Previously on "Arrow"...
Star City needs the Green Arrow,
so I'd like it to be you.
The nerve damage in my arm spread to my back,
and because of the steroid use,
I caused permanent damage.
As soon as you're healed up,
I want you to put that hood back on.
I've been good for the past two months--good--
but instead of giving me back the hood,
you've had Cisco make me a new suit.
Ricardo Diaz is pushing Vertigo.
I checked for any Vertigo-related cases.
They've all been kicked by Captain Hill.
She did it for Diaz.
The Orchid Bay Night Market runs 3 blocks east-west
along Arguelo.
About midway down, there's an alley.
Now, that's where Anatoly Kknyazev has been making his drop.
He is not a physical threat,
but the two men who will be with him are.
I've been to this market, a lot of civilians there.
Hopefully not in the alley.
We're gonna pin them in, take them out clean and fast.
- Any questions? - This group's a little light
to take on 3 Bratvas.
Well, Diaz has God knows how much of the force under his control,
including Captain Hill.
The only cops I'm sure I can trust are here in this van.
Still, be nice to have some backup.
We're covered. Trust me.
All right. Two minutes out.
Let's get ready.
Tango's heading into the alley.
Move in.
Looks clean so far.
Overwatch, any surprises?
Aha. Tricky, tricky, Anatoly.
Thermal reads 4 bogies, east alley.
- I'll flank left. - I'll take right.
Ok. Good. Now that we are alone,
I know this might not exactly be the right time--
you understand that I'm gonna be punching people
- in about 60 seconds, right? - Yes, but it's been about a week
since you decided that you're not giving John the hood back,
and I was just wondering when you were planning on talking to him about that.
I'm waiting for the right moment.
That moment is not now.
That's a fair point.
You should try apples.
Is good season.
Aah!
SCPD!
You are under arrest for possession
and attempt to distribute.
Ms. Drake.
Cuff him.
Agh.
I see your face.
That maybe not so good for you.
Load them up.
? Arrow 6x17 ? Brothers in Arms
== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man
Toss the 3 stooges into lockup for processing.
I want Knyazev in interrogation.
What's going on here?
Oh, we just got Diaz's right-hand man.
Incredible, huh?
Why wasn't I informed?
Oh, that was my fault, Captain.
I authorized the operation.
I figured you wouldn't mind given the stakes.
And we also took the liberty
of calling in D.A. Armand
to expedite the charges.
There's no sense in waiting, right?
Guess not. Good work, Lieutenant.
Thank you for letting John and I backstop you tonight.
Because you think we couldn't have stopped Anatoly otherwise?
Because I appreciate the trust.
Well, try necessity. Curtis is busy
watching Zoe while Rene's in the hospital
nursing the wounds you gave him.
Yeah? I told him to stand down.
Matter of fact, I gave him every chance.
You guys made a move on our team in the field.
A--all right. These things are in the past, all right?
Tonight is a good night.
- Where's Anatoly? - Interrogation.
Can you buy me a few minutes with him?
Uh-huh.
Thank you.
Oh, how nice.
You come to visit.
Came to see you locked up.
Hmm. Enjoy it-- kak oni skazali--
"while you can."
I know all about Captain Hill,
crooked cops on the force.
Oh. You think this is just your police force?
Heh heh. Ha ha ha!
This is your city, kapiushon.
Your entire city.
Diaz has people everywhere,
all levels of government.
We got a problem.
I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, but Mr. Knyazev
wasn't arrested pursuant to an arrest warrant.
That's crap. You know it.
You're really gonna kick this case on a technicality.
I'm not bringing charges that will only get dismissed
the first time they end up in front of a judge.
You have made exceptions before, Sam.
You're gonna draw the line now
on this case?
You're under indictment, Mr. Mayor.
Do you really want to add a civil suit
for wrongful imprisonment on top of that?
Cut Knyazev and his friends loose.
Sorry, Mr. Mayor.
What the hell just happened here?
Oh. Seems pretty obvious to me.
It's not just Hill who's working for Diaz.
He's got Armand, too.
So Diaz has the police captain, the D.A., and--
Other members of the city's infrastructure.
Anatoly wasn't specific.
He just said that Diaz has people everywhere.
I'll run background checks
on all the city officials.
Makes sense to start at the top,
work your way down.
Look, Oliver. If you need to spend
more time at city hall, I get it, man.
Keep your focus there. I can cover us here.
No. My focus is fine.
But, Oliver, why split yourself in two, man?
Let me carry the load for you.
The city needs the mayor now
more than it ever did.
Ahem.
It also needs the Green Arrow.
And that's not me anymore?
I've been waiting for the right moment,
the appropriate moment, to tell you.
I'm not giving up the hood.
I guess I should have taken the hint
the way you kept putting me off, right?
You know, John, this--this team,
this mission, it's all of us.
You helped build it. I don't understand
why it matters what somebody's wearing.
I guess it doesn't.
Uh...
That's the moment you were waiting for, that one?
At least now he knows.
John's an adult, Felicity. He'll be fine.
Hope so.
Hey, pal. Get your butt off my car.
You eat like crap, officer.
Freeze!
I heard about you.
You're real brash.
You got to show everybody how tough you are, huh?
Poking around where you don't belong.
Get your hands up.
Funny thing about that, though.
You always end up pissing off the wrong guy.
You didn't want to torture him a bit,
you know, maybe slit his throat?
What happened to all that Russian vengeance I heard so much about?
Is new suit.
His dead body send good message to other police.
That's right. They're all on borrowed time.
Still no suspects in the death of Officer Hurst,
a 6-year veteran with the SCPD
found dead last night under mysterious circumstances...
Not so mysterious if you're Ricardo Diaz.
Need to contact Dinah and have her sequester
the other officers involved in arresting Anatoly.
What about your D.A. friend?
Any idea how Diaz flipped him?
I'm guessing cold, hard cash.
- Cash he took from the city? - Should all be dried up by now.
- So he has another source. - Well, according to Curtis,
Diaz is involved in an extensive Vertigo operation,
and if my math is right--and it definitely is--
he'll be pulling in at least a million a day.
So we take out his Vertigo stash, we kill his cash supply.
Unless he's got a rich aunt somewhere, yeah, that'll work.
Right. So I'll check in with Lyla,
see if A.R.G.U.S. can give us any information
on this Vertigo operation that can help us.
Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks, John!
- That was unbearable. - He was fine.
The fuming, the standing in the corner--
that was-- that was fine?
John is not gonna get bent out of shape
over a uniform.
He's a soldier, Oliver.
Look. I get what you're saying,
that this is not like John,
but you have to see what he's not saying.
He's upset.
Then he's gonna have to get over it.
This is not our first fight.
Well, if you don't want it to be your last,
you should probably say something.
- Like what? - Something to ease the pain.
We need to know more about Diaz's Vertigo operation.
I need to get to city hall and talk some sense
into Hill and Armand before somebody else gets killed.
Yeah.
Think I found a secure location.
To sequester the clean cops? I'll come with.
Oh, no, Curtis. I'm the one who brought
these guys into the fight against Diaz.
I'm the reason he's retaliating against them.
This is all on me.
Don't be all Oliver Queen on me now.
If we have to take out Diaz, there's gonna be casualties,
and they're not gonna be your fault, Dinah.
No, they're not because I'm going to make sure
there are no more casualties.
We're gonna make sure.
I'm gonna bring cops to a secure location
nobody knows about except my good friend Curtis?
I'll be your tech guy.
Look. I don't like the idea of you doing this
without backup.
That, or you want to spend some quality time
with your new boyfriend?
We've only been on 3 dates, but, yeah, he's cute,
and I don't want him to get murdered, so sue me.
- Fine. Let's go, lover boy. - Yes!
This is everything A.R.G.U.S. could find
on the Vertigo trade in Star City.
Yeah, thanks.
Ah-ah-ah. It's not free.
- I need Intel in return. - What kind of Intel?
The kind where you tell me what's going on with you.
Lyla, you know what's going on.
I'm frustrated that Oliver strung me along for so long.
Being the Green Arrow...
You know what that meant to me.
But you save the city every night as Spartan.
It's not like you to care this much
about a title or a hood.
Oliver made a similar point.
- But? - But I don't know.
I just don't know.
This is bothering me way more than I expected.
I think you owe it to yourself
and to your partnership with Oliver
to figure out why.
Thank you both for coming.
I have to say, Mr. Mayor, I'm more than
a little uncomfortable meeting with you
without your attorney present.
Well, it's not about the case, Sam.
It's about the two of you working for Ricardo Diaz.
Who? I'm not sure I've ever heard that name--
You're smarter than this.
You're better than this.
Both of you are better than this.
Talk to me.
Less than 24 hours after you promoted me
to take over Pike's command,
I got an e-mail--
surveillance photos of my niece,
my father, and my sister.
So he found a way to apply pressure.
- Yeah. - Ok.
My boy has cancer, leukemia, stage IV.
Even with the city's insurance,
we couldn't afford the treatments.
- I needed Diaz's money. - All right.
We can protect your family.
We can pay for your son's treatments.
- The city-- - Is bankrupt,
and the idea of you protecting anyone is a joke.
The whole force is under Diaz's thumb,
or were you offering your protection as the Green Arrow?
If I was the Green Arrow...
I don't think you'd want to be in this room right now.
I don't think either of you would.
Are we done here?
You are.
You're both fired effective immediately.
You can't do that.
If you work for him,
then you don't work for me.
Get out.
I know you're the Green Arrow,
but this is unlike anything you've ever gone up against.
Diaz has already beat you,
and you don't even know it.
Still no suspects in the death of Officer Hurst,
a 6-year veteran with the SCPD found...
Looks like you've had an exciting day.
I wouldn't call the death of a respected SCPD officer exciting.
It is when you've been sitting on the couch all day.
Well, no one's holding you prisoner.
Why don't you get out? Go get some sun maybe.
No. Sounds boring. Helping you
with your Diaz situation, now, that sounds interesting to me.
I'm guessing the death of that cop wasn't exactly
random, though, was it?
You know something about that?
I know Diaz, and he's not gonna stop
at one officer.
Yeah. We figured that.
We sequestered the rest. They're safe.
Safe where, though?
Heh.
How do you expect me to be like Laurel
when you won't let me act like her?
You want to act like Laurel?
Why don't you do something good, huh?
Get a job. Help this city.
Never had a real job in my whole life.
I don't even think I know how to write a resume.
You don't need to write a resume.
You're Laurel Lance, remember?
How well did I do in law school?
Wait here.
Kept all of Laurel's old law books.
Look at that. Maybe you could start right here.
You want to home law-school me?
Beats sitting around on the couch, doesn't it?
I mean, who knows? You could give it a shot.
You might just enjoy doing something good for a change.
Hey. How did it--oh. I can tell by the look on your face.
Won't even ask.
Would you please give me some good news?
Well, Lyla clued us in on one of Diaz's suppliers--Marshall Katz.
I'm running a location on him now.
- Thank you. - Yeah.
- I'll be right back. - Mm-hmm.
Thanks for grabbing that Intel from Lyla.
Oh, no problem.
About the hood. I'd like to apologize.
Oliver...It's just a piece of cloth
just like you said.
- You were right. - I was wrong
about a few things.
It's very important that you know this.
When I asked you to take over for me, I meant it.
When I put the hood back on and said,
"it's just until you get back on your feet,"
I meant it, but I did put the hood back on,
and it's a part of me.
And it makes me feel like I'm being
the best version of myself,
and I feel whole, and I feel complete,
and I really, really hope that this is making sense.
Yeah. The hood is part of you now.
I should have been up-front with you,
and I avoided having what I thought
might be a tough conversation.
Well, um, I appreciate you telling me this, Oliver.
Thank you.
Got a location on Katz.
- Yeah. Let's move. - All right.
Baby, I want some "V."
I told you before-- can't do it.
- Hmm. - Only top grade for my lady.
Heh. Well, don't you know how to make a girl feel special.
Mm-hmm.
We got a problem.
Mo downstairs spotted one of the masks.
- He's on his way up. - Go! Do something!
- Get behind us! - Yeah, no kidding.
Sit.
You're gonna tell us where you make your Vertigo shipment.
And turn on the Dragon?
You'll have to shoot me, man.
I don't want to waste my arrows.
I think you should.
This punk deserves it.
I'm not nearly as stingy with my bullets.
Unh!
Where do you ship the "V" from?
I--I--I'm too high to die, man, please.
- Spartan, stand down. - When he tells us
what we need to know!
Y-y-you--you wouldn't kill me in front of my lady.
Last chance. Where's the Vertigo?
Spartan! Stand down!
And what? Do this your way?
He'll fold. Talk!
Fine, but y-you got to send me to, like, Mexico, man.
Diaz will find me.
No. My loyalty is to Diaz, not him.
Unh!
That was a bust! Get it?
Because it's drugs, it's like a play on words,
and it's almost a little fun.
Never mind. Tough crowd. What happened?
We lost Katz.
Oliver, he was gonna talk.
If you had just let me keep the pressure on him
for one minute longer,
we would be at the location right now
instead of back at square one!
No. He still would have gotten shot
because you picked a fight.
You pulled our focus, and you allowed
our target to get killed.
Because you know everything,
and I just need to keep my mouth shut!
I'm sorry. What?
Look, guys, we're all just whipped up
with adrenaline from--from the field,
and--and we're gonna catch Diaz.
We always catch the bad guys,
so we're just going to breathe together, inhale.
John, what's going on with you?
First, you were mad at me because
you're not the Green Arrow,
and that is--that is
that is way out of character for you, my friend,
but I explained myself, I apologized,
you accepted,
and now you're gonna take a shot at me like that?
I was getting someplace with Katz,
and you didn't back my play.
- Because it wasn't working. - No, Oliver!
Because it wasn't your play!
Let me know when you find the Vertigo.
I need some air!
Unh!
I already told you
I don't know where they sequestered the cops,
and if you're here to put pressure on Lance, don't,
because I'm all healed up now.
You want to calm down.
I brought you dinner.
I'm not hungry.
What are you doing here?
Just checking up on things.
Looks like some light reading.
Just trying to maintain my cover.
Don't waste your time.
People like us don't learn the law.
People like us,
we are the law.
You trying to make your daddy proud?
Why would I ever want to do that?
Because I used to be like that with my old man
before he died.
It's exhausting trying to be something you're not.
Oh, so what?
You're gonna tell me what I'm supposed to be, is that it?
No.
I see what I like.
I know you're pretending to be the real Laurel,
but the one standing in front of me right now...
She don't need changing.
Your fries are getting cold.
Hey.
Everything all right?
Fine. I've been out of town for so long,
I just found the gift you left for me back in December.
I wanted to say thank you.
You're welcome.
Funny, though, the same day you delivered it,
I also found a security breach on my computer.
I guess I now know how Cayden James got ahold
of our nanoaluminum amplifier.
I was gonna tell you about that, Lyla, but, um...
The city was at stake.
Oh, yeah. Well, the city is always at stake.
You don't have to lie to your wife in order to save it.
You're absolutely right.
- I'm sorry. - I know.
What brings you by?
Well, Oliver apologized for stringing me along about the hood.
It was actually a good apology.
Wow. That's not exactly Oliver's strong suit.
No, it's not.
But?
I don't know. I thought we cleared the air.
We go out into the field, we come back,
and then I--I...
I just take a piece right out of him
over nothing!
It was--it was over nothing.
You're right. There's something wrong,
and I'm worried that when I find out what it is,
I'm not gonna like it.
Well, from everything you've told me,
there's not a lot to like these days.
The team breaking up, Rene's in the hospital,
Diaz is running rampant.
Maybe the reason Oliver holding on to the hood
bothered you so much is because you think
none of these things would have happened
if you had been the one still wearing it.
Seriously, thanks for helping us out here.
I mean, anything for Dinah,
and maybe I was a little worried about you, too.
I'll be fine. Just hate leaving
the city to be overrun by a bunch
of corrupt cops and vigilantes.
Don't you think there's a little bit of a difference
between bent cops and vigilantes?
None that I can see.
They're both criminals, right?
Yeah.
Hey. Felicity, you think, uh, we can have the room?
Uh...Yeah. Yeah. Of course.
Get some air?
Yeah, I did
and with it some clarity.
Well, Oliver, it's totally within your rights to keep the hood.
It's yours,
and you're right.
My frustration was never with the uniform.
It was with the man underneath it.
- I don't understand. - I didn't either, not at first.
I so appreciated your apology,
but something about it gnawed at me...
That you needed to be the Green Arrow,
that it completed you.
This was supposed to be about saving the city,
helping the people, not ourselves.
I know that.
It's a little too dangerous,
and I've lost just a little too much
along the way for it to be about that.
But yet here you are.
You've gotten married, raising a son.
- You've become the mayor. - So what?
So, Oliver, you were never supposed to stretch yourself so thin
and in so many different directions
that the people suffer.
We have been in tough spots before.
We have, with a team.
Even before Curtis, Rene, and Dinah,
there was Roy, there was Thea.
But, Oliver, the way you lead alienates
everyone and everything around you.
Look!
Putting the team under surveillance was a mistake.
We had an opportunity to save the vigilante.
You made a different call.
The same with Laurel and the money.
When did all of these just magically become my decisions?
I seem to remember you right there next to me.
Begging you to exercise restraint, caution, Oliver,
but that's not you.
You have changed, and you've grown so much,
and it's been my honor, it's been my privilege to watch you,
but, Oliver, you're still you,
and if you're just doing this for you, like you just admitted--
I didn't say I was doing it just for myself!
If this isn't 100% for our city,
then you are not the hero that it deserves,
and you never will be.
Ricardo Diaz has God knows how much
of our city in his grip,
and you're picking now to lecture me
or to whine about not getting a promotion?
Promotion? This isn't about a promotion, man.
This is about you. And Diaz?
You still can't see it.
See what?
He's already won, Oliver.
He has the city wired,
and it happened under your watch.
He showed up while you were the Green Arrow!
You bought drugs from him, John!
You funded what he is doing right now!
The entire time I put you in that hood,
and you hid having a drug problem!
And I was putting my body through hell
for the sake of our city.
No. You put the team at risk by lying!
I had to dive off a bridge to save Rene's life
because you were in the field,
you weren't 100%, and nobody knew it!
You really want to bring up Rene right now
when he is still hospitalized
for the beating that you put on him?
We were in the field against Dinah, Curtis, and Rene.
He pulls a gun on me!
You think he gave me a choice?
I think that you leave a trail of bodies
every damn place that you go!
Sure you've changed,
but what comfort's that to William,
whose mother's dead because of the bad decisions that you've made?
My trail of bodies...
Doesn't include my own brother.
Unh!
Agh!
Stop! What are you two doing?
That's enough!
Have you two gone completely over the edge?
Diaz is running through the city like a cancer,
and you two are in here doing...What exactly?
Ok. This is what's going to happen.
I am gonna go back to work,
looking for the needle that is Diaz's
Vertigo operation in the city's haystack,
and the two of you are going to pull
your heads out of your asses!
She's right.
She usually is.
I'm sorry I punched you, Oliver.
I'm sorry I punched you back.
For what it's worth,
I know you've done a lot of good.
I know lately it seems like everyone's
been questioning your leadership,
me included.
Found the location of Diaz's Vertigo operation.
Have you two found any shred of sanity, perhaps?
Let's go.
So he just drops it casually--
"I hate vigilantes," not hate but "hate,"
like capital letters, hates vigilantes.
This is Paul all over again.
Well, that's kind of a leap.
Paul divorced me because I was a vigilante.
Curtis, you're getting ahead of yourself.
Yeah, you're right. He's not gonna break up with me.
- That's the spirit. - He's going to arrest me.
I know I'm the last person who should be giving you relationship advice--
yet you're about to give me some.
It's more of a life philosophy.
Just live in the moment because you can only see
the step that's ahead of you.
You don't know what's at the end of the road.
Someone just set off one of my proximity alerts.
Make that some-many. All headed toward the front door!
- How did they find us? - Who?
Diaz's men. They're about to hit us
from the west, the north, the sou--
they're about to hit us from every angle.
I know.
I'm sorry, but we can't defeat Diaz.
We tried, and we failed.
No!
You stay with Curtis.
Curtis.
Count 13 bogies in this den alone, heavily armed.
No Diaz.
Got at least 20 million in Vertigo here.
He's gonna miss it.
The only way that we make it out of here
is if we trust each other.
We've been through worse, Oliver.
I'm not sure that we have, John.
You're quarterback. Call it.
Let's move.
We're under fire! Get the product out of here now!
Hold on, Curtis. We're gonna get you to a hospital, ok?
Hold on.
I'm ok. Actually, that's a lie.
I think my ribs are broken.
- You were shot point-blank. - No!
- You're-- - It's not what it looks like.
Ok. It is what it looks like.
Ok. Go.
Place is bigger than expected.
How many more explosives do we have?
I'm all out.
Then we improvise.
Vertigo's flammable in its liquid state.
- Headed there now. - You won't make it.
Not alone I won't.
He's just like John Wayne.
It's better to have loved and lost
than to never have loved at all.
Are we getting out of here or not?
Ok. There's an opening on the east side of the building.
No, no. There is no opening on the east side of the building.
Well, then make one.
Unh!
All right! Let's go!
Move, move, move, move, move! Let's go!
Everybody, come on! Move!
Do it.
Thanks for having my back.
Judging by the burn radius of the warehouse,
looks like we got all of Diaz's stash.
Oliver, I'm, uh, really sorry about what I said.
You apologized already, John. So did I.
I know.
I know...
But what I said about the calls you made,
where you brought us, the team, the city I--I just can't shake.
You can't shake that you said it?
I can't shake that it's true.
Oliver, for 6 years, I have followed
the chain of command without question,
even when my heart told me there was a better way.
I trusted it, I trusted you,
but the inescapable truth is, is that people
have lost faith in your leadership.
Truth is, Oliver, you have become a better man
but, with your focus split,
a worse leader.
The Green Arrow allows you to become
the best version of yourself, and I respect that.
I respect you,
but if I'm gonna be the best version of myself...
Oliver...
It can't be with you.
I hope you find what you're looking for.
John...
Don't do this.
Thank you so much for helping me get Zoe off to school.
Oh, yeah, sure. Just don't understand
how a girl so small generates this much mess.
You know, I actually don't mind tidying up.
Kind of like it. Heh!
Keeps my mind off of things
like the fact that my boyfriend's gonna break up with me
because he found out I'm a vigilante and he hates vigilantes.
So he is your boyfriend.
My mind works in hyperbole.
Ignoring for a second the operational risk
of having a cop know your identity,
do you regret him knowing the truth?
Besides the fact that it means the end of our relationship,
I don't.
Well, then it was worth it.
Speak of the devil. It's Nick.
Wait. What?
Lieutenant Drake.
Not looking for me, I assume.
No, but I'm glad you're here.
Hill just canned me and you
and the rest of us,
anyone who wasn't dirty.
Last thing she did before clearing out her desk.
We're gonna fight this, Nick, ok?
Don't worry.
Come in.
I should probably find a reason to leave.
See you later, all right?
- Hey. - Hey.
- You go first. - Ok.
Heh. Listen.
I know you're not a fan of vigilantes,
and so I get it if--if you want to step away from this.
Curtis, I just lost my job for being a clean cop.
I know.
With the department compromised,
maybe vigilantism is the only way
to take back this city.
I don't know.
To be honest,
I don't know how I feel about vigilantes...
But I do know how I feel about you.
You ok?
I know it had to be done.
But...
You had to do this your way.
I wish I knew what this was, Lyla.
I know I want to keep fighting for this city.
I just don't know what that looks like on my own.
Maybe you don't do it alone.
Maybe you do it with me.
Here.
A.R.G.U.S.?
I've got people breaking into my office,
stealing stuff.
And, really, I could use an extra pair of hands.
Hey.
I know it's rough,
but you'll always have me.
I'm not going anywhere.
What's up, Quentin?
Turn on the TV. Any channel.
Obviously the mayor terminated us
to impede the prosecution of his activities
as the Green Arrow.
What Oliver Queen did is an impeachable offense.
It was a gross overstep of power.
Our mayor should be held accountable for his actions.
Thank you.
Armand said that was your idea.
Looks like reading those law books really paid off.
Guess I was wrong.
You were right about something else, though.
I'm not changing who I really am.
I have one last surprise for you.
There's one left.
And I know just how to use it.
== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man