Outfits in Link:

https://urstyle.fashion/collections/225582

From 2.01 "City of Heroes", in the conference room, Oliver stood in front of the board.

Oliver: (voice over) "My name is Oliver Queen."

From 2.16 "Suicide Squad", in the warehouse district, Jill aimed one gun at a man behind her, and another gun at Alexi in front of her.

Jill: (voice over) "I'm Jill Wright."

From multiple episodes and flashbacks on the island, there were flashes of Oliver and Jill running, fighting, explosions, etc.

Jill: (voice over) "After years in hell..."

From 2.23 "Unthinkable", on the freighter, Oliver and Jill were fighting with Slade.

Jill: (voice over) "We have come to Starling City with only one goal."

From 2.08 "The Scientist", in the warehouse, Oliver/Arrow and Jill/Sapphire were fighting with Cyrus Gold and Marcus Black.

Jill: (voice over) "To save the city."

From 2.23 "Unthinkable", in the foundry, Oliver, Jill, Skylar, Amy and Sara were suited up. John and Justin were aiming their guns at the League. Felicity was watching them.

Oliver: (voice over) "Now others have joined our crusade."

From 2.17 "Birds of Prey", in the foundry, Oliver, Jill, Justin, John, Skylar, Amy, Sara, Felicity and Roy were here.

Oliver: (voice over) "To them, we are Oliver Queen and Jill Wright."

From 2.23 "Unthinkable", in the tunnel, Raven, Kira/Viper, Aurora/Glacia, Logan/Guardian, Roy (wearing his hoodie and mask), Oliver/Arrow, Jill/Sapphire, Skylar/Athena, Justin, Amy/Ruby, Sara/Canary, Karma/Cobra, Nyssa and the men from the League were walking toward the Mirakuru men.

Oliver: (voice over) "But to the rest of Starling City, we are someone else."

From 2.12 "Tremors", in the warehouse district, Skylar and Roy followed Oliver/Arrow away with Jill/Sapphire in his arms, leaving the flames of an explosion behind them.

Jill: (voice over) "We are..."

From 2.01 "City of Heroes", in the foundry, Jill looked at the knife in her hand. She morphed into Sapphire.

Jill: (voice over) "Something else."

Oliver looked at the arrow in his hand. He morphed into Arrow.

➣ ➣

From 2.20 "Seeing Red", in the street, Roy grabbed Officer 2's arm, breaking it, stabbing Officer 1 in the chest with the arrow, killing him.

Justin: (voice over) "Previously on Sapphire Arrow."

From 3.06 "Guilty", in the foundry, after remembering, Roy looked at Oliver, Jill, Justin and Skylar. "I killed him. The police officer. Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were overdosed on Mirakuru," Oliver answered. "You didn't remember. And we were hoping you never would."

From 3.01 "The Calm", in Queen Consolidated, during the meeting, Ray was giving his speech. "This city still needs saving. And that is my vision for this company."

From 3.02 "Sara", in Queen Consolidated, Ray looked at Felicity. "Yes, I am your boss now."

From 3.06 "Guilty", in the alley, Cops were leading Isaac out into the alley behind the precinct, who was in chains and an orange jumpsuit. Two arrows were shot into the legs of the two cops, making them fall.

The archer walked out of the shadows, a woman in leather with a pink bow with pink arrows, red hair. Her name was Carrie Cutter.

"Who the hell are you?" Isaac asked.

Carrie smirked. "I'm Cupid, stupid."

Carrie released the arrow into Isaac.

➣ ➣

Jill/Sapphire:

Flashback - Six Months Ago

Night of the Siege

Night - On the Road

John was driving the van.

Felicity was in the passenger seat, looking at her tablet.

Oliver/Arrow, Jill/Sapphire, Skylar and Justin were in the back, readying their weapons.

This was before Skylar got her suit for Athena, as they were heading to see Aurora and Logan on the bridge to get the Mirakuru cure, and Aurora and Logan had brought the Athena suit to them.

It was also before Skylar was cured of Mirakuru and was hanging on by a thread.

"In the last five minutes, SCPD has had over 200 reports of masked men attacking the city," Felicity told them. "There's 3.08 miles to the bridge."

"And 3.08 miles of a dozen Mirakuru soldiers," John told them.

Justin looked out the window to see attacks going on outside. "Stop."

"Stop?" Oliver repeated. "Here? We're already late. We need to get to Aurora and Logan and get the cure."

Skylar followed Justin's gaze. "Stop!"

John pulled over where Mirakuru men were attacking people.

Skylar and Justin got out of the van instantly.

Oliver and Jill, seeing what they meant, immediately jumped out to help.

A Mirakuru soldier was holding Carrie Cutter by the throat over the ground, strangling her.

Justin drew his gun, shooting at Man 1 repeatedly to make him let go of Carrie, pulling his attention away from her and making him drop her to the ground. Man 1 turned toward Justin in anger and punched him in the face. Justin ducked another punch, backhand punching Man 1 in the face, kneeing him in the stomach and the groin, kicking him back.

As Man 1 tried to attack Justin again, Skylar lashed out with anger and need to protect Justin especially with his heart condition, and the Mirakuru making her spiral after the death of Moira.

Skylar punched Man 1 in the face with all her super strength, hard enough to send him flying into a car, making the windshield shatter and Man 1 fall to the ground. Two Mirakuru men tried to punch Skylar from either side. Skylar ducked to either side to make them miss, spinning to kick Man 2 in the chest, making him fall, grabbing Man 3, throwing him a long distance away down the road, making him fall.

Man 4 tried to attack Justin, but at the same time Justin fired his gun, Oliver shot an arrow into Man 4's arm to make him stop.

Jill spun to kick Man 4, stabbing him in the shoulder with her sword, taking it out, spinning away, letting him fall.

Man 2 and Man 3 stood to try and attack Skylar again. Skylar ducked to the side to make him miss, kicking his legs out from under him, making him fall to the ground, grabbing Man 3, throwing him into Man 4, making them both fall. Man 2 stood. Skylar kicked him with a crescent in-to-out kick, punching him with either arm, making him back away, spinning to kick him in the back, making him stumble forward toward the cars, spinning to kick him again, making him fall.

Justin took Skylar by the arm, pulling her back, trying to calm her down before she lost control. "It's okay. We got them. We gotta get out of here."

The four men stood and tried to go after them again.

Oliver shot a flash bolt into the ground, blocking their path with light and smoke, blinding them momentarily.

Jill looked at the people in the street. "Everybody, get back inside."

Oliver, Jill, Skylar and Justin got back into the van, driving away.

Carrie watched them go in shock. She saw one of Justin's bullets on the ground, picking it up, looking at the bullet that Justin fired into Man 1 to save her, looking over the ground at the other bullets that Justin fired, as there were quite a few, looking as if she was already falling in love.

➣

Now

Day One

Night - Azriel's Foster Home

17-year-old Azriel Knight was getting ready for bed.

Azriel: (voice over) "My name is Azriel Knight. This is me."

Azriel took out a prescription that he had to take.

Azriel: (voice over) "This is my breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is where I stay with my foster mother Irene."

Azriel was about to go to sleep, having to handcuff himself to the bed in order to do so.

Azriel: (voice over) "And this is the worst part of my day. You see, strange things have been happening to me. And they're only about to get stranger."

➣

Azriel's Dream / Flashback to Sara's Death

On the rooftop, Sara, in her Canary suit without the mask on, stood with her sisters, smiling at them. "Laurel and Jessica Lance, always trying to save the world."

"It runs in the family," Laurel told them. The sisters embraced. "Love you."

Laurel and Jessica walked away, leaving.

In the alley below, Azriel was walking along, remembering what Jessica remembered of that night, so of course he wouldn't see who killed Sara.

Azriel looked up at the rooftop, having a dread feeling about what was about to happen.

Jessica and Laurel walked down the alley toward Jessica's car.

Azriel was still watching the rooftop, seeing Sara start to fall, unable to do anything but watch.

Sara fell from the rooftop toward them, landing on the dumpster in front of them, rolling off to the ground. Her mask and wig fell off. She was bleeding profusely from the chest and head.

Jessica and Laurel were in shock and horrified, kneeling next to their little sister, devastated and in denial.

Jessica started to cry, in agonizing devastation. "No! No! Sara!"

Laurel screamed her name in devastation. "Sara! No, no!"

Laurel held both Jessica and Sara close to her, while the two older sisters were crying over their little sister's body.

Azriel watched in shock and horror.

➣

Reality

Night - Couple's House - Bedroom

When Azriel woke up, it was in between a couple in their bed, much to the shock and disturbance of all of them.

The woman started screaming as she sat up. "Oh, my God!"

Azriel sat up in alarm. "Shit."

The man sat up, glaring at Azriel. "What the fuck?"

Azriel looked between them with wide-eyed shock, pushing himself out of the bed with a blanket around him.

➣

Outside

Jessica was leaving her loft for a night shift to go out and investigate a couple of new cases, when she stopped as she saw something at her neighbor's place.

The man from inside dragged Azriel out of his building, Azriel still wrapped up in a blanket.

Azriel noticed Jessica, recognizing her from his dream, but he didn't get the chance to do anything about it, as the man was dragging Azriel home.

Jessica frowned slightly in confusion, shaking her head, walking toward her car.

Azriel turned to the man. "Okay, okay, I can explain. Just..." The man ignored him. "Okay. You don't want to listen."

➣

Azriel's Foster Home - Foyer

Azriel was dragged up to the door by the man.

His foster mother, Irene, opened the door. "What? What happened?"

"Guess where I found your creep son this time," the man told her, pushing Azriel into the house.

Azriel got his footing back, annoyed.

Irene held Azriel's shoulders to steady him. "I'm sorry. You know he has a sleeping disorder."

"Well, how does a kid get through two deadbolts then lock the deadbolt behind him while sleepwalking?" the man asked.

"You happen to lock the back door?" Azriel asked. The man shot him a glare. Azriel pressed his lips together. "Yeah, not helpful."

The man stepped closer in warning. "Look, I catch him anywhere near my place again, I'm calling the cops. My neighbor's a detective. Just warning you."

Irene gave him a look. "You won't have to. Thank you for bringing him back." The man walked away. Irene closed the door, turning to Azriel. "You slept in their bed?"

"It was an accident," Azriel defended, turning to walk upstairs.

Irene grabbed his arm, concerned. "Hey, hey, hey. I'm not judging. I'm worried."

Azriel turned to face her, sighing. "I don't even remember getting out of bed. Okay? It won't happen again. Yeah, I know I said that last time, but this is different."

"How?" Irene asked. "How is it gonna be different?"

"I don't know, okay?" Azriel asked. "But I'll talk to Dr. Bloom. Maybe there's something for sleepwalking we haven't tried yet."

Irene shook her head, overwhelmed. "We've been to half the specialists in the city. The other half won't even take our insurance. And now Dr. Bloom's telling me that..." Azriel looked at her curiously, realizing that Dr. Bloom was cutting their insurance too. Irene sighed. "It doesn't matter. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"Is that why you're taking the extra shifts?" Azriel asked. "To pay for my shrink?"

Irene tilted her head. "Azriel, I can handle the extra shifts. But this? This is driving me..."

"Crazy?" Azriel finished. "Yeah, you and me both."

Irene looked at him in concern. "Do you want to talk about the dream you had? You only sleepwalk when you have that dream." Azriel sighed. "The same one?"

"Yeah," Azriel answered. "The older two sisters watched their sister fall from the roof, with arrows in her chest. They were so scared and in pain. I--I felt it."

"It was just a dream," Irene assured. "There's been no reports about a death like you've been seeing in your dream, so you know it's just a dream. Just breathe like we practiced, okay?" They took several deep breaths together. "Everything's gonna be okay. Sweetie, you need to get more rest. Go up and go back to sleep."

"Only if you do," Azriel told her. "You're exhausted, too."

Irene gave him a slight smile. "Deal."

Azriel returned the smile, turning around, walking upstairs to go to his room.

Irene watched him go in worry.

➣

Skylar / Athena:

Alley

Jessica had found a body that was in a suit a lot like Skylar's Athena suit, calling Justin, Oliver/Arrow, Jill/Sapphire and Skylar/Athena here to let them know. "Her name was Tina Tull. This is the third female body to drop with the same MO, and the first was Isaac Stanzler, but without the Athena suit." She looked at Skylar, sarcastic. "Looks like the two of you got the same taste in outfits."

"What makes you think that it was the same killer, then?" Jill asked.

"One, they were killed by the same type of arrow," Jessica answered. "And two, there's always a bullet left behind in their mouths."

"Who's the killer?" Oliver asked.

Jessica shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine. But whoever it was went to a lot of trouble, dressing her up like Skylar and dumping her like this. And especially since this is the third body like this. And these bullets? I ran ballistics, and these bullets were fired from Justin's gun."

Oliver, Jill and Skylar exchanged a confused look.

Justin frowned in confusion. "How the hell is that?"

"I'm not sure," Jessica admitted. "But I know you two sure as hell didn't do this. I say our doer is definitely trying to get your attention."

"Well, they've got it," Skylar told her. "Any leads yet?"

"No," Jessica answered. "Only physical evidence other than the bodies and the bullets is this." She handed the evidence bag with Cupid's arrow to Skylar. Skylar took it. "It's shaped like a spade. What's that all about?"

"I don't know," Oliver told her. "We'll look into it."

"Thank you, Jessica," Jill told her.

"Of course," Jessica agreed. "But this isn't the only case I've got, so I gotta head out. Skylar, watch your back. Seems like the killer is trying to send the message that you're the one that they really want dead."

"A lot of people have tried to kill me, Jessica," Skylar told her. "I'm not that easily rid of."

"Still," Jessica said. "Justin, you be careful, too. Whatever the case is, the sights are set on the two of you."

Skylar and Justin nodded in agreement, walking away.

Oliver and Jill exchanged a concerned look with Jessica as they turned and walked away.

➣

Flashback - Five Years Ago

Hong Kong, China

Day - Yamashiro Apartment - Living Room

Jill was sitting on the couch, reading a book.

Tatsu walked toward her, putting a basket of laundry down. "I'm not your mother, I'm not your sister, or your maid."

"Okay, all right," Jill told her. "You don't like me. I get it."

"At least you're perceptive," Tatsu told her.

Jill put her book down. "I thought that in the last week, we did the whole candle meditation thing, and maybe we had a moment."

"Moment's over," Tatsu told her. "You can celebrate by doing your own laundry."

"Yeah, sure," Jill told her. Maseo walked through the room toward the door. "Where you going?"

"Waller just called," Maseo told them. "New intel on this Li Kuan Hui the Triad's interested in."

Jill stood. "What?"

"My contact is down at the docks," Maseo told them. "An outsider would stick out like neon down there."

"Yeah, well, I can pass for Chinese," Jill told them. "Or Japanese. I'm Filipino, so... Whatever."

"I'll be fine," Maseo told them. "I'll only be gone an hour."

"What am I supposed to do?" Jill asked.

"Your laundry, apparently," Maseo answered, walking out, leaving.

Jill smirked, chuckling.

➣

Now

Night - Warehouse District

Several people were gathered on the pier over the lake, at the warehouse district in the dead of night.

They heard a woman's voice, cold, confident and in control. "Hello, my young entrepreneurs. They say there are no shortcuts in life. They say nothing is free." The woman, Ophelia Van Snyde, who would also become known as Madam Hydra, walked out of the shadows to join the group on the pier. "But I'm telling you right now, the deal I'm going to give you is the closest thing to free you'll ever get." Ophelia slit a trunk over to the group. "You all heard the rumors. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here. Now is your chance to see it up close." She opened the trunk. "I give you the product for free. You sell it."

"Sounds too good to be true," Man 1 told her.

Ophelia tilted her head in acknowledgement. "That's because it is. We'll only be in Starling City for a little while." She turned the trunk to face them to show them that it was filled with pills in tiny capsules to hold the pills in protective cases. "So get out there and sell."

"What's it called?" Man 1 asked.

Ophelia narrowed her eyes. "You ask a lot of questions."

Man 1 pulled down his hood. "Yeah, I'm Newt."

"Newt," Ophelia repeated, picking up a pill, showing it to them. "This is Power. You take the pill, and for five minutes, you get what you get. You don't get to choose the power. The power... chooses you. If you're lucky to survive."

The pill was translucent, albeit with a chemical inside that seemed to glow in different colors in each of the pills.

➣

Starling City Police Department

Jessica and the rest of the police station was very quick to learn about the power pills giving people abilities all across the city over the course of the night, by hearing the calls that people were putting in.

Woman: (calling in) "My friend is having a strange reaction. She just took a pill and got this insane power."

Man: "I'm telling you, my man just lifted a car over his head."

Man: "I don't know how to describe this, but I just seen some weird shit."

Woman: "My friend got this power pill from someone, and they got powers, but when my friend took it, she exploded. Literally exploded. This is happening all over the city."

➣

Near Sunrise

On the Road

Having worked on leads all night, questioning the people that called in and figuring out what happened, Jessica was following leads about this pill, and seeing that three boys were about to get pills from a dealer, jumping him in the process.

Jessica drew her gun, aiming and letting off a warning a shot, making everyone jump and stop. "Gentlemen, on your knees, hands behind your head. SCPD." The boys sighed, lowering to their knees with their hands behind their heads. "Very good. Thank you. How's everybody doing tonight?" One of the boys, Tony, took out a pill, opening the capsule to take out the pill. Jessica aimed her gun in warning. "You sure you wanna do that?"

Tony stood, glaring at Jessica. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"You ever taken one of those before?" Jessica asked. "You haven't, have you? I can tell. Now, I bet you've heard it can make you fast, make you strong. Make this a fair fight, even though I got a gun pointed at your face."

"Just twist it, Tony," one of the other boys, Boy 2, told him.

Tony twisted it, making the pill "power" up so to speak, as it glowed completely.

Jessica spoke quickly but calmly to stop him. "But that's only if you happen to have a good power. Not everybody does. Some people take it and just blow up."

Boy 3 shook his head. "I don't wanna do this anymore, man."

"Shut up," Boy 2 warned.

Jessica kept her eyes on Tony. "So the question is, what's your power? Might be good, might be bad, nobody knows."

"Take the pill, Tony," Boy 2 snapped.

Jessica knew that she got into Tony's head, made him doubtful and scared for good reason, hoping to save his life on the chance that he would blow up, using reverse psychology to do so. "Take it. Go ahead. I wanna see what happens."

Tony's hesitation was enough that Jessica could get close enough and take the pill from him. She quickly got the other two pills from the other boys and arrested them and the drug dealer.

➣ Sapphire Arrow ➣

Day Two

Morning - Queen Consolidated - Ray's Office

Felicity heard a banging from the office, walking in. "What are you doing? We were supposed to be at the press conference 20..." She paused when she saw Ray doing a salmon ladder, shirtless. "Minutes... ago. Oh, God."

"You know Richard Branson works out twice a day?" Ray asked. "He told me it gives him 20 additional hours of productivity a week."

Felicity closed her eyes, incredibly flustered and sheepish. "I'm sorry, I can't hear a word you're saying when you're doing... that."

Ray jumped down from the ladder, walking closer. "Sorry. What's up?"

"The announcement?" Felicity asked. "There's a gajillion reporters and city notables waiting for you to make a statement about these pills that hit the streets and turned people into superheroes and villains if it doesn't end up actually killing them, which is what it does more than often according to statistics I got from my detective friend Jessica Lance."

Ray nodded in understanding. "Oh. Well, this will be interesting." Felicity turned away from him, unable to focus when he was shirtless and sweaty, eyes wide and mouth open. "BTW, are you free for dinner tomorrow night?"

Felicity turned to face him. "What?"

Ray took off his gloves. "I have dinner with the CEO of a Nevada mining concern. They own mineral rights, which are imperative to the cogeneration project."

Felicity frowned. "Oh, and I fit into this how?"

"Ah, the CEO is boring, his wife, even more boring," Ray admitted. "If I'm forced to go solo on this, I'll end up slicing my wrists open with a butter knife."

Felicity tilted her head. "Well, I don't think a butter knife is going to... do the job."

Ray raised his eyebrows seriously. "Oh, there will be steak knives there, too. Dangerous."

Felicity stepped closer. "Well, I'm sure you have a dozen other employees that would be better suited as your anti-boring wing woman."

Ray opened the case next to him. "Hundreds, actually."

Felicity tried to keep her eyes off of Ray. "Oh."

Ray pulled out a dress shirt for him, and a gorgeous, expensive blue dress for Felicity. "But you are the one I bought this dress for."

Felicity was shocked as she put down her clipboard, touching the dress. "This dress... costs more than my apartment."

Ray smiled. "Yeah, it's couture. Which I'm pretty sure is French for expensive." Felicity held the dress close to her face, reveling in the feel of it. "So, dinner? Purely platonic."

Felicity looked up with a shake of her head. "There is nothing platonic about couture."

Ray took the dress away, thinking that he made her uncomfortable, trying to remedy it. "Ah, fine. I'll have my assistant return it."

Felicity reached for the dress excitedly. "No, all right, I'll go!" Ray looked at her in surprise. Felicity took the dress from him. "But only so I can wear this dress."

Ray nodded, looking amused. "Of course."

Felicity turned around, walking toward the door, never taking her eyes off the dress. "You and I are going to be best friends."

➣

Verdant - Foundry

Oliver, Jill, Skylar and Justin were showing Amy and John what they and Jessica had found with Cupid's arrow.

"Hey," Jill told them.

"Last time I saw a spade that lethal, it cut up a pretty good royal flush I was holding," John told them.

"Hand-soldered out of high-carbon steel," Oliver told them.

"Where'd you find it?" Amy asked.

"Tina Tull's chest," Jill answered. "Petty thief." She showed them a picture of Tina Tull. "Was murdered while being transferred by the SCPD. Same for Isaac Stanzler, and other women."

"By arrows," Amy told them. "Think this is the same archer that killed Sara?"

"No," Justin answered. "MO is different. The bodies are staged. The girls are dressed up to look like--"

"Copycat Athena," John finished.

"And Jessica said that all of the girls, and Isaac Stanzler, all had bullets in their mouths," Skylar added. "Fired from Justin's gun."

"How the hell?" Amy asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Oliver told them.

"This seems like someone who wants Athena dead, not someone that admires her," Amy pointed out. "And why are Justin's bullets in their mouths?"

John looked at Justin. "How could anyone know that there's a connection between you and Skylar, as Athena, I mean?"

"Uh, maybe because neither you or Justin wear a mask in the field, John," Skylar answered. "We told you before that could bite us in the ass later, and it looks like it finally did."

Justin and John nodded in acknowledgement, sighing.

"So either you two get a mask, or you have to stay behind and not go into the field anymore," Oliver told them.

"That's not gonna happen, Oliver," Justin told him.

John shook his head in agreement. "Okay, but normally, we're careful about going out there, making sure no one knows us or sees us out there with you."

"Except for the night of the siege," Jill pointed out. "That night, none of us had time to be careful because we were trying to stop everyone from dying."

They all knew Jill was right, sighing, nodding.

Skylar looked at Oliver, tilting her head. "And whoever knows Justin is connected to Athena, if it's tied to that night because we couldn't be careful, they could also know who I am because I got my suit that night."

Oliver knew where this was going, sighing, tilting his head back. "Skylar..."

Skylar shrugged. "What? I don't want to be an 'I told you so', but if I had gotten one sooner, then part of this could have been avoided."

Oliver gave her a look, but he couldn't deny the logic of that.

The others smirked in amusement.

"Well, we might not be able to get masks soon, but we'll look into it," Justin told them. "Not gonna make much of a difference right now since clearly this person knows who I am and that I'm connected to Athena."

"Yeah, well, maybe we can hit up Aurora and Logan for suits for Justin and John," Skylar pointed out. "Even if their friend Cisco doesn't know who we are, wasn't he the one that created my suit?" Jill and Oliver nodded. "Then he can do the same for Justin and Dig."

"I'm not getting any costume," John told them in amusement.

"Identity concealment, at least," Amy told them.

Justin and John nodded.

"Whatever the reason, we need the find this killer," Oliver told them. "I would like Felicity to do a workup on all of this ASAP."

"Plus to get any leads about these people hyped up on power pills," Amy told them. "They're going to destroy the city even more, and Jessica's out there working cases already. She could use Felicity's help to find them, and our help to fight them."

Oliver, Jill, Skylar and Justin nodded in agreement.

"Copy," John told them, turning on the news. "I think Felicity's a little busy right now."

Skylar, Justin, Oliver and Jill followed his gaze to Ray and Felicity on live news on the computers.

Amy was looking at the arrow. "Doing what?"

Amy turned to follow their gaze.

Ray: (on news) "News about this new 'power pill' has spread like wildfire. People are scared. People are dying. And these powers that these people are getting from these people are getting, they're killing them more often than not. But I can assure you that the Star City Police are well on the case. A few months ago, I made a promise to help revitalize Starling City. But I knew I couldn't do it alone. I needed help. A lot of help. From people who are even more intelligent and dedicated than I am." He looked at Felicity. Felicity smiled. "All of us are working very hard with one goal in mind. To save our city. But to do so, Queen Consolidated needs to be something else."

The curtain behind Ray pulled open, revealing the new name and logo of the company, Palmer Technologies.

Everyone applauded.

Oliver and Skylar both looked somber as they turned away.

Jill turned the news off, looking at Oliver and Skylar. "You okay?"

Oliver walked away toward the arrow. "I'm fine."

"Yeah," Skylar said.

Oliver hammered out the arrowhead on the table.

Jill walked closer. "He just changed the name of your father's company. You don't have to be fine."

"Well, we are," Skylar replied.

Justin and Jill looked at them sympathetically, but let it go, knowing they didn't want to talk about it.

John and Amy exchanged a look.

Oliver pulled out a small scroll from inside the arrowhead. "What is this?"

"What is that, a note?" John asked.

"It's an address," Oliver answered. "15 Baron Street. Apartment 7."

➣

Azriel's Vision

Day - Apartment Building - Outside

Azriel was walking through a neighborhood, confused, looking around, trying to figure out where he was.

He saw people running away from a building on fire.

Azriel looked up, seeing the sky was glowing red with a glowing orb on the sky.

Azriel looked down, seeing a nearby street sign, realizing where he was.

A couple of children were running away, yelling.

A little boy passed by Azriel, speaking while running away. "It's Newt, he just blew up."

Azriel watched him go, confused before suddenly something felt in front of him, making him gasp. He looked down, seeing that it was a burned up body, breathing heavily.

Inside, Azriel suddenly appeared in the flaming apartment, seeing Power pills on the floor, along with a burned ledger.

➣

Reality

Day - Couple's House

Azriel came to as his eyes had been glowing blue, the glow fading. He looked around to realize he was once again in the bedroom of the couple he woke up next to. "Oh, crap."

The man was outside, yelling.

Azriel followed the sound, going to the window, seeing the man was talking to a police officer, along with his wife.

The man continued raging. "He just broke in, and I told his mother..."

Azriel quickly backed away from the window. "Oh, no, no."

Azriel ran out of the room.

➣

Outside - Alley

Azriel climbed outside through the fire escape, jumping down, going along the alley carefully, seeing the couple as they went inside the building.

Azriel sighed, walking away. "Wait, you can't do this. You need to find out what your vision means." He tilted his head. "But how would I get there?" He turned around, seeing the police car, running towards it. "Oh, right. So get to the place, find the guy, get a clue and figure out what the fuck is happening. And stop fucking talking to yourself."

Azriel managed to break into the police car, getting inside, hotwiring it, starting the car, driving away.

➣

Apartment

Jill/Sapphire, Oliver/Arrow, Skylar/Athena and Justin walked into the apartment.

Justin was aiming his gun around.

It was full of lit red candles.

"Nobody's home," Oliver told them.

They found a shrine dedicated to Justin and a hate/target wall dedicated to Skylar/Athena... including Skylar in normal day-to-day attire, given that Carrie first saw them before Skylar had the Athena suit, and given her obsession with Justin and his connection to the vigilantes, it didn't take her long to figure out that Skylar was Athena.

Skylar was shocked. "Oh, my God."

"These are all articles about Skylar, Justin and Athena," Jill told them.

"She knows Skylar is Athena," Oliver remarked. "This isn't just a copycat, Justin. This is your fan, and someone that wants Skylar out of the way because she's standing in their way of you. And from the looks of it, a pretty dedicated one."

Skylar grabbed an arrow from the mirror. "And this isn't a spade." She turned it upside to show them. "It's a heart."

They heard a phone start to ring.

Justin found the phone, picking it up, answering.

Carrie's voice was on the other line. "It's you. I can't believe it's really you. Did you like your present?"

"Do you mean the people you killed?" Justin asked.

"Soon it will be Skylar," Carrie told him. "I've seen the way you two look at each other, ever since the night you saved me. And I know that you two were together, and now you are again. And it made me wonder, if someone like her could have you, why can't I? I want you. To fight with you. To kill for you. But she has to go. Remove her from your life, and the killing will stop. If not... well, this is just the beginning." She sent a picture of a woman to the phone she was using to call them. "She might be next."

"I'm gonna find you," Justin told her.

"Well, that's the idea," Carrie told him. "But you'd better hurry. I don't think she's got very long."

Carrie hung up.

Oliver, Jill, Skylar and Justin exchanged a look of frustration.

Outside, it was revealed that Carrie was watching them through the window that they couldn't see out of as it was like a two-way mirror. So they had no idea she was right outside.

Carrie looked at Justin, blowing a kiss, backing away.

➣

Night - Motel

Azriel knocked on the motel door where Newt was living.

Newt called from inside the motel room. "Who is it?"

"Looking for Newt," Azriel told him.

"I ain't ask who you're looking for," Newt replied. "I said, 'who is it?'"

"I'm a friend off Simon's," Azriel told him. "I'm from Tampa. He sent me here to talk to you. Maybe you wanna do some business."

Newt opened the door as far as he could with the chain link on, shoving his gun through the crack of the door. "Come where I can see you."

Azriel stepped into the view of the door, holding up a box. "Just brought this."

"You alone?" Newt asked with a shaky stone, his hand with the gun shaking as he aimed it at Azriel.

Azriel raised an eyebrow. "Aren't we all?"

Azriel looked at Newt through the crack of the door as much as he could; he was clearly scarred with burns on his face and his arms, and likely more places that he couldn't see, when the night before with Madam Hydra, Newt hadn't had a single burn scar.

Newt cocked the gun as it was still shaking. "Let me see your hands."

Azriel glanced down at the box. "I got a box in my hands. What do you wanna do? You wanna see my hands, or put the box down?"

"Yeah," Newt said. "No."

"Which one?" Azriel asked. "Box down, hands up?"

Newt nodded. "Put the box down and get your hands up."

Azriel shrugged. "Okay, I'm with you. Box down."

"Slow, now," Newt warned. "Real slow."

Moving slowly, Azriel put the box down and held his hands up. "Yeah, slow. Everything's slow. If you want, you can call Simon. He'll verify who I am. Tell him that the Major's here to see you. The Major."

Newt stared at him with paranoia. "I'm gonna go make that call. You stay right there."

Newt went to close the door, but Azriel put out a boot to stop it from closing.

Newt walked away further into the motel room, in another room.

Azriel reached a looped cord through the door to link it around the chain link lock, along with over the top of the door, so that he could unlock the door, and stepped inside.

Azriel saw several Power pills in a case nearby, taking one from the case and putting it in his pocket, knowing that this could help him and his "case" later. He also found the ledger that he saw in his vision, which was mostly burned from Newt, and put it in his pack.

Azriel walked through the darkened, ratty motel room, drawing a machine gun. He saw that there were several holes in the floor, ceiling and walls, walking into another room.

Newt was going through his phones.

Azriel walked up behind Newt, aiming his gun.

Newt sensed him, looking over his shoulder, before glancing over at his own pistol on the nearby table.

Azriel shook his head. "I wouldn't do that."

Newt made a dive for the gun, but Azriel shot it with his own gun, blasting it off the table, as the table shattered with a hole in the middle of it. Newt dove away to the floor, standing, running out of the room.

Azriel stalked after Newt, firing as he went.

Newt went into hiding in the main room. "Shit."

Azriel walked into the room, but Newt was hidden from sight. "Newt, I don't wanna hurt you. I don't wanna hurt nobody. Just need some information, that's all. Tell me where you're getting this stuff, and I'll get out of here." Newt got a Power pill, opening the capsule, pouring the pill into his hand, twisting it, making it glow. Azriel saw Newt's phone ringing, putting it in his pocket. "You don't wanna talk? All you gotta do is tell me where your supplier is. So what do you think about that, Newt, huh? We got a deal? Once I get that information, you can slither back to whatever hole that you came out of, understand?"

Despite looking terrified and how badly burned he was, Newt was addicted to the Power pill, and under threat, so he didn't hesitate in biting down on the pill and letting it empower him.

As the Power pill activated, Newt started to glow orange from within with a painful roar, as his entire body seemed to be ignited with fire, shown along his skin and in his eyes.

Soon, Newt was covered in flame, burning alive as he ran right toward Azriel with a scream.

Azriel ducked out of the way, pushing himself up, aiming his gun at Newt from underneath his arm, shooting.

The blast from the gun threw the flaming Newt to the ground, as the flames from his body was setting the motel room on fire all around them.

Newt pushed himself up. Within the flames, his skin was blackened. His hair was gone, clothes gone. He looked like a singed corpse, as he glared at Azriel and ran toward him.

Azriel used his gun as a barrier, pushing Newt back away from him, but Newt overpowered him and grabbed Azriel, burning him as they were both screaming from the fire, grunting as they exchanged blows and blocks.

Azriel pushed Newt off and ran toward the nearest exit, putting out the fire on his arm as he went.

Newt ran after Azriel, burning everything in his path as he did.

Reaching the motel balcony, Azriel jumped over it, though he reached up to grab the railing as he swung down, catching himself from falling to his death, swinging himself down to the balcony down below, landing as he rolled over the concrete. He stood, running along.

Inside, Newt crashed through the holes he left behind in the motel, through the floor to the level down below. His fire faded as the Power pill's affect extinguished. So Newt took the last three pills he had in his hand, and immediately flamed up again, continuing to run after Azriel.

Azriel saw him coming, running across the balcony, into a neighbor's motel room.

The lady staying there tried to hit Azriel with her frying pan, but he ducked out of the way.

Newt crashed through the floor into this motel, flaming high.

Stunned but not shocked after she had seen him do this before, the lady picked up a pot of water off the stove and threw it on Newt, momentarily putting out the flames on his body. "Newt, you're gonna get somebody killed!"

Getting an idea, Azriel ran toward the bathroom, turning on the shower and the faucet, filling the tub with water, putting his jacket into the water before backing away into the wall, waiting.

Newt stalked down the hallway toward the bathroom, his fire quickly flaming up high again, bursting into the bathroom.

Azriel used his jacket to grab hold of Newt and pushed his head into the water of the tub, drowning him and putting out the fire on his body. "Where you getting this shit from? Who's making it? Tell me the source!"

The water was boiling from the fire.

Newt struggled. "I ain't telling you shit."

Azriel pushed his head back under, punching him repeatedly. "Tell me right now. Who's the supplier? Give me one name. You gonna tell me! Tell me who it is."

Azriel pulled his head up from the water.

Newt gasped for breath. "Okay. Madam Hydra. Her name's Madam Hydra. That's all I know, man."

"Where's she at?" Azriel demanded. "Huh? Where's Madam Hydra?" Newt was too far gone, as he was overdosing from Power, fire bursting all along his body, burning him more than ever before. Azriel stood, backing away before he could be burned with him. "How many did you take?"

Knowing that Newt was about to blow, Azriel took off running out of the bathroom toward the exit as fast as he could.

Just as Newt exploded, and the flames reached into the hallway as the concessive force from the bomb threw Azriel through the air and to the floor, and the crash landing broke another hole in the floor, and he fell to the next level down, unconscious.

A couple of kids were trying to wake Jamie up.

"Hey, mister," Boy 1 said.

"Is he dead?" Boy 2 asked.

Azriel started to wake up, groaning.

"He's alive, man," Boy 3 said.

Azriel looked around, remembering what had happened and that he had to get away, as he heard sirens coming.

Azriel stood, walking out of the motel, looking up at the fiery damage left behind.

Several cops pulled up to the scene.

Given that Azriel stole a police car to get here in time to face Newt, Azriel knew that he was about to be arrested. "Oh, fan-fucking-tastic."

➣➣

Day Three

Morning - Verdant

Skylar and Justin were setting up the club, since they agreed to still help Thea run it, with Roy working with them again.

Skylar was distracted and out of it.

Justin sighed, walking closer. "Skylar, we've got to talk about it."

Skylar shook her head. "There's nothing to talk about. Other than a psycho is obsessed with you and wants to kill me. I guess this is sort of how you felt like when Slade was obsessed with Oliver and Jill, and wanted to kill Jill to make Oliver lose the woman he loved. And was obsessed with me becoming just like him, so he wanted to kill you to make me lose the man I loved so I'd turn into a killer just like him."

Justin took Skylar's hand, getting her to look at him. "It's going to be fine. Nothing's going to happen. And you don't have anything to worry about."

"I know that there's nothing to worry about when it comes to you and me," Skylar told him. "And I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about you. Because psychos like this don't take rejection at all, and when we get her to see that she has no chance with you, what do you think she's gonna do? She's gonna try and kill you, Justin. And after what just happened with Cooper and his guys, how they hurt you and your heart, after the explosion that almost killed us on our first date back together..."

Justin knew that those were all really good reasons to worry, taking Skylar's hand, placing it over his chest. "You do not have to worry about my heart, Sky. It's still beating and will keep beating."

Skylar was slightly calmed down with feeling Justin's heartbeat, looking into his eyes with concern, but reassured. "I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"And I don't want anything to happen to you," Justin returned. "We took Slade down together, with Oliver and Jill. Right?" Skylar nodded. "We'll do the same thing here. And I doubt this girl is gonna be harder to stop than Deathstroke. We'll kick this girl's ass all too easily."

Skylar couldn't help but smile as Justin's attempt to cheer her up, causing Justin to smile in return.

Skylar nodded, letting out a breath. "Okay. Let's just get this set up while we're waiting for answers. Opening's gonna be soon. And you promised that you'd be the assistant manager with me."

Justin smirked. "Absolutely. Like you said, vigilantism doesn't pay the bills."

Skylar and Justin smiled slightly as they shared a kiss, sweet and passionate.

Amy and Felicity walked in.

"Justin, how could you not tell me about a psycho admirer that wants you and wants to kill Skylar?" Felicity asked, incredulous. "I had to learn from Amy."

Skylar and Justin pulled away.

Justin groaned, amused but embarrassed. "Thanks for that, Amy."

Amy smirked sarcastically. "You're welcome, Justin."

Skylar chuckled a bit.

"Felicity, I'm fine," Justin told her.

"But we were gonna try and get work done, until we got some answers," Skylar admitted.

"Well, I got some answers, so come on," Felicity told them.

Amy and Felicity walked toward the basement.

Skylar and Justin exchanged a look before following.

➣

Foundry

Roy was in the foundry, looking up the officer that he had killed while being influenced by the Mirakuru.

Oliver and Jill walked in from behind him. "Roy."

Roy closed everything down. "Yeah, I was just searching cheap booze for Skylar and Thea's club."

"You know, it wasn't you who killed that officer," Oliver told him.

"I keep telling myself that, but it's not working," Roy told them. He looked at his suit. "Every single time I put on that mask, I feel like a fraud."

Jill sighed sympathetically, concerned. "You have to give this time. If you want to talk about it--"

"I don't," Roy told her. "I appreciate the offer, though. But I'm fine, really."

Skylar, Justin, Amy and Felicity walked in.

"Oh, sorry," Amy told them. "Are we interrupting?"

"I was just leaving," Roy told them. He stood. "Skylar, Justin, we ready for the club opening?"

"Uh, Thea could use some help," Skylar told him. "But we need to figure out about this crazy girl before she gets to Justin and tries to kill me."

Roy nodded in understanding, walking upstairs.

The others exchanged a worried, concerned look, not knowing how to help Roy.

Oliver sighed. "What's up?"

"I got an ID on Justin's 'not so secret but very crazy' admirer's hostage," Felicity told them.

"Who is it?" Jill asked.

"Jamie Gravano, local mob boss," Felicity answered. "Wanted for 39 counts of murder, racketeering, drug smuggling."

"Was one of the most protected women in this city, but not anymore," Amy told her, pulling pictures and information on the computer.

"What's NPP?" Justin asked.

"I don't know," Amy told them.

"But I can definitely find out," Felicity told them, sitting down.

"And where are we with the cellphone from her apartment?" Skylar asked.

"Crazypants encrypted the SIM," Felicity told them. "I can crack it, but it'll take time."

"Which we don't have," Oliver told her, worried about his sister. "Neither does she. And neither does Skylar."

"Oliver, I'm going to be fine," Skylar told him.

"And you're not the only one worried about your sibling," Felicity told him. "I'm worried about Justin with this psycho admirer, and given everything that's happened recently with his heart, he's in more danger than Skylar is, so trust that I'm working as fast as I can."

Oliver sighed, nodding.

"And nothing is going to happen like that, Felicity," Justin told her. "I just had this conversation with Skylar."

"And I'm more worried that I could lash out and hurt this girl than I am of her hurting me," Skylar pointed out.

"Yeah, well, you can't blame us for being worried about your heart, Justin," Jill told him. "And, Skylar, you're going to be fine as long as you stay in control of your own emotions."

Amy chuckled a bit. "Jill, you have a habit of fighting these girls but holding back because you want to help them get better like you helped Skylar get better, but if it's anyone other than Skylar, it usually gets you hurt. So, Sky, Jill, why don't you two leave the fighting to me? Unless Jessica calls me for help with another lead on this power pill."

Jill rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Amy."

Oliver was thinking. "Okay, Jill, Skylar, Justin and I will handle this 'admirer'. Amy, if Jessica calls you for help with leads on the power pill and anyone that she needs help with, let us know, and we'll be right there."

Amy tilted her head. "I think you guys are better off handling this, while Jessica and I handle that, but..."

"Promise us," Jill told her. "There's so much going on in this city right now and we have to divide and conquer, but we can't risk anyone getting hurt. Okay?"

Amy nodded. "Okay."

"And I will work around the clock on this, except for tonight," Felicity told them.

"Why?" Skylar asked.

"Ray Palmer invited me to dinner," Felicity answered. "Not 'dinner' dinner, like a date. A work dinner. But since dinner is a meal you can technically only eat at night, I need the night off. That okay?"

"Yeah, as long as we find this girl," Justin answered. "As soon as possible." Felicity nodded in agreement. Justin gave Felicity a smile. "But have fun."

Felicity smiled in return. "But I need to know that you're okay, too, Justin. So call me if you need anything."

Justin nodded.

Jill looked between Felicity/Justin and Oliver/Skylar, seeing how worried the older siblings were for their younger, glancing at Amy, knowing she was just the same way with her.

➣

Flashback - Five Years Ago

Day - Yamashiro Apartment

Jill was doing laundry.

Tatsu was leaving a message for Maseo on the phone in Japanese, hanging up, looking toward where Akio was sitting in the living room.

"Nothing?" Jill asked.

Tatsu shook her head worriedly. "He's not answering his cell."

"Just relax," Jill told her. "I'm sure he's fine."

"He said it would only be an hour," Tatsu told her. "That was nine hours ago. If he's going to be late, he always calls."

"He said his contact was down at the docks, right?" Jill asked. "I will go down and check it out."

"I'll go with you," Tatsu told her.

Jill sighed. "Do you have someone who could watch Akio for a few hours?"

Tatsu nodded.

➣

Now

Day - Verdant

While Skylar and Justin had been handling other things, Thea was now holding DJ auditions for the opening night that night, sitting at a table with water and a clipboard.

Thea clearly hated the music that the current DJ was playing. "Great, uh, thank you. You were terrific."

A blond guy with long hair named Chase walked in. "Auditions are over. Thanks for coming, guys. Hey, peace out."

Thea stood, walking closer incredulously in confusion. "Wait, what are you doing?" She called to the other people in line. "Auditions are not over."

Chase turned to face her. "Trust me, I'm saving you from wasting your day here."

Thea gave him an insulted look, crossing her arms. "I don't need saving from anyone, and if you're really as good as you say you are, then you can just wait in line and prove it like everyone else."

Chase shook his head with a small smirk. "I don't audition."

"Then you don't work," Thea replied. "For me or for my and my sister's club." She turned to point to the door. "So, the exit's that way."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Later, princess."

Chase walked toward the exit.

Thea watched him go in disbelief, scoffing, walking away.

➣

Bank - Outside

A bank robbery was in progress with hostages inside.

Jessica made it to the scene, joining other officers outside, including Lance. "What's going on?"

"Armed robber, multiple hostages," Lance answered. "The negotiator can't make contact."

"Why aren't we going in?" Jessica asked.

Lance nodded over to some dark-suited men. "Pretty sure our scene just became theirs. We've been asked to stand down. We're here in support now only."

Jessica scoffed. "This is some bullshit."

Jessica walked away.

"What are you doing, Jess?" Lance asked.

"Handle the scene," Jessica told him. "I'm gonna handle it my way."

Lance tilted his head. "Be careful, Jessie."

➣

Inside

Jessica nodded, walking toward the side entrance as the dark-suited men were distracted with the other cops, sneaking her way inside, aiming her gun around.

The robber had the power of a chameleon from a pill, hiding against a painting with bags of money, watching Jessica go past.

Jessica walked toward the hostages, pulling down the gag of one of them. "Where are they?"

The man's eyes widened as he looked behind her. "Behind you."

Jessica turned to aim her gun, but she was hit in the head with a briefcase as she fell to the floor.

The "chameleon" took off running.

Jessica stood, running after the figure.

➣

Outside

Jessica ran outside, seeing the figure running outside changing to the surroundings around him to stay hidden, but the bags of money never changed, as it appeared that an invisible person was running with the money bags.

Jessica called out. "The bags, the bags! Get those bags!"

None of the other cops saw what Jessica saw, so she took off after the chameleon herself, able to follow just by the view of the bags in the hands of the man running.

Lance saw this from where he was, speaking through a radio. "All units set up a perimeter. Subject is male, possibly Caucasian. Hell, I can't tell."

The chameleon ran up the hood of a police car to jump over the open door, landing on the ground, running as fast as he could.

Jessica followed the trail that he did, running up the hood of the police car, jumping over the open door, landing on the ground, rolling over the concrete as she got to her feet, standing and running as fast as she could, using the propel motion of standing to add more speed to her chase.

A guy in a bike rode past the opening of the street ahead of them.

"Watch out!" Jessica warned.

The chameleon used one of the bags to knock the guy off his bike, as the bike fell to the ground. He picked up the bike and put the money bags in the basket, riding away.

Jessica checked on the guy on the ground before going on. "You all right?"

The man nodded.

Jessica ran around the corner and continued the chase after the chameleon, aiming her gun. But since she couldn't see him but could see the bike moving down the sidewalk past the crowd of people around him, Jessica couldn't risk shooting.

So Jessica lowered her gun and ran after the bike, calling out to the people around. "Hey, out of the way! Go, go, go!"

The chameleon looked back as Jessica was gaining on him, so he didn't see the car pulling into the street ahead of him as he rode the bike into the street.

The car crashed into the chameleon and the bike, knocking the bike to the ground, as the chameleon crashed onto her windshield and shattered it, as the woman inside the car screamed in shock and fear, as she had no idea what just happened given that she couldn't see the chameleon.

The chameleon picked up the bags from the ground, although he couldn't pick up the loose bills that fell out of the bags because of being chased, running off toward a bus.

Jessica checked on the woman as she got out of the car. "You okay?"

"Yeah," the woman answered.

Jessica picked up the bike, riding it toward the bus. "Hey, stop the bus! SCPD!"

The bus started to drive, but it started to stop upon the driver hearing Jessica.

On the bus, the chameleon opened one of the bags, only to find that it was a color bomb that exploded onto him with a swirl of dust particles, making everyone scream in shock, but no one was hurt.

Once the bus stopped completely, everyone was running off, including the chameleon, who now was visible with the colors from the color bomb painted on his skin.

Jessica rode the bike after the chameleon. "Stop! Freeze!" The chameleon took off running, thinking he was still invisible, but Jessica followed. "I can see you!"

➣

Diner

Hoping to get away from Jessica, the chameleon ran into a diner, crashing past the tables and people as they all stared at him, running for the back.

Jessica ran in after him. "SCPD! You're under arrest!"

Jessica chased the chameleon to the back exit as everyone stared in shock, tackling him out through the back glass window, to the ground outside, dropping her gun in the process.

The chamelon picked up the gun, standing.

Lance pulled into the alley after following Jessica and the chameleon through the streets, aiming his gun. "Freeze! Don't move!" The chameleon aimed the gun at Jessica's head. Lance yelled in worry. "Jessica, watch out!"

Jessica managed to grab the arm with the gun before the chameleon could shoot, ducking out of the way and twisting his arm as the shot went off and fired past her to the back of the alley, punching his elbow the same time she sent a kick up to his stomach, rising to her feet the same time she spun around and flipped the chameleon over her shoulder to the ground in front of her, making him land on the glass-covered concrete as she punched him in the face and kicked him in the side, losing herself in a passionate, angry beating.

Lance was the only reason she snapped out of it. "Jessica!"

Jessica froze at the sound of his voice, lowering her head, closing her eyes.

Everything with Sara, and Laurel's emotional blackmail to keep Jessica feeling so guilty and responsible enough that if Lance knew the truth of Sara's death and the chance of it leading to his heart giving out, it was too much for Jessica to keep compartmentalized before it eventually exploded.

Lance looked at Jessica in concern and worry, walking closer to arrest the chameleon while Jessica backed away, breathing heavily.

➣

Starling City Police Department

Jessica was sitting at her desk.

Lance walked closer. "You doing okay?"

Jessica looked like she wanted to come clean right then and there.

Laurel walked in. "Jessica, thank God. Are you okay?"

"I was just asking her the same question," Lance told her. "Since the last time she lost control like that was when Danny died."

Laurel paled as she looked at Jessica and shook her head pleadingly, giving her a look that silently said, once again, everything that Laurel said before; if Jessica told Lance and his heart gave out, then it would be Jessica's fault.

Jessica couldn't look at Lance completely, giving a tense nod. "Fine. Just this case... you can't risk holding back against these people."

Laurel sighed in relief.

"Well, you need to keep yourself in check, Jess," Lance told her.

"If I held back today, I would've been dead," Jessica pointed out. "That what you want?"

"I want my police force to obey the law," Lance answered, hitting the table in frustration.

Jessica's tone raised, though she wasn't yelling and she didn't want to snap at them. "There are no laws on this drug. They don't exist officially, 'cause every time we try to deal with it, some guys in suits show up and tell us to stop." Lance and Laurel deflated, knowing that Jessica was right, and they all hated it. Jessica looked at Lance. "I don't know who those guys were today who cut you off at the knees. I don't know if they're feds or military or what. But clearly, they have you under their thumb. And I know you hate it. 'Cause they don't care about the people of this city. Not like you both do, not like I do, and we know what happened last time we were counting on guys in suits to look out for Star City. The siege, where they left us all to die thanks to Slade Wilson's army, or when they left us alone to deal with Malcolm Merlyn's earthquake Undertaking. So, if you want to make me the bad guy for doing what I have to in order to stop these guys and protect this city, that's fine. But I'd be willing to bet that both of you know more than you're allowed to say."

"Why me?" Laurel asked.

"Who's the ADA around here, Laurel?" Jessica replied. "And Dad's the Captain. If anyone knows, it's one of you two. Maybe we can look into it and do some good. Isn't that our job?"

Laurel and Lance sighed, sitting down, looking around, seeing the dark-suited men taking the chameleon away out of the station to take him into their own custody.

Laurel took out a file from her briefcase, handing it to Jessica.

Jessica opened it instantly to read through.

"Anyone finds you with that, you didn't get it from me," Laurel told her. "I'm told she's the source of Power. We shut her down, we get our city back."

The picture in the file was of Ophelia.

"Who is she?" Jessica asked.

"She's someone I don't want either of you involved in," Lance told them.

"Yeah, well, you know by now that you can't tell me not to do my job, Dad," Jessica replied. "Why don't you take it easy, Captain? You're not supposed to be in the field anymore. Captains don't have to go out in the field themselves anyway."

"And we really can't risk your heart," Laurel pointed out.

Lance looked between his daughters. Even though he really wanted to be able to help, he knew that Jessica was right about the status of his job, and that both of them were worried about his heart.

Lance sighed. "Fine."

"How exactly are you going to find this woman, Jessica?" Laurel asked.

Jessica and Laurel exchanged a look as if they already had an idea of who could help with that.

Another cop walked closer. "Hey, Jessica." Jessica looked over. "You got that thing for helping kids, right?"

Jessica frowned.

➣

Interrogation Room

Azriel was sitting in the room after being arrested the night before for stealing the police car.

Jessica walked in. "Hi, there. How you doing?" Azriel looked at Jessica in silent shock after seeing the Lance sisters in his dreams repeatedly when he saw Sara's death and seeing Jessica face to face instead of from a distance like before. "Word on the street is that you like stealing cop cars."

"In my defense, I was trying to get there quickly, and there was nothing else," Azriel explained.

Jessica raised an eyebrow in amusement. "So instead of taking the bus, you steal a police vehicle?"

Azriel shrugged sarcastically. "Right, because everybody who solves crimes takes the public transportation."

Jessica shook her head, sitting down at the table. "I'm Detective Jessica Lance. You want to talk about what happened?"

After hearing her name, Azriel became focused again, as he had heard Sara say 'Laurel and Jessica Lance' in the dream/memory. "It's really you."

Jessica frowned. "I'm not sure what you're--"

"Jessica Lance," Azriel stated. "You have a sister, Laurel. And the two of you watched your sister Sara die."

Jessica looked at him in shock, hurt and startled, in disbelief that what appeared to be some kid knew about Sara's death and who she was. "What?"

"Please, can you help me?" Azriel asked.

Jessica took a moment to get her voice back. "Who are you? Is this some kind of sick practical joke?"

"I remember," Azriel told her. "You were happy that night, before it happened. Sara said 'Jessica and Laurel Lance, always trying to save the world'."

Jessica was even more shocked to hear that, as that was one of the last things Sara said. "What the hell is this?"

"I saw everything you saw that night," Azriel told her. "I saw Sara fall... right in front of you and Laurel. You kept wishing it was a dream, wishing you would wake up."

Jessica swallowed. "How do you know this?"

"The dreams I've been having, sleepwalking to your neighbor's house repeatedly," Azriel listed. Jessica remembered that she had seen Azriel before when the couple had taken Azriel back to his foster home. "Because they lived close to you. Everything led me here to you. It can't be by accident. You've got to help me. I don't know how, but--"

"So you steal a cop car and what?" Jessica asked.

"You don't understand," Azriel told her.

"So make me understand," Jessica replied.

"You're a detective looking into the Power pills, right?" Azriel asked. "I'm looking into it too. I fought one of the people on the pill at the motel where I was arrested. It's burned to a crisp, check the security footage. You'll see I'm right. I need your help to figure out anything more. And I think you could need my help too. Look, you can look through my things, and you'll find drawings. I've had dreams of you and your sister and a friend of yours, I think. She was training you. She's Ruby. I don't know her real name, but I know she's Ruby. And that you know all of the vigilantes in this city. So if anyone can help me, it's you."

Jessica was stunned by that, looking away, having no idea how Azriel knew so much, but she knew that given that he did, he might actually be able to help like he said. And despite the conversation being painful and shocking and a little creepy, she knew that she couldn't turn her back on a kid that needed her help, even if they were almost an adult.

So her choice was pretty simple.

➣

Verdant - Foundry

Justin, Skylar, Felicity, Amy, Jill and Oliver were in the foundry.

"I got her," Felicity told them. "The user registered to the encrypted SIM card. Carrie Cutter. She's former SCPD. She was the first woman SWAT team member."

They looked at the picture.

"I've seen her before," Justin told them.

"She said that she saw the way we looked at each other the night we saved her," Skylar told him.

"Did she say which night?" Amy asked.

"No," Jill answered.

Felicity pulled up a picture. "There might be another good reason why she looks familiar."

"Why was she at the crime scene at the place where Cooper took you Smoaks?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know, but it's not just there," Felicity told them. "She showed up to every crime scene where a mission was that Justin was involved in. Apparently stalking isn't her only hobby, either. She's a member of a gardening group, too. Which explains the whole NPP thing."

"What NPP thing?" Oliver asked.

"The bag in the Gravano hostage photo," Felicity told them. "NPP is an acronym. Stands for 'nitrogen, phosphate, potash'. It's the chemical formula for fertilizer."

Justin realized. "So, what if she's keeping Gravano in a greenhouse?"

Felicity, realizing that he was right, looked up nearby greenhouses. "Yeah. The closest one to her apartment is Sherwood Florist, 7884 Hauser."

Jill turned to Oliver, Skylar, Justin and Amy. "Suit up."

Amy was about to, when she got a text from Jessica, pulling out her phone.

The text read: Can you meet? I need help. Just us. Need intel.

Amy turned to the others. "Actually, you guys go ahead. I have another lead to run down."

"Jessica?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, Jessica," Amy answered. "But I'm sure that me and her can have that handled. It's just intel right now, so we're not fighting anything yet. You guys focus on stopping that crazy stalker."

"Okay," Jill agreed. "Let us know if you need any help."

Amy nodded.

➣

Starling City Police Department

Jessica was sitting at her desk, looking over Azriel's bag, taking out a sketchbook, about to open it.

Amy walked closer. "Jessica."

Jessica sighed in relief. "Amy, finally."

Amy looked around. "You know, it's always weird being here and not be handcuffed."

Jessica smirked. "How much did you get arrested growing up?"

Amy shrugged. "Well, I liked to have a lot of fun."

"So a lot of times," Jessica concluded.

"Basically," Amy answered.

Jessica chuckled. "Of course."

"So what did you want to talk about?" Amy asked.

"You're gonna think it's crazy," Jessica told her.

Amy tilted her had. "Doubt it."

"I just met a kid that apparently is destined to meet me," Jessica told her, her disbelief still evident in her stone. "And you too, though he doesn't know you as Amy, but as Ruby. He says he can help us stop Power."

Amy frowned. "Okay, that does sound really weird."

"I know, right?" Jessica asked. She looked around to make sure no one was listening, whispering to Amy. "And he knows about Sara."

Amy was just as disbelieving as Jessica was before. "That's impossible."

"He knows details and things that we said there," Jessica explained. "He knows it."

"Who is this kid?" Amy asked.

Jessica showed Amy a file. "Azriel Knight."

"That sounds like a made up name," Amy pointed out.

"And look at these drawings," Jessica told her, going through the sketchbook.

Amy leaned forward to look at them, seeing a sketch of Ruby. "That's what you meant about him knowing me as Ruby?"

"Yeah," Jessica answered, turning to another page, showing a sketch of the Lance sisters on the rooftop just before Sara's death. "Me, Laurel and Sara. Just before Sara..." She looked down sadly. Amy looked at her somberly in sympathy. Jessica pulled herself together to flip to another sketch, which was of Jill as Sapphire. "Jill." She turned to another one, which was a red-haired girl. "Some redheaded girl. And..."

"What?" Amy asked.

Jessica showed Amy the next drawing, which was Starling City destroyed and a glowing red orb in the sky. "Look at this."

"So you think he actually has powers?" Amy asked. "Is he a meta then?"

"I don't know," Jessica admitted.

"Where is he exactly?"

"In the interrogation room," Jessica answered.

Amy raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Oh?"

"He stole a police car," Jessica explained.

"Oh," Amy repeated; this time, her tone was more of surprise and interest, as she smirked.

"What do you think?" Jessica asked.

"I think you need to go bail Azriel out so we can find out what exactly is the deal with this little sear of ours," Amy answered.

Jessica tilted her head in agreement.

➣

Outside - Alley

Azriel was released, walking out of the station and into an alley, seeing Amy and Jessica waiting for him.

Azriel smiled at Jessica. "You're here."

"I am," Jessica agreed.

"So that means you're gonna help me?" Azriel asked.

"I am," Jessica answered

Azriel sighed in relief. "So that means you believe me?"

Jessica started. "May--"

"Okay, enough with the one line question and answers," Amy cut in.

Azriel eyed Amy. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"She is our back up," Jessica answered. "She's gonna help us."

"Who says we need backup?" Azriel asked.

Amy scoffed. "Right, 'cause the kid who stole a police ride is really gonna be what cracks this case open."

Azriel shrugged. "Well, it lead me here, so..."

"Barely," Amy replied.

Jessica gave them both a look. "Okay, enough."

Azriel rolled his eyes, turning to go. "Fine." He looked back at them, noticing they were staring at him. "What?"

"Go on, do the thing," Amy told him.

"What thing?" Azriel asked.

"Your thing, your gimmick," Amy answered. "Your meta ability, what is it?"

Azriel turned to face them. "I'm not a meta."

"Then what can you do?" Jessica asked.

Azriel struggled for words, not sure how to explain it. "Well, I can see the future. And sometimes the past." Amy immediately picked up a nearby rock and threw it at Azriel, which hit Azriel on the arm, making him groan. Azriel's eyes widened. "Ow, what the fuck?"

Amy shrugged, pointing to Azriel as she looked at Jessica. "He didn't see that coming."

Jessica gave her a look. "Amy."

"That's not even how it works," Azriel told her.

Amy crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, how should I know?"

"So you decided to just throw a rock at him?" Jessica asked skeptically.

"It was barely a rock," Amy retorted.

Jessica rolled her eyes, turning to Azriel. "What else can you do?"

"Well, I can see stuff about people," Azriel answered, and immediately pointed at Amy when she moved an inch. "And no, I don't need rocks for that, either."

Amy rolled her eyes, starting to walk away, passing by Azriel.

Azriel reached foward and grabbed Amy by the arm.

"What the fuck," Amy started.

Azriel's eyes started to glow blue, causing Amy to fall silent, as she and Jessica both looked at Azriel in surprise and curiosity.

➣

Amy / Ruby:

Amy's Memory - 2.04 Crucible

Night - Warehouse District

Azriel appeared in the memory, looking around, seeing a figure at the end of the alley in the warehouse district.

Amy/Ruby was the figure. She was looking ahead, watching someone.

Azriel had a slight smile. "Okay, so you're obviously Ruby. Now who are you watching?"

Azriel followed her gaze to see who she was looking at.

The person was Jill/Sapphire, who felt as if she was being watched, looking around cautiously, walking along, walking around the corner of the building.

Amy\Ruby knew she saw her running away.

Jill ran after her.

Azriel sighed, rolling his eyes. "Great, memory running."

Azriel ran after them.

While running, Jill took out her crossbow claw, shooting it into the building wall ahead of Amy, letting herself swing down the alley toward Amy to grab her before she got to the fence, letting them both fall to the ground.

Azriel ran closer.

Amy stood to run.

Jill stood in her way, cornering her at the back of the alley. "Why are you following me?"

"I guess it wouldn't be obvious at this point," Amy told her. "You haven't seen my face. You haven't heard my voice..."

"Why are you so afraid of seeing Sapphire?" Azriel asked.

Jill recognized Amy's voice, though she didn't believe it to be true. "Who are you?"

"Once you know, your life will never be the same," Amy told her.

Jill walked closer. "I could take it."

"Not this time," Amy told her. "Little Sapphire."

Azriel's eyes widened. "Holy shit. I'm about to find out both Ruby and Sapphire's identities?"

Jill was in shock, not quite believing.

Amy slowly, hesitantly reached up to take off the cloth around her face and then her mask, revealing her face.

Jill was in shock from seeing her sister alive, backing away, instinctively taking off her mask. "Amy?"

Azriel was confused more than surprised. "Jill Wright."

"I'll give you some time to let it sink in," Amy told her. She put her mask on. "It'll make sense soon."

Amy ran off.

Jill was in too much shock to stop her, holding her mask to her chest.

Azriel turned around to watch Amy run as the memory ended.

➣

Reality

Day - Starling City Police Department - Outside (Alley)

Amy ripped her arm away from Azriel. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Azriel was breathing heavily. "Holy shit, you're Ruby."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Jessica was stunned. "What?'

"I saw it in the memory I just saw," Azriel explained. "You were with Sapphire. Who is Jill Wright. Oliver Queen's girlfriend and your sister. In the alley, you took off your mask and you showed Jill that it was you, and she did the same. Saying your name and everything. Amy."

Amy was absolutely stunned, knowing that he was talking about the first time the sisters truly reunited.

Jessica looked at her. "Amy?"

"He's telling the truth," Amy answered. "You actually saw that?"

"Yep," Azriel answered.

"But if you're not a meta, then how can you do this?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know," Azriel admitted. "It's been coming and going since I was a kid."

Amy was still reeling. "That's convenient."

Azriel rolled his eyes. "Look, this doesn't matter. Are you helping me or not?"

Jessica handed Azriel his bag. "Do all of your visions come true?"

Azriel took his bag. "Sometimes."

"And the one about Starling?" Amy asked.

"It's been coming for a while," Azriel answered.

"Why were you at Newt's?" Jessica asked.

"I had another vision," Azriel answered. "And I thought maybe there could be a clue there, but all I managed to find was a burned dude who overdosed and died."

"And you got a Power pill," Amy told him.

"Why did you take that for?" Jessica asked.

"I figuredif I had one, it could make it easier to figure out how it works," Azriel admitted.

"You got a place for that?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah," Azriel answered.

Jessica sighed, nodding. "Okay. All right, let's go."

Jessica walked past Azriel and Amy toward her car.

"You're gonna help me?" Azriel asked hopefully.

"Obviously," Amy answered, walking past Azriel to follow Jessica.

Azriel smiled in relief, following them.

➣

Command Center

Azriel, Jessica and Amy walked into the makeshift Command Center that was weirdly well put together.

Azriel smirked, walking down the steps. "Welcome."

Jessica and Amy looked around in disbelief to know that a 17-year-old had a place like this.

"What is this place?" Jessica asked.

"It used to be an old lab from my dad when he did research on Starling," Azriel answered. "I found it not that long ago when I moved here."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "So, kid with superpowers and scientist dad, and yet you wonder where you got the powers from?"

"My dad didn't experiment on me," Azriel told her.

Amy looked away with a shrug. "Okay."

Jessica tilted her head. "Can we just focus?"

"Yes, please," Azriel answered, taking a seat at his desk, making the computer screen light up.

"How do you have a secret lair and only one chair?" Amy asked.

"Because I'm one person," Azriel answered. "Duh."

Amy rolled her eyes. "That's stupid."

"Focus," Jessica reminded them. Azriel placed the Power pill on a container which made the computer do a quick scan of it, trying to figure out what it was made of. "And?"

"And it's clearly animal DNA, but there is also dark matter," Azriel answered.

Amy frowned, exchanging a look with Jessica. "Wait, dark matter. Isn't that--"

"The same thing that makes metahumans?" Azriel finished. "Yep."

"Okay, so how does this connect to your vision?" Jessica asked.

Azriel shrugged. "Maybe one of the people that gets the pills is what makes the city go all Red Star."

"So we need to stop the distribution then," Jessica stated.

"What do we know?" Azriel asked.

"Okay, first, I gave the picture that you got from Laurel to Felicity and she ran a trace on her," Amy explained. "Not much she could find, except for her name. Ophelia Van Snyde. The streets call her Madam Hydra. Based off of Greek mythology because of ties to a company called Olympus."

Jessica nodded. "Right. In Greek mythology, the Hydra was the child of Typhon and Echidna, who were basically the parents of all monsters. A gigantic water snake monster with nine heads."

Amy looked impressed and amused. "Someone knows their Greek mythology."

Jessica shrugged. "It was a hobby."

Azriel also was impressed and amused, chuckling. "And I got this."

Azriel pulled out the ledger he got from Newt's place from his pack, which was burned for the most part from Newt.

Amy took the notebook to look through it. "I think it's some sort of code."

"What does it say?" Azriel asked.

"It's time, altitude and longitude," Amy answered. "He must have been writing all the meetings they had."

"Is there any for tonight?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, last entry for a meeting is an hour from now," Amy answered. "Latitude 79.73804, Longitude: 3.78084."

Azriel turned his chair back to the computer, typing away to begin tracking.

"It means we're running out of time to stop this," Jessica told them. "I'm going."

"I'll call the team," Amy told her.

"No, they're dealing with Cupid, and she can be a serious threat to Justin and Skylar and everyone else," Jessica told her. "Let Arrow and Sapphire handle that, and I can handle this."

Amy gave Jessica an amused look. "Did you just give another villain a nickname like you did with Huntress?"

Jessica shrugged. "It's her fault for using heart-shaped arrows and the way she's obsessing over Justin right now."

Amy tilted her head. "You're also the one that publically outed the names Arrow and Sapphire to Starling, right?"

"Yeah, that was also on them," Jessica replied.

"Who is Cupid?" Azriel asked. "Or Skylar and Justin? Also, I do know who Sapphire is, remember? And if Jill Wright is Sapphire, then it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Oliver Queen is the Arrow. Given the timeline of when they both showed up in Starling."

"Shut up," Amy told him. "Grown ups are talking."

"Grown ups?" Azriel repeated skeptically.

"How old are you?" Amy asked.

Azriel turned to face them. "How old are you?"

"Old enough to kick your ass," Amy answered.

"Enough," Jessica told them, exasperated. "I'm going."

"Well, you're not going alone," Amy told her. "I'm going with you."

"You don't have to," Jessica pointed out.

Azriel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you really don't."

"No," Amy agreed. "But I want to. There's no way that I'm letting you go in there alone against people with forced powers from fucking pills. Let's do this."

Jessica smiled slightly. "All right."

"You do realize you don't know where you're going, right?" Azriel asked.

"You know you're ruining the moment, right?" Amy replied.

Jessica cut in before they could bicker again. "Where are we going?"

"Okay, so the coordinates set the location of the meeting at this warehouse theater," Azriel answered, showing it to them on the screen.

"Okay, let's go then," Jessica told them.

Azriel stood. "Okay, let me just get--"

Amy went behind Azriel, grabbing his wrist, taking out handcuffs to bind Azriel to the desk. "There we go."

Jessica and Azriel were both surprised and reacted comically.

"Did you just chain me to my desk?" Azriel asked in disbelief.

Jessica looked from the handcuffs to Amy in realization. "Did you just steal my handcuffs?"

"Yes, and yes," Amy answered. "Come on, Jess, let's go to this thing."

"Why can't I go?" Azriel asked.

"Because, surprisingly, I'm doing the legal thing, and not bringing a child into danger," Amy answered. "Which is off for me. I guess you do get a feeling when doing the right thing. I owe Jill 50 bucks for losing that bet."

"Isn't it illegal to leave a child chained somewhere?" Azriel asked.

"No," Amy said, turning to Jessica.

Jessica tilted her head. "Well..."

"Really?" Amy asked, annoyed.

Jessica nodded. "Yeah."

Azriel raised an eyebrow. "So much for that feeling, huh?"

Amy shrugged. "Oh, well, it was a weird feeling anyway. And, to be clear, you're 17. Hardly a child, but... yeah. And sometimes the 'right thing' is different than the 'legal thing'. So why don't you just be a good boy and stay there while Jessica and I handle the adult stuff?"

"Didn't you just say I'm hardly a child?" Azriel asked.

"Not yet an adult, though," Amy answered. "Bedtime is 9:00."

Amy walked away.

Jessica shook her head in disbelief.

Azriel pulled at the handcuffs. "Jessica? Amy? Hey." He gave up as they walked out of the room. "Great."

However, it didn't take long for Azriel to pick the lock on the handcuffs to get out.

➣

Outside

Knowing that he needed to be there, Azriel walked toward a motorcycle on the road, hotwiring it so that he could start it up, and followed Jessica's car down the road to follow Jessica and Amy.

➣

Night - Sherwood Florist Greenhouse

Jill/Sapphire, Oliver/Arrow, Justin and Skylar/Athena arrived to the Sherwood Florist.

Jill looked at Oliver. "Split up, help me find Gravano."

Oliver nodded, looking at Justin and Skylar. "Take care of Cutter."

"Got it," Skylar told them.

They split up to do as said, as Oliver and Jill looked for Gravano, and Skylar and Justin looked for Carrie, the pairs splitting up to cover more ground.

Skylar stopped at a doorway of the greenhouse.

An arrow was shot into the wall ahead of her.

Instantly, Skylar drew an arrow, turning to face Carrie, aiming the bow at her.

Carrie was standing on a switch that led to a bomb that Gravano was standing on, so Skylar didn't attempt to attack her because she didn't want to kill them all. "I'm disappointed that you brought Sapphire and Arrow, but I'm not surprised that you came, Athena." Carrie was clearly taunting Skylar with the fact that she knew her real name, and that she could say it in front of Gravano and risk outing her identity to a mob boss, who they didn't know or what she would do with the information of her real name. "I was actually counting on it. You and Justin Smoak, thinking that it's you two together against the world. I've seen everything with you two. Even though you weren't together over the months since the siege, you two always had no eyes for anyone else. Almost like you were still together. It makes me sick."

Justin heard this through coms and quickly made his way over. "Cutter."

Carrie smiled at seeing him instantly. "Hello, lover."

"If you hurt her or anyone else..." Justin trailed off in warning.

"I didn't touch your little girlfriend yet, boyfriend," Carrie told him. "I'm disappointed you brought your partners, but I wanted Athena to be here for this. It was you two against the world. Now it will be that way for us. Just like we were meant to be."

As much as Skylar was annoyed and exasperated with the insane obsession on her boyfriend, she didn't want to say or do anything that would make Carrie set the bomb off and kill everyone.

Skylar and Justin exchanged a knowing look, as they were just trying to distract Carrie long enough for Jill and Oliver to get over.

Justin looked at Carrie. "There is no 'we'."

"We're more like one soul, you're right," Carrie told him. "You and I are more alike than you think."

"Carrie, listen to me," Justin told her. "You're not well."

"If I'm out of my mind, it's because that's what love is," Carrie told him with a sadistic grin. "Our own little slice of insanity."

Oliver and Jill came in from the other side, remaining out of sight, as they had to carefully gauge how they were going to get Gravano out of the bomb danger, along with themselves, Justin and Skylar.

Skylar looked at Carrie. "You don't have to do this."

"I do," Carrie disagreed. "Make a death wish, Athena. Mine's already come true. For you to die so that me and Justin can be together forever. And if Sapphire and Arrow have to die with you, along with this woman, so be it."

Justin was in disbelief this was actually happening.

"Please help me," Gravano told them. "Don't leave me with this psycho."

"Quiet!" Carrie told her.

"You don't wanna do this," Skylar told her.

"Sure I do," Carrie told them. Skylar and Oliver both had enough as they aimed arrows at the rope that was tying Gravano up above the bomb. Carrie noticed. "Oh, I wouldn't do that. That rope's laced with a trip wire hooked up to a thing on her chest that goes boom."

"So, what do you want, then?" Oliver asked angrily.

"Not much," Carrie told them. She looked at Justin. "Just you. But to do that, you have to kill your girlfriend."

"Never gonna happen," Justin told her.

"Such a party pooper," Carrie told him mockingly, taking her foot off the trigger, running away.

Knowing that they didn't have a choice but to cut the wire now, but knowing they had to time this perfectly, Jill, Skylar, Justin and Oliver acted in sync.

Jill threw a knife through the wire to cut Gravano down.

Justin ran closer, jumping over the bomb on the floor to get to Gravano and tackle her out of the way to the floor, taking the bomb off her chest, throwing it into the air.

Oliver shot an arrow into the bomb to send it up to the ceiling so it wouldn't explode nearby them.

And knowing that the floor bomb was about to go off seconds later, Oliver and Skylar both shot grappling hooks into the ceiling away from the other explosion, as Oliver grabbed Jill with an arm wrapped around her waist which she mimicked with an arm around his, and Skylar swung over to grab Justin with her arm around his waist, and as Justin used one arm to hold onto Gravano, he wrapped his other arm around Skylar to anchor them to her, as Oliver, Jill, Skylar, Justin and Gravano soared into the air up above, just far enough away from the explosion.

Just as the explosion went off underneath them, the flames just barely missing them.

Still on the ceiling with the grappling wires, Oliver and Jill exchanged a relieved look from within each other's hold.

On their grappling wire, Skylar and Justin had an arm around each other still as they looked down into the flames below, in disbelief that Carrie was so obsessed with Justin and his relationship with Skylar that she would do this, looking at each other in shock, breathing heavily, as Justin kept hold of Gravano with his other arm.

As the flames died down, Oliver, Jill, Skylar, Justin and Gravano lowered down to the floor, where Justin let go of Gravano instantly.

Gravano looked between the four. "Never thought I'd be happy to see you."

Skylar punched Gravano in the face, making her fall unconscious, turning to face Jill, Oliver and Justin. "So now what?"

Jill, Oliver and Justin had no answer, all of them reeling.

➣

Theater - Outside

Jessica and Amy were standing outside the theater in the alley where no one could see them, as Amy was suited up as Ruby.

"This is the place," Amy told her. "I can find my way in, but how the hell are you going to?"

Jessica noticed a couple walking up to the theater. "You know what? Sometimes, the plan just walks right up to you. Fancy clothes, here for the presentation. Once they get in, I can sneak in. That's all I need."

"Be careful," Amy told her, handing Jessica an earpiece. "And if anything goes wrong..."

Jessica put the earpiece in. "I know."

Jessica walked up to the theater, finding a beer can outside as she did, picking it up as she walked inside.

➣

Inside

Jessica walked in, acting like she was drunk so that she didn't draw too much unwanted attention, looking at the desk lady with a 'drunken' smile. "Hey. Glad to be in here. I'm on the list." The lady buzzed her through the door. Jessica walked through, seeing a bouncer behind the door. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Can I help you?" the bouncer asked.

Jessica smiled. "Nico. It's me. Aren't you Nico?"

The bouncer stood. "I ain't no Nico. This is a private party. No, you got the wrong spot, girl."

Jessica pulled a face, shaking her head, stepping closer. "No, I know I got the right place."

"You're not on this list, man," the bouncer told her. "It's a private party. You got to roll out."

Jessica dropped the beer in her hand to the floor, distracting the bouncer as his gaze followed the beer can. Jessica punched him in the chest, slamming her hand into his throat, grabbing his head, slamming it against the wall, knocking him out.

Jessica took the clipboard to look it over, finding a keycard. "Yeah, that's my name right there."

Jessica used the key card to open the door, walking in, leaving the door open behind her.

Azriel had followed Jessica in, obviously, having seen her knock out the bouncer, smirking in amusement, impressed, leaning down to take the jacket off the bouncer, pulling it on to act as him, before he followed through the door.

➣

Demonstration Room

There was an ice luge pouring drinks in the back of the lavishly styled back room of the theater.

A power chamber was also in the back of the room for the demonstration.

Jessica rode down into the room through the elevator, looking as tough and serious as always, hands clasped in front of her as she stared ahead, determination in her eyes to burn this project to the ground to stop the terror and havoc in her city.

As Jessica walked off the elevator, she looked around, blending in with the people around the room.

Ophelia was standing in front of everyone. "Welcome to Project Power. Over the last months, we've been going from city to city in a kind of a... let's call them clinical trials. Our footprint is small, and we move on quickly to avoid unwanted oversight. Our goal is simple. The next evolution of the human species. That's where you come in. With your financing, Olympia could become the most powerful company in the world. What's in it for you? It's in the headline." She held up one of the Power pills, pointing at it with one hand. "Power. Power to level the playing field. Or, if you like, destroy it entirely. Power to create chaos. Power to renegotiate your reality. One day, you won't even need a pill."

An older woman gave a tight smile. "Pretty words. Be more specific."

Azriel rode down into the room through the elevator, walking off the elevator.

Jessica and Azriel saw each other from across the room.

Jessica was not amused that Azriel followed them, but willing to deal with it, speaking softly into her comms quietly. "Azriel followed us. He's here."

Outside, Amy/Ruby rolled her eyes. "Of course he did. We'll deal with it. I'll be in soon. Give me the word."

"Not yet," Jessica whispered.

Ophelia continued her speech. "Let me tell you about my friend, the little lizard. A healer who can stitch himself up and even regrow what he lost. Hands, feet, eyes, unfathomably complex structures. The octopus camouflages herself against the sea floor. The wolverine frog breaks its own bones to use as weapons. They see in the dark, they dislocate their bones, they turn water into plasma. They punch, they strangle, they thermoregulate. Evolution has given animals countless abilities we can only dream of. So much power, por favor. All the genetic potential hidden in our DNA just waiting to be released. With your investment, one day, a pill that lasts forever. Stop wishing. Start doing. Find your power."

"And the death factor?" the older woman asked.

Ophelia shrugged indifferently. "Yes, well, results may vary." Jessica narrowed her eyes, hating how callous someone could be about this. "But as we work to a compound that we fully control..." She gestured to the power chamber behind her. "We have the tank." A younger woman stepped into the tank. Ophelia handed her a pill and a glass of champagne. "Ladies, gentlemen, the moment you've traveled so far to see."

The younger woman frowned, nervous. "What's gonna happen to me?"

"Don't worry, Casey," Ophelia told her. "This tank is completely safe. They have one at the CIA." They closed the door to the tank. Ophelia tapped on the wall, demonstrating twisting the pill. "Twist to activate."

As much as Jessica wanted to stop this now, she couldn't risk being outed and made without everything going sideways pretty fast.

Casey twisted the pill, putting it on her tongue, washing it down with champagne, tipping her head back; the pill was visibly glowing through her skin as it traveled down to her stomach.

Casey felt the effects immediately. She dropped her champagne glass on the ground, which shattered. Her pupils blew wide open, as her brown eyes turned icy blue. Inside, her body was completely transforming to ice.

Casey exhaled, as icy mist escaped into the air as she did. Ice crackled along her skin, soon becoming painful as mist wafted from her hands, and the ice traveled up her arms quickly, as she became scared when it was painful.

Ophelia spoke calmly. "How exciting, my friends. You're about to witness a very rare power. Thermoregulation. This one can get a bit intense."

A guard looked over to where Azriel was watching, sensing that he wasn't supposed to be here.

Azriel waved the guard over, hoping to keep his cover from being blown, whispering. "Let me talk to you for a sec."

Jessica glanced over to Azriel and the guard before looking away to the presentation, needing proof to be able to make an arrest.

Ophelia used her tablet to turn the heat in the tank up to 100%. "Let's make sure she stays comfortable."

Once the heat turned on, the lights in the tank turned red, and Casey visibly relaxed as she was no longer in pain, the heat controlling the ice on her skin and in her body. She sighed in relief, tilting her head back. "Thank you."

Ophelia smirked, turning to look at the people behind her. "Voila."

The guard walked over to Azriel. "Are you new?"

They were standing in front of the ice luge.

Azriel shook his head. "No, I've been here." He showed him the clipboard. "There's people on this list I don't think should be here."

"Like who?" the guard asked.

Azriel grabbed the guard from the back of the head and slammed him forward, knocking him out by hitting his head on the ice luge, watching his unconscious body fall, dragging him away so no one could notice.

Now that she was warm and safe, Casey was enjoying herself, breathing out to see the icy mist in the air.

Ophelia turned to the older woman. "What do you think?"

"Spectacular," the older woman answered.

Casey put her hand against the glass wall of the tank, in awe as she saw ice spreading from her hand and coating the clear wall in front of her.

Ophelia nodded to one of her men, Biggie, who handed out pills to the people at the presentation.

Casey's boyfriend walked up to the tank, smiling at seeing Casey look so happy and peaceful.

Ophelia chuckled. "She's having a great time."

Seeing her boyfriend outside the tank, Casey exhaled on the glass to create condensation and ice, drawing a heart in the fog to show her boyfriend, placing a kiss on the heart, causing him to smile again.

Jessica slowly started to make her way toward Ophelia, picking up a tray to hide her gun as she knew she had enough evidence to make an arrest now, but having to be extremely careful about this.

Jessica walked up to Ophelia. "Dirty martini?"

Ophelia turned to face Jessica, taking the martini, but she stopped as she realized. "You're not supposed to be here. Detective, I'm guessing. You wouldn't happen to be Jessica Lance, would you? I've heard about you and your antics against the people taking my pill just over the course of the last few days."

Jessica warned her cautiously so she didn't alert the others. "This is what's gonna happen. You're gonna take two steps to the left." Ophelia glanced around. Jessica spoke calmly but firmly. "Don't look at them. Look at me. You're gonna walk out of that elevator, I'm gonna be right behind you."

Ophelia sighed patiently, albeit annoyed. "Please. I'm about to sell 100,000 pills. Let me finish this sale."

Jessica shook her head. "No, we don't have time for that."

A woman glanced around the ice luge, where she saw the guard that Azriel knocked out, screaming.

Knowing he was out of time, Azriel grabbed one of Ophelia's men around the neck, aiming his gun around as he held him hostage.

And now knowing that Azriel just exploded this carefully planned extraction that could have worked, Jessica threw her tray into one of Ophelia's gun men to make him drop his gun at the same time she aimed her gun at Ophelia to keep her from giving any orders to her men. "Don't come any closer."

"Just do what she says," Ophelia warned.

"Tell them to put them down," Jessica told her. "Talk to them."

Hearing that this went south already, Amy was already on her way inside.

"Just do what she says," Ophelia warned. "Put your guns down."

"All of you put your hands up," Jessica warned. "Put the guns down, now." She shot Azriel a look. "Including you."

Azriel knew that he couldn't pull the trigger to kill anyone anyway, but he could hurt to get what he wanted. "Can't do that, chief."

Seeing that all of the people were about to take a shot, Jessica fired a warning shot off to the side before aiming right back at Ophelia. "I am not asking!"

The women in the room with their guns jumped and ducked back, quickly lowering their guns, while Ophelia's men, and the rougher buyers didn't.

Ophelia looked at Jessica as she spoke to her people. "Guns down, hands up. Jessica Lance here is running everything. Just know I got a little hitch here."

Jessica shook her head. "I don't care."

"I understand you don't care," Ophelia replied. "I'm just letting you know I'm complying, okay?"

Jessica reached for her cuffs. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used--"

Biggie, of course, wouldn't abandon his boss, aiming his gun. "Let her go, now!"

"Don't," Jessica warned. "Don't come any closer."

"Nobody wants to die," Ophelia told her. "Put your guns down and let's talk. All right? Let's talk."

Slowly, one by one, everyone lowered their guns.

"Yeah," Jessica told them. "That's good."

A man twisted a Power pill and swallowed it down. But it didn't have the desired effect, as instantly, his insides became consumed with fire that burst out immediately, making the man explode in a rain of blood, flesh and fire.

Everyone ducked for cover so they weren't hit by the flaming pieces of the body.

Now, there was nothing that could stop the gunfire.

Which was the perfect time for Amy/Ruby to drop from the ceiling and into the room to help in the fight.

Azriel and Jessica were firing at Ophelia's men and the buyers.

Ophelia's men were firing at Jessica, Amy and Azriel, and the buyers that wanted to kill everyone and escape with the pills.

Casey was trapped in the tank, ducking for cover as she screamed in fear as she watched this all happen from the inside of the glass cage, unable to escape.

Biggie got to Ophelia, leading her to some of her protective detail. "Go, go, go. I'll hold them off."

Ophelia and her protective detail hid behind the bar as they led her to the elevator, walking in and taking cover from the gunfire as the elevator doors closed and took them to safety.

The remaining of Ophelia's men, including Biggie, were taking out the buyers and trying to take out Jessica, Amy and Azriel.

Jessica and Azriel kept down in cover, as they were taking out Ophelia's men and the buyers that came close to them.

And Amy was fighting off the men that didn't have their guns and able to avoid being shot, but these men did have knives.

Man 1 tried to slash Amy with his knife. Amy ducked back to make him miss. Every time Man 1 tried to hit her with the blades, Amy could duck, dodge and twist out of the way. Man 1 tried to drive the blade into her stomach. Amy caught his blade in between her Sai knives, the prongs locking his blade into place as she pushed him back and kicked him away, the blade finally twisting free as she released her knives, and as they fell, she caught them in either hand, aiming both of her Sai knives at Man 1. Man 1 tried to slash toward her head. Amy ducked, swinging her arm wide to slash a Sai knife across Man 1's stomach deeply, making him double over in pain. Man 1 tried to stab her. Amy caught his arm, spinning around to flip him over her shoulder and to the ground, still holding his arm as she forced him over onto his stomach, breaking his arm as she kicked viciously into his back, making him scream in pain. Amy grabbed Man 1's head and pulled it back, cutting his neck with her Sai knife, not deep enough to kill him, but enough to render him out of the fight.

Man 2 tried to attack Jessica. Jessica ducked, pushing the man into a railing, slamming his head into it, knocking him out, pushing him to the floor.

Man 3 tried to attack Azriel. Azriel blocked the hit, punching him in the face. Man 3 kicked him in the leg. Azriel jumped on Man 3 to tackle him down, punching him in the face hard enough to knock him out.

Man 4 ran at Jessica. Jessica stepped on a chair, jumping on Man 4's shoulders, spinning around him and flipping him to the floor with her, to slam him down, sitting up, kneeing him in the face, punching him in the head to knock him out.

When Man 5 ran up to Azriel, Azriel punched Man 5 in the face, slamming his head on the wall, elbowing him in the face, making him fall, kicking him in the head to knock him out.

Amy ran along the room, jumping over an ornate table, jumping down toward Man 6, tackling him to the ground, bashing his head against it to knock him out, standing, backing away. Man 7 ran for Amy to attack. Amy ducked a punch and kicked him in the leg. Man 7 spun around to try and backhand punch Amy. Amy ducked, standing and grabbing Man 7's arm as he tried again, slashing her Sai knives across his face back to back as she swung to the left, and then to the right to slash him again, making him scream and spit out blood as his face was now really cut up with four crisscross lines. Amy kicked him in the stomach, sending him falling to the floor.

Man 8 ran at Jessica. Jessica ducked, sliding between his legs over the floor, punching him in the crotch on her way behind him, turning to face him in a crouch, standing, running closer to kick him into the wall, slamming his head into the wall, knocking him out.

Man 9 flipped toward Amy, kicking her back, taking advantage of her distraction, trying to punch her. Amy caught his arm, punching him in the face, twisting his arm to break it the same time she kicked his knee, making him kneel down with a scream of pain. Man 9 tried to kick Amy's legs out from underneath her. Amy pivoted back and spun around to kick Man 9's leg to stop him, then used her other leg to kick him in the face viciously, lunging forward to knee him in the head, knocking him to the floor, knocking him out.

Man 10 tried to punch Azriel. Azriel raised an arm to block the move, punching him twice in the face, elbowing him in the face, trying to punch him. Man 10 ducked, trying to punch him. Azriel ducked, twisting his arm, spinning around, pushing Man 10 into the wall. Man 10 tried to shoot Azriel. Azriel caught his gun, aiming it up at the ceiling as it shot, making the others duck, punching Man 10 in the stomach, kneeing him in the groin, spinning closer to elbow him in the face, making him back away, taking the gun from him to hit him in the head, knocking him out.

Jessica grabbed Man 11's wrist to make him stop from firing his gun, twisting it, making him drop the gun, punching him in the face, making him fall onto the table, pushing the gun away, kicking Man 12 in the leg before he could fire, making him fall to his knees and making him hit his head on the table in the process, kneeing him in the back, pushing him to the floor, knocking him out.

Man 12 ran toward Amy, trying to slash her repeatedly. Amy ducked each time easily, grabbing Man 12's arm, flipping him through the air impressively and cleanly as she leaned down, punching her hand into his stomach to slam him hard down onto the ground, standing over him, taking his arm and flipping him over onto his stomach, pulling his arm back so far that when she punched his elbow with her other hand, she broke his arm, making him scream before she slammed his head on the floor, knocking him out.

Ophelia's tablet was on the floor, a warning flashing across the screen with an alarm: "Connection lost."

With the tablet no longer connected to the tank, the heat was shut off, and Casey was soon overcome with agonizing cold within her body and on her skin. Her fingers started to crackle and fall off at the tips.

Casey was horrified, terrified, trying her best to get out of the tank, even though logically, she knew that the result would still end the same if she was out of the tank.

Casey slammed her hands on the walls, leaving imprints of ice everywhere she touched, screaming. "Get me out! Get me out! Get me out of here!"

Casey's boyfriend was trying to kick the glass doors in of the tank, trying desperately to get to Casey's side in order to try and save her, but it was futile; the doors wouldn't give, and even if they did, there was no way that he would be able to stop this power from killing her.

Casey and her boyfriend were both desperate in fighting to get to each other with the barrier of the tank between them, both screaming and crying, as the boyfriend had to watch as Casey was being frozen alive.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gunfight in the battle outside of the tank waged on behind the boyfriend, but neither he or Casey could focus on that when they were trying to get to each other and save her life.

In the end, it did nothing, as Casey fell to the floor weakly, ice layers coating every inch of her skin, her fingers and other parts of her falling off from being frozen off, making her scream in even more agony, eyes clenched tightly shut as she kept screaming, the ice overtaking her completely; as she screamed, spikes of ice came from her mouth, as her entire body became a glacier. She was dead, frozen completely through.

The boyfriend screamed and cried, falling to his knees.

Biggie took advantage of that and shot the boyfriend in the head, watching him fall dead.

Outside the tank, Azriel grabbed Biggie and slammed him against the wall of the tank, but another of Ophelia's men grabbed Azriel and slammed him into the wall instead. Azriel used a taser on the man, knocking him out.

Jessica looked into the tank through the iciness, seeing Casey frozen as a sculpture, clearly dead, hanging her head in regret and defeat as there wasn't anything she could do to help her either. She slid to the floor, looking around the back room of the theater.

Everyone else was dead or knocked out, aside from Biggie, who had seemingly disappeared from sight for the moment.

But Amy knew that Biggie was still here somewhere, standing up, kicking a bottle.

Biggie ran out of hiding, only to be tricked by Amy as she intercepted Biggie with an arm clothesline, knocking him to the floor.

Biggie raised up to his knees.

Amy aimed her Sai knives at Biggie to stop him. "Now let's talk."

"Yes," Biggie agreed. "Whatever you want. Pills, money, anything."

Jessica glared. "We don't want fucking pills. Where'd your boss go?"

"I don't know," Biggie lied. "Just, please, no need for this."

"Huh?" Amy asked. "No?" Azriel watched them warily. When Biggie tried to attack Amy, Amy swiped her Sai knives to slice his fingers clean off his hand, blood gush from the open wounds. Biggie looked at his hand in shock, at first not processing the pain, but after a second, he felt agony, and he screamed. Amy was unbothered. "I bet you know now, huh?"

"Ruby," Jessica warned, giving her a look.

"Olympus," Biggie told them. "Olympus. We're based off a boat right now."

Biggie had a Power pill between his teeth, twisting it, making it glow as he swallowed it instantly.

Soon, Biggie became bigger, largening in size as his body deformed grotesquely.

Jessica, Amy and Azriel both watched in shock and disgust.

Biggie became so huge that his watch snapped off his wrist, his clothes were tearing at the seems, and his head bashed against the ceiling, breaking a bunch of lights that rained with sparks.

Jessica and Azriel both opened fire on Biggie, and Amy slashed him with her Sai knives, but when that did nothing, the three turned and ran for the other room.

➣

Hallway

Biggie ran after them, crashing through the walls and everything in his way, almost catching Jessica.

Jessica ducked and slid across the floor to stay out of Biggie's reach, reaching the double doors behind him, standing as she pushed them open, running down the hallway.

Amy followed, as he used her Sai knives to break off the gas caps on the walls.

Azriel ran after them.

"Go, go, go!" Amy told them, slowing down just slightly to use her knives to break the rest of the gas caps off. "Get out of here!"

Jessica and Azriel ran outside as Biggie chased them to the exit.

Amy finished, and when Biggie swiped a hand at her, she ducked, jumping over his hand the next time he tried, running toward the exit, taking Jessica's gun, firing it into the hallway behind them.

The gunshot and gunpowder set off an explosion with the gas, as Amy ran outside after Jessica and Azriel, the explosion obliterating Biggie within flames.

➣

Outside

Jessica, Amy and Azriel ran outside as the theater exploded behind them, throwing them through the air and to the ground.

Everyone around started screaming.

Jessica looked at Amy and Azriel. "You okay?"

"Hell, no," Azriel replied.

A piece of Biggie fell onto a car nearby, making the car alarm blare, and people around started screaming when they realized that it was a human body part.

➣➣

Verdant - Foundry

Skylar, Jill and Oliver were at the foundry, still in their suits without their masks on.

Justin was also here.

John looked at Justin. "Looks like you weren't the only person Carrie ever stalked. She was put on limited duty after becoming obsessed with her partner. The department sent her to St. Walker's for a psych eval. She quit the force a little bit after."

"Right," Jill said.

"Where's Felicity?" John asked.

"She's working tonight," Justin answered.

Skylar and Justin exchanged a look, still reeling after earlier.

Oliver tilted his head. "Skylar? Justin?" They both looked at him. "Are you two okay?"

"Just can't believe that this is happening," Justin answered.

"I'm fine, Ollie," Skylar told him. "Not the first psycho that tried to kill me for crazy reasons."

"Sky..." Justin trailed off.

"Justin, I'm okay," Skylar told him. "I'm more worried about you."

Jill looked between the two in concern. "It's a lot for either of you."

John nodded. "Justin, Skylar, this isn't like with Slade. You two are gonna get through this and it'll be fine."

"Thanks, Dig," Skylar told him.

Oliver sighed. "In the meantime, why don't you two help Thea with the club for opening night? Keep her out of this for as long as possible."

Skylar tilted her head, looking down, not liking the secrets, but wanting to protect Thea. "Okay."

"And you're not saying that so we're not nearly blown up again, right?" Justin asked sarcastically. "Not the first time that's happened either, obviously."

Oliver shrugged. "Maybe not, but I can do what I can to keep my sister and the guy that she's with safe."

Skylar nodded sarcastically. "Overprotective Ollie. Was wondering when he would show up again during all this."

Oliver gave Skylar a sarcastic smirk.

Justin chuckled lightly.

John shook his head in amusement.

Jill smirked slightly. "Right." She turned to Oliver. "Let's go."

Oliver nodded.

"Where you going?" Justin asked.

"The psychiatrist that SCPD sent Cutter to," Jill answered.

"You need backup?" Skylar asked.

"Skylar, Justin, you have a club opening to tend to," Jill reminded them. "Like Oliver said. We'll handle this part. It's not like we're gonna run into Cutter at her shrink's."

"True," Justin agreed, sighing in frustration, looking at Skylar worriedly, biting his lip.

"Justin, we're gonna get this girl,' John told him. "And nothing's gonna happen to you or Skylar."

Skylar and Justin nodded.

Oliver and Jill looked at Skylar and Justin for a moment before walking out.

➣

Dr. Pressnall Psychiatric Office

Oliver/Arrow and Jill/Sapphire were in the office, waiting in the dark.

The psychiatrist walked in, trying to turn on the lights, but it remained dark. She walked toward her desk.

"Dr. Pressnall," Oliver told her.

Pressnall jumped in fear. "Oh, my God."

"We're not here to hurt you," Jill told her.

"What do you want?" Pressnall asked

"To talk about Carrie Cutter," Jill answered.

"I can't," Pressnall told them. "Doctor-patient privilege. Just, please, get out."

"Your patient killed a man, three women, kidnapped another, and we're trying to stop her before she hurts anyone else, including the object of her obsession, and her attempt to kill the woman he loves in order to be with him," Oliver told her. "But to do that, we need to understand her. Please."

"I can only diagnose her," Pressnall told them. "Attachment disorder. The inability to form real, lasting relationships. They push everyone away and fixate on a single person. Someone they feel mirrors their emotional state."

"How do we stop her?" Jill asked.

Pressnall sighed. "Give her the connection that she craves. Honesty, sincerity. If you lie to her, she'll know."

"Thank you," Oliver told her.

"If you'll permit a professional observation, you both could use a little therapy yourselves," Pressnall told them.

"What gives you that impression?" Jill asked sarcastically.

"You mean apart from the masks and the costumes?" Pressnall asked.

Oliver and Jill didn't answer, walking out, leaving.

➣

Flashback - Five Years Ago

Night - Docks

It was night at the docks.

Tatsu and Jill were in a car, waiting.

"Shouldn't we get out and look around, or..." Jill trailed off. "I don't know, something?"

"In this place?" Tatsu asked. "At this hour? That's a very efficient way to get yourself killed. Feel free."

Jill chuckled sarcastically. "Thank you, that's... we'll wait, then. Gaijun. That's what Maseo called me. It's Japanese. It means foreigner. Outsider."

"It means you," Tatsu told her.

"It means you, too," Jill told her. "You're Japanese living in Hong Kong. Sorry. Why did you leave Japan?"

"It wasn't safe for us there," Tatsu answered.

"Why?" Jill asked.

"We upset some very powerful, very dangerous men," Tatsu answered.

"Who?" Jill asked.

"You ask a lot of questions," Tatsu told her.

"That's what your husband says," Jill told her. They looked outside toward a group of men. "Who's that?"

"Shu Gang, rivals of the Triad," Tatsu answered. "They control this port."

"So, they know what happened to Maseo?" Jill asked.

"I don't know," Tatsu told her.

"Only one way to find out," Jill told her, getting out of the car, walking toward them.

A man looked at Jill, speaking in Chinese. "Hey, you can't be here."

"Hey, I don't want any trouble," Jill told them.

Two men grabbed Jill.

➣

Now

Night - Palmer Technologies - Ray's Office

Ray was dressed nicely in a suit.

Felicity walked in, looking beautiful in the blue couture dress with her hair done elegantly, along with her makeup and nails.

The first thing Felicity noticed was that the salmon ladder was gone. "What happened to the thing?"

Ray turned to face Felicity, taking in the sight of her. "Wow. You are ridiculous. Which I mean in a good way. That's... not creepy." He cleared his throat, trying again. "You look beautiful."

Felicity smiled. "Oh. I think it's the dress."

Ray remembered something. "The dress is actually missing something."

Felicity walked closer, reaching behind her. "Oh, no, I forgot to do up the zipper again?" She shook her head, looking away, embarrassed. "I always do that." Ray took out a necklace box, opening it to reveal a very expensive diamond necklace that glittered in the light. Felicity looked at it in shock. "Oh, no, I can't wear that. I'm not even sure I'm supposed to be looking at it."

Ray circled around Felicity to stand behind her. "Well, I had to put down a $10,000 security deposit just to borrow it for the evening, so one of us should wear it. And diamonds aren't really my thing, so..."

Ray placed the box down, picking up the necklace, turning to Felicity.

Felicity faced him, nervous. "I appreciate it, but I think I would feel strange wearing a million dollar necklace."

Ray shook his head. "Oh, don't worry. It's not worth a million dollars." Felicity tilted her head, turning her back to Ray, facing the mirror in front of her. Ray draped the necklace around her neck, fastening it. "I think it was actually appraised for 10 million dollars. So..." Felicity was in shock, touching the necklace. Ray smiled. "There you go. That's better."

➣

Bomb Maker's Home

Carrie walked in.

A bomb maker, Jeffrey Evans, was in the midst of creating another bomb vest for Carrie. "How did the last bombs go?"

"Well, the vigilantes couldn't stop them, but they did manage to get away with their lives, along with the mob boss," Carrie answered. "I need another bomb vest like that, but I need this one to be unable to be torn off like the last one."

"That's what I'm making," Jeffrey told her, turning to look at Carrie. "You look good."

Carrie gave him a sly look. "Business before pleasure."

Jeffrey finished the bomb vest. "I'm just about done. Do you need another bomb mat to go with it?"

"I'm sure I do," Carrie answered.

Jeffrey chuckled. "Got another one over there for when you need it."

Carrie walked closer, sensual in her seductive manipulation. "Thank you kindly. I have to get through the vigilantes to get to the one I'm after."

"Don't you already know where they'll be tonight?" Jeffrey asked, clearly not knowing everything that Carrie was doing or what she was involved in truly. "Justin Smoak is the assistant manager to Skylar and Thea Queen's club, and Verdant's re-opening night is tonight."

"Yes," Carrie agreed. "But as I said. I need these to divide and conquer, otherwise, I'm going to fail. And I can't fail tonight, Jeffrey. I can't fail Justin."

Jeffrey shrugged. "Whatever you say. I'm done with business." He turned to Carrie, smirking. "What was this about pleasure?"

Carrie smiled, sitting down on Jeffrey's lap, acting as if she was going to kiss him, but instead, she drove one of her heart arrows into his neck, making him groan in pain and shock as his head tilted back, starting to bleed out.

Carrie shushed him. "Shh, shh, shh." She pouted. "I'm sorry." She smiled, turning to pick up a flyer advertising Verdant's reopening. "I'm spoken for."

Carrie kissed the flyer.

➣

Street

Azriel was walking down the street, after separating from Jessica and Amy to head home.

A black secret service car drove down the street toward Azriel from up ahead.

Azriel pretended not to notice, turning down another road.

The car turned to follow Azriel.

Azriel took off running, and the car sped up to follow him.

Azriel turned to run down another street.

Another black secret service car pulled up that street to block his path.

Azriel turned to run down the other street behind him.

Where another car was waiting for him.

Ophelia got out of the car. "Hello, Azriel."

Azriel was breathing heavily, trapped on all sides. "Who are you?"

"I think you know after what you and your friends did earlier tonight," Ophelia told him.

Two guys got out of the car behind Azriel and blindsided him by pulling a bag over his head.

Ophelia opened her car door, which the two guys put Azriel inside.

Jessica and Amy had been looking for Azriel when they saw this, running up to the street, but they got there just in time to see Ophelia and her men take Azriel away and the three cars drive away.

Jessica was so worried for the 17-year-old. "Amy, we lost him."

Amy ran toward a bike at the side of the road. "We'll get him. Get on, Jessica."

Jessica ran closer to get on the back of the bike.

Amy hotwired it and got on the front, driving herself and Jessica to follow the cars.

➣➣

Verdant - Foundry

Jill and Oliver were back in the foundry with John, Skylar and Justin.

"How'd it go with Cutter's shrink?" John asked.

Oliver sighed. "There's a reason I'm not in therapy."

Skylar noticed that Justin's phone was ringing. "Justin."

Justin picked it up, answering. "I thought you were already at dinner, Felicity."

"Not yet, but almost," Felicity answered. "Just had to tell you this real quick. Your new girlfriend just put another heart-shaped arrow in the neck of a guy holed up in a flophouse north of Amsterdam."

"What did he do for her?" Justin asked.

"I don't know," Felicity explained. "I hacked the police database, but there's nothing online yet, and apparently everything was taken and smashed to pieces. But smart money says whatever Cutter's planning next, you and Skylar are not gonna like it."

Justin sighed heavily. "Thanks."

"Be careful, Justin," Felicity told him.

"Yep," Justin agreed, hanging up.

Oliver looked at Skylar and Justin. "You two go upstairs and deal with opening night. Jill, flophouse on Amsterdam?"

"Yep," Jill answered.

"They're long gone by now," Skylar pointed out.

"True, but since the cops have no idea what Cutter was looking for or doing there, maybe we can figure it out before someone else gets hurt," Jill remarked. "Stay here. John, keep looking." John nodded. "Let's go, Ollie."

Jill and Oliver walked out.

➣

Flashback - Five Years Ago

Night - Docks

The men of Shu Gang were holding Jill still.

Jill kicked a man in the face before he had the chance to hit her.

Tatsu drew a sword, slashing into Man 1's back, spinning to slash into Man 2 and Man 3, punching Man 4 in the face, making them all fall.

Jill watched her in shock.

Tatsu spun around, holding her sword ready, slashing into Man 5 and Man 6, spinning to slash into Man 7. She held her sword to Man 8's throat. "I'm here looking for my husband. Thin beard. Long hair. Japanese."

"Don't know any Japanese," Man 8 told them.

"Try again," Tatsu told him.

"I don't know anything," Man 8 told them.

"ARGUS," Tatsu told him. "Does that mean something to you?"

"I don't know anything," Man 8 told them. Tatsu tapped her sword against his throat. "Except... three men. This ARGUS. They work for them. Worked."

Tatsu looked scared. "What do you mean?"

"They're all dead," Man 8 told them. "Killed by Triad a few hours ago."

Tatsu and Jill were in shock and denial.

Tatsu lowered her sword.

➣

Now

Night - Warehouse

Jill/Sapphire and Oliver/Arrow arrived, looking around for any sign of Carrie that they could find after following another lead here.

Soon, smoke started to fill the air from all the vents, and Jill and Oliver couldn't breathe, coughing.

"Oliver," Jill gasped.

Jill and Oliver turned to get out before the smoke grenade could make them pass out, but the door slid closed.

"Get back," Oliver told her.

Jill and Oliver backed away from the door enough to where Oliver could draw an explosive arrow, shooting it at the door.

While the bomb did go off, it didn't tear down the door, and Jill and Oliver continued coughing and gasping until they eventually passed out.

➣

Restaurant

Felicity and Ray joined Mr. and Mrs. Gardner for dinner.

Ray smiled, shaking his hand. "Ah, Mr. Gardner. Ray Palmer." He shook the hand of the wife. "Mrs. Gardner. This is Felicity Smoak, vice president of Palmer Technologies."

Felicity nodded. "Hello."

"Pleasure," Mr. Gardner told her.

"Thank you for sitting down with us tonight," Ray told them.

"Well, I'm always happy to enjoy a good meal," Mr. Gardner told them. "And I'm very impressed with your background. But I have no plans of selling my Nevada holding."

Ray gave a thin smile. "Night is still young. Shall we sit down? We have a lot to discuss."

The pair of four sat down at the table.

Mr. Gardner hummed. "As you said, the night is young. But I don't like to talk business. Until at least the entree."

When Felicity's phone went off, she checked to see a message from John: "Need help."

Felicity glanced at Ray, seeing him waving a butter knife, recalling to their earlier conversation, chuckling lightly.

➣

Verdant

Skylar, Justin, Thea and Roy were dressed for the club opening, just like everyone else, but it wasn't going well as the DJ was playing bad dance music and no one was dancing or enjoying themselves.

Carrie arrived to the club, but stood at the back so that there wasn't a chance that Skylar and Justin would see her until she was ready.

Skylar, Justin, Thea and Roy were wincing at the music.

"Maybe the DJ got confused and he thinks he's at a rave," Roy told them.

"This is bad even for rave music," Justin told them. Skylar looked at him in amusement. Justin shook his head. "Not that I would know."

Roy smirked.

Skylar shook her head. "I think my ears are bleeding."

"I'll take care of it," Thea told them. "I was in charge for the DJ, while you guys handled the rest. Let me fix it."

"All right," Skylar agreed.

Thea walked up to the DJ. "Excuse me, I'm sorry, I... you're fired."

"What about the rest of the night?" the DJ asked.

Thea plugged her phone into the speakers. "I think my Spotify playlist is a better option than you right now."

The DJ took off the headphones, tossing them down, walking away. "Whatever."

Chase walked up to Thea. "You need some help?"

Thea sighed. "Just when I thought the night couldn't get any worse."

Chase smirked. "Thought I'd swing by, see what kind of trainwreck this would be. Oh, did I say trainwreck? Because this is... pow!"

Thea gave him a sarcastic, annoyed look. "You know, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

Chase chuckled. "Yeah, I think I'm the only one."

Thea turned to face him in annoyance. "Oh, I just remembered. I own a bar."

Thea walked past.

Chase turned after Thea, grabbing her arm. "Half the gate and guaranteed gigs four times a week."

"Two times a week," Thea negotiated.

"Three," Chase replied.

Thea gave in. "Fine. Just get these people dancing."

Thea walked away.

Chase smirked, turning to the DJ station, putting on the headphones, plugging his phone in, changing the song.

(Song:) Habits (Stay High) [The Chainsmokers Radio Edit] - Tove Lo, The Chainsmokers

Almost immediately, the crowd cheered and started to dance.

Skylar and Justin couldn't help but smile.

Skylar took Justin by the hand, pulling him to the dance floor. "You know what I want."

Justin tilted his head in amusement. "I should've known this would happen when I agreed to be the assistant manager."

Skylar smiled. "Yes, you should've. Part of being club owners and managers, Justin Smoak."

Justin took Skylar's hand and spun her around, making her smile and laugh, smiling in return. "You're trouble, Skylar Queen."

Skylar shrugged, smirking. "I've spent most of my life being the good girl of the family. I can live with being trouble now."

They smiled, continuing to dance. Skylar laced her fingers in Justin's hair as Justin cupped her cheek, sharing a cute, sweet, passionate kiss, even something as soft as this kiss showing how much they loved each other. How even when they were in threat, they still felt endless electricity together, chemistry overwhelming as they took this chance to have fun and forget everything for the night.

At the back of the club, hidden beyond the crowd from their view, Carrie watched with narrowed eyes, glaring with hatred at Skylar.

(Song Ends)

➣

Boat

Jessica and Amy were going after Azriel to save him and stop Olympus, going up to the boat where they followed the Olympus employees taking Azriel.

Ophelia was on the boat, speaking through a radio. "Get the Major to A deck. I want all personnel and cargo loaded ASAP."

Jessica and Amy remained in hiding for now, and while Amy was not in her Ruby suit, she could pose as someone else to get on the ship.

"So what are we gonna do?" Jessica asked.

Amy looked around. "You wanna help? Keep that com in your ear and be my eyes and ears. You're the lookout. Important role."

"Yeah, and you trying to put on kiddie wheels again to try and protect me," Jessica replied.

Amy shrugged, walking toward the entrance of the dock, looking at a guard up ahead as the fence was about to close. "Hey, how's it going?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the guard told her.

"I got a meeting upstairs," Amy told him.

"Stay right there," the guard warned.

Amy smiled sarcastically as the fence closed in front of her. "You know who I am, right? Star City dock authority."

"You know I don't care, right?" the guard asked.

"You heard of a harbor master?" Amy asked. "That's my boss. Now, if your boss doesn't give my boss ten thousand dollars, this vessel's not going anywhere."

"I guess that vessel's not going anywhere," the guard replied.

Amy gave a bitter smile, looking away tensely before looking back, very intimidating. "Well, I guess you just gotta ask yourself one question. Am I gonna be the guy that makes a bad decision to send the bag girl home empty-handed, make the boss get out of bed, start raining hellfire on whoever's responsible? Or am I gonna be the guy who makes a good decision and get the hell out of the goddamn way, so we can all get home in time to have dinner with the family?" Jessica smirked, impressed. "So what's it gonna be?"

"Excuse me?" the guard asked.

Amy glared at him. "Did I stutter?"

The guard sighed. "Wait here."

The guard turned around, walking toward his superiors to find out what to do now.

Jessica chuckled. "Nicely done, Amy."

Amy smirked. "Pretty good, right?"

The gate buzzed open.

With his orders, the guard walked toward Amy. "Hey, I got an answer for you."

"Thank you very much," Amy replied.

The guard took out his gun and fired.

Amy was wearing a Kevlar vest, so she was safe, but she fell to the ground, the bullets still hurting but not killing her.

Jessica watched in concern and worry, even though she knew that Amy was okay.

Amy acted dead, buying herself some time.

The guard walked away.

Amy stood, walking up behind him. "Hello, there."

The guard turned to face Amy. Amy caught his wrist before he could aim his gun, elbowing him in the face viciously before punching him in the head, grabbing it, slamming it against the crate next to them, knocking him out and watching him fall.

Jessica saw a crane lifting cars and putting them on the boat, getting an idea, running up to a car, getting in the back.

The crane lifted up the car, carrying it over the fence and to the boat.

Once Jessica was sure that she was on the ground, she got out of the car.

➣

Warehouse

Jill woke up with a bomb strapped to her chest, standing within a glass box of sorts.

Oliver walked closer, seeing the bomb on Jill's chest, running closer. "Jill!"

"Stop," Jill told him.

Oliver paused.

Jill tried to pry the bomb vest off of her, but this wasn't like the one that they were able to get off of Gravano.

Oliver heard a beeping when Jill pulled. "Stop, stop, stop. Don't."

Jill hung her head. "Call Felicity."

Oliver nodded.

➣

Restaurant

Ray was still having dinner with the Gardners; Felicity had stepped away.

"Obviously, the progeneration of certain minerals can't be accounted for by simple elemental cohesion," Mr. Gardner stated.

Felicity returned to the table. "I am so sorry. I had to help a co-worker with a thing."

Ray whispered. "I had to have them take the steak knives away."

Felicity gave a slight smile. "I'm sorry. Mr. Gardner, did Ray have a chance to tell you about his plans for your mineral deposits in Nevada?"

"Uh, no, Miss Smoak," Mr. Gardner answered. "As I mentioned, I'm not interested in selling."

"Please, call me Felicity," Felicity stated. "And I don't blame you for not wanting to sell Ray your mine. Because you don't know what his plans are. The thing about Ray is, he's not... a businessman. Businessmen make deals. They make money. What Ray is... is something else entirely."

Ray and Felicity glanced at each other.

"Perhaps you can enlighten us," Mr. Gardner said.

Felicity smiled softly. "He inspires. Ray isn't interested in making money. He's interested in making the world a better place." Ray couldn't look away from Felicity, a small smile on his lips. "So if Ray wants your mine, believe me, it's because he's going to put it to the kind of use that's gonna make you proud."

Ray was so touched by the words.

Felicity got a call from Oliver, which she frowned as she had no idea what was happening now.

➣

Verdant

(Song:) Turn Down For What - Lil Jon, DJ Snake

Justin was at the bar, getting a drink.

John walked up to Justin. "Felicity just called. She got a ping on Cutter, and she's here."

Justin looked around in alarm. "Where's Skylar?"

"She's looking, and making sure that Thea and everyone else is safe," John answered.

Justin nodded. "Thanks. Call--"

John spoke at the same time as Justin. "Jill and Oliver."

"Already tried," John told him. "They didn't answer. Something's up. Skylar and Roy are scoping out the club, and I'm gonna head out to make sure they're good. Amy's still running a lead with Jessica."

Justin nodded. "All right."

John walked away to find Roy.

Justin looked around, finding the back of the club where it would be easy for someone like Carrie to hide her face, walking toward the corner.

Carrie was sitting there, sipping on a drink, smiling. "I knew you'd find me, lover." Justin gave her a hard look. Carrie stood. "I have to admit. I didn't think running a club would be your kind of scene. You're always surprising me."

"You need to leave," Justin told her.

"I wouldn't be mean to me," Carrie told him. "Not when I have a bomb somewhere in this club and have your friends Sapphire and Arrow nice and trapped with another."

Justin closed his eyes, sighing. "You want to talk? Fine. I will meet you anywhere but here. And you have to disarm the bombs and let everyone go."

Carrie grinned. "So you're asking me out."

Justin remained serious and composed. "Where do you want to meet, Carrie?"

Carrie chuckled. "I know a place. Our special spot." She walked closer, trailing a hand over Justin's chest. "But you listen to me, lover. I've been burned before. And if you're playing me, I promise you, I'll set off the bomb here and kill everyone in this place, and kill your vigilante friends at mine."

Carrie smiled, walking away.

Justin closed his eyes, hanging his head. "Fucking great."

➣➣

Boat - Sub Level Two

Azriel woke up restrained to a chair, and the bag was pulled from over his head. He tried to pull free from his restraints, groaning.

Ophelia was sitting across from him. "I'm sorry about that. Security precautions. My name is Ophelia Van Snyde. But I'm guessing you already knew that with the way you and your friends from the theater knew what you were doing."

Azriel glared at her. "Madam Hydra."

Ophelia smirked. "I know you think what we're doing here is wrong, but do you know the name Henrietta Lacks? She checks into a hospital in 1951 to have a tumor removed from her cervix, but the doctor doesn't just take the tumor, he also takes healthy cells in the process. Those cells, stolen without her consent, are the backbone of nearly every medical advacement in the last century. All because someone took one look at that woman and saw her true potential."

"What is this?" Azriel asked.

"You're truly fascinating," Ophelia told him. "I thought we had rounded up all the subjects from the Tragedy of the Gulf all these years ago in Gotham."

Azriel frowned in confusion. "What?"

Ophelia realized. "Oh, child, you didn't know? That's what gave you powers. I mean, your exposure wasn't major, so it explains the problems it gave your mind. I mean, your lab results were fascinating. If you were exposed again, you have everything inside of you unlocked, I'm sure."

Azriel pulled at his restraints. "Why are you doing this? I mean, if you want people with powers, there's a city a few hours away full of it."

"You mean metahumans in Central City?" Ophelia asked. "Please, dark matter only gets you so far, Azriel."

"Is that why you used it on your pills?" Azriel fired back.

"What?" Ophelia asked.

"I saw it on the pill," Azriel told her. "I examined it. It might have mostly animal DNA, but the dark matter in that is only found in metahumans after the particle accelerator explosion."

Ophelia smirked, impressed. "You're a brilliant one, aren't you? But yes, I mean, it wasn't easy getting Glacia and Pyra's DNA, that cost me a lot. But luckily Guardian was shot during one of their missions against a man who could make clones of himself, leaving all that blood for me to find at the crime scene."

Azriel frowned. "You used the Central City heroes to make the pills?"

"Guardian most of all," Ophelia answered. "All of his genetic markers are impressive. I hope he does something good with it other than wasting it away on catching collapsing buildings. But of course, he doesn't know the full extent of his powers yet because his teacher is taking his sweet, sweet time teaching any of those heroes their full abilities."

Azriel wasn't taking in all of what Ophelia was saying, as he was realizing some of the people he saw had fire and ice powers. "Newt the fire guy, and that girl Cassie from the tank, the ice queen. Their powers came from Pyra and Glacia."

"And their human bodies couldn't handle it which is why it overwhelmed them completely and killed them in the end," Ophelia finished.

"I'm guessing you have someone with superstrength like Guardian," Azriel told her.

"Yes, and I did have a what people are calling the 'chameleon'," Ophelia answered. "Turning into things he touched. Your friend Jessica Lance faced him at the bank heist and chased him down and had him arrested, which was certainly impressive given that she couldn't see him most of the time. I believe Guardian showed the first sign of that recently, but that new ability was just activated, so he has no idea what's in store for him."

Azriel was completely lost. "If you know metahumans exist, why are you trying to make more?"

"I don't want metahumans," Ophelia answered. "I'm talking about magical energy here, Azriel. I mean, I'm talking about permanent power, the next step in human evolution. All of our greatest advancements began in darkness, Azriel. It's up to the pioneers to light the way."

Azriel scoffed. "Well, you see, that's the thing, Ophelia. You're not a pioneer. You're a drug dealer."

Ophelia nodded. "I know that's what they're saying about me on the streets. That I'm giving powers that kill the test subjects because their bodies weren't built to handle these powers, but I'm not a monster. I'm nothing but a harbinger of evolution."

Azriel looked at her in disbelief. "You're hurting people. You're giving these powers and they're causing mayhem. What happens if the rest of the world gets them?"

Ophelia scoffed. "This world, a feeble creation of chance and happenstance, and humanity is nothing but blind followers of a stagnant order, clinging to pitiful norms and feeble institutions. You would dare to call this world a masterpiece?"

"You can't just cut people apart and build them up as if they're your dolls," Azriel told her.

"Yes, I can!" Ophelia snapped, raising her voice, before returning to a normal tone. "Humanity are dolls, dancing and dancing on strings. Well, I'm gonna cut those strings."

"Why aren't you just killing me?" Azriel asked. "Why are you talking to me about your plan?"

"What is it you truly think of me?" Ophelia asked. "That I'm some boogeyman? Systemically creating people like you to round up and wipe out. Or make into my soldiers. See, Azriel, I helped expand your kind. I don't take to killing them lightly. Only if they don't show promise. Why do you think I'm doing this?"

"Because you're pure evil," Azriel bit back. "And you're scared of us. The ones you can't control."

Ophelia chuckled. "I'm an evolutionary biologist. If anything, I'm fascinated. You know there's a name for what you are? Channelers, people with the right genetic material that when exposed to arcane energy instead of rejecting it, their cells absorb it and it makes them extraordinary."

"Extraordinary?" Azriel repeated, incredulous. "Is that what you think this is?"

Ophelia chuckled. "You poor thing. It's no wonder you don't believe it." She picked up a file, looking through it. "You were abandoned at the fire station as a baby, went into the system until you were finally adopted by the Knights. The Tragedy at the Gulf, your father's death, you went back in the system."

Azriel looked down. "Stop it."

"Finally taken in by Irene Aiono," Ophelia finished. "And she's been the best to take care of you since your adoptive father died. Your powers must have developed earlier. Is that why you spent time at Arkham Asylum?"

Azriel clenched his fists, getting more and more overwhelmed. "I said stop it."

"You know, had I found you, that would have never happened," Ophelia told him. "I would have never allowed you to be treated like that. You see now why I want to find and create more like you, Azriel?"

"We don't want to be found," Azriel told her. "We just want to be left alone."

Ophelia looked away dismissively. "Destiny cares little about what you want."

Azriel realized something. "Wait, create."

Ophelia looked at him. "What?"

"You said create," Azriel told her. "And before you said 'permanent power'. You want..." He realized. "You want to recreate the explosion."

Ophelia smiled. "Don't look so surprised." She took out Azriel's sketch book. "I mean, it seems to me you already knew." She turned it around, showing him the drawing Jessica and Amy had seen before which was Starling City in shambles and a dark red energy orb glowing in the sky. "Prophecy. Such a interesting gimmick, that one."

Azriel shook his head in denial. "You can't do this. It's madness."

Ophelia stood, walking around the table to sit on the table in front of Azriel. "It's science actually, and you have no idea what the world will look like with more people like you. The evolution that will bring. The people that can help the world."

"Or destroy it?" Azriel replied. "You really think that all of your creations are gonna wanna save the world? What if most of them want to create chaos?"

Ophelia shrugged. "That's an inevitability. A risk that I'm willing to take."

"And you don't care?" Azriel asked in disbelief.

"No, I don't," Ophelia answered. "Channelers can be unpredictable. Uncontrollable. But so is the rest of the world. Do you know what your kind can do against the likes of the villains of this city? All over the world. I'm not the bad guy here, Azriel. Not by a long shot. Speaking of shots."

Ophelia took out a needle.

➣

Control Room

Jesscia walked in, finding Amy with another unconscious guard, and dressed up as a boat guard now. "That was close."

Amy looked at Jessica. "Yeah."

They heard beeping from the computers, turning their heads to look at the screen.

Several images of each hallway at the doors were shown.

They saw some men trying to get through a door. "Alpha 5 to ops. Open hatch 26."

Amy and Jessica walked up to the control desk.

"Doors," Amy stated.

Jessica looked around. "Hatch 26..."

They knew that they had to open the door so that no one knew that anything was wrong.

Jessica found the numbers with little notches underneath "Door controls", two lines separated for the "upper deck" and the "lower hull", flipping the one that said H26.

Hatch 26 opened with a beep.

Jessica chuckled in relief.

Amy nodded, impressed. "Nicely done." They watched the screens. "They have Azriel below deck. Sub level two."

Jessica nodded in agreement, pointing to the door controls. "Okay, so see here? All the checkpoints got their own security doors. And if we press those two buttons, the whole thing goes on lockdown mode. It's just like County."

Amy nodded. "Right, so you're saying you can open and close doors for me."

"Yeah," Jessica answered.

"Good," Amy told her. "Stay here."

Amy walked toward the door.

Jessica turned after her. "You're going after Azriel alone?"

"Yep," Amy answered. "And I need you here to get the doors open for me." She saw a weapon locker next to the door, opening it to pull out a gun. "You get in any trouble, you run. You meet me at the front of the ship. If I can get there, I will. If I can't, then you keep running."

"You need help," Jessica told her. "There's like a thousand guards out there."

Amy cocked the shotgun in her hands. "I can handle it. Remember where I came from the past six years."

Jessica knew that was a good point, sighing, nodding. "All right. Just be careful. It's about to get real noisy."

Jessica hit the two buttons for lockdown, making lights flash and alarms blare.

Amy nodded, walking out of the room.

 ➣

Sub Level Two

Azriel was struggling against his restraints.

Ophelia prepped the needle. "No one is going to hurt you. Actually, this might hurt just a little bit."

"What is this?" Azriel demanded.

Ophelia turned to Azriel. "Well, I could give you a boring lecture about recombiant DNA therapy, but the short story is, this will fix you."

"You have to stop," Azriel told her. "All of it. That vision didn't end with the world happy. What you're doing will create nothing but chaos."

"That's where you're wrong," Ophelia told him. "Science requires experimentation and results demand sacrifice. And what I will bring..."

"It will only be death," Azriel stated, pleading with her to see reason no matter how useless it was.

Ophelia shook her head. "No, it will be world-changing. Devastating, yes, but most of it will be an..." She smirked. "An Awakening."

"Awakening?" Azriel repeated.

"Yes, let's call it that," Ophelia told him.

Azriel scoffed in disbelief. "You're insane."

"The explosion won't reach down here, and with this, I can return you to the way you used to be," Ophelia told him, rolling her eyes.

Azriel continued struggling. "There's nothing wrong with me!"

"Other than you using the gifts I've given you to work against me and not with me," Ophelia told him. She gestured to the guard behind Azriel. "Come on."

The guard grabbed Azriel to restrain him, as Ophelia brought the needle close to Azriel's skin.

Azriel struggled and screamed. "No! No!"

Another guard ran inside. "Ma'am! There's been a breach."

Ophelia put the needle down, turning on the screen behind them so they could see security footage of Jessica and Amy on the boat, as the alarms and flashing lights finally reached sub-level two. "Wow. Your friends are coming to save you." Azriel was shocked but relieved. Ophelia shrugged. "That's one way to get them to come to me."

Ophelia and the guards left the room.

Azriel was now worried about Jessica and Amy. "No. No, no."

Ophelia looked at a guard named Wallace. "Get to ops. Get his friends."

"On it," Wallace agreed.

Wallace turned around, walking away.

 ➣

Warehouse / Verdant

Jill was still in the glass case with the bomb strapped to her chest, with Oliver outside of it.

John just got here, as they were speaking with Felicity at the foundry, while Felicity was still in her date dress.

Jill bit her lip. "Felicity? You remember anything from Vera Mitchell's files on EOD and bombs that helped with Shrapnel?"

"Not much," Felicity answered. "Why?"

"Jill has a bomb strapped to her chest in a glass case," Oliver answered.

"Frak," Felicity worried. "Oliver, I need you to film the bomb and the wiring. Just need a peak."

Oliver took out his phone to get a peak at the bomb and its wiring on Jill's chest vest. "Stay still."

"Really?" Jill asked sarcastically.

Oliver gave her a look.

John looked slightly amused.

"Okay, that's great," Felicity told them. "Um, I have no idea how to diffuse this bomb, but I know someone who would."

Oliver knew what she was going to say given what Jill said before about the EOD specialist. "Vera Mitchell. We don't trust anyone new with our secrets, Felicity."

"Well, I've met her and I trust her, and so do Barry, Aurora and Logan, who all helped save both of your lives and the lives of this city at one point," Felicity pointed out. "I won't tell Vera who you guys are, but I'm showing her the feed so she can help us."

Oliver and Jill both agreed with that much, nodding.

"All right, make the call, Felicity," John told her.

Felicity nodded. "Skylar, Roy, how about you two?"

In Verdant, in the backroom where no one knew where the bomb was except for them after finding it, Skylar and Roy were looking it over.

"We found the bomb," Roy answered. "It looks complex as hell though."

"I don't think freezing it like the one at the stadium is gonna work this time," Skylar told them. "And we don't have any Freon in here anyway, do we?"

"No, but I think that we can kill two bombs with one call," Felicity answered.

"Hope Vera's as good as you say, Felicity," Skylar told her. "We gotta stop this bomb, and then I have to get to Justin before anything happens with Cutter."

Felicity nodded worriedly for her brother, knowing that Justin went out there alone to save everyone, buying them time to stop the bombs. "I know. Skylar, I need you to record the bomb with your phone so that we can get that one, too."

Felicity pulled up a video call with Vera.

➣

Subway Stop

Justin walked up to the subway stop, speaking through coms. "Skylar, you there?"

"Yeah," Skylar answered. "Everybody's just trying to stop bombs while you're going up to your psycho stalker who could end up killing you. Why is this normal for our lives? Seriously."

Roy raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement.

"And I'm here too," Felicity added. "'Me' being Felicity. The older sister that is going to kill you if you get hurt martyring yourself to give us time to stop the bombs, Justin."

"Thank you for that, Felicity," Justin replied sarcastically.

"What's your 20?" John asked.

"Subway stop downtown," Justin answered.

"Why did Cutter have you meet her there?" Oliver asked.

Justin looked around, recognizing the place from the night of the siege, realizing. "Because this is where we saved her."

Carrie walked toward Justin. "Hello, lover."

"I'm not your lover," Justin told her.

"Well, maybe not yet," Carrie told him. "But after one night with me, that'll all change. I promise."

In Verdant, Skylar rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Carrie, I'm here to help you because you're not well," Justin told her.

"Don't ever say that again," Carrie told him. "You sound like that shrink that they sent me to."

"My friends spoke to her," Justin told her.

Carrie nodded. "They talked to that psycho? She just wanted me to take pills, pills, pills." Felicity was listening from the foundry, while Skylar and Roy listened from Verdant, and Oliver, Jill and John listened from the warehouse. "She thinks that love is a disease. But it's not." Carrie walked toward Justin. "Love is the cure."

"I am not the man you think I am," Justin told her.

"You're a hero," Carrie told him. "You saved me. And you didn't have to wear a costume or a mask to do that. You showed me exactly who you are, without fear. That's why I love you."

Carrie reached up to cup Justin's cheek, leaning in for a kiss.

Justin grabbed Carrie's wrists to stop her, moving his head back so she didn't kiss him. "I understand that you're hurting." Carrie shook her head, backing away. "I can't be with you."

"Yes, you can," Carrie told him. "You're a liar."

Carrie took out a denotator for both the bombs in place.

Justin hit Carrie's hand to make her drop the trigger before she could press it and kill everyone before the others had a chance to stop the bombs. "I don't wanna hurt you."

"You already have," Carrie told him.

Justin and Carrie's fight was only just about to begin, while Justin was buying the others time to defuse the bombs.

➣

Boat - Hallway

Amy walked through the darkness of the hallway with the red lights flashing. "Can you hear me, Jessica?"

In ops, Jessica was watching through the screens. "Hearing and seeing."

Amy stopped at a door, looking at the number above it. "Hatch 18." Jessica flipped H18, and with a beep, Hatch 18 opened. Amy nodded. "Thanks." She ran along, searching. "All right, where am I going now?"

Jessica checked the map on screen. "There's another door at the other end, to the left, down the stairs."

In another hallway, Wallace was making his way toward ops, speaking through his radio. "Alpha 1 to ops. Pop hatch 15." Jessica obviously didn't. "Alpha 1 to ops. Hatch 15, open it up."

Jessica pursed her lips. "Amy, we got a problem."

Wallace hit the door in front of him. "Let's go."

When nothing happened, Wallace took out a Power pill, twisting to activate, swallowing it dry.

Jessica saw him take a pill, nervous given that she didn't know what power he would have. "That big dude's coming this way."

"Which way?" Amy asked.

"My way," Jessica answered. When Wallace was powered up, he easily used super strength to punch down the door in front of him, tearing it off the hinges and making it fall to the floor. Jessica watched in shock. "Oh, shit."

➣

Cockpit

Ophelia walked toward the captain. "How quickly can you get us out of here?"

"About 15 minutes until we can release from the dock, ma'am," the captain answered.

Ophelia walked past without stopping, or even looking at him. "You got ten. Let's go!"

➣

Hallway

Wallace was making his way toward ops.

In ops, Jessica was still instructing Amy where to go. "You're almost there."

"Down here?" Amy asked.

"Down the stairs, last door to the right," Jessica answered.

"Copy that," Amy told her. "Heading down to sub level two."

"Just take a right," Jessica told her.

Amy couldn't hear her the lower she got. "What? Jessica, I can't hear you. You're breaking up."

"Amy," Jessica said. She saw that a man was approaching Amy in the corridor through the security tapes, hitting a button on a mic for the intercom system in the boat so that they could hear her. "Amy, there's a guy behind you."

Amy turned to see the guard, who was powered up by a pill. The guard tried to punch Amy. Amy ducked, punching him in the face. The guard spun around to try and backhand punch Amy in the face, but Amy caught his arm, twisting his arms around to throw him into the wall, making him fall. The guard jumped up, kicking the shotgun out of Amy's hands. He could stretch and turn his body anyway he pleased, so that when Amy kicked him in the leg and twisted his arm around, it didn't hurt him in the least, and the guard twisted free, until he stood behind Amy now, his arms bending back to loop around Amy's head from an impossible angle. Amy took hold of his hands to pry them apart before he could grab her with a yell of exertion, twisting and spinning to face him so that now they were facing each other, kicking him viciously in the leg. Instead of breaking, the leg just bounced back into place, and the guard kicked Amy in the stomach. Amy twisted his arm into her hold, pulling and flipping him over her head to the floor in front of them. The guard landed on his feet and tried to punch Amy. Amy ducked, punching him in the face. The guard spun around Amy to loop his stretching limbs around her, falling back to the floor on his back, pulling Amy with him, tightening his elongnated limbs around her to restrain her, as he tried to choke her out.

Amy took out her Sai knives, slashing them completely through the guard's arms, making him let go of her with a yell, as she spun the blades downward as she swiped them through the air and drove them into his legs around her, making him scream more as she made his legs release her, spinning out of his hold, both standing. The guard tried to punch her with his wounded arms, but Amy caught them both, flipping him through the air to the floor, flipping with him as she rolled across the floor, turning to grab him and drag him toward the door.

Amy called up to the camera so Jessica would hear her. "Get ready with the door!"

➣

Verdant / Warehouse

Vera was looped in with the feed that Oliver and Skylar were giving from the trap with the bomb. "Yeah, it looks like the wiring circles around the vest, yes?"

Oliver disguised his voice. "That's right."

"So if you try to remove the vest, it will detonate," Vera told them. "Cut the wrong wire on either of the bombs, and they'll detonate."

Jill steeled herself as she disguised her voice. "We know."

Vera took a closer look at the video of Jill's bomb vest. "There's a receiver on the outside, which means that there's a remote detonator. One wrong move, and you know..."

"I die," Jill finished.

"Yes," Vera answered.

"So no knives and arrows," Felicity stated.

"No," Vera answered. "There's a chance I can disarm the bomb, but I need to the see the circuitry inside the vest. And X-rayed image. Are there any satellite images on the building?"

Felicity quickly checked by hacking on the building's network and position. "Yes, it does."

In the warehouse, John, Jill and Oliver exchanged a curious look, while Skylar and Roy did the same in Verdant, at hearing Vera and Felicity work together in order to disarm the bombs.

"Good," Vera told them. "Can someone get the satellites down so that they can be placed in the case with Sapphire?"

John nodded. "On it."

John quickly went to the building rooftop.

"Okay, let me see with the other bomb," Vera told them.

Skylar recorded it while Felicity patched in Vera, using her voice changer. "Guessing the same applies here."

"For the most part," Vera answered. "The twist in the wires, it all parallels with the bomb vest. But there's four silver coils."

"What are they?" Roy asked.

"Pressure sensors," Vera answered. "You cannot put any pressure on it or it'll go up."

"Got it," Roy told her.

"You see the circuit board?" Vera asked. "Size of a checkbook. It's normally the size of a half dollar. This girl's a lunatic. Some game to her."

"Yeah, you're telling me," Skylar agreed. "What about the light and all the wires?"

"Colors don't matter, for this bomb," Vera told them. "Tell me which one is hot to the touch."

Skylar and Roy exchanged a look, knowing they had to go through all the wires to see which one was hot.

➣

Subway Stop

Carrie tried to punch Justin. Justin caught her arm. Carrie tried to stab him with an arrow. Justin raised his arm to block the move, twisting her other arm that he still had in his hold, making her double over. Carrie spun out of the restraint, to try and backhand punch him. Justin ducked, punching her in the face. Carrie kicked Justin in the side, spinning around to kick him in the face.

➣

Boat - Ops

Wallace got to the ops door, starting to punch it repeatedly with super strength.

Inside, Jessica jumped as she backed away from the control desk and the ops door, watching as it started to concave and bend in on itself from Wallace's strength.

Jessica remained focused on Amy with the stretchy guard in the hallway, watching as Amy pulled him into the doorway, closing it at just the right time so the door slammed on the guard's arm and pinned him there.

Jessica spoke to Amy through the mic, on the intercom system. "Just down the hallway to the left, Amy. You're almost there."

Jessica knew she had only seconds until Wallace broke in, breaking the glass of the fire ax, taking it out. She lifted the ax and swung it down into the control desk with all her strength, destroying the table and the screens with a burst of electricity. She quickly ran toward the side of the room.

➣

Sub Level Two

Azriel could hear them from where he was tied up, smirking slightly. "You hear that? That's the sound of the most advanced tactical team in the world taking over your ship."

➣

Verdant / Warehouse

In the warehouse, John brought the satellites down, handing one to Oliver, as they both put the satellites into the case with Jill.

"What's the satellites for?" Oliver asked.

"It's to create a scanner that will produce the clearest X-ray image of the bomb," Vera answered. Oliver and John got the satellites in place, as Oliver used his phone to screen the bomb vest on Jill's chest, and Felicity was able to help with the X-rayed image as it was fed to her computer, which she was sending to Vera as she analyzed from Central City. "Okay, okay, good. Sapphire, can you raise your arms and keep them still as you slowly rotate?"

Jill did as instructed. "There's no chance that this could set the bomb off, is there?"

"Define 'chance'," Felicity told her.

"There's good news and bad news," Vera stated.

"Good news first," Oliver told her.

"So, there's an interesting anomaly in the wiring," Vera explained. "An unorthodox, essentially superfluous twist in the conduits, on both bombs. Bombers often have distinct signatures in their work, not unlike the markers of a sculpture, or repeating themes of a writer. Bomb-makers, no different. If the twist is a siganture of the bomber, then it could help identify him. Because I doubt your girl is responsible for creating this bomb."

"No, she isn't," Felicity agreed. "But you could help us track down the person responsible for this."

"What's the bad news?" Roy asked.

"The bad news is, Felicity and I can't disarm them remotely," Vera answered. "There's one fail safe after another. It's too intricate. There's even a contingency if we try to disrupt the signal between the timer and the remote detonator, then..."

"It goes boom," Felicity finished. "Guys, she's right."

Jill exchanged a worried look with Oliver and John. "That's a lot of bad news."

Felicity was already typing up a storm on her computer. "You know what? Let's focus on the good news. I'm searching the FBI databases to see if there's any criminals who match this bomb-making signature."

"While we can't disarm remotely, you can disarm the bomb at Verdant manually," Vera told them. "Which wire--"

Skylar found which wire was hot to the touch. "Vera, the orange wire is hot to the  touch."

"Do you have clamps?" Vera asked.

Skylar took out a clamp. "Yeah." Roy gave her a weird look. Skylar gave him a look in return. "Boyfriend's an army guy, remember? I prepared for stuff like this given our line of work."

Roy shrugged.

"Attach them to the orange wire," Vera told them. "Two inches apart."

"Two inches," Roy agreed.

"Do not allow those clamps to touch any other wire," Vera told them.

Skylar nodded shakily. "Got it."

Skylar steadied her shaking hands so she could put one clamp on the orange wire, having to be extremely careful given the twists of the wire, which made it difficult to use the clamps without touching the other wires.

➣

Subway Stop

Justin grabbed Carrie, pushing her onto the stairs of the building. Carrie stood, running up the steps. Justin jumped up next to her, spinning around to backhand punch her in the face. Carrie tried to punch him. Justin pivoted back to make her miss, spinning to kick her in the head with both feet, landing. Carrie punched Justin twice, trying to punch him.

Justin ducked, making Carrie spin around, kicking her in the stomach, making her fall. "It's over, Carrie."

Carrie was breathing heavily as she looked at Justin. "I guess it's true what they say. You only hurt the ones you love."

Carrie kicked the crate she was lying on and that Justin was standing on, making them both fall into the subway tunnel beneath them.

In the foundry, Felicity was worried because she lost coms contact with Justin when he fell into the subway tunnel. "Justin? Justin!"

➣

Verdant / Warehouse

In the warehouse, Oliver was watching Jill, worried. "Vera, what about the bomb vest?'

"What about what we can do from here?" Jill asked. "Manually?"

"Not before the timer goes off," Vera answered. "The timer's way down low on your vest given that you tried to pull it off, and each time, the time went down. So I need you guys to listen to me carefully. We're gonna let the bomb go off."

Felicity's eyes bugged out comedically as they usually did when she was in shock. "I might only be a tech girl, but I know enough that blowing people up is bad for their bodies."

"There is a shot at survival if you submerge her in ballistic gel," Vera explained. "Now, the impact velocity of the explosives can be reduced and the resultant energy transfer and reciprocal retardant force can be--"

Jill tilted her head back, lost and just trying to get to the point. "Vera, how does it work?"

Felicity was even lost about all of this. "Do you guys normally feel like this when I'm the one talking?"

"Yes," John answered expressively. "Dumb it down for us, Vera."

"The blast can be dispersed and dissipated enough so that she can possibly survive," Vera answered.

Jill processed that, nodding, looking away. "Could possibly. Great."

Felicity frowned. "And we'd need about 200 gallons of that gel to make that remotely possible."

"Luckily, they're in a warehouse with maybe that much," Vera pointed out.

Oliver looked around at the warehouse, realizing. "Vera's right. Ballistic gel is all around this building."

Felicity sighed heavily. "That makes me feel a tiny bit better."

"But you'd also need a shield between her body and the bomb to absorb part of the blast and direct the rest away from her," Vera explained. "I saw half a pound of C-4 in that vest. That's only enough to hurt Sapphire and anyone standing near her."

Skylar and Roy finished with the clamps on the wire.

"Vera, the wires are clamped down," Skylar told her.

"Now what?" Roy asked.

"Just cut it in the middle," Vera answered.

Skylar nodded. "I got it."

Skylar picked up wire cutters.

Roy watched worriedly.

Skylar was able to clip the wire in the middle.

The bomb beeped, but the red light turned to green, signaling it was disarmed.

Skylar and Roy both hung their heads in relief.

"We did it," Roy told them.

The others sighed in relief knowing that Skylar, Roy, Thea and everyone else in Verdant were safe, including Felicity in the foundry.

"Oh, thank God," Felicity sighed. "Skylar, get to the subway station now. I lost contact with Justin. It's only about a block from you."

Skylar stood, running off as fast as she could.

John was looking around, finding skid plates, walking closer to show them through Oliver's phone on video call to Felicity and Vera. "Should skid plates work as the shield?"

"Yes, that's perfect," Vera answered. "Boys, you need to find every bit of ballistic gel that you can find in that building and put it in the case."

Oliver and John went to do just that.

Felicity's computer beeped. "Oh, needle in a haystack, but I found a bomber with the twisted wiring signature."

"Who is it?" Oliver asked.

"Same type of bomb was used five years ago by a Jeffrey Evans," Felicity answered. "So-called DNA bomber, because of a double helix twist he added to his wires. He's an anti-government anarchist who hit a few federally owned communications towers. I think this is the guy that Cutter killed earlier tonight."

Oliver and John were pouring the gel into the case around Jill, which was filling up quickly by the boxes and barrels of the gel in the warehouse.

"This should be full shortly," Oliver said.

"Do you have canisters of Freeon in there?" Vera asked.

Oliver picked up the canisters. "Yes."

"Once you open them, you can get the gel down to 39 degrees in about a minute, and then she'll be safe, once you get that shield between her chest and the bomb," Vera told them.

Oliver and John used the canisters to cool the gel down just as instructed.

"How are we going to get the shield between her chest and the vest and get out in time before the bomb goes off?" John asked.

"We're not," Oliver answered, taking the skid plates from the table where John had put them down. "I'm going in."

"No," Jill told him.

"I don't recall asking for permission," Oliver replied, climbing up and pulling himself into the case, sliding down into the jell behind Jill.

Jill looked at John. "Go. Get out."

John shook his head. "Not happening."

"John," Jill warned.

John gave her a look. "We'll all make it out of here."

Oliver slid the skid plates underneath Jill's bomb vest as she groaned at the pressure on her chest, as the plate covered her face and shielded it from the bomb vest.

"Get out," Jill told him.

"Not a chance," Oliver told her, standing behind Jill to keep the skid plates in front of them, both needing to keep it up over her face and chest in order to protect her.

"Oliver," Jill warned.

"I'm staying," Oliver told her.

"We've never walked out before, and it's not starting now," John agreed.

"There's less than half a chance of this working," Jill told them in frustration.

"I don't care," Oliver replied. "We're staying and that's final."

Jill knew not to argue with them, letting out a shaky breath as she turned her head to look at Oliver over her shoulder, holding the plate in front of her chest and face as Oliver held his arms around her to help her steady it between their bodies and the bomb.

Despite her exasperation to their stubbornness and refusal to leave her, Jill felt intense emotion that they wouldn't leave her alone to die, or let her die at all, especially with Oliver right there with her, risking his life in order to help her stay alive. Relieved but not shocked or surprised as she knew that he always would, and he knew she would do the same if their situation was reversed. Both trusting each other inexpicably after everything they had already gone through and survived because of helping each other through the worst of it every single time.

And Oliver seemed to be thinking of the same things that Jill was as they looked each other in the eye, both praying for this to work.

It was a distraction to the remaining of the countdown, as the bomb exploded, and burst the glass case around them, which shattered as the gel spilled out to the floor, and Jill and Oliver fell to the ground.

John ran closer. "Jill. Oliver. Are you guys okay?"

Jill and Oliver were stunned by the blast, but otherwise unharmed, both coughing as they moved on the floor. Bodies stunned enough to where they couldn't get up right yet, but completely uninjured.

Jill let out an intense sigh of relief. "We're fine."

Felicity sighed in absolute relief as she hung her head. "Thank God. You two are giving me as much of a heartache as I'm terrified that woman is giving Justin right now."

"We're okay," Oliver told her. "Felicity, tell your friend Vera that she knows her stuff."

"Couldn't have done this without her," Jill agreed.

Felicity smiled. "They said thank you, Vera."

Vera couldn't help but smile in response. "Glad I could help."

After a moment, Jill and Oliver were sitting up, still breathing heavily as they looked at each other, stunned.

➣

On the Road

Skylar was driving as fast as she could down the road to get to the subway stop.

➣

Boat - Ops

Wallace continued to punch at the door until he finally took it down, walking in.

Only to find that Jessica was no longer in the room. "Fuck!"

Jessica was climbing down an escape hatch.

Ophelia radioed Wallace. "Wallace, what the hell is going on down there? Give me an update."

"Room's empty," Wallace answered. "She took the escape hatch. She could be anywhere."

Ophelia was frustrated and worried that all of her work could be undone by a team of two. "You get back to the Major. We are ending this. Somebody find Jessica Lance and stop that cop before she ruins everything." In the cockpit, Ophelia walked toward another man, waving for him to follow. "You, with me."

"The ship is ready," the captain told her.

"Then get us out to sea," Ophelia replied, walking.

The man she waved to followed.

➣

Hallway

Jessica walked out of the escape hatch, staying hidden when she needed to be, but she was a lot closer to sub level two now than Amy was, as Amy was busy fighting off other people in the ship.

➣

Sub Level Two

Azriel laughed.

"Something funny?" Guard 1 asked.

Azriel revealed that he had been working the ropes with a nail in the chair, pulling free, waving his hands at the guard. "Now it is."

Azriel stood so fast he made his chair fall.

The guards aimed their guns.

Wallace walked in. "Don't. He's mine." The guards backed off. Azriel and Wallace faced off. "Gotta be honest. I was a little disappointed we took you without a fight."

"Let's go then," Azriel replied.

Wallace swung at Azriel. Azriel ducked, kicking his leg spinning to kick his head, making him fall. Wallace got up, trying to kick Azriel with super strength. Azriel ducked, kicking him in the head, flipping through the air to try and kick him again. Wallace ducked. Azriel landed in a crouch. Wallace finally landed a punch on Azriel, his super strength sending him flying into the wall so hard that the wall cracked, and Azriel fell to the ground. With a groan of pain, Azriel stood. Wallace tried a series of punches and kicks. Azriel ducked or dodged to deflect or block the moves, kicking Wallace to the floor. Wallace stood, running closer, trying to kick Azriel. Azriel ducked, kicking Wallace in the shoulder, spinning to backhand punch him in the face. Wallace tried to punch him. Azriel backed away enough to make him miss, grabbing him by his shoulders, kneeing him in the stomach twice, flipping him to the floor.

Even while Wallace had superstrength, his size and height, he didn't have the speed or agility as Azriel did, so the only good thing he had in a fight was his strength, but no training.

Jessica came in from behind Guard 1, twisting his gun out of his hand before he saw her, using the gun to hit him in the head, punching him in the face, using the gun to hit the gun out of Guard 2's hands behind her. Guard 2 tried to punch Jessica. Jessica ducked, kicking Guard 2 in the stomach, elbowing him in the chest, hitting him in the chest with the gun, pushing him into a table.

Azriel and Wallace were still fighting. Wallace tried to kick Azriel. Azriel raised his leg to block the move, punching him with either arm. Wallace tried to punch him. Azriel ducked, kicking him in the chest, punching him in the face, making him back away, kicking him in the leg, spinning to kick him in the chest, then the head, making him fall, unconscious.

Jessica lifted Guard 2 up, turning to throw him into Guard 1, making them both fall to the floor, hitting them both in the head with the gun, knocking them out.

Guard 3 tried to shoot both Jessica and Azriel, making them duck. Jessica shot her gun at Guard 3, making him duck as well. Azriel ran closer to kick Guard 3 in the head, kicking him in the stomach, elbowing him in the face. Jessica hit Guard 3 over the head from behind with her gun, knocking him down, turning the gun to shoot him.

Azriel looked at Jessica, smirking. "Took you long enough."

Jessica smirked. "Yeah, you're welcome. Come on, we gotta get to the bow and the lifeboats. We're getting out of here."

"I have to stop a bomb," Azriel told her. "But you, meet up with Amy, and I'll meet you on the deck."

Jessica hesitated, but knowing that there wasn't much of a choice right now. "You better. We'll draw the fire to us."

Azriel nodded.

➣

Ops

Ophelia reached the ops room, speaking through the intercom, which luckily still worked even though Jessica destroyed the rest of the controls. "All security personnel should be on full alert. The asset is missing. Multiple intruders. I want a full sweep of the ship."

➣

Subway Tunnel

Justin and Carrie stood. Carrie tried to punch him. Justin raised his arms to block the move, spinning to kick Carrie, punching her repeatedly. Carrie managed to get a few kicks and hits in, but she was being easily dominated.

Carrie grabbed Justin by the arm, kicking his leg, punching him in the chest.

Justin was only unable to fight when Carrie hit his chest, groaning in pain as he held a hand to his heart, falling to his knees.

Carrie somersaulted over the tracks to flip Justin to the ground, handcuffing him to the tracks as she did, standing. "Sorry, lover. But if I can't have you..."

"Carrie, think about this," Justin told her.

Carrie glared. "I didn't want it to end this way. I just wanted to kill your friends and your girlfriend with the bombs. Not you, Justin. But I guess I don't handle rejection very well."

Justin sighed in frustration. "You don't have to do this."

Carrie nodded. "Yes, I do." The train drove closer, the horn honking, the lights shining over Justin and Carrie. Carrie smiled. "But at least this way, we can be together for eternity."

Skylar got here just in time to see them through the grate opening up above, jumping down into the tunnel, shooting an arrow through the cuffs on Justin to free her, helping him stand, grabbing both Carrie and Justin to jump them to safety at the side of the tunnel, 

The train passed Skylar, Justin and Carrie by, as they were all breathing heavily on the ground, slowly pushing themselves up.

Carrie glared at Skylar. "This is all because of you, Skylar."

Justin couldn't fight in his condition as he held his chest, worried. "Skylar..."

Skylar was not holding back unlike Justin was before, given what Carrie had done to everyone, and could still be the reason why Justin's heart vessel could burst, so she was determined to knock her out as fast as possible.

Carrie tried to shoot Skylar with an arrow. Skylar pivoted back to make the arrow miss, shooting an arrow of her own into Carrie's bow to make her drop it. Carrie tried to punch Skylar. Skylar caught her arm, twisting her arm, punching her in the face, twisting herself and Carrie's arm around so she could flip Carrie to the floor over her shoulder. Carrie stood to try and lift Skylar and throw her down. Skylar spun herself around Carrie's head to wrap her legs around her neck and flip them both to the ground, rolling them over to where Carrie was on the floor and she was over her, raising her arm back fiercely when she went to punch Carrie in the face, knocking her out.

Skylar stood, backing away from Carrie toward Justin. "I think that was about enough of that." She turned to Justin worriedly. "Justin? Are you okay?" Justin nodded breathlessly, holding his chest. Skylar helped steady Justin as he nearly fainted. "Come on. Let's get you help. And her, too."

Justin nodded painfully, holding onto Skylar tightly in relief, knowing that she and everyone else was okay, and Skylar held him in just as much relief to realize that he was too, but worried about the pain he was in now, fearing that it could lead to his heart vessel bursting.

➣➣

Verdant - Foundry

Justin was better after taking his medication for the heart vessel, and after some rest, the others were sure that his vessel was not going to burst.

Skylar was still worried as she sat at the table by Justin but giving him space.

Oliver and Jill were showered and changed into their normal clothes for the day.

Roy was here, too.

"Everyone okay?" Oliver asked.

"As much as we can be," Skylar answered. "Today was hard on everybody, huh?"

"Definitely," Jill answered. "Sure as hell didn't expect all that."

"Yeah, understatement of the year," Justin agreed, holding a hand to his chest in pain briefly.

Roy was concerned. "You okay?"

"Not really," Justin answered, looking at Roy, concerned after what he remembered about killing the police officer. "What about you?"

Roy shook his head. "Not really."

Skylar took Justin's hand. "Justin. You're already recovering and you're gonna be okay."

Justin gave her a slight smile. "Thanks to you. That was perfect timing to show up for a rescue, Sky."

Skylar chuckled slightly. "Yeah." She looked at her friend with concern. "You're gonna be okay too, Roy. Just give it time."

Roy nodded slightly, not knowing if he believed that, and Skylar and Justin were still reeling from what happened.

Jill looked at them sadly, wanting to do something to help make it a bit better, even if only for the night, exchanging a look with Oliver.

Oliver sighed, not knowing what to do, but knowing he wanted to do something to help, too.

John walked in. "It's done. Lyla, Kira and Karma said Cutter's even nuttier than the last woman they had in the Suicide Squad."

"Sure it was a good idea handing her over to Waller?" Oliver asked.

"Iron Heights isn't right for her," Justin told them. "Least on the Squad, she can make a difference."

Skylar nodded in agreement. "As much as I hate her for tonight, I agree. And not just because I find it a fitting ending given that she tried to kill all of us with bombs and now she has to deal with one in her neck herself."

Justin gave Skylar an amused look but couldn't deny the irony in that.

Oliver and John smirked, shaking their heads.

Roy chuckled a bit.

Jill gave them a slight smile. "I'm preparing a late dinner, if you guys wanna join. Bring Lyla and Sara, John. You know, before the town gathering later."

Oliver had the smallest of smiles as he nodded. "You know I'll be there."

Jill smiled a bit. "I know you will be."

"Count me in," Skylar told them.

John chuckled. "Thank you, Jill."

Roy shrugged. "Sure."

"Why not?" Justin agreed. "I can tell Felicity after she sees Ray."

"Hoping that maybe Jessica and Amy will be back from whatever lead they were on all day by then?" John asked.

"Yeah," Jill answered. "I haven't heard from either of them all day since Amy left. Have you guys?"

"No," Oliver answered. "Knowing Amy and Jessica, they wanted to handle something on their own."

"Let's hope they're okay," Skylar told them.

They all nodded.

"Amy did say that it was just intel, right?" Roy asked. "That's what Jessica told her, anyway."

"Yeah, who knows if that changed since then," John pointed out. "But Amy and Jessica can take care of themselves, guys. I'm sure they're fine."

Jill nodded, though she still couldn't help her concern and worry.

➣

Flashback - Five Years Ago

Night - Yamashiro Apartment Building

Tatsu and Jill walked toward the apartment, pausing at the door sadly.

"What do I tell him?" Tatsu asked. "How do I tell my son his father is dead?"

Jill looked at her sadly in sympathy, shaking her head, not knowing what to say.

They walked into the apartment.

Maseo was inside, sitting on the floor with Akio. "Where have you two been?" He stood. Tatsu looked at him in relief, running into his arms. "What's going on?"

They pulled away.

"You're home," Tatsu told him. "I was so worried."

"I know," Maseo told her. "I'm sorry. I should have called. Waller changed my orders and brought me in. We were on lockdown tonight because three agents got killed."

Tatsu and Maseo kissed.

"Gross," Akio told them.

Jill smiled a small smile.

"Akio, get over here," Maseo told him.

Tatsu, Maseo and Akio embraced, looking at Jill in relief.

Jill nodded to them, turning around, walking away.

➣

Now

Night - Verdant

Now, the club was empty, as everyone in it, including Thea, had been blissfully unaware that there was a bomb in the building that Skylar and Roy defused with the help of Felicity and Vera, and everything else that happened that night.

Thea was sitting at the bar, counting out money.

Chase walked up to Thea. "Pretty good gate tonight."

Thea smirked sarcastically, shaking her head. "You're never going to let me forget this, are you?"

"You have to admit, I did save your ass," Chase pointed out.

Thea scoffed a chuckle, sarcastic. "God, your modesty, it's--it's so refreshing."

Chase smirked. "You know, you're really cute when you're sarcastic."

Thea chuckled, holding out the money. "Half the gate, as agreed."

Chase considered, before leaning in to kiss Thea. "Keep the money. My grand reopening gift to you. See you next week."

Chase walked away, leaving Thea in her confusion and surprise.

➣

Palmer Technologies - Felicity's Office

Felicity was sitting at her desk, still dressed for the dinner, as she typed on her computer, communicating with Aurora about Justin's treatment after what happened tonight with his heart... again. While also doing work for the company.

Ray walked in. "Aha. I thought I might find you here."

"I thought I'd get a jump on that server encryption you asked for," Felicity explained. "Trying to, you know, make up for ruining the deal tonight."

Ray frowned. "Your definition of ruin is vastly different from mine." Felicity raised her eyebrows questioningly. Ray smiled. "Gardner's going to sell."

Felicity held out a hand, surprised. "That's amazing."

"It's all thanks to you," Ray told her.

Felicity chuckled, turning away from her desk, standing. "But, really, I should be thanking you. I mean, not just for the new job, but for this amazing, expensive necklace." She touched the necklace teasingly as she stepped closer. Ray chuckled, lowering his head. Felicity knew why. "You have to take it back, don't you?"

"Yeah, kind of do," Ray answered sheepishly, stepping closer.

"Yeah," Felicity sighed.

They both chuckled.

Ray stood in front of Felicity now, reaching up to take the necklace off. "Here, let me help you."

Felicity hummed. "Thank you."

"You know, Felicity Smoak..." Ray trailed off. "You're different from anyone I've ever met. And you deserve all those things, and more." Lost in the moment, Ray leaned in to kiss Felicity. Felicity returned the kiss in kind. Suddenly coming to his senses, Ray pulled away, looking guilty. "I'm--I'm sorry. I, um... I meant to keep tonight platonic. I should go."

Ray turned away.

Felicity frowned, noticing his suddenly odd behavior. "Ray?"

Ray gave her a slightly forced smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ray walked toward the door.

Felicity watched him in confusion. "Okay."

Ray walked out of the office.

Felicity was more puzzled than ever.

➣

Jill/Amy's Apartment - Dining Room

Jill, Oliver, Justin, Skylar, John, Lyla, Baby Sara and Roy were all gathered for the late dinner.

Felicity walked in, still in her dress. "Sorry. I know it's late, but..."

Jill shook her head reassuringly. "That was the invitation."

Felicity smiled.

Skylar was impressed. "Okay, first time seeing that dress, and you look amazing, Felicity."

Felicity grinned. "Thank you very much, Skylar." Justin smiled slightly, shaking his head. "Justin? You doing okay?"

"I'm fine," Justin answered. "I'm guessing you talked to Aurora immediately after all this went down."

Felicity shrugged. "I'm not gonna apologize for talking to the best doctor I know to help my baby brother when he almost dies because of his heart condition... again."

Felicity immediately embraced Justin.

Justin returned the hug. "I'm okay, Felicity."

The others smiled softly.

"Jessica and Amy are still out, and Laurel had to work, and Thea said she'll see us later at the town gathering," Oliver explained.

Jill nodded in understanding.

Roy loved the smell of dinner. "Mm. Something smells good."

They chuckled.

Lyla helped Jill set the table. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Jill told her.

"Of course," Lyla agreed.

John smiled at the sight of Lyla getting along with his team like family. "Didn't know you were a good cook, Jill."

"There's still a lot you don't know about me, Dig," Jill replied.

They all chuckled, taking their seats at the table.

➣

Palmer Technologies - Ray's Office

Ray was pacing, speaking on Bluetooth during a call. "Yep, I just sent the notarized transfer of ownership to Gardner's attorney. And listen, I want to get a jump on the mining operations immediately. Let me know as soon as the first of the dwarf star alloy is extracted. Thanks."

Ray hung up, exhaling, pulling up schematics on his computer.

A loading message appeared: "A.T.O.M. Exosuit rendering".

The schematics of the ATOM suit appeared in a hologram in front of Ray's desk.

Ray walked closer to look at it himself.

➣

Alley

A man was walking down the alley alone.

Until he sensed that he wasn't alone, turning around to look behind him.

Digger Harkness walked into the alley intimidatingly.

The man turned to face him. "Whoever you are, back off."

Harkness sighed. "Sorry to do this to you, but you have something I need." He took a boomerang from his jacket, holding it out threateningly. "See, that's the thing about our work." He threw the boomerang toward the man. The man managed to duck in time to avoid being slashed by the deadly sharp boomerang, but as he stood, it swung back around and impaled the man in his back, deep enough to kill him, as he fell to the ground, dead. Harkness smirked. "It always comes back to haunt you."

➣

Boat - Deck

Amy and Jessica reached to deck at the bow at the same time.

"Azriel?" Jessica asked.

"Where is he?" Amy asked.

"He said that he had to stop an explosion," Jessica answered. "I told him if anything goes wrong, meet at the front of the boat, just like you told me."

Amy knew they couldn't stay in the open, grabbing Jessica's arm as she led them through the aisles of crate containers. "Come on, we gotta keep moving."

Amy let go, and the two continued running.

A guard stood on top of the shipping containers, seeing them run. He took a Power pill. As it activated, his bones broke and they grew out of his arm to create weapons like claws, and despite the obvious agony that it put him through, he ran across the top of the containers, chasing after Jessica and Amy.

Amy could hear the noise, stopping as she put up a fist to stop Jessica behind her, as they hesitantly moved on.

The Claw Guard stabbed his bone claws into the container sides to slide down to the ground behind Jessica and Amy with a shower of sparks.

Jessica and Amy both startled and turned to face him, aiming their weapons.

Jessica aimed her gun, firing.

Claw Guard grabbed Jessica and slammed her against one of the containers, slashing at Amy with his bone claws.

Amy whipped out a Sai knife and stabbed the Claw Guard in the back, though his bone weapons protected him from extreme wounds, as she looked at Jessica. "I got this, go!"

Jessica ran along.

Amy slashed her Sai knives at the Claw Guard repeatedly, stabbing and slashing his skin, though his bones acted as armor. Amy hit him in the head with her shotgun, making him stumble back, hitting him over and over again, kicking him in the stomach with both legs, sending him falling back into the container behind him. The Claw Guard ducked another strike, as he leaned forward past Amy and slashed his bone claws across her back, making her groan in pain as she pulled herself away and spun to face him. The Claw Guard spun repeatedly to try and slash at Amy with his bone claws, but Amy kept her shotgun and Sai knives raised, blocking each of his moves, grabbing him and slamming him into the container next to them, stabbing at him repeatedly, finding weak spots in his bone armor that she exploited to take advantage of, making him scream in pain. The Claw Guard pushed Amy to the ground, trying to stab her with a claw. Amy rolled out of the way to make him miss, the bone claw stabbing into the ground where she had just been.

Soon, men were going after Jessica, too.

Man 1 ran toward Jessica. Jessica caught him and pushed him against the wall hard enough to make him fall, sending her leg back to kick him as she turned to Man 2 in front of her, taking Man 1 down, and then in the same movement, kicked Man 2 in the crotch as she swung her leg forward, making him double over, catching his arm, slamming her elbow down onto Man 2's arm to break it, using it to flip Man 2 to the ground.

Man 1 stood, running toward Jessica. Jessica ducked out of the way of a hit, slamming her hand into Man 1's throat, taking his arm with the gun, spinning around to aim the gun at the container wall so that when it went off, it didn't hit anyone. She spun Man 1 around her until he stood in front of her, sending a kick viciously to his stomach, making him fall to the floor several feet away.

Now with Man 1 and Man 2 both down for the count, Jessica shot them both so they had to stay down.

Armed soldiers were making their way down to the deck.

Ophelia spoke through the radio. "Do not shoot yet! I might have a use for those girls."

The Claw Guard ran toward Amy, throwing a bone claw at her. Amy used her Sai knives as a block, swiping the claw away to the side. The Claw Guard jumped up and pushed Amy into the wall, trying to stab her with the bone claws. Amy took his hands and moved her upper half to the side enough to make him stab into the container wall behind her instead. The Claw Guard continued to advance on Amy even with his claws in the wall, sending up a shower of spikes as he clawed through the metal. Amy grabbed him and flipped him through the air to the ground.

Seeing this, Jessica ran along the boat through the aisle of shipping containers, looking underneath the mounted ones toward more of Madam Hydra's men, firing her gun and taking them down at the least, killing them at the most. She ducked and rolled underneath one of the containers to get to the other side, toward one of the soldier-like men, shooting him in the chest, watching him fall dead. She reached a large hook that she climbed up to, getting it unhooked, and sent it flying down toward Amy and the Claw Guard.

Jessica yelled out. "Amy!"

Amy looked just in time to see the hook flying toward them, rolling out of the way across the ground, kicking the Claw Guard toward the hook as he tried to follow.

The hook impaled the Claw Guard in the shoulder, swinging him up from the ground as he screamed in pain, and crashed into the container behind him, pinned.

Jessica sighed in relief. "Yes!"

Although the Claw Guard was taken care of, the other men coming for them were not.

Amy lept into the air, doing a front flip, and as her hands touched the ground, she rolled over it up to her feet, as she drew her Sai knives in either hand in the same movement, turning to face her attackers.

Man 1 kept slashing toward Amy with a blade instead of shooting his gun, like the men were ordered not to. Amy used her Sai knives to block each move, catching the blade in between the prongs of her blades, twisting them away from her without harm. Man 1 pulled his blades free, slashing toward Amy's legs. Amy jumped up to make him miss, landing on the box behind her. Each move Man 1 tried to make, Amy was able to deflect with her Sai knives in a blur of motion, ducking and dodging the others. Man 1 grew so frustrated that he threw his blade toward her. Amy pivoted back to the side to make him miss, watching the blade fly past her into the wall behind her, before driving her Sai knives into Man 1's stomach and kicking him to the ground, rendering him out of the fight.

When guards ran closer, Jessica grabbed Man 2 from behind in a headlock, choking him until he passed out, letting him fall. Man 3 ran closer. Jessica punched him in the face. Man 3 tried to punch her. Jessica ducked, sliding past him over the floor, spinning to kick his legs out from underneath him, making him fall, slamming his head against the floor, making him fall unconscious.

Amy jumped off the container to the ground. Man 4 threw a blast of power at Amy. Amy jumped up and flipped horizontally through the air to make him miss, landing in a crouch with her back to Man 4, standing, turning just in time to raise a Sai knives to deflect another power strike, which reflected off the blades and shot into Man 4, sending him stumbling back. In a blur of motion, Amy and Man 4 clashed and parried their blades. Amy spun around to kick Man 4 in the face, knocking him down to his knees, throwing her Sai knife right toward his face. Man 4 used his power to deflect it, throwing a blast of power toward her. Amy ducked in a spin as she reached her fallen Sai knife, picking it up, spinning as she stood to face Man 4 behind her. Man 4 shot power toward her. Amy flipped through the air to make him miss, the power just barely missing her as she flipped over it and landed on her feet with the power far behind her. Man 4 turned back to hit at Amy from overhead, but Amy raised her Sai knives to block both his hands, slashing him repeatedly with her blades and stabbing him in the chest on the opposite side of his heart, kicking him to the ground.

Jessica ran toward Man 5, kicking him off the ship into the water below. Man 6 ran toward Jessica, trying to punch her. Jessica ducked, kicking his legs out from underneath him, making him fall to the floor, slamming his head on the ground to knock him out. Man 7 ran toward Jessica. Jessica jumped up, wrapping her legs around his neck, flipping him to the floor, landing in a crouch next to him, punching him in the face, making him fall unconscious.

Man 9 ran toward Amy, trying to punch her. Amy ducked, grabbing him by the arms, flipping him through the air and to the ground, kneeling down to do so as she punched him viciously in the face, slashing his face with the Sai knives in the process, grabbing his head and bashing it on the ground. Man 9 tried to attack Amy from behind. Amy stood, raising her Sai knives as a block to slash Man 8 in the arms, making him scream in pain as she kicked him in the stomach, making him kneel before her. Man 8 tried to attack from behind, and Amy slashed her knife back at Man 8 in the neck to stop him, ripping out the blade and spinning to kick him to the ground, as she finished the spin to kick Man 8 in the face and knock him down as well, punching Man 8 in the face as he tried to get up. As Man 8 tried to punch her, Amy ducked and spun around to leg sweep his legs out from underneath him, making him flip through the air and land on the ground hard enough to bash his head and knock him out, while Man 8 was out of commission with the stab wound to the neck.

Jessica climbed up on the railing of the boat so she could jump up on Man 9's back when he tried to attack, spinning herself around his head so she could wrap her legs around his neck and flip him to the ground with his momentum added to hers, standing, spinning to kick him in the head when he tried to get him, punching him in the face, knocking him out.

Man 10 ran up behind Amy, grabbing her by the hair. Amy twisted free from his hold, facing him as she kicked him hard in the groin, making him double over and kneel down, as she slashed his face with a swing of her Sai knife, swiping his head to the side as she spun around and backhand punched him in the head, making him fall to the ground completely. Sensing Man 11 coming from behind her, Amy turned to face Man 11 as she ducked a punch from him. Man 11 followed up with two punches that Amy ducked the first, but got hit with the second. Amy kicked Man 11 in the stomach, punching him in the face, slitting him with the edges of her Sai knives. Man 11 tried to punch her. Amy ducked, spinning to kick him in the face, knocking him down, finishing the spin as she fell into a crouch to add to the power and strength she used to drive the Sai knives into Man 11's stomach deeply, ripping out her blades, standing, backing away.

Man 12 tried to attack Jessica. Jessica spun to kick him in the head, making him fall unconscious. Two more guards ran closer. Jessica punched Man 13 in the face. Man 14 tried to punch Jessica. Jessica ducked, punching him in the face, grabbing his arm, twisting it around, flipping him to the ground. Man 13 drew a knife, trying to stab Jessica. Jessica raised her hands to block the move, pushing his hands away. Man 13 tried to stab her. Jessica caught his wrist, kicking him in the stomach, flipping him to the floor. Man 14 tried to get up. Jessica threw the knife she had taken from Man 13 into Man 14's hand, making him groan a scream of pain, before she kicked both men in the head, making them both fall unconscious.

Man 15 grabbed Amy from behind. Amy spun one of her Sai knives to face the blade toward Man 15 as she drove it into his stomach, making one arm of his let her go as the other tried to keep hold of her around the neck, but Amy slit her other Sai knife against his arm around her neck to make him let go, keeping hold of his arm as she spun to face him and flipped him through the air to the ground, kneeling over him as she punched him viciously in the face. Man 15 sent up a leg to kick Amy in the head, making her lean to the side, pushing her over the rest of the way as he got up. Amy stood before he could finish getting up, slashing him in the face with a Sai knife, spinning around to loop one of her legs over his shoulder, while her arms looped around his neck. Man 15's arms looped around her as he thought that he could use this to his advantage, but Amy used their combined strength to flip them both through the air, as she landed on her back, and flipped Man 15 over her to the ground, as she bashed his head against the concrete as she did, turning so that his arm was in her hold and her legs were on either side of his neck to choke him out, kicking him away when he was no longer awake/alive, rolling away from him onto her back again, flipping up to a standing position, twirling both of her Sai knives in either hand as she landed on her feet.

Ophelia had enough of this. "Grab Detective Jessica Lance." Jessica was suddenly blindsided with a tackle, as a couple of guards grabbed her and restrained her. Ophelia yelled out. "Enough!" It was started to pour rain, and Amy froze at seeing Jessica restrained by the soldiers and held captive. "Stop! You see who I have here now? Azriel, get out here now! I will kill them both right here and right now, right in front of you."

The soldiers all took the order as now they aimed all their guns at Amy and Jessica both.

In the ops room, Azriel was trying to stop the explosion, but he froze when he saw that Amy and Jessica were about to be killed either way.

Azriel knew there was a way that he could potentially save Amy and Jessica ater they came for him, but it was risky given that it involved letting the explosion happen. But if he didn't let it happen, then there was no doubt about it that Amy and Jessica would be shot and killed without a chance to survive.

If he let the explosion happen, there was a chance that they would persevere through the explosion and walk out of here alive. If he didn't, then they would be shot dead without a chance.

So Azriel did the only thing that he could do, and let the explosion go off, as he took off running out of ops to head outside to get to Jessica and Amy as fast as possible.

As the rain started to levitate in the opposite direction than it was falling, as the explosion shook the boat to its core, a blast of red dark energy escaped, exploding, spiraling out in all directions like a tornado as it shot outward, sweeping across the entire boat and the surrounding water toward the shoreline.

It was much like the dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion, but more mystical in nature.

The explosion of energy threw Ophelia and her soldiers to the ground, along with Amy and Jessica, who both landed on the ground painfully.

As the energy radiated to the inside of the boat, as Azriel was running, it collided with Azriel, throwing him to the ground, landing on the ground painfully.

However, Jessica, Azriel and Ophelia were the only ones on the boat that seemed to absorb the red energy, as it fused within them and seemed to activate something in all three of them.

The pain of the red energy fusing with Jessica and Azriel as if it was bonding with them, choosing them, made them both scream.

While inside, Azriel's eyes glowed blue, and blue aura appeared all around him before it faded. This was clearly unlocking all of his latent abilities, the dormant powers that Ophelia spoke of before, more than just visions.

Outside on the deck, Jessica snapped backward as if she was hit with another energy entirely.

But when Jessica raised her head, she released a long, loud, powerful scream; superhuman and sonic, that released light blue-green energy, like the color cyan, or referred to as teal, turquoise, aquamarine or electric blue. The cyan-colored sound waves escaped with her scream, her cry sending out a concussive force radiating away from her and throwing all of the soldiers around them to the ground.

Amy raised her head, in shock to see Jessica do this, not knowing what was happening, as Jessica's scream took down a hangar over their heads.

Azriel ran outside just in time to see this, seeing that the hanger was about to fall on Amy and Jessica.

It caused Azriel's own power to kick in, as he raised his hand toward the hangar, and it was surrounded in an aura of blue energy. His newly activated power transformed the deadly hangar into harmless flower petals, which floated harmlessly to the ground, raining down around Amy and Jessica as they were both in shock.

Azriel was even in shock by what he had done, having no idea that he could do something like that.

Jessica stopped screaming, as the cyan-colored energy waves faded from view, breathing heavily as she almost fainted.

Amy caught Jessica and helped her up. "Come on, we gotta go."

They noticed that all of the men and Ophelia were incapacitated from Jessica's cry and the explosion, either dead or unconscious.

Amy and Jessica ran for an escape pod, which Azriel met them at.

"Hey," Azriel told them.

"What the hell just happened?" Jessica asked.

"I didn't stop the explosion, hoping that it could save you," Azriel answered. "And it did. And it wasn't that big, so maybe my vision was wrong, but I..."

➣

Citywide

But it wasn't the only bomb in the city, and soon what just happened here would happen all over the city.

And most of the people in the city were in the town square for a gathering, a planned event by Ophelia, so that everyone could be gathered for the mass creation.

A helicopter flew over the town square with another bomb just like what was about to go off all over the city.

The bomb was dropped from the helicopter as it flew away, just as it exploded, but instead with flame, it was with the dark red energy that just exploded on the ship.

Along with four bombs just like it at each point of the city.

All across town, as the rain started to levitate in the opposite direction than it was falling, the explosions shook the entire city of Starling to its core, blasts of red dark energy spiraling out in all directions like tornados as it shot outward, sweeping across every inch of the city.

During the explosion and sweep of mystical energy, thunder and lightning along with the rain raged on, as the rain droplets levitated, as the explosion of dark red energy in the air above town square created an orb of red energy... just like Azriel's visions predicted.

The blinding light of the mystical energy along with all of the bombs caused everyone in town square to scream and duck, all in shock and horror, not knowing what was going on.

The water in the fountain in the middle of the gathering started to levitate with a huge explosion of water.

Each point of the explosions on the edge of town, and in the middle of the city, all glowed bright red, as they all connected with lines of energy, traveling in ragged, uneven lines, destroying everything in its path, spidering out in every direction it could get, to cover the entire town. Buildings were destroyed, so much havoc was caused, and the entire city was shaking. As the energy lines continued to grow bigger, the red glowing lines swallowing roads, trees, destroying buildings and causing avalanches, until the lines all met in the middle, with an explosion of red energy which radiated out in all directions.

Jessica, Amy and Azriel saw this from the ship, all of them in shock and none of them knowing what this could mean or what it could lead to.

The energy wave reaching all across the town threw everyone to the ground, including Oliver, Skylar, Thea, Jill, Justin, Felicity, John, Lyla, Roy, Laurel, Lance and Ray, all of whom landed on the ground painfully.

Some people that were hit by the energy screamed in agony as the power was ripping them apart, melting them and vanishing them within seconds.

Most were unharmed by the energy and unaffected.

But others were like Jessica, seeming to absorb the red energy as it fused within them and activated something in them, even if they needed more time, or experimentation, to bring those abilities to the surface, as not all of them would gain these automatically.

The pain of the red energy fusing with them as it bonded with them, choosing them, made them scream.

Skylar and Justin were two of the chosen by the energy, infused with it as they were blown back, glowing as they fell to the ground, unconscious. While they showed no signs of powers as of right now.

Most of the people in the city didn't notice the chosen glowing, not even knowing what it meant, as they were all more focused with everything else going on, including the destruction of the city that destroyed half the buildings in the town, while leaving the other half with minimal damage, the energy in the air that seemed to melt other people, and the explosions overall.

Another person that this happened to was named Elain Hayes... a redhaired girl the same age as Azriel, who looked exactly like the drawing that Azriel had made of her, that Jessica and Amy saw earlier.

Elain was alone, walking home through the storm when the chaos erupted through the city.

When Elain was hit by the dark red energy, she was blown back by the blast and infused with red glowing energy as she fell to the ground.

Elain, like Jessica and Azriel, showed signs of a power immediately.

Everything around Elain started to shake even more violently, and her surroundings seemed to be coming apart, ripping themselves apart into destruction, as she started to glow with white light, so powerful, so hot, that it vaporized the water around her as the rain poured down. Shock waves of her power burst out, and it ripped the flesh right off the bone of the men around her, devouring and destroying everything around her in nothing but chaos and havoc.

Elain was screaming, but it wasn't from pain. This wasn't forced powers from pills, but something natural and given to her from the matter explosion. It still destroyed everything around her as glowing white light radiated all around her, piece by piece taking everything apart.

It was beautiful but deadly, and after Elain had expanded so much energy, once it faded, Elain fell to the ground, passing out in the middle of the storm and all the destruction around her. Everything around was left in shambles, with blackened singe marks, except for a ring surrounding Elain that was left perfectly intact.

On the ship, Jessica, Amy and Azriel were still watching in complete shock and horror. But they couldn't stay long, because everyone who was still alive would come after them if they weren't already dead from the explosion, from Jessica's sonic scream, or any number of other things that happened on the ship.

Jessica, Amy and Azriel got into the escape pod, and hit eject on it so they would fall into the water. Amy was driving the lifeboat so they could get away.

Back in town square, Oliver and Felicity noticed that Skylar and Justin were glowing and unconscious, worriedly crawling toward their siblings, having no idea what was happening.

Jill, John, Lyla, Roy and Laurel were in disbelief and absolutely worried for their friends.

Lance and other officers were trying to work their way through the chaos to help everyone.

Thea was nearly unconscious in the chaos, but otherwise fine, as she didn't notice the glowing of Skylar and Justin yet through the crowd.

Oliver noticed Thea knocked out. "Jill, Thea."

Jill nodded. "Stay with Skylar." She went to get Thea, kneeling next to her worriedly. "Thea, are you okay?"

Thea reached for Jill as she helped her sit up. "Jill?"

Jill wrapped her arms around Thea. "Shh, it's okay."

Thea held Jill back tightly.

Oliver was trying to wake Skylar up, making sure that she and Thea were both okay. "Skylar, wake up. Sky!"

Felicity was desperately trying to wake her brother. "Justin. Justin!"

Oliver and Felicity were terrified of losing Skylar and Justin and having no idea what was happening to their little siblings.

And everyone in the city was rocked to the core with the event that just happened, having no idea what it would bring for the town and everyone in it.

➣ Sapphire Arrow ➣

READ NEXT: 1.07 and 1.08 Worlds Colliding (Flash). 1.07 comes next, and 1.08 is the first part of the crossover between Flash and Arrow. 1.08 WC Flash will further the channeler storyline and shows what happens next with Skylar, Justin and Jessica with how they were chosen and what comes next for them, leading to their storyline arc for the rest of the stories.