Disclaimer: Arrow is owned by The CW, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. The character of the Green Arrow and the Justice League is owned by DC Comics. I own nothing; I'm just playing in their universe.
NOTE: PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END!
Chapter 21: Unfinished Business
Mia found Moira in her room, staring out her window as tears still streamed down her face. "I know it's a dumb question," she started, coming to sit on the edge of the bed, "But are you okay?"
Moira shook her head. "What have I become, Thea?" she asked quietly.
Mia smirked. "Wrong daughter." She advised.
Moira turned to face her, a small smile on her face. "Oh, you may cut your hair, change your clothes, forsake your name, even. But you will always be Thea to me. My beautiful baby girl."
Mia's smirk softened into a truly warm smile. "Thanks, Mom." She said, then took her hand. "You want to know what you've become? You've become a woman who has had to do what was necessary to protect her family. And that may sound like cold comfort, but it's the truth."
Moira snorted. "Protect my family? How exactly have I protected you, Thea? Right now you're getting drunk, and getting high, and doing god-knows-what with boys…"
"Good turn of phrase, as I've known several biblically by the time I was 17." Mia interrupted, then laughed at Moira's outraged look. "Oh, how fun it is to get myself into trouble and not have to worry about it." Moira harrumphed. "But you have protected me, as much as I would let you. No matter what I said, no matter what I did, I always knew you loved me. Just like I always knew you would keep me safe." She squeezed her mother's hand. "You're not evil. You're not a bad person. You're just a woman put into an impossible situation with no evident way out."
"Until now." Moira noted.
Mia nodded. "Until now." She agreed. "Look, in about five hours, I'll know whether or not Malcolm really can change." She said. "And if he can't, then he's gone. And in five hours, you will see the kind of person you truly are, and I don't think you'll be too disappointed. So, can you hang on for at least that long?"
Moira smiled. "Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" she asked archly.
Mia smirked. "Now you're getting it!"
Ten minutes later, everyone was back in the room. Sara was the last to enter, exasperation written on her face. "Sorry I'm late, I had to convince Stephanie NOT to come sit in with us." She glanced at Slade. "I guessed that she was the one person you probably hated more than me right now."
"You would be correct." Slade said dryly.
"How'd you do that?" Roy asked. "She's an even bigger pain in the ass than I am." He added fondly.
"I bribed her with Kara." Sara said with a smirk, taking her seat between Laurel and Quentin.
"Ah, young love." Roy sighed. "You know, you could have bribed ME with Kara…"
You're not sleeping on the couch. Mia interrupted from back in the control room. You'll be sleeping on the hanger deck. With the doors open. AND the force field down. Thea chuckled.
"You know," Roy started, a wicked smile on his face. "She'd have no problem with it as long as she was invited." He laughed when Thea turned bright red at the implication.
Stop trying to give my younger self a stroke, dear. Mia said. That's MY job. Beginning new memory set.
The memory set opened in Verdant. The hour was late, but the music was blaring, the lights were flashing, and the bodies were writing on the dance floor. One girl in particular was finding herself fascinated with the lights and sound, staring all around with a vacant look while she swayed to a beat only she could hear. She swayed to that beat out of the club and into the middle of a busy street, where after too many close calls she was finally hit head on.
"And THAT is why you don't do hard drugs, Speedy." Tommy said, looking at his sister.
Thea rolled her eyes. "I think we've already established that I'm grounded until I'm 80-"
"That's being conservative." Moira said, frowning at her daughter.
Thea sighed. "What did she say now?"
We talked a it about our very active sex life.
Malcolm looked apoplectic, and Tommy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Thea glared up at the ceiling. "I hate you, with a fiery vengeance from the depths of HELL."
"Moving on…" Felicity said, lifting the remote.
Later that night (or early in the morning) after the club had closed, Oliver walked through the club as the staff cleaned up. "How we doing?" he asked Tommy, who grinned in return.
"We're in the black, and the green." Tommy handed him a tablet with their latest financials on it.
"I like how we've gone from throwing money at clubs to catching it." Oliver noted. He set the tablet down on the bar as something else caught his eye. "Oh, look at these." He picked up a black lace bra- one of many in the tote behind the bar. "What sort of business has a lost and found that's just filled with women's underwear?"
"The best business ever?" Tommy noted with a smile.
"Absolutely." Tommy said with a grin.
Laurel rolled her eyes. "Pig." She said. He just shrugged.
"Ohh, having this much fun should be against the law."
"Oh, if wishing made it so." The two looked up in surprise to see Quentin Lance stalking across the floor towards them. "Sorry, am I interrupting anything?"
"Is Laurel ok?" Tommy asked at once.
Laurel smiled sweetly at Tommy, who actually blushed.
"I kind of like this you, Tommy." Thea said. "You're actually… sweet."
"She's fine. This visit is about something else. A girl just got mowed down a couple blocks from here." He pulled out his phone and flipped through his photos, bringing up a picture of the dead girl in the road. He showed it to the two men. "On Starling Bridge. Ring any bells with you two?"
"No." Tommy said, turning away from the picture.
"Should she?" Oliver asked.
"She was in your club tonight." He said, pulling out an evidence bag containing a neon green wristband that all customers got upon entering the club.
"A lot of people were." Tommy said defensively.
"You think someone killed her?" Oliver asked.
"Not someone." He pulled out another bag and set it on top of the first. The bag contained a smaller bag containing a disturbingly familiar green and black pill. "Something."
"Vertigo." Oliver realized.
"Speaking of things I hate with a fiery vengeance…"
"Yeah." Lance agreed. He looked to Tommy. "You got a problem with that in this club?"
"Not that I'm aware of." He replied sharply.
"We don't allow drugs in here, Detective." Oliver said with finality.
Lance looked at the two. "Control your clientele." He ordered. "Before anyone else wanders into traffic."
They watched him leave the club, and the Oliver turned to Tommy. "Is there any chance she could have scored the drugs in here?" he asked.
"I doubt it. I try not to hire too many drug dealers." Tommy replied.
"See, the problem Detective," Thea said to Lance, "Is that it's depressingly easy to sneak drugs into a club. Especially if you're a girl."
"Are you admitting to something, Miss Queen?" Lance asked with an arched eyebrow.
Thea shrugged. "Why not? If I don't then SOMEBODY else would." She said, glaring at the ceiling. "Anyways, we all know who to look for to score at whatever club we're at. And most of the time, the owners don't even know that it's happening."
"Until some poor girl walks into traffic." Lance finished.
Thea sighed. "Yeah."
"Get me a list of employees, anyway. I'll have Felicity cross reference it for drug arrests."
"That includes the two of us, you know." Tommy pointed out as they came to the door to the basement. Oliver punched in the code to unlock the door. "I thought the Vigilante finished off the Count." He said.
Oliver turned back and looked at his friend. "I did." He said.
The scene changed to the Starling County Institute for Mental Health, which had been home to the Count since his run in with The Hood. Lance was being led through the halls by Dr. Webb as they headed towards the Count's room.
"I just need to ask him a few questions, Doc." Lance was saying.
"Well, you're welcome to try, Detective, but I'm not sure you'll get very far with him." Dr. Webb replied.
Lance stopped and turned to the man. "What does that mean? Is this a load about doctor-patient privilege?" he asked hotly.
Dr. Webb shook his head. "No, far from it." They began walking again up the stairs. "The unrefined Vertigo overdose he suffered caused damage to the caudal portion of his anterior cingulate." He started to explain.
"Yeah, 'cause I'd know what that was." Lance scoffed.
"Well, you'll probably be shocked to hear that I didn't go to medical school." Lance said sarcastically.
"I've been working with him for months now. And all I've gotten out of him is word salad and the occasional spit in the face." Webb said, clarifying his diagnosis. "Best of luck to you." He added dryly.
"Thanks." Lance replied.
In a locked room down the hall sat The Count. He muttered to himself in the moonlight. "Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you. You took no notice."
Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him off of his bed. He was swung hard into the wall, and suddenly he was looking at his tormentor.
"A woman died tonight from your poison." The Hood growled.
"Lots of women die, lots of nights, for lots of reasons." The Count said listlessly.
"Someone is selling Vertigo again. Where is it coming from?" he demanded.
The Count's eyes seemed to clear for a moment. "I remember you." He said. "Man in hood." He shoved the drawings he had clutched in his hands into The Hoods face. "You are never far from my thoughts." The sounds of jingling keys caused the vigilante to growl in frustration. He threw the man back down to the floor and disappeared into the shadows just as the door opened.
"You have failed this city! You have failed this city! You have failed this city!" The Count yelled into the darkness. Lance took two steps into the room and stared at the former drug dealer, then turned back to Dr. Webb.
"Dude's koo-koo for Cocoa Puffs." Tommy remarked.
"You could have just said he was nuts." Lance said as he walked back out of the room, giving The Count up for a lost cause.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene flashed back to the Island. Slade and Shado were sparring vigorously as Oliver watched, playing with Shado's bow in his hands absently.
The match ended when Shado got Slade down onto his back. She was crouched over him, her hand raised to deliver a blow; but Slade had pulled a small blade from somewhere and tapped it against her lower back.
"You're teaching me that one." Slade said with a smile.
"Only if you show me where the knife was." She chuckled. She rose to her feet and held out a hand, helping him up.
"Who taught you how to fight?" Slade asked.
"My father wanted a son." Shado said, taking a drink of water.
"He got one." Slade replied.
Slade smiled fondly at the memory. Sara also watched with interest, she had very few dealings with Shado until her murder, and she began to see what both Slade and Oliver saw in the woman.
Shado looked over to see Oliver fiddling with her bow. "The tension of that bow's 150 pounds." She told him. "Snap it; you'll both be covered by carbon fiber shrapnel in your eyes."
"She's right." Slade said. "You're not strong enough, kid." He looked to Shado. "Go again?"
"It's pretty exciting that both of you are such bad asses, but do you think that maybe we should be making a plan to stop Fyers? And, I don't know… save your dad?" Oliver asked sarcastically.
"Does he always whine this much?" Shado asked Slade with a smile.
"Today's one of his good days." Slade noted.
"Can he fight?"
"I've tried. Limited success."
Oliver pursed his lips. "I'm sitting right here."
Sara laughed softly. Yeah, she definitely saw what they saw in her.
"Well, I haven't tried yet." Shado said. Slade laughed as Oliver looked between the two of them.
PRESENT
The scene flashed forward to Carly's apartment. Diggle was staring at the paper, whose headline announced the death of a Senator by a sniper. Dig's mind went immediately to Lawton.
Dig sighed. He wasn't surprised that his future self was fixated on Lawton, because he certainly was himself.
"Uncle John."
Dig looked up at his nephew. He forced a smile. "Hey, buddy."
"Will you read 'Logan Bogan' to me?" Andy Jr. asked.
"Sweetheart, get into bed and mommy will read to you in a minute." Carla said, coming into the room.
"But I want Uncle John to read to me!"
Dig smiled at his nephew's antics.
"He's a cute kid." Felicity said.
Dig nodded. "Yeah, looks just like his dad." he remarked.
Carla laughed lightly. "Uncle John's had a long day." She told her son. "He'll read to you next time." Andy Jr. ran off into his room, and Carla took a seat on the couch. She rubbed John's shoulders. "Hey."
Dig smiled tiredly at her. "Hey, I'm sorry." He apologized. "I've been someplace else today."
"What's going on with you?" she asked.
"I'm just trying to figure some stuff out." Dig hedged.
"If you need to talk about anything, you know I'm here for you." She told him. He smiled and squeezed her hand, but his phone ringing interrupted the moment. He got up and went over to his phone, ignoring the crestfallen look on her face. Dig looked at the phone and sighed.
"It is Oliver Queen, with an emergency." He said, showing her the text. "Got to go."
The scene changed to the Lair as Diggle hurried in. "Got here as quickly as I could." He told Oliver. "This about the glyph in your father's notebook?"
"Felicity is still working on that. We have another problem." Oliver announced. He brought up a news clip on the computer and played it for Dig.
'Starling City is once again at war with the drug known on the streets as Vertigo. It used to be the city's most lethal vice, but the purple and green pill was nowhere to be found for the last 3 months.'
"Over the past few days, the city has been flooded with a new version of Vertigo." Oliver explained. "More addictive, more unstable." He sighed. "It killed a girl in the club. Just like it almost killed Thea."
"Ok, what are you think? We should pay the Count a visit?" Dig wondered.
"He was my first visit. Waste of time." Oliver stated "He's…sumasshedshiy." At Dig's confused look, he gestured with his hand near his head. "Ahh."
"He could just say that he's nuts." Dig pointed out.
"I think he plays a dumb guy so much, he likes to remind people that he's actually smart." Felicity pointed out to general amusement.
"I still haven't seen evidence that he is smart." Tommy said with a smirk, earning an elbow from Thea. "Hey, that's sibling abuse!"
"I've got 17 years to make up for, so deal with it."
Oliver shook his head. "Since he was the only one that knew the formula for Vertigo, I don't I don't even know where to begin."
"Good, you're here." Felicity walked in briskly, headed for her computer. "Of course you're here. Where else would you be? You clearly love it down here." She sat down and pulled up the news. "You got to see this."
'I'm here at the scene where police say a disturbed patient escaped only hours ago.' The reporter was saying. Oliver turned to stare at the screen, a look of stunned disbelief on his face. 'Authorities issued an immediate lockdown at the Starling County Institute for Mental Health following the breakout. Police are warning people to avoid contact with the drug dealer known as the Count.' Oliver spun away, furious.
"Not so crazy after all, huh?" Dig noted. Olive responded by throwing over a table.
"Son of a bitch!" Lance said, indignant that he had been played.
"If you feel bad, you can see how bad Oliver is taking it." Sara pointed out.
The scene changed to the Mental Institute, where Lance was interviewing Dr. Webb.
"I was administering his meds." The doctor was saying. "He was babbling. His usual ranting, then he's ice cold. He overpowered me. He forced me to take him out through the maintenance exit."
"I thought he was harmless." Lance stated. "Basically a vegetable, you said."
"I know. Which means…." He trailed off, helpless. "I've interviewed him dozens of times in the past few months. To be deceived by a patient so completely—"
"Don't worry. We'll find him." Lance said. "He's going to find prison a lot harder to break out of."
"Detective," Lance turned back to Dr. Webb. "He's dangerous." Webb said. "Don't underestimate him."
Lance and Hilton were let out of the wing and made for the exit. "Did we get anything from the security cameras?" Lance asked his partner.
"Not according to the orderly here. Due to budget cuts, the cameras were the first to go."
Lance snorted. "Typical." He said.
"That is unbelievable." Lance said.
"There's another angle." Hilton continued. "Veronica Sparks, the dead girl from Verdant?"
"Yeah?"
"I checked her LUDs. The last person she texted before she died was Tommy Merlyn."
Tommy frowned. He didn't recognize the name at all- though that wan't uncommon for his one night stands.
"Friend of yours?" Lance asked drolly.
"Not one I remember." Tommy said. "She didn't look familiar, either."
Lance frowned. "He said he didn't know her." He said as they exited the building.
"Merlyn has two collars for possession, one with intent." Hilton reminded him.
"Yeah, that was over five years ago."
"Maybe he's just better at not getting himself arrested." Hilton noted.
"Well, Laurel says he's changed ever since his father cut him off." Lance argued.
"Yeah, a leopard and his spots, you know? Maybe pushing Vertigo at his new club is a way of maintaining his old lifestyle." He offered.
"Yeah, or maybe going after Merlyn's a great way to get my daughter to stop speaking to me again, Hilt." Lance said dryly.
"Look, Quentin, you know I get that. But here's the thing- on a hunch, I subpoenaed the club's bank accounts. There's ten large missing from their operating expenses." Hilton said as they reached their car.
Tommy's eyes widened. "Ten grand?"
"Maybe you needed some money to get back on your feet?" Lance suggested. At Tommy's glare, he shrugged. "It's better than what Hilton thinks, Merlyn. And for the record, I don't think you'd be selling Vertigo."
"Oh." Tommy said, surprised by the vote of confidence. "Well… thanks, Detective."
"You think Merlyn spent that money on Vertigo?" Lance asked.
"I think I can't explain how that much money just gets misplaced." He looked at his partner. "Look, I'll take a run at it." Hilton offered. "Keep you out of it."
Lance shook his head. "No. I should do it."
Laurel sighed. "Oh, Dad…"
"I must have figured it would be better if it was me and not some other cop, obviously." Lance said defensively. "Otherwise, you'd probably think I'd have some of my cop friends harass your boyfriend."
"Why? You've never had a problem harassing them yourself before." she noted.
The scene changed to a small, fortified hole in the wall in the Glades. A large man in a hoody walked up to the door. The gangbanger looked him over once, and then banged on the door. The man walked in, up to the dealer sitting at a table.
"What you need?" he asked. The man handed him a large wad of bills. "All right." The dealer said. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small plastic baggie with several Vertigo pills. The man turned and left, pulling down in hood as soon as the door was closed. Dig smirked to himself and walked off.
Minutes later he was back in the lair, tossing the pills onto Felicity's workstation. "The person of color has successfully purchased your drugs." He joked.
"That's right, Dig. Embrace the stereotype." Thea said with a chuckle. Dig laughed.
"For the record, I offered." Felicity said.
"For the record, that would have been entertaining as hell." Tommy said.
"Up until the point where she gets attacked." Lance said sourly.
Tommy shook his head. "Nah. Ollie'd kick all of their asses if they tried."
"How will we know when the tracker is active? Oliver asked, already suited up.
"It already is." She replied, pulling up a map on her computer. "I'm getting a good signal off the monofilament strips we placed in the bills."
"Drug money's like a pigeon- it always finds its way home." Dig said.
"We can follow the money all the way back to the Count." Oliver said. Felicity nodded. "Keep tracking it." He said as he went to his bike.
Lance nodded in approval. "That's actually a pretty good plan." He allowed.
Felicity picked up the bag of drugs, looking at it. "Well, what are you going to do with all the Vertigo you bought?" she asked with a grin.
"Plan on having a party, Felicity?" Dig joked.
"My only experience with drugs was an encounter with a pot brownie my freshman year- by mistake." She said. "Which could have been fun, except I'm allergic to nuts."
Tommy, Laurel, and Thea all snickered. Lance looked at his daughter crookedly.
"Something you want to tell me, Laurel?" he asked pointedly.
Laurel sighed. "I'm not even going to pretend that I've never gotten high, Dad." She admitted. "But it was a long time ago."
"And anyways, it's probably legal here and now." Sara added, winking at her sister. "I thought I was the bad one."
Laurel smiled fondly at her sister, her earlier anger gone. "You are the bad one." She said warmly.
"All right, Deadshot." He pulled out the article he had clipped from the paper. "Kills again, this time a U.S. Senator. Where have you been tracking him?" he asked.
"Not very far." She admitted, pulling up what little information she had on her tablet. I ran his Floyd Lawton alias through every conceivable law enforcement database. He's made a series of calls to an Alberto Garcia."
"Huh." Dig grunted.
"According to NSA, Garcia's a reputed underworld talent scout." Felicity told him, backing all the information up on a flash drive, which she then handed to him. "He books all the Deadshot's hits. It's not much to go on, but…"
Dig took the drive. "Yeah, but it's something, Felicity. Thanks."
"Don't you think Oliver should know?" she asked timidly.
"No, this is personal." Dig said as he walked out of the Lair. "Lawton is my problem to deal with."
"Bad idea." Lance told Dig. "It never hurts to have back-up, especially when it's personal." He advised.
Diggle nodded. "You're probably right."
The scene changed to Laurel's apartment. Laurel answered a knock at the door, and was surprised to see her father. "What brings you by?" she asked, letting him in.
Tommy walked into the room, holding a plate of food. "Hey, would you like some dinner?" he offered. "Your daughter ordered way too much Thai food."
"No, thanks." Lance shifted, uncomfortable. "This is a business visit, actually. I got some follow up questions on the Sparks' girl's death."
"Sure." Tommy said, and then he turned to Laurel to explain. "The girl was in the club before she got run-over."
"You said you didn't know her, but, um, but the last text off her phone was to you." Lance pressed on.
Tommy's brow furrowed. "Really?" he turned on his phone and looked through the text history. "Because, uh…" he paused as he saw Veronica Sparks picture with a text reading 'Can you hook me up?' "Well, I'll be damned." He muttered, lifting up the phone and showing it to Lance. "Huh. Well, I didn't reply. I get a hundred texts like this a night." He explained. "People wanting to get into the club."
"So that's what she meant by, 'Can you hook me up'?" Lance asked.
Tommy was suddenly defensive. "What else would it be about?"
Quentin took a breath. "$10,000 is missing from your club's bank accounts." He said. "What'd you spend the money on?"
"No idea." Tommy replied. "There must be some sort of bookkeeping error—"
Laurel walked over in concern as Lance continued the questioning. "Ok, let me put this another way- if you spent that money on Vertigo so that you could 'hook up' your clientele—"
"Dad!" Laurel exclaimed in disbelief.
"- then the best thing for you right now is to cop to it, ok?" Lance finished. "Get out in front of this."
Laurel was glaring at her father. "In my-his- whatever's defense, I don't have the full picture of Merlyn Junior that I do now." He said.
"Laurel," Tommy said, getting her attention. "He's right." He turned to Lance. "And seeing the 'full picture for myself, I'd like to say that I appreciate it's you coming at me." He told the Detective.
"Yeah, well I bet I'll be coming after you some more." Lance said sourly. He hated being wrong.
"Don't say anything." Laurel said at once.
Quentin looked at her in resignation. "I am trying to—"
"To do your job?" she finished. "Yeah, I know. And this is me doing mine."
Despite what Tommy had just said, Laurel turned to her father and smirked, causing him to roll his eyes.
"Laurel, I know I look like the disapproving father-again." He tried. "But I came down here so another cop wouldn't. You understand?" he looked at the two helplessly, then turned and walked out. Laurel turned to her boyfriend. "Tommy, I—"
"I'm not hungry anymore." He said, walking disgustedly out of the room.
The scene changed to the Glades. Oliver stood waiting for an update from Felicity. As the rain fell around him, he found himself staring at a puddle, lost in thought.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene flashed back to the island. Oliver was seated in front of a crate in the fuselage, watching as Shado filled a bowl up with water.
"Hold your hand up." She instructed him. "Palm facing me." He did so, and she stood across from him. She nodded at the bowl. "Hit the water." She instructed.
Oliver looked at her in confusion. "What?"
She indicated the bowl. "Hit it."
He did so.
"Again."
He did so.
"Again. Harder!"
"If the point of this is to make me feel like an idiot, it's working." Oliver said crossly.
Thea snickered. "If the point is to make him LOOK like an idiot, it's working." She said.
"It's actually quite effective." Malcolm noted. "Helps to build up arm strength."
She sat down. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
"Confucius, great." He rolled his eyes, but hit the water again. "I'm starting to see the family resemblance."
"Laozi, actually." She corrected. "Again."
He did so, and now the bowl was empty. "Now what?" he asked.
"Fill the bowl. Start again." He gave her an annoyed look.
Thea snickered again. She liked this woman.
PRESENT
Back in the present, Oliver called Felicity. "What have you got?" he asked.
"The end of the money trail." She announced. "Sending the dealer's location to you now."
He got the coordinates on his phone. After looking it over, he pulled on his helmet and got back on his bike.
The scene changed to the docks. A group of vagrants were gathered around a fire barrel to keep warm when an expensive car pulled up. The dealer got out and walked over to them, pulling out a bag with Vertigo in it.
"Oh, hey! Hey, dude." One of the vagrants said.
"Hey yo." He replied with a smirk. "Who's looking to party?"
"Oh, yeah." One of the vagrants held up a small wad of cash. The dealer gave him an annoyed look.
"Come on. That's not enough, man." He said. "You don't pay, you don't play."
One of the car's windows rolled down, and a familiar voice called out "It's all right. Good for business."
The dealer looked back to the vagrant. "My boss seems to like you, G." he said. He took the money and gave over the baggy. The vagrant took it and ran off.
Thea's smile vanished as she watched the scene. She had used drugs for years now; she loved the rush it gave her, the feelings of freedom and the escape from the hell that was her life; but seeing these people, giving up everything they had for a few pills, she grew cold with the knowledge that she too could have ended up like that, could still end up like that if she didn't straighten herself out.
"That's right." The dealer looked around.
"Hey, hey, come here." One of them said. He held up a very large roll of cash. "How much for this?"
"Now that," he took the cash. "That'll buy you a brick, my man." He walked over to the car and the person inside passed over a large bundle of the green and black pills. He tossed it to the man-
But it was intercepted in the air by an arrow, which caused the package to break apart and the pills to rain down. The group scattered and the main car speed off as The Hood slid down a chute and landed on the ground. He took cover as a guard in a second car got out and opened fire with a sub machine gun, then fired an explosive arrow at the car, blowing it up. The first car came speeding around a corner straight at him, and The Hood lined up a shot, but quickly ducked under cover as the driver held his gun out of the window and opened fire. The car sped off as The Hood looked on in frustration.
The scene changed to the Starling City Aquarium. The first vagrant had already taken some of his Vertigo, and was starring in worried fascination at the fish behind the glass.
"Don't forget to breathe." He told the fish. "He won't. I won't." he looked around- everyone seemed to be in a tunnel of light.
A girl looked at him in disgust. "Congratulations. You're officially the creepiest person I've ever met." She said.
"I don't…I don't feel so good." He said, staggering towards her.
"Get away from me, creep." She said, disturbed. She ran towards a security guard. "Have we got a problem?" he asked. He looked at the vagrant, and then back at the woman in concern "Are you ok?" he asked. The guard turned to ask the woman what the man had said, but suddenly the vagrant snatched his gun from the holster and hit him on the back of the head, hard. The guard fell tot eh ground, unconscious, and the man started spinning in circles, waving the gun around. The people screamed and dropped to the floor, terrified.
"Oh, great." Lance sighed. "High on that crap with a gun. That won't end well."
"I'd be more worried about the water." Felicity said. At his incredulous look, she explained further. "If he starts firing and punctures the glass, the water pressure will make quick work of it and the window will explode. That would send shards of glass and a couple tons of water out onto the floor, onto people who are already lying down. Theoretically, they could drown; or be pummeled by the water and end up with serious injuries." Everyone looked at her in astonishment. "What, was I the only person to think of that?"
"Yes, Felicity." Diggle said. "I think you were."
"Still, important safety tip. Thanks." Tommy said, winking at her.
Back at the lair, the call came in over the radio just as Oliver returned.
'All units, all units, code 99. All available units- 417 in progress, Starling Aquarium. All available units—"
"This just came over the police frequency." Felicity said. "I hacked the aquarium security system to get a better look." The video showed the man yelling indistinctly before firing off a couple of shots- one of which just happened to take out the camera. "Bystanders said they saw him pop some green and black pills…" she trailed off as she watched Oliver go over to his trunk. He took out a small pestle and mortar and a small leather pouch, then he moved to a work table to mix up his healing herbs. Felicity watched in confusion. "There's a lunatic high on Vertigo who's taking hostages, and you're making- making tea."
Oliver put the concoction in a centrifuge to mix, and then turned to Felicity. "They're medicinal herbs from the island. They counter balance the effects of certain drugs and poisons." He explained. "They should counteract the effects of Vertigo." The machine beeped, and he pulled out the tube, and then proceeded to fill an injection arrow.
Felicity looked at him in surprise. "And you aren't going to—" she mimed slitting her throat.
"What?"
"You know…"
"My sister got high on this garbage." He told her. "Could have killed someone. She didn't deserve an arrow in the heart. This guy didn't fail the city." He looked her in the eye. "The city failed him. And so did I."
Felicity smiled at that.
"What's happening now isn't your fault." Felicity told him. "You didn't make him take drugs."
"No, but I did fail to put the Count in a grave so deep that he couldn't come back and hurt anyone again."
"You caught him." She said. "They locked him up."
"And now the city is on fire!" he yelled angrily. "So clearly, it wasn't the right decision." He stood, and then took a calming breath. "Get in touch with Diggle." He told her in a calmer voice. "With the security feed out, I'm going need a second set of eyes at the aquarium."
The scene changed to down at the docks. Diggle was getting out of his car when his phone rang. He looked and saw that it was Felicity, but hit ignore and put his phone back into his pocket.
"Oh, Dig!" Felicity huffed.
He shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?" he asked defensively.
"Answering the phone would be a good start." Tommy said dryly.
Dig was about to answer, then he saw who it was that his other self was meeting. "Of course I'd go to her." He said, shaking his head but smiling.
He saw his contact and walked over to her.
"Glad I caught you stateside." He said.
"Just barely. I leave in two days for Pyongyang."
"Isn't that classified?"
Lyla smiled at him. "I figure an old army buy can keep a secret. I was glad to get your call."
"Lyla, that's not why I called." He said. The smile fell from her face.
"There's something else you'd like me to do for you, then." She said.
"Well, actually, I think there's something I can do for you." Diggle replied. "I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Deadshot is on A.R.G.U.S.'s most wanted list."
Lyla looked at him curiously. "What do you know about him?"
"Well, his name, for starters." Dig said. "Floyd Lawton."
Lyla was stunned. "We don't even have that." She admitted. "Where'd you get it?"
"Same place I got this." He handed her the flash drive that Felicity had given him. "This is everything you need to locate who's giving Deadshot his targets."
"What's your interest in this?" she asked.
"Lawton came up in connection with some things I'm working on." Dig lied. "I thought you were the right person to pass it off to."
Lyla smirked at him. "I remember you being a better liar than that, Johnny."
"Listen, Lyla, Lawton is a very dangerous man." Dig said seriously. "And your people are the most qualified to take him down. It's that simple."
"Nothing in our business is simple." Lyla said, giving Dg one last smile as she walked away.
"Who is she?" Felicity asked the bodyguard.
"A.R.G.U.S. agent, Ex-Army Special Forces, and my ex-wife." He said.
Felicity blinked. "And when she finds out exactly why you are so interested in Deadshot? And that you're using her and her agency to find him so you can kill him? "
Diggle shifted uncomfortably. "Ex-friend, too, I'd wager." He admitted.
The scene changed to Verdant. Quentin Lance got out of his car and walked up to the loading dock, where Tommy was overseeing a delivery.
"Dad…" Laurel growled.
"Doing. My. Job." He growled in return.
"Here to ask for my help again, Mr. Lance?" Tommy said dryly as he checked items off of his list.
"Eric Messner?" Lance said.
Tommy froze for a moment, and then he took a breath. "Who?"
"He's a zoning commissioner for Starling City." Lance said. "A notoriously corrupt one, at that. The missing ten grand- you paid it to him to skip the inspection of your nightclub." He looked at the younger man. "Why'd you do that, Merlyn?" he asked. "What didn't you want him to find?"
"We got nothing to hide here." He replied.
"Great. Then let's just take a little look around." Lance said, walking towards the entrance.
"Absolutely." Tommy agreed, finally looking at the cop. "When you come back with a search warrant."
Lance froze in his tracks, then turned and walked back to Tommy. "Are you sure this is how you want to play this?" he asked.
"Apparently." Tommy replied.
Lance stared at him hard. "Doesn't my daughter know how to pick 'em." He scoffed. Lance walked off, and Tommy closed his eyes and took a calming breath.
"That last jab wasn't a part of your job." Laurel said pointedly. She then turned to Tommy. "And why would you bribe a government official?"
"I'm just guessing here, but probably so they didn't see all of the arrows downstairs." Tommy said sarcastically.
"Yeah, that'd be an awkward inspection." Felicity noted with a lopsided grin.
Laurel shook her head, looking abashed. "I really should have thought of that."
The scene changed to the Aquarium. The vagrant was still waving the gun around at the terrified crowd. "Stop laughing at me!" he shouted. Suddenly the lights went out, and the man fired off a couple of shots. "Shut up!" he screamed as the people cried out. "Shut up!" he said again, more to himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three Vertigo pills, which he promptly swallowed.
"OD." Quentin said at once. "I don't know if Queen could actually save him now."
"Don't discount those herbs." Slade advised. "They truly are a miraculous plant."
"And it did save Ollie from an OD on Vertigo once." Laurel pointed out.
Lance shook his head. "Something tells me that this ain't the same Vertigo." He said.
A moment later, the gun was knocked from his hand by an arrow. He looked up in panic as The Hood stood on the balcony, staring back at him. Terrified, he took off, running for a service door. He ran through the door, which led to the boiler room. He spun around, trying to figure out where to go.
"Stop!" the Hood yelled. He fired off an arrow into a water pipe, causing it to burst. A gush of water hit the man in the face and sent him to the ground. The Hood jumped down and ran over to the man. "I don't want to hurt you." He said calmly. "I'm here to help you." He turned the man over and withdrew his cure arrow, but even as he lifted it to inject the man, the vagrant let out one final shuddering breath, then breathed no more. He looked at the man sadly, then got up and ran off.
Lance sighed. "Damn." He muttered.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene changed to the island. Oliver was still seated behind his bowl as Shado did a handstand in front of him. She held herself perfectly still, and her legs were folded in the lotus position. Oliver stared at her for several minutes before he spoke.
"My mom does yoga." He said.
Moira chuckled at that.
"I've been thinking of taking up yoga." Laurel said casually.
Tommy smiled widely at her. "If it means that you can do that, then yes, please!" he said, wagging his eyebrows. Laurel rolled her eyes while Sara cackled in amusement.
She smirked slightly. "Hey, remember when Slade and I rescued you?" he started.
She looked at him sharply with a raised (lowered?) eyebrow. "You rescued me?" she said.
Oliver sighed. "Fine. When we all rescued each other. You said you knew why Fyers wanted Yao Fei, and how he was forcing him to help." He reminded her. "Feel like sharing? We're almost out of slapping water." He added dryly.
Shado slowly straightened her legs, and then bent backwards, allowing her feet to lie flat on the floor. She stood gracefully and took a cleansing breath before turning back to Oliver.
"My father was a Shangjiang in the People's Liberation Army." She started. She walked over and picked up a canteen for a drink of water. "A general. I didn't hear the details of Fyers plans, but he wants my father to be the face of it. A scapegoat. To take the blame and conceal their own involvement." She took a sip of water.
"Why was Yao Fei on the island in the first place?" Oliver asked softly. "Fyers says he murdered people."
She spun to face him. "No, he didn't." she said sternly. "The Chinese military committed the massacre." She explained further. "Someone had to take the blame. They chose him. Sent him to this island for life." She sighed. "I spent years looking for him." She continued. She walked over and picked up the pail of water, then refilled the bowl. "A few months ago, a man came to my apartment. Said he had information about my father's whereabouts. I had given up hope." She sighed again. "Let my guard down. Didn't see the tazer until…" she trialed off. "When I woke up, I was here." Shado knelt before him. "I'm worried." She admitted. "This island… what he must have had to do to survive. That it changed him."
Oliver gave her a reassuring smile. "He saved my life. He's still a good man, Shado." He told her.
"He was a good man." Slade agreed.
Shadow smiled in return, and then indicated the bowl. "Again."
He hit the water.
PRESENT
The scene changed to Verdant. Tommy was finishing up paperwork when he heard a familiar voice.
"So there I am sitting at our favorite Sushi restaurant, a bottle of Saki, and the only thing that's missing is my boyfriend."
Tommy closed his eyes in frustration, and then turned to face Laurel. "My God, I'm so sorry, baby." He let out a frustrated sigh. "I just have a lot going on here."
Laurel laid a hand on his arm. "Tommy, whatever's going on with you, I want you to know I believe you. I'm here for you." The two kissed. They broke apart just as Oliver bounded down the stairs form the office and tried to sneak past them.
"Sorry." He told them.
Laurel looked at him in concern. "Ollie. What's wrong?" she asked.
"Bad night."
That was when Lance, with several more cops behind him, walked in. "It's about to get worse." He walked up to Tommy and handed him a piece of paper. "Mr. Merlyn, as requested, a warrant to search these premises."
Laurel snatched the warrant from Tommy and stared accusingly at her father. "I can't believe you're doing this." She said, and then started reading the warrant.
"Believe it." He said coldly.
"It's kind of like Ghostbusters." Felicity said suddenly, and everyone turned incredulous stares on her. "You know, when Dr. Venkman is talking with Walter Peck, and tells Peck he'd need a search warrant before he could search the firehouse? And then Peck came back with one and ended up letting all of the ghosts go?" she blushed under their stares, and noted both Sara and Roy were doing their best to hold in their laughter. "Just me, huh? Oooo-kay, moving on." She turned her attention to the screen, resolutely not paying attention to anyone else.
"Detective, I'm not an attorney, but on what grounds are you searching my club?" Oliver asked.
"Your general manager bribed a government official to keep him from inspecting the entirety of your building." Lance said.
"What?" Oliver asked, shocked.
Tommy's face darkened at Oliver's simple exclamation.
"Because he's selling Vertigo out of the club." Lance continued.
"Ollie, it's valid." Laurel said.
"Thank you." Quentin said. He started walking towards the back of the club. "A sub level is not listed on the inspection's floor plans. However, I pulled the county records. There's something down there. I want to see for myself what it is." He stopped as he saw the door to the basement- and The Hood's lair.
"Oh, look at that." He turned to Oliver. "Open the door."
"You're making a mistake." Oliver said.
"No." Lance replied. "You are. If you don't open that door." Oliver stood frozen, not knowing what to do. "I said, open the door." Finally, Oliver put in his code and the door opened.
"Thank you." Lance said, walking through the door and down the steps. Tommy followed right behind. The line of men walked down the stairs into the darkened basement. When he reached the ground, Tommy calmly walked over to the power box and flipped the lever, illuminating-
Furniture. Crates. Pallets of wine. Everything you would expect to find in the storage area of a club- and not an arrow in sight.
Lance shook his head in disbelief. Thea gave out a hoot of joy. "Way to go, Tommy!" She said, smiling at her brother. The smile fell off her face as she saw his angry expression.
"The place is kind of a mess." Tommy said casually. "I've been using it to store the bulk of our inventory."
"What's in the boxes?" Lance asked.
"Why don't you have a look?" Tommy offered. Lance opened a box and pulled out- a bottle of wine.
"Well, if prohibition were still in effect, you might actually have a basis of a criminal complaint." Laurel noted dryly.
"Would you like to open the rest of the crates?" Tommy asked.
Lance opened another, and brought out another bottle of wine. His brow furrowed in confusion, he turned and looked at Tommy, who stood there casually, one hand in his pocket. "So if you don't have anything to hide… why didn't you want the inspector down here?" he asked.
"Well, the ventilation system in this place hasn't been updated since the sixties." Tommy stated. "Maybe we shouldn't even be open."
Lance looked around, and then gave him a look. "Yeah."
A short time later, after Quentin and the cops had all left, Tommy led Laurel out of the basement.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I thought he was ok with us being together."
"He wasn't wrong. I bribed a guy." Tommy said in thinly veiled disgust.
"That's not why he brought out his jackboots." Laurel said.
Tommy sighed. "It's all gonna be fine." He told her, giving her a kiss. "I'll see you at home."
"Good night." She called out to Oliver.
"Good night." He called back. Laurel left, and then Tommy stormed over to the bar. "Is there something you want to say to me?" he asked, anger in his voice.
"Thank you."Oliver said sincerely.
"No, I meant the thing that you were thinking when Lance accused me of dealing out of the club." He glared at Oliver.
Oliver sighed. "I don't understand why you wouldn't just tell me about the bribe." He said honestly.
"I run the club, Oliver. I don't tell you a lot of things." He said angrily. Her walked around Oliver and picked up his clipboard. "So let me ask you a question, pal." He slammed the board down on the bar. "What have I done in the last 6 months that would lead you to believe that I would sell drugs?" he demanded.
"In the last 6 months? Nothing." He replied.
"Yeah." Tommy spat out.
Oliver shot to his feet and turned to face him. "Before I left, you played hard." He accused. "You played with bad people who were into bad stuff."
"And so did you, Oliver." Tommy yelled. "But I changed just like you did. Now you put arrows in people who do illegal things." He held out his arms. "Last time I checked, bribing a city inspector was not legal."
"Do you actually think that I could hurt you?" Oliver asked, incredulous.
"Truthfully, I have no idea what the hell you would do." He spat. "You are a complete mystery to me. I've got no idea how you find it so easy to kill people. The next time you decide to think the worst of me, imagine what I now think of you." He jammed his finger into Oliver's chest, and then stormed off. Oliver stood there, thunderstruck. He had no idea that Tommy had felt that way, and what's worse, he had no idea of how to fix it.
Tommy closed his eyes and balled up his fists. "Damn him." he said quietly. Thea looked at him in concern; she had no idea what to say to him.
Dig walked in just as Tommy stormed out. "What's his problem?" he asked.
Oliver glared at the man. "What's yours?" he spat, walking past him towards the basement.
Dig turned, looking at Oliver in annoyance and confusion. "Excuse me?"
"I asked Felicity to get in touch with you. There was a hostage situation at the aquarium."
Dig sighed. "I'm sorry; I didn't get that message till it was over." He said.
"Why?"
"Because I was busy doing something else." He said. At Oliver's look, he expounded. "Lawton." Oliver shook his head and turned back towards the basement. "Oliver, you didn't end up needing me."
"You couldn't have known that." He said.
"In other words, find your brother's killer on your own time, right?" Dig said harshly.
"Vertigo's tearing this city apart, Diggle!" he yelled angrily. "So, yeah, maybe now's not the best time to indulge a personal vendetta."
"Seriously?" Diggle said in disbelief.
"You're actually gonna stand there and tell me that you going after the Count is not personal?" Dig shot back. He ignored the warning in Oliver's face and pressed on. "Oliver, listen, I cannot read a book to my nephew without knowing that Lawton took his father from him. I can't move on with Carly, I can't move on with my life knowing that he's still out there. I thought if anybody got that it'd be you." He finished. The two looked at each other for several moments before Dig turned and walked off, and Oliver headed down to the basement.
A short time later Felicity walked in. She paused as she looked around in shock. "What happened here?" she asked.
"The Ethernet cable still works." Oliver noted, handing the cable over to Felicity as she pulled up a chair. "Would you plug in your tablet, please?"
"Did you decide to remodel?" she asked.
"Long story." He replied.
"Where's Dig?"
"Long story. The hostage-taking junkie." He pressed on. "He is the only lead to the Count we've got left."
"What type of information are you looking for?" she asked.
"Anything that will give us a line on the Count's location. Has the M.E. performed the autopsy report yet?" he asked.
"Yeah, just pulling it up now." She said.
"Check the toxicology to see if there's something related to the Vertigo he was on." Oliver noted, still moving stuff around to find his gear.
"He didn't die of a Vertigo overdose." Felicity announced.
Lance blinked. "What?"
"I saw it, Felicity." Oliver argued.
"According to the coroner, cause of death was severe anaphylaxis." She said. "He died of an allergic reaction to chlorpromazine."
"That's an anti-psychotic." He noted. "Pull up the Veronica Sparks autopsy. Did she have chlorpromazine in her system?"
She did so. After a moment, she looked up. "Yes." She said. "How did you know?"
"The Count must have added it as a new ingredient in this latest iteration of Vertigo." Oliver deduced.
"But wouldn't the amount he'd need to manufacture enough for circulation be huge?" Felicity noted. "Where would he get that much?"
"A mental institution." Lance said in realization. "The son of a bitch is still in the asylum!"
Tommy glared at the cop, not caring about the Count at all now. He was still hurting over the fact that his best friend would think him capable of selling drugs, even after everything he'd seen them be through during the year. Thea placed a hand on his knee and squeezed it gently, giving him silent reassurance and trying to give some comfort. Tommy sighed and patter her hand in silent gratitude.
"A mental institution." He said at once. He paused, a thought occurring to him. "What if we're looking at this all wrong?" he said.
"How so?"
"Everybody is looking for him outside the asylum, but what if he never left? What if What if he faked his escape the same way that he faked being insane?" he surmised. Angered even further, he went for his gear.
A short time later, The Hood broke through a grate and dropped into the service tunnel for the asylum. He cracked open a few glow sticks and threw them forward to light his path, then started moving. He made his way into a deserted wing of the asylum, shut down due to budget cuts. He moved into a surgical wing when he heard a familiar voice. He moved rapidly into the room, drawing an arrow as he did so.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." The Hood growled at the figure seated in a chair in the corner. The Count was facing way from him. "Turn around." The Hood ordered. He placed the arrowhead against his neck, drawing a thin line of blood. "I said turn around." When the Count said nothing, The Hood cautiously made his way around to face the Count. He sat, strapped to the chair, a vacant expression on his face and his eyes seemingly devoid of intelligence. He had leads attached to his skull to monitor is brainwaves, and he had some kind of medication on a drip keeping him sedated.
"What the hell?" Thea wondered. Then she screamed in shock as the memory continued to play.
Suddenly, the big orderly that had been watching over The Count came up behind The Hood and hit him hard in the head with a metal pipe. The Hood collapsed to the ground, knocked out cold. Another figure kneeled besides him and pulled back his hood.
"Oliver Queen." Dr. Webb said. "All those years on that island. Guess you really did go crazy."
Lance's mouth was open in shock. "The Doc?!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
Felicity shook her head. "It's always the quiet ones." She murmured.
Moira closed her eyes for a moment, silently composing herself. She was hating how often Oliver got himself hurt in his crusade.
When Oliver awoke, he was strapped to a chair similar to The Counts. There were thick leather straps around his wrists, ankles, thighs and chest. He tested them, and found he could not get them to loosen at all. He stilled when he saw Dr. Webb walking in. "So the Count didn't fake losing his mind, did he?" he realized. "This was you the whole time. How'd you get him to give you the formula for Vertigo?" he asked. "Huh? Chemistry doesn't seem like his best subject right now."
"Good question." Lance muttered.
Webb was calmly splitting open Vertigo pills and pouring the contents into a beaker filled with a green fluid. "He couldn't tell me if he wanted to." Webb said. "I ordered a biopsy on his kidneys. The tissue was suffused with the narcotic after his O.D. When I got the results, I realized I could reverse engineer the chemical compound of the drug, produce a synthesized version myself using the facilities here." he stirred in the powder until it dissolved.
"And made a few improvements, like adding chlorpromazine." Oliver noted. His hand was working at the restraint on his left hand.
"That's how you found us." Webb said. He picked up the beaker and walked over to Oliver.
"Cops came around, started asking questions, you faked the Count's disappearance to draw attention away from yourself." Oliver continued. "It's clever."
"I wasn't trying to be a criminal mastermind. I just needed the money." Webb said simply. "Something I'm sure a billionaire wouldn't understand."
"Believe me, I understand you perfectly." Oliver said coldly.
"Open his mouth." Webb ordered. The orderly came from above and pried Oliver's mouth open. He started thrashing about, and in the process dropped a small remote that was in his glove next to him. He frantically searched for, and found the remote and gripped it tightly as Webb poured the Vertigo drink into his mouth. Oliver stilled as the Vertigo started to take effect.
"From what I've read in the tabloids, no one will be surprised to hear Oliver Queen died of a drug overdose." Webb said sarcastically.
"You mother fucker!" Thea shouted angrily. Moira didn't bother to chastise her; she agreed wholeheartedly.
Malcolm leaned forward, interested to see just how strong – and smart- Oliver was. How would he get out of this one?
Then Oliver pushed a button on the remote. On a table across from him, the head of his explosive arrow beeped, drawing the other two men's attention. The orderly cautiously approached the quiver- and then it exploded. The blast sent the orderly to the ground and tipped over Oliver's chair. He landed hard on his side, but the restraints had been loosened. As he worked his other hand free, Webb panicked and bolted out of the room.
"Yeah, you better run!" Thea snarled. Even Tommy cracked a smile for that one.
Oliver finished freeing himself, and was struggling over to another table that held his thigh quiver- and his cure arrow within it. He just managed to get to the table when the orderly rose up behind him, wielding a, I.V. Stand. Before he could hit the beleaguered vigilante, Dig came in and kicked him away. Oliver grabbed the injection arrow and fell to the ground. As Dig fought the orderly, he injected himself directly in the chest. He screamed in pain, but moments later he turned and vomited up the green liquid, and the herbs began countering the drug. He staggered to his feet, then grabbed his bow and quiver and took off after Webb.
Malcolm hummed in surprise. He'd have to find a supply of those herbs, he thought.
The orderly had managed to grab Dig's gun, but he quickly swatted it out of his hands they traded blows, and then the orderly got behind Dig and put him in a choke. Diggle managed to tip them over and he landed on top of the orderly, who landed on his back. Dig rolled off, and then gave him a sharp elbow to the chest followed by a chop to the throat. They rolled away from each other, and Diggle spied a defibrillator. He charged the machine, then grabbed the paddles. He spun towards the orderly just as the other man grabbed the gun, and placed the paddles on either side of his head. He hit the button, sending a massive electrical shock through the orderly's head, killing him instantly.
Dig fell back for a moment to catch his breath. "Clear." He said dryly, before pulling himself to his feet and going after Oliver.
Felicity smiled at Diggle. "You remembered!" she said happily, causing everyone else to chuckle, breaking the tension.
Webb was running down the service corridor trying to escape, but Oliver was right behind him.
"Freeze!" Oliver yelled.
Webb turned around and smirked at the vigilante. "You don't look so good." He said, pulling a scalpel from his white coat. He stalked towards Oliver, who was still seeing triple. "I doubt you could aim a single arrow."
Oliver lifted his bow and drew back the string, and Webb stopped cold when he saw three arrows stacked and aimed right at him.
"Didn't I see this in 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights'?" Tommy said.
Thea gave him a look even as Felicity flashed him an approving thumbs up. "Oh, REALLY?" she said drolly. Tommy just shrugged.
Oliver let the arrows fly. Two passed on either side of the doctor, but the third landed directly in his heart. Webb toppled backwards, dead before he hit the ground. He turned away, pulling up his hood and walking away.
He made his way back up to the Count's room. He sat in his chair, still bound, still babbling.
"Looks like I'm the last one standing." He said. "Sitting. Spinning. Something to do." He stirred a bit. "What was I going to do? Memory not what it once was. Nothing what it once was." Oliver drew an arrow and drew back the string, aiming the arrow at the Count's head. The deranged drug dealer leaned towards the arrow. "Is there a name on the gravestone?" he asked. "No. It's new. And clean. And waiting."
Lance leaned forward eagerly, wanting to see if the boy was more than just a murder now.
Oliver stared at the man. He was wracked with indecision- how could he kill such a pathetic creature? How could he not? Finally though, he relaxed the bow, removing the arrow. "We're finished here." He told Dig, who had been watching. The two left, leaving the Count to his demons.
Lance shook his head, this time in admiration. "Alright, kid." He muttered.
"Meeting with your approval now?" Moira asked him pointedly.
Lance shook his head. "No." he stated. "But not meeting with my disapproval, either."
The scene changed to Verdant. Oliver walked in just as Tommy was walking out of the office.
"Hey. How we doing?" Oliver asked, trying to keep things light.
"In the black." Tommy growled, handing Oliver the tablet. He turned and walked back to the bar. "Did the Hood get his man?"
"Well, we won't be having any problems with Vertigo anymore." He said. Oliver sighed. "Look, Tommy, I'm sorry—"
"I've caught up the bookkeeping and all my notes on the inventory are in there, along with a list of suppliers that we use." Tommy interrupted.
Tommy closed his eyes and bowed his head. He had a feeling he would do something like this.
"Ok." Oliver said in confusion. "I don't see why you're telling me that."
"This club is important to me." Tommy admitted, truing to face Oliver. "But for you it's just a front. You want me to keep your secret, help you be this thing you've become, but you refuse to see me for what I've become." He looked at Oliver in disgust. "I've got just a bit too much self-respect for that." Tommy stormed towards the exit. "I quit." He called out, leaving a saddened Oliver alone.
"Oh, Tommy…" Laurel said in disappointment.
"He thinks that I'd deal drugs out of the club." Tommy said irritably. "What would you expect me to do?"
"You know what I've noticed?" Sara suddenly said. "When Oliver came back, everyone expected him to be the same boy he had been before the 'Gambit' went down. That he'd fit into the same mold as before." Sara pointed out. She looked at Tommy. "Does it surprise you that much that he'd feel the same way about all of you?"
Tommy opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it as the truth of the statement washed over him. He sighed, and then turned his attention back to the screen, watching the rest of the memory play out even as he truly thought about what Sara had just said.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene flashed back to the island. Oliver was still slapping water well into the night when Slade walked in, a pair of rabbits on a string in his hand.
"Dinner." He announced. He looked at Oliver in amusement. "You're still doing that? Fyers better be careful with his bowls of water."
Oliver sighed in annoyance. "When are we going to do actual training?" he asked.
"There once was a young boy whose father dropped him off at a shaolin monastery to study Kung Fu." Shado began.
Oliver sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "Good, a story."
Slade chuckled at that.
"After a year, the boy came to visit his family." She continued, sharpening her knife as she talked. "When they asked what he'd learned, the boy hung his head in shame. All the monks had him do was slap water in a barrel for a year."
"Well, we don't have a year." Slade said. "So I hope your training regimen is a bit faster."
Undeterred, Shado continued. "The family didn't believe him, so he showed them. He raised his hand and hit the table they were eating on. "It broke in half."
"I'm gonna be able to break a table?" Oliver asked sarcastically.
"Better." She said. She rose and grabbed her bow, then walked back to Oliver and handed it to him.
Oliver sighed. "Ok." He said, rising to take the bow.
"Draw the bow." She said. She corrected his posture, and then stepped back. Oliver sighed- then drew the bow properly with seemingly no effort.
Slade chuckled. "I'll be damned." He said.
Oliver relaxed the string, and then looked back as Shado. "What's next?" he asked earnestly.
"We teach you to shoot." She said.
Thea shook her head in amazement. "I honestly thought she was screwing with him." She said.
"So did I." Slade admitted.
The scene changed to a cop bar near the precinct. Quentin was sitting at the bar nursing a drink when Laurel walked in.
"Drinking alone?" she asked.
"Oh." He said in surprise. "Well, no, not anymore."
Laurel sat next to him, then took his drink and took a sip. She looked at him in surprise. "Just soda? Bartender forget the scotch?" she asked.
"I'm not THAT bad." Quentin groused.
"Yes, you are." Sara replied seriously. "At least, that's what the M.E. said a few years ago when he examined your liver during the post-mortem." She added, looking pointedly at her father.
He gave her a pained smiled. "Well, there's a cheerful thought."
"I didn't really feel the need for it." Lance said honestly. "So, um, the girl who died, it turns out that she got her Vertigo from a co-worker. Guess I owe your boyfriend an apology." He said.
"He has a name, you know." Laurel said.
"Yeah, I just can't seem to bring myself to use it." Lance said, taking a sip of his soda. "Baby steps."
Laurel gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head.
He looked over at her, concerned. "Did I screw things up between us again?" he asked.
"No." she replied with a smile.
"Look, I really wasn't looking to jam up Merlyn, ok?" Lance said in a rush. "I knew by pursuing him that I could throw a wrench in—"
"Then why did you do it?" Laurel asked.
"There was evidence, Laurel, and I had to follow it." He replied passionately. "I had to. Look, your mom was right, you were right. Like you said about me and the Vigilante, I can't let things go." He finished off his soda. "I close cases, it's what I do. Everyone else be damned."
"Well, maybe the fact that there's no scotch in there means you're ready to work on that." Laurel said with a smile. "People can change." She told him. They sat in silence at the bar, their issues forgotten.
Quentin looked over at his daughter, but she was staring at Tommy, smiling warmly at him. He gave her a tired smile in return.
"Kind of like the end of Rocky 4, huh?" he said, and then adopted a bad Stallone accent. "If I can change, then maybe we all can change." The ladies all laughed at that, and Diggle gave him an approving nod.
The scene changed to the Lair. Oliver was trying to get things set up as they had been when Diggle walked in. "Hey." He said.
"Hey." Diggle replied.
"You had my back."
"You needed me." Dig said. "Felicity told me where you were headed."
"You ok?" he asked, thinking about the orderly. "I'm the killer, remember?"
"I've killed before, Oliver." He said. "It's just been a while." He looked at Oliver. "If you're the killer, why isn't the Count down, too?" he asked. "I'm sure it must have been tempting to take him off the board for good."
"People change." Oliver said.
"People like the Count?"
"No." he turned to face Dig. "I meant me. Not so long ago I would have put that guy down for good, but looking at him today all vacant… there didn't seem to be a point. But not everybody deserves mercy." Oliver turned and pulled an image up on the computer- and image of Floyd Lawton. "For example."
Dig moved closer to look. "I thought he wasn't a priority to you." He noted.
"He's a priority to you." Oliver said. "You two have unfinished business."
"Where do we start?" Dig asked, staring at the screen.
The scene changed to Malcolm's office.
"I'd prefer we skip the I-told-you-so's," Tommy was saying, "but the nightclub wasn't really working out. I guess I need something more boring, stable. Nine to five, go home kiss Laurel, that sort of thing." Malcolm turned in his chair to face his son, and Tommy sighed. "I guess what I'm saying is... I want a job."
Malcolm stood, a small smile playing on his lips. He grasped Tommy in a hard hug, true happiness on his face for the first time in years. Tommy smiled as well, finally feeling close to his dad.
Tommy dropped his head. "Oh, crap." He muttered.
"The job isn't THAT bad…" Malcolm started, but Tommy cut him off with a look.
"Putting aside the fact that you are utterly PSYCOTIC," he ground out, "I never wanted to work there. I don't want a boring, nine to five job. I want- no I CRAVE excitement. And the club seemed like a perfect job that I would relish. And maybe you're right," he turned to Sara, "Maybe I should have expected him to see me as I was, not as I had become. But he was right there when I was changing!" he said in a pained voice. "Ollie is like my brother, and right then he was telling me he had no confidence in me whatsoever. It hurts…"
"Here's the thing, Tommy," everyone turned to see Mia leaning in the doorway. "That first year he was back- he was so focused on the list and going all 'Grr-Argh!' on the people on it and dear god, even I'M starting to talk like Felicity!" everyone laughed. "Anyways, he was so focused on his mission that he kind of put 'Oliver Queen' into auto-pilot, where he acted like everyone expected him to act and he expected everyone else to act like he remembered. Hell, look how flustered I made him!" she pointed out. "So, do you have the right to feel hurt by Oliver's attitude towards you then? Yeah, sure. But try to remember that despite the time he spent with you, he was just going through the motions. Just like when he spent time with me or mom he was going through the motions. Sure, he'd smile and nod and pretend to listen to you ramble on, but in his mind he'd be planning the next night's op. It took him a couple of years before he got fully acclimated back into the real world." She finished. He glanced over at Roy, and the two shared a look that Tommy got at once: 'by which time, you were dead.'
If Mia noticed, she didn't say anything. "Look, we have four more hours until this year is finished." She told the room. "Personally, I think it'd be a good idea to watch them all, then take a day to process. That sound good to everyone? She asked. The group all looked at one another, then all nodded in agreement. "Roy, Sara, you two comfortable in here?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm great!" Roy responded enthusiastically. "Me and your old man are having a real bonding time!" Malcolm rolled his eyes, a motion that seemed utterly ridiculous on him for how normal it was. Mia smirked at her husband, then turned back to Sara. "What about you, Sara? You and Laurel having a fun bonding time?"
"Yeah." She said, then smirked. "And if Felicity is up for it later, maybe the two of us could have a fund bondage time." Quentin snorted the water he had been sipping all over his shirt, and the hacker turned bright red. Mia laughed, and then shook her head.
"You're getting to old for that shit." She said. She would have made a joke about her not being enough for Sara anymore, but her younger self already had to deal with everything else she had said- not to mention what was to come. "Alright, I'll go load them up. Oh, and Slade?" she turned to the mercenary, who looked at her casually. "Thank you for behaving yourself." She said politely.
Slade smiled blandly. "It is no problem. I haven't had this much fun since I entertained your brother on the 'Amazo'." Mia's expression didn't change, but the smile slid off Sara's face at once, to be replaced by a glare. Without another word, Mia turned and headed back to the control room.
TBC
A/N: You know what always bugged me about this show? Every time we see Oliver with the hood down when he's in costume, he doesn't have on the greasepaint. Then the hood is up, and the paint is there. Then we see him just return from patrol and he pulls down the hood- no greasepaint. Uh, WTF?
Okay, so now I'm going to do something a bit different. Now, I'm going to ask you to donate money, if you can, to two causes. The first, and most important, is St. Baldrick's. this is a charity for children suffering from cancer, and on April 26th, I am going to have my head shaved for them. But part of the deal is raising money, and that is where you come in. I pledged to raise at least $100, and my colleagues from Missouri Baptist Medical Center medical records, coding, and transcription departments have already given me $85. But i know I can do better. I will put the link to my St. Baldrick's site in my profile, and I'm asking anyone who can to visit the site and donate at least $1. Just $1. It's for a real good cause, and I promise when I get my head shaved off, I'll post a picture of me dressed like a white Nick Fury.
Also, one of my favorite Podcasts is running a Kickstarter to get their first book published. Now Playing Podcast is a movie review podcast that I've been listening to for years,and is probably the best podcast on the internet today. Now they have already met their goal, but are still about $15,000 away from their stretch goal, and they too are asking their listeners to pitch in at least $1 to help them reach it. Not as compelling as cancer, I admit, but the work they do every week entertains the crap out of millions (AND MILLIONS!) of people. Plus, if they meet their stretch goal, they'll produce an audio book as well. You can find them on Kickstarter under Now Playing Podcast. And spread the word about Now Playing- Underrated Movies We Recommend by using the hashtag # ABuckForNowPlaying.