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.
Happy 4th of July to all my American readers! To all my foreign readers, that the day we Americans drink a lot of beer, BBQ a lot of meat, and play with explosives. So basically it's like every other day, but some of us actually get a paid Holiday day for it!
Chapter 38: Blind Spot
The memory set opened to a man walking through the rain up the stairs to St. Walker's Hospital. He walked into the hospital and was greeted by one of the nurses.
"Welcome to St. Walker's, alderman." She said, and then added conspiratorially, "Or should I call you Mayor?"
"I sure as hell hope not!" Lance protested.
Sebastian Blood smiled at the nurse as they walked. "Thank you for letting me come by so late."
"Well, I can imagine how busy your schedule is." She said. "It's really great of you taking the time to come and visit your aunt." She paused outside Maya's room. "Her health has taken a bad turn."
"Of course." Blood said with a smile. "She's family."
"Yeah, and you're son of the year." Diggle grumbled.
Inside the room, Maya sat on the edge of her bed, praying with a rosary as the other two walked in. "Maya, look who came to see you." The nurse said. "It's your nephew, Sebastian."
Maya looked up from the rosary. "Don't go. Please." She pleaded.
"We'll be fine." Blood said, patting the nurse on the arm. "Thank you." She stepped out and closed the door, and then Blood approached his 'aunt'. "Still worshipping the old Gods, I see." He said mockingly.
"They're the last thing I have from your father's." Maya shot back. "They protect me."
"I doubt very much her gods will protect her now." Malcolm said darkly.
"You were supposed to protect you." Blood said. "A friend of mine, Laurel Lance, came by to visit you a couple days ago. Do you remember her?" he asked.
"She's muy Linda." Maya said with an absent smile.
"Yes, she is." Blood agreed. "What did you both talk about?"
"Nada. Nothing." She claimed.
"You know I don't like it when you lie to me." Blood said with an edge to his voice.
"I told her the truth." Maya said after a moment's hesitation. "That you- you kill him. Your father. Mi esposo! I don't know what came over me." She said tearfully. "I am so, so sorry. I hurt you, mijo."
"Esta bien. No te preoccupes." He said quietly.
"But you are my child, my son." Maya protested. "And I hurt you."
"I forgive you, mama." He said, rising from his seat on the bed. He walked over to his mother and kissed her on the top of the head. "I forgive you for everything." He whispered. He walked out of the room leaving Maya sitting there, crying softly.
A short time later, Maya had repositioned herself by the bed and was saying her prayers while counting on her rosary. "La luz de dios me rodea, amor de dios me envuelve, El poder de dios me protege, la presencia de dios vela por mà ."
She lay back against the bed- and then suddenly the man in the skull mask was there. "Los dioses están muertos." He said. Maya screamed-
Then said no more.
"That sick bastard!" Lance protested hotly.
"And clever." Malcolm noted. "I suspect when they find her body the next morning, she will have died of a heart attack."
"Frightened… to death?" Felicity gulped.
"It is possible. Mastering our fears is a part of League of Assassins training." Mia noted. "There have been rare occasions where an initiate has died during that portion of the training."
"Sounds like a fun bunch." Lance said. "You at least get a good benefits package?" he asked Malcolm sarcastically.
"Absolutely. They have a great dental plan. And bring your daughter to work day was a blast." He replied dryly as Mia stifled a giggle.
Tommy looked at his father askance. "Did you just make a joke?" he asked.
Malcolm gave him a look. "Yes, I have a sense of humor. Try not to faint."
"I think I preferred it when he was a homicidal maniac." Roy said, earning an elbow in the ribs from Mia.
The scene changed to a factory in the Glades. Roy's stolen merchandise buyer Louis was standing in an old factory, his foot pinned to the floor as the vigilante fired arrows all around him.
"Oh! Ah! Oh, please!" Louis screamed in terror. "I don't know anything!" he stammered.
The Arrow shot another arrow near the man, hitting the industrial tank beside him. "The man in the skull mask." He growled. "Where is he?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Louis yelled.
"Poor Louis." Roy said, shaking his head. "He probably doesn't know anything about this."
"Didn't he buy the liquor you stole from me?" Thea asked. She turned to the screen. "Keep shooting, Ollie."
Another arrow, this time near his leg. "He's been experimenting on people in the Glades. He's leaving a trail of corpses with blood running from their eyes."
"No, no, no, no, no. I deal in stolen merchandise, that is it." He protested. Another arrow, near his groin. "Ah, ooh, please!"
Over the coms, Felicity said 'Ask him what color his shoes are.'
"What?" Felicity asked, confused.
Oliver paused in confusion. "What?"
Back at the Lair, Felicity sat behind her computers, listening to the interrogation. "You want this guy to take a polygraph via Bluetooth, cool; but I need to hear him establish a base line." She explained. "I need to hear him tell the truth just once."
"Oh!" she smiled. "That's pretty clever!"
"That's why they call you the smartest tech-witch of your age." Tommy said sagely.
Thea gave him a look. "First 'Lord of the Rings', now 'Harry Potter'? Dude, what the hell?"
"You're a total closeted nerd!" Laurel said gleefully. "I bet you and Ollie totally played 'Dungeons and Dragons' when you were younger!"
"There's nothing wrong with 'Dungeons and Dragons'." Diggle grumbled softly.
Oliver sighed in annoyance. "What color are your shoes?" he growled as menacingly as he could.
Louis looked at him in confusion. "What?" he looked down to check. "They're blue!"
Felicity stared at the screen, and sighed in defeat. "He's not lying."
Back in the factory, Louis looked back up. "Please-" he started to plead, but the man was already gone.
Later that night, Oliver stood on the room of a building looking out over The Glades. "He's out there." He whispered. "Somewhere."
'Come home.' Felicity said over the coms. 'We can't do any more tonight.'
Thea raised an eyebrow at that. She half expected him to say 'Yes, dear.' In reply.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The scene flashed back to the island. Oliver and Sara had made their way back to the plane, looking for Slade.
"Slade? Slade!" Oliver yelled, doing a quick search of the wrecked plane. He sighed in disappointment when he realized it was empty. "Thought maybe he'd come back here." He told Sara.
"He has the Mirakuru serum in his bloodstream." She reminded him. "He's not thinking clearly." Oliver stopped and looked down. On the deck lay the skeleton of the Japanese soldier they had carried back for Shado to look over. "So what do we do now?"
"I don't know, Sara." Oliver said, annoyed. He looked around and saw the motion tracker. He picked it up and saw that it was still working. "The sensor grid is still active. So at least we're going to know if Ivo and his men come back to the island." He told her.
"So we just sit here and wait?" Sara asked.
"Well, do you have any other ideas? 'Cause right now, I'm open to suggestions." He shot back.
"We find Slade, and…" she swallowed. "Maybe we consider Ivo's offer."
Oliver glared at her. "What?"
"Not my best plan." Sara admitted.
"Can't really blame you, though." Felicity said. "You'd already been through so much."
Sara smiled sadly at the woman.
"Look, if we get the serum back from Slade, then we can go home." Sara said, trying to reason with him. "And I can try to talk to Ivo. I can get him to listen to me."
Oliver stood and moved right into Sara's face. "Like he listened before he shot Shado in the head?" he spat.
"He's just tired, and he's frustrated." She said defensively. Oliver scoffed. "You don't understand what finding the Mirakuru serum has meant to him."
"You're right, Sara, I don't understand." He said. "And I don't get how you can even consider trusting him after what he did!"
"He's not evil." She protested. "He kept me safe on that ship for over a year. And I mean, not just safe, he taught me things. And I learned a lot." She added softly.
"I believe they call this 'Stockholm Syndrome." Tommy noted, earning a hard slap on the chest from Laurel.
"You're not wrong." Sara said.
"I learned a lot, too." Oliver said quietly, staring hard at his former lover. "This island taught me that you can't trust anyone."
PRESENT
The scene changed to the D.A.'s office. Laurel walked in and sat down at her desk. She reached into her purse and pulled out a pill bottle- her father's oxycodone. She stared at the bottle for a moment before popping the top off and shaking a pill out.
"Ms. Lance?" Laurel looked up in surprise, quickly moving her hands under her desk, out of view of her assistant, who was standing there. "I have a call for you on line two." She said.
"Thank you, Katherine." Laurel replied. Katherine walked off and Laurel quickly downed the pill dry.
Lance sighed heavily. "Oh, Laurel…"
"I know…"
Then she reached over and picked up her phone. "Laurel Lance." She announced as the call connected.
'This is nurse Downey from St. Walker's.' a woman on the other line said. 'You asked me to call if there was any changes in Maya Resik's condition. I'm sad to report she passed away.'
Laurel froze in shock. "What?" she asked.
'Her heart gave out on her, poor soul.' The lady said.
Several minutes later, Laurel took her theory to Adam Donner. "You think Sebastian Blood, the saint of Starling City, killed his own mother?" he said incredulously.
"He was the last person to see her alive." Laurel argued. "That isn't a coincidence."
"He's a devoted nephew visiting a sick relative. You're right, that's very, very suspicious." Donner said sarcastically.
"He didn't go there to visit her." Laurel said. "He went there to kill her; to cover up the fact that as a child, he killed his father. Maya Resik told me what happened."
"From inside a padded room, right?" Donner pointed out.
"He had her forcibly committed." Laurel shot back. "She tells me the truth and then two days later has a heart attack. You don't find that strange?"
"Well, for one thing, there's no record that Maya Resik was even Blood's mother, and according to the hospital, she was in the late stages of heart disease."
"I need you to call in a favor with Judge Carlin." Laurel begged, not willing to let this go. "Get a search warrant for Sebastian's campaign headquarters, his phone records; I-I have to start somewhere."
"Laurel, this isn't some casual request." Donner said. "I'm the ADA who took Vertigo on live TV. I take a shot at Sebastian Blood and miss, my career is done."
"Adam! Please." She begged.
Donner shook his head. "I'm sorry, Laurel." He said. "You're on your own." He told her, walking out of his office and leaving a disappointed Laurel alone.
"You can't honestly believe that anyone would take this seriously!" Lance said to Laurel. "Hell, I watched it happen; but listening to you, it sounds crazy!"
"It would probably go over better if you weren't tripping." Thea said helpfully.
Laurel shot her a look. "Thanks." She said dryly.
The scene changed to the alley behind Verdant. Roy was taking out the recyclables when Oliver, in civilian clothes, walked up to him.
"Hello, Roy." He said pleasantly.
Roy looked up and scoffed. "Lurking in an ally." He said, closing the lid on the bin and heading back towards the side entrance. "That's not at all creepy."
Oliver chuckled. "When I ran the club, I learned all the secret entrances." He joked as they walked. Then he turned serious. "I never got a chance to thank you for saving my mother's life." He said. Roy stopped and looked back at Oliver. "Thea told me. She said that you were very brave."
"I did what anyone would have done." Roy said awkwardly.
"Not anyone." Oliver admitted. "It takes a lot to run towards danger, not away from it."
Roy paused again and looked back. "That sounded like praise." He noted. "I thought where I was concerned, you didn't approve."
Oliver smiled. "Thea said that you also got hit by some falling debris." He continued. "How are you feeling?"
"Actually, it mostly missed me." He lied. "I'm fine. Look, I got to get back to work." He said hurriedly, moving quickly back into the club. Oliver watched him go, worried.
"Real subtle, Ollie." Tommy said, shaking his head.
"You know, I think that was the first time it felt like he didn't hate me." Roy noted.
"It helped that you saved my mom." Mia said, and Roy nodded in agreement.
The scene shifted to the Lair, where Felicity had pulled up the clubs surveillance cams on her monitors to watch Roy.
"Well, THAT'S not creepy at all!" Thea exclaimed. "How many cameras does he have?"
"I think the more pertinent question is- are there cameras in the store room?" Mia asked, then smirked when Thea paled.
"I swear, if he recorded me having sex, I'll kick his ass." She growled.
"Has Roy mentioned anything about the man in the skull mask who injected him?" she asked.
Oliver sighed. "Roy is not the kind of guy who is comfortable discussing his feelings."
"Not like you and me." Diggle noted. Oliver glanced over at Dig, who wagged his eyebrows.
Tommy and Diggle both burst out laughing, while Laurel shook her head in fond exasperation.
"Don't yell at me, but I really think we need a new plan on how to find this creepy mask guy." Felicity noted. "Scaring the crap out of low-lifes isn't yielding results."
"Felicity, I am open to any and all suggestions." Oliver said, frustrated.
"Oliver, maybe we're over thinking this." Dig said. "What if the mask simply got wind that you were after him and decided to skip town?"
"He didn't go to all the trouble of recreating the serum and testing it on people just to walk away." Oliver argued. "He is still out there, and we need to locate him."
Suddenly the Arrow's phone rang. Felicity reached down and grabbed it out of habit. She looked at the screen, and then handed it over to Oliver. "Lance, for the Arrow." She said.
"Wow, I really am his assistant." Felicity groused. "I am not getting paid enough for that…"
Oliver took the phone. "Yes, Detective?"
"Can we meet?" Lance asked from the SCPD.
"What is it?"
Lance looked up at his daughter disapprovingly. "Someone wants to talk to you."
"Wow. Hell has officially frozen over." Thea said. "And to think, there was a time you let her have the phone- to try and arrest my brother."
"Let it go!" Lance grumbled.
The scene changed to later that night. Laurel stood on a roof, watching the train go by as she waited for the vigilante to show up. Several mintues after the appointed time had past, she finally heard the familiar sound of the voice changer behind her.
"Hello, Laurel." The Arrow said.
"You're late." Laurel said, annoyed as she turned to face the Emerald Archer.
"I had to circle around to make sure there wasn't a SWAT team waiting for me again." The Arrow shot back.
"Ouch." Laurel said with a wince.
"That's fair." She said. "Trust me, I wouldn't have asked my father to put me in touch with you if I had any other choice."
"What do you need?" he asked.
"Sebastian Blood." Laurel said without further preamble. "He's about to be the new mayor of Starling City."
"I know who he is." The Arrow said.
"No, you don't." she shot back. "No one does." She walked towards the vigilante, holding out a file. "A few weeks ago, I was approached by your groupie, Roy Harper, and his girlfriend." Oliver took the file and continued to walk past her, careful to keep his face hidden. The mask might work on her father, but he had doubts about it working on someone who had known him so intimately. "They asked me to investigate the death of Max Stanton."
Oliver froze, remembering the death in question. "You think Blood was involved in Stanton's death?" he asked.
"Blood, or a man that works for him named Cyrus Gold." She explained. Oliver looked at the picture in the file, and sure enough it was the same man who had nearly killed him. "Gold killed four cops, including my father's partner, Lucas Hilton." Laurel continued. "Blood and Gold knew each other from the orphanage that Blood was raised at. He would do anything to keep the truth about his past hidden. Including murdering his own mother."
"Why would he do that?" Oliver demanded.
"To cover up the fact that he killed his father." Laurel stated. Oliver turned back to her, stunned. "I tried going to the DA. No one will believe me. I swear to you, Sebastian Blood is dangerous. And you're the only person in this city who can stop him." She pleaded.
"Hmm…. This is interesting…." Malcolm said, leaning forward.
Laurel looked at the man warily. "What makes you say that?" she asked.
"Well, Oliver has always had a bit of a blind spot with you." He began. "Indeed, you realized it and were able to trap him because of it. And it's this blind spot that you exploited to get his help here. Right now, he is the only one willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But if Blood were somehow to manipulate events to a point where even Oliver won't believe you anymore- then, Miss Lance, you'll be alone. And vulnerable."
Laurel gulped. "Well, that's a cheerful thought." She murmured.
The scene changed to Queen Consolidated the next day. Oliver, Felicity and Diggle sat in the conference room while Felicity collated all the information she had gathered.
"Laurel was right." She announced. "I hacked Blood's cell phone records. The alderman and Gold have stayed buddies since Zandia orphanage."
"So what? They kept in touch." Diggle argued. "Doesn't exactly mean that Sebastian Blood is the man in the skull mask."
"His last name is Blood. That can't be a good sign." She noted.
"Thank you, Mrs. States-The-Obvious." Tommy teased.
"Seriously- no one else has thought of that?" she asked.
"Felicity, he's dedicated his life, risked his life to help the people of the Glades. And in his spare time, he's a murderer trying to create an army of human weapons?" he tried, point out how ridiculous it sounded.
"You're a personal bodyguard who fights crime at night with his billionaire boss." She countered. "Not a lot of people show their real face in public."
"And that's a good point." Diggle admitted.
Diggle nodded, and then turned back to Oliver. "Oliver, what are you thinking?"
"Laurel gave me a case number to start with." He said, rising from his chair. "We need to know if Sebastian really killed his father, then we figure out if there's a chance he has the Mirakuru formula."
"I'm on it." Felicity said.
"And what if this is just another trap, set by Laurel?" Diggle asked. "She could be setting you up, and this time, you wouldn't have Sara to save you." He pointed out. Oliver nodded, but had no answer.
"It's good that you recognize his blind spot, Mr. Diggle." Moira told the bodyguard.
"I got to at least try to keep him straight." He replied.
The scene changed to the Glades down by the tracks. Roy was pacing by a low concrete wall when Sin walked up.
"Asking a cute girl to meet you down by the tracks, Harper? Good thing Thea and I are tight." She joked.
"Don't. Say. A. Word." Thea warned her elder self, who smirked in return.
"You're getting to know me too well." She joked.
"I have to show you something." Roy said seriously.
Sin baked off, holding up her hands. "Easy there, tiger." She said with a grin.
Roy walked up to a short concrete pillar and punched it. His fist burst through the solid concrete like it was sand.
"Shit!" Tommy exclaimed. "How did Slade NOT punch through any of us like that?"
"He wanted us all to suffer." Mia replied seriously.
Sin's grin fell of her face immediately. She reached out and grabbed his hand, examining it. "You're not even bleeding!" she exclaimed. "When did you start juicing?"
"I'm not." He said.
"Then how do you explain what I just saw?"
Roy started walking, lightly grabbing Sin by the shoulder and pulling her along with him. "You remember that night around Christmas when I went missing?" he asked.
"Yeah, Thea and I were pissed." She replied.
"I never told you guys what really happened." He began. "You were right about your friend Max. He didn't OD, he was murdered. He was injected with something, and I was injected with the same thing, but it didn't kill me. It made me- it made me stronger."
"Thea must be freaking." Sin noted.
"No, she doesn't know, I don't want her to."
Sin stopped walking. "Why not?" she demanded.
"Because you're as big an idiot as my brother." Thea grumbled.
"No argument there." Mia agreed.
"No, I can't, not yet." Roy said. "Not until I know more about what happened to me. I don't want to scare her."
Sin looked at him incredulously. "And you're not worried about scaring me?"
"She has a point." Mia noted to her husband.
Roy rolled his eyes. "Come on, I was going crazy not telling someone." He begged.
Sin sighed. "So what are you going to do?"
Roy thought for a moment. "Well, the Arrow once told me all I was good for was taking a beating." He said, a small smirk forming on his face. "Maybe it's time I started handing out a few of my own."
"I don't follow." Sin said, confused.
"Now I don't need his help to protect this city." Roy clarified. "Let's find us a bad guy."
Malcolm looked at Roy disbelievingly. "That is seriously your plan? HOW are you not dead?"
"The Mirakuru helped." Roy replied dryly.
"You're an idiot." Thea told him, shaking her head. "I marry an idiot."
The scene changed to Queen Consolidated later that night. Oliver was returning to his office from a meeting when Felicity met up with him.
"I have good news and bad news." She said. "I suggest the good news first; it tends to soften the blow of the bad news." Oliver just gave her a look. "Okay, dealer's choice." She said, moving back towards her desk which Diggle was leaning against. "Good news is we found the case file on Sebastian's dad's murder." She said, sitting down behind her computer.
"Anything in it to suggest he killed him?" Oliver asked.
Felicity sighed. "Oliver, meet bad news."
"That file was sealed years ago." Dig said.
"And since the file is over 27 years old, there is no digital copy for me to hack." She told him. "The only hard copy is stored the old-fashioned way in the city archives."
"So I go in and take it- the old fashioned way." Oliver said simply.
"Except security in the file room is so old school, you need a key card to get in, which, even if you had, you wouldn't know where to start looking for the file." Felicity pointed out.
Oliver thought about it for a moment. "An assistant DA would." He said.
"Oh, great." Lance muttered. "Aiding and abetting, breaking and entering…."
"I'd focus more the 'Possession of a controlled substance'." Sara advised.
The scene changed to Laurel's apartment. Laurel stood in her bedroom, staring at herself in the mirror. She absently noted her appearance- her face was thinning, her eyes looked listless, her hair was limp.
She looked defeated.
Laurel shifted in her seat. She couldn't believe she had come to this. "I hate to tell you," Sara said, interrupting her thoughts, "But it gets worse."
"Of course it does." Laurel said with a sigh.
She reached towards her purse, ignoring the slight tremor in her hand, and dug into it, withdrawing the pill bottle. She quickly opened the bottle and shook an Oxy out, downing it just as she heard the window in the next room opening. Startled, she quickly put the bottle back into her purse and walked out into the living room, where The Arrow stood in darkness.
"You said you needed my help." He said through the voice changer. "Now I need yours."
"What do you need?" she asked.
"You." He said. Without hesitation, she grabbed her coat and walked to the door, The Arrow following behind her. They passed a picture of the Lance sisters as they left the apartment.
FIVE YEARS AGO
Sara lay on the deck of the plane, wrapped in a blanket, staring at the small fire she and Oliver had built as Oliver lay in his makeshift hammock near the door.
"You know what I really miss about being home?" she asked rhetorically. "My bed."
Oliver chuckled. "I don't know if I even remember what a bed feels like anymore."
"And you probably never will." Sara said morosely. "And neither will I."
"Sara…" Oliver rose from the hammock and moved to the fire. "You don't have to do that. We're going to find a way off the island." He told her. "Ok? You just-you just have to trust me."
"Last time I trusted you was right before the 'Gambit' went down." Sara reminded him.
"THAT was a low-blow." Thea told Sara.
Oliver winced. "I haven't gotten a chance to say this," he said. "I'm sorry. I know this is my fault. And none of this would have happened if I hadn't invited you on the boat with me."
"Actually, none of this would have happened…" Tommy trailed off, glaring at his father.
"That's not exactly true. I mean I was the one who said yes." Sara conceded. "And it was only half because of your charm."
"And the other half?" he asked.
Sara grinned in memory. "Do you remember when you spilled that beer on me at Tommy's party?"
"No." he replied honestly. "But I never left one of Tommy's parties with my memory intact."
"Well, I wasn't even supposed to go." Sara began. "But I snuck out of the house because I knew you were going to be there. And I had this-" she laughed lightly. "I had this embarrassing crush on you. And Laurel, she knew it." She frowned. "And that's why the party got broken up by the cops. She tipped off our dad. Then I was grounded for a month, and the next thing I knew," she sighed. "You and Laurel were together."
Laurel groaned. "Oh, Sara…"
"You went with Queen because you were jealous of your sister?" Lance asked incredulously.
Sara nodded sadly. "Partly. I was a very jealous person back then." She admitted.
"No." Laurel said. "I was a selfish, spiteful bitch." Laurel countered. "And I let my pride get in the way of our relationship."
"Let's just say we were both at fault, okay?" Sara suggested.
"You think she did all that on purpose?" Oliver asked, not believing .
"Not everybody's what they seem." Sara reminded him. They sat in silence for a few moments. "We should get some sleep." She finally said, laying back down.
"I DID do it on purpose." Laurel admitted, still feeling guilty.
"And then I schtuped your boyfriend." Sara reminded her. "Again, we're even."
A few hours later, after the fire had been reduces to smoldering ash, Oliver lay asleep. A pair of boots walked over to him silently; a hand bent down and grabbed the radio. Sara made her way out of the plane, pausing only once to look back at Oliver.
"You can't think you could talk sense into Ivo!" Lance exclaimed.
Sara sighed. "I really did. I thought, at his core, he was a good man."
"Well, I thought the same thing about Slade." Mia said dryly. "Looks like we both were wrong."
PRESENT
Oliver led Laurel to the roof of the Department of Records. He quickly drew and fired an explosive arrow at the access hatch, blowing the lock.
"You ready for this?" he asked her as he lifted the lid.
"Whatever it takes." Laurel said firmly.
The Arrow nodded, and then activated his com-link. "We're going in."
"Anybody else humming the 'Mission: Impossible' theme to themselves right now?" Felicity asked. Tommy, Thea, Diggle and Laurel all nodded.
"At least the security cameras are from this century." Felicity said from her seat in the Lair. A few keystrokes later, she said "And now they're toast." As the cameras all shut off. "You have exactly seven minutes until the system reboots." She informed the vigilante.
Down in the lobby, two guards sat fighting off boredom. One looked up from his crossword puzzle to see the monitors greyed out.
"Hey, check it out." He told his partner as he picked up the phone to call tech support.
Inside the main hall, Laurel used her access card to swipe into the main records room.
"Of course, there would be an electronic record of her swiping in." Tommy noted.
"Pft." Felicity said dismissively. "Like I couldn't fix THAT."
The two entered and room and froze. Before them were rows and rows of shelves, all with hundreds of file boxes on them.
"Frak." Felicity said.
"Perhaps I should sponsor an initiative to digitize city records?" Moira wondered.
"This could take a while." She said.
"You have six minutes." He replied. They moved deeper into the room, frantically searching the boxes for the right file number.
Back in the lobby, the guard was actually managing to undo the damage Felicity had done in record time. "I'm rebooting the monitors." He said.
Felicity blinked in surprise. "Mother puss-bucket!"
"Wow. Intelligent rent-a-cops." Tommy said in surprise.
"There's a trojan plugging our system." His partner replied, watching as the security grid rebooted.
"It's probably some punk." The first said as the cameras turned back on.
Back in the Lair, Felicity's eyes widened in surprise. "Uh-oh." She hit the com switch. "Oliver."
"What's wrong?" he asked.
'It looks we've got the one rent-a-cop with a brain here. If there's a camera nearby, I recommend hiding.'
Oliver, remembering the camera he had just past, ducked around a corner. But not before the camera came on.
"Look there." The guard said in the lobby as he saw a shape move around the edge of a row of shelves. He picked up his phone. "You got to send some officers here." He said when the SCPD picked up.
"Ah, hell." Lance said worriedly. "SCPD response time to there would be about two minutes!"
"Don't suppose there's a Flash around then, is there?" Dig asked. Mia shook her head.
"No, not for another nine months."
'Starling's finest will be there any minute.' Felicity told him over the line. 'You need to get out of there now.'
"We're not leaving without the file." The Arrow said in determination. He rounded a corner and saw Laurel digging through a box on the floor. "Laurel." He said urgently.
"I can't find it!" she exclaimed, running back up the ladder to grab another box.
In the lobby, the guard let the SWAT team in. "Up there, third floor." He told them.
"Hurry, Oliver." Felicity warned urgently, watching the police on her monitors.
As The Arrow moved into a better position, Laurel was frantically digging through another box. "Wait!" she exclaimed, double checking against her notes. "Case number SC43878! This is it!" she yanked the file free just as the SWAT team burst into the room.
"Vigilante, we know you're here!" the commander yelled as his men filed into the room. "Close everything off, now!"
"Don't believe in stealth, apparently." Tommy said.
"They're blocking our only way out!" Laurel said as The Arrow led her away from the cops. He found this entire situation now highly ironic.
"Not so fun now, is it?" Thea teased lightly. She winked at Laurel to take any bite out of the comment.
Laurel smiled wanly at the younger girl. The irony hasn't escaped me.
"It's not our only way." He said. "Get to the east wall and wait for me." Laurel moved off, and the Arrow rounded a set of shelves, coming into view of a group of officers.
Malcolm leaned forward, curious to see how he would react as Moira sat tensely in her chair, her hands clenched.
"Drop your weapon!" one of the cops ordered. Instead, Oliver drew and fired a flash bang arrow that stunned the officers. He took off at a run, trying to stay ahead of the fire from another officer as the bullets tore into files and shelves right behind him. He rounded a corner and fired another arrow, shattering the window on the east wall right next to where Laurel was waiting. As the fire drew closer, she backed herself up against the shelf for cover as the Vigilante ran towards her. Just before he reached the window he grabbed her around the waist and jumped, pulling her out with him. He hooked his bow to the line he had shot out and slid down it, landing gently with his passenger.
The watchers all cheered, much to the future vigilante's amusement.
The immediate danger past, Laurel ripped open the file-
Only to find it empty.
"Wait, what?!" Tommy said, the joviality of their escape past. "Where's the file?"
"We did all of that for nothing?" Laurel said dumbfounded.
The scene changed to the Lair later that night. "We tried going through all the security footage at the city archives to see if anyone swiped the file over the last few days." Felicity was telling Oliver, pulling up the video files.
"Did you see anyone?" he asked.
"Just this." She said, playing a particular file. The video showed the main room empty, but after a few seconds the view started to break up before going to static. "It's all been erased."
"So what happened when you reversed the footprint to see who hacked in before you?" Oliver asked.
"I struck out again." She admitted. "It must have been an inside job."
"Meaning?"
"As a city alderman, Blood would have had access to the files." Felicity noted.
"Oliver, anyone on city payroll could have done this." Diggle pointed out.
"He's running for mayor." Oliver said. "One hint that he killed his father and his political future is dead in the water."
"Wait, I thought you two were supposed to be friends." Diggle said. "Don't you think you ought to give him the benefit of the doubt?"
Oliver looked to Felicity. "Please keep digging into Blood's past and see if there's anything that could help us." He said, turning to leave.
"Where you going?" Diggle asked.
"To give a friend the benefit of the doubt." Oliver replied as he walked out.
The scene changed to the club upstairs. Roy was walking down from the second floor as Thea was walking up, stubbornly ignoring him.
"What, are you still giving me the cold shoulder?" Roy asked.
Thea sighed. "Are you still not telling me what the hell is going on with you?"
"Am I interrupting?" they both looked down to see Sin standing there.
"He and I would actually have to be talking for you to be interrupting." Thea noted snarkily.
"Can I try?" Sin asked.
"Be my guest." Thea said wearily, walking up the stairs. Roy headed down to Sin.
"Tell her." She urged him.
Roy shook his head. "No. Now what do you got for me?"
"Idiot." Mia and Thea both said to Roy, who rolled his eyes.
"This guy in the Glades, the Starling Slasher." Sin started, waving a newspaper at him. "Word on the street is, he's got a thing for prostitutes. And by thing, I mean he has a thing for slicing them up. Mostly hunts in Crescent Circle."
"Sounds like a great guy." Roy noted sourly.
"Hmm, yeah. Problem is, he's some big shot lawyer, so no one has the sack to ID him." Sin said.
"Wait, this sounds exactly like someone the Arrow would go after." Roy said.
"But we don't need the Arrow anymore." Sin reminded him.
"Oh, this couldn't possibly go wrong." Lance noted, causing Roy to wince.
"We're going to have to bait him." Sin stated. "What pro is going to let us dangle her in front of a psycho?" Roy thought for a moment, and then looked at her in realization. Sin realized what he was thinking as well. "No." she said firmly. "No, no way—"
"Thea." Roy called over her shoulder to his slightly estranged girlfriend, who had made her way back down to the bar. "Um, Sin has a date." He lied as Sin stopped talking. "She has hoping to borrow an outfit. You know, something slutty." Sin glared at him.
"Something SLUTTY!" Thea raged. "Who do you think I—"
"I have the perfect first date outfit." Thea said with a smile. "Guarantees a second one."
Thea glared at Mia, who was barely trying to hold in her laughter. Moira and Malcolm, meanwhile, glared at her.
"Great." Sin said unenthusiasticaly.
"This guy won't know what hit him." Thea said, then paused. "Or girl." She added hastily. "Whatever you're into. I could do your make-up or your hair." She started, trying to dig herself out of the hole.
"You are not touching the hair, Queen." Sin said firmly.
"Ok." Thea said, leading her off. Sin looked back and glared at Roy fiercely. He just shook his head and rolled his eyes. It was a good plan, he thought. What could go wrong?
Laurel chuckled. "That poor girl." She looked up at Sara. "I hope you taught her a few moves."
Sara winced. "Not enough." She admitted, shaking her head. "But she gets through this all right."
"I miss Sin." Roy said. Mia and Sara both nodded in agreement.
"She put up with way more of your crap that I ever did." Mia said.
The scene changed to Blood's campaign office. Oliver walked in and looked at all of the bustling people around him, working hard to make Sebastian Blood mayor. 'God, I hope she's wrong.' Oliver thought silently to himself.
"You looking for me?"
Oliver turned, then extended his hand with a smile. "Sebastian." He said, shaking the mayoral candidates hand. "Good to see you."
"You too, man." Blood said with a smile. Then he was on the moved, handing some papers to a staffer to look over. "Listen, I'm so sorry, but I'm right in the middle of a polling snafu."
"I'll be quick." Oliver promised. "I just had a question about Laurel."
"Of course. Is everything ok?" Blood asked in concern.
"Not sure." Oliver began. "I ran into her the other day, and something just seemed off. I know the two of you have been spending a lot of time together," he sighed. "I just wanted to know if you knew anything."
Blood shook his head. "Well, we've traded phone calls, but she's been in trial, and I've been campaigning." He said. "We haven't really been able to connect."
"Nothing happened between the two of you?" he asked, stepping in front of him as he started to leave his office. "Not an argument or a fight or something?"
Blood backed off slightly with a sly smile. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were coming to me like a jealous ex-boyfriend." He teased.
"No." Olive said, shaking his head with a smile. "Just-no, I'm just looking out for a friend. And I hope you do the same." He added.
"Of course." Blood said. "Listen, I will take care of Laurel." He promised. "Thank you for letting me know." He said, finally stepping out of his office and back to the bustle of the main room as Oliver watched on, contemplating.
"Well, THAT doesn't sound ominous or anything." Tommy said, glaring at the screen.
Laurel smiled at him. "It's cute you're getting jealous over a guy who I'm going to get thrown in jail when we get back." She said.
"Not if I shoot him first." Lance said.
The scene changed to the seedier side of the Glades later that night, as Sin walked the street unsteadily in high heels. She was dressed appropriately slutty for the mission in a short skirt, a revealing top slightly covered by a thin leather jacket and choker.
"Well, along with being grounded," Moira said, glaring t her daughter, "We'll also be going through your wardrobe." She promised.
"Great." Thea groused.
Sara was glaring now at Roy. "Boy, if I had been in town, I would have murdered your ass for talking her into doing that!" she said, seething. "She is not trained for this!"
"Let's be realistic. If you had still been in town, the guy would have already been dead." Roy countered. "Also, Nyssa would have caught up to you without having to poison your sister or kidnap your mother."
"WHAT?!" Quentin and Laurel both shouted at once.
"To be continued in about two hours." Sara promised, glaring at Roy.
Thea had also styled her hair, much to her internal disgust. She was silently cursing Roy when a car pulled up next to her. Sin leaned down into the window, letting the John have a look.
"You're new." He said.
Sin shrugged. "Got to start somewhere, right?" she said.
"Get in."
"Damit, I promised her dying father I'd look out for her." Sara growled.
"Well, you failed!" Roy shouted, losing his temper.
"Both of you, knock it off!" Mia ordered. The two sat back in their seats sullenly, and Mia rolled her eyes. "Christ, I'm missing Slade now!"
The john drove them into a parking garage. As he pulled to a stop, Sin looked around, her arms crossed.
"Romantic." She said sarcastically.
"You're pretty." He said.
"You're disgusting." She replied, still looking out the window. Where the hell was Roy?
"I see you'd like to play rough." He said, pulling out a wicked looking dagger. He stared at it with a sadistic smile- a plain wooden handle and a blade that corkscrewed at the bottom before flattening out into a double-notched tip. Sin glanced back at the lawyer, then spotting the knife, paled. She lunged for her door as he lunged for her-
Then suddenly the driver's side door was ripped off the car as Roy arrived. He yanked the man out of the car, throwing him several feet across the lot. Roy stalked up to him, the anger visible on his face.
The man groaned. "Wait!" he exclaimed pathetically as he scrambled to his hands and knees. "I've got money!"
"Keep it." Roy said, kicking him hard in the ribs. The lawyer flew over his car- cracking his windshield on the way- over the roof of the car and into a support pillar behind it, cracking a water pipe in the process. He crashed down to the ground as Roy stalked back to him and began kicking him repeatedly as water poured down over them.
Once more Malcolm leaned forward. This was an indicator how an ordinary person with no real training would react to this Mirakuru, more so than Cyrus Gold. Briefly he imagined Ra's getting hold of the formula, and shuddered.
Sin got out of the car, and was shocked by the brutality Roy was displaying. Even Sara hadn't been this harsh! "Roy, Roy!" she exclaimed, running over and trying to pull him off of the guy. "Stop it, you're killing him!" Roy snarled and whipped his elbow back, striking Sin hard and sending her flying to the ground.
The act seemed to snap Roy out of his rage as he looked at his friend lying on the ground, groaning. "Oh!" he exclaimed, running over to her. "Sin? Sin, I'm sorry."
Sin glanced at Roy. She hadn't been this terrified since right before The Canary had rescued her months ago. She looked past Roy, focusing on the john. "We have to call an ambulance." She said shakily, staring at the limp, un-moving body across the way.
Roy dropped his head into his hands, disgusted with his actions. Comforting words came from a surprising source.
"You had the right impulse, Roy." Lance said gently. "You just didn't have a handle on what you could do."
"He's right." Sara agreed. "Don't beat yourself up over that."
"You were ready to." Roy pointed out.
Sara smirked. "I was ready to kick your ass for making a dumb plan." She clarified. "But that? That was the Mirakuru, pure and simple."
The scene changed to Bloods campaign office. The office was empty, and Blood was laying out work for the next day before a voice drew him to his office.
"Point blank range." Slade Wilson said, sitting behind Blood's desk and reading the police file he had liberated shortly before Laurel had tried to do the same thing. "Single shot to the heart from a low angle. Obviously the handiwork of someone quite scared, and very small." He set the file down on the desk, and Blood looked down at the picture of his father that had been paper clipped to it. "How come the police didn't arrest you?" Slade asked.
"I knew how to cover my tracks." Blood replied.
"And now of course Slade is covering his tracks." Laurel said in disgust. She couldn't believe he had gotten the file first.
"A skill you've obviously lost since you've gotten bigger." Slade noted scornfully. "You know how close you came to allowing the Vigilante to destroy everything?"
"Someone spoke out of turn." Blood said. "I've taken care of the problem."
Slade slammed his hand down on the desk as he rose. He moved quickly around the desk, buttoning his suit jacket. "Your mother was not our problem. Laurel Lance is."
"You were the one who told me to get close to her." Blood complained. "You said that it was part of the plan to hurt the Vigilante."
Tommy looked at his dad. "Him? I don't mind if you kill." He said seriously.
"Tommy…." Mia said in warning.
Tommy rounded on her. "No!" he snarled. "I'm not going to let that son of a bitch hurt her!"
"Tommy!" Laurel exclaimed, laying a gently hand on his arm. "He won't get the chance. Remember, I'm putting him in jail."
"I'm putting him in the morgue." Lance growled.
"There's no need to kill him." Malcolm said, to everyone's surprise. "I have a case number, I have the location of the file. And I have friends in the press." He smiled wickedly at his son. "There are far worse things than death for men like Sebastian Blood. And far better forms of justice than making him a martyr."
"It is." Slade said, stepping very close to Blood. "But you being sloppy isn't. Fix this, Mr. Blood." He grasped his tie and yanked it up, choking the politician. "You don't want me to fix it for you." He warned as he moved him out of his way.
Even before Slade was out of the office, Blood was scrambling for his phone. He quickly dialed one of his followers. "Brother Daily." He said shakily. "I need you to take care of something for me."
"Same thing with the cop." Malcolm continued. "A dead cop is a martyr. A disgraced cop is an abject… lesson…" he trailed off as the scene continued.
The scene changed to Laurel's apartment. Laurel was walking down the hall, digging her keys out of her purse when she stopped at her door. Laurel opened the door to see her apartment was trashed. She walked in, stunned at the destruction all around her, when she heard a noise. "Whoever you are, I'm calling the police!" she called out shakily.
"No need to." Daily stepped into view in her living room. "Remember me?"
Malcolm scoffed in appreciation. "Oh, that is good. Elegant, even."
"What?" Quentin asked worriedly.
"Officer Daily, right?" Laurel said, stunned. She moved towards him, her arms crossed. "What's this all about? What are you doing in my apartment." She demanded.
"I have a warrant." Daily said, holding up the paper for her to see. Two other officers came into view.
"A warrant for what?" she asked.
"We found these in your bedroom, Ms. Lance." One of the officers said, holding up a plastic evidence bag that contained Quentin Lance's oxycodone prescription.
"These aren't prescribed to you." Daily said as the third officer cuffed her. "That's a felony."
"What?!" Laurel exclaimed. "This is ridiculous!"
"You're under arrest for possession of a controlled substance." Daily said as the three officers led her out of the apartment. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
"He set me up!" Laurel exclaimed.
"No, Blood knew you were using and made an educated guess." Quentin said with a sigh. "He didn't set you up as much as expose you."
"And with everyone now knowing you were abusing prescription drugs, no one will be inclined to believe anything you say." Malcolm finished.
"But Blood's file was stolen!" Laurel protested weakly.
"No one will believe the junkie who cried wolf." Malcolm told her gently. "Blood is good. He found your weakness and exploited it for maximum benefit."
The scene changed to the SCPD headquarters. Laurel sat in the darkened interrogation room, her hand still cuffed. She sniffled and fidgeted, jonsing for a pill, when Quentin walked in. "I know what this looks like. But you have to listen to me." She started, rising from the chair and scurrying towards her father. "I know what's happening. Sebastian Blood… he's setting me up, because he knows I'm onto him. He's-he's trying to frame me!" she exclaimed desperately.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound crazy at all." Thea said dryly.
"So he planted drugs in your apartment?" Quentin asked. He started walking around the table, trying to maintain control.
"But-no, no! Forget about the drugs." Laurel said, following him. "The point is, is that he is the one behind this witch hunt."
"Sebastian called your boss." Quentin told her. "He's worried about you."
"No, no! He wasn't worried about me." She said frantically. "He's trying to discredit me! Don't you see what he's doing?"
"What I see is that you have tested positive for opiates. I see that you have been lying to me, and I see that you have been stealing from me!" he exclaimed, slamming the evidence bag down onto the table. Laurel stared at it fearfully.
"I can explain that." She tried.
"Every person that stands where you're standing now says the same thing." Quentin said.
"Dad—"
"The DUI, the paranoia about Blood, you're looking like hell." Quentin said, listing the more obvious things as Laurel started to cry. "You got a problem, Laurel."
"Right then, I have two problems." Laurel said dryly.
"No." she whispered.
"It's addiction." He said quietly. "It runs in the family. You can't pin it on Sebastian Blood."
"Daddy, please, you have to believe me! Please! Please." She begged.
He looked at her sadly. "I don't, baby." He said finally. He turned and left the room.
Laurel, sobbing, ran to the door and pounded on the glass. "No! No!" she cried, her cuffed hands coming to a rest on the cool glass.
In the squad room, a devastated Quentin rounded a corner to see Oliver standing there, leaning against the wall.
"How is she?" Oliver asked.
"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore." Quentin replied helplessly. He started to walk off, but Oliver laid a hesitant hand on his shoulder.
"I'll-I'll get her home." He told the cop.
"Thanks." Quentin said, walking off. Oliver looked up to see Laurel being led to central booking. She stared back at him tearfully.
"There's something you don't see every day." Thea joked lamely.
FIVE YEARS AGO
Sara walked into the forest before activating the radio. "Anthony? Are you there?" she asked. There was a few moments of static before Ivo replied.
**I'm here, Sara. I was hoping that you would reach out to me.** he said. **Are you alone? **
"Yes." She replied. She heard a sigh.
**Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you? **
"Do you even care? You were going to shoot me." She stated.
On the freighter, Ivo sat back on the table. "No. No, Sara. I swear, you were never in danger, I swear." He told her.
"I call bullshit on that one…" Tommy said.
"So it's ok because you were just planning on murdering Shado?" she asked.
Ivo was silent for a moment. "Her name was Shado." He asked.
"Yes. And you killed her, Anthony." Sara said.
"And I'm going to have to live with that for the rest of my life." Ivo replied.
"Which is hopefully very brief." Lance growled.
"It is." Sara assured him.
He looked around the radio room wearily. "I never set out to hurt anyone." He said. "I started this quest to save people; to save the human race."
"I know." Sara replied.
"Sara. I know you think that this ship rescued you when you were stranded at sea." Ivo began. "The truth is… you rescued me. But now the darkness, it's threatening me again."
On the island, Sara looked out into the forest, torn. ** I need you, Sara. Please. Save me. **
PRESENT
The scene changed to Glades Memorial. The lawyer was hooked up to life support, being fed oxygen through a tube as the doctors examined him. Outside the room Roy and Sin- who had changed back into her street clothes and was sporting a rather impressive bruise on her cheek- were looking in. The doctor finally came out and Roy approached him.
"How's he doing?" he asked.
"The damage done to his head and lower abdomen is severe." The doctor said as he walked. "He ruptured his spleen and he has massive swelling in his brain. Thankfully, he got medical attention quickly, so he's got a shot." He paused and smiled at Roy. "You did a good thing here, Roy." He told him before walking off, not noticing the guilt on Roy's face.
"Not exactly." Roy grumbled.
"What happened to you out there?" Sin demanded.
"I don't know." Roy said.
"We nearly killed this guy." Sin said, panicked.
"Roy?" The two looked over to see Thea walking towards them. "Are you ok?"
"What are you doing here?" Roy asked in confusion.
"Sin called me." Thea said.
Roy looked at her accusingly. "Why did you do that?" he demanded.
"Because she was worried about you." Thea said, defending her friend. She looked into the room to see the john on life support. "Who is that guy?"
"He was my date." Sin said. "We put him there."
"You-you did this?" Thea said, shocked.
"Just drop it." Roy pleaded. "Please."
"Roy, something is happening to you." Thea said in concern. "I'm not judging you. I'm not angry with you. I'm on your side." She placed a hand on his arm. "I just want to help you." She said.
Roy shook his head and pulled away. "You can't." he said. "I-I got to go."
Mia sighed. "You stubborn idiot."
"Not that I actually want to put Thea in harm's way," Malcolm began delicately, "but she does seem to have a calming influence on you. Perhaps you should have let her in."
"You want him to dangle her as bait for a rapist?!" Moira exclaimed.
"Of course not!" Malcolm replied sharply.
"Malcolm, for once we agree on something." Roy admitted reluctantly. "I should have told her. It would have spared us all a lot of grief."
"Roy!" Thea called out as he walked off. Roy rounded the corner then stopped, collapsing down against the wall and silently sobbing. What the hell was happening to him?
The scene changed to Laurels apartment. Laurel, now released, and Oliver were quietly trying to clean up the mess Daily had left. Oliver paused as he picked up the picture of Laurel and Sara, now free from its shattered frame.
"You haven't said much." Laurel said from across the room. "Quietly working on your lecture?"
"No lecture." Oliver said.
"I suppose you think I was wrong about Sebastian, too, though." Laurel said.
Oliver exhaled wearily as he stood. "I think that you have everyone fooled, because you want people to think that none of this gets to you." He surmised. "And that you don't need anyone's help."
"I don't!" she said sharply.
"Not my diagnosis." Lance told his daughter.
"Except, I know you!" he replied, equally sharp. "This isn't you." He added quietly.
"What happened to no lectures?" Laurel said, desperately trying to hold back her tears. "I just-I need a glass of water." She said. Oliver stood there, not moving. "Do you mind? Please." She asked. Oliver sighed and walked into the kitchen. A moment later he was walking out, when suddenly he was struck on the side of the head with a billy club. He dropped to the floor like a stone, the glass falling from his numb hands and shattering as Brother Blood stepped around his fallen body.
"Leave him. He's not important." Brother Blood said, looking to the two men he had brought who were restraining Laurel. "Hello, Laurel."
"What, disgracing me wasn't good enough?!" Laurel exclaimed.
"It gets better." Mia said dryly.
A short time later, Oliver shot back to wakefulness with a gasp. "Laurel." He looked around and seeing no one, staggered to his feet. He pulled out his phone and called Felicity. "It's me." He said unnecessarily. "Someone came after Laurel."
"Do you know where they took her?" she asked.
"I think I have a pretty good idea." Oliver said, his voice stronger as she stalked out of the apartment. He walked past a message written in red paint on the wall: Tell the Arrow Starling Cannery
Malcolm frowned. "What is he doing?" he wondered.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?" Diggle said. "Unless you're setting a trap."
"If I was Blood, I would be more careful with the Arrow, especially after he defeated my one super soldier." Malcolm said. "He's too cunning to risk a direct confrontation."
"Wait for it." Mia said with a smirk.
Felicity sighed. "Oh, just tell us!"
"Spoilers."
At the Cannery, Laurel's eyes shot open as she too regained consciousness. She was laying on a cold, concrete floor, and as she pulled herself up and looked around, it appeared to her that she was in a boiler room of some kind.
"Great." Laurel said. "It's been a while since I've been kidnapped."
She made her way frantically through the boiler room, pausing as she saw Brother Blood walking across from her, separated only by rope netting. "If that mask is supposed to scare me," she started, breathing heavily. "All that it's doing is confirming what I've already known for a while now." She rounded a support column- but Brother Blood was gone. She looked around fearfully. "You're one sick son of a bitch, Sebastian!"
"And the role of Freddy Krueger will now be played by Sebastian Blood." Thea said.
Laurel shuddered. "I hated that movie."
"I liked the original." Tommy said. "The remake was kinda lame, though." Laurel shot him a look and he shrugged.
"30,000 years ago masks invested their wearer with authority, like a God." The voice of Brother Blood said.
"You're insane." Laurel said.
"And informative." Thea added.
"I'm not the one making drug-addled, unsubstantiated accusations against Starling's favorite son." Brother Blood said from nowhere, everywhere.
"If I can find out the truth, then others can, too." Laurel said.
Suddenly Brother Blood was standing right behind her. She swung her elbow back, but the masked man ducked underneath the wild swing and grabbed her in a light choke hold. "You found out nothing. You know nothing." He growled.
Suddenly and arrow shot past his masked face, embedding itself in a pipe. "Get away from her!" The Arrow demanded from the catwalk above. "Or I will put…you…DOWN."
"And to think, a few short months ago, you were trying to arrest him." Brother Blood said to Laurel wryly.
"Yes, we already commented on the irony when we were trying to steal your file, asshole." Laurel growled.
"You wanted me here. I'm here." The Arrow growled. "Let. Her. Go."
Brother Blood threw Laurel to the ground and pulled a gun. "No, I think she should witness this." He moved to aim up at the catwalk, but another arrow knocked the weapon from his hand. Then the Arrow was there, beating the masked man down with fists and feet, contemptuously ducking or blocking every shot Brother Blood took. Oliver pushed him down a long narrow hall, leaping off the wall to double the man over with a punch. He landed, looked to make sure Laurel was alright, and then swung his bow backwards in a wide arc to take the masked man out-
But he was gone.
"Don't get distracted." Malcolm said to himself, though Tommy heard him.
"Are you actually rooting for Oliver?" he asked in surprise.
Malcolm chuckled to himself. "I suppose I am." He admitted.
Growling in frustration, The Arrow took off at a light jog, looking around the boiler room for any sign of the man. His back was turned when Brother Blood leaped out of the shadows, landing on the vigilante and knocking him to the ground. Brother blood grabbed his right arm in a reverse arm bar and pulled back hard. Oliver grimaced as he heard his bones creaking, the using his left hand he grabbed and arrow from his quiver and jammed it into Brother Blood's leg. The masked man groaned in pain as The Arrow threw him off. Brother Blood withdrew his backup piece from an ankle holster and drew on The Arrow. The Vigilante rose an instant later, his bow in his hand, and had just enough time to see the victory in Brother Bloods eyes when suddenly a shot rang out. Brother Blood jerked as Laurel came up behind him, his first gun in her hand, and fired again and again. Six shots left Brother Blood laying on the ground gasping for breath.
"Freddy's dead." Tommy commented.
"Fuck Freddy." Laurel shot back. She was stunned that she had killed the man, though not upset.
The Arrow and Laurel walked up to the fallen criminal. "Take off his mask." Laurel demanded. "I need to see."
Oliver stood frozen for a minute, wondering if Laurel was about to be proven right after all. Slowly he knelt down and removed the leather mask, and Laurels look of satisfaction turned to shock as the man behind the mask turned out to be not Sebastian Blood, but Officer Daily. He had time to smile in satisfaction at her stunned look before he finally died. Laurel looked up at The Arrow, who stood there stunned as well.
As she sat there watching, Laurel was stunned as well. "How…"
"Persuasive men can make their followers do anything- even die for them." Malcolm said.
"And now Blood is in the clear and the man in the mask isn't a target anymore." Quentin realized, shaking his head.
A short time later Laurel was once again seated in the SCPD. This time, however, she sat in the squad room, a blanket on her shoulders and a cup of coffee in her hands.
"Sweetheart." She looked up as her father ran in and came to her side. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." She said numbly.
Quentin exhaled. "Looks like Daily was behind this whole thing." He said. "Son of a bitch volunteered for the raid that got Hilton killed. And we found the accelerate that he used to torch the Langford Institute in his apartment."
"I thought it was Sebastian." Laurel said, in shock. "I was so sure."
"Yeah. Well, that's the thing about the booze and the pills." Quentin said. "You know, same thing that dulls your pain clouds the judgment."
"And now along with everyone else doubting you, you'll doubt yourself." Malcolm added. "A rather ingenious plan Blood devised."
"Not to mention ruthless." Quentin added.
Malcolm smiled grimly at the cop. "I know about ruthless, Detective Lance. I've done worse."
Laurel gave him a sad smile, but allowed herself to be pulled in for a hug.
"Can we have a minute?" the two looked up to see Adam Donner standing there, a serious look on his face.
"Yeah." Quentin said with a sigh, rising and moving off so the two could talk.
"Are you here to say, I told you so?' Laurel asked.
"We're dropping the possession charges and you won't be charged in Daily's shooting." He told her. "It was clearly self-defense."
"You don't seem that thrilled for me." She noted.
"Are you going to look me in the eye and tell me you don't have a substance abuse problem?" he asked her. Her silence was all the answer he needed. "The DA's office has a generous severance package." He told her.
Laurel sighed unhappily. "And I get fired. What a great day."
"Could have been worse." Thea pointed out. Laurel nodded in agreement.
"Wait!" Laurel shot to her feet. "Wait, let me explain to DA Spencer. I can-I can tell her everything!"
"This isn't coming from Spencer, Laurel." Donner said. "This is me. I'm the one that hired you. I'm sorry." He told her sincerely. "But you're done." He walked off, leaving Laurel devastated and alone once again.
"You know, as mean as this sounds," Tommy started, "That's probably the one thing Donner's done that I agree with."
Laurel rounded on him. "You agree with him firing me!" she exclaimed.
"Not entirely for his reasons- which are clearly about covering his own ass." Tommy said. "But that you does have a problem, Laurel. And sometimes, you need to be brought down to your lowest before you can start to get better."
"He's right." Sara said. "If you had kept your job, you would have kept chugging along until one day you OD'd or worse."
"So I start to get better after this?" Laurel asked, sighing at Sara's wince. "Or not."
"Well, I still get to do something stupid first." Sara admitted. "But we'll get there."
The scene changed to the Lair as Oliver walked in wearily. Felicity and Diggle were sitting there, waiting for him.
"Did Laurel really shoot him?" she asked.
Oliver sighed. "She saved my life." He said.
"That's a good thing, Oliver." Felicity told him.
"You ok?" Dig asked.
"She really had me believing that Sebastian Blood was a criminal mastermind, and the only reason that I nearly believed her was because it was Laurel." Oliver said. "I do have a blind spot where she's concerned. Not anymore." He said determinedly.
"At least he recognizes it now." Dig said.
"Yeah, but in this case- is it a good thin, or a bad thing?" Felicity wondered.
"Certainly know how to talk yourself out of a victory." Felicity noted wryly.
Oliver gave her a small smile. "It's a gift."
"Take the win, man." Dig advised. "Daily's dead, you destroyed the serum. It's over."
Oliver sighed, looking at the security feed from the club. Upstairs Roy was hard at work in the empty space. "No, it isn't."
A short time later Oliver came upstairs, dressed in his civilian clothes. Thea was sitting at the bar doing paperwork while Roy was wheeling a keg to the back. "Hey." He said. "Slow night?" Roy steadfastly ignored him as he walked to the back. "Something I said?" Oliver asked his sister.
"Don't take it personally." She said. "He won't even make eye contact with me."
"Something happen?" Oliver asked.
"He put someone in the hospital." Thea said. Oliver tensed immediately. "He's a little stingy with the details, but…" she sighed. "You should have seen this guy. I don't understand how any human could have done that to another. Each day, he becomes more and more like somebody I don't even know. He won't even listen to me." She said, near tears.
"I know someone he'll listen to." Oliver said quietly.
"Almost." Roy added wryly. "I was a bit stubborn."
"A bit?!" Mia said.
FIVE YEARS AGO
**Sara, are you still there? **
"When you first found me, I felt like you were my savior." Sara said. "And letting me into your work, I felt like I was a part of something bigger."
"You are, Sara." Ivo assured her.
"It was only because I didn't want to see what you were really doing." Sara said, her voice firming up with her resolve. "I mean, what you did to those people on the boat, and how you tortured them for science… how I was glad that I wasn't one of them." She paused, taking a breath. "But now I'd rather be dead than keep being a part of this." She told him.
"You ungrateful bitch." Ivo said after a moment, the mask finally coming off for good. "You think you know what torture is? You have no idea. But I will show you." He promised her. "I am going to hunt you down. Both of you, and I will show—"
Sara turned off the radio. She stood there for a moment, allowing the silence to soothe her. Then she turned around-
To see Oliver standing behind her.
At once she knew. She knew he had known she would go for the radio to try and reason with Ivo. And he knew that Ivo would more than likely reveal his true self to her. Oliver slowly walked up to her, and she handed him back the radio. "Let's go find Slade." She said.
PRESENT
Sebastian Blood walked into the darkened office of Slade Wilson, flanked by three security guards.
Malcolm scoffed. "Oh, that will do him a lot of good." He said. He was still sore from fighting Slade, and he had been trained by the best. He doubted these men would last very long.
"It's done." He called out. "They think it was all Daily. He sacrificed himself for our cause."
"A good start." Slade's voice called out. Blood paused and fearfully looked around. "But the magnitude of your negligence requires a greater sacrifice."
Suddenly Deathstroke was there, in full armor, wielding his sword like a surgeon. He stabbed Blood in the leg, sending the man to the ground, before pulling the sword out and slashing the chest of the first bodyguard. A hard kick sent the second flying across the room where he crashed to the floor, but not before his head hit the back of a chair on the way down. Deathstroke spun and slashed the throat of the third man. The first guard came back, swinging wildly for the fences, but Deathstroke easily ducked under the wild swing and slashed his chest again, sending the man to the ground. He spun back to the third, who was grasping at his throat trying to stem the bleeding, and punched him hard in the throat, killing him.
Blood was trying to pull himself up when the sword came to rest on the side of his neck.
"Jesus Christ." Quentin said, swallowing. "We got lucky, didn't we?" he asked Sara. She nodded in reply.
"We got VERY lucky." Mia said.
"Your incompetence has now cost four lives, alderman." Slade said, pulling off the armored helmet to glare at the man with his one good eye. "Fail me again and yours will be the fifth." He pulled the sword away and Blood collapsed back to the floor. When he looked back up again, Deathstroke was gone.
The scene changed to the alley outside Verdant. Roy was finishing up stacking the empty kegs when he heard the distinct sound of an arrow being drawn and fired. Roy looked up to see his red arrow embedded in the telephone pole.
"If that was supposed to go through my other leg, you missed." Roy said tiredly.
"You seem to be healing pretty well." The Arrow said, walking down the alley towards the boy.
Enraged, Roy ran at the vigilante. He swung wildly, but The Arrow expertly dodged out of the way. Roy's third wild punch took out a chunk of bricks on the side of the building, and he staggered back down the alley as the vigilante stood tall. "You're stronger, you heal faster, but you're not in control." He said. "The serum that you were exposed to, it changes your body but it also warps your mind."
"How do you know so much about it?" Roy demanded angrily.
"I've seen it before." The Arrow admitted. Roy turned to look at the vigilante. "It twists men. Turns them into someone they don't recognize. Someone dangerous." He said.
"Maybe you should put another arrow through me." Roy said. "This time through my heart."
Sara glanced at Roy sorrowfully. There had been a time when she would have killed him- when she had almost killed him. She didn't realize he had thought about it earlier than when he was on hos rampage, though.
"There's another way, Roy." The Arrow said. "I can teach you to control your new ability. And to control yourself. Let me help you." He pleaded quietly.
Roy looked the Emerald Archer in the eyes. "When do we start?" he asked.
The memory set ended, and Mia smacked Roy on the arm. "Will you stop trying to get yourself killed?"
"Baby, you have no idea what it was like to be on that stuff." He replied. "Every day I was scared that I was going to hurt you. And I DID kill a cop before I was cured, so the fear wasn't unfounded."
"Well, let's keep pushing on." Sara decided, queuing up the next memory set. "You'll like this one, Malcolm."
"Oh? Why's that?" he asked warily.
"We get the return of your Markov device." She said as she pressed play.
TBC
A/N: Okay, I know everybody has had problems with how Laurel was written during this season. Personally I didn't because I could see what they were doing and where they were going. But one thing I did realize while transcribing these episodes- she was VERY quick to go from think Blood was a nice guy to thinking something was wrong with him, and I don't think we ever really saw why she began to think that. Was it the drugs, and in her drugged up paranoia she happened to pick the one guy who really was evil?
A/N2: something 'I just noticed- if the Police know that Lance had a phone with a direct connection to the Vigilante, wouldn't they have taken it away from Lance when he was demoted? I mean, he uses it to call Oliver right in the middle of the precinct.
BTW, I'd like to compliment the director of this episode, Glen Winter. He's the one who did the pilots for both Arrow and Flash, and has directed all of the big episodes of Arrow in Season's 1 & 2. Something that I hardly ever notice, but the direction and camera work for this episode were really top-notch, and gave the episode a cinematic feel. (He also did the Dollmaker episode)
Also, you can't tell me that Laurel ending up in a boiler room wasn't a tip of the hat to her role in the Nigthmare on Elm Street reboot.
(Side note- I've played that reference so man times now, my added stage direction when I transcribe the episode said "OBLIGATORY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET JOKE")
A/N: I just thought of something. Earlier in the episode, Quentin complained that his pain meds were missing to Daily. Laurel was popping his pills throughout the episode. But I wonder- did Daily steal Lance's prescription bottle and plant it at Laurel's, or did Blood know she was popping pills?