Verdant
Two days Later
Nathan was giving Helena a guided tour of his recently finished club.
"Oh, my gosh! It looks amazing!" she said as they headed down the stairs from the second level.
"Yeah." Nathan pointed to the DJ booth. "Steve Aoki's going to DJ. Right there."
"What? How did you get Steve Aoki?" she asked in disbelief.
"I slept with his sister." Nathan said with a smile.
"Oh." Helena said, giving him a look.
"It was also like a million years ago." He assured her, wrapping his arm around her.
"Ok." She said with a smile.
Nathan chuckled. "So, will you be my date tomorrow night?"
"Is a club opening a proper date?" she asked with an impish grin.
"I certainly hope so." she chuckled at his response. "Is that a 'yes'?" he asked.
"No." she gave him a French Kiss. "That's a 'yes'."
"How's Tommy, by the way?" Helena asked.
"He's hasn't been well since he found out the guy who really killed his Mom was caught and then murdered. He quit the job I gave him as my general manager after he and his dad talked, so he now has a job working for his dad. Still not really sure exactly what he does though."
Big Belly Burger
Same Time
Laurel was seated at a table looking over the menu when Quentin walked in. She had spent the whole day yesterday comforting Tommy, then at night, she listened to what Dinah had to say.
"Laurel." He said, quickly moving to the table and taking off his coat. "I'm glad you called. Too much. It's too long for us to go without talking." He sat down.
"Dad, I have to tell you—" Laurel started to say, but her father cut her off.
"No, no, listen, before you say anything, I got to apologize. I should never have used you to catch the archer, and I'm sorry." He said sincerely. "Laurel, I'm just- I'm sorry."
"Thank you." Laurel said uncomfortably. "I owe you an apology, too."
Quentin looked at her in confusion. "For what?" he asked.
"Hello, Quentin."
Lance turned his head and saw his ex-wife standing there. He quickly stood, staring at her in shock.
"Oh boy, this won't go over as well as I thought." Laurel winced in thought.
"How are you?" she asked. "You look well."
"Seriously? Over three years after walking out on him and that is all she has to say?" Laurel thought angrily.
"What are you doing here? Why…why are you here?" he stammered out.
"I'm here because I believe Sara's still alive." She said without preamble.
"What?!"
"Dad." Laurel had risen and put a calming hand on his arm. "Sit…"
"What is going on?" he demanded, even as he allowed Laurel to guide him back into his seat.
"Just hear mom out." She pleaded. "Sit."
"What's going on?" he demanded once more.
"Start from the beginning." Laurel told her mother.
Dinah sat as well and pulled out a map. "Nathan was found on an island called Lian Yu in the North China Sea." She said, pointing out the island, and then gesturing to the many islands that surrounded it. "There are hundreds; Thousands of deserted islands in this chain. What if Sara had survived, too? And nobody would know if she'd washed up in any one of those."
"So you don't actually have any proof that she's alive?" Quentin stated.
"I have proof." She pulled out a photograph and showed it to Quentin. It showed a tall, blonde girl with a ball cap pulled down low, hiding her face. "A tourist took this."
"Could be anybody." Quentin said defensively.
"Doesn't it look just like Sara?" Dinah said with a pleading tone in her voice. "Our daughter's a survivor, Quentin."
Quentin was silent for a few moments as he looked at the picture. "Ah, you have some nerve." He said finally. "Three years, no phone calls, no emails, nothing. You just show up with an old photo—"
"Dad, please." Laurel started, but Quentin cut her off.
"No." he turned to Laurel. "Please, you listen to me, ok? Sara died on that boat." He looked between the two women, near in tears. "Why… why are you making me re-live this?" he stood and moved to leave. "I'm not doing this."
Laurel sighed. "Dad, no…" she tried, but he was already out the door.
Flashback
Nathan and Slade were still observing the missile launcher.
"One of those missiles has an effective range of up to 2,400 kilometers." Slade was telling Nathan. "We're not going anywhere until we figure out what Fyers is planning."
"Wild guess? He's planning on making something go boom boom." Nathan replied sarcastically.
"Well, one of those could do the job. But this?" he indicated the launcher and the camp of mercenaries, "This is about starting a war."
"With who?" Nathan asked.
"What does it matter? We have to stop Fyers before he kills thousands of innocent people." Slade replied.
"There are six soldiers down there." Nathan pointed out. "Even if we get through all of them, we can't just steal a whole missile launcher."
Slade observed the camp with his glasses- and spied soldiers carrying crates marked 'Explosives'. And idea formed in his head. "Well, who said anything about stealing it?" he asked.
"So what's the plan? Ambush?" Nathan asked/ offered.
Slade shook his head. "It's impossible. We can't take out all six without one radioing for back up."
"We could if we could get all the soldiers in one place." Nathan noted.
Slade paused, and then stared at Nathan in consideration. "You're right." He said with approving nod.
Flashback End
Foundry
Nighttime
Nathan was explaining what happened to the team. He had went after John Nickel, but someone apparently got to him first. "He was just gone?" Helena asked in confusion.
"No. Not gone. Taken. Someone got there just before I did." Nathan clarified.
"Looks like Nickel finally pissed off one too many people." Lyla noted.
"After the fire last night, it's not entirely surprising." Nathan replied. He turned to the clone he created, "Get me everything that you can on Nickel." He told him. "Focus on his tenants, and anyone who might have filed a formal complaint against him, or people that lost something in the fire."
"Yes boss man!" The clone shouted at the top of it's lungs and saluted very comically.
"Your clone is being weird today Nate" Helena noted as she had never seen one of his clones do that.
"Yeah, I don't know what's up with that. There's a few days out of the year where one will come out defective."
"Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg-" The defective clone said as he continued saluting Nathan Nazi Style.
"Oh, for fucks sake." Nathan complained before he killed the clone and made another one that wasn't defective.
He picked up the book and started flipping through it before placing it down.
"So you're going to cross Nickel off anyway?" Lyla asked.
"Not til I know what happened to him. I'm calling it a night for now. I'll be with Helena if you need me." Nathan said as Helena walked off with him.
Nate's Apartment
Next Morning
Nathan woke up the next morning. To his right side was Talia and to his left side was Chien, while Helena's head resting on his chest. Talia and Chiens heads rested on each of his shoulders, spooning each of his sides. Nate's arms were wrapped around each of them, his hand cupping each of their ass cheeks. Helena's head rested on his chest, her hot body draped across him like a blanket, like the covers that pulled over all of them.
God, he loved each of the women in his bed. Nate absentmindedly wondered how big this harem of his would eventually get. He had a natural charm and magnetism that attracted women to him as well as high sex drive before the Mirakuru and all that got enhanced as well. With his nearly inexhaustible sex drive, there was no telling how many women he would one day be loving simultaneously.
Getting up and silently slipping out of his bed, getting his boxers and jeans on. Hearing his phone vibrate, he picked it up. Looking down, he saw that it was Lyla. "Yeah?" he said, answering the call.
"Your clone found Nickel." She said without preamble. "Click the link I just sent you. This came up on every screen with an I.P. address originating from the Glades last night."
Nathan did so and saw what had transpired last night. He decided the girls needed to see this.
1 hour later
The Lair
"If you make the Glades your home, you know who this man is." An unknown voice was saying as they watched around the computer. "John Nickel. He owns your tenements. Manages your slums. Provides the leaking roofs over your heads. The mold in your pipes and asbestos in your walls. Basically, he makes money off our suffering." Nickel's let out a muffled scream. "But the police aren't interested in helping us. They may have let us down, but I won't. John, I want to give you the chance to state your case. Why shouldn't you be punished?" a hand reached out and tore the tape away from the slum lord's mouth.
Nickel gasped in pain. "I knew there was bad stuff in my buildings." He said fearfully.
"Ok, yes, I made a little profit!" Nickel continued over the air." At least they had a place thanks to me. People like that would end up on the street."
The man slapped the tape back over Nickel's mouth. "People like that." He repeated angrily as Nickel's muffled cries echoed in the background. "That's all we are to guys like this." The girls and Nathan watched on.
The camera shifted slightly, and suddenly a gun came into let out a muffled scream in panic, and began thrashing around uselessly. "I find you Guilty." The man said, and then fired twice.
"There are plenty more people who need to answer for their crimes against us." The voice said as the camera lingered on Nickel's corpse. "So…who's next?"
"Anything new?" Nate asked his clone.
"This guy's definitely got some skill in hacking. His website's protected by some very serious encryption."
"Let me know when you have something." Nathan said as he walked over to a black crate, containing something special. He ran his hands along it, wondering if it was time to open it.
"Spoke with one of my contacts in the NSA." Lyla said. "The website code matches a cyber-crusader who's been on their hacks into fringe sites under the user name 'The Savior'. NSA believes he's a former resident of the Glades."
"Former?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah," Lyla nodded. "Well, a year ago, he hacked himself right off the erased all traces of his existence."
"So he's practically untraceable. Great." Chien drawled. Then another live video was being posted
Once more there was a man, his mouth taped and his wrists bound holding him standing up. "We're back." The voice announced. "I have with me assistant district attorney Gavin Carnahan." Gavin let out a muffled groan. "Now, DAs are supposed to go after bad guys. But this one can't even be bothered to bring them to the ones who killed my wife in a bodega."
"Find him" Nathan told his clone.
"I'm on it." He said.
"They said there wasn't enough evidence." The voice continued. "You think the evidence would have turned up if she'd been killed in one of Starling City's nicer neighborhoods?"
"So his wife dies and he thinks it's his god given right to kill people he thinks deserves to die? The Savior, more like savior complex." Nathan said.
"Couldn't agree with you more, Nate. A vendetta and a savior complex makes him extremely dangerous." Lyla said grimly.
The clone found a news article about a bodega shooting. "Emma Falk." Lyla read. "Grieving husband is Joseph Falk."
"What do we have on him?" Nathan asked.
"Not much, boss." His clone had already pulled up what records it could find on him. "City of Transportation, computer technician, left his job when she was killed." He looked back at Nathan. "One year ago today."
"No current phone, no current address." Lyla noted.
"Gavin, you're a lawyer." Falk continued. "You're used to making a case. So go ahead. I'm going to give you ten minutes to deliver the closing argument of your life."
The clone was frantically working the keyboard. "I'm trying to get a lock on his wireless signal."
"Ten minutes to convince me not to blow you away." Falk set the camera down on a table, and then set his watch down in front of it.
Flashback
The scene flashed back to the Island. Nathan, his ski masked pulled down to hide his face, was escorting a supposedly bound Slade Wilson towards the encampment with the missile launcher.
"Hey!" he called out, gaining the mercenary's attention. "I found an intruder while I was circling the perimeter."
"It's Wilson." One of the merc's said. "You killed a few of my friends, you son of a bitch."
"And I'm going to kill a few more." Slade replied. He pulled his hands from behind his back, which both contained a Colt 1911. He opened fire with both guns simultaneously and managed to drop all six guards with single shots each. Slade looked back at a kneeling Nathan and grinned. Nathan watched with a smirk, then got up and followed him.
Flashback End
CNRI
Same time
Laurel was working on her own time, trying to find out who the girl in the picture was. She didn't notice Thea walking behind her, filing away some documents, and barely noticed her when she came to stand next to her.
"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" Thea asked hesitantly. "Almost woman to woman."
Laurel didn't even look up. "I'm really busy right now." She said.
As she walked away, Laurel's head finally came up and she realized that the younger girl had tried to ask her something. She rose from her chair and quickly walked towards Thea. "Thea!" she called out, stopping the girl in her tracks. She came up and gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry." She apologized. "What's up?"
Thea took a breath. "I could use some advice." She began. "I'm sort of dating this guy who would definitely be described as a bad boy. I figured, as someone who's dated like a gajillion of them—"
"I haven't dated a gajillion."
Thea gave her a look. She sighed. "All right, guilty as charged."
"You want my advice?" she put he hands on Thea's arms and gave them a gentle squeeze. "Run. As fast as you possibly can."
"Yeah. See, that was my first instinct, too, but—" she started, but was cut off by another intern.
"Laurel?" the intern held up a phone. "The Chinese embassy's on line two. I'm transferring him over."
"Chinese embassy?" Thea asked in confusion.
Laurel gave her a brittle smile. "It's just this case that I'm working but we are definitely continuing this conversation later." She told her as she walked quickly back to her desk, leaving a dejected Thea behind.
"Thank you so much for getting back to me." Laurel said, taking a seat at her desk. "I'm trying to track down a woman in the photo that I emailed you." She listened for a few moments. "You did. Really? And you're sure that she's in the states now?" she pulled out a pen and pad of paper. "Do you happen to have an address on her?" she asked, scribbling the address they gave her even as she stared at the picture of the mysterious girl.
Back in the Lair
The clone was rapidly typing on the keyboard, and finally it managed to track Falk's signal. It pulled up a map that showed his current location. "I found him!" the clone said.
"Shut the site down." Nathan ordered. The clone typed some more, but then shook its head. "Can't. He has a firewall protecting his wireless signal. But he's working off an IPX located at 23rd and Mira."
Nathan ran and grabbed his helmet.
"You want to suit up?" Lyla asked asked as Nathan ran to the stairs.
"It's the middle of the day!" Nathan jumped on his bike and took off for the address.
"How's Carnahan?" Nathan asked on his bike a minute later.
"Failing to make a persuasive argument." Talia told him.
"I'm almost there!" Nathan weaved in and out of traffic, finally arriving at the building. He ran in the front door, and when the security door stopped him, he busted the glass and unlocked it. He ran in, looking up and down the halls for any clues as to where Falk was.
"See anything?" Helena asked.
"I'm only on the first floor!' He called back.
"Just six more to go." Lyla noted. Nathan began kicking open doors, one after the other, only to find empty offices.
'There aren't resources. I tried.' Gavin was pleading. Falk jammed his gun into the lawyer's ribs. 'Oh, my God! I'm sorry!' he pleaded.
Door after door, floor after floor, Nathan busted them all open- only to find nothing. "I can't find him," he said over the line in frustration. Finally, the last door he busted through was the roof. He looked around in anger. "He's not here." he said.
"What?!" the clone asked.
"I searched every office on every floor! He's not here." He took a breath. "Is this the right place?" he asked. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I—" he said, double checking the signal. To his surprise, however, the signal location had moved. "Oh no." he muttered.
"What?" Nathan demanded.
"What the fuck?" the clone asked. "This can't be right."
"Talk to me!" Nathan said.
"He's moved." He checked the map. "Just north of and Grand."
Nathan took off at a dead run. "On my way!" he shouted. He began leaping from rooftop to rooftop, moving at inhuman speed taking the fastest way to the new location- a straight line.
Nathan shimmied down the side of a building, and then jumped onto the roof of a passing truck. He leapt off of that into the road, dodging between honking cars. He ran down Ocean, passing a boarded up subway station as he leapt a fence.
"I'm at Ocean and Grand." Nathan announced, looking around at a lot under construction. "It's just a vacant lot."
'I took on cases that were-that I thought that I could Win.' Gavin was pleading. 'I'm sorry.'
'Gavin Carnahan, I find you guilty of crimes against the Glades.' Falk said, raising his gun.
'Don't do this! Don't do this!' Gavin pleaded futilely.
'And I sentence you to death.'
As Gavin screamed in vain, Falk opened fire, pumping five rounds into the lawyer's chest.
Lyla let out a long sigh, and then wearily sat in her chair, while Nate's clone rubbed his head in exhaustion. She picked up the earpiece and put it to his ear.
"Nathan, it's over, Carnahan is dead." She told him.
Flashback
Slade was breaking open crates of explosives; he grabbed a handful of the long, thin bricks of C4 and gave them to Nathan. "Place these around the launcher." He ordered. "Do it quickly. Their backup will be arriving any second." The two started hastily setting the C4 sticks all around the launcher, and had only just started when the radio crackled to life.
'We're 60 seconds out from the launcher.' A voice said. Slade's eyes widened in surprise.
"Set your final charges and we'll blow it." He yelled.
Nathan paused, and idea coming to him. He moved to the back of the launcher and found an access door. "I got a better idea." He told Slade as he opened the door and slid out the motherboard.
"What are you doing?" Slade asked in exasperation.
Nathan looked at the board and found what he was looking for- a processor chip. He yanked it off the board and showed it to Slade. "I'm taking the circuit board. No computer will work without them, and given the complexity of this equipment, I'm pretty sure Fryers doesn't have a spare board lying around." He explained.
Slade looked at him in excitement. "Leverage." He realized. Slade clapped the younger man on the shoulder, and the two took off for the trees.
Flashback End
Lair
A few minutes later
Nathan came back down to the Lair, finding his clone, as well as Lyla, Helena, Chien, and Talia. His clone turned to him and said, "I'm sorry boss. I don't know what the hell happened."
"It's not your fault." He said to his clone, "Nobody is at fault for what happened. But we need to find out figure out how Falk slipped through our fingers." He walked over to his clone and said, "Play that first video again."
Flashback
It was night, and Fyers and his men were swarming around the launcher, looking for clues as to where Slade and Nathan were.
And they actually weren't far. The two men observed the action from their observation post on the ridgeline.
"Your plan, your call." Slade told Nathan, handing him the radio.
Nathan nodded, and then activated the radio. "Fyers."
Down next to the launcher, a furious Fyers grabbed at his own radio. "Mr. Queen." He hissed. "I thought I might be hearing from you."
"We have the circuit board." Nathan said bluntly.
"You're making a grave mistake." Fyers warned. "My men are scouring the island for you as we speak. And when they find you, they will kill you. Very slowly, I'm afraid."
"If your men kill us, then you'll never find the circuit board. And after that, we both know that all you'll be left with is a really useless piece of modern art." He looked at Slade and nodded in satisfaction at his insult; Slade was amused by his bravado.
"What do you propose?" Fyers said after a moment.
"A trade." Nathan said simply.
"I see. And what do you want in exchange?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"I want a way off the island. Simple exchange." He said as Slade looked on. "You get us a way off the island, and we'll give you the circuit board so that your missile launcher isn't just furniture."
Fyers began to pace next to the launcher. "You've grown up quite a bit, Mr. Queen. I'll give you that." He thought for a moment. "I can get you a boat. But I need time."
"You got an hour, Fyers, and then you're never—" Slade snatched the mic from his hand.
"What?!" Nathan demanded.
Slade gave him a look, and then spoke into the mic. "We understand it might take you longer than an hour to get a boat. What we mean is you need to move with some dispatch."
"Ah, Wilson, still in command there, eh? I thought your little pet had staged a coup d'état." Fyers said in a patronizing tone.
"Just get us the damn boat." Slade growled.
Flashback End
Glades
Evening
Thea walked slowly up to Roy's house. Roy was just leaving as she neared the door, and he sighed in exasperation.
"Wow. I was waiting for this." He said as he bounded down the front steps and breezed past her.
"Waiting for what?" Thea asked, equally exasperated.
"The whole 'You can change, I can see the real you' speech." He spun around gesturing wildly with his arms. "Look around, this is home sweet home for me. In The Glades, you either starve or you do things that mean you're lucky enough to make it to 21."
Thea shook her head. "I can't accept that."
"Can't accept me." Roy corrected.
Thea sighed, and was ready to continue the argument when another voice interrupted them.
"Roy Harper?"
"Yeah?" Roy started to turn around when suddenly a needle was jammed into his neck.
"Roy!" Thea screamed, lunging on the man as he injected something. The man grabbed her and roughly shoved her to the ground. As she fell, she hit head first, knocking her out.
The man walked to the fallen Roy. While the sedative was already working, Roy had the presence of mind to take out his gun. He pulled the trigger- but it was empty. He absently noted that the bullets were still on the table inside when the man roughly knocked the gun out of his hand, then hauled him up and tossed him into the back of a black panel van.
Thea started stirring just as the van peeled out of the drive and into the darkness of the night.
Laurel's apartment
Same Time
Laurel and Quentin both walked into find Dinah sorting some papers, including 'Missing' posters of Sara.
"What are you doing?" Lance asked.
"So it's not Sara in the photo." Dinah said. "But she's still out there, I'm going to find her."
Both Quentin and Laurel looked at her is disbelief, and she sighed. "Look, I understand now that neither of you have the stomach to continue looking for her and that's fine. I'm sorry I involved you both." She moved over to the walls and started pulling things down.
"You know that I would cross to hell and back to bring her home, but I CAN'T! "Quentin shouted, his control leaving him. "Because she's gone, Di." He continued.
"No." Dinah denied frantically pulling posters off the wall.
"You got to let go of this now." He told her.
"No! I can't! I won't!" Dinah shouted back.
Laurel looked down at the pictures of the girl, Jen, and something that had been gnawing at her conscience since she met the girl finally made itself known. "How did you know Sara had her hat with her when she went on the boat?" Laurel asked, causing Dinah to freeze.
Sensing she was on to something, Laurel pressed on. "You were so sure that the girl in the photo was Sara. Not because she was American or blonde, but because of her Starling City Rockets hat that dad bought her." Dinah refused to look at her, but she was still frozen in place. "Mom, how did you know she took her hat with her on 'The Queen's Gambit' with Oliver?"
Dinah let out a groan. "I saw her."
"What?" Laurel demanded in a cold voice, shock, anger, and betrayal flooding her.
Quentin looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I came home early that day, and I saw her. Sara." She started crying. "I saw her put the hat in a bag. She was packing."
Quentin stared at her in disbelief. "You knew she was going with him?" he accused.
"You knew?" Laurel demanded in a voice that shook with anger and betrayal, "you knew that my boyfriend was cheating on me with my own sister? And you let me find out by learning that they were both dead!?"
Dinah finally turned around to face them both. "I told her not to… I told her not to do this, not to you, Laurel." she told her eldest, who was also crying. "But she said she was in love and she had to follow her heart, even if nobody else thought it was right. Just like… I told her Just like I told her I once did. So I let her go." She gasped. "I killed her. I—" she sobbed collapsing back against the wall. "Oh God, I killed my daughter." She sobbed.
Quentin rushed over to her, tears streaming down his own face and took her into his arm. "I killed her. I'm so sorry, Quentin." She continued to sob.
"I'm so sorry, Quentin. I killed our baby." Laurel stood apart, her face full of anger and sorrow as she watched her mother collapse into her father's arms.
Verdant
20 minutes later
Nathan's clone was looking over some paperwork as the girls set up for the night when a news bulletin came on the flat screen hung on the wall.
'More on the story out of the kidnapper seems to have another victim and is broadcasting the feed to his website.' The news feed shifted to Falk's video feed, which showed a roughed up Roy bound as the other victims had been. Nate's eyes widened in shock- he'd recognized the name as Thea's friend. He put down his clipboard and moved closer to the TV. 'A warning to viewers, this is live footage, so we're not sure what we're about to see.'
Falk ripped off the tape over Roy's mouth; the boy let out a gasp as Falk started talking. "Meet Roy Harper. Arrests for larceny and robbery, aggravated assault." He listed. "And yet you're out on the street. Another gangbanger in the Glades running free, like the ones who killed my wife."
Roy struggled futility to free himself as Falk kept the camera zoomed in on his face. "I grew up in the Glades; it didn't turn me into a criminal."
"Nate!" The clone turned to see a very disheveled Thea running into the club. "Nate?" she saw Roy on the screen and let out a sob. "Oh! Oh, God, no." she turned to her brother. "I didn't know where else to go."
Nathan took her by the shoulders. "What happened?"
"Roy, we were in a fight and some guy came out of nowhere and just attacked us! He doesn't deserve to die!" she cried, tears streaming down her face.
"I promise you, he's going to be ok." The clone said as he comforted his creators sister.
Down below in the Lair
"I've been going through all the video we got, trying to see if there's anything that'll tell us where this guy is." The other clone told Nate. "I got nothing, except an ambient rhythmic." It pulled it up and played it on speaker. "Here, I've isolated it." The five stopped and listened. Lyla frowned, a memory plying at the back of her mind. She picked up a headset and pressed one cup to her ear.
Lyla leaned in close. "Show me a map." She asked, and the clone pulled up a map of Starling City. "Sights of the abductions so far." She added, and she placed them on the map. "Right there, right there." She said, pointing to one of the spots. "Locksley and Adams." Her finger moved to the next spot. "Wells Street down by CNRI. Those are all subway stops!" she announced.
"Last time I checked, Starling City doesn't have a subway." Nathan noted.
Lyla shook her head. "No, but they used to. My ex-husband told me about it once. When he was a kid, his dad used to take him down to the Rockets game. By 14 minutes, he'd lean against the window, feeling the rhythm of the train moving." She explained.
"That's how he did it." Helena realized. She looked back at Nathan. "He was at 23rd and Mira, but he used to work for the Department of Transportation, so that's why he knows all the old subway's and why you couldn't get a lock the signal." She finished. "He was moving. He's in a subway car."
"Where is he now?" Nathan asked.
"He's on the old cross town line." The clone yelled. "If he continues on this route, he'll be at the Spring Street stop in 15 minutes."
"Helena, suit up." Nathan said, going to grab his gear but stopped at the black metal case he was messing with earlier. Making a decision, he grabbed it and began unlocking it.
"Beloved, what is in that case?" Talia asked.
Nathan finished unlocking and paused for a moment, "Another monster." Nathan said as he opened it and grabbed his gear.
Flashback
Fyers with a company of men and Yao Fei at his side approached a clearing. For the opposite direction came Nathan and Slade, who had his 1911's drawn, but pointed down.
"Gentlemen." Fyers said casually. He had his own pistol drawn, and crossed his arms in front of himself. "Welcome. So happy we were able to reach an accord."
"Oh, talk." Slade said in annoyance. He turned to Fyers. "Are we going to get on with this?"
"As you to business." Fyers looked to Nathan. "The circuit board." He demanded. "Where is it?"
"Somewhere you'll never find it." Nathan said evasively. "Now, get us to the boat and then we'll tell you where it is."
"And of course you'll be honest about its location." Fyers said sarcastically.
"Well, I wouldn't be." Slade told the man honestly. Then he nodded at Nathan. "But this one's got some strange hang up about principles and integrity."
"I always imagined as much." Fyers said. "Which is why I'd like to make a counter proposal. "Men!" he called out. Suddenly two guards came out form the back dragging a woman. She was an Asian woman, with long dark hair and her hands bound behind her. The guards dragged her roughly, and then dropped her to the ground as she screamed out in anger.
"No!" Yao Fei screamed. He made to move towards the woman, but one of the guards next to him smacked him on the temple with the butt of his rifle, sending the man to his knees. As he struggled, several men restrained him as they put him in handcuffs.
"You will deliver back to me the circuit board, or I will kill Yao Fei's daughter." Fyers said coldly, and it all fell into place for Nathan.
"That's why he wouldn't leave." He whispered to himself.
"I can't imagine you want the death of an innocent young woman on your hands." Fryers spat. "Not with your…principles."
Slade grinned and raised one of his guns, pointing it directly at Fyers' head. "Let the girl go." He said, even as the other soldiers raised their weapons at him.
"No deal?" Fyers said casually. "Very well. Kill her."
Several things happened at once. Slade knocked the guns away from the nearby soldiers. At the same time, the girl reached back and slapped one gun away, then leapt up and disarmed the other guard. She punched one, then the other, then locked the first into an arm bar while warping her legs around the others, sending all three to the ground. Slade opened fire then, killing some of the soldiers outright, and Yao Fei tripped one of the soldiers, and then wrapped his leg around the man's neck. With a twist, it was broken.
Nathan charged at one soldier and shoved him hard into a tree. He followed that up with two hard punches, and then stabbed the soldier in the throat with his K-Bar Knife. He pulled out the Berreta he had taken from the soldier he had disarmed previously and fired two shots, killing two more men.
Fyers stalked up to the girl, who had just finished off her two. He lifted the gun to shoot her in the head, but a shot was fired from Nathan, and Fyers gripped his hand in pain as the bullet left a small bleeding hole in his hand, causing him to drop his gun. She quickly sent him to the ground, then climbed on his chest and unleashed a flurry of punches to his face, rendering the man unconscious.
The soldiers momentarily defeated. The group gathered together. Slade smirked at the girl as she walked over to her father. "That was unexpected." He remarked. She grinned back at him, and then helped her father up, who had already freed himself of the restraints.
Fyers, seeing them loose and about to escape, called to his men that had been waiting in the forest. "Fire!" A line of fire from automatic rifles suddenly lanced out as more soldiers appeared. Slade picked up an assault rifle and returned fire, covering Nathan, Yao Fei, and the girl as they made their way for cover. A stray bullet lanced caught Yao Fei in the leg, sending him stumbling. Nathan picked him up and helped him hobble a few more yards until they were under some cover. The man collapsed to the ground.
Nathan pulled on his arm, trying to get the man back up. "Come on! Come on!" he urged as the fire continued behind them.
Yao Fei pushed him away. "Get her to safety!" he told him, nodding at his daughter. At Nathan's indecision, he yelled. "Now! I'll only slow you down!" he urged. Slade came to them then and grabbed the girl, even as she screamed for her father. "Just go! You've got to go!" he urged.
"Go! Go! Go!" Slade urged as the three ran off into the forest.
Flashback End
Nathan and Helena pulled up next to the abandoned subway station at Ocean Avenue. He fired an explosive arrow at an access grate, blowing it off, and then dropped a line down into the hole. They both slid down the line, ending up in an access tunnel for the subway itself. The two vigilantes ran through the tunnel, hearing a train, and stopped just shy of the tracks as a train sped past.
Back in the Lair, Lyla were watching the screen as Falk started up again. "It's happening." Lyla told Nathan.
"I'll give you 10 minutes to state your case, Roy." Falk was telling Roy in the train car. Roy stared back, defeat in his eyes. "So tell me, do you get to live?"
Roy closed his eyes, the weight of his life pressing down on him. "I shouldn't." he said finally.
"Just do it, kill me." Falk stared back, stunned. He wasn't expecting that. "Just go on!" Roy shouted. "Kill me!"
Falk lowered the camera slightly so he could look Roy in the eyes. "You really don't care if you live or die?" he asked, dumbfounded.
Roy just stared back at him with a defeated expression. "Who's going to miss me?"
Back at Verdant, Thea stood, waiting anxiously for a miracle. Her eyes filled with tears at his pronouncement. 'I'm just a waste.' Nate's clone held to her close, giving her silent support.
"Then we agree on something." Falk said, staring hard at the boy. "This world would be better off without you in it."
Falk raised the gun, and Roy closed his eyes, preparing for the end. Suddenly there was a crash on the roof of the train. Falk looked up, startled. A shuriken sliced Falk's hand, causing him to drop the camera, and then embedded itself in rail close to where Roy's restraints were.
Back at Verdant, all Thea saw was the camera falling to the ground, still displaying a tilted image of the inside of the car.
Falk moved cautiously down the train, searching of the source of the sound. A crossbow bolt was fired, hitting Falk in the shoulder. Falk looked around frantically as he tried in vain to pull the bolt out, not seeing anyone. The railcar passed underneath a dark spot, and when the light's came back on, a dark figure appeared. It was Nate in a different costume with his bow holstered(This new costume looks exactly like Prometheus's costume from S5 of Arrow, except it is all colored jet black, Nate still wears his bladed gauntlets and metal plated gloves, his arrows are still black and red, and he wears two chokuto swords)(1). With Joseph's and the media's attention on Nate, Helena slipped in behind Roy and Began sneaking up toward.
"Joseph Falk," Nate growled as he unsheathed one of his Chokuto and held it out at the deranged man, "You have failed this city." (2)
"Who are you?" Joseph demanded, "You're not the Arrow!"
"No." Nate shook his head, "I am his disciple, and the one who will inherit his will when he is gone. I am…Prometheus." It was at that moment that a clone wearing the Arrow costume showed up, to add to the illusion.
"Let the kid go." The Arrow growled. "You kill this kid, he'll never get an opportunity to change!" he said, trying to reason with the man so he didn't murder an innocent kid. "You can give him a second chance."
"We're the only ones who can save this city!" Falk protested; the gun trained on the The Arrow's chest. "We can't stop now."
"Do not compare yourself to us, scumbag! We are nothing like you!" Prometheus snarled as Roy watched. Helena popped out in front of Roy, shushing him with a finger to his lips as she began carefully freeing Roy.
"You've all killed people for this city, so have I." Falk said. Nate shifted his eyes to Roy and Helena. "What's the difference between you and me? Emma never got her second chance." Falk continued. "You have no idea how lonely it is."
"The difference between us, Falk, is quite simple," Prometheus said, his chokuto still pointed at Faulkner, continuing his message as the feed was still on and everyone was watching, "My teacher, Huntress, and I all protect innocent people. We only go after the guilty one's poisoning our city, murders, rapists, etc. Our mission to protect the good people in this city is just, and founded upon a purpose greater than ourselves. You are only doing this to serve your own selfish vendetta. You only do this to make yourself feel better at failing to get justice for your wife. The people you target are individuals who never technically broke the law or petty thieves that never truly harmed anyone. It's all personal to you and that makes you a fucking hypocrite. You don't care about who's really innocent and who's guilty so long as you can feel better."
"He deserves it." Falk said. Helena freed on of Roy's hands, and rapidly went to cut loose the other. "Just like the gangbangers who gunned her down, he's no different than them."
"He's innocent!" Prometheus shouted, "His only crime is being born into poverty and being forced to do whatever it takes to make ends meet. That's not being a criminal by choice, that's surviving. This kid's only other choice is to starve to death. He didn't fail this city like you did, the city failed him."
"He's guilty! And now I get to gun him down!" Falk screamed manically as he turned and raised the gun at Roy, who Helena had freed.
"Don't do it!" The Arrow yelled. Roy and Helena ducked as Falk fired. The deranged man only got off one shot before Prometheus plunged his chokuto through the deranged man's chest. He gasped in surprise and pain, looking down at the blade as it was pulled out. Roy watched, stunned as Falk slowly sank onto the bench seat of the train, the gun dropping out of his hand to the floor as he died, the whole city seeing it.
Roy groaned as he pulled himself up, and then took a seat on the opposite bench, staring at where the vigilantes had been standing, who had unknowingly changed his life.
Verdant
30 minutes Later
Thea was sitting at a table with Nate's clone, staring into space when her phone found buzzed. She looked down and picked up her phone, and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw she had a text from Roy.
'Turn to your left'
Thea spun to see a still shaken Roy walking towards her. She let out a happy sob as she grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "I thought you were going to die." She said, crying.
"That makes two of us." Roy replied, hugging her back equally as tight. After a moment, Thea pulled back.
"I probably look like a mess." She said, smiling now. "I'm going to go to the bathroom and freshen way, way up."
"Ok." Roy said, watching her walk away. Nate turned around and went outside, letting the two have their moment. He never saw Roy, still in shock from the night, pull out the shuriken that had saved his life. He stared at it, equally deep in thought.
The real Nathan walked out of the club after dispelling his clones, still thinking about what Falk had said to him. He was walking aimlessly down the street when a familiar voice stopped him.
Laurel had taken a cab to Verdant, looking to forget the day she had had. As she looked around, she spied Nathan walking away out of the corner of her eye. "Nate?" she called out.
Nathan plastered a smile on his face as he turned. "Hi!"
"Hey." Laurel walked up to him. "I heard Thea's friend was ok." She said.
"Yeah. I'm glad the kids alright." He gave her a look. "This Roy is more than just a friend, isn't he?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"Bad boys. They hook you every time." She said. She started to head for the club.
"Oh, uh, Tommy quit his job here a few days." Nathan said realizing she was looking for him.
Laurel paused. "Oh, he didn't tell me that." She said, not knowing what to do.
"Don't worry about it. From what Tommy told me, he was accepted to work with his father. It probably also helps that your relationship won't be so strained anymore due the drastically different hours." Nathan said looked at her with narrowed eyes. "You all right? You seem like you have something on your mind."
"My mom, she showed up in town this week and she's been…" she trailed off.
"What?"
"She had this crazy idea that Sara was still alive." She said to his shock. "She was so sure of it that she kind of had me believing it, also." Laurel took a breath. "But Sara's gone." She said finally.
"Yeah." Nathan said. That was one thing he didn't want to relive. Losing Sara for a 2nd time when the Amazo sank.
"I can't believe she sucked me in like that." Laurel said.
"You miss her." Nathan said.
"I miss them both." She countered. She sighed." Thanks for listening."
"Sure thing." He said. As she walked off, he called out to her again. "Laurel." She turned to look at him. "Do you want to-I don't know- hang out as friends sometime?" He asked uncertainly.
Laurel looked at him in confusion. "Why?"
"I don't want to be stuck on that island anymore." He said after a moment's reflection.
Laurel smiled softly at him. "Sure." She said. It wouldn't happen tonight, but it would happen sometime. Two old friends reconnecting. "Good night." She said.
"Good night." This time, he let her walk into the club, then turned and walked off into the night.
Flashback
Nathan was searching an old rotted out stump, and when he came up empty, he turned back to the other two with a sinking feeling. "Slade? We got a problem. The damn circuit board's gone."
Slade looked at him in surprise, and then pushed past to search himself. "Damn." He said after a moment. "Fyers played us. While he was screwing us around, his men were combing the woods for it." He stood and got into Nathan's face. "Now his missile launcher is fully operational."
"And he was never going to let us off the island," Nathan said in disgust, pushing the older man away. "I get it!"
"Of course he wasn't going to help you!" The girl said- in English. "He couldn't chance you warning the mainland what he has planned!"
Nathan sighed in annoyance. "She speaks English. Great."
"Yeah, well, guess what." Slade growled at her. "Neither one of us have any idea what the hell his plans are."
She turned away for a few seconds, trying to think. Soon, she turned back to face the two men. "I do." She said.