Lauriver Chronicles

Chapter 96

"Wait, so not only did China White and Bronze Tiger attack you both, but they knew who you were?" Oliver asked Thea and Helena after he'd assembled Team Arrow after hearing about the attack.

"And they mentioned Prometheus is back in town." Thea said.

"Who's Prometheus?" Curtis asked, reminding them all that he was still the new guy.

"Tommy Merlyn. He's at the top of Argus's most wanted list and the only person who hates me more than him is Slade Wilson and when this is over, Tommy's gonna be in a cell next to him." Oliver said.

"Where did you wind up putting Slade?" Artemis couldn't help but ask.

"He's in Purgatory. After Sara took over Argus, she and I decided to turn Lian Yu into a covert prison, our version of Arkham basically, only more secure, since not only is it on the other side of the planet, but it's located underground on an island in the North China Sea and Argus has even contracted Argo Enterprises to develop a cloaking shield for it to keep people from accidentally finding it. The idea is to make it so that even if the prisoners escaped their cells, they'd have nowhere to go." Oliver said.

"Brilliant." Curtis said.

"Oliver, you realize how big of a problem this is. If Tommy's not only back in the country, but he's going around telling every lowlife in the city who we are." John said.

"It puts not only us, but the whole League at risk. I know John. Abby, please tell me you know some kind of memory erase spell." Oliver said.

"Of course I do. But I need to actually be near Tommy to use it to wipe his memory of all our identities. Not to mention the memories of anyone else he's already told. I'm currently working with other mystics like Doctor Fate to find a work around for that." Abby said.

"There's no point in erasing Tommy's memory if someone else can just remind him. We need a way to erase the memories of everyone he's told in one fell swoop, without affecting the memories of our allies." Helena said.

"I know. And it's only a matter of time until Tommy escalates this even further." Oliver said, right as his phone rang and he answered, already knowing who it was without even looking.

"Where are you hiding?" Oliver asked.

"Nice to hear your voice again too Ollie." Tommy said on the other end of the call.

"Where are you Tommy? You don't need to drag others into this, this is between you and me." Oliver said.

"But hurting them hurts you and nothing brings me more joy than finding new ways to hurt you." Tommy said.

"So you hide in the shadows and let your goons attack my people? That's pathetic and the move of a coward. A real man would meet me face to face. No suits, no hoods, no toys. One on one." Oliver said.

"Oliver, you can't be serious." John said, only to be silenced by a look on his friend's face.

"Meet me where my mother died and come alone. One hour. I'll do the same. Out of respect for our old friendship." Tommy said.

"I'll be there." Oliver said as he hung up.

"Oliver, you can't be serious about engaging Tommy with no backup." John said.

"I am. This is between me and him. Besides, I have a plan that will only work if he thinks I kept my word." Oliver said right before he walked out of the Barracks.

When he arrived at the clinic that had once belonged to Rebecca Merlyn, Oliver couldn't help but think about how different things would be if she'd survived that day as he stood there in the pouring rain. Things would be so much different. For one thing, both his father and Tommy's father would probably both still be alive, though there's a good chance that Thea would never have been born, since while his father may have been a degenerate cheater, from what Oliver remembered, Malcolm had been a devoted family man before his wife had died, so there was a good chance that Thea would never have been born, which was one good thing that could've come from this, since Oliver loved his sister dearly.

"Hello Oliver." he heard Tommy's voice say and Oliver turned to see his old friend turned enemy standing there, dressed in black and, in a typical cliche, he'd grown a long black beard.

"Prometheus." Oliver said, refusing to call this man by the name of his friend, since as far as he was concerned, Prometheus had killed Tommy a long time ago.

"So, you've finally accepted that Tommy Merlyn is dead." Prometheus said.

"I think that the man in front of me is nothing but a stranger wearing my best friend's face. I don't know what sent you down this path, but I'm sorry I couldn't save you from it." Oliver said.

"You didn't kill Tommy Merlyn Oliver. I did." Prometheus said.

"And you'll pay for his death. But we didn't come here to talk. You've had an axe to grind with me ever since Laurel picked me over you. I say we finally handle this your way. No costumes, no weapons. Just us and our fists." Oliver said.

"For once we agree. And personally, I've been wanting to do this for years." Prometheus said as he punched Oliver in the face, triggering a huge fight between them.

It was hard to tell who was winning, since Oliver and Prometheus were pretty evenly matched, but eventually Oliver managed to shove Prometheus into a nearby car, only for him to reach out and try to choke him out.

"You stole my life, Queen. Laurel should've been my wife, Jasmine should've been my daughter. You ruined everything for me." Prometheus said, right as Oliver managed to strike a quick jab to his throat, knocking him back.

"You keep talking about them like they're objects, but they're people. And she chose me. I didn't steal her. You want to blame someone for the way your life turned out, take a look in a mirror you son of a bitch." Oliver snapped as he beat Prometheus down onto the ground, grateful that Curtis had shut down the security cameras so that no one would see this.

"This isn't over." Prometheus said, knowing he was beaten, dropping a smoke bomb to cover his escape.

However, when the smoke cleared, Oliver smiled, since everything had gone according to plan. Not only had he beaten Prometheus to a pulp, but he'd also accomplished his real goal as he pulled out his phone.

"Curtis, is the tracker working?" Oliver asked, since during the fight, he'd planted a tracking device on Prometheus to lead them back to his base.

"Working perfectly. I'll let you know when it stops." Curtis said.

"Perfect." Oliver said as he headed home.