particular set of skills would be highly valued in an organisation such as ours."
Oliver had heard those words from her before, though under incredibly different circumstances, and God how he hated her then for saying them.
"She won't be joining you, and neither will I, whether Mr. Diggle does or not, is none of my business."
Starling City, 6:36 AM PST
Waller had done the gracious gesture of a 'hostess' and had two separate chauffeured cars carolled to take them back to Starling City. Where John went from here, he did not know but he could already feel the distance between them as if it were a thousand miles. Overall he should not have been surprised that Diggle would have other priorities or occupations to busy himself with now that he was off the team. I told him to leave, I exiled him, I thought it was what was best for him but a soldier will always be a soldier. The black site was located outside Central City, and also substituted as a bunker. As he drove through the metropolitan he took note of the numerous parks and private gardens, the spacious town squares, lack of graffiti and general positive atmosphere. Even he was inclined to move there. This city has not seen its downfall, though things were starting to go south after the STAR Labs particle accelerator exploded with reports of strange incidents of men who controlled the weather and a green mist that killed those who inhaled it.
As if he imagined it, in his peripheral vision crossed a streak of red, he did a double take to check he wasn't dreaming. Even with his honed reflexes, a millisecond later it was gone like lightning. Shaking his head and leaning back in his seat, he thought about Barry Allen and whether he was still in a coma, anything to get over how crummy he felt on the inside.
The hours flew by and he was within the Starling city limits. The ARGUS car knew to take him directly to the foundry and he reminded himself to upgrade the lairs security and sweep it for ARGUS cameras since Waller admitted to having them installed to spy on him.
...
Her hair was awry from its ponytail, glasses clutched against her hip as she paced the length of the room. Roy had been gone the entire night and Oliver and Diggle for longer than that, did she dare call back-up? What back-up Felicity, we have no one! If they're dead this is Team Arrow; me and Roy! The thought made her shiver like a scared cat. It was enough to lose Diggle from their team, but Oliver and Diggle?! That had put her on the verge of a total meltdown if this wasn't one already. She was confident Amanda did not kill them, but then again it was Amanda Waller, the woman was about as predictable as Russian roulette.
At that moment the keypad to the Foundry clicked from the outside. She breathed a loud, thankful sigh of relief to see Oliver emerge from the doors, his handsome face frowning. "Oh my God you're fine, you're fine", that turned his frown upright, he smiled lopsidedly and she ran to him, he scooped her into a tight hug. When she pulled away she said, "If Amanda had taken you for more than 24 hours I was seriously considering calling the coast guard or something".
"The coast guard?"
"I don't know", she clutched her forehead and spun back to her desk a ramble brewing in her mouth, it's less crazy if I talk to him instead of talking to myself like I have been for the past six hours. "I can't think, lack of sleep makes me drop IQ points, I've been up for hours, my glasses have been sliding down my nose bridge, and my feet ache from pacing. Maybe we should consider putting a tracker on you when you're not the Arrow, like a um- tooth implant! Yes! No? Ear perhaps? I swear you won't even feel it. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you want an expresso? I've had five."
Bemused, Oliver went to her and lowered her into a chair, "Felicity, sit and have a glass of water. I'm fine, there's no need to put a tracker anywhere on me."
Deep breathing helped; she glanced behind Oliver when she noticed there was someone missing in this welcome home party. "Hold on, where's Diggle?"
Something Oliver was great at; dodging her looks when things got…awkward. But he could never evade her for long. "He went home."
"What happened?"
"Amanda Waller wanted us to work for her. I said no, because of our past."
She remembered what he had told her during their first -and last- date. "But why is John upset? What did you do?"
Oliver was still conflicted on the matter, "the people she wanted us to find were the same organization who murdered Andrew Diggle. She called them a 'hive'. They hired Deadshot for the contract. She convinced Digg, but I refused and—"
"—now he's mad", she pursed her lips and put her glasses on. He could see that she did not entirely agree with him, he didn't agree with himself either, and that doubt was a poisonous feeling.
"You understand though right?"
"Yes", the edge of her mouth quirked up in a compassionate smile, "but I also understand that he must feel abandoned."
"I don't trust her, Felicity."
The back door to the Foundry opened and Roy came in, hood and quiver off, when he saw the pair of them.
"Oliver", he was startled to see him, "you're back", and then frowned at the IT tech; "you couldn't have called?" Roy said irritably, "I circled the city five times looking for you and you're here?"
"Nice to see you too Roy" Oliver shot back, vexed by his protégé's reaction.
"I guess I'm glad you're not dead" Roy said, the terseness leaving his tone but then his face twisted as if he remembered something mordant.
"I'm sorry I didn't call immediately but I appreciate you trying to look for me. Amanda took us to an ARGUS black site near Central City, no cell reception and it was a long drive back", he explained. "Did you find the Red Hood?"
"Yeah I did."
"What is he planning?"
"We talked" he said tentatively as if to tiptoe around the subject. "He plans to re-build a criminal empire here from the ground up. There's probably more to it but, um, that's all I got."
There was something amiss here, "you talked?"
"You didn't mention that when I asked you" Felicity reproached.
"Give me the specifics then; how many men does he have?"
"I don't know, but I saw five when they attacked me."
"Attacked you? Are you alright?" Roy nodded solemnly. "Why would he tell you any of this?"
The younger man shrugged; the body language may have fooled any previous authority figure in Roy's past but not the members of his crusade and especially not Oliver, "I don't know."
"Don't lie to me" he pressed.
"Nothing, nothing. I'm glad you're safe" he pushed past him to his case but Oliver stopped him with a firm hand to the shoulder.
"Hey, what's going on? You're ignoring my questions, acting passive aggressive for no reason."
Harper turned sharply on him, swatting his hand aside, "turns out, honesty is a trait none of us possess." Felicity and Oliver exchanged befuddled glances but neither knew where this was coming from. "I trusted you guys, but I didn't know I was surrounded by liars. Does the name Reynolds mean anything to you?"
"No." And it really did not, but he sensed it was his own fault for not knowing.
"Then why did the Red Hood tell me to ask you about him?"
"Why would he?" Oliver threw his arms out, "why would he talk to you at all?"
Roy stabbed a finger at him, "You're lying about Reynolds!"
"Don't turn this on me!"
"You're hiding something from me and I deserve to know what it is."
"What exactly did he say?"
With that Roy backed off and leaned on the table, he looked very tired then, worn-out as if he'd been pulled apart to pieces and put back together wrongly. He had never seen the young man so distraught. "It was what he didn't say that got to me, he called me a hypocrite. I don't understand why he would, we're nothing alike right? But then the nightmares started, and they're the same every night, and I can't help but think they're memories and not dreams." He looked at him. "Be honest with me Oliver, when I was on mirakuru did I kill someone?"
Their silence was the only answer he needed. Oliver pressed his lips thinly together. Roy studied them, Felicity wasn't innocent either she was the one who let him believe for months that he had been unconscious during that period.
Oliver began, "We didn't want you to—"
"No". Roy did not want to hear any of their excuses or verbose reasons for lying to him. A man had his whole life ahead of him, a future full of potential and hope and Roy brutally ended it.
"—don't say it was to protect me. Of all the people in this room, I didn't think you would need to lie to me about anything Oliver, especially this." Harper stomped to the display and brought up the article he found, the picture beside the obituary was that of a dead police officer. "Vance Reynolds, a cop doing his duty in the Glades like any other, he has a wife, kids. I found his name; it wasn't hard…I killed him a day before the Siege in cold blood."
Oliver could not let Roy go there, to the bottomless pit of doubt and guilt and self-loathing, there was only darkness and sorrow there. Purgatory. "Of course it was to protect you Roy, I'm sorry we made that call but we had too. Killing someone changes you, but you have to remember that you weren't in control. You weren't yourself."
"It doesn't change the fact that I killed someone."
"Yes it does" Felicity tried.
"No it doesn't! He's still dead because of me. He was protecting civilians from me, and I just stabbed him..."
It was not only the fact that he had murdered an innocent man during his mirakuru craze, it was also the fact that he had to find out what he had done from Jason Todd. His friend was an extortionist, racketeer, and above all a cold-blooded killer, like me, 'we're not so different you know' Jason's words rang in his mind. And I stood there, the proud and honourable hero of Starling City when I deserved none of it, we both chose red, we both harmed innocents, maybe I was looking at a mirror the entire time. His mentor was meant to be someone he could rely on to be honest and critical with him from the beginning. If they didn't have that, then what was he even doing here?
"Roy, believe me I understand how you feel—"
"No… no", he shouldered past and made for the exit, "I need to be alone and clear my head."
Mentoring someone is not an easy task. Oliver's shoulders slumped, how much more did he have to fumble and fall until he lost every single person on his team? All it took was his pride, selfishness and his secrets imploding from within and destroying his relationships with anyone who had ever trusted him. It was only yesterday when he'd thought Roy would be on his side in the long run, that he was someone Oliver could count on, how could he have forgotten that Roy needed to count on him too?
A/N: Pheww I've been building up to this reveal for 20 chapters! As you can see I've diverging from canon. This chapter was enormous so I had to split it up, part 2 has a lot of flashbacks and will be uploaded once I'm done editing. Expect Sara Lance, Thea Queen and League of Assassins in the next few chapters too. See ya soon!