A/N: Here is part 2 of 3 for the Finale redux. There is a fair bit of back and forth between locations so I hope it all makes sense. Thanks again for all the reviews and love.
Disclaimer: CW and DC own Arrow, I'm just borrowing.
Oliver put on his leather jacket without slowing down. If his mother was too scared to stop Malcolm then he would just have to do it without her. As he reached the top of the staircase he was pulled out of his thoughts by a voice that was trying its best to sound annoyed.
"The next time I get released from police custody could you try to not leave before I get back?" Oliver looked over the railing. Felicity was standing in the foyer with her arms crossed but a smile on her face. Oliver took the stairs two at a time and scooped Felicity into a crushing hug. When he eventually released her so she could start breathing again she brushed a tentative finger over the marks on his face
"Those are new."
"They aren't the only ones." He said thinking of the mess of abrasions, bruises and maybe even a fracture or two he was certain his back was.
"I'm pretty sure they won't be the last either. If you're looking to expand your empire maybe Verdant should buy stock in Band-Aids." When Oliver didn't even smirk she knew something had happened. "When I got to the club Diggle told me you had left to try to talk to your mother again." He nodded.
"Malcolm called while I was in there, it's happening tonight. She refuses to help. Protecting our family is worth damning almost a third of the city." He looked at her and brushed at a piece of blond hair that had ventured out of place. "If I asked you to stay here, to stay as far away from The Glades as possible-"
"Yeah, not happening." She leaned up and kissed him. He took her hand and headed towards the door.
"Then let's go."
They walked into the basement to find Tommy and Diggle waiting for them. "So she's in on this too? I should have known. It doesn't take six months to set up an internet connection."
"Well it can depending on setting, what level of security you are looking for, do you want tiered access with some servers taking a higher priority than others." She watched as all three men's eyes glazed over. She turned to Oliver " Why are you letting me babble? We are on a deadline."
"Your mother gave you information then." Diggle assumed.
"Not willingly. Merlyn called while I was standing there. Apparently my visit convinced him not to waste any time. The Undertaking happens tonight."
"So what's the plan?" Felicity asked. Oliver paced as he spoke.
"Right now the only people who know Tommy and I are good again are you two and Laurel."
"And Laurel doesn't even know for sure she just knew I was going to try." Tommy clarified.
"So we are sending Tommy to his Dad. He's going to act like we're even worse off than we were before. He's also going to tell Malcolm about how I tried to turn him against him. The hope is that Malcolm will open up and tell us everything. If he does, Tommy is wearing one of the two way earpieces and you" Oliver turned to Felicity "will be recording the whole exchange so we can give it to Detective Lance when it is all done."
"And you're ok with sending your father to prison for the rest of his life?" Diggle asked. He held out his hand to Tommy with the small flesh toned earbud. Tommy looked down and back at the ex-solider.
"If it means saving thousands of lives probably including his, definitely." He took the earbud placing it in his breast pocket.
"Ok then let's get going." Oliver grabbed his gear bag.
" Oliver, No." Tommy's voice was firm and confident. " I need to handle this on my own." Oliver put down the bag.
"Tommy, you don't know what he's capable of."
"I know he can fight. I saw him take down ten men singlehanded the night they tried to kill him. But I owe him a chance. Besides, don't you think he'll have heightened security? If you get within five blocks of him he'll know. Our best shot is for you to work on things here."
"What if he doesn't buy it?" Felicity tossed in.
"You will be listening the whole time right? If I get into trouble then send in the cavalry, not before." Tommy looked at his watch. "I should go get this over with." Tommy moved to pass Oliver but felt a hand grab his bicep and stop him. He looked his friend in the eye. No words were exchanged but they both felt the connection that they thought was gone forever return.
Tommy pulled into his parking spot at Merlyn Global. He pulled the earpiece out of his pocket and inserted it on the left side. "Hey Smoaky you copy?"
"Not sure how I feel about 'Smoaky' but I've got you loud and clear." Felicity's voice chirped in.
"Sounds good. Listen, I might have to say some below the belt things about Oliver up there. Don't believe any of it."
"Tommy, I know the plan."
"I know, I know. I just don't want you thinking any of it is even remotely true. He needs someone like you and I don't want to screw that up."
"So send you your Oscar later. Got it." Tommy smiled. This girl was something else. He got out of his car and headed to the top floor. He used the elevator ride to psych himself up. He tried to think of the worst way today could have gone. He could have gone to Laurel's and found her kissing Oliver. He could have gone to Oliver and took a swing at him. By the time he was walking into his father's office his body felt genuine anger. He threw his jacket over one of the chairs and walked straight for the bar as his father looked out the window.
"It's over. Laurel and me I mean. She's with Oliver, again. Always." He poured himself a drink.
" I'm sorry son." Malcolm said quietly, not taking his eyes off the city.
"You know I'm pretty sure he hasn't that blond nerdy girl that follows him around yet. He probably won't. He'll want to keep her just in case. I mean last time he kept Sarah as back up but Laurel's out of sisters. Then, he said you wanted to nuke The Glades or something." Tommy took a sip of scotch, trying to subtly check his father for any reaction. He saw nothing, then again Malcolm had an expert poker face. "It's funny, scotch doesn't make it any more believable. Maybe after your jihad we can grab some steaks." Malcolm turned from the window and looked at his son.
"It's true Tommy. It's the reason I closed your mother's clinic. I didn't want to see it leveled." Even though he knew Oliver had told him the truth as he understood it, Tommy was still taken by surprised when he heard it.
"What?" he managed to choke out.
"I have something I'd like you to listen to." Malcolm clapped him on the shoulder as he passed to move to his desk.
The three other team members listened to the exchange. Felicity felt for the two Merlyn men. In her mind Malcolm shifted from being evil incarnate, to a very sick, sad man. However, he still had to be stopped. Oliver felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone, it was Thea. "Now is not a good time." He listened to his sister explain what was going on at home. "What channel?" He hung up quickly. "Felicity can you pull up the local news without losing Tommy?"
"Yep I'll put it on the third screen." She plugged in an earphone to listen to Tommy while Oliver and Diggle focused on the press conference. "Malcolm just turned on the news as well." They watched Moira lay it all out on the table.
Malcolm closed the laptop and cracked his desk in rage. Felicity's voice popped into Tommy's head. "Two squad cars are on their way to Merlyn Global. Keep him there, don't let him leave."
" Is it true?" Tommy asked "Did you kill all those people?" The rage he had been faking earlier was now real.
"I did what I had to do" Malcolm snarled. He walked over to the wall and pressed his thumb to the keypad. He stepped to the side as the door slid open to reveal his archer's arsenal to Tommy. Tommy understood. This is what Oliver had meant when he told him that he didn't know what his father was capable of. Before he could get the words out the police in full riot gear entered the room. Tommy backed towards the windows and watched as Malcolm emerged with a large blade.
"Dad No!" Tommy cried out as Malcolm sliced his way though the officers. Tommy grabbed a gun from one of the fallen men and pointed it at his father. "Please Dad," Malcolm tried to approach "I don't want to hurt you."
"You can't" Malcolm replied in a pitying tone. "And you can't stop me." Tommy could hear Felicity asking him if he was ok but before he could answer Malcolm disarmed him and hit him under the chin knocking him out cold.
As the press conference wrapped up Felicity turned to Oliver. "Oliver, I'm so sorry."
"Don't be, She gave those people a chance. I just wish we knew where to find it." Felicity's computer chimed and she alerted Tommy to the impending arrival of the police.
"Felicity thinks she might have an idea" Diggle brought the book and the tablet over to Oliver so she could focus on Tommy. He explained that it was possible that the device was somewhere along the 10th street subway line.
"I know where it is." Oliver said.
"Tommy? Tommy are you ok?" Felicity said loudly into the com. Diggle and Oliver turned to her. She took out the earpiece and spun in her chair. " Tommy's out. I think Merlyn hit him." Oliver grabbed his hood clothes and walked silently to his island chest.
"I thought Merlyn broke you bow?" Diggle asked. Oliver turned and lifted his plain, well used bow from the box.
"I have another."
"This isn't as off topic as it may seem." Felicity said quietly. " I was going over the device schematics. The device can be set for a timed detonation or remote activated by a mobile transmitter.
"Something Merlyn would have on him." Oliver finished.
" If we can find the device when we go to get Tommy maybe we don't need to find the device." Diggle added.
"Too big of an if Diggle, I need you in the subway to find the device, disarm it."
"So you can take on Merlyn by yourself?" Dig attacked the subject with the authority of his years.
"I have to."
"No, he'll kill you." Oliver looked from Diggle to Felicity and back again.
"I know, he's beaten me twice and I don't know how to stop him." Felicity held back tears and walked towards him.
"If I asked you not to chase him, to just get Tommy and get out." He shook his head
"Not going to happen." She nodded back. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"Ok, well how about you bring along something this time you didn't have the last time you two fought." Diggle said. Felicity turned and slid over to Oliver's side. "Me."
"I can't let you." Oliver said defensively.
" I can't let you do it by yourself man and if Tommy is messed up you are going to need my medic skills. Oliver you are not alone, not since you brought me into it." Diggle looked at Felicity "Us into this. Besides, army regulations: a solider never lets a brother go into battle alone." Diggle extended his hand to Oliver. Oliver stepped forward and took it.
"I'm out of bows."
"I have my gun."
" Guess it is up to me to do the dismantling." Felicity said.
"Felicity the glades is ground zero, I want you out of here." She arched her eyebrows at her partner.
"We've been through this: If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving. Besides, if I don't deactivate the device who will?" Oliver thought for a moment and walked over to where his hood phone was sitting on the desk. He punched in the number and hit send.
"Detective, I need one more thing from you."