Alright, everybody. Here we go. The last chapter to build up to the fight on Lian Yu.

I hope that you guys have been enjoying this so far. And I'm hoping you like what I do with this chapter. There will be some similarities and differences compared to the show, and I think the differences will be ones you like.

Alright, let's get to it.

Chapter 21- Road to War

Bucky, Diggle, and Laurel race into the safe house, finding ARGUS agents milling around, and no sign of their friends.

"What happened?" Bucky demands.

"Carrie Cutter, Chien Na Wei, and Dinah Drake broke into the house, took out most of the guards and took your three friends," one of the agents says.

Bucky growls a bit. Then, he turns to Diggle and says, "Call Lyla. Get her on the phone."

Diggle whips out his phone and quickly dials Lyla. After a few rings, she picks up and answers with, "Hey, honey. What's up?"

"We have a problem. Cutter, White, and Drake found the safe house and took Thea, Quentin, and Felicity," Diggle explains.

"OMG. Are you all alright?" Lyla responds with worry.

"Yes. For now. Where are you?" Diggle asks.

"JJ and I are still on the C-130. We're making our descent into Whiteman Air Force Base right now," Lyla says.

"Don't Lyla. You can't land. If Chase has any sense, he's gonna try and take you too. Call a tanker to refuel the C-130. You can't land right now," Bucky says in warning.

"Alright. I'll tell the pilot. Is there anything else you need from me?" Lyla asks.

"No. Just keep yourself safe," Bucky says.

"Okay. You keep yourselves safe too," Lyla says before hanging up.

Bucky looks at both Diggle and Laurel, then motions them to follow him outside.

Once the three of them are all outside, Diggle looks right at Bucky and asks, "What's the plan?"

"You and Laurel need to go," Bucky says.

Both of them look at Bucky in surprise. "I know it's risky to split up again. But I think that Chase's suspicion will be that I will keep you close to me after Thea and the others got kidnapped. If you two leave, that may not be what he's expecting. Plus, I'm not just sending you away to have you hide. I want you to go to Central City and meet up with Barry and the others. I'll give them a call and let them know you're coming. Once I've located where Chase's followers are keeping our friends, I'll need you and Team Flash to come help me rescue them," Bucky explains.

Diggle looks hesitant, but Laurel looks angry. "If you think we're gonna leave you alone with Chase's lieutenants coming after us…" she starts.

Bucky quickly cuts her off. "Yes, I do. Because that is what Oliver would do, and Chase seems to believe that Oliver is back. We need to keep playing off of that if this is gonna work. I need you to get to Central City. If Team Flash joins us in this, we may very well be able to stop Chase."

There's a few more moments of silence before Diggle turns to Laurel. "He's right. Barry and his team could swing things in our favor. And, he has a point about separating when Chase might be expecting the opposite. Let's go, Laurel." Laurel looks at Diggle, ready to argue, but finally sighs and nods once. Diggle looks at Bucky, nods, then leads Laurel over to their car, and Bucky jogs towards his motorcycle.

(The bunker)

Bucky slowly walks into bunker, not sure what he's going to do. He had made Laurel and Diggle leave without truly knowing what he was going to do, and how was going to stop Chase. The only thing he has done is let Barry know that Laurel and Diggle are on their way to Central City.

He slowly walks over the row of glass cases, looking at Oliver's suit. As he looks at this suit, he finds himself wondering, Oh, man. I wish you were here Queen. You probably would know what to do.

Suddenly, his senses perk up. For a moment, he stands there, still, trying to sense what's going on. Then, he hears something falling from the beams overhead, and he leaps towards the case, and grabs a dart out of the case, then turns and throws it. And it's caught by a man that Bucky recognizes from photos from the team's files. Malcolm Merlyn.

"Well. Your sense of hospitality is just as good as Oliver's," Malcolm says.

Bucky growls as he steps towards Malcolm. "You are not welcome here, Merlyn," Bucky says angrily, deactivating the nanite skin on his cybernetic arm and swinging it around once as a show of force.

"A metal arm does not scare me, Barnes. I would be more scared of a gun than that," Merlyn says, to which Bucky responds by yanking a hidden pistol out of its holster.

"I know what you've done. You caused the earthquake that devastated the Glades. You brought the wrath of the League of Assassins on Queen and his family. And you betrayed your family by throwing in with HIVE and served up Oliver Queen's son to Damien Darhk!" Bucy shouts, listing off Merlyn's most grievous offenses.

"I intend to apologize to Oliver and try to make amends. I thought I was doing what needed to be done. Except for William. With him, I just let my emotions gets out of hand. But that is all in the past. The only thing I am concerned with now is saving my daughter," Merlyn says firmly.

Bucky just glares at him for several tense moments. After several moments, Bucky slowly lowers the gun. "Fine. What do you propose we do next then, Merlyn?"

"Find your two friends you sent off to Central City," Merlyn says. Bucky looks at him in confusion.

"I know you sent John Diggle and Laurel Lance off to Central City. And that made me realize you're almost as dumb as Oliver," Malcolm says.

"What?" Bucky demands.

"Chase has always said he's ten steps ahead. Do you really think that he wouldn't think you'd try to outthink him like this?" Malcolm says.

Bucky stands there, a chill starting to run down his spine.

(Interstate)

Laurel sits quietly in the passenger seat as Diggle drives down the Interstate, heading out of Star City. Bucky had texted them soon after they left, saying that Barry was going to meet them in Boise, Idaho and run them the rest of the way to Central City. Something Diggle was not too happy about.

"I still can't believe we left him behind," Laurel says.

"I know, Laurel. I'm not too happy either. But he seemed confident in his plan. And we need to be able to trust him," Diggle says.

Laurel is about to respond when someone suddenly steps out into the road ahead of them. The figure turns towards them, raising a weapon and firing. A circular mine streaks down the road, then attaches to the bottom of the car as it passes under it. A second later, the mine explodes, knocking the car flying.

The car rolls several times before finally coming to a rest by the side of the road. Inside, both Diggle and Laurel cry out in pain.

"Are you alright, Laurel?" Diggle asks.

"Kind of," Laurel groans as she starts reaching up to unbuckle herself. Slowly, the two are able to climb out of the car.

As soon as they're out of the car, they look at each other to make sure they're okay. Other than some small cuts and bruises, both of them look pretty good.

"We need to get out of here. Fast," Laurel says.

Diggle nods, then his eyes widen and he says, "Laurel! Behind you!"

Laurel whips around, only to find herself faced with half a dozen men in green uniforms, with guns aimed right at her. Standing behind them is Viper, smirking at her smugly. At the same moment, Evelyn Sharp pops up next to Diggle, a gun pointed right at his head.

"Hello," Viper says. Laurel glares at her. She opens her mouth to unleash her scream when Viper whips out some device and turns it on. As Laurel tries to scream, she's alarmed to realize she can't.

"Sorry. But you're coming with us," Viper says. Several of her men then fire tranquilizers, and Laurel and Diggle collapse, unconscious.

(Half an hour later)

Two motorcycles race down the highway and come screeching to a halt next to the crash site. Bucky and Malcolm jump off them. "Laurel! John!" Bucky shouts.

"They're gone, Barnes!" Malcolm shouts at him.

"D*** it!" Bucky curses.

"They were taken alive. Focus!" Malcolm chastises him.

"Enough, Merlyn! I realize that!" Bucky shouts at him.

Bucky takes a few deep breaths. "This was Viper. Cutter, White, and Drake hit the safe house, so this had to be Viper and Evelyn Sharp," he says.

"Viper. Of course she would side with Chase," Malcolm mutters.

"You know her too?" Bucky says.

"Yes. The League has been aware of HYDRA since HYDRA's founding. Viper got on the wrong side of Baron Zemo, their leader, and got thrown out of the organization, but she took plenty of loyalists with her," Malcolm explains.

Bucky sighs, then says, "We need to get back to the bunker. All but one of Chase's lieutenants has shown up so far. We need to find Digger Harkness, and stop Chase from kidnapping any more innocent people."

"You're not gonna do it alone." The voice catches both of them off guard. Both whip towards the sound of the voice, and to their surprise see Vigilante walking through the trees.

Bucky whips out his pistol and aims it right at Vigilante's face. "Stop right there!" he shouts.

Vigilante slowly raises his hands. "I'm here to talk," he says.

"What would you want to talk to me about?" Bucky demands.

"Adrian Chase and his followers. I've already crossed them several times, and CHase tried to kill me. And, I have an interest in one of them," Vigilante responds.

"Who? And why?" Bucky demands.

Keeping his hands up, Vigilante slowly reaches down just a bit and removes his mask, revealing a the face of very scarred man that somehow seems familiar to Bucky.

"Who are you?" Bucky demands.

Vigilante looks at him for a moment before replying, "My name is Vincent Sobel. One of Chase's lieutenants, Dinah Drake, is my old partner from my police days...and my former lover. She got into a revenge quest to kill the men she thought had killed me, and it was thanks to that quest that Chase was able to influence her to join him. I want to stop Chase once and for all, and hopefully get Dinah back."

Bucky looks at Vincent skeptically. "How are we supposed to believe you?" he demands.

"I could've just shot you without revealing myself. In any case, I'd say you can't afford not to believe me. You're gonna need all the help you can get," Vincent responds.

Bucky stares at Vincent for several seconds before lowering his gun. "Alright. But, the moment you give me a reason, I'll put a bullet in you,"

"Fair enough," Vincent responds.

Suddenly, Bucky's phone starts to rin. He pulls it out and is confused to see it's a blocked number. Answering the call, his screen is quickly taken over by a video of a young boy.

"Hello. Help me. Please help me," the boy says, his voice shaking with fear.

Bucky looks down at the phone, trying to place the boy's face. Then, with a jolt, he recognizes him from one of the paper files in the bunker. Oliver's son. William.

"S***!" Bucky curses under his breath. He then looks up at Malcolm and Vincent, and says, "We've got a problem. Chase has had Oliver's son William kidnapped."

Vincent looks a little confused, but Malcolm just looks mildly concerned. And right at that moment, Bucky's phone rings again. Looking at it, he sees it's Lyla. He quickly answers, and says, "Lyla, now is not a good time. John and Laurel have been kidnapped, and has Oliver's son. So, I'm in a bit of bind right now."

"John's been taken?" Lyla cries out in concern.

"Yes, and I need to get to work on trying to find him and the others," Bucky responds.

"Before you do, I have even more bad news. A raid just hit the prison in Missouri where we've been keeping Chase. It was led by Digger Harkness, and it hit right when we were about to transfer him to our maximum security prison in New York. I'm sorry, Bucky, but Chase is free, and he and Harkness are head back west," Lyla says.

Bucky's eyes widen. He curses under his breath and says, "Thanks for that info, Lyla. Stay airborne. And I promise I'll get John back to you."

"Good luck, Bucky," she replies before hanging up.

Bucky lowers his phone and looks at Malcolm and Vincent. "We're in trouble. Digger Harkness just freed Chase. We need to get back to the bunker now so we can try and track him," Bucky says urgently.

Malcolm and Vincent both look concerned. "Come on!" Bucky shouts as he runs to his motorcycle. Malcolm follows and jumps on his, and Vincent retrieves a stolen motorcycle he had used to get there, and the three take off for the bunker.

(Bunker)

Bucky types a few keys to pull up a display as Malcolm and Vincent look on.

"So, Chase and Harkness stole an ARGUS transport plane. They flew from Missouri to an airfield in Dawn Valley airfield, refuelled, then took off on a westerly heading," Bucky explains.

"That would would take him back to Star City. Chase has to be smarter than that," Vincent says in a low voice.

"I'm trying to track this plane. Not as easy without Felicity, but thanks to her, I have access to a Keyhole satellite that can track the heat signature of any aircraft in the world," Bucky explains.

"Impressive," Malcolm mutters.

Suddenly, an alarm sounds. Malcolm looks down at another display, then looks at Bucky. "Are you expecting anybody else?"

"Yes. Because Chase is working with at least Evelyn Sharp, Carrie Cutter, China White, Dinah Drake, Digger Harkness, Viper, and whatever army Viper's currently controlling. The three of us are not enough," Bucky replies.

Malcolm chuckles as he says, "So, you called in reinforcements. If I wasn't such a confident individual, my ego might be bruised."

"You didn't have a problem with Vincent over here joining up. And if you have a problem with reinforcements, you're gonna have to really cut your ego down to size," Bucky says.

Before Malcolm can respond, the elevator doors open. And out walks a familiar face to Malcolm, and a face Bucky has come to know after reviewing Oliver's old files.

"Welcome back, Mr. Harper," Bucky says. And Roy grins back at him.

"Your idea of reinforcements?" Malcolm asks skeptically.

"He was trained by Oliver. He's gonna do fine," Bucky says with a grin.

Roy walks up onto the platform and up to Bucky. He extends his hand, saying, "I'm glad you called me in."

"I'm just glad I was able to find you," Bucky says.

Suddenly, there's a beeping from the computer. Bucky walks over to it and looks down. "We have Chase's C-130. Flew out over the coast, banked south 12 degrees and…" he says, but trails off as he sees where the course of the plane is headed.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Bucky says.

"What is it?" Malcolm asks.

"Bucky turns to look at his three allies, and says, "I know where's taking them." He pauses for a moment, then picks up his phone and calls Lyla.

As soon as Lyla picks up, Bucky says, "Lyla, I need you to call your people. I need a floatplane in Star City. NOW!"

"Where do you need to go?" Lyla asks.

"Lian Yu. That's where Chase has taken everybody," Bucky explains.

"Alright. I'll have one there soon. Meet them at the Star City docks in an hour," Lyla says before hanging up.

(Plane over the Pacific Ocean)

"So why would Chase bring everybody here?" Vincent asks as Bucky pilots the plane.

"For that matter, how does he even know about this place?" Malcolm asks.

"Well, Oliver's rescue was all over the news. Plus, he's had plenty of time to research Oliver, and Viper seems to know Oliver, so she probably helped him," Bucky explains.

"I've kinda always wanted to see this place," Roy muses. Bucky kinda smiles at that as he begins their descent towards Lian Yu.

(Jungle on Lian Yu)

Laurel grunts as she's knocked to the ground. A second later, the bag on her head is ripped off, revealing that she's surrounded by Viper's men, and chained alongside Quentin, Thea, John, and Felicity.

"Ugh. Where are we?" she asks.

"I don't know. Little north of pissed off, though," Quentin says.

"Rene and Curtis, where are they?" Thea asks.

Suddenly, from out of the corner of their eyes, Chase appears, followed by Dinah and Evelyn. "Calm down. Relax. Enjoy the weather," Chase says mockingly.

"Why did you bring us here?" Thea demands.

"So you recognize this place. That's good," Chase says with a chuckle. He looks at them for another moment before he turns to walk away.

Trying to keep up the charade that Oliver has returned, Thea looks after Chase and shouts, "Oliver is gonna come for us!"

"Yeah, I'm counting on it, sis," Chase calls back as most of the men walk away with him, Dinah, and Evelyn.

Thea leans over to the others and says, "He still thinks Oliver is back."

"Yeah, how's that supposed to help us?" Quentin asks.

"Don't worry. Bucky will save us," Laurel says confidently.

"Yeah? He's on his own. How's he supposed to save us?" Quentin asks.

"He's faced worse odds," Laurel says.

"Yeah. But with the help of Captain America and his friends from that other Earth," Diggle says.

"He can't do this on his own," Felicity adds. However, Laurel just looks ahead with determination, knowing Bucky is gonna figure it out.

(ARGUS Lian Yu Prison)

Bucky slowly opens the door and walks in, carrying a large duffel bag. He sets it down and walks towards the door of the cell. For a moment, he stands there, then sighs, before saying, "I need your help."

In the cell, Slade Wilson turns and looks up at Bucky. And just like the last time someone unfamiliar entered the prison, he asks, "Who the h*** are you?"

And, I'll end there.

I know that was super long, but I wanted to get through all of it.

I hoped you liked my changes. I decided to keep Malcolm because I didn't have any other idea of who to replace him. And Roy, I just decided it was time to bring him into the MACU. As for Vigilante, well, I've always wished he played a more prominent role, and that he spent more than a few brief scenes truly on the good side. I felt this was the chance to actually let him do some good, and his coming into the mix will have an effect on Dinah.

I really hope you liked this chapter. Next chapters will go over the battle on Lian Yu. I hope you're excited.

Until the next update, please review and let me know what thought of this chapter, and stay tuned for the next one!