Laurel
Dad and me were at Lunch.
"Anything else?" The waitress questioned.
"No. Thank you." He answered.
I was impressed by his Chinese.
"Don't be too impressed. That's the only Chinese I was able to pick up from Sara."
Dad poured Coffee into his mug.
"So, listen. You thought about how you're gonna tell our newly elected Mayor that you're turning down her job offer?"
"I have... But I'm not sure that I will."
He took a sip.
"Well, this one's a no-brainer, sweetie. You can't go work for a murderer."
"This job would put me in the inner circle."
"Yeah. At the cost of being The Black Canary. Look. Ever since HIVE had DA Bray killed, the District Attorney has 24/7 protection. They would not let you out of their sight."
"I'll waive it."
"You think Ruvé Darhk will let that happen?" Dad inquired.
"Listen. I- I never thought I'd say this. But I am glad that you are The Black Canary. I'm glad for all the good you're doing. And I'm glad for the good it's done you. But you got to know that taking this job, that means taking off that mask forever."
I looked down.
Thea
I was sharpening my blade.
"Careful. Could hurt yourself with that." Oliver warned.
"It's not myself I'm planning on hurting with it."
Ollie looked back at Dig.
Dig
My phone vibrated.
"Andy." I told Oliver.
I walked away.
"Yeah?"
"I got eyes on Merlyn."
"Okay. Where are you?"
"In some old box factory, I think."
Oliver
"You sure this is the place?" I questioned.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure." Thea answered.
Laurel and Dig were covering the other side.
"Come on. Merlyn's this way."
"Why didn't you have him radio us in?" I talked through the comms.
"I had him stay behind for backup." Dig answered.
"Merlyn!"
Thea and me were chasing him.
A wall blocked us.
"Look out!" Thea yelled at me.
She dove in front of me.
The arrow hit Thea in the shoulder.
She groaned.
"You okay?" I" questioned.
"Swell."
I pushed the wall.
Laurel and Dig ran through the opening.
"What happened?" Laurel inquired.
"She took an arrow for me."
"Let me see. Let me see." He instructed.
"Don't worry about it, girl. We deal with this kind of stuff every week." Dig told her.
"Come on." He instructed.
"No, no, no, no. You got to get back to Iron Heights now. If Malcolm's not here, then that- That means he's on his way there with the Idol. If Darhk gets that Idol, no Prison will be able to hold him." Andy told Dig.
Malcolm
Damien laughed.
They had arrested him for attempted murder.
"One of these days, you're gonna tell me how you get in and out of here." Damien told me.
"A magician never reveals his secrets."
"So, what next? You gonna make a coin appear from behind my ear?"
"You know, you're awfully flippant for a man who's asked a great deal of me."
"Do you have it?"
"Perhaps now's a good time to remind you of our terms."
"Yes. You and your daughter get spared from Genesis. Is that still the play?"
"I don't think you appreciate what this cost me."
"Oh, come on. Stop being so high-handed."
I opened the bag.
Damien placed his hand on the Idol.
Nothing happened.
"What's wrong?"
"Mr. Merlyn, do you know what the Khushu Idol is?"
"Khushu is an old Arabic term for humbleness. Suffice it to say, something I wouldn't associate with you."
"When the earliest Homo Magi forged these Idols, they did so in the image of those whose powers they wished to channel. So, attention to detail is essential."
I sighed.
"It's missing four pieces. One of them being The Ribalvei stone. They must have hidden it someplace else."
I stared.
"Find it. Or Genesis is not what you and your daughter have to fear."
I glared at Damien.
I left.
Oliver
I wrapped Thea's shoulder up.
"Alright. You're gonna need a few stitches. But, uh... This should hold for now."
"I'm gonna need a whole lot more than a few stitches."
"Merlyn's men saw you fighting for your team. Darhk's now gonna know that I'm on your side. I'm a dead man. I mean, he's just not gonna stop with me. He's gonna come for you. He's gonna come for Lyla, Sara. Oh, God." Andy told Dig.
"Listen. He's not gonna come for anybody. Okay? He can't."
"Merlyn has the Idol. Look. He's probably delivering it to him right now."
"No, Andy. No, he doesn't. There's four pieces missing."
"What?"
"We separated four pieces of it and put it in other locations. The only thing Merlyn's delivering is a big, ugly paperweight."
"Darhk will find it. He finds everything."
"Listen, Listen. Andy, listen to me, man. He won't find anything. I hid it myself."
"John. Can I speak to you?" I questioned.
I squeezed Thea's other shoulder.
She winced.
He walked away from Andy.
"This information needs to be compartmentalized."
Dig looked back at him.
"Listen. He's scared, man. And for good reason. He's entitled to know that we have the situation under control."
"Well, that control is only as strong as the secret. The less people who know, the better."
"Even if they get the three pieces, they won't get the fourth one."
"I know that. And so do they. He doesn't know that. Keep it that way."
"He risked everything. Everything for us. He took an arrow for you before. He has my trust."
Laurel joined us.
"Why doesn't he have yours?"
"Malcolm's gonna try and get the Idol to Darhk if he hasn't done it already."
Thea stood next to her.
"I can go there as DA and have the entire cellblock searched."
"You have that entire Prison searched."
"Can do."
Laurel ran off.
Thea went with her.
"Spartan, you go back to the Bunker. Work CCTV, work facial recognition. Do anything that we can do to get a line on Merlyn." I ordered.
"Okay."
"And what can I do?" Andy inquired.
"You should go home and rest. You've done enough for tonight."
"What about you?"
"I'mm be right behind you. I'm just gonna run down a lead."
Dig left.
Darhk
"You guys are doing a wonderful job in there." I complimented the Cops.
"You know, I have been meaning to redecorate the place myself." I told Laurel.
"You know, my office received an anonymous tip that contraband intended for your use was smuggled into this Prison." She informed.
Thea
I was tearing the Prison Library apart.
I found the Idol hidden on a shelf.
I grabbed it.
Darhk
"Hmm." I commented.
"Hmm." Laurel commented.
"Find anything?" She questioned the Officers.
They shook their heads.
"Alright. Search every cell on this tier. I want to make sure none of his friends are stashing anything for him." Laurel ordered.
The Cop shut my cell door.
He locked it.
She was standing in front of my cell.
"You know, you're lucky I'm not the man that you think I am, Miss. Lance."
Laurel had her arms crossed.
"I mean if I were the man that your father so vehemently claims, you'd be in a lot of trouble right now, wouldn't you?" I questioned.
"Are you threatening a District Attorney?"
She walked closer to my cell.
"Oh, no, no, no. Not at all. Just merely trying to figure out where your father gets these vicious ideas from." I told Laurel.
"Ooh! Oh. I hope his mind isn't starting to go."
She shook her head.
"You know, dementia is sometimes an after effect of long-term alcoholism."
"You're a son of a bitch." Laurel spat out.
"Regardless. It's comforting to know that his heart is in the right place. A father would do anything to protect his daughter from the dark."
She smirked.
"I'll see you in Court." Laurel told me.
Thea appeared.
She had a red duffel bag slung over her shoulder.
I stared after them.
Andy
I was searching for the piece of the Idol at John's place.
I shook a throw pillow.
I looked under a lamp.
Oliver
"Looking for something?" I questioned Andy.
"Oh, jeez, man!" He commented.
"Do you know how to knock? Any luck finding Merlyn?" Andy inquired.
"No. But I think you already knew that. So, I'm gonna ask you again." I replied.
"What are you looking for?" I inquired.
"Surveillance. Okay. Look. HIVE knows I'm John's brother."
He walked closer to me.
"They could have hidden bugs here. Maybe that's how that one-handed friend of yours found me in the first place."
"You always have an answer for everything."
"Hey. What are you talking about?" Andy questioned.
"I think that you've been working with Darhk since the beginning. That you and Merlyn have been playing us this entire time. And now you're here, looking for one of the missing pieces of the Idol!" I yelled at him.
"I'm on your side, remember?" Andy inquired.
"I even got hurt trying to protect you." He pointed out.
"I remember."
Andy grunted as I slammed him against the wall.
I pressed on his shoulder.
"I told John to trust you, to give you another chance, but I was wrong. Because men like you don't change."
Andy's face contorted in pain.
"Now, you tell me. What does Darhk have planned?" I interrogated.
"If I'm the man that you think I am, then you know torture is not gonna get me to say anything."
"I haven't started torturing you yet."
He screamed when I bent his arm.
"What the hell are you doing?" It was Dig.
"Showing you who he really is!" I replied.
He shut the door.
"Tell him!" I ordered Andy.
"John, he thinks I'm a traitor!" He yelled.
Dig aimed his gun at me.
"I know exactly what that Kevlar won't protect."
I stared at him.
"Let him go." Dig ordered.
I released Andy.
He landed on the floor.
He put his gun away.
Dig kneeled down next to Andy.
"Dig, you can't trust him." I told him.
"Get out."
"John-"
"Now." John ordered.
I stared at him.
I went out one of the windows in John's house.
I put my black bow in the rack.
"You had no right!" Dig yelled.
I turned around.
"I had every right."
I walked closer to him.
"This is about keeping us safe."
"No, it's not, Oliver. This is about you controlling everything and everyone around you."
Dig was standing in front of me.
There was some space in between us.
"Andy tipped us off to the missile heist. We go there, Merlyn comes here and takes the Idol."
Felicity looked back at us.
"Then he brings us to Merlyn's hideout, where we are met with an ambush."
"Where he nearly took another arrow for you."
"That could have been a feint."
She turned back around.
"When I confronted him at your apartment, he was tearing it apart."
"Looking for surveillance."
"Or he was looking for one of the missing pieces of the Idol."
He shook his head.
"John, you are the one who always tells me do not have a blind spot when it comes to your family."
"And you're the one who told me to give Andy a second chance. You're the one who wanted to extract him from HIVE. You're the one who said he could come back from the darkness. The same way you did."
I had put my hands on my hips.
"But I didn't. I've tried. I've tried harder at this than I ever have at anything. But at the end of the day, I am who those five years away turned me into. I'm what they turned me into."
"So, what, Oliver? Just because Felicity left you, I'm supposed to believe that all men are incapable of redemption?" Dig questioned.
"Not all men are like you, Oliver."
I looked away.
"Some of us change. Some of us grow. Some of us evolve."
Felicity sighed.
"You are stuck, man. Stuck in your self-pity and your self-righteousness. And that is why Felicity left you."
I stared at him.
She looked away.
"My brother is my business."
Dig stepped closer to me.
"You have no idea what he's been through. And you sure as hell had no right to judge him." He told me.
Dig walked around me.
"I'm sure he didn't mean that, Ollie." Felicity told me.
"Yes, he did."
Laurel walked in.
"How'd it go in Iron Heights?"
"Turned up a few burner cell phones, 6 bags of Heroin, and no Idol."
She crossed her arms against her chest.
"Well, we hacked into the security system at the Prison. So, if anything happens, we'll see it." Felicity assured us.
"Right."
I looked down.
"Where is Thea?"
"Went home to grab a change of clothes."
Later
"Hey."
Laurel joined me.
"Are you okay?" She inquired.
"John and I had a difference of opinion."
"About Andy?"
"I confronted Andy and Dig walked in."
"Mmm."
"Yeah. Probably should have taken your advice, District Attorney Lance."
"I'm still just an ADA. I'm turning down the promotion."
"Because it's being offered by Ruvé Darhk?"
"No. Because taking the job means giving up my place here with you and the team."
"The team's falling apart. John's furious with me, Thea's consumed with a rage for Malcolm, and... Well, Felicity's mad at me."
She looked away.
"Becoming District Attorney is something that you've worked the better part of three years for."
"I might have wanted to be DA. But that was a lifetime ago."
"Sara's lifetime?"
Laurel looked down.
"You channeled your grief and became The Black Canary. But Sara's not dead anymore. Maybe you owe it to yourself to pursue the path you were on."
"You're serious?"
"This City has enough Heroes with masks on."
She looked down.
"With Ruvé Darhk as Mayor, it needs a Hero without a mask."
Laurel looked up at me.
"It needs Laurel Lance."
Malcolm
I entered Thea's apartment.
"I heard you found the girl."
She shook her head.
"You can't believe how relieved I am."
"Cut the crap!"
Thea threw her phone and keys on the couch.
"Excuse me?"
"I know it was you." She said.
"You took her out of spite!"
"For us. You have to believe me. I did it for us."
"You- You purposely- You put her in danger. How-"
I stared at Thea.
"You know what?" She questioned.
"I'm not doing this anymore. This song and dance where you come over to my apartment and you whisper your lies, it is over!" Thea yelled.
"Thea, I did it to protect us."
"Shut up." Thea told me.
"How could you possibly think that there was an "Us" to protect?" She inquired.
"You know, sometimes, I lay awake at night, and I wonder what Robert would think about our relationship. He raised me. He loved me. And I threw that all away the moment I became your daughter." Thea pointed out.
"Yes. Yes, you did. And it was your choice."
"And I wish I never did."
"Don't you dare speak to me like that."
She stared at me.
"You would be dead 10 times over if not for me."
Thea glowered.
"I taught you how to fight, how to be strong. I turned you from a delicate, spoiled brat into a Warrior. And all I've ever gotten from you in return is your venomous spite!"
"For a very good reason!"
"You have no idea what you are up against. You are incapable of seeing the bigger picture but I can. And I would rather you hate me and be alive than love me and be dead."
She stared at me.
I walked towards the door.
"You didn't see the look on his face when I told him."
I paused.
"I've never seen that look on Robert's face. Not even when Ollie made huge mistakes."
Thea sat on the couch.
"I let him down."
Oliver
"You didn't see the look on his face when I told him." It was Thea.
You heard somebody pause.
I'm guessing it was Malcolm.
"I've never seen that look on Robert's face. Not even when Ollie made huge mistakes."
You heard the couch shift, meaning Thea sat down.
"I let him down."
Malcolm
Oliver opened the door.
"I know Dad, Thea. I was older than you. He- He was never disappointed in either of us. If anything, we were the only things Dad was proud of."
"You didn't see the look on his face, Ollie."
"It doesn't matter. I've made huge mistakes. And he forgave every one of them. Even when I threatened to leave."
Thea laughed.
"Trust me- You didn't let him down."
She nodded her head.
"Dad is just- He probably wasn't expecting that. And it probably broke his heart. But- He's had to let go of both of his kids. And you're the same age I was when I got on that stupid yacht."
Thea laughed.
"At least, I can count on you to make me laugh."
"Always."
They hugged.
"If you ever doubt his love for you, come to me. Because I've seen it with my own eyes. He treated you the way he treated me."
"And I chose Malcolm."
"You chose... A way for you not to get hurt ever again."
"Ollie..."
"What is it?"
"I'm pregnant."
"Wow. Okay."
He sat down.
"Wow."
She sighed.
"Um... Who is the father?"
"Roy."
"Roy? When the hell did you even sleep with Roy?"
I crossed my arms.
Thea laughed.
"Oh, God."
He laughed.
"You truly are my Sister. I got to give you that."
She laughed.
"Wait. You were pregnant when Darhk stabbed you?"
Thea's lips were in a tight line.
"Wow. That should've definitely traumatized the poor thing."
She laughed.
"I- I'll give you as much help as I can."
"I know."
They hugged.
"I don't spend that much time with my kid. But... Okay."
"Mine is a girl."
"Oh, God."
Thea laughed.
"Girls cry a lot more than boys."
She scowled at him.
"At least, you looked adorable."
"Uh-huh."
"Tommy used to say the same thing. Despite you killing our eardrums. Because Dad wouldn't give you what you wanted."
"He should've just given me what I wanted. Then I would've shut up."
"Oh, yeah. You never shut up. You were either crying or talking. It was awful. Trust me- You didn't miss anything."
"What was Rebecca like?"
Oliver sighed.
"She just... She had the biggest heart. She loved everybody. What Brick did- It was so wrong and so- Uncalled for."
He looked down.
"I remember this one time. I was over their house that time. Malcolm couldn't seem to get Tommy under control. So, Rebecca stepped in. And the way she did it- It just came so naturally."
"Seems like an intriguing woman."
"She was."
"I would've loved to meet Rebecca."
"Just think. If she didn't die- You wouldn't be here."
She smiled.
"Rebecca- She loved everybody and everything with her whole heart."
"They do say opposites attract."
Oliver bent Thea's arm backwards.
"Ow!:
"Apologize."
"I'm sorry."
"Thea Dearden Queen, I swear on Mom's grave. If you don't apologize the correct way, I will kick your ass up and down that hallway."
"I'm very sorry for insulting Rebecca. Though I was trying to insult you, not her."
"Well, I think that's the closest thing you're gonna get to an apology. So..."
"Totally okay. Thank you for apologizing."
"It is never gonna be this difficult with my kid."
"As long as you don't cheat on Roy."
"Roy has to be Roy in order for me to marry him."
"I think I can persuade Roy to come back to Star City."
"I'm not raising a kid in this violent City."
"Th- That's fair."
Thea and Oliver walked to the door.
She slung a red duffel bag over her shoulder.
"Just a bunch of clothes to keep at the Bunker."
"Uh-huh."
Thea walked out.
Oliver
We walked into the Bunker.
Thea unzipped the red duffel bag.
It was the Idol.
Sara walked in.
"She's gonna toss it far into the future somewhere."
She gave it to her.
"Thank you!"
"Of course."
Sara left with it.