Brutality

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. This takes place during the first fight between the Dark Archer and Oliver but a bit more brutal then what we saw in that scene.

Summary: Suppose the fight between Oliver and the Dark Archer was a little more harsh and brutal?

Oliver's fight with the other archer had led to the rooftop and the fight was progressively getting more brutal by the minute. It was clear for him that the other man clearly had a few more years of experience then what he did but he wasn't about to let that stop him from doing what he could to stop the man. At one point Oliver had wound up getting an arrow into his forearm after the other man tried to stab him in the chest with it. A part of the arrow was still in his forearm too and it was causing quite a bit of discomfort in addition to all the other pain he was feeling thanks to this fight. I need to find some way to end this!

And preferably before he got injured even worse! There was no doubt in his mind that pretty much everyone in the city was seeing this fight too thanks to the news chopper in the air that had already been covering the event ever since it had leaked out about the hostages earlier on. A blow to his midsection caused him to double over with a grunt and the Dark Archer wrapped him in a headlocked and started to punch him as quickly and hard as he could. Reaching for one of his arrows, he jabbed one right into the man's knee, causing him to grunt in pain and stagger away. "It will take more than that to stop me." And as if to prove his point, he ripped the arrow right out of his knee without so much as screaming from the pain and threw it to the side.

The sight of this gave Moira Queen and the rest of Tempest aside from Malcolm Merlyn even more of a frightening picture of Malcolm's Enforcer. It made those who were thinking of backing out or attempting things without the okay to think twice on those thoughts. The Dark Archer threw a fletchette at Oliver who barely moved out of the way in time and was quickly on the defensive when the man came at him in a flurry of strikes. Which to him shouldn't have been possible considering the knee injury. Something a lot of others were sharing some disbelief over, including Detective Lance as he and his fellow officers watched from their tent on the ground. Oliver staggered back after getting a solid blow to the jaw by the other archer.

Rubbing his mouth, he saw blood on it and felt one of his teeth were loosened after that. I guess its a good thing I have money or having missing teeth would suck. And it wasn't even in relation to the whole playboy image either when he had that thought.

"You should join me Hood, its clear you have some skill but with training from me you'll be even better."

"No thanks, I'm good where I'm at." And damn were those arrow heads in his back starting to really annoy the Hell out of him.

"If you won't join me and the man who authored the List, then you will die."

Both raised their bows up and fired arrows at the other, the Dark Archer's arrow went into Oliver's chest and it made him drop to a knee as he pulled it out with a grunt. His arrow was caught by the other archer who was about to start gloating when it exploded on him and sent him stumbling to the ground. Making for a satisfied and smirking Oliver in the process. Forcing himself up, he started walking towards the man and shot an arrow into the man's right leg. "Next time it'll be around where your knee is if you don't start telling me more about this author!"

His answer was flaming cloth to the face that luckily didn't catch his own hood on fire thanks to his quick thinking. He didn't even get so much as a glimpse of the man when he got speared and started getting punched in the face. Oliver was able to hit the man in the temple that thankfully made the man roll off him and allowed Oliver to get back up and aimed an arrow at him. However, any action he planned on doing was halted when he saw that it was none other then Malcolm Merlyn he was fighting! "Malcolm Merlyn!?"

The man smirked as he got up to his own feet and shocking many in the process as none of them would have ever expected someone like him to be such a cruel and formidable archer. Including his own son and Moira was starting to feel less horrified and more furious now that she knew the truth about Malcolm and his Enforcer. "Oh yes, surprised are we? I took great pains to ensure none would know of my secret. And now I'll most certainly have to kill you for exposing me so publicly." Not to mention the fact the League could potentially come down on his ass for possibly exposing them.

But that would be a bridge to cross when the time came as he had this Hood to deal with first. "And then once I know who you are, I'll go after EVERY single person who knows you and end them as well."

"Now that everybody knows who you are, I don't think you'll find that to be as easy as you think!" Growled out Oliver as he started firing off arrows at the man, determined to end the threat he clearly represented. Even though a part of him knew it would cause pain to Tommy but he had his family to think about in the whole thing.

He started to fire off arrow after arrow at the man but Malcolm only deflected them with his sword as he came towards him with an infuriatingly calm look on his face as if he were nothing more then a barely bothersome obstacle. Malcolm took a swing at him with his sword and Oliver had to use his bow to connect with it. Which if he wasn't careful he might very well could lose a finger too. Oliver was stunned however when Malcolm suddenly used the flat side of the sword to strike him hard in the stoamch. Forcing him to his knees in pain while wheezing from the impact. Now Malcolm could have said something but he figured why give the Hood any time to recover while he sounded like a cheesy villain?

Stepping in front of the downed man, he grabbed the hood and quickly pulled it off before he could really be stopped and threw it away. He then whacked the man on the side of the head with the flat side of his sword. "Its a pity you won't take me up on my offer for training. I could show you ways to ignore pain such as that."

The angry pain filled look he got in return wasn't surprised the man, but that it was coming from Oliver Queen himself! "And become an uncaring asshole like you? No thanks!" Oliver lunged at him and got sidestepped for his troubles.

The revelation of who the Hood was shocked a great deal of people and horrified a certain few as well. Lance however was angry as Hell over the fact he'd been fooled by the Punk when he went after him awhile back. Moira and Thea both were panicking and shouting at the tv for Oliver to get his ass out of there and not caring about the fact he couldn't hear either of them. Moira knew what Malcolm was capable of thanks to learning he's his own Enforcer and greatly feared for her son's life. Even if he had some skill of his own that sadly didn't seem to be a match for the older man's. And while Thea was angry over being practically lied too by her big brother about being the Hood, she was feeling more horrified then anything at the way things were going.

Malcolm grabbed one of Oliver's arms and twisted it harshly as he had in the building, making Oliver scream out as it happened to be that very same arm. He tried to swing at him with one of his mini arrows and only succeeded in getting a cut on the man's chin. Making another go of it saw Malcolm catching his wrist and breaking it, forcing the mini arrow to fall out of his hand as he screamed out in pain. His mind was too focused on the pain at that moment as Malcolm started to rain down blows on him and even savagely impaled him with a few arrows he still had in his quiver. Laurel from her apartment was crying what was going on as Tommy held her. The girl at that point wasn't even giving a damn that Ollie had flat out lied about his being the Hood.

Finally, mercifully, the rain of blows stopped as they neared the ledge as Oliver gasped for breath that hurt to even do thanks to the pain he felt all through out his body. Malcolm stared at him for a moment as if deciding what he would do next. "It truly pains me that I am having to do this. As you are the son of two of my greatest friends in this life. But I must do what I need to in order to ensure my Undertaking is a success even with my being revealed. I trust Moira never knew of this because if she did, you likely wouldn't be out here right now. Which you can take as some small form of comfort that I won't be going after your family once I'm done here." Though if Moira DID know something… Well the punishment would be most fitting.

Oliver tried to speak but had trouble doing so and even the act of moving was proving to be a little difficult. Malcolm then impaled him right in the midsection with his sword that went right through him and all the way out the other side. Making the horror and shock levels even higher then what they already were. Moira and Thea were crying as mother hugged daughter and what happened next would be in their nightmares for years to come as Malcolm kicked Oliver off the side of the building's edge and into several stacked pallets below that he fell through. Yells for a doctor could be heard after that as the police rushed towards the fallen archer while Malcolm stood atop the building and stared down at his handiwork with a blank look on his face.

He then left before the police could try and get to him and would have to go into hiding very quickly before he was found. And while in hiding, would consider his options for the path to the Undertaking while ensuring those in Tempest did not try to go against him in any way. Which would prove to be difficult when Moira Queen came forward with what information she had and ARGUS got involved as well after it came to light that Oliver Queen had previously worked for them during the time he was believed dead. It'd be sometime before Oliver would even wake up and even longer before he was finally able to even really move due to his injuries and the atrophy he experienced while in a coma. Thankfully ARGUS' intervention kept him from being arrested and thrown into prison, much to Quentin Lance's dislike.

The League intervention also happened as Malcolm feared it would and thanks to them getting involved, his Undertaking was stopped before it could really happen. It'd be thanks to the likes of Sarab, Al-Owal, Nyssa Al Ghul, and Ta-er al-Asfar that it would be stopped. The four would wind up on the most wanted list in Starling since they be-headed Malcolm right before Quentin and Hilton. This would help to give Sara nightmares related to her father for awhile afterwards and even abandon the League to run to her father's arms. Quentin would be conflicted about what to do when he learned she'd been one of those responsible for cutting off Merlyn Senior's head but in the end never gave her up.

Her abandoning the League would send Nyssa and Al-Owal after her but in the end Nyssa killed Al-Owal and reported back to her father that in the process to either bring back or end the Canary's life that both she and Al-Owal died during the fight. Unfortunately this meant the two would never be able to be together again due to her lie but Nyssa could take solace in the fact her Canary would be okay now that she was no longer in the darkness that she felt she was being consumed by.

Author's Notes: Just a little something I've had in my head for awhile now. Though the Nyssara bit wasn't even something I thought about as it just wound up happening on its own. R and R!