To say Anatoly was surprised when Oliver Queen burst into his hideout and disabled his men before walking up to him.
"Hello Anatoly." Oliver said.
"What are you doing here Oliver? Better yet, how did you find here at all?" Anatoly asked.
"I'll answer your questions in a minute. But first I think you should know that my team is expecting to hear from me in 4 and if they don't well, I can't be held responsible for the consequences, so tell your remaining men to stand down." Oliver said and Anatoly reluctantly agreed as he reached for his earbud.
"Stoyat'" Anatoly said in Russian, signalling his forces to stand down.
"Now, for answers." Anatoly said to Oliver, who nodded.
"The reason I'm here is simple. I just wanted to talk to you. Peacefully. No hoods, no arrows, no guns, just a simple conversation." Oliver said.
"As to how I found this place, I got a tip from a friend of yours in Russia." Oliver said and Anatoly scoffed.
"I have no friends in Russia. Your doing." Anatoly glared at him as Oliver placed a knife on the table and slid it across to him.
"That's fixed. Also my doing." Oliver said as Anatoly recognized the knife.
"This is Pakhan's. How you come to have it?" Anatoly asked.
"You told me that the Bratva exiled you because of your friendship with me. I owed you a debt, I owed them a debt. I paid it. You can go home now, Anatoly. You said you were an honorable man. Now, I think you know deep down that Diaz isn't. Help me stop him." Oliver said as Anatoly took the knife.
"I will think about it and be grateful and I do that much. You may have paid debt to Bratva, but scars between us still run deeply." Anatoly said and Oliver nodded.
"Just promise me that you leave my son out of all this. He is innocent." Oliver said and Anatoly nodded.
"On that I agree to. I will let you know if I decide, one way or another." Anatoly said and Oliver nodded.
"Your men will wake up within the hour." Oliver said and Anatoly nodded as he let Oliver go and looked down at the knife in his hand.
"So, how'd it go?" Laurel asked Oliver as he entered the bunker where the rest of the team was waiting.
"Well considering that I am both not dead and not a prisoner, as good as can be expected." Oliver said.
"So, did Anatoly agree to switch sides?" John asked.
"He said he would think about it and considering the circumstances right now, I think that's as good as it's going to get for the moment." Oliver said and they all nodded in agreement.
"So, what's the occasion that calls for breakfast for dinner?" Laurel asked her fiance with a smile as Oliver and Thea cooked in the kitchen.
"Well, since Thea and Roy are back for good, I thought it called for celebration and since Thea and I loved it when we got breakfast for dinner when we were kids, so now it seems like an appropriate time to do that. After all, Diaz's plans are falling apart, Roy is a free man, the city no longer suspects me of being the Green Arrow and I'm engaged to one of the most beautiful women on the planet." Oliver said and Laurel smiled as she walked over to her fiance, pulled him away from the stove and kissed him.
"Okay, you guys are engaged, but Ollie, considering you're the only one here who really knows how to cook, you'd better focus." Thea said, though she was smiling, since even when Oliver was married to Felicity, she'd never seen him like this. So calm and at peace.
"Relax Speedy, I'm on it." Oliver said as he turned his attention back to the food.
"Arm strength back. Motor function restored. All signs of the nerve damage you had are gone. Do you mind telling me how you did this?" Dr. Schwartz asked John as he and Lyla stood in her office for John's final check up on his arm.
"Sorry, doc. NDA." John said with a smile.
"So if he's in the clear, does that mean no more checkups?" Lyla asked and Dr. Schwartz nodded.
Well, you guys are good to go. - Enjoy date night." Dr. Schwartz said.
"- Thank you." Lyla said.
"Thank you, doctor." John said as she left.
"I'll take care of the paperwork." Lyla told her husband.
"- Good." John said.
"- I think we still have time to make the Shabu Shabu place." Lyla added.
"Good. I'm starving and we haven't really had time for a date night lately." John said and Lyla smiled as they kissed.
"And over here is the polymerase inhibitor. Felicity and I had to take out, like, 3 big loans just to buy it, but it's great." Curtis said as he showed his new boyfriend Nick Anastas around his workspace, though it was different than where it used to be, since the old space reminded Curtis of Felicity, his fallen partner and he still had some guilt about the role he played in her death.
"You know, when you asked me to meet you at your work, I, uh." Nick said a bit embarrassed.
"You thought that I had a fantasy about fooling around in an office?" Curtis asked with a smile.
"I thought it was your way of milking another hour out of work." Nick said.
"Well, I just thought that you'd like to see how I spend my days. I mean, this is some pretty cutting-edge tech." Curtis said.
"Which is gonna make us late for our reservation." Nick pointed out.
"Ok, Mr. punctuality. Let me just shut down the rest of the equipment." Curtis said with a smile.
Rene, Zoe and Dinah were watching the hockey game in Rene's apartment, since Rene had invited Dinah over.
"He shoots, he scores!" Rene said as he walked over from the kitchen.
"Nope." Dinah said amused.
"Off the post." Zoe added.
"Ah, damn. Ok, you know what? When everything settles down, I'm getting us the best seats in the house." Rene said.
"You do know it's like 400 bucks a ticket." Zoe said.
"Then they will have obstructed views." Rene said until he saw the looks on both girls' faces.
"Nah! Anything for my baby, ok?" Rene said with a grin and Zoe smiled as the game got going again.
"Dad, quiet. At least wait for a whistle if you want to talk." Zoe insisted and Rene smiled at his daughter.
Oliver, Roy, Thea, Laurel and William were all getting settled at the table for dinner when Oliver's phone buzzed and he saw it was Anatoly.
"Who is that?" Laurel asked.
"Anatoly." Oliver said as he read the messages, which read, get out of there and now.
And then all hell broke loose.
