Oliver and Laurel were currently in a limo on their way to city hall with Oliver on the phone with Curtis about once again tracking down Felicity.
"I don't care what you have to do. Felicity will no doubt tell the Rogues whatever they want to know, just to keep herself alive. She's a coward and will always put her own safety first." Oliver said as he hung up.
"We'll find her Ollie. And when we do, we'll personally escort her to Argus custody." Laurel assured him.
"I hope so. We need to find her before she can do any real damage." Oliver said.
"I know I shouldn't even say it, but how much damage could a computer geek do?" Laurel asked, right as they heard and felt an explosion happen as the limo flipped over.
"You just had to say it didn't you?" Oliver groaned as he held his ribs in pain.
"Please don't even go there." Laurel snapped as she held her arm.
Oliver pulled out his phone to call 911 when suddenly the window next to him was shattered and he felt a fist drag him out of the limo, scraping his face and body with glass as he was pulled through.
"Oliver." Laurel said weakly.
"What the hell?" Oliver asked, dazed.
"Hello Oliver." Malcolm Merlyn's voice said and Oliver looked up to see Merlyn, dressed in his Dark Archer suit standing over him, a sword drawn.
"I seem to remember us being in a very similar situation before. Only it was me who was crumpled in a pathetic mess." Malcolm said.
"What do you want?" Oliver asked.
"I'm not going to kill you. No, after all the pain and humiliation you've put my associates and I through over the years, that would be too generous. You know both Ra's al Ghul and Slade Wilson were excellent strategists. Ra's always said that if you can't kill your enemy, weaken him and Slade held a similar sentiment of hurting his enemy and breaking their spirit before killing them." Malcolm said.
Oliver immediately looked towards the limo was somewhat relieved to see Laurel still alive.
"Please, I'm begging you. Don't kill her. Don't take her away from me again. Don't do that to her family." Oliver begged.
"Oh, Laurel. No, I wasn't talking about her, since I agree with you that we should not put the Lance Family through anymore pain like that. After all, losing a child can be quite devastating." Malcolm said.
"Then what are you going to do?" Oliver asked.
"The same thing you did to me 2 years ago, only, I'm not just going to take your hand." Malcolm said and with one swift strike, he sliced Oliver's entire left arm clean off, leaving only a bloody shoulder stump.
Oliver screamed in pain as Laurel, who'd just managed to poke her head out the window, looked horrified at what Merlyn had just done. However, before Malcolm could do anything else, they all heard sirens and Laurel sighed with relief as the authorities arrived.
"I guess we'll have to finish this another time then." Merlyn said as he pulled an old Arrow trick and used a cable to swing away.
Laurel was now lying in a hospital bed with her right arm in a sling and her left leg being lifted off the bed as her father ran into the room.
"Laurel, what happened? I heard you were in an accident, but what happened?" Quentin asked.
"Ollie and I were in the limo on our way to city hall like usual when suddenly the limo flipped over in some sort of explosion. The next thing I know, some man in a black suit and hood, similar to what the Arrow used to wear, broke the window and dragged Oliver out the window and into the street. Then I heard Oliver beg for him not to kill me. Then I heard him scream in pain and I looked out to see that the man had sliced Oliver's left arm off." Laurel said and Quentin knew that the only reason she was giving him this story was due to surveillance cameras.
"Are you alright?" Quentin asked.
"I'll live and I'm better than Oliver. Honestly, I'm worried about what this will do to thim. It'll break him." Laurel said.
"No, we both know that Oliver's come back from a lot worse. He'll pull through. Especially since he'll have you to help him." Quentin said and Laurel nodded as she managed a weak smile as Thea came in.
"Laurel, are you okay?" Thea asked.
"I'll be fine." Laurel said.
"Where's my brother?" Thea asked.
"Still in surgery. He lost a lot of blood." Quentin said.
"Who did this?" Thea asked.
"I don't know." Laurel said and while Thea wanted to push her for answers, a look from Quentin read not here.
"Roy has the entire ACU looking for the man who did this and Pike has the SCPD doing the same." Thea said and Laurel just nodded.
Laurel was relieved when they brought Oliver into her room and placed him on the other hospital bed in the room.
"Will he be okay?" Laurel asked.
"Well, we were able to save his life, but I'm sorry, the nerve damage made it impossible for us to even hope of reattaching his arm." the doctor said.
Laurel just nodded as she watched the man she loved in a hospital bed, looking more broken than she'd ever seen him before.
A little sad I know, but I felt like the story needed a defining moment and after rewatching the Legends episode, Star City 2046, I thought this seemed appropriate, and I also thought it would be interesting if Merlyn was the one who did the deed, since Oliver cut off his hand two years prior.