Queen's Gambit – 5 Years Ago. Laurel and Oliver are in Oliver's cabin, drinking wine and having sex. They heard the thunderstorm outside, but Oliver paid no attention to it. Laurel, on the other hand, was counting the time between lightening strikes.
"1, 2, 3. It's getting closer." Laurel said
"That's not very scientific." Oliver argued
"What would you know about science, Mr. Ivy League dropout?" Laurel teased
"I happen to know a lot about science. I know about fermentation. I know biology." Oliver said
He kissed her and pushed her down on the bed. Laurel giggled and Oliver got on top of her, preparing to kiss her again. Suddenly thunder struck again.
"Okay, that one was really close." Laurel said, nervously
"Laurel, we're gonna be fine." Oliver reassured
He kissed her, but Laurel pulled away. She bit her lip and looked at Oliver nervously.
"Hey, I love you." Oliver said
"I love you too, Ollie." Laurel said
The champagne glasses tilted and suddenly the cabin flipped and they're thrown to opposite sides of the room. Oliver regained his balance and looked up to find Laurel only to see her ripped away by the ocean.
"Laurel?" Oliver called
The water took her away and she screamed.
"Laurel!" Oliver yelled
Oliver got pulled into the ocean himself and screamed for Laurel. Laurel's head popped out of the water, and she saw Oliver and swam over to him.
"Laurel!" Oliver yelled
"Ollie!" Laurel yelled
"Oliver! Laurel!" Robert's bodyguard called
Oliver and Laurel looked over and swam to the lifeboat.
"Gus." Oliver said
The two climbed aboard the lifeboat, coughing.
"No! No!" Oliver yelled
Oliver realized that Sara and Tommy aren't on the boat. He turned around to go back, but Robert stopped him.
"No! Dad, Sara and Tommy are out there!" Oliver said
"They're not there." Robert said
"Tommy!" Oliver yelled
"Sara!" Laurel yelled
They watched the yacht sink.
"They're gone." Robert said
Present day - It's raining heavily, the window is open and Oliver is lying on his bedroom floor asleep by the window soaking wet. Tommy, Laurel, and Sara quickly awoke, and Moira and Walter rushed into the room, hearing his screams.
"Oliver? Wake up!" Moira called, loudly
She shook his shoulder.
"Oliver?" Moira started
Any further words were cut off as Oliver startled awake and his instincts kicked in. Everyone watched as Oliver grabbed his mother's arm and flipped her over him onto the floor, bringing his hand down to her neck, intent on crashing her larynx.
"Oliver!" Tommy, Laurel, and Sara shouted
Oliver blinked and looked down at his terrified mother and what he was about to do. Scared, he threw himself away from his mother, backpedalling until he was hunched in a ball beneath the windowsill. Walter moved to comfort Moira as Tommy, Laurel, and Sara slowly approached their husband, trying not to startle him further.
"It's okay, Ollie." Laurel murmured, softly
She was trying to soothe Oliver as she rubbed his back.
"I'm sorry. I'm so... I'm so sorry." Oliver apologized
"Oh, it's okay, Oliver." Moira stated
Walter helped her up.
"It's all right, sweetheart. You're home. You're home." Moira soothed
Oliver could hardly believe what his mother said.
The next morning, in Thea's bedroom, a girl crushes pills into powder on Thea's desk presumably to take them.
"Where did you get these?" Thea asked
"Roxies. Thank you, daddy's ACL tear." The girl said
There was a knock on the door and Thea immediately hid the drug. Turning, she saw none other than Oliver standing at the door.
"Ollie." Thea said, surprised
"No one's called me that in a while, Speedy." Oliver said
Thea closed her eyes and groaned.
"Worst nickname ever." Thea said
"What, always chasing after me as a kid? I thought it fit pretty well." Oliver said
He noticed the drug on Thea's desk.
"Maybe it still does." Oliver said
"See you at school, Speedy." The girl said
Thea rolled her eyes as she saw her friend walk out of the door and checking Oliver out. The name was going to be stuck.
"Sorry about her." Thea apologized
Shaking his head, Oliver looked at Thea with a smile.
"I have something for you." Oliver said
Thea narrowed her eyes.
"You did not come back from a deserted island with a souvenir." Thea said
"It's a Hozen and in Buddhism, it symbolizes reconnecting. I kept it in hopes that one day, it would reconnect me with you." Oliver said
Thea smiled and took the piece of rock from Oliver. She looked up at his brother and hoped whatever he said was true.
"The rock! So sweet. You know, I wanted to get you one of those t-shirts that says 'My friend was a castaway, and all I got was this crappy shirt'." Tommy told Thea, chuckling
"Don't let him get you into too much trouble. You all just got back. Take it slow." Thea said
Oliver kissed her on the check and they hugged.
"Ahem. The city awaits." Tommy said
The husbands walked into the hallway to meet up with their wives.
"Have you noticed how hot your sister's gotten?" Tommy asked
Oliver gave him a stern look.
"Because I have not." Tommy said
Later, Tommy, Oliver, Sara, and Laurel are riding around in Tommy's new car.
"So I was thinking we should have a welcome home party." Tommy commented
"A what?" Oliver asked
"We came back from the dead! This calls for a party! This is what they expect from me, remember? You guys tell me where and when, I'll take care of everything." Tommy said
Oliver groaned in distaste, knowing that he won't be able to get out of the party.
"Fine, but only because we need to keep the cover of Tommy and Oliver, playboys extraordinaire." Oliver said
Tommy smirked and turned the car around a corner. They saw a lot of homeless people on the streets, living in cardboard boxes. Oliver instantly went quiet. Laurel noticed and rubbed his shoulder from the backseat.
"This city's gone to crap. Your dad sold his factory just in time." Tommy said
"Are you sure this would be the best place for us to have our base of operations?" Sara asked
"It would be the last place people would expect us to be." Laurel argued
"True. Now let's go get some food, I'm starving." Tommy said
Later, the four were in an alley where Tommy parked his car.
"That was delicious, now I was thinking we could hit up..." Tommy started
Suddenly, a van pulled into the alley and men surrounded the four.
"What the hell?" Sara asked
One of the men lifted their gun and shot Laurel. It was a tranq dart. She went down hard. Another one shot Sara in the arm, a different one shot Tommy in the chest, and one pegged Oliver's neck, and they fell to their knees. A man in an apron emerged from the back door of a restaurant with a trash bag, and one of the guys with a real gun shot him up. Sara and Tommy succumbed to the tranquilizer, while Oliver stayed conscious and glared at the men. Eventually, Oliver couldn't fight the tranquilizer and he was knocked out.
Lifeboat – 5 Years Ago. Gus sets up a fluorescent light above the boat. Oliver honestly felt he was in a nightmare. Every now and then, he and Laurel would look back, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tommy and Sara. Robert gives Laurel a bottle of water to drink.
"Here, Laurel. Drink." Robert instructed
Laurel didn't have to be told twice and she began drinking the water.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Gus asked
He pointed to the bottle of water.
"That's all we've got." Gus exclaimed
"If anybody's making it out of here, it's gonna be them." Robert argued
Robert pulled his son closer to him.
"I'm so sorry. I thought I'd have more time. I'm not the man you think I am." Robert apologized
Oliver looked at his father, confused. What the hell was he talking about?
"I didn't build our city. I failed it. And I wasn't the only one." Robert revealed
"Mr. Queen?" An unfamiliar voice dragged Oliver out of his drugged state
Oliver's hood was pulled off by one of the kidnappers. From what he can see he's in an abandoned warehouse and tied to a chair. He saw Sara, Tommy, and Laurel on the floor. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Sara's awake. He gave her a reassuring glance. However, Tommy and Laurel were still unconscious.
"Did your father survive that accident?" The man asked
Oliver snapped his eyes up to focus on the man. There were three of them. Instantly, he looked them up and down, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses.
"I ask the questions, you give me the answers." The man said
Oliver remained silent, he was working on the ropes binding his hands to the chair. The man didn't like Oliver's response and jammed him with the taser. Oliver felt his muscles convulse from the electricity. He allowed himself to let out a pained cry. He needed them to think he was weak… Unseen by them, his hands continued to work. He just had to get his thumbs in the right position…
"Did he make it to the island? Did he tell you anything?" The man asked
He jammed Oliver with the taser, again.
"Yes, he did." Oliver answered
"What did he tell you, Mr. Queen?" The man asked
Oliver looked at Sara, Tommy, and Laurel and noticed that Tommy and Laurel were still unconscious. He sent an, almost, unnoticeable nod to Sara and nodded back, knowing what he was about to do.
"He told me we're gonna to kill you." Oliver responded
This made all the men break out in laughter, and this would be their final mistake.
"You're delusional. You're zip-cuffed to that chair." The man said
Oliver removed his, now un-cuffed, hands from behind his back and showed the kidnappers.
"Not anymore." Oliver said
He and Sara sprung into action and attacked with first kidnapper attacked Oliver, Oliver meanwhile dodged his attack and knocked him out with his chair. Sara disarmed the second kidnapper and used him as a human shield, as the third one shot at her. Oliver ran after the third one and chased him to another part of the warehouse. He caught the man and put him into a chokehold, preparing to snap his neck.
"You killed that man." Oliver said
"You don't have to do this." The man begged
"Yes, I do. Nobody can know our secret." Oliver said
He broke the man's neck, killing him.