"Baby, I want some "V."" Katz's girlfriend said to him as they relaxed in a penthouse apartment overlooking the city.
" I told you before- can't do it." Katz said.
"- Hmm." She said, only to have him produce a small sample of vertigo from his pocket.
"- Only top grade for my lady." Katz said and his girl smiled.
"Heh. Well, don't you know how to make a girl feel special." she said with a grin
"Mm-hmm." Katz agreed, right as one of his guards entered the room.
"We got a problem. Mo downstairs spotted one of the masks." the guard said, right as Green Arrow and Spartan took him down and entered the room.
"Sit." Green Arrow said as he forced Katz to sit down.
"You're gonna tell us where you make your Vertigo shipment." he continued.
"And turn on the Dragon? You'll have to shoot me, man." Katz said.
"I don't want to waste my arrows." Green Arrow said.
"I think you should. This punk deserves it. I'm not nearly as stingy with my bullets." Spartan said.
"Unh! Where do you ship the "V" from?" Spartan than demanded as he held Katz at gunpoint.
"I-I-I'm too high to die, man, please." Katz begged.
"- Spartan, stand down." Green Arrow said, but Spartan refused.
"- When he tells us what we need to know!" Spartan answered.
"Y-y-you-you wouldn't kill me in front of my lady." Katz asked weakly.
"Last chance. Where's the Vertigo?" Spartan demanded.
"Spartan! Stand down!" Green Arrow ordered.
"And what? Do this your way?" Spartan asked.
"He'll fold. Talk!" Green Arrow said.
"Fine, but y-you got to send me to, like, Mexico, man. Diaz will find me." Katz said, but before he could say a word, a gunshot was fired and Katz fell dead.
"No." Spartan said as they turned to see Katz's girlfriend standing up, a smoking gun in her hand.
"My loyalty is to Diaz, not him." she said before she ran.
"Unh! That was a bust! Get it? Because it's drugs, it's like a play on words, and it's almost a little fun. Never mind. Tough crowd." Alena said as Oliver and John entered the bunker.
"What happened?" Laurel asked.
"We lost Katz." Oliver said.
"Oliver, he was gonna talk. If you had just let me keep the pressure on him for one minute longer, we would be at the location right now instead of back at square one!" John insisted.
"No. He still would have gotten shot because you picked a fight. You pulled our focus, and you allowed our target to get killed." Oliver disagreed.
"Because you know everything, and I just need to keep my mouth shut! I'm sorry." John shouted.
"What?" Oliver asked.
"Look, guys, we're all just whipped up with adrenaline from-from the field, and-and we're gonna catch Diaz. We always catch the bad guys, so we're just going to breathe together, inhale." Laurel said.
"John, what's going on with you? First, you were mad at me because you're not the Green Arrow, and that is-that is that is way out of character for you, my friend, but I explained myself, I apologized, you accepted, and now you're gonna take a shot at me like that?" Oliver demanded.
"I was getting someplace with Katz, and you didn't back my play." John said.
"- Because it wasn't working." Oliver said.
"- No, Oliver! Because it wasn't your play! Let me know when you find the Vertigo. I need some air." John said angrily as he walked off.
"What is going on with him?" Laurel asked.
"I don't know, but he better figure it out and fast because we're divided enough as it is. The last thing we need is to be turning on each other." Oliver said.
"Oliver, you and John have had some pretty nasty fights over the years, but it's never gotten this bad before." Laurel said.
"I know. I'm starting to think that handing the hood down to John in the first place was a big mistake, since that's what's caused all this tension in the first place." Oliver said.
"You did what you felt you had to do to be there for your son." Laurel said.
"And now that choice might just cost me my best friend." Oliver said.
"You and John have had your arguments before, but you always ended up working things out. You'll work this out to." Laurel said.
"It would be easier to work out if I knew what exactly John's problem was." Oliver said and Laurel nodded her agreement at that.
"Hey." Lyla said to John as he entered her office.
"Hey." John said.
"Everything all right?" Lyla asked, concerned.
"Fine." John said.
"I've been out of town for so long, I just found the gift you left for me back in December. I wanted to say thank you." Lyla said with a smile.
"You're welcome." John said.
"Funny, though, the same day you delivered it, I also found a security breach on my computer. I guess I now know how Cayden James got ahold of our nano-aluminum amplifier." Lyla said with a raised eyebrow.
"I was gonna tell you about that, Lyla, but, um." John said.
"The city was at stake." Lyla said.
"Oh, yeah." John said.
"Well, the city is always at stake. You don't have to lie to your wife in order to save it." Lyla told him.
"You're absolutely right. - I'm sorry." John said.
"- I know. What brings you by?" Lyla asked.
"Well, Oliver apologized for stringing me along about the hood. It was actually a good apology." John said.
"Wow. That's not exactly Oliver's strong suit." Lyla noted.
"No, it's not." John agreed.
"But?" Lyla asked and John sighed.
"I don't know. I thought we cleared the air. We go out into the field, we come back, and then I-I I just take a piece right out of him over nothing! It was-it was over nothing. You're right. There's something wrong, and I'm worried that when I find out what it is, I'm not gonna like it." John said.
"Well, from everything you've told me, there's not a lot to like these days," Lyla reminded him as she began listing them off, "The team breaking up, Felicity being killed, Diaz running rampant, Maybe the reason Oliver holding on to the hood bothered you so much is because you think none of these things would have happened if you had been the one still wearing it." Lyla said and John looked up at her actually considering.
"Though Laurel showing up alive has to have eased the load the a bit." Lyla said.
"What?" John asked.
"Johnny, I think I know you well enough to know that you've been blaming yourself for her death for 2 years now, so her being alive has to alleviate that guilt." Lyla said.
"It does, but at the same time, I'm not sure how I feel about Laurel being back." John said.
"What are you saying?" Lyla asked.
"Ever since she's come back, Laurel's been siding with Oliver on everything, no matter what, she always backs his play, whatever it is, despite whether or not it's the right play." John said.
"Well, to be fair Johnny, Oliver's been doing this a long time and don't forget about the history they have between them. That might influence things a bit. But what's so wrong with that. She's loyal to her leader. Just like you have been since you joined Oliver's crusade. It must mean that she has faith in Oliver's leadership. And considering he's been doing this sort of thing for 11 years now, maybe you should try having some faith in it to." Lyla said, leaving John with more to think about.
