Disclaimer: All rights belong to CW, Warner Bros, and the DC comics. I own nothing. (Check bottom for longer Author's Note)

"Why do I feel like this isn't going to go according to plan?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow at the screen. Not that he was hoping it wouldn't go according to plan, it just seemed as if the cosmic forces of this god forsaken island were always working against Oliver.

Nobody seemed to respond to him, other than Lance given him a half-hearted huff.

Tommy still couldn't figure the man out. Five years of hatred. Months of trying to pin Oliver down to be the Hood. And here, after all of this, after everyone calling Lance crazy and obsessed, why the hell was the man being so quiet? Lance had already figured it out, that much Tommy knew for sure. But, why hadn't he said anything?

Maybe he had a secret plan. Or, maybe he was planning out which pair of handcuffs -the shiny ones, or the extra shiny ones- to slap onto Oliver's wrists when he got back.

The great thing about Lance was that he was predictable.

But this Lance? This was unnerving.

Had a time traveling alien body snatched him or something? Yeah, that would make sense.

Maybe if he squinted hard enough, he would be able to see a little green alien running the controls behind Quentin's eyes?

No. That wouldn't make any sense.

It would definitely be a little green hamster running in a wheel.

Yep. That makes more sense.

Slade points to the tower and tells Oliver to not let the man radio. Oliver asks about the other people in the camp. Slade tells Oliver to worry about his one while Slade worries about his ten.

Thea internally grimaced. Ollie wouldn't be able to take care of one. Especially not after the training that they had seen. Best case, her brother would fail miserably, worst case, he would end up dead.

And, considering the fact that he's still alive, she was prepared to watch him fail miserably.

Oliver nods and runs off to the tower. He pulls the mask over his face. Slade begins to shoot soldiers as Oliver makes his way towards the tower. Oliver comes face to face with one soldier. The soldier is shot by Slade.

"Not off to a great start," Tommy half-heartedly commented. Moira glanced over, the corners of her lips turning downwards. Everyone else on the couch seemed to be in agreement with Tommy. She couldn't find it in herself to be half-hearted about any of this.

Her son had just watched someone get killed in front of her. It didn't matter that it wasn't the first, it didn't matter that this wasn't his father or his friend. It didn't matter that this was an enemy.

Every body that dropped in front of Oliver took a piece of him with it. And, seeing the Oliver that came back, a broken shell of who he was before, made the pit in her stomach deepen. Because, that meant that more bodies were going to drop before Oliver would ever return.

And once again, she was brought back to the moment.

The decision. The decision of letting her son get on that boat. The decision of getting involved with everything.

She could blame everyone, but in the end, her son's death was her own doing.

Slade, after shooting two more men, runs out of bullets. Oliver makes his way up the stairs and peers into the tower. Slade, meanwhile, kills four people with his machete.

"It's kinda funny watching the two together," Thea murmered, a smile playing at her lips. The world's most unlikely pairing goes to the Australian Ninja and the Billionaire Playboy with a history of peeing on cops.

Despite her lighthearted comment, a deep, gnawing pit still formed in her stomach as she watched the screen.

She still found herself wanting Ollie to be here, now, though. He somehow always made her feel better. No matter what the situation was. Even when he had been in that motorcycle accident, it had been him that was taking care of her.

Was it selfish? To want the person who had gone through all of it to be the one to comfort her?

Maybe.

But, that didn't stop her from wanting him to be here.

Oliver hesitantly opens up the door to the tower, sword in hand. He attacks the man and quickly loses his sword.

Quentin let out a little chuckle much to his own dismay. And, based on Moira's stare, to her dismay too. But hey, what could he say? Oliver sucked at fighting. And, it was funny. The kid wasn't going to die here, they all knew that.

A small piece of him fought back against that, reminding him, once more, what if this had been Sara? What if Sara was the one forced to become a soldier? Would he be laughing then? No.

He hated his stupid goddamn conscious. Sometimes, he wished it would just shut the hell up.

The man draws a gun on him. Oliver attempts to disarm him but fails. The man reaches for a phone.

Diggle raised his eyebrows. He was more surprised that the man didn't just outright kill Oliver right then and there. In a way, Oliver might've just lucked out by getting a man with half a heart.

Slade then impales him with his sword.

Thea and Laurel jumped a little, giving each other a look before returning their attention to the screen. Laurel bit her lip. She had seen lots of death, especially this year. And it worried her, to some degree, that she was distancing herself so much from it. Death wasn't as bothersome. It was, at this point, just part of her life. It was almost natural.

And that disgusted her.

She was supposed to be looking for justice. Legal justice. Not this archaic, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, barbaric justice. That wasn't her. And yet, she couldn't stop the small tinge of satisfaction every time one of the 'bad guys' got taken out.

He tells Oliver that he had one job to do and he still managed to screw it up. Slade tells Oliver that he is going to go make sure everything is clear and to not let anyone in besides Slade in. Slade gives Oliver the man's gun and tells him not to shoot himself by mistake.

Tommy didn't know whether or not to laugh or to agree with the man. Maybe he could do both. But, knowing Oliver, at least the Oliver from five years ago, he should probably be agreeing with Slade's words.

Oliver sets the gun down and glanced towards the phone. He picks up the phone and begins dialing a number. It rings.

"What?" Moira breathed, staring at the screen. "He had access to a phone? Why didn't he call us? We could've saved him?" She said, her words tumbling out of her mouth, falling flat in the room.

The truth was, no one had the answer to that.

Laurel answers. Oliver remains silent for a moment, obviously shocked. Laurel asks if anyone is there.

"Oh," Laurel whispered. She kept her eyes on the screen. Part of her could practically feel Moira and everyone else's gaze burning into her. "I didn't know. I didn't. Why didn't he say anything?"

She remembered that call. She had found it weird, for a second, maybe even two, and then she had gone about her day. That was all the time it had taken for her to make a decision that gave Oliver four more years of this hell.

She could've stopped all of this. If only she had looked into it.

"Laurel," Tommy's voice tickled her ear as he spoke, "You thought it was a wrong number. Everyone gets those calls. You couldn't have known."

But, maybe she should've.

She didn't say anything else, instead, she glanced over towards Tommy, giving him a small nod to appease him.

Before Oliver could answer, Slade rips the phone away from Oliver, destroying it.

Okay, so maybe Thea didn't like the Australian Ninja as much as she thought she did. If he hadn't had done that, she probably would've gotten her brother back four years ago.

She probably would've gotten her brother back, period. Not the stranger that returned.

Thea absently shook her heads at her thoughts.

No, he wasn't a stranger. He was different. He had changed. But Ollie was still her Ollie. She knew it the first day she had seen him come back. She knew it when he had called her Speedy again for the first time in years. She knew it when he threw away her drugs, as annoying as it was.

But that still didn't mean that she didn't miss who he was before sometimes.

And, there she went again. Making this all about her.

He asks if Oliver has lost his mind as says that they may be monitoring the calls.

Diggle hated the fact that he agreed with Slade. It hurt to see hope ripped from a man, but it made sense. If Fyers had learned their location from that phone call, odds were that Laurel would've just ended up bringing Oliver's body home instead of Oliver himself.

A radio broadcast comes in, saying that they were three hours out and asks them to confirm. Slade picks up the radio and acknowledges the call. The caller responds with 'for all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth'.

"What is that?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow, looking between Diggle and Lance.

"It's probably some sort of code or countersign," Diggle responded first, beating Lance. "We used a similar sort of thing in the military to communicate with our forces."

"So, is it just like a password?" Thea asked.

"More or less."

Oliver questions it, and Slade tells him it's a challenge code to verify who they are.

Lance grimaced internally. The force should've probably incorporated this into some of their work. Especially when they were dealing with Deadshot. It could've saved lives. And that was something he would have to carry with him to the grave.

Slade asks the man to repeat himself. The man does. Oliver says that he knows it.

"You're kidding me," Tommy half-laughed. "I don't believe it."

Diggle glanced to the side. Oliver may act stupid, but he wasn't. It was almost surprising to see how well Oliver had managed to fool his family, especially considering the cover stories that he had thrown Felicity's way.

He kind of expected more from Oliver's family.

He says that they picked the one book that Oliver read in college. He says it's a quote from the Odyssey. He repeats the quote and finishes it with 'nothing is born that is weaker than man.'

"Well, mom, turns out college wasn't for nothing," Thea said, giving her mom a tight smile. Her mother nodded absently, not really turning to look at her. Not that Thea blamed her all that much. You don't really send your kid to college in hopes that one day he'll be able to answer some weird ass challenge code.

Maybe she should start doing the summer reading from now on. Maybe.

Slade asks if he is sure because the plane will turn around. Oliver says he is sure and that Slade should say it. Slade clicks the button, and Oliver yells at him to wait. He corrects the quote to 'nothing is bred that is weaker than man'.

"What would have happened if they had said one wrong word?" Thea asked, once again turning towards Diggle, who shrugged in response.

"They wouldn't have landed most likely. Challenge codes aren't to be messed with, and a wrong word, while most of the time is a mistake, can be a sign of an enemy. A lot of the time, they end up being the difference between a soldier going home to see their family and being sent home in a body bag."

"Them why would they make it a quote of something that just anyone would know?" Thea asked.

"I don't know. I honestly don't. Maybe they didn't bother making up complex countersigns with one another because they didn't think they would have to worry about spies on a deserted island?" Diggle said, running a hand over top of his head. "But either way, Oliver and Slade got really lucky with this."

"Lucky is one way to put it," Tommy said, mumbling under his breath.

Slade says it into the radio. His code is accepted. Slade is happy, and asks about the Odyssey. Oliver says its about a man trying to get home. Slade says he'll be on his way home soon.

Moira glanced away from the screen for a moment, looking down towards the ground. It hurt to see this. To see all of this hope, and to know that none of this would end up working. It hurt even worse because it gave her hope, too. That somehow, the timeline was wrong, that maybe her boy would make it home on this plane after all.

But, she had seen Oliver's back. She had seen his scars, his tattoos. She knew, deep down, that the worst was yet to come. And, she didn't know if she could handle that.

Oliver asks why Slade made it sound like he wasn't coming with. Slade says he will be coming after he radios in an air strike on the location.

"What the?" Tommy said. "Not that I wouldn't mind blowing that shit hole to pieces, but-" Tommy cut himself off, not finishing the statement. Once again, he was met with his internal turmoil: how much is a life worth? Sure, none of the guys were innocent, but did that mean that they deserved to die? If they were just being paid for it, then did that really damn them to hell? To Slade, apparently, the answer was yes.

Maybe to Oliver today, the answer was yes, too.

But to Tommy, the answer wasn't as clear.

He said he's going to send Fyers and his men to hell. Oliver says that Slade can't blow up the island. He says Yao Fei is still out there. Slade says that he is not his concern.

"The hell?" Thea said. "I thought his whole mission or whatever was to save Yao Fei?"

"It was," Diggle said, "But, when they got here, they obviously weren't expecting to stumble upon all of this. Sometimes, missions change. Priorities change. And, as a soldier, one of the first lessons you learn is not everyone can be saved."

"Still," Thea said, her voice trailing off as she stared at the screen. "It still doesn't feel right."

Oliver says Yao Fei was the only reason Slade came here, and that he was his mission. Slade says the mission changed. Slade says Fyers is a mercenary and he has plans for the island. He says that the plans involve Yao Fei, and they must end.

Lance glanced over towards Diggle. He had respected the man for a while, especially after he had saved Laurel from the Triad. But, hearing him talk about this stuff, it brought a new level of respect with it.

The man knew his stuff.

Oliver says that Yao Fei saved his life. Slade says that that is not his debt to repay. Oliver walks off. Slade grabs him, asking him where he's going. Oliver says that for all of his life, he's only thought about himself. He says he took his family for granted and betrayed people he loved. He says he's not going to be that person anymore.

Laurel stared at the screen, trying to keep her emotions as hidden as possible. Partly for Tommy's sake, partly for her own. It was so easy to think that Oliver didn't feel. That he never cared. That was the only thought that kept her going during those five years. And now, to find out, the man she had damned to hell in her mind for all of those years wasn't who she thought he was, that hurt. She glanced over towards her dad, placing a hand on his lap. His dad would never say it, not for a long time, but she knew that whatever guilt she was feeling was only a fraction of what he was feeling.

He says he can't leave Yao Fei there to die. Slade says the plane leaves in three hours, and if him and Yao Fei aren't on it, he will leave without them.

"Are you kidding me?" Thea spit out. "After all of that, Slade would just leave him?"

"But, wouldn't it be better to have one person off the island than both of them stuck?" Laurel questioned gently. "At least then there would be some hope for survival."

Ollie, without Slade, would probably be dead by then, though. But, Thea kept that thought to herself. Her mom didn't need to hear that at the moment.

Oliver turns to leave, but stops and asks Slade to call his family if Slade gets on the island. Slade agrees.

"Well, either Slade is an asshole, or something tells me he's not going to get off the island," Tommy grumbled.

Oliver runs off. He runs through the forest and makes it to the other camp. Oliver hides from guards and sneaks through the camp. He sees Yao Fei walk out of a tent. Yao Fei is drawing on a map when Oliver enters. He asks how Oliver got in, but Oliver says he'll explain on the way but they have to leave. Yao Fei says he shouldn't have come back. Oliver says he found Slade and that they have a way off the island but they have to leave now. Yao Fei refuses.

"I can't say that I wasn't expecting that," Lance said. He would never leave Laurel or anyone else he cared for on that island. No matter the cost to himself. He would never be able to live with himself if he did that. Never. But, he couldn't say that his heart didn't break for Queen there. The kid had basically sacrificed his own life to come and save a man that didn't want to be saved.

It was amazing that Oliver was even half sane at this point.

Not that he would ever tell Queen that.

Oliver asks what reason he has for staying. Yao Fei says not what, but who. Fyers comes in and Yao Fei punches Oliver, knocking him to the floor. Fyers says it's past time Oliver left the island, permanently.

"You've got to be kidding me," Thea said, anger coating the fear in her words. Her mom reached over, grabbing her hand. Thea, at first, thought her mom was trying to comfort her. But, when she turned, her mom's eyes were glassy, glistening against the light from the screen. Thea squeezed her mom's hand back.

The masked man that tortured Oliver joins them. Oliver passes out.

Just because Moira knew that Oliver made it back alive didn't mean it made these moments any easier. A story had been carved into her son's body, and they had only read the first chapter. And that, that was almost too much for her. She didn't want to finish the book.

Meanwhile, Slade hears back from the plane, saying that they will be landing soon. Slade says that they are clear to land.

"The asshole really is gonna leave him, huh?" Tommy muttered.

Oliver is forced into a circle, his hands tied behind his back.

"I can't," Moira whispered. "I can't watch this again. I've already seen him die once, I can't do it again. I don't understand how watching this helps," she said, turning around. "Why are you doing this to us? How could this have any effect on anything? Do you enjoy sitting here and watching us watch this?" She continued, the words spiraling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Barry didn't look surprised, not at all. In fact, he seemed to be expecting this outburst.

"Have I not explained my reasoning well enough?" he asked, more curious than anything.

"No, not particularly," Moira said.

"Contrary to what you may think," Quentin began, catching Moira's eye, "We are actual people. It may be hard for you to understand, maybe we're not your timeline's Quentin and Moira or whatever the hell you say, but we are our timeline's people."

Quentin's words almost seemed to offend Barry for a second. Moira watched as the man's eyes narrowed.

"Why do you think I'm fighting so hard for you to live? Your lives will never bring back the one's I've lost. And yet, here I am."

Moira's shoulders loosened a little as she looked at Barry. Maybe it was his words, maybe it was the scar on his face that his hand kept running over, maybe it was the fact that he was only trying to help his son, but she believed him.

But, that didn't stop the pain every time she looked at the screen.

Fyers asks why he isn't already dead. He says he saw Yao Fei choke him to death. Oliver says he's not as strong as he looks.

"Oliver," Moira chastised under her breath. Leave it to him to antagonize the man that was going to kill him.

Fyers asks why Oliver returned for him. He says Oliver is a fool or a hero. Oliver says he isn't a hero. Fyers says it isn't possible to be a hero when people aren't worth saving.

Quentin stared at the screen for a long moment. A big part of his disdain towards the Hood, Oliver, whoever the hell, was that he was paraded as a hero, and Quentin never bought it. Because, Oliver or not, past or not, torture or not, the man wasn't a hero. And he hated the delusion that the Hood was some freaking miracle vigilante that was going to raise the city out from its destruction. And Lance, well more than he hated murder, he hated the false hope that the Hood brought. A hero that is a killer is nothing but a sign that there is truly nothing worth saving anymore.

And he had always assumed that Oliver thought himself to be a hero. And he hated that.

But now, now Lance didn't know.

Oliver asks if Fyers wants Oliver to fight Yao Fei again. Fyers says it isn't a match, but an execution.

Moira couldn't help but turn around in her seat to give Barry a look. A pleading one. She wasn't lying before. She couldn't do this again. For the first time since this all had started, Barry gave her a nod. Almost as if to reassure her. She nodded back, turning towards the screen once more.

Yao Fei apologizes.

"Save it," Thea hissed, glaring at the screen. Daughter or wife or whoever the hell he was saving, he was killing her brother in the process.

Oliver turns to face Billy wintergreen, the masked man. Oliver calls him by his name, and Bill hits him.

A whimper escaped from Thea's lips, and she turned her head away from the screen.

Oliver recovers and continues to talk to Billy about his occupation and his honor. Billy hits him again.

Diggle had always admired one thing about Oliver, and that was his perseverance. His ability to pick himself up from the bottom. That's why he got so scared, probably, when the Dark Archer took down Oliver. Oliver didn't seem to want to pick himself back up from that one, and that wasn't the Oliver that Diggle had grown to respect or know.

He draws his sword and cuts Oliver loose. As soon as Oliver stands, Billy beats him again.

Lance could've laughed. Of course a man like Billy would want to not kill a man when he was tied down. That would be oh so dishonorable. This really was one special sort of sicko.

Billy grabs him by the neck, and Oliver says that he'll triple whatever Fyers is paying him. There's an explosion in the distance.

"Never thought I would be happy to see something blow up," Tommy muttered, staring at the screen. "But, what now? The Army? More Mercenaries? Aliens?"

Shots are fired. The soldiers retaliate. Oliver gets away. Slade is revealed to have caused the fire. He walks out and faces Billy.

"Thank god," Tommy breathed out as soon as Slade walked onto the screen.

They fight, and then Slade kills Billy as Oliver watches.

Moira stared. Another piece of Oliver gone.

A shot fires and hits Slade. Oliver fires back and grabs Slade, taking him away. They run into a man, but Oliver takes down a man with a gun easily.

"Damn," Tommy chuckled. Diggle grunted across the room. Turning and looking at the man, he gave him a questioning stare. "What is it?" Tommy asked.

"Just wondering how Slade's going to get through this," Diggle said.

"Isn't it just a flesh wound?" Thea asked.

"It's not the wound that'll kill him. It's the infection."

Lance glanced between the two men, staying silent. Once again, this image he had for Oliver was being stripped away right before his very eyes. Oliver hadn't yet killed a man purposefully. In fact, he seemed to be doing everything in his power to not have to kill someone. A scowl tugged across his face for a moment as he stared at the screen. Not at the man before him, but more-so directed towards Lance himself. He was a detective for god's sake. And to have misunderstood someone's character this much? That was a disgrace to his badge.

They watch as the plane leaves the island.

Laurel sighed. To be holding onto hope of something she knew for a fact didn't happen was strange. Somehow, she had managed to hope that that plane ended up saving Oliver. Even though she had seen living proof that that was far from the case.

Oliver tries to dig the bullet out of Slade's arm. Slade says he's impressed Oliver didn't puke and Oliver replies that he swallowed it.

Tommy laughed. That was his Oliver. The one he remembered.

"I think I may puke," Thea murmured as she stared at the screen.

Slade says he can untie him. Oliver does and asks him why he asked him to do it in the first place. Slade says a man in pain is unreliable. Slade says he was afraid he may kill him.

Diggle cocked his head to the side. There was so much of Slade in Oliver now. From what he had seen with Oliver and how he had reacted with the vertigo poisoning. From the training. And yet, after all of this, Oliver never talked about Slade.

And that made Diggle more nervous than anything.

Oliver starts laughing and says that he's trapped on an island and his only friend is named Wilson.

Tommy laughed alongside Thea at Oliver's comment. A part of him was a little amazed at Oliver. Maybe this was shock or something like that. But, he didn't think he would be able to witness people get murdered, have to dig a bullet out of his friends arm, and still find it in him to make a damn Castaway joke.

Oliver asks what now. Slade says he hopes he slowed Fyers down enough to stop the plan. Oliver asks what they should do. Slade says they should make sure that they don't die on the questions him, and Slade says that the person Oliver was before wouldn't have made it, but the person he is now would. They shake hands.

"Anyone wanna take bets on how long it takes before the next disaster hits?" Tommy asked, trying to break the tension in the room.

Nobody took him up on it. Shame.

Author's Note: Hey everyone! Sorry this update took so long to get out, between summer school and other projects, I never could seem to find the time. But, I wanted to post this update! I hope everyone is doing well during this time! Special thanks to DreamCatcher06, spnfan2005, Ravinhairedvampire, Kiri Namikase, JoeyDe (!), LizaSandorthien, Supercorp Slexie 24, summernoice, and mastercheif1229 for their awesome reviews. Also, thank you so much for the follows and favorites! It honestly means so much to me and I can't thank you guys enough!

Stay safe and stay awesome everyone!