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: Keep reading after the Author's Note for a look at the next chapter!
Chapter 25: Sacrifice
"You're staying in here with us?" Thea asked, too concerned about her brother to do anything but note her older self's presence.
Mia shrugged. "Well, if my idiot husband can stay here, why not me?" she asked, though her eyes moved to Tommy. In an instant, he knew. Mia grabbed the remote from Roy and hit play, starting off the final memory set of Oliver's first year.
The memory set opened as Oliver floated in between consciousness and unconsciousness. He thought back to the life raft, and his father's dying wish. {You can survive this. Make it home. Make it better. Right my wrongs.} He had told him. He remembered Robert shooting the steward, then holding the gun up to his own head. "Dad?!" he had cried in shock.
{Survive.}
A blast of cold water brought him back to wakefulness. One of Malcolm's men, who had just thrown a pail of water on his face, walked away, and Oliver assessed his situation. He was in some kind of storage facility; where he didn't know. His com link was gone, and he had been stripped from the waist up, and his arms were chained above his head, leaving his feet barely touching the ground. He heard more footsteps, and looked up as Malcolm walked in.
Moira watched the scene worriedly. "Oh, Oliver…" she moaned in despair. Thea curled into her mothers' side, watching the screen fearfully.
"I hope I didn't hurt you." He said honestly. "At least I can properly thank you now for saving my life. If I only knew how you were spending your nights…" he chuckled as he circled Oliver. "My hope is that I can explain everything to you; to help you understand."
"You murdered my father!" Oliver spat. "You sentenced me to that island, to five years of hell."
"I am truly sorry for what happened to you." Malcolm replied calmly. "You know I have lost people."
"Yeah, your wife." Oliver said. "Do you really think that you're honoring Tommy's mother by destroying the Glades?" he asked.
"As surely as you believe you're honoring your father with this hood." He replied, holding up the green hood.
"It wasn't his father he was honoring." Slade told Malcolm coldly. The businessman/assassin, nodded in agreement .
"Not a day goes by I don't miss your father." Malcolm continued.
"You'll see him soon." Oliver promised.
"Not where you're going." Thea snarled at Malcolm, who raised an eyebrow in amusement.
Malcolm's face turned cold. He walked up close to Oliver. "You can't beat me, Oliver." He stated bluntly. "Yes, you're younger. You're faster. But you always seem to come up short against me. Want to know why?" he asked rhetorically. "Because you don't know, in your heart, what you're fighting for. What you're willing to sacrifice; and I do." He stepped back. "No one can stop what's about to come. Not even the Vigilante." He tossed the hood to the ground and walked out; the guards closing the heavy metal door behind him.
"I wonder," Mia said, her fingers steeped in front of her face as she considered her father. "I wonder what exactly you are willing to sacrifice."
"I take it we'll find out shortly?" he asked.
Mia smiled, nodding her head slightly. "That IS the plan." She said.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene flashed back to the Island where thousands of feet above, a Ferris Air Line's commercial jet was flying the course it had been given by Alan- a course that would take it directly over Lian Yu.
"The plane's holding steady at 33,000 feet." Alan informed Fyers. "That's the range for missile intercept, sir."
"Lock missile one on target." Fyers said.
On the ground, Slade noticed Oliver cutting through his bonds. Oliver looked at him, then over at Shado.
"Missile one locked on the jet's heat trail." Alan said.
"Prepare to launch on my mark." Fyers replied.
"Yes, sir."
Oliver broke free, then jumped up and ran at Allan, yelling. He knocked Fyers aside and jammed the knife into Alan's side twice, before turning and cutting Shado loose. Her loss and rage numbed the pain in her shoulder as she started beating down the guards in the tent. Slade had leapt up as well, ignoring the pain in his leg and launching himself at Fyers. Wounded and angry, Alan punched Oliver in the face and started to choke him with both hands, while Fyers easily dealt with the wounded and still-bound Slade.
Fyers pulled out his radio as he ran from the tent. "Fire! Fire the missile now!" he ordered. Inside, Shado finished off the last guard and ran over to Oliver. He pulled Alan off of him, grabbing the man in a dragon choke. With a simple movement, she broke his neck. Oliver nodded at her and ran out, just in time to see the missile launcher fire.
PRESENT
In the present, Oliver looked around his prison. With a grunt, he lifted himself off of the floor, pulling his legs upwards to wrap around the chains, then started climbing up.
"I can do that." Roy noted to his wife, who patted him warmly on the arm.
"Of course you can, dear." She said.
When he was about ten feet off of the floor, he stopped- and then let go. He dropped down, and when the chains finally snapped taught, all of the weight suddenly became too much for the pipe the chains were draped over to handle. The pipe broke, crashing to the ground along with the chain's and Oliver. He grunted in pain, and then forced himself to get up.
Malcolm shook his head, more in admiration then in disappointment.
Slade chuckled. "The kid always could find a way out of tight spots."
A guard came down the stairs from a second floor office, his gun drawn. Oliver threw the chains at him, causing him to drop the gun and slide down the stairs. Oliver knelt down and broke his neck then moved to stand near the doorway that was sliding open. Another guard ran in and Oliver whipped the chains, ensnaring the man's arms and blocking the gun he was carrying. He then wrapped the chain around his throat and spun around, placing them back to back. With a hard tug, the man's neck broke and he fell, dead. Oliver knelt down to search the man for the keys to his chains, but looked up again in surprise as a third guard ran in, gun drawn. Just when he thought he was dead, the guard was shot from behind. He dropped to the ground revealing Diggle.
"Brilliant!" Tommy exclaimed. "Great timing!"
"Absolutely." Felicity agreed, patting the bodyguard on the arm.
"That's why they pay me the big bucks." He joked.
"I take back every joke I made about you sticking a tracking device in your boot." He said.
A short time later, Diggle and Oliver hurried back into the Lair. "Felicity's at Queen Consolidated." Diggle told him. "She's still going through the data she pulled off Merlyn's network."
"Did she find anything?" he asked.
"Yeah, the design schematics of the earthquake generator so we can shut it down. Assuming we find it in time." He added grimly.
"Ha!" Felicity said, pointing at Malcolm. "I still beat you!"
Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "Did you now?" he asked pleasantly.
His cell phone rang and he answered it at once. "Yeah, Felicity, I got him."
"Thank God." Felicity said, exiting Queen Consolidated. "Is he ok?"
"Mostly." Dig replied.
"Ok. I'm on my way." She said, and then hung up.
"Miss Smoak." Felicity froze and turned to see Detective Lance standing there, illuminated by the flashing police lights in his cruiser. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?" he asked.
Felicity deflated, and then glared at the detective. "You got really sucky timing." She complained.
Lance shrugged. "That's what they all say."
The scene changed to the SCPD. By the time she was processed, it was morning. Lance led her into the interrogation room.
"Please." He said, letting her enter first. "Take a seat."
"You know, I think I'd rather stand." Felicity said, trying to be brave. Then Lance slammed the door as she sat down.
Most everyone chuckled at that.
"You're not exactly a hardened criminal, are you?" Lance noted dryly walking to the other side of the table.
"No, I'm not any kind of criminal." She said.
"What do you call computer hacking?" he asked.
"A hobby?" she tried. "That I do not engage in." she quickly denied, terrified.
Lance scoffed. "Hey, I got a whole mess of computer gobbedly gook that I don't understand, but it says otherwise. I had my tech guys go through your computer at Queen Consolidated." He told her. She gasped slightly. "You used it to hack into Blackhawk squad security; to research arrows shipped to a company called Sagittarius; and to analyze a water sample to tie back to a Vertigo drug lab. These are all cases involving… The Hood." He looked at her evenly. "Tell me, Felicity. What am I thinking?" he asked. She tried to think of something, anything to say, but she was so scared that she could barely think straight. Suddenly Lance's phone rang. "Saved by the bell." He said. "Excuse me."
"You see?" Malcolm told her. "You're not as good as you think you are. And there's always someone better."
"Man, I'd give real money if you'd shut up." Dig said, glaring at Malcolm.
"Hello, Detective." The Hood's disguised voice said on the phone.
"It's funny you should call." Lance said with a smirk to Felicity. "I got your trusty sidekick sitting right in front of me."
"I don't have a sidekick. When I need help, I call you." Oliver said from the Lair.
"Ooh, BURN." Thea said, grinning at Quentin. The cop shook his head and sighed.
He pressed on immediately. "Malcolm Merlyn plans to level the Glades with a manmade earthquake using technology from Unidac Industries."
Lance blanched. "What?" he said, rising from his chair. He started to walk around the room. "Now you're just trying to have some fun with me." He said after a moment with a chuckle.
"I don't know what Merlyn's timetable is, so you need to evacuate the Glades immediately." Oliver continued. "Get as many people to safety as you can. Whatever you think of me, Detective, please- believe this." He said, and then hung up.
Lance shakily lowered the phone. Felicity looked up at him. "Sounds like you have bigger problems than me." She noted.
Lance sighed, and then looked at the hacker. "Don't leave town." He told her, and then gestured towards the door.
"Not a problem." Felicity said. "I'll be too busy trying to save it."
Felicity took the hint and bolted from the room. She paused at the door, and turned back to Lance. "You know I used to think the Vigilante was a criminal, too," she admitted, "but it seems to me, whoever he is, he's willing to sacrifice an awful lot to help the people of this city." She said with surprising strength in her voice. "Kind of makes him a hero… doesn't it?" she turned and left, closing the door behind her on a contemplative Lance.
Mia smiled sadly at the hacker.
The scene changed to Verdant. Oliver walked upstairs into the club to see Tommy standing at the bar, a bottle of booze in his hand.
Tommy sighed. "Well, this should be good." He said sarcastically.
Tommy saw him and chuckled. "Well, look who it is. My best friend in life." He said sarcastically.
Oliver paused. "Hey, buddy."
"I took your advice, you know." Tommy said, walking slowly towards him. "I went to Laurel's, to fight for her. So imagine my surprise seeing you there, kissing her." He slammed the bottle of booze down on a table.
"I'm sorry." Oliver said.
"No, you're not." Tommy replied, glaring at his former friend.
"Something's happening, and it involves your father." Oliver told him.
"Keep my father out of this." Tommy warned.
"Our fathers!" Oliver said sharply. "They aren't the men we thought they were. They made a plan together to destroy the Glades."
Tommy gaped at him. "Do you have any idea what you sound like right now?" he asked.
"Your father's going to do it." He pressed on, "Because he thinks it will avenge your mother's death."
"Do not talk about my mother!" Tommy snarled. He threw a drunken punch at Oliver, who merely sidestepped him, sending Tommy sprawling to the floor.
Oliver knelt down in front of him. "The difference between us, Tommy, is that I didn't find out the truth about my father until it was too late." Oliver said. "But you've always known; deep down, you have always known the man he is." He pleaded for him to understand.
"He's right." Tommy said, surprising himself with the revelation. He felt a twinge of sadness looking at his father. "I've always known you were evil."
"You call it evil, I call it dedicated." Malcolm replied calmly. "I'm no different than hundreds of other people around the world that formulate a plan and stick to it."
"Hundreds of other people don't commission a device to create an artificial earthquake!" Tommy exclaimed. "Hundreds of people don't plan on dropping a whole section of a city on top of innocent people!"
"There are no innocent people in the Glades." Malcolm snarled.
"You sure about that?" Mia asked softly, looking at her father. He stared back, his face inscrutable.
"Yes."
Mia bowed her head slightly. "We'll see."
Tommy leaned closer to Oliver, staring at him with unbridled hatred. "I wish you would have died on that island." He spat. Oliver nodded sadly, then stood and walked away.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene changed back to the island as Oliver watched the missile fly off towards the plane. He moved towards the launcher, but fell back as the soldiers opened fire. Shado was already there, knocking out one guard and climbing onto the launcher as it began to move.
Slade came out of the command bunker, an Ak-47 in his hands and began firing. He looked at Oliver. "Go kid!" he yelled, laying down covering fire as Oliver bolted for the launcher. He jumped on the back just as Shado knocked another solder down. She knelt down and opened up an access port, pulling out the motherboard. She started working, looking up to see Oliver.
"We need to reprogram the missile!" she said.
"I don't know how to reprogram a missile launcher!" he exclaimed.
"Hell, he didn't know how to program the DVR!" Thea noted.
"I went to M.I.T., and even I had trouble with the older models." Felicity said, a bit sheepishly.
Shado pulled out the circuit board. "I do." She worked frantically.
Suddenly the guard she had knocked down got back up and pulled out his pistol "Watch out!" he cried.
Shado grabbed his gun arm and yanked him forward, bouncing his face off the launcher and disarming him. She quickly aimed and fired, shooting the driver in the head. The man slumped forward, jamming the control levers forward and the launcher began to roll. The guard Shado disarmed grabbed her from behind, and the two struggled, falling off the launcher in the process.
"Oliver, put the chip in." she yelled as she continued to fight. Oliver rounded the launchers, but was immediately set upon by another soldier. They fought briefly, with Oliver struggling mightily before he managed to throw the other man off. Oliver looked up and saw the missile nearing the plane, then back down at the launcher. He yank open the access panel once more and grabbed the command chip, jamming it home. The small screen noted 'Target Modification Confirmed'. He looked up to see the missile radically change course, now heading for Fyer's camp. He pulled the dead driver off of the stick, stopping the launcher, and then leapt off. He took cover behind the corner of the launcher and watched as the missile slammed into the camp. The explosion was enormous, enhanced by all of the munitions' that were now cooking off. He sat down relieved, exhausted, and fearful- what of Slade? What of Shado?
Laurel blinked. "So then that happened." She said after a moment's silence.
"Christ, he really is a hero." Lance groused, and then he looked up at Slade. "All three of you, actually."
Slade actually smiled. "We got lucky." He admitted. "But damn if it doesn't feel good watching that camp blow up again."
PRESENT
The scene changed to the SCPD. Lance was trailing behind Lieutenant Pike, trying to give him an update.
"Make it quick, I got a comm stat meeting in five." Pike said irritably. "I don't want to be late for my own funeral."
"I've got it under good authority that Malcolm Merlyn is planning on leveling the Glades using some kind of earthquake device made by Unidac Industries." Lance said as they entered the squad room. Pike froze and turned to face the detective.
"Who's your source in all this?" he demanded.
Lance sighed. There was no way around it. "The Vigilante." All chatter stopped as every single cop turned to stare at the two. "He called me. Has been for the last few months; he's been helpful on some cases." Lance admitted.
"That sound you hear is my career being flushed down the drain." Quentin said in resignation. "Ah, well. What's that old saying? 'There is no victory without sacrifice'?"
"That's certainly true." Mia agreed.
Pike stare at him, surprised and angry. "You asked for the task force to catch him." Pike pointed out, moving in closer. "You swore to me you'd bring him in."
"I know." Lance said. "I swore to uphold the law, because the law is steady, the law is unchanging, the law needed to be protected. But what are laws, rules, if they don't protect people?" he asked passionately. "Now listen, I know I'm throwing away my career by telling you this, but I am willing to sacrifice catching this guy if it means saving people's lives! Please." He pleaded.
Pike stared at him for several seconds. "You're suspended." He said finally. Lance closed his eyes in resignation. "Leave your gun and your badge with the duty sergeant." Pike added, turning to leave.
"Lieutenant—"
"Suspension or incarceration." Pike said harshly. "You choose." Pike turned and left, leaving a defeated Lance standing alone in a crowded squad room.
"So much for Starling City's finest." Tommy grumbled.
"In Pike's defense, would you buy that story if you hadn't seen any of this?" Lance asked.
The scene changed to Queen Manor. Moira was in her bedroom, putting Walter's clothes in a mover's box for him to pick up when Oliver slowly walked in.
"No more lies, Mom." He said softly, catching her attention. "The Undertaking. We need to stop it."
"Everything I have ever said or done has been to protect you and your sister." She told him, still hanging the clothes.
"What about all those people in the Glades?" he asked.
She looked at him. "I'm not their mother."
Moira winced at the coldness in her tone.
Oliver tried a different tact. "I spoke to Malcolm." He said.
"You what?! He could have killed you." She exclaimed. "He killed your father."
Oliver shook his head. "No, he didn't." he took a breath and continued. "After the 'Gambit' went down, dad and I both made it to the life raft." He admitted. "And then we drifted, for days. In the end, there wasn't enough food and water for both of us." Oliver sighed. "So he shot himself in the head."
Moira gasped and turned away, horrified. "I don't want to hear this."
"He sacrificed himself," Oliver continued, "so that I could live. Do you really think that I could go on living knowing that you sacrificed thousands more in my name?" he asked as she cried. He moved to her and gently took her by the arms. "Mom, please. You have to help me stop Malcolm. We need to know where the device is." He begged.
Suddenly her cell phone rang. She pulled away and picked it up then, seeing who it was, answered. "Malcolm." She said, controlling her voice. Oliver spun to stare at her. "How can I help you?" she continued. She listened for a few moments. "I see. Yes, thank you for calling." She said shakily, and then hung up.
"What is it?" Oliver demanded.
"Malcolm's accelerated his timetable. The Undertaking is-" she swallowed, "Is happening tonight." Oliver moved past her towards the door. "Where you going?" she asked tearfully.
Oliver stopped, and then turned to face her. "Somebody in this family needs to put an end to this." He told her. "Whatever the cost."
Malcolm's eyes narrowed. Obviously Oliver lived, so had his plan failed?
Mia noticed his consternation. "Wait for it." She told him.
He walked out into the hall and headed for the stairs. Before he reached them he was stopped by a familiar voice.
"Hi."
He looked down to see Laurel standing in the foyer. "Hey." He said with a smile.
"I woke up and you were gone." She said.
"I'm really sorry about that." Oliver replied, heading down the stairs towards her.
"Oliver, I'm trying not to think that our history's repeating; that you're scared again." She started.
"No." he shook his head. "That's not it."
"Then will you tell me what's going on with you?" she begged.
They stared at each other for several moments. "There are so many things that I have wanted to tell you for so long." Oliver said finally, coming down the stairs to stand in front of Laurel.
"My fetish for green leather; my penchant for pointy objects." Roy joked, causing Mia to snort in amusement. "Hey, a few years later and this thing could have been a date night for them!" That earned him an elbow in the ribs.
"Quiet. He's being emotional." Mia told her husband.
"I never told you what happened to me on the island."
"You didn't have to." She said quickly. "I can see that it changed you."
"That's the thing. Laurel, it didn't. Those five years didn't change me." Oliver stated. "They just… they scraped away all the things that I wasn't, and revealed the person I always was, which is the person… that's who you always saw." He said with a smile. "I don't know how you saw it, but you did. Nobody in my life is who I thought they were," he admitted. "Except you." They kissed. Oliver savored the kiss; he knew it was probably his last. He pulled back and smiled at her. "Laurel, I need you to do something for me. Stay out of the Glades tonight." He asked gently.
"He's saying goodbye." Laurel realized. "He doesn't think he's going to win."
"He won't." Malcolm said coldly.
"You sure about that?" Mia asked pointedly.
"Why?" she asked.
He backed away. "You'll know soon." He promised. "One way or the other. I have to go." He said. He took one last look at her, and then turned and walked out of the mansion- in his mind for the last time.
The scene changed to Merlyn Global. Tommy stormed into Malcolm's newly repaired office, his eyes red from crying. He threw his jacket onto a chair and headed straight for his father's best scotch.
"It's over." He said. "Laurel and me, I mean. She's with Oliver, again. Always." He ranted, pouring himself a rather large drink.
Malcolm stood there, looking out his window onto the city that he would rebuild. "I'm sorry, Son." He said.
Tommy snorted. "Yeah, and he said you wanted to nuke the Glades or something." He added, moving over to his father's side. "You know, it's funny, scotch doesn't make it any more believable. Maybe after your jihad, we can grab some steaks." He continued.
Tommy shook his head. "How could I be so blind?" he wondered.
"Every child wants to think the best of their parents." Felicity said soberly. "Because they don't want to deal with the disappointment they feel when they find out they're not."
"Speaking from experience?" he asked.
Felicity sighed. "Yeah." She said.
"It's true, Tommy." Malcolm said, turning to face his son. "It's the reason I closed your mother's clinic. I didn't want to see it leveled."
Tommy stared back at him, his father's admission piercing the fog of alcohol. "What?" he asked unsteadily.
"I have something I'd like you to listen to." Malcolm said, patting him on the shoulder and heading to his desk. There was a small decorative vase sitting on the corner. He pulled off the top and flipped it over, revealing a small cell phone attached to the top. "The night your mother died, she called me. I awoke to a voicemail from her." He told him.
"Dad—"
"Her final gift to me." He pressed play on the voicemail.
'Malcolm, I'm in trouble.' Rebecca's weak voice said from beyond the grave. 'I told-I told him to take everything. My money…my ring.'
Tommy paled visibly, hearing his mother's voice for the first time in years… her final words…"Oh my god…" he rasped, and laurel put an arm around him to comfort him.
Thea gasped when the message started playing. She had been wondering since this all started how Malcolm could become a homicidal psychopath- but as she looked over at the man and saw him mouthing the words along with the recording from memory, she suddenly realized why he was how he was- his grief had turned to madness. Thea shifted her gaze to Mia, who stared at Malcolm with a deep sadness in her eyes.
Tommy listened, horrified; his mother's dying voice instantly sobering him up. "Turn it off." He pleaded.
'They shot me.' Rebecca continued shakily. 'I screamed for help, but no one would come.'
"No one would come." Malcolm said at the same time. He had the message memorized.
'Malcolm, I don't want to die alone.' She pleaded.
"Jesus Christ, Merlyn." Quentin breathed. There wasn't a dry eye in the room; even Slade was moved, having known loss as Malcolm had.
"She bled out into the pavement while people passed, did nothing." Malcolm said as Rebecca cried on the voicemail. "Your mother built her clinic in the Glades because she wanted to save this city. It can't be saved." He declared. "Because the people there don't want it to be saved."
"So you kill them all—" Tommy asked, appalled.
"YES! THEY DESERVE TO DIE!" Malcolm screamed in a rage, causing Tommy to jump. "ALL OF THEM! THE WAY SHE DIED!" Tommy stared at him in shock.
"Mom would NEVER had wanted that." Tommy said hoarsely.
"You were eight when she was murdered. I hardly think you are an authority on what she would or wouldn't have wanted." Malcolm said icily.
"Mom dedicated her life to helping people!"
"And she gave her life when those same people refused to help her!" Malcolm shouted.
"She called you for help, and you didn't come." Roy pointed out harshly, cutting Malcolm to the quick. "So why didn't you do us all a favor and put a bullet in your own brain?"
Malcolm jumped up from his seat, but froze when Mia followed his to his feet, rapidly withdrawing her bow and drawing an arrow. "Sit. Down." She ordered. Reluctantly, Malcolm did so. "And pay attention. You don't want to miss what comes next." She glanced at her husband, silently giving him a warning. He shrugged his shoulders, but turned his attention back to the screen. Satisfied that the situation was momentarily diffused, Mia sat back down, draping her bow over her knees.
The scene changed to the Lair. Oliver walked in to find Diggle and Felicity already there. "The Undertaking is happening tonight." He announced.
"Oliver, Felicity may have found something." Diggle said.
Felicity held up the notebook, showing the symbol on the inside cover. "This symbol is a map of the old subway tunnel system." She stated.
"That's what got us thinking the Undertaking is connected to the Glades." Oliver noted.
"What if it's more specific than that?" she asked.
Oliver looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"
"If I had a machine that could trigger an earthquake in an otherwise geologically stable area, where would I position it? She asked.
Oliver suddenly understood. "Underground." He said.
"Yeah." She pulled up a geographical map on the screen. "This is a U.S. geological survey of the tectonic plates running underneath Starling City." She explained, and then pointed to the screen. "This red line here is a known fault that runs right below the Glades. About a mile, the fault runs underneath the old Tenth Street subway line. Dollars to donuts, the seismic device is somewhere along there."
Felicity gave a satisfied smile to Malcolm. "Check." She said.
He grinned back at her- a grin filled with malice. "We'll see." Was all he said.
"I know where it is." Oliver suddenly said. Before he could explain, his phone rang. He stepped away and answered it. "Now is not a good time." He said crossly.
"Yeah, understate much?" Thea replied, walking through the foyer of the mansion towards the sitting room. "Mom has a whole bunch of reporters here. She's holding a press conference or something." She told him.
"What channel?" he demanded.
Thea looked at the packed room. "Ah, it looks like all of them." She said.
Moira straightened in her seat, and Malcolm leaned forward, extremely interested.
Oliver turned around. "Felicity, pull up the local news, please." He asked, moving back towards her. She did so just as Moira began to speak
"My name is Moira Dearden Queen. I am the acting CEO of Queen Consolidated. And God forgive me, I have failed this city." Moira said. Thea watched on as police officers quietly entered the room and stood watch in the back. "For the past five years, under the threat for my life and the lives of my family, I have been complicit in an undertaking with one horrible purpose- to destroy the Glades and everyone in it." Thea's eyes widened in shock and reports gasped and started whispering to each other in surprise. Moira glanced off to the side to see Detective Hilton standing there, ready to take her in. "I realize now that my family's safety will mean nothing if I let this dreadful act occur." Moira continued.
At Merlyn Global, Malcolm and Tommy were watching the broadcast on Malcolm's laptop. 'But you need to know that the architect of this nightmare is Malcolm Merlyn.'
"No!" he screamed in rage, slamming the lid of the computer and punching his desk, shattering the glass.
"Yes, and I have proof that he has killed dozens in pursuit of this madness." Moira continued over the startled whisperings of the press. "Adam Hunt, Frank Chen, and my husband Robert. Please." She looked at Thea, who was shocked beyond measure. She looked back into the camera. "If you reside in the Glades, you need to get out now." Laurel watched the broadcast from CNRI. "Your lives and the lives of your children depend on it." Lance stood next to Pike in the SCPD, watching in stunned silence. "Please." Moira stepped down and hurriedly made her way to Thea as the reporters all began shouting questions at once.
Malcolm shook his head and sighed. "I underestimated you, Moira." He admitted. "I'd never think you would go public like that."
"I should have done it years ago." She replied.
"I don't understand." Thea said in shock.
"I'm sorry." Moira said, crying. "I love you."
"I love Roy." She said, suddenly terrified.
For once, Roy didn't have a glib remark to make. Instead he reached over and took Mia's hand in his own.
"Roy?"
"He lives in the Glades." She said, tears in her eyes. "I can't leave him there." She spun and ran out of the room.
"Sweetheart-Thea!" Moira called out. She wanted to go after her, but was restrained by a patrol officer as Hilton began reading her her rights. "Moira Queen, you're under arrest for conspiracy. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney."
Back at Merlyn Global, Tommy looked at his father in stunned disbelief. "Is it true?" he asked. "Did you kill all those people?"
Malcolm glared at his son. "I did what I had to do." He said coldly. He moved to the wall, looking back to see that Tommy was still watching him. He slid a painting to the side, revealing a fingerprint scanner. He placed his thumb on it and it activated; a moment late it beeped and a light turned green. He slid the painting back, and a second later the wall slid to the side, revealing his League of Assassins armor to a stunned Tommy, who gasped. He looked between the costume and his father, and finally realized that Oliver had been right.
Tommy stared at the costume. "How do you even breath in that thing?"
"And be honest- how badly does it ride up in the crotch?" Roy joked.
Mia sighed. "And you were doing so well…."
"Freeze!" Tommy looked over to see three S.W.A.T. officers rush in, weapons aimed at his father. "Malcolm Merlyn, you are under arrest." The leader said. Malcolm ducked into his armory, and the cops opened fire, missing him. They moved cautiously to the doorway-
But Malcolm came out with a broadsword.
"Not the weapon I was expecting…" Tommy admitted.
"Dad, no!" Tommy screamed in shock. Malcolm slit the first officer's throat, and then impaled the second. As he batted away the gun from the third, Tommy reached down and yanked free the dead cop's pistol. He shakily pointed it at his father, backing up towards the wall as approached him. All three cops were now dead. "Please, Dad. Stay back." He raised the gun, pointing it at his father's chest. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You can't." Malcolm said. "And you can't stop me." He brought the sword up, forcing the gun away, and then belted him on the temple with the hilt, knocking him out cold.
"You should have shot him." Thea told her half-brother darkly.
"We tried that once; he wears Kevlar, remember?" Mia said before Tommy could say anything.
"So," Tommy said, looking at his father. "Is this the part where you kill me?"
Malcolm actually looked affronted, even as Mia, Sara and Roy traded glances. "I would never kill my own son, Tommy." He told him truthfully. "Did I have to hurt you then? Yes, I did. But I would never kill you." He emphasized.
The scene changed to the foundry.
"Oliver, I'm sorry." Felicity said as Oliver stood in front of his crate.
"Don't be." He said. "She gave those people a chance." He opened the lid.
"I thought Merlyn broke your bow." Dig said.
Oliver reached down reverently and rand his hands over the bow- Yao Fei's bow. He picked it up and spun it- it still felt comfortable in his hands. "I have another." He said.
"I can't believe he kept that." Slade noted in amusement.
"I was going over the device schematics." Felicity stated. "The device can be set for a timed detonation or can be remote activated by a mobile transmitter."
"Something Merlyn could have on him." Dig noted. "Listen, Oliver, if we can just get our hands on this transmitter, maybe we don't need to track down the device." He suggested.
"It's too big of an 'if,' Diggle." Oliver replied. "I need you in the subway. Find the device, disarm it."
"So you can take on Merlyn by yourself?"
"I have to."
"Oliver, he'll kill you." Dig said bluntly.
"I know." Oliver admitted to their shock. "He's beaten me twice. And I don't know how to stop him."
"Ok." Dig said. "Well, how about this time, you bring along something you didn't have the last time you two fought- Me."
Oliver shook his head. "I can't let you."
"I can't let you do this by yourself, man." Dig stated. "Oliver, you are not alone, not since you brought me into this." He looked back to Felicity. "Us into this." He added. Oliver looked back to Felicity, and she smiled. "Besides, army regulations- a soldier never lets a brother go into battle alone." Diggle held out his hand. After a moment, Oliver took it and they shook firmly.
"I'm out of bows." Oliver said.
Dig smirked "I got my gun."
"I know I've said it before to you, Mr. Diggle," Moira said, looking at the pair on the opposite couch. "But thank you both for helping my son."
"I guess it's up to me to do the dismantling." Felicity said.
"This whole area is ground zero." Oliver told her. "I want you out of here."
"If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving." She told him sternly.
Mia smiled as well. "I told you that you two were important." She said. Then she turned to her dad. "See what you could have done if you had a team like Oliver?"
"I did have a team." Malcolm said, referring to Tempest.
Mia shook her head. "No, you had minions ruled by fear. He has friends that genuinely care for one another."
"Besides, if I don't deactivate the device, who will?" she asked.
A thought occurred to Oliver. He walked over to a work table and picked up the phone.
In the SCPD, Lance received a call. "You were right." He said as he took the call.
"I need one more thing from you." Oliver said.
"Yeah? What do I got left to give?" Lance asked.
"I know where Merlyn is keeping the device." Oliver said. "It's in an abandoned subway station near Pabst Street."
Lance was stunned. "How do you know?" he asked.
"That's where his wife was murdered." Oliver explained. "I need someone I can trust to deactivate the device." He looked to Felicity, who smiled and nodded in agreement. "We have a mutual friend that I think could talk you through it."
Lance considered that. "She says you care about the people of this city, that it needs you." He said.
"Right now, Detective It needs you." Olive replied.
Lance hung up and exhaled sharply.
Laurel looked over to her dad and smiled. Sara leaned over and whispered, "You were always a hero to me.", causing him to blush slightly.
Down in the Glades, panic ruled. The looting and rioting had already started, and panicked people were running through the streets, carrying anything and everything they could. In his house, Roy watched the news in disbelief.
'Earlier today, Moira Queen, CEO of Queen Consolidated, admitted to a conspiracy to destroy the Glades. Everyone within a five mile radius is asked to evacuate.' He heard horns honking outside and he opened his door to reveal the chaos. 'Please leave the area immediately. Evacuation centers have been set up in Starling City.' Roy ran out of his house, unsure of what to do. He headed for the heart of the Glades to do what he could to help.
Approaching Pabst Street, Lance drove like a madman, his sired and lights blaring. Driving was hard enough with people running all over the place, but it was worse now that a rainstorm had started up. He skidded to a stop in the middle of the street, and then jumped out, heading the rest of the way on foot. He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and shined it at the boarded up entrance to the subway station. He kicked at the boards, breaking them loose, the squeezed in and headed down.
The scene changed to Merlyn Global. Oliver and Diggle cautiously entered Malcolm's office, and the first thing they spotted were the three dead officers.
"Looks like we missed him." Diggle said.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene flashed back to the island. Night had fallen, and Oliver finally made his way into the burned out ruins of the camp. "Shado! Slade!" he called out, searching for his friends. He spotted a case lying in the middle of the road. Curious, he toed the lid off, and then kneeled down to pick up Yao Fei's recurve bow. He looked at it, felt the weight of it in his hand, then picked up an arrow and nocked it. Suddenly he heard laughing, and he stood up and saw Slade, sitting with his back to some crates.
"Boy, I should have figured." He laughed and pulled himself to his feet. "You couldn't save the day without making a mess."
"Where's Shado?" Oliver asked.
"I thought she was with you." Slade said.
"Actually, she's with me." They both looked to see Fyers moving towards them, dragging Shado with him. He held his gun to her head.
"Let her go!" Slade yelled. He limped forward, but fell to his knees. "It's over, Fyers!"
Oliver calmly lifted the bow and drew back the string. "Let her go." He said calmly.
"Amazing." Fyers said. "A two year operation undone because a young playboy happened to wash up on the shore, and now here you are- a killer." He chuckled. "You wanted nothing more than to leave this island, and now you can. I can call in a rescue ship, you can go home!" He yanked Shado closer. "Tell me, Mr. Queen. Are you prepared to sacrifice your freedom?" he pushed Shado forward slightly. "For her?"
Oliver looked to Shado. She nodded imperceptibly. So he breathed, aimed-
And fired.
Fyers lurched back, releasing Shado. He gurgled slightly, then fell over, dead, with and arrow sticking out the center of his throat.
Thea gasped at the sight. Watching her brother's heroics over the past few days, she had allowed herself to forget that Oliver had trained himself to become a killer- and this was visible proof.
Oliver tilted his head slightly, staring at his work. "Guess so." He said coldly. Slade looked at him in disbelief, but Shado looked at him and grinned slightly. She nodded, and then looked back at Fyer's corpse. Her father had been avenged.
PRESENT
In Merlyn Global, Oliver was still looking around when he suddenly heard coughing. He looked towards the windows and saw Tommy lying there, groaning.
"Tommy." He said worriedly, throwing back his hood and kneeling down besides his friend. He helped him up. "Tommy. Tommy!"
His eyes cleared. He had a gash under his left eye, but was otherwise unhurt. "Oliver." He finally said, recognizing his friend.
"Where's your father?" Oliver asked.
Tommy moved, but the room was still spinning. "Ohh." He blinked a few times, and everything settled down. "I don't know." He said finally. Tommy looked up at his friend. "You were right. You were right about him." He admitted.
"Oliver." Dig called. Oliver looked back at his partner, who had found a crack in the wall- Merlyn's secret lair.
"Are you going to kill him?" Tommy asked.
Oliver stared at him for a few moments. "Get to safety." He finally said, rising and moving over to Diggle. Tommy got to his feet and made his way out.
"Looks like a false wall." Diggle said his gun at the ready. Oliver nodded and slid the wall open. Inside they found Malcolm, standing ready in his Dark Archer gear, sans the hood.
"Welcome, gentlemen. I've been waiting for you." Malcolm said "I wanted to see you watch your city die."
"Where's the transmitter?" Oliver demanded.
Malcolm smirked. "Somewhere I can easily get to it."
"I doubt it." Dig said. "You'll be too dead." Oliver drew and fired, but Malcolm was already moving, ducking to the side of the room. Dig followed him with a line of bullets, but he ducked behind a pillar. The two moved to follow, But Malcolm returned fire with his own bow. Oliver bent out of the path of an arrow just in time. Dig round the corner, but Malcolm deftly disarmed him, then kicked him away and threw the gun at Oliver, who ducked to avoid it. Oliver and Diggle both moved in, working in tandem, but Malcolm was highly skilled and managed to hold his own. He kicked Oliver into a work table, then spun and smashed his bow across Digs face, sending him staggering back. Malcolm brought the bow down hard on Oliver, who raised his own to block it. Oliver punched him hard across the face, sending the older man staggering away. He moved behind a rack of swords, then pulled out a pair of throwing knives and launched them at Diggle. One hit him in the shoulder, the other in the upper thigh. Dig collapsed to the ground and Oliver ran over to him, giving Merlyn a chance to escape out a back entrance.
"Aaah!" Dig cried out, pulling at the knife in his shoulder. Oliver knelt down at his side, but Dig just gestured to where Merlyn had run. "Stairs. Go, go." He urged.
Dig shook his head in disappointment. "Should have brought something heavier." He said, critiquing himself.
Malcolm leaned forward, pleased enough with his performance thus far. And now that it was down to one on one, he had no doubt that he'd win the fight. He frowned then, thinking about that. If he won, then how would Oliver have become a hero in the future? His eyes flickered up to Mia, who smirked at her father in return.
Oliver ran up the stairs and threw open the access door to the roof, moving aside instinctually to avoid the arrow the now hooded Merlyn shot at him. He stepped out calmly onto the roof and faced his nemesis.
"So tell me," Malcolm said from under his hood, "are you ready to die?"
"You need to learn- he's too stubborn to die." Mia told him.
The scene changed to the abandoned subway. Lance was running down the track as Felicity talked to him in his ear from the Lair.
"You found it yet, Detective?" she asked.
"Not exactly sure what I'm looking for." He gasped out.
"Do you want me to describe it to you?" Felicity asked. Lance stopped, staring ahead. Before him was the Markov device.
"No, I've got it." He said, moving cautiously towards it.
"You should see something that looks like a circuit board." She told him, staring at the schematics on her computer. "Pull it out." He pulled the cover off the device and looked around. "Do you see a timer?" she asked.
Lance looked around and saw a countdown clock on the devices' base. "Seven minutes." He told her.
Felicity swallowed. "Ok. Well, the good news is, this is going to be a paperweight in three."
In the Glades, Roy was running around, frantically thinking of what he could do. All around her people were running, screaming; some were looting. He heard some shouting closer to him and he looked down an alley to see a man being assaulted.
"What do you got there, grandpa?" one punk asked. "Hey! Hey!" Roy shouted, running down the alley. He saw two punks dragging an old man while a third one watched. "Hey! Back off!" Roy shouted.
"Learn how to count, jerk wad." The leader said. "There's three of us."
"Oh, is that right?" Roy said, moving towards them. One punk roared and ran at him, his pal close behind, and the old man took off. He dodged the first one and punched the second in the face, then grabbed his head and smashed it through a window near the ground. The other punk grabbed him from behind in a choke, but Roy used his leverage to flip the punk over him and onto the back of the first punk, taking them both out. He stood up and brushed his hands. "'Cause I only count one." He said, moving towards the leader.
"With a gun." The leader said, pulling out a .38 revolver. Roy froze, his life flashing before his eyes-
And then, from out of nowhere, a bottle flew and smashed against the back of the leaders head, dropping him like a stone as Roy looked on in shock. He got a bigger shock when he looked up and saw Thea.
Moira looked at her daughter, a look of worry, disappointment- and pride- on her face. Thea just shrugged.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" he asked.
"I guess I have wicked aim." She said shakily.
"What?" he walked up to her, still not believing she was there.
"I went to your house." She said.
"Yeah, I figured I'd run for my life with everyone else." Roy said. "Did you-did you come to rescue me?" he asked.
"Yeah." She smiled.
He smiled back. "Come on." He said, taking her arm and leading her away.
Roy smiled at Mia. "My hero."
"Someone had to save your ass." She said reasonably.
"The first of many times." Roy said sagely.
Back on the roof of Merlyn Global, the two archers were sending arrow after arrow at each other. Both were running low, and then suddenly Malcolm was out. They ran towards each other, and as they came together Malcolm swung his bow at Oliver's head. Liver dropped to his knees, sliding under the blow, then raised his bow up to block the follow up. They began trading blows furiously, expertly wielding their bows like bo staffs. Oliver spun away and fired another arrow- which Malcolm caught inches from his face- which then exploded, sending him sprawling.
"He's learning." Malcolm noted wryly.
In the foundry, Felicity was talking Lance through disarming the device. "There are three wires- you need a green one, a yellow and one blue." She said. "Cut the blue."
"All right, I got it, I got it." Lance said in the subway. He cut the wire- and suddenly the device seemed to come alive. He looked over to the clock and saw it reset itself to two minutes. "Oh, my God." He said, watching in horror as the arm of the device lowered itself into place. "No, no, no, no, no!"
"There must be some sort of anti-tamper safeguard." Felicity said calmly. "Hold on. I'm going to try to figure out how to override it."
Lance stood and backed away from the device. "Not enough time." He muttered. "There's not enough time!" he screamed.
"Just hold on!" Felicity urged him calmly.
"Not enough time." Lance pulled out his own phone and dialed a number. "Laurel." He said once she picked up.
"Dad, don't worry, I got your message, and I did not come into work today." She lied as she frantically boxed up files at CNRI.
Quentin glared at his daughter. "Of course you went down to the Glades, despite everyone telling you not to."
"Save it, kiddo, we both know you're there." He said. "But listen-you got to get out of the Glades. You got to get out of the Glades right now!" he said urgently. "Ok, please."
"Dad?" Laurel said, concerned.
"Right now, Laurel! Right now, Laurel!" he screamed over the phone.
"Daddy, you're scaring me." She said, suddenly very afraid.
Laurel's face went from defiant to worried as the conversation continued. Tommy reached over and grabbed her hand.
"Sorry, but… I'm not I'm not going to make it." Lance told her.
"What? What?!" she exclaimed tearfully.
"You have to promise me one thing, Laurel. You're not going to die along with me. You have to go on with your life. After your sister died, I pushed people away, I became like a ghost." He told her. "I didn't think I had the right to live when my baby girl didn't. Promise me you're not going to make the same mistakes as I did." He asked her.
Sara rubbed her father's back and whispered "I'm sorry." to him.
"Where are you?" Laurel whispered, crying.
"Promise me, Laurel." He begged her. "Promise me."
"I promise." She said brokenly.
Lance closed his eyes, and then wiped his tears away. He had to be strong for her right now. "I love you, honey, now and forever." He told her.
"I love you." Laurel replied. The line went dead. "Dad!" she yelled, and then began sobbing.
"Oh god, he's going to die down there, isn't he?" Laurel asked Mia fearfully. She gave a sob of relief when Mia shook her head.
"I know it looks bad right now, but your dad survives this." She told the distraught lawyer.
Lance hung up, and then took a breath. Suddenly the com link beeped.
"Detective Lance?" Felicity said. "I need you to listen to me very carefully." She told him.
In the Glades, Roy had liberated a truck and was driving himself and Thea out of the area. He was typing on his phone as he drove at breakneck speeds.
"You do know how dangerous it is to text and drive, right?" Thea asked. "It can wait!"
"No, it can't. I'm trying to find us another route out of here." He explained.
Thea grabbed the phone from him. "Let me. It's not worth the risk." She said. She looked out the windshield, and suddenly there was an SUV ahead, blocking the intersection. "Roy!"
Roy slammed on the breaks and spun the wheel. He skidded to a stop, barely missing the SUV and stopping just short of a person. He banged on the hood of the car. "Help me out! Help me out!"
Roy got out of the truck. In front of him was a bus that a car had smashed into. The car had hit right at the door, pinning everyone inside of the bus.
"Roy!" Thea screamed, getting out and running around the car to him. "Roy, stop! Roy! The device is about to go off any second!" she exclaimed.
Roy looked at the people trapped in the bus. "I can't leave anyone behind." He declared softly.
"I know you think you have something to prove." She cried. "But you're not the Vigilante!"
Roy took her by the shoulders. "Look, I can't do this unless I know you're safe." He told her.
"Then you better haul ass out of here, too." She said. They kissed, illuminated by the falling sparks of a busted transformer. He broke away and pressed his forehead to hers, staring into her eyes. She nodded, and then ran back to the truck. He watched her climb in and drive off to safety, then turned back to the bus.
"Always got to be the hero." Mia said fondly. He grinned sadly in return. This wasn't the time for jokes- not when they both knew what was coming.
On the rooftop of Merlyn Global, Malcolm had traded his bow for a sword. They were fighting in close, with Oliver blocking the sword with his bow. Finally he kicked it away, then kicked Malcolm, sending him sprawling. He staggered to his feet just as Oliver jumped at him. Oliver wrapped his legs around Malcolm's head and did a huricanrana, landing Malcolm back to the ground on his back as Oliver landed on top. Malcolm slid away and got up jumping at Oliver and spinning from an arm bar to a reverse choke. He reared back, cutting off Oliver's air. He reached back and ripped off Malcolm's hood, trying to find something to hit, but he couldn't. Diggle, who had managed to drag himself up the stairs, looked on in horror.
"Don't struggle. It's over." Malcolm said as the two sank to their knees. Oliver was trying desperately to get air, but Malcolm was just too damn strong. "There was never any doubt in the outcome." Malcolm said. "Don't worry. Your mother and sister will be joining you in death." He snarled.
"You fucking bastard." Thea snarled at Malcolm, who was smiling as he watched.
"Mind your language, Thea." He warned. "Cursing is-."
Oliver struggled with all of his might. In his mind, he saw his father, heard his last command. 'Survive.' On the ground in front of him lay a black arrow. He reached out for it even as his vision blurred and darkened. His flailing fingers finally grasped the shaft. Without hesitation, he lifted the arrow and jammed it through his own chest and into Malcolm's. Malcolm screamed in pain and finally let go, and Oliver allowed himself to fall forward, letting the arrow go through him all the way. Malcolm fell back, gasping in pain.
Malcolm had stopped speaking, looking in in stunned disbelief.
"Holy shit." Tommy said, summing up what everyone else was thinking.
"See?" Mia said simply.
"Thank you for teaching me what I'm fighting for." Oliver snarled, pulling himself to his feet. He looked down at his enemy. "But my father taught me how." Malcolm tried to rise, but Oliver punched him solidly in the jaw, knocking him down as Diggle watched in stunned silence.
Down in the subway, Lance was frantically following Felicity's instructions. "Come on!" he said in frustration, twisting two wires together.
"Do a good job, do a good job, do a good job…" Felicity muttered under her breath like a mantra.
He pulled a third- and the machine sputtered and died. He sat back, relieved.
Felicity pumped her fist in the air. "Good job!" She smiled triumphantly at Malcolm. "Choke on that!"
On the rooftop, Oliver got a message from Felicity. Oliver, Lance did it. Oliver stared down at Malcolm. "It's over." He told him.
"If I've learned anything as a successful businessman," he said weakly, coughing, "it's…redundancy." Malcolm finally collapsed, unconscious.
Malcolm's smile widened as Felicity's face fell. "Checkmate." He said.
Oliver stared at him for a moment before the realization hit him. "Felicity, there's another device." He said with dread in his voice. "There's two of them!"
On the east side of the Glades, in an abandoned subway station, the second Markov device lowered into place and activated. Almost immediately the shaking began.
On Pabst Street Lance staggered out of the subway, swaying wildly with the shaking ground. "What the hell's happening?!" he yelled.
At CNRI, the office started shaking itself apart. Laurel looked around, and then stopped Anastasia. "Ok, that's enough." She said.
In the Lair, Felicity sat stunned as the lights flickered and the foundry shook around her.
On the roof of Merlyn Global, Dig and Oliver hobbled to the edge of the roof to take in the devastation.
Malcolm watched in satisfaction. 'The device worked perfectly,' he thought. 'Now I just have to adjust my plans….'
On the ground in the Glades, Lance called in to Felicity. "I turned the damn thing off!" he shouted.
"Merlyn had a second device!" Felicity replied, crying.
"My daughter! Laurel! She's at CNRI!" Lance cried in horror, and then took off in a run to CNRI.
At the law office, Laurel pushed her coworker forward. "Run!" she told her. Laurel grabbed some files and tried to make her way around to the exit, but the shaking threw her off balance. She looked up just as a support beam came swinging down from the ceiling, hitting her and sending her crashing into the wall. She fell to the ground, stunned, and chunk of the concrete wall fell on top of her. Anastasia made it outside, and spun around, expecting to see her. She didn't. "Laurel!" she yelled, hoping her friend would appear.
Quentin looked up at Mia, fear etched on his face. "She'll be fine." She assured him. "She makes it out alive."
In the foundry, Felicity tearfully called her boss. "Oliver?"
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah." She gasped as several machines exploded behind her, and dust rained down from an aftershock. She still had power, though, and she pulled up a damage assessment on her computer. "The damage seems to be contained on the east side, past Wells Street." She said.
Oliver stared in shock. "Laurel." He realized. He looked to Diggle. "Are you going to be ok?"
"Am I going to be okay?" Dig asked in wonder. "Hell, is HE going to be okay!"
"Go, go, go." He told him. Oliver ran off to get his bike while Diggle stayed on the roof, watching the city burn.
At CNRI, Laurel was waking up. She pushed futilely at the concrete that lay across her chest, but it wouldn't move. "Help!" she cried out, sobbing. "Please! Help me!" Suddenly Tommy was there. He ran to her and gripped the concrete. "Tommy!" Laurel cried out in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
The satisfaction Malcolm was feeling just moments ago vanished in an instant as he saw his son enter the damaged building. He leaned forward, watching with rapt attention.
Tommy sat up straighter in his seat as now Laurel was gripping his hand. 'This is it,' he thought to himself.
"I kind of figured that you might come back to CNRI." He said, grunting as he tried to move the rubble.
"You came here for me?" she asked in shock.
Tommy looked into her eyes. "I love you." He told her. He grunted and heaved mightily, finally lifting the rubble. Laurel crawled out as fast as she could. "Get up! Go!" Tommy yelled. "I'm right behind you!"
Laurel bolted out of the collapsing building, making it to the street just as Quentin ran up.
"Laurel! Laurel!" he shouted in relief.
"Dad! Dad!" Laurel collapsed into his arms.
"Oh, thank God." He said. Suddenly there was a terrible sound, and they looked up to see the building collapse upon itself. Laurel made to run back in, but Quentin stopped her.
"No! No! Laurel!" he cried out, desperately holding her back. "No, you can't!"
"Tommy!" she cried out in terror.
"You can't! It's too late, it's too late." Quentin said, pulling her close as she sobbed.
Laurel gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. Thea gripped Tommy's arm in a panic, and she turned desperately to Mia. "He's okay, right?" she asked, pleading. "He makes it out all right, right?" Mia stared back at her younger self- so young, so relatively innocent- and wanted to spare her the pain of this moment. She wanted to spare them all the pain- it was why she was doing this, after all. "Mia? Please?" Thea asked weakly. Even Malcolm was looking at her now, hoping she would announce that his son would be okay.
Mia shifted her gaze to Tommy. "I'm so sorry." She told him softly.
He smiled weakly. "If this is how I go out, who am I to complain?"
Oliver had sped like a demon to reach the place, but navigating the rubble of the Glades had slowed him down. He finally reached the back of the building, and as he climbed off he could hear Laurel screaming in the street.
"Tommy! Ah, Tommy." She cried out.
Oliver ran into the burning building, desperately looking for his friend. He finally found him, partially buried in the rubble.
"You're going to be fine." Oliver promised him, moving the heavy concrete off of his friend.
"Another thing… we got to disagree on." Tommy gasped. Oliver removed the last piece to find a grizzly sight- a long piece of rebar, piercing the center of Tommy's chest.
Tommy's eyes closed as Laurel and Thea both let out heart-wrenching screams of despair. Moira and Felicity were both crying openly, and both Diggle and Slade bowed their heads in respect- both being soldiers, they knew the price defending those they loved could cost, and both respected Tommy immensely in that moment.
Malcolm shot to his feet, dread and despair on his face. "No!" he exclaimed, staring at the image in shock. "No, not Tommy…"
He looked at it in despair. "Tommy…"
"Is-is Laurel safe?" he asked. "Is Laurel safe? I tried to get her out of here." He asked weakly, his life slipping away.
"Yeah, yeah, you did." Oliver said, forcing a smile. "You saved her. I'm going to get you out of here." He told him, looking for a way to get him off the rebar without killing him- praying for a way. "You're going to be fine."
"Stop." Tommy pleaded softly. Oliver paused, looking at his friend with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry." Tommy said.
"No. Don't apologize." Oliver told him.
"I was angry." He continued. "And I was jealous. I- I am my father." He murmured.
Oliver shook his head. "No." he put a hand on Tommy's face. "No, you're not."
"Did-did you kill him?" he asked, fading.
Oliver looked his friend in the eye. "No." he said.
Tommy smiled. "Thank you." He said softly. He gave one last, shuddering breath, and then he was gone.
"No, no!" Oliver cried, "Tommy!" tears were falling freely now. "It should have been me. Open your eyes, Tommy!" he sobbed. "Open your eyes."
Outside, Lance stood consoling Laurel as Anastasia stood by, while all around them the Glades crumbled to the ground.
The scene faded to black. Mia rose from her seat, staring evenly at the broken figure that was her father. "You said, at the beginning of this set, that you knew what you were willing to sacrifice." She started quietly. "So tell me- are you truly willing to sacrifice your son to avenge your wife? Your son; Rebecca's son." She went on, driving the point closer to home. "Are you willing to sacrifice him, Malcolm?" Mia picked up the remote and skipped back a short while, pausing on the frame where Tommy is revealed to have a piece of rebar piercing his chest. She paid no attention to the crying of the others around her; she kept her focus fixed on Malcolm. "Look at him." She commanded. When Malcolm's eyes didn't move towards the screen, she bellowed "LOOK AT HIM!" the outburst startled everyone, and suddenly all eyes were on the two. Malcom's eyes, however, had moved back to the screen. "Look upon your works, father! Look at what your vengeance has wrought!"
Malcolm shook his head in denial. "No, the plan is sound." He insisted. "There are just a few changes- keep Tommy out of the Glades… and you…."
"That's what you're taking away from this?" she asked in disbelief. "That the plan is good, you just need to mind your kids a bit better?!"
"He wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for you!" Malcolm shouted at Laurel, taking a menacing step forward and casing the lawyer to shrink back in fear.
"NO!" Mia yelled, stalking over to her father and pushing him back. "This isn't on Laurel! Tommy didn't go down there just because of Laurel! He went down there because he's a good man! Better than me, and damn well better than you!" she glared at him. "He went down there because his father had just committed MASS MURDER, and he needed to do something to make it right!"
"They don't deserve his help!"
"They deserve it and more!" Mia thundered. "But you want to keep living under the delusion that you can somehow save your plan and keep your children alive, well then let me drop this on you. I've run every calculation, viewed every permutation. And in the end, there is only one certain thing about that night. Whether you succeed or fail, whether Oliver stops you, or kills you, or lets you live- either Tommy or I die." She got right up into his face. "One of us dies, no matter what you do. So I ask you again- are you willing to sacrifice Tommy's life- or my life- to sate your vengeance? Are you willing to kill one of your children to avenge your dead wife? Well?" she demanded. "What are you prepared to do?!"
Malcolm stared at his daughter's enraged face, then at Tommy, still pale and shaking on the couch, holding on to the two most important women in his life. Then he looked back at the screen, at his son's lifeless corpse-
He turned and fled out of the room without another word.
TBC…
A/N: Something I noticed. When Lance arrested Felicity, it was night. When he took her into the interrogation room, it was daytime. Wha….
A/N 2: So I guess Malcolm had a secret Dark Archer room in his office as well as his penthouse. I like to think that he has a room like that in all of his buildings, just in case.
A/N 3: Wow. That ending…. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever written. FYI, I found a site that had very basic transcripts of each episode- but that was actually only the Closed Captioning, and sometimes not even that. As a result, I've re-watched each episode as I re-transcribed it, adding in quotation marks, scene settings, descriptions of actions, and the occasional thoughts. Then I go back and add in all of my character's. This first season took me almost three months to complete. But as I was re-watching Sacrifice, I was legit crying at Tommy's death, something I rarely do. That's one of the things I love about this show- it provokes a visceral reaction at times.
A/N 4: on a happier note, the line "Hell, he didn't know how to program the DVR!" was originally going to read "Hell, he didn't know how to program the VCR!"- and then I wondered how many readers would know what a VCR is. Ask your parents, kids!
TEASER: And just because I'm in a good mood, let me give you a little taste of Chapter 26: Black Canary:
"Thinking upon your sins, Mr. Merlyn?"
He didn't open his eyes. "Tempting fate, Miss Lance?" he growled.
"There's no fate but what we make." She replied. "Though I am thinking of making a little fate right now…"
Malcolm opened his eyes to tell her exactly what she could make- but he froze. Standing before him wasn't the Laurel Lance that had been clinging to his son mintues before. This woman was older- her long hair dyed bleach blonde; she was dressed in leather pants, boots and a black leather jacket that covered her arms but allowed her halter to showcase her chest. "Miss Lance," Malcolm said warily, rising to his feet. "My how you've grown…"
Dinah stared back at him with cold eyes as she began to move around him. "Do you know why you're here, Mr. Merlyn?"
"Because my daughter wants to undo all that I've done over the past ten years?" he replied dryly, never taking his eyes off of her.
Dinah smiled coldly. "She believes you're here so that you can change and become a nice guy." She said sarcastically. "But we both know better. You're a monster, who hid behind the façade of the altruistic businessman. The humanitarian of the year." She scoffed. "You're actually here because you're a mad dog that needs to be put down."
Malcolm smirked. "And you're the one that's going to do it?" he asked. "What do you plan to do, counselor? Argue me to death?"
Dinah Laurel Lance grinned maliciously. "Shall I begin my oral arguments?"