Italics are Russian.

Trigon: Glad to hear it. Sorry, highly unlikely. Whenever I think about reposting, I just don't get any sort of enjoyment or motivation for it. Sorry.

Green Hal37: Yep.

Bar

Afternoon

"He's been in there an hour. Maybe we should head in to make sure things haven't gone south," Bobbi said to Dragon as they waited outside in the van, seeing no movement from the bar aside from the occasional patron entering or exiting the bar.

"From the report on Lian Yu, Oliver and Knyazev are pretty tight. I'm sure your boyfriend's fine," Dragon said, smirking at the surprised look that covered Bobbi's face for a moment before she had a chance to school it. "I'm a spy, it didn't take me long to figure out that your bed hasn't been slept in the last few months. Don't worry, I won't say anything. God knows Fury is a stickler for the whole 'no dating coworkers' rule."

"Thank you," Bobbi said letting out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Just be careful. Dating within the team, it never ends well," Dragon said and it was silent as they continued to keep watch on the bar.

Inside, Anatoly put down his drink, staring at Oliver with an unreadable look on his face.

"So, you survive Lian Yu, and rather than go home, you come to mine. Nothing is ever simple with you Oliver Queen," Anatoly noted.

"I was going to head home but on my way there, I was approached by some…bad people. They threatened my family," Oliver explained and Anatoly frowned. "But they were only the fronts; I've been trying to track down the boss for the last six months. Closest I've been able to track is to a man named Konstantine Kovar."

"And what is your plan, to kill Kovar or die trying? Because second one, much more likely," Anatoly told him and Oliver looked at him imploringly.

"I need to know if Kovar is the one who threatened my family or if goes beyond him," Oliver said.

"Kovar has army, government soldiers. It is very dangerous. Are you sure you want to travel this road?" Anatoly asked.

His only response was Oliver staring at him with a grim look. Having his answer, Anatoly sighed.

"Alright, I will help you my friend. But I warn you, if you survive, this might just kill you," Anatoly said grimly, confusing Oliver.

Outside, Dragon and Bobbi watched as Anatoly and Oliver emerged from the bar before heading over to a car, Anatoly's entourage following the.

"Clearly things went well. The hard part is over," Dragon said and Bobbi scoffed.

"Who are you kidding? It only gets more dangerous from here on out," Bobbi said grimly.

Russia

Night

"Kovar has army. Only people with power to get passed army is Bratva," Anatoly told Oliver as they walked up to what looked like a garage, multiple men standing outside.

"You said this was gonna kill me. So why does it look like you wanna initiate me instead?" Oliver asked; weary even though he knew he needed to get close to the Bratva.

"Unless you are careful, it is one in same," Anatoly told him.

Oliver eyed him wearily before walking up to the men, looking around at all of them as they surrounded him.

"So, I survive this, and then I'm Bratva?" Oliver inquired.

"You survive this and you can begin process of becoming Bratva," Anatoly said before turning his back to Oliver. "I am sorry my friend."

Oliver sighed, having a feeling he knew what was coming as he remembered listening to Quentin Lance rant about the gangs in Starling City. And sure enough, one of the men turned and lunged at him, slugging Oliver. Oliver was then thrown to the ground as the other men surrounded him, beating him savagely. Oliver clenched is hand into a fist, reminding himself that he couldn't fight back. Not if he wanted to get into the Bratva. So he closed his eyes and took the assault of fists as his journey into the Bratva began.

SHIELD safe house, next day

Morning

Bobbi opened her eyes, her internal alarm clock waking her up at six. Sitting up, she looks over, half expecting to see Oliver lying there. But the other side of the bed was empty. She stared at it for a moment, hoping that Oliver was alright before getting up and getting dressed.

Unspecified location

Same time

Oliver groaned as he came to. He opened his eyes, his vision blurring as it came back to him. Meeting Anatoly at the bar, Anatoly taking him to the other Bratva, letting them beat him to a pulp. As he sat up, Oliver winced, pain shot through his body. He hurt all over; the Bratva certainly didn't pull any punches.

Fighting through the pain, Oliver became more aware of his surroundings. He was in some sort of basement, the lighting was dim, someone who hadn't spent two years on an island would barely be able to see. Judging by the religious symbols he saw on glass, Oliver guessed he was in the basement of a church. There was a line drawn on the floor and a large bell a few feet from him.

He also wasn't alone. There were four standing in the room, obviously members of the Bratva. There were also three other men lying on the floor in similar states to Oliver. Other recruits for the Bratva, Oliver quickly realized.

"On the line," one of the men said as Olive and the other recruits got to their feet.

"What is this? I was told I was being recruited into the Bratva!" Oliver shouted even as he began to follow the other recruits.

"On the line," the man ordered again.

Realizing he would get no answers, Oliver decided to play along, especially since this seemed to be part of the process Anatoly had warned him about. Oliver stepped onto the line as he stared at the bell, trying to figure out what they wanted them to do. Were they supposed to ring the bell? Somehow, Oliver didn't think it was going to be that easy.

"First one to ring the bell passes," the man said simply.

Seeing the three Bratva men standing between them and the bell, Oliver quickly realized that this wasn't just a test of speed. They were going to have to fight off these men. And he would have to hold back, as his skills would be reported to Anatoly. No doubt Anatoly would be curious about his rise in skill over the last year, so Oliver would have to be pretty careful. And lucky, very lucky.

It started with one of the recruits shouting as he rushed for the bell. He was easily stopped by one of the three men acting as the guards, a single punch knocking the recruit down. Oliver and the other two recruits rushed for the bell as well, encountering resistance from the other two guards. Oliver was hit by one in the side with an escirma stick. Oliver fell to his knees, pain shooting through his side. He was ore hurt than he realized, but he couldn't let that stop him.

As the guard went for another hit, Oliver grabbed his hand and threw his opponent to the ground, grabbing the man's escirma sticks in the process. Oliver then moved to engage one of the other guards, stopping to help another of the recruits up before swinging the escirma sticks, striking one of the guards as the recruit he'd help up took a swing at another of the guards, knocking the m back.

"Thanks," the recruit told Oliver and he simply nodded.

SHIELD safe house

Not long after

"Morning," Dragon greeted Bobbi as she walked into the kitchen, seeing him nursing a cup of coffee. "There are eggs in the skillet if you want some."

"Any word from Oliver?" Bobbi asked, not beating around the bush.

"No," Dragon admitted. "But did we really expect to hear from him within the first twelve hours?"

"No," Bobbi admitted.

"But you hoped anyway," Dragon noted and Bobbi didn't deny it. "This is why dating within the team is a bad idea, it's impossible to be objective, your emotions cloud your judgement and you make mistakes."

"I can be human and do my job. I've never let my emotions control my actions and I'm not about to start," Bobbi said in a clipped voice as she glared at Dragon, who was unaffected.

"I hope so Bobbi," Dragon said casually as he got to his feet, staring at her with a cold look in his eyes. "I'll keep your and Oliver's little dalliance a secret so long as it doesn't interfere with the job. But the moment it becomes a problem, I will tell Fury once this is all over. Make sure I don't have to."

Dragon then dumped his coffee into the sink before walking out. Bobbi felt the urge to throw her hands up and scream in frustration. At times, Dragon almost seemed like he was a friend, then he seemed like he hated her and Oliver. Dragon was a mystery she and Oliver had struggled to figure out for the last six months. The only thing she and Oliver could say about him without a doubt was that he was a jackass.

Bratva hideout

Same time

Breathing heavily, Oliver picked himself off the floor along with his fellow recruits, none of them able to get passed the guards and ring the bell. As the four of them got back on the line, Oliver analyzed the situation, looking for a way to ring the bell. There were three guards and four of them. He might have a chance if he could use his full skill set, but to do that would raise a lot of questions from Anatoly that he couldn't answer without blowing his cover. To get to the bell, he'd need the guards distracted. Glancing towards the other recruits, Oliver got an idea. But it would only work if the other recruits would help him.

"Hey," he said lowly and they glanced towards him. "If we can move them over to the left, we might have a chance."

"What do you mean?" one of them asked and Oliver fought the urge to smile.

"We need to divert their attention, and then one of us sneaks passed and rings the bell," Oliver explained.

"We can't do it alone," another said.

"It has to be all of us, working together," Oliver insisted, using Russian to illustrate his point.

The other three exchanged uncertain glances and, one by one, they nodded, realizing Oliver was right. Oliver nearly smiled but knew he had to keep focused, as he knew that the Bratva standing guard knew something was up. They waited a moment and then they were off.

The recruit standing on the far right of the line rushed forward, as did the one next to him. One of them tackled the first guard while the other dealt with the second. Oliver, being the fastest of them, rushed past the third guard, who moved to stop him even as the third recruit held him back for a moment. However, Oliver was too fast, getting to the bell and ringing it. Just in time to, as the third guard would have reached him id Oliver had been a second later.

The fighting stopped as everyone got to their feet. Oliver turned to his fellow recruits, a smile of relief on his face but it was quickly wiped off his face. The Bratva standing by the bell pulled out a gun and, to Oliver's horror, opened fire, killing all the recruits but Oliver. The three dropped to the floor, dead, as Oliver stared, horrified.

"Congratulations Oliver," Anatoly said as he and three other men entered the room.

Oliver did not respond, simply staring at the bodies of the three other recruits as he began to wonder if getting to Kovar was really worth all this.

I know there haven't been much differences in the Bratva side of things, but once we get passed the recruitment stage of the story, there will be some significant differences.