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

Chapter 20: Purgatory Once More

After an unforeseen betrayal by a close friend and a nightmare sequence on loop in which Oliver Queen is forced to let go of an old friend as a test by Mar Novu, known as the Monitor, Oliver Queen, along with his sister, Evelyn, their closest friend, John Diggle, as well as Laurel Lance, Mia Smoak, Connor Hawke and William Clayton are sent to Lian Yu, the place where it all began so many years ago. 

What lies ahead on this journey, though familiar the place is, is entirely unfamiliar to them... 

On the shores of Lian Yu. 

'So this is the famous Lian Yu,' Mia remarked. 

'I did not want a return ticket to this place,' William mused ruefully. 

'The three of you were supposed to be safe and sound in Star City,' Oliver said, walking up to the three young adults. 'How'd you get here?' 

'A bunch of guys in tac gear came and stormed the bunker,' Connor replied. 

'ARGUS agents,' John said. 

'Sounds just as fun as tranq darts,' I snarked. 

'Sorry about that,' a voice said, and we all turned to see Lyla Michaels walk out of the tent nearest us. 'I needed you here, and I didn't have time to convince you.' 

'What the hell's going on, Lyla?' John asked angrily, all of us stalking up to her. 

'Mar Novu needs us to build a weapon, and it has to be done on this island.' 

'I'm not doing anything for that guy,' John grumbled. 

'John, we have to,' Oliver said, the group following Lyla into the tent. 

'Since when do we take orders from the enemy?' John yelled. 

'We were wrong about Novu, John,' Oliver replied. 'He's not our enemy.' 

'Since when?' I asked. 

'He dropped me in an alternate reality to teach me the lesson that to fix the multiverse, we need to work with him.' 

'This is crazy,' John said. 

'I know this is hard to hear, Johnny,' Lyla replied, 'but it's the truth.' Oliver looked at him pleadingly. 

'John...' John ignored him. Oliver then turned to Lyla. 'How do we build the weapon?' 

'The materials we need are already here in the crates outside,' Lyla replied. 'Dr. Wong has been experimenting with the Dwarf Star particles since leaving Hong Kong. He's designed schematics for the build.' 

'Schematics?' William asked. 'Why does that make me think that this Dr Wong guy won't build this thing?' 

'We're counting on you for that,' Lyla replied. 

'Say again?' 

'The device is powered by plutonium. Dinah, Roy and Rene are on their way here with samples from Star City.' 

'So my mission was a part of this?' John asked indignantly. 

'All of our missions are a part of this,' Oliver replied. He turned back to Lyla. 'With all due respect, what I am I doing back on Lian Yu?' 

'In the past few days, the island has seen a rash of energy spikes,' she said. 

'Is that your reason for why it's green?' I asked. 'Because the last time I was here, Adrian Chase blew it up.'