Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow.
Arrow Lair
morning
Oliver and Roy were sparing with Escirma sticks, appearing evenly matched. Then over feigns left and sticks Roy across the face. Roy stumbles back before surrendering to the Mirakuru rage. With a roar, he lunged at Oliver. Oliver side-stepped him and grabbed Roy by his hands and slammed him face first into the table, bending his arm backwards while pressing his face into the table with his other hand.
"You good now?" Oliver waits for Roy's grunt of confirmation before letting him go.
"I'm sorry, I just...I can't control it sometimes." Roy said apologetically as he stood back up.
"I knew someone once like you, someone injected with the Mirakuru," Oliver began and Roy looked at him sharply, "he was my friend...it warped his mind to the point that I didn't even recognize him anymore."
"What happened to him?" Roy asked curiously.
"He's dead. Because I had to put an arrow in his eye." Oliver told him gruffly.
Lian Yu, five years ago
day
"If I'm reading this right, then Slade is back in the cave." Oliver said as he and Sara walked through the woods.
"Why would he go there?" Sara wondered.
"We'll know when we find him." Oliver said with a sigh.
"And when we do, you can't tell him." Sara warned him.
"Tell him what?" Oliver played dumb.
"Don't talk to me like I'm other people," Sara told him as they stopped, "you've got that look on your face. The same one you had when you broke Thea's archery trophy: pure guilt."
"Because I am guilty Sara. Ivo killed Shado because of me." Oliver said guiltily.
"That's not true. And even if it was, we can't tell Slade. Maybe if he wasn't injected with the Mirakuru, we could but not now. The Mirakuru, it did something to him. he's unstable and nothing good will come from telling him you think you're responsible for Shado's death." Sara told him firmly.
Before Oliver can respond, the tracer beeped twice. The couple looked down just as it died.
"Great." Oliver muttered as he threw it to the ground.
"I think we can make it to the cave from here." Sara said and Oliver nodded slowly in agreement.
Iron Heights prison
Night
"How are you doing in here?" Sara asked Laurel as they talked in the visitor's section.
"Well, their fashion could improve," Laurel laughed humorlessly as she gestured to the grey jumpsuit she was wearing, "it's not so bad. I don't talk to anyone, I get decent food, dad visits me everyday. So it's a little better than when I thought you and Ollie were dead."
"We'll get you out of here Laurel, I promise." Sara said but Laurel shook her head.
"Don't worry about me, worry about the city. It needs you more than I do." Laurel warned Sara.
Arrow Lair
same time
"How's it going with Roy?" Diggle asked Oliver as he worked out on the salmon ladder.
"Not well." Oliver grunted as he continued working out.
"I don't know the kid that well, but he seems to be five kinds of angry." Diggle noted.
"You might be underestimating," Oliver said as he stopped and hung there for a minute, "Roy was mad at the world before he was injected."
"You said you'd seen this before." Diggle remembered.
"On Lian Yu. Slade Wilson, he was a friend Sara and I made during our time there." Oliver explained.
"Troubling use of past tense." Felicity noticed.
"I thought I could help him control it," Oliver said as he continued his work out, "I was wrong. I know more now and I won't make the same mistakes with Roy."
A beep went off and Oliver dropped down to the floor as the three turned to the computers.
"What's that?" Diggle asked as Oliver walked over.
"Iron Heights. Due to low-security post Quake, I thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on their internal communication system for awhile." Felicity explained as she typed.
"Probably a good idea. What do you have?" Oliver inquired.
"They just put out a BOLO for Ben Turner A.K.A. Bronze Tiger. Which, BTW, is a horrible nickname, because tigers are not bronze." Felicity rambled.
"Turner escaped?" Oliver asked sharply.
"Killed eight guards on his way out." Felicity said as she checked.
"You think that would've made the news." Diggle noted.
"Iron Heights is better at keeping secrets than prisoners." Felicity noted.
"Any idea where he's headed?" Oliver asked.
'No." Felicity told him.
"Get one," Oliver barked as he pulled out his phone and dialed, "Hey, are you still at Iron Heights?"
"Just leaving, why?" Sara asked.
"Ben Turner broke out. See if you get anything there." Oliver told her.
"Okay. I'll see you later." Sara hung up as they got to work.
Later, Oliver demonstrated a series of moves on a practice dummy. Once he was done, he pulled back and looked over at Roy.
"Now you. Go slowly." Oliver advised.
Roy walked over to it and started punching it.
"Stop," Oliver ordered and Roy paused, "this isn't about throwing a punch, it's about learning to control your strength."
"For the past six months, all you and your wife have done is beat the crap out of me," Roy said as he slowly started to imitate Oliver's moves, "when are you going to run out of ways to make me look stupid?!"
Roy punched the dummy's head and it broke clean off.
"All I'm learning is new ways to get pissed off, which in case you haven't noticed, I'm already pretty good at." Roy ranted.
"There's nothing wrong with anger Roy. Anger is energy but you need to learn to channel it in a positive way." Oliver told him.
"Like putting the hurt on guys after the city. Let me try hitting something that will actually hit back." Roy begged.
"Too soon." Oliver said immediately.
"Let me go out there with night, This would be a lot easier to handle." Roy said and Oliver considered.
Before Oliver could make up his mind, Diggle came into the room.
"Hey, SCPD just lit up with the first homicide. Multiple stab wounds that look like claw marks." Diggle said.
"Anything on the victim?" Oliver said as he turned away from Roy.
"He was an architect. Turner ransacked his place, took a few blueprints of some buildings he's worked on. One of those buildings was Malcolm Merlyn's house." Diggle explained.
"Why would Turner take blueprints to Merlyn's house? Roy questioned.
"I don't know," Oliver paused before looking over at Roy, "do you have one of your hoodies on you?"
"Do you seriously have to ask?" Roy scoffed.
Merlyn Mansion
later
"Whatever happens, whoever you run into, do not engage." The Arrow ordered as he, The Canary, and Roy walked through the house.
"And don't touch anything." The Canary ordered as Roy picked something up.
"This is his kid right? The one that died?" Roy said and the two vigilantes saw a framed picture of Tommy.
"Yeah." The Arrow said softly.
"You guys knew him, right?" Roy asked insensitively.
"That's enough, let's keep moving." The Canary snapped and they heard a strange noise.
"What was that?" Roy wondered.
"It came from underground. Merlyn has a large garage, let's go." The Arrow ordered and they moved out.
The trio made their way down to the garage. They came upon Turner and his accomplices and, as they turned towards them, The Arrow and Canary's blood ran cold. The easily recognized the device, a much earlier version of Malcolm's earthquake machine.
"Step away from the device." The Arrow ordered sharply.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with." The Canary agreed.
"Big machine, makes earthquakes?" Turner said sarcastically.
"Do you have any idea what happens if the wrong people have it?" The Arrow snapped.
"Yeah, I get paid. Close it up." Turner ordered to his lackeys.
The Arrow fired but Turner blocked it with his claws. The Arrow and Turner rushed each other and began to fight as The Canary handled the , Roy walked to the van and punched through the driver's window while pulling out the driver. Turner managed a solid hit to The Arrow, knocking him on his back. This gave Turner the time to rush to the van and drive off. The Arrow stood up and noticed The Canary was trying to pull Roy off the driver.
"That's enough!" She snapped and he came out of his haze.
The Arrow notched his bow and fired but it was too far away and it grazed the side. The Arrow lowered his bow with a growl.
Arrow Lair
later
"I told you not to take him out into the field." Diggle said as Oliver and Sara put their weapons away.
"He wasn't listening to me Diggle! I'm trying to reach him but he lost control and almost killed someone, distracting us long enough to let Turner get away!" Oliver snapped.
"What was he there to steal, Merlyn's art collection?" Felicity asked sarcastically.
"Something much more dangerous: A prototype earthquake machine." Oliver said grimly and Diggle and Felicity started.
"Holy god." Diggle gasped.
"Why would turner want to destroy the city?" Felicity asked.
"He doesn't. He's a mercenary, selling his services to the highest bidder." Sara explained as Oliver pulled out a watch.
"Sara pulled this off one of the guy's Turner was working with." Oliver said as he handed it to Felicity.
"Fingerprints." Felicity said as she took a look at the watch.
"Turner's a loan, which means this guy works for his client." Sara explained.
"Fingerprints equals name, equals known associate. I'm on it." Felicity turned to the computer and began typing.
"It was the look in Roy's eye, it was Slade all over again." Sara said as Oliver walked off.
"What exactly happened with Slade?" Diggle inquired and Sara sighed.
"There was a woman on the island, Shado. Ivo killed her, Slade loved Shado. Ollie blamed himself for it and he wanted to tell Slade but I told him not to. The Slade we knew died when he was injected with the Mirakuru. I thought telling him would do more harm than good." Sara explained.
"But he still found out." Felicity guessed and Sara nodded.
"He and Ollie were like brothers, Ollie thinks he could have reached Slade if we'd told him the truth. That's why he wants to reach Roy so badly." Sara said.
Lian Yu, five years ago
day
"He's not here." Oliver said as he and Sara walked into the cave.
"Where else could he be, we already checked the fuselage?" Sara asked.
"I don't know," Oliver looked around helplessly before he spotted some designs on the wall, "do you remember seeing these before?"
"No." Sara said.
"They look familiar." Oliver noted.
"Maybe it's Lian Yu?" Sara suggested but Oliver shook his head.
"No, I mean like I've seen them before," Oliver said before it clicked, "Fryers launcher."
"What?" Sara asked confused.
"The launcher. I saw these on the display, they're firing calculations," Oliver said before his blood ran cold, "he's gonna blow it up."
"Blow what up?" Sara said confused.
"The freighter." Oliver said before they both rushed out of the cave.
Arrow Lair
next night
"What happened to you?" Sara asked alarmed as Oliver walked down into the lair, a large bruise on his neck.
"I tried to reach Roy, it didn't work. He's going after the device by himself. Where are we with the fingerprint." Oliver asked.
"No luck with domestic agencies, but we're checking Interpol, PRC public security, and MVD databases now." Felicity said.
"Look Oliver, I know why you want to reach Roy, but Roy, Slade, a lot of the guys I've served with," Diggle before continuing, "some people are just broken. And nobody can put them back together."
"I refuse to believe that." Oliver said firmly.
"I got something," Felicity called out and they turned their attention to her, "Fingerprint was in Interpol's database, the guy worked for Milo Artitage. He's a black market arms dealer."
"He's gonna sell the device. I need to know if Artitage is in Starling, now." Oliver barked.
"His ship filed a loadlog manifest at the Starling City docks." Felicity explained.
"Felicity, get us that slip number." Sara ordered.
Lian Yu, five years ago
day
"Slade!" Oliver called out as he and Sara came upon Slade readying the launcher.
"Get back!" Slade shouted as they rushed towards him.
"We know you're targeting the boat." Oliver said as they reached him.
"I'm gonna send that son of a bitch to the bottom of the ocean." Slade sneered.
"You're gonna destroy our only way off the island!" Oliver protested.
"As long as Ivo's dead, that fine." Slade said as the launcher went on line.
"Slade, I can't let you do this." Oliver said.
This was clearly the wrong thing to say. Slade whirled around, a mad look in his eyes as he pulled out a pistol and aimed at Oliver's head.
"Get back or so help me I will put you down!" Slade roared.
Starling City
night
Turner and Artitage were talking business when a noise drew their attention. They looked up to see The Arrow slide down a zip line. The Arrow fired to arrows, both striking Artitage, one in the shoulder and one in the leg. The Arrow walked forward, noting Turner was gone.
"Looks like you're partner abandoned you." The Arrow noted.
"He's not my partner, he's just someone I hired to do a job." Artitage told him.
Turner emerged from his hiding spot and lunged at the archer. He grabbed the archer by the back of the neck but let go as he sensed some behind him. He jumped back just as The Canary swung her baton at him, narrowly avoiding a hit. Suddenly, Roy jumped out at Turner, punching him and sending the Mercenary down to the ground. While Roy dealt with Turner, The Arrow shot to his feet and saw Artitage about to set off the device.
"Don't do it! You'll kill everyone here!" The Arrow said.
"If I don't deliver this to Markovia, I'm dead anyway." Artitage said as he pushed the trigger.
"No!" The Arrow shouted in horror as Artitage threw the trigger down and stomped on it.
The Canary slugged him while The Arrow whirled around and fired an explosive arrow. The arrow went off, but it barely even scratched it, never mind opening the crate. Looking over, the pair saw Roy beating Turner into unconsciousness. Thinking fast, The Canary rushed over and pulled Roy back.
"Control. I know what it's like to be so angry the world could set on fire but your anger doesn't have to rule you. You see that?" She pointed at the crate, "the device is in there and if we don't stop it, Thea will die. It's built to withstand a bomb, but not , Thea. I know you love her, and she needs you. Act now or she's dead, everyone is dead."
Now calm, Roy stood up and walked over to the crate. Carefully, Roy punched a hole through the crate and The Arrow fired an explosive arrow through it. The three then turned and ran as it went off.
"I'm...sorry," Roy said as they reached safety, "Last year, you two saved my life. And I don't mean from the guy who kidnapped me. You...you saved me. You gave me purpose."
"And we're not done yet." Oliver told him.
Lian Yu, five years ago
day
"I said get back!" Slade snarled.
"Think of Shado." Oliver told him calmly.
"I am thinking of her!" Slade roared madly.
"There's something you need to know about Shado," Oliver said and Sara tensed, "something you deserved to know. She loved you Slade. Maybe not the way you wanted but she loved you. Sh wanted you to make it home again, she wanted you to see Joe again. To hug our son. I know you're angry and I know you want revenge. If you destroy Ivo's freighter, Shado died for nothing."
Slade lowered his gun, his hand trembling as he slid down the side of the launcher.
"What's happening to me?" Slade wondered as his hand trembled.
"I don't know. But we are not letting you go through it alone." Oliver promised.
"The man who killed Shado is still out there and either way, we're stuck on this island." Slade said miserably.
"No we're not," Oliver said causing Sara and Slade to look up at him, "Because we're gonna take the freighter."
Iron Heights prison
later
Laurel was asleep in her cell when something awoke her. She pulled herself into a sitting position, wondering what had awoken her. Then she was wide awake when she heard two gunshots and followed by two thumps. She heard someone, a man most likely judging by the sound of the footsteps, approaching her cell. A jingle of keys later, and her cell opened.
"Ms. Lance, you are going to come with me." Jonathan Smoak told her as he aimed a gun at her.
So, what do you guys think? Please leave any thoughts or comments you may have in a review, feedback is greatly appreciated.