Oliver just entered the new lair after getting Laurel to the Argus med bay, since Starling General was not secure, and he found Curtis waiting for him.

"How's Laurel?" Curtis asked.

"She'll live, but she'll be out of action for a few days while she recovers." Oliver said coldly before turning to Curtis.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Oliver asked him.

"Excuse me?" Curtis asked as John, Thea, Roy, Rene, Dinah, Lyla and Slade watched this exchange.

"We had a plan tonight. Bring Diaz in alive and you were under orders not to engage him alone, yet you went off book and tried to take him down yourself and now since Laurel was trying to save your ass, she's now benched and we're now down a teammate and given the circumstances, one with even more advanced powers than Dinah. So tell me, what the hell was going through your head when you chose to ignore my order and try to take down Diaz and compromised our entire mission." Oliver asked him.

"Do you really need to ask that? Nick was shot by Diaz's men. On his orders. I wanted to make him suffer for that. Why did you stop me?" Curtis asked.

"Because you would have lost. And do you think that you were the only one who wanted to go after Diaz themselves after what he did earlier tonight, I wanted to tear him apart for trying to kill my son. But I didn't, because I knew that was exactly what he wanted me to do. He knew exactly what we'd do if he attacked our loved ones and you played right into his hands. That's why I stopped you. Your anger would have been your downfall." Oliver said calmly.

"How can you talk about this so calmly? I mean I thought that you of all people would understand." Curtis asked.

"That's the thing Curtis. I do understand. Better than anyone, I understand how easy it is to get lost in hate and lose control of my emotions and be driven by revenge. And it's because of that I know that it doesn't do any good. And before you say anything, you are not the only person here who hates Ricardo Diaz. There are only two people in my life that I have hated more than him and they are both dead right now." Oliver said.

"And who might those be?" Thea asked, though she had an idea.

"Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk. Both of whom got better than they deserved. Or at least Damien Darhk. Malcolm's final act for you Thea was the first decent thing he's done since before Rebecca died." Oliver said and Thea nodded.

"I'm surprised I wasn't on that list kid." Slade said.

"Slade, I never really hated you, more like I feared you. After all, you were one enemy that I couldn't face head on. And now that we both know that I can beat you if you ever go crazy again, I don't really fear anymore." Oliver said.

"Anyways, Oliver's right Curtis. I know it can be easy to let emotion get in the way but doing that puts the whole team and the whole mission at risk. We had a plan tonight and it went south because you couldn't control your emotions and now one of our heaviest hitters is out of the game when we need her most." John said.

"Rene, Dinah, back me up here." Curtis said.

"Sorry hoss, but I gotta agree with the others. I'm mad that they nearly took Zoe from me again, but I also know that if I truly want to save her, I have to do it the smart way." Rene said.

"Dinah, please, you of all people should understand." Curtis said.

"And I do. And that's why I'm with Rene. Curtis, it took me a long time to realize that vengeance doesn't solve anything. It just makes things worse which is exactly what happened here tonight. I just hope you can learn that lesson to and a lot faster than I did. After all, you're smarter than me." Dinah said.

"Well, tonight may not have been a total loss." Slade said, changing the subject.

"How so?" Oliver asked.

"While I was fighting Diaz, my sword pulled something from around his neck. Whatever it was, he felt it was necessary to abandon the fight to protect it. It looked like some kind of drive." Slade said and Oliver smiled.

"Curtis, I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Access the street cam footage so we can get a better look at it so we can determine how valuable this drive is." Oliver said.

"I can do you one better at Argus." Lyla said.

"We don't have time to get to Argus, we need to make our next move now before Diaz can retaliate." Oliver said and Lyla nodded as Curtis moved over to the computers and got to work.

"Oh yeah. It's a GRV-567, solid state drive, military grade, dynamic encryption. Whatever's on it, Diaz has gone to some major trouble to keep it secure and close, though." Curtis said.

"This looks like something we should have our hands on." Dinah said.

"Maybe, but we still don't know what's on it. For all we know, it could be a trap." Oliver said.

"Considering the lengths Diaz has gone to keep whatever is on this drive secret, I'm guessing it's the real deal." Curtis said and Oliver nodded.

"Think you can reprogram Felicity's sniffer device to clone the data off it?" Oliver asked.

"If you get me close enough, for sure." Curtis said.

"Think you can keep your cool this time?" John asked and Curtis nodded.

"But Diaz is headed to SCPD." Rene said.

"I'm sure he's gonna let us stroll right in." Thea said sarcastically.

"They'll let me." Lyla said.

"What do you mean? Diaz knows that A.R.G.U.S. is working against him." John pointed out.

"The police still have to keep up appearances. Wouldn't look good if they decline a visit from the head of a federal agency. And if things go south, I've got you to back me up." Lyla said.

"I think that this is a big gamble for an unknown payoff." Oliver said.

"It probably is, Oliver, but it might be our only shot." John said and Oliver nodded in agreement at that.

"So we're all onboard here?" Dinah asked.

"Yeah. But Curtis, you'll be staying in the van, nowhere close to the action, I'm not gonna risk you jeopardizing an operation again. Now let's move out." Oliver said as they all moved out.