'Jeez, this is one paranoid assassin,' Felicity sighed as she ferociously typed away at the computer, trying to decrypt Guillermo Barrera's phone for any information on who he was working for. 'Barrera's got cobalt-level encryption on his phone. It's not gonna be easy to break, but codebreaker is my middle name... Actually, it's Megan-'
'Felicity,' Oliver stopped her from babbling on any longer in a gruff voice. 'Can you get anything off of it?'
'Just the last number he dialled,' Felicity told us with another sigh.
'Which was?' Oliver pressed further on the matter.
'A restaurant in Chinatown,' Felicity concluded from the location that popped up onto the computer screen from her searching the number in question. 'Jade Dragon. I guess even hired killers enjoy the city's best chow mein.'
'Yeah, Jade Dragon is a front,' Diggle gave us context. 'For the Chinese Mafia.'
'Aria, call the restaurant and make a reservation for two for tonight,' Oliver ordered at once. 'And Felicity, you need to decrypt that phone.'
'I'm kinda in the mood for Chinese now,' Felicity commented to Diggle and I as Oliver left us.
'You know, I don't think we've really spent time together off duty,' I mentioned to the other two. 'We're usually in here, getting orders from Oliver, or nearly getting murdered at fundraisers.'
'It's all work and no play down here,' Diggle remarked, Oliver definitely not in the Arrowcave any more. 'Oliver is... Driven.'
'That's one word you could use,' Felicity added as she carried on typing as fast as she could.
'What is it that's stopping you from getting in?' I inquired, looking at the hundreds of jumbled digits on the computer screen.
'I don't know,' she said frustratedly. 'I should be able to get through but... I... Can't.'
'It's okay to hit a brick wall sometimes,' I told her, calming her down as she threw her head back in exasperation. 'When I first trained to be a vigilante, I didn't win every fight. Even recently, I've not been able to fight against certain criminals.'
'But Oliver said he needs me to be able to do this,' Felicity said, worried she was going to disappoint him.
'Oliver's a bit of a stress-head,' I interjected, making Felicity laugh and lighten up. 'And Felicity, I could never do what you can; the times that I have tried to code have all gone terribly wrong. You are way better than I ever could be at coding, at hacking, and I know that you will be able to do this. Just don't rush yourself so much; give yourself time to figure out what you need to do.'
'I will,' Felicity smiled at me in thanks. 'Have you ever thought of being, like, a therapist or something?'
'I don't think I have,' I laughed lightly. 'Maybe that's what I should be if I'm never allowed back in the SCPD.'
Leaving Felicity to crack Barrera's phone with Diggle, I joined Oliver and Tommy upstairs, where they were finalising some plans for the club.
'Hey, Aria, we've just been deciding what colour to buy all the furniture in,' Tommy filled me in. 'Black or chrome?'
'White,' I advised them instead. 'You don't want it to be too dingy in here; Lance might come looking to see if we're running a drug cartel in the back or something.'
'Good choice,' Tommy accepted my choice. 'I think we have a winner.'
'Then, we won't need big LED lights because the room will be so bright from the furniture,' Oliver argued sarcastically. 'Clubs are supposed to be dark.'
'We are having lights,' Tommy argued back. 'I am not making it so we have a bunch of lawsuits because no one can see anything.'
'But we'll just be throwing money away-' Oliver protested.
'Aw, you're both just like an old married couple arguing about what curtains they want in their front room,' I fawned over them sarcastically, both the boys rolling their eyes at me.
'Oh, Aria, I've been meaning to ask you about what job you want,' Tommy rushed over to my side after Oliver had left the club completely.
'I don't mind,' I shrugged. 'Just as long as it pays the bills.'
'Well, I do need someone to help me manage the place,' Tommy offered. 'And I can't think of anyone else better to do that than you.'
'Why not Oliver?' I asked controversially. 'Doesn't he own the club with you?'
'He owns it, but he doesn't manage it,' Tommy shook his head, looking amused at my comment. 'All he does is boss me around about how he wants it to look and where he wants things to go, but apart from that, it's mine. And yours, if you're interested.'
'I... Don't know what to say, Tommy,' I breathed, astonished at Tommy's generosity with his business. 'Yes!'
'Well, I better have good judgement then,' Tommy joked as we shook on our verbal contract.
'You're just scared because I might be a better manager than you,' I smirked. 'But seriously, thank you, Tommy.'
'It's not a problem,' he smiled in response. 'But now, we need to find people who want to actually work here.'
'Tommy,' I remembered I needed to persuade him to go see his father receive his award at the Appreciation Gala. 'Your dad asked me to go to his award thing, and I think he really wants you to be there too.'
'He's just trying to use you to get me to talk to him,' I could hear the resentment in Tommy's voice. 'Whatever he's told you to make him like you, don't believe him. He shouldn't be getting that award because he's really not got it in him to be human.'
'But he's your dad,' I persisted. 'And it's not every day that you get an invite to a fancy award ceremony with free champagne.'
'Free champagne does sound tempting,' Tommy decided. 'But my dad taught me to never rely on family, and so I'm just... Leading by example.'
'Your dad has done some pretty terrible things, I know,' I agreed with him. 'But you can be better than him. Be the better generation of the Merlyn family, and show him how great you really are. Plus, I do not want to be there on my own with only your father for company.'
'Alright, I'll go,' Tommy gave in to my pleas. 'But only for you, Aria, not for my dad.'
'That's the spirit,' I muttered, but needed to remember that I had convinced Tommy to do something he would never have ever dreamed of in the past.
I knew now that I needed to somehow fix the broken relationship the Merlyns had; I couldn't sit and watch as they grew further apart, after everything Malcolm had done to change and after Tommy had become a caring, wonderful person. They just needed to see that in each other.
---
Between honing my fighting skills and helping to make some final decisions for the club, the Appreciation Gala arrived in a blink of an eye. Tommy met me outside the Merlyn Global Group building, dressed in his best tux, I too having dressed up for the occasion in the most affordable black floor-length dress I could find at the Starling Mall.
'You look... Nice,' Tommy complimented me as much as he could without breaking the boundaries of friendship.
'So do you,' I smiled back, almost smirking at his attire. 'I never thought I'd see you dressed like that, Tommy Merlyn.'
'Does it look bad?' Tommy vainly worried about his appearance at once.
'No, you just look... Sensible,' I laughed at his reaction. 'You never used to be sensible, well, until now.'
'I'm not twenty-one anymore, Aria,' he rolled his eyes at me. 'I'm nearly thirty, remember? I'm old.'
'I can never imagine you old,' I joked sarcastically. 'You're always going to be the immature boy I first met back in... What was it, '06?'
'That seems like a long time ago now,' Tommy said, a bit shocked. 'How did time go by so quickly?'
'I have no idea,' I joined in with Tommy as we marvelled about time, more people passing us to get into the building in time for the start of the Gala. 'We should probably go inside, so we can get a good view of your dad actually getting the award. There would be no point in us being here if we can't see properly.'
'Good idea,' Tommy agreed as we entered, the gigantic lobby area of the Merlyn Global Group building being flooded by a sea of people, all there to watch Malcolm Merlyn receive the prestigious Humanitarian Award. 'My dad has a lot of friends.'
'Oh really, I hadn't noticed,' I commented back sarcastically, but before Tommy could shoot some other arrogant response back, Lieutenant Pike stood at the podium on the raised stage facing the sizeable audience.
'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,' Pike began with addressing us. 'Now, tonight's honouree needs very little introduction. It is neither his wealth nor his name that we celebrate here tonight, but it is his efforts in making Starling City a better and safer place to live. So, please help me welcome Starling City's humanitarian of the year, Mr Malcolm Merlyn.'
We all broke into applause as we saw Malcolm walk onto the stage to collect his award, standing behind the podium like the Lieutenant had previously been. I caught Malcolm's eye as he looked back at his audience, I sending him a smile of good luck.
'Thank you, everyone, for coming this evening,' Malcolm started his speech as confidently as ever. 'Now, accepting this award is something I am proud to do, not because of my own efforts to make this city a better place, but for someone else who should've been up here, on this stage, instead of me. The true humanitarian in the Merlyn family was my wife, Rebecca. Many of you here knew her.'
I could sense Tommy's reaction as soon as his mother as mentioned, a melancholic but somehow happy one. Intertwining my fingers with his, Tommy looked at me in thanks as we continued to hold hands.
'She tirelessly devoted herself to helping those less fortunate in the Glades,' Malcolm carried on strongly in his heartfelt sermon about his wife. 'I like to think that of the man who murdered her knew her, knew the work that she did, knew the person that she was, he would have helped her to her car, made sure she was safe, instead of stealing her purse and shooting her.'
As Malcolm noticeably teared up and looked Tommy in the eye, Tommy did the same, squeezing my hand tighter and then turning to me to show his gratitude for my support.
'The truth is, I haven't done enough for this city, my city. I failed it. But I promise you, I am not finished yet; I promise you that this city will be better for all of us. And on that day, I will look at this beautiful award and feel that I have earned it. I thank you.'
We all applauded Malcolm again, but this time as he was leaving the stage, a proud, beaming smile written all over Tommy's face. Tommy finally had love towards his father again, and I knew that Malcolm would be eternally grateful for his son's presence at the Gala.
Before I could say anything to Tommy, my phone buzzed loudly, getting my attention immediately.
'Aria,' Oliver's voice came through the speaker, the vigilante sounding like he was in a hurry. 'You need to get out of there, now!'
'Why?' I asked at once, anxious about what he was about to tell me. 'What's the matter?'
'Felicity just got into Barrera's phone,' Oliver explained quickly. 'The target, he's Tommy's father. And the Chinese Triad are pulling the shots.'
As soon as the call ended the fire alarm siren went off throughout the building. What a timely coincidence.
'Ladies and gentlemen, please exit calmly and quietly to the glass sliding doors,' a pre-recorded male voice announced, the whole congregation of guests doing so as swiftly as possible.
Since we were at the other side of the room to the exit out of the building, Tommy and I waited at the back of the crowd, but I was itching to get out and find Malcolm. This was cruel what the Triad were about to do, especially when Malcolm's son was there to witness him die. I needed to find Malcolm, and fast.
'Are you... Okay?' Tommy noticed my nervousness. 'It's only a fire drill; there probably isn't even a fire and it went off by accident.'
'It's not about that,' I mumbled as I desperately scanned for Malcolm. 'Can you see your dad, Tommy?'
It was like a game of Where's Wally, but minus the fun and triple the frustration.
'Tommy?' We soon heard Malcolm yell over the babble. 'Aria? Tommy?'
Not even a second later, Malcolm was right behind us, grabbing his son's arm.
'Come with me,' he instructed us both, guiding us through the crowd and up the stairs. 'There's an exit on the second floor. I wasn't leaving until I knew you were safe.'
'How thoughtful,' I added sarcastically. 'But Malcolm, you're the one who's in trouble.'
'How the hell would you know that?' Tommy wondered, confused as to why I was so knowledgeable. 'You don't work for the SCPD anymore-'
Without warning, we ran into the firing line of two Triad men, their guns repeatedly shooting at us. The three of us sheltered behind a pillar in response to their bullets, the automatic weapons not ceasing fire.
But we soon weren't alone. Oliver came crashing through the window of the corridor we were situated, pointing his bow at the two men and concealing his identity with his hood. I felt almost helpless, watching Oliver play vigilante as I posed as a victim, one of our opponents already taken out by an arrow to the heart.
'Go somewhere safe, I'll hold them off,' Oliver shouted over to us, Malcolm looking towards me with an uncertainty, as though he wanted to stay and fight. 'Go now!'
'Come on,' Malcolm told his son, them both obeying Oliver, but I hung back.
'Aria!' Tommy called back to me once he was safe on the other side of the corridor.
'I have to stay!' I replied loudly over the gunshots. 'Go with your dad, I'll be fine!'
Straight after I heard Oliver shoot the other gunman, I leapt out into view, more Triad men appearing out of nowhere.
Now was my chance to fight alongside Oliver and prove to him the vigilante I was.
I fought the men with Oliver as they surrounded us, throwing accurate punches and kicks at each of them and successfully beating them down, albeit not exempt to a few hits myself. It was invigorating to feel the rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins once again, the nostalgia I was experiencing as I thought back to fighting with the company of Ted and Isaac giving me the push I needed to succeed in the fight.
It didn't take long for us to defeat the group, unconscious and dead bodies lain around us as Oliver and I took a breather.
'You didn't have to do that,' he growled in his robotic Hood voice. 'You could've joined Tommy and Mr Merlyn in the safety of the penthouse.'
'If I wasn't here, you might've not been able to fight all these experienced, bloodthirsty Triad members,' I pointed out to an ungrateful Oliver. 'So maybe a thanks is in order?'
However, we had one more person to deal with, and she was standing at the opposite end of the corridor, a snarky look on her face. She had a long mane of brilliant white hair that contrasted against her caramel-coloured skin, the dark wig she had been wearing to blend in with the other guests at the Gala now held limply in her hand.
'Why do you want Malcolm Merlyn dead?' Oliver roared across to her, and so I assumed that she was high up in the Triad.
'I'll settle for you,' she answered back with a deadly stare, more Triad men behind her following up to where I guessed Tommy and Malcolm were headed.
Marching towards us, she first hit out at Oliver, moving like the blade of a knife and quick on her feet. As soon as I tried to kick her off balance, she turned on me, knocking me to the ground before I could realise what was happening and ripping the bottom of my dress. She was too powerful against me, but Oliver was a fair opponent, and so he gestured at me to go fight the Triad men who had followed Malcolm and Tommy.
Scrambling up more of the staircase that ran through the building, I felt myself tripping on the partly detached part of my dress, it being way too impractical for fighting like Oliver was. With a heavy heart, I made the decision of ripping the very bottom of my dress off, it turning from a floor-length to a mid-length one. At least the garment itself had only cost me $55 in the sale.
Punching a few men as I travelled up the building some more, I found a fairly large group of the Triad loitering in the hallway, waiting for someone to fight. I struck immediately, dodging their fists and aiming mine until every man was down. It wasn't difficult for me to find Malcolm and Tommy, as a resounding shattering noise could be heard from above, where Malcolm's penthouse was.
What on earth had happened?
Like a shot, I ran to the penthouse, the door loosened from its lock, probably by the blast I had heard. Slipping through the gap, I found Tommy sat crumpled against the wall near the door, while Malcolm was face down on the glass-covered floor, too still to tell if he was okay. The two responded to my footsteps, Malcolm using his hands to press himself up off the floor and to his feet. There was a huge hole in the glass window that lined the penthouse in place of a solid wall, the Triad evidently not done yet. But who was behind the trigger?
'Are you both okay?' I asked automatically. 'What happened?'
'Tommy, you okay?' Malcolm checked if his son was safe with a groan, looking like he had sustained a lot of force. 'Yes, I'm okay, Aria.'
Standing upright and strolling towards the damage on the window, Malcolm received two bullets to the chest, them propelling him backwards, down to the floor again. It felt as if the world was in slow motion as Malcolm fell, both Tommy and I calling to him in shock and devastation.
Was Malcolm... Dead? He couldn't be, not after what Rip Hunter had implied when he had stopped me from killing him. If he was dead, there would've been no point in delaying his death for a matter of weeks. But there Malcolm was, still and laying on the floor, barely, if not, breathing.
Tommy and I darted to Malcolm's aid, taking in all that had happened in the space of seconds. There were two bullet holes in his chest, and Malcolm's face was unresponsive, his mouth slightly open and his eyes closed.
'Dad?' Tommy uttered in a childlike manner, while I tried to shake him awake. 'Dad?'
'He has a pulse, Tommy,' I informed him as I rested my fingers Malcolm's wrist, maintaining a calm, professional tone. 'He's alive, but just. We need to try to keep him alive.'
'How?' Tommy pined, dragging his father's body away from the exposed windows and to a more central part of the room. 'Dad, Dad, I'm sorry.'
Tommy untied Malcolm's bow tie, trying to do something to revive his father, somehow.
'Ugh, I'm okay,' Malcolm suddenly awoke with a sound of utmost pain.
He ripped his shirt open, showing us a bulletproof vest underneath. Malcolm was always one step ahead, and luckily; he couldn't die, not now, not after we had become friends again, and Malcolm had even gone as far as to call me his daughter he never had.
'Oh, no, no, no, you're bleeding,' Tommy observed anxiously, attempting to stop any more blood loss where the bullets had punctured Malcolm's chest.
'I'll be fine,' Malcolm reassured his son breathlessly. 'I'll-'
But Malcolm wasn't fine, as he faded back into unconsciousness.
'No, no, no, no, Dad!' Tommy screamed, grasping his father's face, trying to wake him up. 'Dad!'
'Malcolm?' I was now in the same state of denial. 'Malcolm? This shouldn't be happening, Tommy, he's wearing a bulletproof vest! He can't be...'
The sound of glass crunching interrupted our devotion to Malcolm, Oliver standing before us, still dressed as The Hood. Tommy reacted to his presence defensively, grabbing the gun from his father's holster and pointing it at Oliver unwaveringly.
'Stay back,' Tommy stated darkly, sounding just like his father.
'Tommy, put the gun down,' I ordered him, scared he would pull the trigger and kill his best friend.
'I'm not here to hurt you, or your father,' Oliver informed him, still using his robotic Hood voice and his left hand outstretched to protect himself.
'I said, stay back,' Tommy almost sighed in anger with the gun still pointed at Oliver, refusing to listen to the both of us.
Disposing of his bow, Oliver knelt to the floor and picked up a bullet that had missed Malcolm, examining it carefully.
'It's curare,' Oliver claimed, slightly confused.
'Don't come any closer,' Tommy threatened him.
'Your father's been poisoned,' Oliver explained. 'An assassin named Floyd Lawton laces his bullets with curare, I've dealt with this before.'
'But I thought Lawton was dead!' I exclaimed at this new information. 'You took care of him, as you just said.'
'How does this have anything to do with my father?' Tommy questioned us in bewilderment and upset.
'We need to dilute the poison in his bloodstream,' Oliver expanded on his point in an attempt to show Tommy he was trying to help, not hinder.
'I said, stay the hell back!' Tommy carried on pointing the gun at his disguised friend.
'In three minutes, he's paralysed,' Oliver stated quickly, doing his best to get Tommy to listen to him. 'In four minutes, he suffocates. If you don't let me help you now, he's dead before anybody gets here!'
'Help?' Tommy challenged. 'How?'
'Fresh blood buys him time to get to the hospital,' Oliver vaguely explained.
'A blood transfusion?' Tommy asked as if Oliver had offended him greatly. 'That's insane!'
'It's the only way,' Oliver merely said, his efforts in saving Malcolm starting to dwindle. 'He needs your blood. You're out of time. You need to make a decision right now.'
'Why should I trust you?' Tommy yelled, waving the gun around dangerously.
In a new twist of fate, Oliver removed his hood from covering his face, exposing his real identity to Tommy. I gasped in shock, not because I had no idea that Oliver was The Hood, but because I was surprised at how Oliver had shown Tommy who he really was.
'Because you always have,' Oliver announced in his normal voice after he had turned his voice-altering device off.
'Oliver,' Tommy was stunned, his mouth wide with wonder, awe, and probably a dozen other emotions.
But now, we needed to save Malcolm, before it was too late.