Chapter 9: The Ring

Laurel felt faint, thrown by Nyssa's betrayal. She remembered Nyssa's conversation with Talibah in Arabic as they exited the plane from Kyushu – Nyssa must have been giving Talibah instructions to keep the Lotus.

Oliver, who had been loath to trust Nyssa in the first place, raged with fire in his eyes, "Nyssa! Are you seriously telling me that Laurel and Diggle travelled across the world to free you and helped you procure the one thing that will save my sister's life just so that you could hold her life hostage?" Even listening to Oliver summarize Nyssa's actions, it felt like it must be a mistake, it was so inconceivable. But one look at her mentor and Laurel knew it was true.

Nyssa refused to even look in Laurel's direction as she said formally, "Laurel has long been a friend to me and I regret that she may take my actions as a betrayal, but war knows no family bonds nor friendly sentiments." Laurel's stomach dropped as she remembered how often she had defended Nyssa, most recently to Oliver. She felt like a complete fool.

Felicity fixed an intense gaze on Nyssa and demanded incredulously, "Who are you at war with?"

"I just told you I want Oliver to kill Malcolm Merlyn – try to guess," Nyssa said through gritted teeth. Of course Nyssa was not prepared to let go of her imprisonment at Merlyn's hands - Laurel was frustrated with herself that she had failed to understand that until now. Why hadn't Laurel taken the Lotus from Tatsu instead of allowing it to remain with Nyssa? Even as she wondered, Laurel knew it was because she had believed Nyssa to be her friend and thought that, even if Nyssa had had no strong feelings for Thea, she would have readily helped Thea for Laurel's sake.

Laurel glanced over at Thea lying in a hospital bed, being monitored by beeping machines under Caitlyn's watchful eye. Panic welled back up inside of Laurel and she turned to Nyssa, saying incensed, "Thea doesn't have time for these games, Nyssa!"

"I have given her time," Nyssa said, nodding towards Thea, now breathing easily with the nasal cannula. "But Merlyn is a blight on the League and cannot be allowed to continue as the Demon's Head. He imprisoned me and has placed a bounty for my capture or my head."

"If you have a problem with Malcolm Merlyn, deal with it yourself!" Oliver seethed. "Do not involve me or my sister."

"You involved yourself," Nyssa said sharply, "When you placed the Demon's Head ring on Malcolm's hand."

Oliver stared Nyssa down, both silent. Then Oliver shifted, understanding crossing his face. "You can't defeat him."

Nyssa's face changed for the first time to show a hint of fear. Oliver had discovered the crux of Nyssa's actions. "But you can – you have," Nyssa returned, her voice a hint more desperate than it had been moments ago. "I'm sorry, Oliver, I would not resort to this if I had any other choice."

Nyssa's pleas did not soften Oliver's hardened expression. "Nyssa, my sister is dying," Oliver said in a low tone, "because of something that your father did. You have every choice." Laurel knew that so far as Oliver saw things, with a swing of his blade, Ra's Al Ghul had brought them here, striking Thea down in her own home. And Nyssa had the power to make it right.

"Thea is dying because of something her father did," Nyssa corrected pointedly, accusing Malcolm in her father's stead. "And it has long been time for him to pay for the deaths of my beloved and countless others." Laurel couldn't help but agree with Nyssa there. Malcolm had killed Laurel's sister, Nyssa's beloved. He had massacred the people of the Glades. Malcolm deserved to pay for his crimes as much as Nyssa's father had. Nyssa stated with conviction, "I did not start this war. But I mean to conclude it." Nyssa turned around as if to leave.

"Wait!" Oliver roared. Nyssa stopped and turned back around. "It's the League you want?" Oliver asked. Nyssa studied Oliver and nodded slowly. "What if Malcolm were to give up the ring willingly?"

"The ring for the Lotus?" Nyssa asked, tilting her head and peering at Oliver as if amused. "I'd like to see the day Malcolm willingly relinquishes power."

"Just answer the question, Nyssa," Oliver commanded, eyes stern. "If Malcolm gives up the ring … will you give us the Lotus?"

Nyssa looked seriously back at Oliver, matching his gravitas. She said, "If Malcolm gives up the ring – I will see your sister healed." Promise made, Nyssa turned around and walked out of the Bunker. Laurel darted a look around at her friends and then turned to pursue Nyssa.

Laurel pushed through the outer doors into the cool evening air. She looked both directions and spied Nyssa's dark clothing fading into the darkness. "Nyssa!" Laurel called out.

Nyssa paused. She did not turn around, but Laurel knew that Nyssa being willing to wait for Laurel was a sign she would listen. Laurel ran to Nyssa and stood behind her. "Nyssa – where's the Lotus?" Laurel demanded, her voice shaking with emotion from the rollercoaster of the last twenty-four hours.

"Safe," Nyssa said quietly.

Laurel couldn't help the desperation that leaked into her tone. "This isn't a game, Nyssa! Thea is dying!"

Nyssa seemed to agree with that estimation while remaining unmoved. "And giving up my only leverage will surely mean forfeiting my own life in her stead. Or did you think Malcolm Merlyn confined me to a cell for my good health?" Nyssa's tone bit out.

"Using Thea's life as a bargaining chip? Nyssa, this isn't who you are," Laurel pled. "It's who your father was. But he's gone, he's dead. And you can finally be free." Nyssa stood in place for a moment longer, then strode off into the night.

Alone again, Laurel did her best to catch her breath as panic rose back within her. Nyssa had given them time, but Thea was still at death's door and Laurel wasn't prepared to return to a permanently empty apartment. To pack into boxes the sweaters, and socks, and pillows. To set aside cherished, framed photos and unhook the alarm clock. To stand up at a funeral and try to put into words what Thea meant to her - words she had failed to say while Thea was alive. To bury a twenty-one-year-old.

With a heavy heart, Laurel hurried back into the Bunker. As Laurel reentered the room where Thea lay comatose, she found the team had walked away from Thea's bedside and seemed to be arguing about their next steps.

"Malcolm Merlyn has to be taken down, Oliver, and you're the only man who's ever done it," Digg said heatedly, arms crossed over his chest.

Oliver shook his head almost wildly, holding both hands up defensively. "I'm not going to try to justify Malcolm. He killed hundreds of people, orchestrated Sara's murder, he killed Tommy, Thea is dying right now because of events that he set in motion -" Events starting with Merlyn sinking the Queen's Gambit and ending with his mass-murder of innocents in the Glades. "I have never hated anyone the way I hate Malcolm." Laurel wasn't ready for the spike of anger she felt towards Oliver as he gave angry lip-service toward Merlyn even as his tone showed he was prepared to protect him. "But nothing is ever going to change the fact that he is Thea's family."

Laurel fought to not roll her eyes at Oliver's favorite argument which she had seen him use time and time again to defend Merlyn. Oliver quickly tried to explain to the group, "I don't know how much you know about my father, but he was not a good man. He threw in with Malcolm Merlyn, and all of that being said, there is nothing I wouldn't trade to have him back." Laurel blinked, thrown by Oliver's vulnerable admission that he continued to miss his father terribly. "So you tell me – how am I supposed to take that away from Thea?" Oliver's eyes swam as they searched Laurel's, knowing that of all of them, Laurel had been hurt by Merlyn's actions the most. For a moment, Laurel was thrown.

Felicity, however, was not. She spun her chair to face Oliver and said sharply, "And I'm sure Thea feels the same – about her father, Robert Queen. You know, the man that Macolm is responsible for killing." There was no mistaking where Felicity stood regarding plan 'rid the world of Malcolm Merlyn'. She continued, saying heatedly, "We are in this mess because of Malcolm on, like, a million different levels. And let's not pretend that this is a typical father-daughter relationship. He brainwashed her into killing a friend."

Oliver looked overwhelmed by his entire team standing against him and cried out, "I know all this, I do!"

But Felicity wasn't finished. "And frankly, Thea herself has tried to kill him, like, three times," Felicity added.

"Four," a voice corrected. Laurel whirled around to find Malcolm striding up to Thea's bed. Caitlyn, who had remained at Thea's bedside, was watching wide-eyed as Team Arrow's nemesis entered their headquarters undisturbed. Perhaps it wasn't typical to have your Team's antagonist able to comfortably make himself home in your secret base.

Casually counting off the attempts Thea had made on his life, Malcolm noted, "Of course, you know she handed me over to Ra's. Pulled a knife on me twice while I recovered in your Loft. But the first time." Malcolm smiled with a grin that reminded Laurel of a shark. Predatory. Sharp. "That was when I knew she was my daughter."

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked warily.

"You know, I raised Tommy. But I just never saw myself in him. He continued to disappoint me." Laurel felt her entire body tense up with hatred for this man and the way he looked down on the kind, good man Tommy was.

Merlyn looked at Oliver. "When your mother announced to the world that I orchestrated the Undertaking, Tommy was with me. The police came after me and I killed them. Tommy pulled a gun on me, told me he didn't want to shoot me and to stand down. But he was weak. He couldn't pull that trigger." Laurel felt sick that the part of Tommy which she cherished so dearly was the same thing that his own father saw as weakness, even in death.

"Thea, though," Merlyn chuckled and Laurel felt goosebumps emerge on her skin. "I lied to you, Oliver. After Slade Wilson's goon tried to strangle Thea, I immediately let her know I had saved her." Oliver's eyes narrowed. Even knowing Thea had secretly spent months training with Merlyn, it was still disturbing to hear about their early connection. Merlyn continued, "She was scared and ran. I pursued. And when I reached her along those railroad tracks, I tried to convince her to trust me. She turned to me, a gun in her hands, said to get away from her or she would shoot." He laughed again as if he still got a kick out of it. "And damn, if she didn't do it. Three bullets to the chest."

"Then why are you still here?" Felicity groused even as Oliver looked back at Malcolm with horror.

"Kevlar," Malcolm said simply. "But I told her I could not have been more proud."

"Case in point!" Felicity said, angrily, swinging back to look at Oliver waving a hand towards Malcolm.

Merlyn said, looking more somberly at Thea in her bed, "I knew then that she was truly my daughter. She has a spirit of iron." He gave a little wry smile at her, clear emotion in his voice. "Oh, the things she could have done if she had had time."

Oliver abruptly shook his head as if intentionally trying to erase Malcolm's words from his head. He walked with sure steps towards Thea's bed and said firmly, "Malcolm." Merlyn looked up from Thea with annoyance. "Nyssa Al Ghul has a cure for Thea's bloodlust."

Malcolm drew his brow together, looking at Oliver as he would a foolish child. "Some special magic that we've never heard of, but Nyssa conveniently has?" Merlyn nodded briefly towards Laurel and Diggle. "I assume, then, that I have you to thank for breaking her out of my custody, then?" Laurel glowered at Merlyn and felt Diggle come up to stand next to her, arms crossed over his chest.

Oliver fought for Malcolm's attention. "Nyssa is willing to give Thea the cure if you give her the Demon's Head Ring."

Merlyn let out a startled, angry laugh and looked sharply back. "Nyssa hears my child is dying, so stages a coup by tempting you with snake oil?" With a humorless smirk, Malcolm sniped, "I've been holding off telling you this for years, Oliver. You're very handsome - not especially bright."

Oliver stopped walking when he reached Thea's bedside, standing across her bed from Malcolm. "Bright enough to have checked," Oliver rejoined nonplussed. "It's called the Lotus and Tatsu Yamashiro is part of the order who guarded it – until it came into Nyssa's possession." Malcolm's eyes narrowed, making it clear that Oliver had his attention. Oliver nodded at Caitlyn. "Caitlyn, show him."

Despite being in the presence of a super-villain, Caitlyn calmly stated. "We were provided with a small vial of the Lotus as a test. After Thea received an infusion, her heart rate and blood pressure stabilized; her fever dropped; and we were able to extubate her. She is currently receiving only minimal life-sustaining support."

"And this," Oliver added, tugging at Thea's pajama shirt's collar and revealing where Ra's stab wound had formerly been. Thea's skin was now smooth and unmarred.

Malcolm's eyes glittered, taking in the positive change in Thea's status with discerning gaze. "And where is Nyssa now?"

Laurel stepped forward, wary of Malcolm's answer. Malcolm had been an occasional ally, but proven to be anything but trustworthy when the tides changed. Laurel asked clearly, "Are you willing to make the trade?"

Sidestepping Laurel's question, Malcolm responded, "I will ensure Thea has access to the Lotus." Malcolm took a step back from the bed, beginning to turn towards the exit. "Now I need to do something to save her, and you all need to stop wasting my time with Nyssa Al Ghul's games." Anger flared into Laurel's chest as she realized Malcolm had no intention of agreeing to Nyssa's terms and instead meant to track her down to kill her.

Felicity called out sharply, anger clear in her tone, "You won't make the trade?" She turned her chair to point towards Oliver and then threw her hands up in the air, saying with a humorless laugh, "Who didn't see that one coming?"

Laurel could see the aggression building within Oliver. Oliver cut off Malcolm's exit, grabbing him by his jacket and spinning Malcolm to face Oliver. With charged eyes, Oliver shouted in Malcolm's face, "Malcolm, you give Nyssa the damn Ring!" Malcolm just sneered at Oliver.

If Oliver struggled on his journey to become a better, more hopeful person, people like Malcolm had a distinct advantage when it came to dragging Oliver right back down to earth. Oliver said in a tight voice, "Malcolm, I defended you – I said that you would do anything to save Thea! We're talking about your daughter." Malcolm's face remained expressionless, not acknowledging Oliver's pleas. In desperation, Oliver cried out, "A real father wouldn't let their child die just to keep his hands on power!"

Malcolm shoved out of Oliver's grasp and stood tall. He looked at Oliver with disdain and said, "That is not what I am doing. What's unfolding here is larger than I and it is bigger than my daughter." Oliver shook his head in anger, his lip curled. Malcolm continued, explaining, "It's not just her life that hangs in the balance, Oliver. For all your dealings with the League, you still remain ignorant to what it is they do for the world."

Felicity snapped angrily, "Enough about the League saving the world - you're a group of psychotic murderers!"

Malcolm turned viciously to sneer at Felicity, voice raised and high with the intensity of his fury. "It is a force of change silently manipulating global events for hundreds of years, and I cannot, I WILL NOT, PUT THAT KIND OF POWER INTO NYSSA AL GHUL'S HANDS!" Malcolm spat. With that Malcolm vanished out the door of the Bunker.