"Mom-"
"No!"
"Why!?"
"It's never good with you!"
"That's not true!"
"It absolutely is true!"
"Ugh! Whatever!"
"Love you too."
Malcolm Merlyn/Oliver Queen
"You should have stayed dead," Joe narrowed his eyes.
Rose stuck her tongue out childishly at the screen.
"He's not here," Alex said to her.
"I know," Rose shrugged.
"No wonder she doesn't like him," Barry said.
Malcolm raised an eyebrow at that and turned to Slade. "I heard you were in trouble, kid," Slade told him. "And so I thought I'd offer my help." He nodded to Malcolm. "My friend here offered to tag along."
"My old man here to save me," Joe scoffed as Oliver and Kara moved closer to the door, ready to jump in if they needed to. "Last I saw, you weren't all that concerned with saving anyone." His eyes went to Malcolm and he scoffed. "And after what you did to the Glades? You, helping?"
"We have a mutual acquaintance we never liked," Malcolm drawled, making Oliver roll his eyes.
Oliver just sighed in annoyance.
"Well," Joe turned back to Slade, drawing the gun at his side and pointing it at Slade. Malcolm immediately went for his sword, Nylander aiming at him as Slade held out a hand to stop Malcolm. "Apple doesn't fall that far. What do you think? Patricide?"
"What's patricide?" Alura asked.
"Nothing," Ollie said.
"They've seen our operation," Nylander answered. "It makes them liabilities."
"Yeah, you can have that choice, but I'll give you another one," Slade told his son. "Let us join you."
"If I wanted a family reunion, I would've sent an invitation," Joe growled.
"Maybe you did, but you just haven't realized it, kid," Slade walked forward, risking getting shot in the head, Malcolm's hand still hovering over his sword hilt, keeping Nylander in his sights. "See, I came all this way to talk with you, and I will kill anybody who gets in my way because I got nothing left to lose. Only you. So go ahead," he nodded at the gun, practically up against it now. "Make a decision."
"You're very persuasive," J'onn said, impressed.
Joe narrowed his eyes, he and his father staring each other down, before he clicked the safety on and lowered his gun. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't swayed by the poetry of it all," he said dryly as Malcolm finally moved away from his sword. "But can I trust you?"
"Trust is built upon honesty," Slade answered. "I am sure you have a lot of questions to ask me, and I've got a lot of questions for you, Joe."
"That's not my name anymore," he shook his head at once.
"Your mother named you something different to keep us apart," Slade countered.
Joe slowly nodded. "OK. Guess we got some catching up to do."
Slade turned to Malcolm, and the assassin nodded his head, folding his arms. Slade followed Joe as Malcolm eyed the rest of the Jackals. "Don't you have anything better to aim at?" he asked.
