The End Of All Things (An Arrow: Season 8 Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: The Undertaking 2.0: Part 2

Oliver and I stopped on the lowest floor. 

'Tommy could be anywhere inside,' Oliver announced through the comms. 'Start with the ground floor, work our way up.' Laurel loaded her gun and John put his Spartan helmet on. 

'Let's do this,' he said. We walked through the double doors and charged the men that ran at us. Along the way, Oliver saw the Dark Archer walk through another set of doors and ran after him, coming upon the Earth-2 versions of Dinah and Rene. 

'You should have stayed on that island,' Dinah taunted. Taking them on easily, he brought them to the ground. Dinah tumbled down the stairs, and both of them were unconscious. Oliver paused to look at them. 

'Back on my Earth, you had a better teacher.' He walked up to the roof and stopped, an arrow flying past him at the last second. Stepping past the light smoke, he entered the roof to see Tommy Merlyn setting up the last of the device to blow up the city. 

'You don't have to do this,' Tommy called out. 

'I was thinking the same thing,' he called back. 'This is not what Thea would have wanted.' 

'That's funny. You know what she used to say?' Tommy bit back. 

'The dead don't want anything.' 

'It's one of the benefits of being dead.' He turned to fire up the machine. 

'Tommy...' Oliver said, and fired an arrow at Tommy, causing him to whirl around. He fired one back, and the fight began. The two of them traded blows for a while, but Oliver eventually gained the upper hand. While Tommy lay on the ground, mask off, groaning in pain, Oliver walked over to the machine to deactivate it. 

'You can't!' Tommy shouted from where he was laying. 'It's encrypted with my personal code. You can't break it in time.' 

'You can,' Oliver replied. He turned to face his friend. 'I know how devastating it must have been to lose Thea and Evelyn because we're only as good as the people we have in our lives. I lost people too, Tommy. I lost people closer to me than I could possibly explain to you. Every one of those losses brings with it a choice between darkness and light. Make the right choice.' Tommy slowly started to stand as Oliver kept speaking to him. 'Are you going to kill thousands of innocent people, or are you going to be the man I know you are?' Tommy regained his feet and limped past Oliver towards the machine. Pressing a few buttons, the device powered down. Tommy turned to face his friend once more. 

'That was a pretty good speech.' 

Later... 

Adrian leaned down, looking over the Dwarf Star particles safely enclosed inside the case, glowing a brilliant green. Pulling out the canister, he handed it to Oliver. 

'As agreed, the Dwarf Star particles that power Merlyn's weapon,' he said. Oliver took the glowing green case and placed it inside a large bag. 

'Thank you,' Oliver replied. 

'And now you're gonna tell me what you're gonna do with them.' 

'Not destroy a city. Don't worry.' Adrian gazed at him, then at me.  

'You're from a parallel universe, aren't you? The Hood and Athena from another reality.' 

'How do you know that?' John asked. Adrian looked at the two of us again. 

'Bruce Wayne once told me that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,' Adrian replied. 

'Well, as the Hood from another parallel universe,' Oliver asked, 'may I offer you some advice?' Adrian nodded once. 'Change 'the Hood' to 'Green Arrow". Trust me.' Adrian walked away, leaving Laurel with the three of us. 

'Why do I get the feeling that you three won't be sticking around for a victory drink?' Laurel asked. 

'We have to get home,' I replied. 'To our Earth.' 

'This city's lucky to have a hero like you in it,' Oliver said to Laurel. Her mouth parted at the kind words. 

'Wow. That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Thank you.' Oliver nodded. 'You take care of yourself... the three of you.' I smiled at her, the three of us walking away. 

'You okay?' John asked Oliver. 

'I'm alive,' Oliver simply remarked. 

'You say that like it's a bad thing.' 

'Well, it's a temporary thing, John,' Oliver replied. 

'Oliver, you don't know that. And I don't know this Monitor, but what I do know, is that no one's fate is sealed.' 

'He saw me die,' Oliver replied. 

'In the future...' I said, 'which means we can still prevent this.' I grabbed his hand. 'Oliver, you're not alone in this.' 

'Well, not anymore,' Oliver replied, squeezing my hand. 'Thanks for having my back.' 

'Always,' John replied. 'Now, can we go home now?' We turned towards the elevators. As the doors shut, Oliver said, 

'Just one more thing I gotta do.' 

At the SCPD precinct... 

Oliver and John walked through the police precinct, seeing Rene and Dinah being marched away by several police officers. I met up with them. 

'What's going on?' I heard someone say. Multiple phones were ringing at once. 

'My computer just went down!' A woman called out. Just then Laurel walked into the precinct. 

'Oh, good, you're still here,' she said. 'The city's under attack.' 

'By who?' I asked. Just then flashes of red appeared outside, seeming to dissipate everything in its path like lava. Rene and Dinah stood up and they vanished. My heart seemed to stop in my chest as the lava-like shock wave grew closer to us. 

'We have to get out of here,' Laurel said. 

'And go where?' John asked. 

'Home. Cisco's device,' Oliver replied. John pulled it out, creating a portal at the far end of the room. 

'Oliver!' we heard someone cry out, and Moira rushed into the room. She locked eyes with me for a split second. 'Evelyn?' 

'Mom?' we both said, as she vanished into ash from the incoming wave. We turned to John. 

'Dig, you gotta go. Go now!' I yelled. He stepped into the portal. Tommy ran out, and we both looked at him. 

'What's happening?' He had no time to react before the wave turned him to ash as well. 

'Oliver?' Laurel asked. 'Oliver!' she yelled. He turned to her, grabbing both of our arms. 

'Laurel, Evelyn, come on,' he said, and pulled us through the portal, just as the world of Earth-2 disappeared from our eyes.