"This is everything A.R.G.U.S. could find on the Vertigo trade in Star City." Lyla said as she held out a usb drive to John.
"Yeah, thanks." John said as he reached out to take the drive, only to have Lyla hold it back.
"Ah-ah-ah. It's not free. - I need Intel in return." Lyla said.
"- What kind of Intel?" John asked.
"The kind where you tell me what's going on with you." Lyla answered.
"Lyla, you know what's going on. I'm frustrated that Oliver strung me along for so long. Being the Green Arrow You know what that meant to me." John said.
"But you save the city every night as Spartan. It's not like you to care this much about a title or a hood." Lyla pointed out.
"Oliver made a similar point." John agreed.
"- But?" Lyla asked.
"- But I don't know.I just don't know. This is bothering me way more than I expected." John said.
"I think you owe it to yourself and to your partnership with Oliver to figure out why." Lyla said as she kissed John's cheek before walking out.
Oliver and Laurel were watching the news about the death of Officer Hurst.
"That's one of the cops involved with Anatoly's arrest. Diaz is no doubt trying to leverage us into surrendering Anatoly." Oliver said.
"Well maybe we can use that to our advantage." Laurel said.
"How so?" Oliver asked.
"In exchange for Anatoly, Diaz, returns all of the money that was stolen from the city government. I mean, we have something he wants and he has something we want." Laurel said.
"Do you honestly believe that will work?" Oliver asked.
"It can't hurt. Especially since we both know that he is going to keep taking out cops until we give him what he wants." Laurel said.
"If we can find Diaz, maybe can negotiate some kind of deal like that, but for now, we need to get Dinah and the others to a secure location." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.
"I'll go make sure she knows." Laurel said as John entered.
"Knows what?" John asked.
"That every cop not on Diaz's payroll in the SCPD is a target. We're getting them to a secure location while we try and locate Diaz." Oliver said.
"And do what exactly, kill him? I'm not sure how the SPCD cops who are on Diaz's payroll would take that." John pointed out.
"Which is why we're not going to kill, we're going to try to negotiate with him." Oliver said.
"Negotiate?" John asked.
"Make a trade with him. Anatoly for all the money that was embezzled from the city." Oliver said.
"And you honestly think that will work?" John asked.
"Not really, but it's better than nothing, since right now we actually have something to offer Diaz." Oliver pointed out and John nodded, seeing his point.
"In the meantime, Lyla clued us in on one of Diaz's suppliers-Marshall Katz." John said as he looked over at Alena, who'd been so quiet Oliver had forgotten she was there.
"I will begin running a location trace on him." Alena said as she got to work.
"Is everything alright John?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" John asked.
"You tell me. Ever since I told you that I've decided to keep the hood, you haven't been acting like yourself and I thought it might be easier for you if I explained a bit more why I feel like I need to keep being the Green Arrow." Oliver said and John looked at him, as if to say, continue.
"When I asked you to take over for me, I meant it. When I put the hood back on and said, "it's just until you get back on your feet," I meant it, but I did put the hood back on, and it's a part of me. And it makes me feel like I'm being the best version of myself, and I feel whole, and I feel complete, and I really, really hope that this is making sense." Oliver said honestly, hoping that John understood.
"Yeah. The hood is part of you now." John said, honestly understanding and what Oliver was saying, it did make sense to him.
"I should have been up-front with you, and I avoided having what I thought might be a tough conversation." John said.
"Well, um, I appreciate you telling me this, Oliver. Thank you." John said.
"I got a location on Katz." Alena said.
"Should we call Laurel?" John asked.
"No, we can handle this." Oliver said and John grinned.
"Let's go." John said as they moved to suit up.
