Disclaimer: Arrow is owned by The CW, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. The characters of the Green Arrow and the Justice League is owned by DC Comics. I own nothing; I'm just playing in their universe.
Chapter 37: Blast Radius
When Laurel awoke the next morning, the first thing she did as she lay in bed was lift up her shirt and stare at the long, thin scar that Slade's attack had left. She trailed her finger up and down it lightly, as if she was feeling her own mortality. Idly she wondered how many scars her elder self had, and then shuddered at the thought. Giving up sleep as a lost cause, Laurel pulled herself out of bed and quickly showered and dressed. Laurel left her room and began wandering the halls, walking aimlessly around the station as her mind continued to race. Soon enough she found herself in the observatory- and saw that she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.
"Thea?" she called out tentatively.
Thea turned away from the window and gave her a wan smile. "Hey. Couldn't sleep?"
Laurel stepped up to stand next to the girl, and they both gazed out of the window down at the Earth below. "No." she said.
"Me, neither." Thea said. "I almost died yesterday."
"Me, too." Laurel said.
"Kind of weird to think I was actually in less danger of dying when I was getting drunk and high." Thea said.
"You know, the first thing I thought of when I got out of the infirmary was to get drunk." Laurel admitted. "But then again, that doesn't seem to be doing much good in those memories."
"Learn from your mistakes?" Thea asked. Laurel nodded. "I've seen who I could become, and it scares me. Terrifies me." Thea admitted. "I don't want to be her."
"Then don't be." Laurel said, turning to face the girl. "I refuse to be a bitter old drunk who carries a grudge for 25 years. And you don't want to become Mia. We're here to change the future, Thea. We're here to make sure we don't become those people."
"I thought we were here to help Oliver."
Laurel shrugged. "Why can't we do both?" she asked, turning back to the window. "At the very least, we got two good things out of this."
"Besides near-death experiences?" Thea joked.
Laurel snorted. "Yeah, besides that. We got to see the worst of ourselves, so we know how we don't want to end up."
Thea glanced at Laurel. "And what's the second thing?"
Laurel gestured out the window. "We got a hell of a view."
The two stood in companionable silence for several moments before Thea spoke again. "We should totally start fighting right now to freak them out."
Laurel laughed. "You just want to punch me for prosecuting your mother."
Thea snorted. "Hell, I'd beat your ass for a Klondike Bar."
"Nice."
A little over an hour later, everyone was gathered back in the viewing room eating breakfast. As the visitors finished Mia, Sara and Roy entered the room. Mia paused and looked at Slade's empty chair.
"Rose want to burn it." She told her husband.
Roy snorted. "Rose wants to burn everything."
"She was going to stick her sword through it, but I told her it would freak out the group."
"Yeah, 'cause nothing else has freaked us out yet." Tommy said sarcastically.
"Does that include watching my younger self try to kiss you?" Mia asked with a smile.
"You really do want me to kill myself, don't you?" Thea asked dryly. She looked to Sara. "Hey, if I cut my own vocal cords, would she still be able to talk?"
"Knowing our luck? Yes." Sara said in morbid amusement.
Mia shook her head at her younger self, and then turned to address the group. "Once again, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for endangering you all. It was a mistake to bring Slade here with you…"
Laurel stood, and Mia stopped speaking. "Ollie would have wanted to try." She told the older woman. "And as the most wronged party here, I think I speak for everyone when I say that I don't blame you."
Mia smiled softly at Laurel. "Thank you." She said sincerely. Laurel nodded and sat back down gingerly, still a bit sore. "All right then. Let's get this show on the road. Miles to go, etcetera…" the three Justice League members took their seats, and Rose dimmed the lights and started the next memory set.
The memory set opened down in the warehouse district. A man was driving through a sawmill, dodging around stacks of equipment and lumber, when suddenly he slammed to a stop. Ahead of him, just stepping off of his motorcycle, was The Arrow. The man snarled and hit the gas, while at the same time pulling out his Desert Eagle and firing out of his window.
Lance snorted. "Idiot. The only thing you hit by shooting like that is innocent bystanders." He shook his head. "It's like holding the gun sideways. Looks good in the movies, but in real life you get a spent casing up your nostril."
"That sounds uncomfortable." Felicity noted.
The shots all went wide, the massive .50 cal handgun impossible to control with one hand while driving. Oliver just stood there, unmoving, before finally drawing an explosive arrow and firing it into the car's engine. The warhead exploded, sending a show of sparks up that blinded the driver, and the car swerved off to the left flipping over on some pipes before sliding on its roof into a stack of wood.
The Arrow approached the car cautiously, drawing another arrow. He peered into the car, only to find it empty. He looked up to see the man limping rapidly into the mill and followed. He stayed on the catwalks, following cautiously behind the driver, ducking behind steel posts as the man turned and fired. He ran up a gantry to the top of a crane and watched as the man reloaded his gun. Then, as soon as he looked up, Oliver fired a bolo arrow at the man's feet. The compressed high-tension wire wrapped itself around the man's ankles, and Oliver jumped off the platform, pulling the line taught as he dropped. The man was lifted eight feet into the air by the time that Oliver landed softly on the ground, and he released some of the line to bring him down eye-to-eye. He grasped the man's hand and twisted, putting pressure on his wrist.
"That might actually be fun, if he wasn't so terrifying." Tommy joked.
"Now, imagine that being done by a guy dressed like a bat." Mia said with a smirk. "Ollie is scary. The Bat is downright terrifying."
"Ollie's got a better voice, though." Sara noted.
"True that." Roy agreed.
"Whoa, oh, ahh! Ahh!" the driver screamed in pain.
"The man in the skull mask, who is he?!" the Arrow demanded.
"Laurel's boyfriend." Thea said with a snicker. Laurel let out an exasperated sigh, but smiled at the girls joke.
"I-I don't know!" the man protested.
"You're the biggest street dealer in Crescent Circle." The Arrow replied. "You know everything that goes on over there. Who is he?!"
"I ain't seen the guy before! A skull mask, are you freaking kidding me?! Come on, man, I'm still on parole!" he protested fearfully.
"Not anymore." The vigilante replied, before slugging him into unconsciousness.
"He won't find out this way." Malcolm noted. "Someone like Blood, he would rarely interact directly with the street level people."
"And his lieutenants wouldn't be your common, run of the mill criminals either." Diggle agreed.
The scene changed to the Lair. Diggle was watching the news at Felicity's desk when Oliver walked in.
'A spokesman for the Central City mayor's office confirmed the lack of any damage or radioactive fallout from the explosion that rocked S.T.A.R. Labs five weeks ago.'
"Is Felicity not back yet?" Oliver asked the bodyguard.
"She said she wanted to spend a few more days with Barry." He replied.
Oliver felt a flare of jealousy, but quickly stamped it out. "Any improvement in his condition?"
"Still comatose." Diggle reported.
"For nine months." Roy added.
"Man, that would suck." Tommy said, then shrugged. "Still, could be worse- at least there wasn't any rebar around."
"That's not funny." Laurel said at once.
"If I don't joke about it, I'll go insane." Tommy replied in a pained voice.
"How'd it go out there tonight?"
"Same as every other pointed conversation I have with these lowlifes in Crescent Circle." Oliver said in aggravation as he put up his bow. "Nobody has seen a man in a skull mask. But he's still out there."
"Oliver, for the past five weeks, you've pushed yourself pretty hard looking for this guy." Diggle pointed out.
"He has the Mirakuru, Diggle!" Oliver exclaimed. "I mean, you saw what it took to kill one guy that had been injected. We practically had to drop a building on him. So imagine ten or a hundred, imagine a thousand."
"A thousand Slade's." Laurel said with a shudder.
"Yeah, that would be the definition of 'suck'." Felicity said.
"You said Roy was injected." Dig pointed out.
Oliver sighed. "Yeah."
"I've just never seen you spooked like this before." Dig said.
"That should tell you something." Oliver said pointedly, before grabbing his jacket and walking off.
FIVE YEARS AGO
Sara and Oliver stood silently as Slade finished placing the final stone on the rock cairn that contained Shado's body.
"Shado always told me that I wouldn't die here." Oliver said, looking down at the fresh grave. Next to it were the graves for Robert Queen and Yao Fei, each with a log laid on top with the name carved into it.
"Dad…" Thea whispered sadly, looking at the grave as Moira's hand came up to her mouth to stifle a sob. Malcolm glanced at his daughter forlornly, but held his peace.
"But looking back, I realized that she never once said that about herself. I just hope she's with her father now."
Slade stood wearily. He held Shado's hood to his nose, breathing in her scent one last time. He started to walk past Oliver, but then paused. "Here, kid." He said after a long moment, holding the hood out towards Oliver.
Oliver looked down at the hood. "She'd want you to have that." He told Slade.
"You're the one she cared for." Slade said mournfully. Oliver finally tuned to look at him, then after a moment took the hood. The older man walked off into the woods.
"Slade…" Oliver said, turning towards the other man and moving to go after him.
Sara grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Hey, Ollie, just give him space." She advised.
"I can't keep lying to him, Sara." Oliver said tersely. "I need to tell him how Shado really died."
"Ivo killed Shado." Sara said plainly. "He pulled the trigger."
"Because I chose to save you." Oliver shot back. "He needs to know the truth." He started to move off again.
"Would it have made a difference?" Laurel wondered.
"I ask myself that almost every night." Sara replied with a sigh. "I don't know. I just don't know."
"Wait, Ollie, he-" Sara grabbed his arm again.
Oliver jerked it free. "Get off me." He growled.
"He has the Mirakuru in his system now." Sara reminded him.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Oliver demanded.
"Look, the Japanese, they experimented on hundreds of men working to develop Mirakuru. And I read the research. The people who died? They were the lucky ones. The ones who survived, they were deformed. Either their bones or their minds." Sara explained worriedly as Oliver looked back at her, suddenly unsure. "They became someone else."
PRESENT
It was evening at the D.A.'s office. Working late, Laurel felt the need for a little pick me up. She reached into her purse and withdrew a prescription bottle, quickly popping the top and shaking out a pile, which she downed dry.
"You get a better buzz if you snort it." Thea suggested.
"Thea!" Moira exclaimed.
Thea shrugged. "What? Everyone knows I'm a junkie now. And if I didn't say it," she jutted her thumb at Mia. "She would have."
She picked up her coffee to wash the taste out of her mouth when Adam Donner walked in.
"You summoned me here for a drink?" he asked, looking appreciably at her snug, short maroon dress. "You certainly look dressed for it."
"No, I have a date." She informed him, sitting back down behind her desk.
"What are you working on?" Donner asked.
"Something to do with Sebastian Blood." She told her boss.
"Aka the next mayor of Starling City?" Donner asked to clarify.
"Well, maybe he shouldn't be." Laurel replied.
"Whaaaa….?" Tommy said, dumbfounded. "Wow, you turned on him so fast, I have whiplash."
"Seriously. What the hell?" Thea wondered.
"Probably got a clue when he showed up at the hospital." Laurel guessed.
"What does that mean?"
"I've just been doing some investigating." Laurel explained. "Blood had a connection to the Langford Psychiatric Institute. The one that burnt down under very mysterious circumstances."
"Do the police suspect arson?" Donner asked.
"No. They're saying that it's inconclusive." She said.
"No one found traces of all the gasoline Langford poured all over?" Tommy asked incredulously.
"Those finding were probably suppressed or destroyed." Malcolm reasoned. "Remember- he has friends in the police."
"But Blood also knew Cyrus Gold- the man that shot and killed four police officers."
"Laurel, where are you going with this?" Donner asked.
Laurel sighed. "I don't know." She admitted. "But I do have to go. I'm going to be late." She said, grabbing her purse.
"So who's the lucky guy?" Donner asked.
"Sebastian Blood." Laurel said with a smile.
"Oh, brialliant plan." Lance said sourly. "Investigate the guy while you date him."
Laurel rolled her eyes. "You're right, Dad. I should let you do that. Like you always do."
"Yeah, and if you'd listened to me about Queen in the first place, we wouldn't be here right now." He pointed out.
"You ran a criminal background check on my son when he started dating your daughter?" Moira asked incredulously.
"This surprises you?" Laurel asked.
"Please don't give her any ideas." Thea begged.
The scene changed to Verdant, where Oliver was on the stage giving a toast for the same man.
"…He's the man we need to see in the mayor's office. " Oliver was saying. "So, please, join me in our efforts to send Starling's favorite son there. To Sebastian Blood." Oliver raised his glass. "Sebastian for Starling."
"At least I wasn't the only one who fell for his charms." Laurel said pointedly.
"Well, Ollie was never that bright." Tommy pointed out. "Obviously that's why he found Felicity."
"Flatterer." Felicity said.
"Kiss-ass." Sara said at the same time. Both women laughed as Tommy pouted.
Blood walked onto the stage and shook Oliver's hand. "Thank you, Oliver." He told the other man as Oliver made his way off the stage. "And not just for your support, but also for your friendship. And thank all of you for coming." Blood told the crowd. "You know, when Oliver calls me a son of Starling City, it feels like the literal truth." Blood continued. "I was a street orphan, and this city raised me as one of its own. I am the man that I am today because of my Starling City family. So it's time that I start to give back. So thank you all for your support." He raised his glass as the crowd started to applaud, then made his way off the stage to glad-hand with the crowd. Oliver watched as he first made his way to Laurel, kissing her lightly.
"Nice speech, Ollie." Thea said, coming to her brother. "Who knew you cared so much about politics?"
"Well, I care about the city, and Sebastian has become something of a friend." Oliver admitted.
"He's got a way of doing that, apparently." Thea said, looking as Blood put an arm around Laurel's waist. Her double meaning was clear.
"Cute, Thea." Laurel said.
"That's very cute." Oliver told her, looking at her with a wry grin.
"See? Even Ollie agrees with me." Thea just rolled her eyes.
"Speaking of which, how's Roy?"
"Handsome, brooding, usual." Thea said. "Why is my boyfriend such a topic of interest?"
"Because I was hyped up on Jesus Juice." Roy said wryly.
"Well, Thea, his idol put an arrow in him, and I just… wanted to make sure there weren't any lingering issues." Oliver said, trying to hide his unease.
"Oh, my God. Now that I think about it, you know, he did something completely out of character this morning." Thea said suddenly.
"What?" Oliver asked, worried.
"He showed up for work on time." Thea said sarcastically. Oliver chuckled in reply.
"Thea!" Moira walked up to her daughter, all smiled. "Oh, it's- it's just wonderful." She told her, hugging her.
"Proud to do my civic duty." Thea said modestly.
"No, I'm the one who's proud." Moira said. "You've taken Oliver's…hobby, and turned it into a successful business."
"Hobby?" Oliver said, slightly insulted.
Thea snickered. Moira reached over and patter her on the leg. "I would be quite proud of you." She told her daughter. "Running your own successful business right out of high school."
"Think of all the money you'll save on college tuition." Thea pointed out.
"Also, think of all the money you'll save on bail payment." Mia added with a snicker.
Moira kissed him on the cheek. "Oh, sweetheart." She said with a chuckle. She and Thea moved off into the crowd, leaving Oliver standing there with an incredulous smile on his face.
"I especially liked how you genuinely complimented Thea, but still managed to get Oliver with the backhand Mrs. Queen." Tommy said with a smirk.
"Oliver." He turned around to see Blood and Laurel walk up. The two shook hands. "Thank you so much for your kind words." Blood said.
"I'm just speaking the truth." Oliver replied.
Blood smiled, but then someone caught his eye. "Oh, forgive me, a friend just walked in." he said. He took his leave of Laurel, leaving her with Oliver as he went back to the crowd.
"Hi." Laurel said.
"Hi." Oliver replied. The two hugged. "Glad you could come."
"Sebastian invited me." Laurel said.
"Yes, I hear the two of you have been spending a lot of time together." Oliver noted.
"We're just friends." Laurel stated firmly.
"Does he know that?" Oliver noted the look on her face. "Uh-oh. What's holding you back?"
Laurel looked over at the bar as Blood talked to some of the donors. "Sometimes I feel like I don't know the real Sebastian." She admitted. "He reminds me a little of you that way." She added.
Oliver forced a smile as he sipped his champagne.
"Just a little on the nose." Felicity said. Laurel nodded in agreement.
The scene changed to a location in the financial district. A man sat in his car, staring up at a building.
"Freedom. Liberty. Justice. Long have the people of this city suffered under the shackles of a corrupt government. Slaves to self-interested politicians and their lobbyist puppeteers." He rambled to himself. "I declare war on them all." He held up his phone and pressed a button, and suddenly the building exploded as the man watched on with a smile.
Lance sighed. "Oh, great. Let's knock over a few more buildings."
Later that night, Oliver and Diggle slipped away from the party and headed down to the Lair.
"Anyone in the building?" Oliver asked.
"Cleaning crew and a group of bankers working out a late night deal." Diggle replied.
"Can you patch me into police and fire?"
"I'm on it." Diggle said, taking a seat at Felicity's computer. He started working.
After a few moments (much longer than usual), Oliver looked down at his partner. "Diggle…"
"Hey, man, this is not my thing." Dig protested.
Felicity looked at Diggle and shook her head in disappointment. Dig just shrugged.
"I'm not the tech expert. I mostly just hurt people." He argued.
A moment later, the speakers flared to life.
'It's too hot. We're falling back.'
'You've still got people on the 5th floor!'
'It's too hot! We're pulling back!'
Oliver scowled, then turned and grabbed his bow.
"What, does he have a fire extinguisher arrow?" Tommy asked incredulously.
"Maybe he made one after the arsonist." Felicity suggested.
Malcolm looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "That sounds about as ridiculous as a boxing-glove arrow." He said. Roy, Mia and Sara all exchanged an amused look, then Roy calmly reached into his quiver and retrieved an arrow with a cylindrical head. Hitting a switch on the nocking point, the cylinder blew off, and a boxing glove inflated. Malcolm stared at the arrow, dumbfounded.
"That is the single most ri-god-damn-diculous thing I have ever seen." Malcolm stated.
"Fire extinguisher arrow?" Felicity asked Roy hopefully. Roy just grinned and nodded, and Felicity pumped her fist in the air.
"Absolutely no respect for tradition." Malcolm grumbled to himself.
A short time later, as the firefighters fought back the flames The Arrow rushed into the building, making his way up to the fifth floor.
"Help!" A woman screamed. She rounded the corner, coming up short when she ran into the Emerald Archer. "Gary's still back there." She pleaded, coughing.
"Get to safety." He ordered her.
"I was, but then you stopped me." Tommy quipped. Thea slapped him on the chest.
The woman ran for the fire stairs as Oliver ran deeper into the office. He spotted Gary and moved over to him. He shifted the debris that pinned the man. "Give me your hand." He ordered. Gary reached out and The Arrow grabbed his hand, and then pulled him free. The Arrow looked up as the ceiling started to give way, then hauled Gary to his feet and move him to the exit. A moment later the ceiling came down.
"Thank you." Gary said to the vigilante. The Arrow nodded and moved back into the shadows as the firemen finally made their way into the room. He climbed out the window and shot a line to the opposite building, then stood watching as the firefighters got the fire under control.
FIVE YEARS AGO
Slade, Oliver and Sara made their way through the forest, towards and uncertain location. Oliver caught up to Slade and looked at him worriedly.
"Hey." He said, looking at his silent friend. "You ok?" Slade remained silent. "Where you going?" he asked.
Slade finally stopped and turned back to Oliver. "To the plane, to get geared up." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"For what?" Oliver asked.
"Ivo is still out there." Slade said. "I'm going to find him, and when I do, I'm going to cut pieces off him."
"You can't." Sara said, finally catching up. She was carrying the crate of Mirakuru. "Ivo has a ship full of men; of killers. And I don't care what you did before, you can't take them all out." She reminded him. "Your only play here is to find safe ground and wait him out."
"That's a sensible plan, but it wouldn't work." Diggle said to Sara. Sara nodded in agreement.
"Well, of course you would say that." Slade seethed, stalking towards the woman. "You were working for him. You're probably still working for him!" Sara backed up, terrified.
"Hey, hey!" Oliver yelled, placing a hand on his chest and trying to hold him in place. "She's not." He assured him.
"Get out of my way, kid." Slade growled.
"Look, let's just take it easy—"
"I said," Slade slapped his hand away and grabbed him by the throat. He lifted him in the air with one hand easily. "Get out of my way." Oliver gasped for air as his vision began to dim….
"In what universe did you think he would ever listen to reason?" Laurel asked Mia, who sighed.
"Please keep in mind he just got injected with Mirakuru and then found the body of the woman he loved. All of his negative emotions are being heightened." Sara reminded her sister. "The Slade that was here had years to adjust."
Unfortunately, he adjusted into a violent, sadistic son of a bitch. Rose said over the speakers.
PRESENT
Oliver walked in Queen Consolidated the next morning.
"You ok?" Diggle asked in greeting. "Long night?"
"Yeah." Oliver replied heading into his office. "News report said the bomber didn't steal any money."
"I think this guy just wants to make a statement." Dig said, handing a tablet to Oliver. "That went online an hour ago. His manifesto. 300 pages of anti-government hate." Oliver glanced at the vitriol. "You think this psycho's any way connected to our psycho in the skull mask?" Dig asked.
"This guy has a completely separate agenda." Oliver stated. "He's a lone wolf, but we need to find him before he finds his next target."
"I'd start with the bomb." Dig suggested. "Everyone's unique. Maybe we can get some kind of signature on the guy. But the bomb residue is with the SCPD."
"Fortunately we have an in with one of the officers at the department." The two men looked over to see Felicity walking into the office.
"I thought you were staying in Central City for a few more days." Oliver said in surprise.
"I got a news alert about the bombing." Felicity explained. "Caught the first train out this morning."
"Good. We need you here." Oliver told her, not unkindly.
"Translation: Thank GOD Diggle doesn't have to run the computers anymore." Tommy quipped.
"How's Barry?" he asked.
"Ah, he's still sleeping." She said. "I prefer sleeping to coma, 'cause coma sounds, you know, not fun." She took a breath. "I'll reach out to detective Lance." She said, and then headed back to her desk.
The scene changed to Blood's campaign office. Sebastian handed some paperwork to an assistant, and then smiled as he saw a welcome face in his doorway "Hey. Did we have a lunch today?"
Laurel smiled back at him. "No. I was just in the neighborhood. Thought I'd stop by." She said. "But if this is a bad time, I mean, I can always come back."
"Oh, no, not at all, they're still setting up out there." Blood replied.
"Wow." Laurel said, walking into his office. "This is pretty impressive for a street orphan."
"Are you suggesting I spread it on a bit too thick last night?" Blood said with a teasing grin.
"No." Laurel said quickly.
"It's just Laurel, if there's something on your mind, give it voice." Blood said, raising from his seat and donning his jacket. "I don't bite. I promise."
Laurel took a breath. "You know my father's with the department." She began.
"Yes."
"He said the suspect that he was investigating when he and his partner were attacked was a man named Cyrus Gold." She revealed.
"So I'm 'investigating', am I?" Lance asked his daughter in amusement.
Blood nodded, and then sat on the edge of the desk. "Cyrus Gold was a preacher at the orphanage where I was raised." He explained. "Cyrus was a very good friend to me- like an older brother. Or even a father figure, to be honest. He was the first person I said a word to, and this was after a month of not speaking at all."
"You talk a lot about being an orphan, but you don't talk about your parents." Laurel asked gently. "Did you know them?"
"My father was a very unhappy man." Blood revealed after a moment. "One night he came home soaked in whiskey. He lost his job again, so he broke my mother's arm. I tried to stop him, but he threw me off. And the next thing I saw was my mother holding my father's gun in her hand. And I watched her shoot him." He revealed to Laurel's shock. "She panicked. Ran and was gone before the police even arrived. It was the last time I saw my parents."
"I'm so sorry." Laurel said shakily.
"I don't know Why Cyrus' life took the turn that it did, I'm sad to say." Blood said, rising from the desk. "All I know is that he helped a very young, very frightened boy find his voice again." An assistant knocked on the doorframe to get his attention; the press was waiting. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. More later?" Laurel smiled and nodded, and Blood exited the room. After he left, Laurel did her best to compose herself, fighting back her tears of sadness for his suffering.
"I must say, he is very good at spinning his past to make him more sympathetic." Malcolm said. "I wonder what the truth is?"
As she did, she spied something on his desk. Looking out the windows and seeing that Blood was occupied with the press, Laurel moved closer to the desk and looked at a stack of invoices on his desk. One was marked from St. Walker's Hospital, and addressed to someone named Maya Resik. Laurel filed the information away in her mind, placed the invoice back down, and headed out of the office.
The scene changed to Verdant. Roy was moving boxes in the store room when Thea walked in.
"Didn't hear you come in." she said.
"Yeah, sorry, I- I got here early." He replied, grabbing another box. "I just want to get these crates unpacked before lunch."
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He said dismissively. "Just…I haven't been sleeping much lately. I got a lot on my mind."
Thea sat down on a keg. "You want to talk about it?" she offered.
"Talk about what?" Roy said, still shifting boxes.
"Whatever's been going on with you the last five weeks." Thea clarified.
"Look, I'm fine." Roy protested shortly.
"Ever since the Arrow shot you, you've been acting really weird, Roy." Thea said. "With me, with everything."
"This isn't about the Arrow." Roy protested.
"Is it me?" she asked. "Is it us?"
Roy set the box down hard and spun back towards her. "Look, I really just want to get through this, ok?" he said hotly.
"Ok." Thea said sadly, rising from the keg. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
Roy sighed as she turned to walk out of the room "Thea." He called out, stopping her. "You do help." He told her. "Every day. And honestly, right now you're the only thing that's keeping me together."
"It's true." Roy said to Mia and Thea. "You were the only thing keeping me sane. Holding on to you was what helped me fight the madness."
"You think if Shado had survived, Slade might not have gone crazy evil?" Thea asked after a moment.
Mia shrugged. "I don't know." She admitted.
Thea exhaled. "I do what I can." She said.
"How did I get to be so lucky?" Roy asked.
"You…stole my purse." She said with a grin.
"Oh, yeah…." Thea said, then groaned.
"Hmm." Roy grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in. The two started making out passionately, each trying to dominate the other. Thea wrapped her legs around Roy's waist, and he picked her up with ease, spinning around and pinning her to the shelves. They started to grind against one another, their passions escalating, the shelves shaking more…
Tommy covered his eyes. "Please, for the love of god, make it stop." He complained.
"Is it because it's your baby sister getting some?" Mia asked in a teasing voice. "Or because you may have fantasied once or twice that it was you-"
"SHUT UP!" Thea and Tommy both shouted.
Then a box full of empty glasses toppled off the top shelf. Roy saw it out of the corner of his eye and spun around again, pushing Thea out of the way and raising an arm to block as the box crashed into his head and arm. He fell to the ground, momentarily dazed.
Malcolm glanced at Roy and nodded in approval. Roy took the silent compliment in stride.
"Roy?!" Thea exclaimed from the floor where she had fallen.
Roy looked up at his girlfriend, shaking his head to clear it. "Thea, are you ok?"
"Yeah." She scurried over to him. Roy sat up, holding up his arm to see a large, jagged piece of glass sticking out of it. He stared at it, incredulous.
"Ouch." Diggle said.
"Jesus Juice. I didn't even feel it." Roy replied. He looked to Thea. "Also, you should find a better place to put those glasses, so the next time we do it-"
"My father is an assassin and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind killing you." Tommy warned the archer, causing Roy to snort in amusement.
"Oh, your arm!" Thea exclaimed worriedly. Roy grasped the glass and slowly pulled it out, revealing almost a full bloody inch. "Um, that looks really deep." Thea said, swallowing the bile that had risen. "It might need stitches. Um, I'm going to go downstairs and get the first aid kit, ok?" she said, handing him a towel as she rose to her feet.
"Ok." Roy said, pressing the towel onto the cut to stem the bleeding. After she left, he lifted the towel to see that the cut had already healed.
"Holy…" Felicity breathed. She looked at Roy in wonder. "You're totally Wolverine!"
"Yeah, all you need now is Bronze Tigers claws and your set." Dig added.
Roy laughed. "Damn! Why didn't I think of that?"
The scene changed to the roof of the SCPD. Lance climbed the stairs and looked around the empty roof, then turned to look out over the city. He paused for a moment, sensing someone else on the roof, and a moment later the tell-tale sound of the voice changer turning on told him who it was.
"You know, most cops, they meet their informants in the backseat of a cruiser or maybe a coffee shop or something, but-" Lance was saying as he walked towards the vigilante. For the first time, though, the other man didn't turn his face away. Suddenly he saw why. "What's with the mask?"
"Gift from a friend." The Arrow replied.
"You got friends?"
Lance snorted in amusement.
"Did you bring me what I asked for?" the vigilante asked tiredly.
After a moment, Lance handed over a small evidence bag. "That's a sample of everything the CSU collected from the blast. There's melted glass, multiple explosive fragments, and trace residue, and it looks like nitroglycerin. Which means that we're dealing with more than just a basement nutjob."
"Someone with training." The Arrow concurred. "Thank you, Detective." He turned and walked off, ready to shoot a line to the next building, when Lance's voice stopped him.
"I need a favor, too." The Arrow turned back around. "The son of a bitch who killed my men, my partner…"
"He's dead." Oliver told him.
"And whoever tipped him off, told him we were coming, he's doing just fine." Lance replied.
"What do you need?"
"Cell phone records for every cop in my precinct."
"You think there's a leak in the department?" Oliver asked, surprised.
"I think those phone records are the only way to know for sure, and your blonde friend, she's pretty good with computers." Lance stated.
"Smart thinking, detective." Felicity said. "And if you ever need tech support, all you have to do is ask."
"Good to know." Lance said with a smile.
Oliver considered for a moment. Finally, he nodded. "I'll ask her—" he was cut off as a massive explosion rocked the top floors of a building downtown. The two men watched in horror as the flames rose high into the night's sky.
Lance yanked his radio off his belt. "DC-52 to Central, 10-80, downtown!" He called out as he headed back down the stairs.
Oliver was moving as well, hitting his com link. "He's hit again."
"Starling City Municipal Building." Diggle said after a moment.
"Give me a location." Oliver demanded.
"I'll give you one better- I'm checking the surrounding cell towers." Felicity said. "There was a GSM spike of 3,800 megahertz two seconds before the blast. That frequency's way outside the approved frequency for U.S. carriers." she typed rapidly into her computer, and soon she had a lock on the signal's source. "Signal's moving. I think he's mobile."
"Give me an intersection!" Oliver commanded, taking off at a dead run for his bike.
Several minutes later, The Arrow was blasting down the road on his Ducati as Felicity directed him.
'Right in front of you, 400 meters.' She told him over the com line. Oliver looked and saw a white panel van sitting at a stoplight.
"I see him." He said.
In the van, the bomber saw the bike approaching. Panicking, he hit the gas and sped through the red light, narrowly avoiding getting hit and sending cars skidding out of control. The Arrow was right behind him, deftly avoiding the obstacles. He started to gain, but then the van made a hard left onto a side street.
'Turn left on 67th.' Felicity said.
The two sped down the streets, bobbing and weaving in and out of traffic. The bomber looked in his side mirror to see the Vigilante gaining, and reached into a bad on the passenger seat. Withdrawing a grenade, he pulled the pin and waited a few seconds before throwing it out the window. On his bike, Oliver saw it coming and hopped off the seat and hung over the side, using the bike to shield him from the explosion as he let it carry him past while his boots started to smoke from the asphalt.
"Christ!" Tommy explained.
"See, this is why he gets into all those motorcycle accidents." Mia joked.
He hopped back on the seat and gunned the engine, racing to catch up again. In the van, the man grabbed a smoke grenade and tossed it out. Oliver raced forward, blowing through the smoke cloud- but the van was gone.
"Felicity, I've lost him."
"What?" she said. Suddenly, the signal dropped off the screen. "Me, too, hold on." She typed frantically, trying to re-acquire. Finally she did. "Got him. Bank left on Gerrard Street. You're almost right on top of him." She said.
Oliver raced forward, taking a hard left- then skidding to a stop in front of a bus. He flipped up his visor and looked around in aggravation. "It's not him, Felicity." He growled. "You picked up the wrong signal."
"What?" she said; flabbergasted. "I thought- he must have scrambled the signal." She realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"It doesn't matter." Oliver sighed angrily. "He's gone."
A short time later, Oliver stormed back into the lair. "What happened?" he demanded.
"He's using cellular technology to detonate his bombs." Felicity said morosely from her computer. "Clearly, his expertise extends to obscuring that signal."
"Felicity, your expertise was supposed to trump his." He said angrily.
Laurel scoffed. "Well, fuck you too." She said.
"Excuse me?" she said, rising from her chair. "If you have something to say to me, Oliver, say it."
"People are dying." Oliver replied. "So I would like you to pull your head out of Central City and get back in the game."
"Sure, right after you get yours out of your ass." She replied, pissed.
"You tell him, sister." Thea told Felicity.
"He can be such an asshole." Sara noted.
"Excuse me?"
"All right." Diggle said, trying to defuse this bomb. "Maybe we should just take a breath here."
"No, wait," Felicity said. "I want to know, what exactly was that crack about Central City meant to imply?" she demanded.
"When the first bomb went off, you weren't here." Oliver stated. "And when the second bomb went off, you sent me the wrong way."
"After you didn't catch him in the first place!" she shot back.
"Don't blame me because you didn't have it tonight." Oliver said snidely.
Felicity stared at him for a moment. "I need some air." She said finally.
"At the risk of me getting my head knocked off," Diggle said after Felicity had walked off, "Playing the blame game's not going to help us catch this son of a bitch."
"Neither is doing things halfway." Oliver snapped.
"Is that what you think's going on here, Oliver?" he asked. "You think she was distracted? She wasn't giving it her all?"
"She almost ran me into a bus, Diggle." Oliver said peevishly. "What do you think?"
Diggle looked at him hard for a moment. "I think you didn't have a problem with Felicity's performance until she met Barry Allen." He said, and then turned to follow Felicity out of the lair, leaving Oliver alone to stew.
"Ah, yes. Now I recognize it." Tommy said. "He's jealous!"
"Jealous? Of what?" Felicity asked peevishly.
"Of you and Barry Allen." Tommy said.
"Why would he be jealous? Does he think I'll run off and be the tech girl to a guy in a coma?" she asked/
Tommy stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. "You're a bright girl, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Tommy said with a smirk.
"Oh, HELL no." Roy said. He turned to Felicity . "Oliver likes you. A lot. And you like him. A lot. You both like each other. A LOT. And I had to put up with two years of drama between the two of you before you BOTH finally pulled your heads out of your asses and admitted you belonged together!"
"Jeeze, Roy…" Mia said.
Roy shook his head. "Uh-uh. Not again. I will not let my younger self go through that high school drama bullshit again, it drove me crazy then! First, you get together. Then, he dumps you to 'keep you safe'. Then, you push him away because he's acting like an idiot. Then you're acting like a divorced couple that's forced to work together while still making goo-goo eyes at each other-"
"ROY!" Mia shouted, cutting off his rant. "You're scaring the straights."
"And the bisexuals." Sara muttered.
Roy took a breath, then forced a smile at the stunned group. "Alright then, moving on."
FIVE YEARS AGO.
Slade was still holding Oliver up, choking the life out of him.
"Yeah, this is much better." Tommy said dryly.
"He likes me?" Felicity said in disbelief.
"Moving on!" Mia reiterated.
In a blind panic, Sara dropped the crate of Mirakuru and picked up the first thing she could find- a large, thick tree branch- and swung as hard as she could, hitting the soldier in the chest. The impact did little to hurt Slade, but it did seem to knock him out of the red haze of anger he was in. He promptly dropped Oliver, who gulped down large breaths of air as Sara stood over him, holding the branch defensively. Slade looked around, finally coming out of his daze.
"So that's what we needed! A tree branch!" Tommy quipped dryly.
"I'm sorry." He said, looking around frantically. He staggered back into a tree, and slid down it until he was sitting on the ground. He stared at his hand- the same hand that had punched through a pirate's chest, the same hand that had almost killed his friend.
Sara relaxed somewhat. "You're not well, Slade." She told him gently.
"Hey," Oliver rasped, getting his attention. "It's the Mirakuru. It's messing with your head."
Sara looked around. "It's going to be dark soon." She said. "We should make camp." Oliver nodded absently, still staring uncertainly at Slade.
PRESENT
The scene changed to the SCPD Lance walked into the squad room, rubbing his arm.
"What's going on? You ok?" Officer Daily asked, noticing his discomfort.
Lance grimaced. "Yeah, it's just, arm still hurts when it's cold and I lost the pain meds that the doctor gave me." He said.
"Ask your daughter." Tommy said pointedly.
Laurel rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah…"
"You know, the sad thing is I have friends who could have hooked you up." Thea mentioned.
"Not anymore, you don't." Moira said sternly.
He looked at Daily's formerly injured arm. "How's yours healing up?" he asked.
"Ah, you know, good days and bad." Daily replied.
"Gonna be a lot more bad days you son of a bitch." Lance growled.
Lance nodded. "I'll see you later." He said, seeing a familiar face. He walked over to her and smiled. "Hey."
"Pretty crazy." Laurel said.
"Yeah." Lance agreed. "You doing all right?"
"I thought I could use your help, if you have a second." Laurel said.
"You being at the DA's office now, it's almost like you joined the family business. Come on." Quentin said with a smile, leading her over to the corner of the room.
"I'm trying to find someone named 'Maya Resik'." Laurel began. "I searched the Internet, the DMV records, social security," she sighed. "Nothing."
"Why are you looking for a ghost?" Quentin asked.
"Sebastian's paying her bills." Laurel explained. "A woman who doesn't seem to exist; I find that suspicious."
Quentin gave her a wry look. "Thinking that your boyfriend's up to no good, that's typically more my thing than yours." He joked.
"Oh, he's not exactly my boyfriend." Laurel said.
"Well, that makes digging into his life a little less fun, then." Lance said. Laurel smiled and turned to leave. "Hey, Laurel." He said, stopping her. "If I bring you something back, you know I'm going to want to know why." He reminded his daughter.
Laurel smiled tightly. "Of course you are." She said, before turning and walking off.
"I have the distinct impression that this won't end well." Laurel groused.
"You'd be right, or wrong- depending on where you would say it ended." Mia replied.
The scene changed to Queen Manor. Oliver walked in to the darkened house to find his mother seated in the living room, watching as Sebastian Blood held a press conference.
'Over the last few days, our resolve has been tested.' Blood was saying on TV. 'But all of you continue to prove that the only way we keep on-"
Moira looked up and smiled as Oliver walked into the room. "Ah, you're just in time to see the show." She said.
"What's he doing?" Oliver asked.
"Bringing the city together." Moira replied. "And if I'm not mistaken, campaigning."
'Tomorrow night, I am holding Starling's first ever unity rally at City Plaza. We are going to show the world that the people of this great city will not back down to terrorists.'
"Well, THAT seems like a bad idea." Felicity said worriedly.
Oliver stared at the screen incredulously. "He's committing suicide and he just invited the entire city to join him."
"Sebastian's your friend. Can't you talk him out of this, Oliver?" Moira asked.
Oliver sighed. "Well, he won't listen to me."
The scene changed to Blood's campaign headquarters later that night. Sebastian was the last one in the building, working late at his desk when suddenly the power went off. Sebastian looked around in confusion, one hand still holding the phone that had just gone dead, when a voice suddenly spoke from the darkness.
"Sebastian Blood." Blood slammed the phone down and reached under his desk, grabbing the gun that was mounted there as The Arrow stepped into his office. "This rally tomorrow night, you need to call it off." The vigilante ordered.
"The Starling City vigilante paying a visit to wave me off. I'm flattered." He said. Realizing he wasn't here for the man in the skull mask, he let go of the gun.
"Darn it." Felicity groused.
"You want him to SHOOT Oliver?" Laurel asked, then smirked. "You really DO have it bad."
"I don't have anything!" Felicity protested. "But if Blood pulled a gun, I'd put money on Oliver taking him down first!"
"This event, Mr. Blood, you might as well be painting a giant bulls eye on your chest." The Arrow said.
Blood composed himself, sitting up straighter in his seat. "This city needs to come together." He said. "And I need to show them how."
"You won't be able to show them anything if you're dead." Oliver pointed out.
"Every night, you risk your life for the people of this city." Blood stated. "How can you expect me to do any less?"
"And what about the lives of the people coming to your rally?"
"This rally is about Starling City standing up and declaring with one voice that living afraid isn't living." Blood said heatedly. "I won't send a contrary message to people telling them to stay home, to stay scared. I've made my decision."
"That's the thing, alderman whatever happens tomorrow night, it's not up to you." The Arrow said, melding back into the shadows. A moment later, the power came back on. Blood blinked, looking around the suddenly bright office, but the vigilante was nowhere to be seen. Satisfied, he sat back down, contemplating.
Across town, an older woman stepped into a toy shop on the edge of the downtown shopping district. The man behind the counter looked up from his work and smiled warmly. "Ah, Mrs. Fazekas." He said in greeting. He reached under the counter and pulled out a box. "The train set for your nephew just came in. He's going to love it." He assured her.
"That's the mad bomber?" Thea said incredulously.
"Did not see that coming." Felicity admitted.
"Not everyone who does evil looks evil." Mia pointed out.
"You just keep on with those new age, hippie bullshit sayings." Thea said, causing Mia to chuckle.
Mrs. Fazekas smiled. "Oh. You are a miracle worker, Mr. Scheffer." She said. "How much do I owe you?"
Mark Scheffer, the mad bomber, smiled. "$50 even. Forget the sales tax."
"Are you going to the alderman's unity rally tomorrow night?" she asked.
Mark smiled. "I wouldn't miss it." He assured her.
"Great." Lance grumbled.
The scene changed to the Lair. Oliver and Diggle were watching the news broadcast about the Unity Rally as Felicity worked at her station.
'…Gathered here despite the rash of bombings that have plagued the city, some have called Sebastian Blood's unity rally a cynical and dangerous PR stunt for his mayoral campaign. But the crowd continues to grow.'
"Tried to get him to stand down." Oliver complained.
"He seems as stubborn as you when it comes to fighting back." Dig noted wryly.
"Or everything." Felicity muttered.
"Hey, is this how it's going to be with you two from now on?" Dig asked wearily.
Oliver sighed. "Maybe we should just head down to the rally."
"Maybe we won't have to." Felicity said suddenly. She turned to face them. "I analyzed the bomb remnants we got from Lance. The design's identical to the bombs used by an anti-government militia group called the Movement. Lucky for us, they have a very active and hackable message board." She pulled up the board to show them. "One of their most prolific fans has an IP address right here in Starling."
"Tell me." Oliver ordered.
"The computer's in a local souvenir shop. The whackadoo in question goes by the username Shrapnel."
"You want back-up?" Dig asked.
"No, I need you at the rally." Oliver decided. "Cover our bases." Dig grabbed his gun, Oliver grabbed his bow, and Felicity took a long breath as the two men headed out.
"If I were him, I'd have my place booby-trapped." Malcolm noted darkly.
The scene changed to the SCPD. Laurel walked in and found her dad rifling through a large stack of paper. "Is this all for me?" she asked.
"No, for me." Quentin said absently. "SCPD phone records."
"Why are you going through the department's phone records?" she asked.
Instead of answering, Quentin pulled her away. "Um, so I checked up on your not exactly boyfriend." He said, dodging her question.
"And? Did you find anything?" she asked excitedly.
"Yeah, it turns out he's a hell of a guy." He said. "Covers the expenses of his dear aunt- your Maya Resik."
Laurel froze, pondering. "If Sebastian has other family, then why was he placed in an orphanage?" she wondered.
"Well, maybe 'cause Aunt Maya is nuttier than a Snickers bar." Quentin said. "She's a patient at St. Walker's Hospital. It's a mental institution, it's the kind you don't check out of. Now, listen, you going to tell me what this is all about?" he asked, concerned.
Laurel sighed. "Something about him just seems off." She said.
"Laurel, there is nothing sinister about a guy who is covering the expenses of his only living relative." He said defensively. "The truth is, it's kind of nice."
"A friendly reminder for when I'm old and senile." Lance joked to his daughters.
"You mean you aren't yet?" Thea joked innocently, causing the Lance sisters to burst out laughing.
"Careful, I can think of half a dozen things to arrest you for when we get back." Lance grumbled.
"Listen, I gotta get to City Plaza. Pike wants all hands at this unity rally." He looked at her worriedly. "You're not going, right?"
Laurel shook her head. "No, I need to look into this more." She said.
Quentin sighed. "Laurel, he seems like a good guy and you deserve good, Ok?" he said. "So stop looking for reasons to talk yourself out of it. Please." He pleaded, wanting his daughter to be happy. She nodded, and he turned and headed out, not noticing her still pensive look.
"For once, don't listen to me." Lance told Laurel.
"As always, I probably won't." Laurel replied with a smirk.
The scene changed to the rally. Blood was walking through the Plaza as the reporters tossed questions at him.
"Alderman Blood, is this not dangerous?" one asked.
"I'm afraid so." He replied.
"Why are you gathering all these people here to be targets?" another asked.
"Because he's insane." Roy said.
"Don't insult insane people, dear." Mia said lightly.
"Please, I'll get to all of your questions later." He promised, moving through the crowd and thanking the people for coming. In the crowd, Diggle also moved, looking for threats.
Across town, The Arrow walked into the souvenir shop. He looked around, walking cautiously, looking for threats.
'Boom.'
In an instant his bow was up and an arrow drawn and ready to fire as dozens of laser sensor beams flared to life.
'You're dead.' The voice on the speaker continued. 'Or will be if you take one more step or move a single muscle. And then you'll miss the show.' A TV flared to life, showing the coverage of the rally. 'Candidate Blood's unity rally. Already rigged with 50 pounds of RDX high explosives. Not unlike what's packed inside the drywall of my store. This city thinks Sebastian Blood can keep them safe.' Oliver glanced at the screen, and his mouth went dry as he saw Thea and Moira standing on the stairs of the plaza. 'Tonight, they learn that the only thing politicians care about protecting is their jobs.'
"So…" Thea said worriedly. "Why the hell did we go?"
"Because you're insane." Mia quipped
"Felicity." Oliver growled into his mic.
"Here." She said. "Did you get him?"
"No." Oliver replied quietly, still holding his bow and not moving a muscle. "He said he rigged the Plaza with an explosive device."
"Oliver, it's crazy-town there." Felicity said, looking at the feed in the Lair. "That bomb could be anywhere."
"I can narrow that down. Get me Diggle." He ordered.
Felicity connected him in an instant. "Go." Diggle said.
"Shrapnel said he ringed the perimeter with RDX." He told his partner.
"I'm on it." Dig said, moving to inspect the plaza.
"You're heading to the Plaza, too, right?" Felicity said.
"Not yet." Oliver replied, sweating. "I need you to pull me up anything you can on the store. Blue prints, permit schematics, anything."
"What's going on?" she asked as she started pulling up plans.
"Shrapnel left behind a surprise." Oliver told her. "Said he packed the drywall with explosives, but the trigger needs to be—"
"Would need to be hooked up to some sort of power supply." She interrupted. "That's assuming that the detonator's connected to the store's electricity and not something independent like a car battery. I know, not helpful." She continued scrolling through the plans. "You sure you want me doing this? My head might not exactly be in the game." She added bitterly.
"Felicity!" he snapped.
"Heh." Diggle chuckled. "He earned that one."
"The building was built in the seventies." She said, ignoring him. "That's good news. The wiring in a lot of construction back then is defective. So if you sever one wire, it will blow fuses in the entire building and shot off power to the bomb."
"Hold tight." He said. "I see a fuse box."
"Oliver, be careful." She said worriedly.
In the shop. Oliver slowly adjusted his aim, careful to make sure the laser sensor on his arrow head followed the shaft and the bow itself, the beam never breaking. His shot finally lined up, he fired. The box exploded into sparks.
In the lair, the line suddenly burst into static. "Oliver?" Felicity said, panicked. After a few moments of silence, she tried again. "Oliver?" she said brokenly.
"It's all right." Oliver's voice suddenly came back on, the line reconnected. In the shop, the box sparked, but the sensors were as dead as the power. "I'm all right." He assured her. "Get to the rally. Help Diggle. I'm on my way." He ordered. Taking one last glance around, he turned and ran out of the shop.
"Yes, let's all go to the rally and get blown up." Tommy noted sourly.
At the rally, Diggle was moving around, checking the lighting and sound equipment, looking for the bomb. On the stairs, meanwhile, Thea and Moira were walking down, looking around the plaza.
"Thea, I really don't think coming here was a good idea." Moira said worriedly.
"It's gonna be fine." Thea assured her mother. "Let's just go find Roy."
Thea groaned as Mia chuckled. "See? Insane." She repeated.
"It bears asking- were you high when you suggested going to the rally?" Moira asked Mia as Thea squeaked in indignation.
"Surprisingly, I was sober." Mia replied.
Down in the plaza, Sebastian Blood made his way onto the stage to a loud ovation.
"Please, please." He said, waving his arms at the crowd to quiet them. "You're the ones who deserve an ovation. "Eight months ago, this city survived a devastating attack- but we rose up." Out in the Plaza, Moira looked around nervously. The last thing she needed was to be recognized in public as a perpetrator of said attack. "You rose up and banded together, just like we are tonight." Lance looked around, looking for anything suspicious. Dig was up behind one of the standing speakers, and popped the back off an access port to find a phone connected to a large amount of RDX.
"Dig, I'm on site." Felicity announced over the coms as she came on to the scene.
"I'm on the east side." Dig told her. "Think I found the trigger."
"And prove to the world that we cannot be broken." Blood continued. "That the people of this city are too strong. And that no bomb and no earthquake is strong enough to tear us apart." Thea, in front with Moira and Roy, nodded in agreement.
"Oliver said that the whole place was ringed with explosives." Felicity said as she came up to Diggle.
"It's in the sound equipment." He told her, and then indicated the ph one. "And this is the trigger."
"Shrapnel activates it by cellular transmission." Felicity said.
"Listen, we don't have to disarm it, just disable it." Dig noted.
"I can do that." Felicity said, then added, "I think. I hope."
"So do I." Thea said nervously.
"You already know you survive this." Mia pointed out.
"And how many don't?" Thea snapped back.
"Listen, you be careful." Dig said as she examined the device. "He probably put in a safeguard. Tampering with it will set off a dead man's switch."
"That's a really depressing term." She said absently. "And a little bit sexist."
"Step away." They turned to see Shrapnel standing there. In one hand he held a phone; in the other a gun. "Or we all know how this ends."
Dig suddenly rushed Shrapnel, but he was too far away. Shrapnel fired, hitting Dig in the shoulder, and the bodyguard went down just as The Arrow pulled up to the scene. The shot had sent people running and screaming, and the police grabbed Blood and pulled him off the stage. Shrapnel pulled a grenade out of his coat, pulled the pin, and threw- but the Arrow was faster, shooting the grenade and causing it to detonate in mid-air.
"Nice shot!" Dig said. "Still, he could have been a bit earlier!"
"Dig!" Felicity screamed, dropping down next to the wounded man as Shrapnel took off. The Arrow followed close behind.
Down in the plaza, the explosion caused a steel lighting tower to break free from its moorings, and Thea watched in horror as it fell right towards her mother. Roy, without hesitation, ran to Moira and pulled her down, protecting her with his body. The steel framework smashed into Roy's back, but the boy didn't flinch. To Thea's astonished horror, Roy pushed back, lifting the heavy framework enough to push Moira clear. He then stood and ran free, shrugging the tower off like nothing. Thea ran to her mother and hugged her fiercely. "Mom!" she exclaimed.
"I'm ok. I'm ok." She told her daughter. Thea moved back and looked at Roy in shock as the boy himself stood, stunned by what had happened.
"Wow." Was all that Thea could say.
Moira let out a shaky breath. "Thank you, Roy." Malcolm as well nodded in thanks.
"That's about the only thing I miss about the Mirakuru." Roy admitted.
"That was handy." Mia admitted." A pause. "Also, it was great for your endurance."
"True dat." Roy agreed with a smirk.
"You seriously have a one track mind." Sara noted with a smile.
"True, but what a great track." Mia said.
In the upper plaza, Shrapnel was running from The Arrow as the vigilante pursued him on his bike. He turned and fired, missing, but causing Oliver to swerve and duck. He kept firing as he ran, but The Arrow finally caught up to him, skidding his bike into the terrorist and sending him crashing to the ground. The Arrow skidded to a stop, then spun his bike around to face the mad bomber before climbing off, readying his bow.
Shrapnel staggered to his feet. Oliver drew an arrow back as he turned to face him. In his hand was a detonator connected by a wire to something in his jacket. "Drop the bow!" he ordered. "I've got charges planted all over Starling. I drop this stick, they all blow." He threatened. The Arrow stood their silent, not moving an inch. "Did you just hear what I said?"
"Yep." The Arrow replied, adjusting his aim slightly and firing. The arrow sliced through the cord, disabling the trigger. Shrapnel looked down at the cut cord in stunned amazement, and even as he futilely pressed the trigger again and again, The Arrow calmly walked up and smashed him in the face with his bow.
"Dumbass." Felicity said with a snort.
The scene changed to Verdant later that night. Roy was sitting at the bar of the empty club, watching the news as Shrapnel was led away in cuffs when Thea walked up to him.
"Hey." He said, rising to greet her. "How's your mom?"
"She's fine. Just a little shooken up." Thea replied. "You saved her."
"I got lucky." Roy said quickly.
Thea shook her head. "That wasn't luck." She said. "That was impossible."
"You know those stories of mom's lifting cars to save their kids? Things you can do when adrenaline hits." Roy tried. "It was… it was one of those."
Thea sighed, and was about to let it go when she saw something else that astounded her. "Your arm." She exclaimed, grabbing his arm that had been cut earlier. "There's not even a mark." She said, staring at the unblemished skin.
Roy yanked his arm free. "It's…I heal fast. It's fine." He lied.
"Because I'm Wolverine." Felicity growled with a smirk. Roy laughed.
"Right." Thea said unbelieving.
"I'm kind of tired." Roy said. "It's been a long night, you know. I gotta go." Roy hurriedly walked past her to the exit.
"Roy." Thea tried, but her boyfriend ignored her as he walked out of the door.
Meanwhile downstairs, the team was watching the news after patching up Diggle.
"With you dropping fewer bodies, Starling City should probably build a bigger jail." Felicity noted absently from her seat in front of the computers. Oliver said nothing as he replenished the arrows in his quiver.
"Another night of skull mask hunting?" Diggle asked. His arm was in a sling as he draped his coat over his wounded shoulder.
"Not exactly." Oliver said, turning to his partner. "How's your shoulder?"
"Oh, just a through-and-through." Dig replied with a grin. "Walk in the park."
"Still, Diggle, you should go home and get some rest." Oliver said. Dig nodded and headed out. As he climbed the stairs, Oliver glanced at Felicity, who was still staring at the news. He turned back to his worktable and steeled himself for what would come next. "I'm sorry." He said quietly.
"And hell has frozen over." Laurel noted with amusement.
Felicity slowly looked over to Oliver, who was staring straight ahead. "Are you apologizing to me or were you talking to your quiver?" she asked sarcastically.
Everyone snickered at that.
"I didn't snap at my quiver." Oliver said, finally looking at her. He rose from his seat and walked over to the hacker.
"You kind of more than snapped." Felicity pointed out.
"I know. And I'm sorry." Oliver said again.
Felicity was silent for a long moment. "I understand that this Mirakuru thing has you freaked and I have been in Central City a lot." She said quietly.
"Felicity, it's not that." Oliver interrupted. "When you are there, well, it just made me realize how much I need you here. In the beg-" he paused for a second, and then started over. "In the beginning, I was just gonna- I was gonna do all of this by myself. And now with you and Diggle… I rely on you." He admitted.
Felicity rose from her chair and gave him a warm smile. "Does that mean I have a shot at employee of the month?" she joked.
"No." he said at once. "Because you're not my employee. You're my partner." He told her. "Barry's gonna wake up. And when he does, you will be there." He promised her.
Felicity laughed lightly. "I finally have a guy who's interested in me and he's struck by lightning, ends up in a coma." She sighed. "Typical."
"And you got another one standing right there, and you are oblivious." Roy groused.
"Let it GO." Mia encouraged her husband.
"Well, maybe he's dreaming about you." Oliver suggested.
"You know, actually there's conflicting cases about whether coma patients can in fact dream normally or they're more like hallucinating." Felicity rambled. Oliver cut her off by placing his hand on her shoulder. "Thank you." She said. Oliver smiled, nodded, then turned and walked off.
FIVE YEARS AGO
Sara and Oliver were laying on the cold ground, trying to get some sleep when suddenly their radio crackled to life.
'Sara. Sara, I know you're listening.' Their heads shot up at the sound of Anthony Ivo's voice. 'Answer me.'
Oliver grabbed the radio. Sara reached out for it, but Oliver silently shook his head.
'This is very simple, Sara.' Ivo continued. 'I know you and your new friends have the Mirakuru. You know I will lay waste to this entire island to get it.'
"Get Slade." Oliver told Sara, who jumped up at once to go grab their sentry.
'But it doesn't have to be that way. All I want is the serum. In exchange, I'll promise you and your friends safe passage off this island, I promise. Within 10 days, you and your new friends could be making port in Shanghai. The alternative is I send my men into the jungle to take the serum from you. They'll be under orders not to kill any of you. Instead, you'll remain alive enough for me to indulge my scientific curiosity. Think about it, Sara.' The radio clicked off, and Oliver tossed it to the ground. He dropped his head into his hands and contemplated what the doctor had said.
"He probably would have 'indulged his scientific curiosity even if he HAD given him the serum." Sara said.
"He's gone." Oliver looked up at Sara as she ran back to the camp
"What?" he said in surprise.
"Slade's gone and he took the Mirakuru with him." She said worriedly as Oliver looked back, helpless.
PRESENT
The scene changed to St. Walker's Hospital. A doctor was escorting Laurel down a long hallway to visit Maya Resik while telling her the rules.
"You can ask all the questions you want, but I wouldn't count on getting anything back." She advised the lawyer. "She probably won't even know you're there." She unlocked the door and let Laurel in. "I'll be down the hall if you need anything." She told Laurel before closing the door.
Maya sat in the corner, singing to herself softly in Spanish. Laurel approached slowly, as not to startle the woman. "Maya? I'm here to talk about your nephew." She started. The woman gave no reply, merely continued singing softly. "Maya, my name's Laurel Lance. Maya?" she knelt down in front of the woman. "I'm here to talk about your nephew. Maya?" she listened to the song, and tried a different approach. "Maya, que Chico? Que Chico? Sebastian?"
Maya finally looked up. "Sebastian." She said.
Laurel smiled in relief. "Yes, yes. Sebastian Blood."
The scene changed to Blood's campaign office. Sebastian was standing in front of the TV, watching the coverage of his earlier speech at the rally.
'There will always be those who seek to harm us, but it will not weaken us. It will only make us stronger.'
Suddenly the power went out.
"Well done, alderman."
Blood turned to see The Arrow walking into the room. "Thanks to you." He admitted.
"Still a very big risk to take." The Arrow pointed out.
"Tonight we both stood up for Starling City." Blood said, rising to stand in front of the vigilante. "You and me, we can save this city, if we work together."
Back at the hospital, Maya was suddenly nervous.
"Maya, can you talk to me about Sebastian?" Laurel asked, even as Maya pressed herself deeper into the corner. "It's ok. You can trust me." She told her. "Ok? Sebastian is my friend."
Suddenly Maya reached out and grabbed onto Laurels hands tightly. "Sebastian is the devil." She said hotly. "He the one who put me here. He made everybody think I'm insane."
"But why would he do that?" Laurel asked.
"He killed his father." Maya said. "And I was there. I saw it."
"Oh, my God." Laurel said, realization crashing down on her. "Sebastian isn't your nephew, he's your son."
"He had his own mother convicted?!" Laurel said indignantly. "And he killed his father! How did that never come up when he was elected?"
"Depends on when he killed his father." Malcolm suggested.
Laurel nodded. "If he did it when he was young enough, it might have been sealed away in his juvenile record." She realized.
In the office, Blood held out his hand to the vigilante.
"Don't trust a word he says." Maya begged her. "You can't trust Sebastian Blood."
And in the campaign office, Sebastian Blood and The Arrow shook hands.
Thea sighed. "And how Oliver is working with Blood." He shook his head. "How can he not see that he is dirty?"
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." Malcolm noted. "Remember- we're seeing more of the whole picture than he is. That's why we're here, after all." He finished, nodding at Mia.
Mia nodded in reply. "Let's keep going, shall we?" she smirked at Laurel. "I have a feeling you'll LOVE this next one."
TBC
A/N: Something I realized when pulling screenshots for the AO3 version of this chapter- when Moira and Thea arrive at the rally, and we see them on TV- Roy is standing right next to Thea. Which makes her line "Let's go find Roy." a BIT confusing.
To CG- the reason J'onn didn't wipe extra memories from Slade is because that wouldn't make a difference. The Mirakuru had already warped his mind; even with it gone, he was still batshit crazy, and he'd more than likely find a way to carry on his vendetta, even if he didn't remember Shado at all. Or course, that will be explored more in the sequel. But bravo for throwing out a Knights of the Old Republic reference!
Also, I had the sequel planned long before Darhk's name ever came up. Neither Darhk nor HIVE will appear in the sequel.
James- that's a my bad. I meant to have more scenes of Slade snooping around- as it is, you had one scene of him coming out of the museum. I wanted to add scenes of him looking around, using the computer, gauging his opponents- but then I forgot. Oops.
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