John and Felicity were training downstairs in the hideout.

I was upstairs, getting a drink.

Oliver walked in from crossing another name off the list, still suited up, pulling his hood back.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"Badly for him," Oliver answered, walking past me into the basement.

I followed him downstairs. "Who him?"

"An assassin for hire with an affinity for knives," Oliver answered, putting his bow down, walking past John and Felicity. "I think I may have found your evil twin, Jill. His name was Guillermo Barrera."

"Was?" Felicity repeated.

"So we can't ask him about his intended target?" John asked.

Oliver walked toward the list, crossing the name off, turning to face us. "No." He took out his phone. "Which is why I need you to hack his phone. Barrera's world class. He kills high profile targets. And whatever job he was hired for isn't finished. We need to figure out who he was here to kill, and fast. They are probably still in danger. Okay?" Felicity nodded, no happier than I was about the kill, though it had to be done. Oliver turned to me. "We have someplace to be."

I remembered, nodding. "Right. Tommy's birthday. He wanted us over at Laurel's so we could think about throwing him a big birthday party at the club if it gets fixed in the next few days.'

Oliver nodded in amusement. "Right."

⚔

Flashback

In the wrecked plane hideout, Jill was kneeling next to Slade, making sure that his infected gunshot wounds were healed from the super herbs.

Oliver was nearby, using a pole in the ceiling as a pullup bar, though he wasn't nearly as strong as he was in the present, having a little struggle, falling down.

"Four," Slade told him.

"Well, I'm more of a runner," Oliver told them.

Slade stood, hopping up to the pipe, doing several pullups nearly effortlessly, and if it hadn't been for his wounds, it would have been effortless.

Jill stood. "Why the sudden desire to work out?"

"What else is there to do?" Slade replied.

"Well, we can try to think of another way off the island," Jill answered with honest sarcasm. 

"There is no other way," Slade told them. "If there was, I would have found it."

"We can't just sit here and wait for Fyers to come and kill us," Oliver told them.

Slade jumped down. "I did have on idea. If you go into the forest and gather as much bamboo as you can find..."

"Yeah?" Oliver asked.

"We could build ourselves a boat, like they did on 'Gilligan's Island'," Slade told them sarcastically. Jill rolled her eyes, walking toward a radio receiver, picking it up. "That's broken. It got busted during the crash."

"Did you try to get it to work?" Oliver asked.

"I'm better at pulling things apart," Slade told them.

Jill stood, walking around the radio to kneel behind it to look at the wires. "My father was a pilot mechanic and he used to do his own maintenance."

"So you're hoping aircraft mechanic maintenance is genetic?" Oliver asked.

"No, I used to help him, and I liked it," Jill told them. "Then I got pretty good at it because my brother helped me through it, too. So maybe I can make the radio work."

"You should be training for the inevitable fight that's looming," Slade told her, walking over to the pipe, jumping up to continue doing pullups.

"I think I have a better chance of making the radio work," Jill told them, starting to get to work on the radio.

Oliver watched curiously.

⚔

Now

Tommy opened Laurel's apartment door for Oliver and me. "Welcome."

Oliver walked in with his present. "Happy Birthday, buddy."

"Thank you," Tommy told him, taking the bag, hugging Oliver. I walked in. "Oh, this feels like a chateaneuf de pape."

"It's going to taste like one, too," Oliver told us.

"You are a true friend," Tommy told him. I smiled a small smile, closing the door. "Thank you." Tommy looked at me. "Jill, thanks for coming."

"Of course," I told him. "What kind of business partner would I be if I missed a birthday?"

Tommy smiled, looking at Oliver. "I like her."

Oliver chuckled, nodding.

Tommy led us into the dining room where a dinner table was set up with expensive food and candles.

Laurel turned to us. "Ollie."

"Hi," Oliver told her.

Laurel wrapped her arms around him. "Hi." Oliver returned the embrace, pulling away. Laurel smiled, turning to me. "Hi, Jill."

"Hey, Laurel," I told her.

"I think we've reached the stage where we can greet each other with a hug on celebration days like today, right?" Laurel asked.

I smiled, nodding. "Sure."

We hugged, pulling away.

Tommy smiled. "Yeah. It's just like that one dinner at the restaurant couple months back. We're all getting along and getting to know the new Oliver and Jill a little bit better."

"Yeah," I agreed. 

Tommy smirked, holding up his present of wine. "I'm going to go crack this open."

Tommy walked away.

I looked around the apartment. "Such a nice apartment. So much space." I walked around, seeing a picture of a little girl and Lance, assuming the little girl was Laurel. She was holding a small canary. "Oh, this is adorable. How old are you here?"

"That's actually my sister, Sara," Laurel told me.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I told her.

"No, no, it's okay," Laurel told me. "I don't know why my father bought her that canary. That thing chirped night and day. Drove us all nuts."

I looked down guiltily.

Tommy walked closer with glasses of wine, handing them out. "A toast."

"Thank you," Laurel told him.

Tommy put his arm around Laurel, raising his glass. "To the first birthday that I have enjoyed in a long time." He looked at Oliver. "I got my best friend back." Oliver raised his glass. Tommy looked at me. "I've met and become friends with the girl that is the reason he is here today." I raised my glass. Tommy looked at Laurel. "And I have finally figured out why poets have been in business for the last few thousand years."

Laurel smiled, raising her glass. "Happy birthday, baby."

"Thank you," Tommy told her. They kissed lightly. "Cheers."

We clinked our glasses together. "Cheers."

We all took a drink.

There was a knock on the door.

"I think that's the food," Laurel told us.

"Oh, okay," Tommy told us, taking Laurel's glass.

Laurel walked toward the door.

Oliver looked at Tommy and me. "Oh, thank God, she didn't cook."

Tommy nodded. "Amen."

I chuckled.

Laurel opened the door, revealing Malcolm Merlyn outside. "Mr. Merlyn."

"Laurel," Malcolm told her. "Can I come in?" He walked in. Laurel and Malcolm walked toward us. We all felt the tension-filled silence. Malcolm looked over us, nodding. "Oliver."

Oliver nodded. "Mr. Merlyn."

"Please, call me Malcolm," Malcolm told us. He looked at Tommy. "I've been trying to get in touch with you."

"What are you doing here, Dad?" Tommy asked.

Malcolm took out a small birthday present box. "Happy birthday, Tommy."

Tommy turned to Oliver, Laurel and me. "Just give us a second."

I nodded. "Of course."

Malcolm tossed the present to Oliver.

Oliver caught it.

Tommy and Malcolm walked out into the hallway of the building to talk alone.

⚔

The next morning, Oliver, John, Felicity and I were in the hideout.

Felicity and I were sitting at the computers.

Felicity was looking into the assassin from last night. "Jeez, this is one paranoid assassin. Barerra's got cobalt-level encryption on his phone. It's not going to be easy to break. But codebreaker is my middle name. Actually, it's Megan."

"Felicity, can you get anything off of it?" Oliver asked.

"Just the last number he dialed," Felicity answered. 

"Which was?" I asked.

"A restaurant in Chinatown," Felicity answered. "Jade Dragon. I guess even hired killers enjoy the city's best chow mien."

"Yeah, Jade Dragon is a front for the Chinese Mafia," John told us.

"Jill, call the restaurant, make a reservation for two for tonight," Oliver told me. "Felicity, you need to decrypt that phone."

I sighed. "Good." I pulled out my phone. "Because I'm kind of in the mood for Chinese now."

⚔

Oliver and I were sitting at a table in Jade Dragon that night.

The waiter brought over the food, speaking a word in Chinese, walking away.

Oliver chuckled. "That is--that is one big fried fish."

"I was told this was the most authentic Szechwan in town," I told him. "Turns out it's just a place for the Chinese Mafia."

Oliver nodded. "Mm-hmm." I took a drink of water. Oliver looked at me curiously. "You okay?" 

"Yeah," I answered. "Why?"

"You just seem a little tense since..." Oliver trailed off.

"Since John suggested that there was something going on between us?" I finished. 

Oliver chuckled at the bluntness, nodding. "Yeah. That."

I chuckled. "Yeah. I'm not... tense, so to speak. I'm just... not sure what to do with it just yet."

"Because you're not ready, or because it's me?" Oliver asked.

I looked at him sincerely. "Because I'm not ready. I just need to atone for past sins before I can..."

"Be happy?" Oliver finished. I shrugged barely. A man in a leather jacket walked past us. He had a tattoo on his neck. Oliver looked at me. "Who wants to bet that that guy could be one of our guys?"

I shrugged slightly.

We stood, following the man through the kitchen, into a hidden office.

Another man was sitting at the desk, minting money.

Man 1 took money out of an orange envelope, handing it to Man 2.

I drew a knife, cutting the wires to shut the lights down.

Oliver tackling Man 1 to the ground.

I picked up a spray bottle, spraying Man 2 in the eyes to he couldn't see.

Man 1 screamed, running toward the door.

I grabbed him by his collar, pushing him against the wall, speaking Chinese rapidly. "The Triad put a hit out on somebody. I want to know who."

Man 1 breathed heavily, unable to see for the moment, speaking Chinese. "I don't work for the Triad."

I spoke in Chinese. "You're not making Dim Sum back here."

Oliver twisted Man 2's arm behind his back, having him facing away from us so he wouldn't see us. 

Man 2 breathed heavily in pain, speaking in Chinese. "I... I don't know who it is."

I spoke in Chinese. "But you know something. Tell me."

Man 2 spoke in Chinese. "Tomorrow. Whatever it is, it's supposed to happen tomorrow."

Oliver and I got out before they could see our faces, returning to our tables.

And since I had spoken with a perfect Chinese accent, they thought that I was Chinese, so they wouldn't know it was us just by our voices.

Man 2 walked past us, looking around, oblivious, walking out, leaving.

Admittedly, I was amused and smug that they wouldn't be able to find us because we were that good.

Oliver smirked, waving to a waiter. "Check, please."

⚔

Flashback

In the wrecked plane hideout, Jill was working on the wires on the radio.

Oliver was doing pullups on the bar in the ceiling, getting a bit better, but not by much.

Slade walked in with a dead animal hauled over his shoulder. "I hope you like barbecue." Oliver jumped down from the bar. "Well, don't fall over yourselves thanking me for spending six hours up a tree so you can eat."

Jill hadn't been paying attention, looking over her shoulder toward them. "What?" She saw the dead animal. "Great." She returned to the task of trying to fix the radio. "I'll eat later."

"You've been at that for days," Oliver told her. "Give it a rest."

"It's because I can do this," Jill told them.

"Sure, kid," Slade told her. "When pigs fly." Jill turned on the radio. Red and green lights turned on. There was static. Jill smiled at her accomplishment. Slade and Oliver looked at her in shock. "You got to be kidding me." Slade put the animal down. Oliver and Slade walked closer to Jill and the radio quickly. "Can you clean this up?"

"I don't know," Jill told them. "I don't know how I got this far."

They heard a man on the radio. "Continue approach. 463 Heavy."

Slade took the receiver, speaking into it. "Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Wedetail 325. Pilot and passenger down."

They heard a woman on the radio. "463 Heavy cleared to land. Runway 2-7 right, wind, 2-6-0 degrees, 10 knots."

Slade spoke into it. "I repeat. Pilot and passenger down on the island of Lian Yu. Request immediate rescue."

They heard a man on the radio. "Cleared to land, runway 2-7 right. 463 Heavy."

Slade slammed down the receiver. "They can't hear us, and we can't call out. We're still trapped."

Jill's excitement had been drained due to exhaustion on working on the radio for days, and from given hope only for it to be taken away.

Oliver was just as defeated as they were, looking at them sympathetically.

⚔

Now

I was standing outside of the hideout, calling Lance through the phone I had given him, using the voice disguiser.

"Lance."

"The Triad have hired a contract killer."

"Yeah? You mean the one that your buddy put in the morgue? Congratulations, you two are the talk of the station again."

"They hired one, they're going to hire another, detective."

"Who's your target?"

"I'm trying to find out, but I'm hitting dead ends. I need you to put your people on it."

"My people don't work for you. And come to think of it, neither do I."

"It's not about you and me, detective. It's not about you and my partner. It's about saving a life."

"Call me back when you got a name."

I hung up, walking through the drizzling rain.

⚔

Oliver and I were upstairs in the industrial building, sitting on a blanket on the floor, waiting for Felicity and John, who were downstairs, trying to figure out who the target was.

I looked around the mostly-okay main room of the building that was supposed to be the club. "So much for throwing Tommy a huge birthday party."

Oliver chuckled. "Yeah. Normally, that's something he always wanted for his birthday. Big party, lots of girls, plenty of liquor." I chuckled. "But the last five years have changed him, too. All he wanted was a dinner with you, me and Laurel. Some alone time with Laurel. And he's even going to the humanitarian awards ceremony tonight. For his dad, because Malcolm's the one that is receiving the reward."

"Really?" I asked.  

"Mm-hmm," Oliver answered.

I chuckled. "You know, I haven't really seen much of Merlyn, but the humanitarian thing doesn't seem to suit him."

"He likes to act like it," Oliver told me.

I nodded. "Still, though. It's impressive for Tommy to go to the ceremony for his father even after everything that's gone down between them."

"Yeah, well, I think Laurel had a hand in that," Oliver told me. "I think she convinced him to go . But she won't be going because she has work."

"Right," I told him. "At least we're not the only ones that are always working."

Oliver chuckled, nodding. "Yeah. We just have a different kind of work."

John walked in. "Hey."

"Hey," I told him. "You find the target?"

"Guys, the target is Tommy's father," John told us.

"At the awards ceremony?" Oliver asked. John nodded. "Tommy's there."

Oliver and I exchanged a look, worried and finding it only slightly ironic since we were just talking about them and the ceremony.

Oliver stood, hurriedly getting to the basement to suit up.

I took out my phone, calling Lance, disguising my voice.

"Lance." 

I stood, walking toward the basement. "Target is Malcolm Merlyn. Establish a perimeter but keep your distance. I don't want the police caught in the crossfire."

I walked into the basement to get suited up.

⚔

The Triad had most people leaving the building because they had set off the fire alarm.

Malcolm and Tommy were upstairs on the second floor, where two Triad members dressed as waiters were shooting at them.

Oliver jumped in through the window in front of them, pushing Malcolm and Tommy out of the way of fire, saving them, running out of danger himself.

I jumped through the window behind the two shooters, stabbing one in the shoulder with a knife from behind, making him fall. 

The other shooter turned to face me, shooting.

I ducked behind the wall for cover.

Oliver looked at Malcolm and Tommy, disguising his voice. "Go somewhere safe. We'll hold them off. Go now!"

Malcolm looked at Tommy. "Come on!"

Malcolm led Tommy out of the hallway upstairs.

I turned to the shooter throwing a knife into his hand, making him drop the gun, running up to him, stepping on his leg to jump up and kick him with both legs, flipping back over the floor, standing, backhand punching him in the face, making him fall unconscious.

Three more Triad members started to attack Oliver. Triad 1 kicked Oliver in the leg. Oliver hit him in the face with his bow. Triad 2 spun to kick Oliver in the head. Oliver ducked, kicking Triad 3 in the stomach, making him back away, spinning to hit all three in the face with his bow, making them fall unconscious.

I sensed someone behind me, turning around.

The woman in the long white evening gown took off her black wig, revealing her to be the Chinese Triad blonde woman that I had fought with before.

"You again," I told her. "Why do you want Malcolm Merlyn dead?"

"I'll settle for you," the woman told us.

I turned to Oliver. "Go after them. Keep them safe." Oliver hesitated. "Now!"

Oliver ran off in the direction Malcolm and Tommy went in to keep them safe.

I faced the blonde woman, drawing my swords.

The blonde woman drew blades, trying to stab me with one. I raised one of my swords to block the move. The blonde woman slashed toward me. I ducked, spinning to kick her in the face, slashing toward her. The woman ducked, trying to stab me. I raised one of the swords to block the move, spinning to kick her in the stomach, spinning both the swords, slashing into her arm and shoulder, making her groan in pain. The woman tried to kick me. I backed away enough to make her miss. The woman tried to stab me. I hit my sword against her knife to make her drop it, hitting her in the stomach with the unbladed side of the sword so it wouldn't cut her, punching her in the face. The woman grabbed my leg, pulling it out from under me, making me fall to the floor on my back. I slashed my sword toward her. The woman rolled away, making me hit the tile floor instead, grabbing the knife that I had made her drop from the floor. We both stood, facing each other, glaring.

⚔

I grabbed the woman, slamming her against a display case, shattering the glass, turning around, throwing her to the floor. The woman stood, running toward me, jumping up to try and kick me. I caught her, flipping her to the floor, landing next to her. Neither of us had our weapons at the moment. The woman kicked me away from her. I stood, drawing a knife from my sheath, aiming to throw it at her.

Lance ran closer from behind me, aiming a gun at me. "Freeze! SCPD! Put the knife down next to the swords."

⚔

I still held my knife ready to throw at the woman, looking at my swords on the floor.

Lance still held his gun aimed at me. "Turn around slowly."

I disguised my voice. "She's part of the Triad, detective."

"I don't care if she's the devil," Lance told me. "You're under arrest."

I rolled my eyes, turning to throw the knife I held ready into a fire extinguisher nearby, releasing all of the gas and fog inside into the hallway, obscuring myself from Lance's view, picking up both of my swords, running out, leaving.

⚔

Flashback

In the wrecked plane hideout, Jill was still trying to find a way to signal for help on the radio.

Slade was sitting on his cot, drinking.

Oliver was sitting across from her. "If they can't hear us, then what's the point?"

"Wait," Jill told them.

"You still might have done us some good," Slade told her.

They heard Edward on the radio. "0500 hours from my mark. Final deployment is five by five."

Oliver and Slade stood, walking closer.

"That's Fyers," Jill told them. "I'm tuned into the soldiers' frequency."

They heard Edward on the radio. "Scylla is in route. ETA 0600 hours at the southwest bay. I'll call you when Scylla is in my possession. Fyers out."

"Who was Fyers talking to?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know," Slade told them. He walked away. "Sounds like someone off this island, maybe his benefactor. More importantly, who or what is Scylla?"

"The Scylla and Charybdis," Jill told them. "It's 'The Odyssey', from one of the four nightmare chapters. Scylla was a monster."

"I want to meet this monster," Slade told them, walking toward the door. "Am I going alone?"

Jill stood, picking up two swords from the table.

Oliver picked up a knife. 

Slade picked up a gun.

They walked out of the hideout, leaving.

⚔

Now

Malcolm had been shot with Curare-laced bullets, Lawton Floyd's signature, which meant that he was in on the plane to kill Merlyn, and nearly had.

Oliver and Tommy had saved Malcolm with a blood transfusion, but the only way that Oliver could get Tommy to trust him enough to go through with it was to reveal his identity as "the hood".

Oliver and I were still suited up, walking downstairs into the basement of the hideout. I wasn't wearing my mask. Oliver was wearing his hood.

Felicity and John were waiting.

"So, how's it feel to save a one percenter?" Felicity asked.

"Looks like Malcolm Merlyn's going to be okay," John told us. "They took him to Starling General. Good ting he was wearing a bulletproof vest."

"He's not in the hospital because he was shot," Oliver told us. "He was poisoned by Curare."

John realized what this meant, closing his eyes in frustration, taking a few steps away, sighing. "Lawton's alive."

"I'm sorry, John," I told him.

John walked away.

"This Lawton kick his dog or something?" Felicity asked.

I shook my head. "No. He killed his brother."

Felicity looked shocked and sympathetic.

⚔

Flashback

Jill, Oliver and Slade were hiding in the bushes on the beach of the island, watching something in the distance.

"What?" Oliver asked. "What is it?"

They were watching the southside camp.

Slade had binoculars. "You were right. Scylla is a monster. A Russian-made S300 anti-aircraft missile launcher." Oliver took the binoculars to look at the missile launcher. "It can simultaneously track up to a hundred targets whilst engaging with at least a dozen." Jill took the binoculars to look at the missile launcher. "I mean, from here, they could shoot down a commercial airliner, or start a war."

Jill and Oliver exchanged a nervous look.

⚔

Oliver had gone to the hospital to make sure that Malcolm was okay after the shooting and the poison, and that Tommy was okay after finding out the big secret. 

We had no idea how he was going to react to all of this.