Dinah stared at this mysterious piece of rock before her. The green center was throbbing, as if it was trying to break free from its confines, much like she wished she could do. She couldn't find it in her mind what this was. She'd never seen anything like it before. Perhaps it was something from Earth-X that this doppelganger of Oliver Queen brought with him.

"That…is Kryptonite," Dark Arrow said. He moved behind her, sending a sense of dread through her back.

"Kryptonite," she said. She had heard Oliver mention that before when the Earth-X army was invading. It was linked to Supergirl somehow. At the moment, her mind was too burned out to come up with the connection. "What am I supposed to do with it?"

"You are going to get it out of that rock it's trapped in."

"How?"

"Your sonic scream. It has enough power to shred the surrounding rock without harming the Kryptonite inside."

Dinah exhaled. "I'm not in the best place to use my scream right now if you hadn't noticed."

Dark Arrow held out a small black remote. "With this, I can kill your friend Vince in an instant with a charge set in his collar." He gripped her collar, and with a beep, it came off. "If you try anything, you will be responsible for his death. If you screw with me, he will die. Get to it."

Dinah looked ahead at the rock. Of course she considered turning her scream on him, but she couldn't get past the guilt of Vince dying as a result. She had no good option here but to appease this Nazi for now. She took a deep breath, then blew out a scream that barely knocked the table back a few inches.

"Pathetic," Dark Arrow said. "I know you can do better than that."

"I'm trying."

"Try harder, or do I need to give you some incentive?"

Dinah immediately shook her head, not wanting to see Vince tortured even more.

"Good. You have five minutes before I go to an alternative, which means both of you will die."

Dinah's insides burned. She couldn't stand that deep mechanical voice of his that was altered by the mask. Each word he spoke stoked the fire inside her, and she couldn't wait for the opportunity to annihilate him for everything he's done to her and her friends. She took that festering resentment and threw it into another scream, this one blasting the table and the rock several meters ahead, the floor being carved out like a drill had gone through it. Not one second later, she heard the dismal click of the collar back around her neck, her hopes and her head drooping.

Dark Arrow retrieved the green specimen from the floor, inspecting it. He grinned behind his mask.

Oliver sat up from his bed, swinging his legs over the edge and trying to walk. He hadn't moved on his own for an entire week, needing Diggle's assistance to get to and from the restroom. He was healing, but not fast enough for his liking. He recalled his first showdown with Malcolm Merlyn, back during his Hood days. It took him nearly a month and a half to recover from the brutal beating. He hoped it wouldn't take that long this time.

He stepped on the cold gratings, mustering his strength to walk forward. Each step was painful. Each step was a reminder of his failure. His recklessness. His uncharacteristic behavior. He made it to the center of the lair, climbing up the single step to where the computers were. They had been replaced courtesy of Lyla. She promised to help Oliver find and stop his Earth-X counterpart if she got the opportunity, giving her condolences for the loss of his friends.

Oliver sat down carefully, minding his wrapped ribcage. He woke up one of the monitors. It was still running the facial recognition scan software.

"Looking for your evil twin?"

Oliver was nearly blown over with a mix of anger, sorrow, and befuddlement. He had swiveled his chair to face Laurel's Earth-2 counterpart, more commonly known as Black Siren. She was the exact same in looks, except for hairstyle and piercings. She was in her street clothes, which generally meant she wasn't looking for a big fight, but he wasn't going to trust her after what she pulled several months ago.

"You are not welcome here," he said firmly.

"I need your help," she said.

Oliver stood up, his slow, pained motion not going unnoticed by his adversary.

"That was him, wasn't it?" she asked, a certain softness in her voice.

"Why do you need my help, Laurel?"

"The other Arrow." She looked genuine. "He took Quentin."

Former detective and captain of the Star City Police Department, Quentin Lance, fell onto the floor with a thud. He was looking into total darkness, and then the bag over his head was pulled off. He was next to an unconscious Dinah.

Scanning the room, his eyes fell upon the imposing sight of Dark Arrow, glaring at him from the doorway.

"Wh-who the hell are you?" he asked the archer.

The archer ignored Lance's question and left the room, slamming the door shut, which woke up Dinah.

"Hey, Dinah!"

"Quentin?" She was mightily confused now, but somehow slightly relieved to see a familiar face.

"Yeah, it's me, but what the hell am I doing here? What are you doing here?"

"It's a very complicated story."

"Something tells me we're gonna have plenty of time."

"Yeah, I know, I love you too. I hope this is all over soon." Diggle entered the bunker a cheerful man. That wouldn't last. He nearly crushed his phone when the doors slid open and he caught a view of someone he couldn't stand.

He grumbled, "This just got a whole lot worse. I'll call you back."

His instincts kicked in. He dropped the phone. The audacity of her to show up here in the bunker after everything that's happened! He was going to put her down for good this time.

"Bitch!" he shouted.

He sprinted for Laurel, trying to close the distance between them to neutralize her sonic scream. He was quick, reaching her in seconds, before she could catch him with her long-range weapon. He hit her with a shoulder tackle that nearly cut her in half, tackling her to the steel gratings, knocking the wind right out of her. He mounted her, using one hand to choke her and the other to land heavy punches.

"Diggle, no!" Oliver screamed from the infirmary. But Diggle wasn't listening.

An enraged John Diggle kept up his assault, viciousness oozing from him. He loved Earth-1 Laurel—their Laurel—but Black Siren was a mockery of the name, a cruel tease. He was sick of her slipping away each time just to continue smudging the good Laurel's legacy.

Not one to take things lying down, Laurel used her flexibility, wrapping her legs around Diggle's head, whipping him over to his side, his hand releasing from her neck. She sat up on her elbows, blasting Diggle with her scream right in his face, launching him off back toward the elevator. She rolled over onto her side, wiping the blood from under her nose. Diggle had gotten to one knee, dizzied. It would be easy to kill him with one well-placed scream. If only that was her goal. She spun to her feet, taking off, colliding with Diggle, who had sheepishly gotten back to his. The two engaged in close quarters combat, her agility acting as a perfect foil to his impressive strength.

Their skill almost evenly matched, it didn't look like either of them was going to take home the win any time soon. But they kept on fighting.

The lights went out.

They came back on, and Oliver limped closer to the two parties. "Guys, enough!" he said. "John, back off! Laurel!"

"He started it," she said snidely.

"Oliver, what the hell is she doing here?" Diggle demanded to know.

"Just calm down," said Oliver.

"Calm down? Calm down?! We should be delivering her body to the morgue by now."

Laurel smirked.

"It seems my Earth-X doppelganger took Lance."

Diggle backed down, curious. "Why? Lance wasn't even there for that."

"Why else? To get an advantage over me," said Oliver.

"Whatever it is, we're running out of time," said Laurel.

Diggle scoffed. "Why not get your little discount Legion of Doom to help you?"

She gave him an icy glare. "They won't."

"Shocker. Look, we don't need your help. Oliver and I can handle this without you."

"I already agreed we would work together," Oliver said, taking on Diggle's intense glare. "Just until we get our friends back."

"Whatever," said Diggle. He walked off toward the computers.

Laurel turned, standing beside Oliver. "That went well," she said.

"Don't misunderstand," Oliver said sharply. "We aren't friends here. What you did with Prometheus, and what you've continued to do since then, has not been forgotten."

"Ollie—"

"Save it. Let's get to work."

Lance groaned, sitting up against the concrete wall. Dinah had explained the Earth-X horror story to him. Three years ago he would have balked and considered her insane, but now he believed every word of it. He saw the aftermath on the news, too. It was all still a lot to consider in his life.

"I thought seeing an evil version of my dead daughter was bad enough," he said. "Now we have Nazi Oliver Queen. Just another Tuesday in Star City, right?"

"I don't even know how long I've been here," replied Dinah. "A week, at least. Maybe two."

"From what you've told me about this evil Oliver, he usually shoots first and doesn't ask questions. So why is he keeping us alive?"

"He needs us for something. Don't ask me what because I have no clue. All I know is it's not good."

"Great. Well, hopefully our green-hooded friend doesn't take his sweet time finding us."

"He'll find us."

"Found them!" Oliver declared. "Well, sort of. Facial recognition puts Lance somewhere near the Glades. It's mostly abandoned buildings, leftovers from the Undertaking."

"I'll head down there, see if I can pinpoint his location," said Diggle.

"I'm going with you," said Laurel. The tension level shot up. Oliver eyed Diggle, who eyed him back, then they both eyed her.

"How do I know you won't stab me in the back as soon as we find Lance?" Diggle asked.

"You don't. But we both know you don't stand a chance against Oliver-X by yourself."

Oliver looked to Diggle. "She's right," he said. "He's just as good as me, except he won't hesitate to kill you at any opportunity. Maybe she can even out the playing field."

Diggle sighed, defeated. It was two against one. He looked to Laurel, his eyes narrowing, studying her.

Team Arrow's black jump-out van careened down the streets, taking all the back roads to avoid traffic lights and cameras just in case Oliver-X had any kind of advanced warning system set up in his makeshift base of operations.

To try and cut into the awkward tension, Laurel turned the radio on. It was an oldies station, much to their disappointment.

Diggle quickly turned the radio off. "Don't touch," he said like a mother scolding her child. "Don't touch anything."

"Yes, sir," she replied sardonically, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

"You should be arriving at Lance's last known location now," Oliver relayed from their ear pieces. Given the situation, he reluctantly took up the technical position for now. Unlike what some have been led to believe about him over the years, he wasn't all that bad with technology. Of course, he was nowhere near the same level of hacking as Curtis and Felicity had been, but he could certainly find his way around the typical system, as he had before he got Felicity involved in his crusade.

"Copy that," said Diggle, surveying the area around them. It was a lot of empty, boarded up, half-torn down buildings that hadn't been touched since the Undertaking. It was as good as any place to hide bodies. Nobody cared about this section of this city.

Diggle and Laurel continued to drive steadily through the streets, picking out places that would be more ideal for Oliver-X's mission.

"Stop," said Laurel.

Diggle eased on the brakes. "Why are we stopping?" he wondered.

"There," she said, gesturing to a building further down the block.

Diggle stared at it. It didn't look anything out of the ordinary. It was a multiple-story brick building, although part of it was collapsed from the earthquake. There was a fallen wooden sign at the foot of the front doors, cracked into several pieces.

"Park the van here," Laurel said, already getting out. "We should walk the rest of the way."

Diggle sighed annoyingly. "Yeah, park the van here. I'm sure it won't be a problem if we have to come running outta there." But he obliged, pulling the van into an alley next to them.

Diggle found Laurel already at the front of the building. She was holding up part of the sign, an embossed flame. He instantly recalled why this particular building was significant.

"CNRI," he whispered. "Of course." He caught Laurel staring at the piece as if she was in a trance. "Hey."

Laurel broke out of her nostalgia trip. She dropped the sign piece and began to crawl through the debris. Diggle followed.

The inside of the building was in complete disrepair, absolutely destroyed by the earthquake. Support beams were lying across each other on the floor, bricks and plaster in haphazard piles elsewhere. Casework was scattered all over.

Diggle watched Laurel as she went through. He couldn't really read her, but he could tell she wasn't enjoying this trip through memory lane.

"I take it Merlyn's earthquake device went off on Earth-2 just like here," he said.

Laurel was silent for a moment, not moving anymore. She looked around, then continued. "Yes," she said. "Only I was in Central City when it happened."

Diggle nodded in acknowledgement. It seemed strange that she would be so attentive to this place if she hadn't taken part in it on her Earth. For that matter, if she wasn't in Star City during the Undertaking, Tommy would have had no reason to be in the Glades, so he wouldn't have died. Was he still alive on Earth-2?

Diggle's pondering was interrupted by Laurel flipping a file cabinet away from the floor. It revealed a door that was wrapped by a chain. Suspiciously, the chain wasn't locked, so Diggle tugged it away, and Laurel propped open the door. It led to a set of stairs.

"I never knew this place had a basement," Diggle said.

"It was only for safekeeping the files," Laurel replied.

Oliver finally spoke again from the comms. "The basement isn't very big, but the city blueprints show that there is an adjacent storage area. My guess is that Oliver-X is using both—if this is where he's truly operating from. Last time was a fake-out and it nearly got me killed."

"If he's operating out of here, we should be careful," said Diggle. "No doubt he's gonna be prepared for trespassers."

"Unless he's expecting you," Oliver said ominously.

"Whatever happens, I'm getting Quentin out," Laurel said. She picked up a piece of plywood and dropped it down the stairs. As soon as it hit the floor, two opposing arrows ripped through it.

"That's not too bad," Diggle said.

"I'm just worried about what's after that," Oliver said.

The door creaked open. Dark Arrow stepped into the room, going right over to Lance and bending down so that they were face-to-face.

"I got something on my face?" Lance asked deadpan.

"On my Earth, you are my second in command," said Dark Arrow. "You are loyal, persistent, and powerful."

"I wish I could take that as a compliment."

"It is unfortunate what you have become here."

"What? Because I care about the people around me? Because I fight for the ones I love?"

Dark Arrow stood up, moving back to the door.

Lance wasn't finished, though. He continued, "Hey, weren't you married? Didn't you love your wife? How is that any different? Huh? First thing you wanna see in the morning when you wake up is your wife. When you come home from work, she's the only person that you wanna deal with. She's your rock. The one that keeps you in line. The one that keeps you going even when you doubt yourself. And you tell me I'm weak for thinking the same way for my friends and family? How's that different? Come on, tell me."

It seemed like Dark Arrow was actually considering Lance's words, standing in the doorway for several seconds.

"Your time will come," Dark Arrow said portentously. He left the room.

Just feet from the room he was keeping Dinah and Lance in, Dark Arrow stood. He balled up one of his fists, squeezing it tightly. He slammed it forward into the concrete wall.

"I will have you back," he muttered.

"Okay, guys, it looks like that storage area is just up ahead," said Oliver, guiding his averse teammates. They'd made it through the CNRI basement without any other obstacles, casting suspicion. Granted, Oliver-X didn't have as many resources on this Earth, but he still should have put up more defenses.

Diggle and Laurel came to a dead-end.

"If there's a room on the other side, I could—" Laurel began.

"No, it's too risky," said Oliver. "And it would definitely alert him to our presence. We want to get Dinah and Quentin without encountering him if possible."

Diggle came up beside the double-stacked filing cabinet, planting his feet and pushing it off the wall. Sure enough, behind it was another door, this one reinforced.

"Let's go," said Laurel, leading the way. Naturally, the door wasn't locked.

Dinah was losing strength. Without food and with very little water supplied to her, she was incredibly weak. The torture she endured throughout her stay was just the cherry on top. She was trying to keep it together for Lance, but even he started to notice her losing consciousness every few hours.

"Any time now, I'm sure," he told her, talking about Oliver finding them. He clasped his hands, twiddling his thumbs, getting more anxious each time Dinah passed out. "Come on, buddy, running out of time here," he said softly to himself.

Dinah's head fell to her shoulder, her eyes involuntarily closing. Her skin had lost some color. She slumped.

"Dinah!" Lance yelled. "Hey!"

Just then, the door flew open, and a woman sprung inside. Lance didn't know whether to be relieved or feel even more doomed. It was Laurel, but she didn't appear threatening this time. She scanned the room quickly, seeing the unconscious Dinah, and then Lance in the corner. She rushed over to him.

"Quentin!" she said thankfully. She looked at his bonds, fussing with them futilely. "Damn it. I can't get these off here."

"I don't understand what's going on," Lance said.

"We're getting you out of here," she said.

"We?"

And as if on cue, Diggle ran into the room. He went for Dinah, trying to wake her up. She responded to his physical prompting, but just barely.

"I knew you'd find us," she said with a tiny smile.

Diggle returned the smile, happy to see his teammate alive. "Let's get the hell outta here."

He picked her up, having to cradle her due to the way she was bound. Laurel and Quentin met them by the door, and all of them entered the hallway.

The group traveled together along the route back out to CNRI. They made it to the door, but it was locked from the other side.

"Shit!" Diggle shouted. He saw Dinah losing it again, so he shook her by the shoulders to wake her up again. "Stay with me, Dinah. We didn't get this far for nothing."

"Ollie, we could use some help here," Laurel said. "Is there another way out?"

"I'm searching," Oliver said, honed in on his navigation. Seconds later, he commented, "Okay, go back down the hallway you just came out of."

The foursome followed directions, going back toward the room they'd found Dinah and Quentin. When they reached the end of that hallway, they took a left, then a right, and ended up in a bigger room with multiple doors. On one side of the room was a device the size of a standard bathtub. It was reminiscent of the earthquake machine.

"Which door?" Diggle asked to Oliver.

"Give me a second," Oliver replied.

"We've got company," Lance said in a deflated tone.

An arrow whizzed by, seemingly inflicting no damage to anyone. Diggle then noticed his gun was pinned to the wall. The group directed their attention to the side of the room with the odd machine. Dark Arrow stood in front of it, his bow in hand.

"I was expecting you, John," Dark Arrow said. "And Miss Lance… Or should I call you Black Siren?"

"You can go to Hell," Laurel hissed.

"I would rather send you all there."

"Not gonna happen," said Diggle. He spoke to the others, "You guys get outta here. I'll keep him occupied."

"Yeah, like that's going to happen," Laurel said. She turned to Lance, holding up his arms. She let out a narrow sonic scream, instantly breaking the restraints while leaving his hands unharmed. She handed her communication set to him. "Oliver will help you find your way out."

Lance gave her an inquisitive look, but soon resigned and took Dinah from Diggle's arms. "Thank you," he told Laurel as he began to move away.

Diggle and Laurel walked side by side, approaching Dark Arrow.

"If you get a chance, don't hesitate to take this guy out," Diggle told her.

"Just don't get in my way," she said. "I really don't want to have to explain to Oliver how I splattered his best friend after all this."

"You may be formidable fighters in your own right," Dark Arrow said to interrupt their chat. "However, your lives will end here."

Dark Arrow lifted his bow and in a flash, had fired an arrow at Diggle. Laurel blasted the arrow to small particles with her scream. She and Diggle charged at him. He fired another arrow, but it was shredded like that last. Then another. And another. Soon he was too close to them to use his arrows, so he fell back to his combat prowess. Laurel and Diggle came at him together. He ducked away from their punches, kneeing Diggle and dodging a scream from Laurel that would've taken his head off.

Quentin jogged as quickly as he could with the weight of Dinah in his arms. He huffed, already losing his breath, wishing he was twenty years younger again. Dinah began to stir, then fully woke up, confused as to what was happening. Quentin stopped, setting her upright.

"We gotta get the hell outta here," he told her. "Diggle and Laurel are fighting that other Oliver, trying to buy us some time."

"Dammit," she said. "Take this stupid collar off me, please."

Quentin unhinged the lock, and the collar fell to the ground. Dinah extended her arms and feet so that they were close together, took in a deep breath, then launched a sonic scream at herself. She broke the wiring and ties that had held her for so long, finally feeling some hint of freedom. It gave her enough adrenaline to stand on her own.

"I have to go back," she said.

"Are you nuts? They just got you out, and now you're going back?!"

"Vince is still back there."

"Who?"

"My ex-partner. I'm not leaving without him."

She ran off. Quentin sighed and contemplated what to do next.

Diggle fell and rolled away, having been kicked off his feet. Laurel screamed, but Dark Arrow spun out of its radius and back-handed Laurel. While she was staggered, he tripped her, jumping, flipping, and landing with his knee in her gut. She wheezed, trying to get her breath back. Diggle returned to action, bombarding his enemy with a flurry of punches. Dark Arrow blocked them with his forearms, then headbutted Diggle back. He returned his attention to Laurel, who was still getting back up. He dropkicked her straight back down.

Dinah had miraculously found Vince's holding cell. He was out cold, but she managed to wake him. He wasn't in as bad of shape as her, but he had been brutally beaten and had several small puncture wounds around his chest. She removed his dampening collar.

"Why'd you come back for me?" he asked weakly.

"I couldn't leave you behind," she said, helping him to his feet.

He removed himself from her, cracking his knuckles and his neck. He was already regenerating the damage Dark Arrow had inflicted on him.

She smiled.

Dark Arrow landed a sequence of kicks to Diggle's knees, knocking the power out from under him. He decentralized him, flipping him onto his back. He was about to gravely wound him with an arrow when a sonic scream hit him. It wasn't enough to knock him away or kill him, but it was painful to the ears, forcing him to back up away from Diggle.

Laurel had gotten back up, rushing over to her reluctant partner. She picked him up.

"I hate to say it, but thank you," he grumbled.

"You're very welcome," she said, taking pleasure in his admittance.

Dark Arrow recovered and attacked them again. Even with the both of them, they were slowly losing steam. He really was Oliver's equal, fighting almost exactly like him, but with a slant towards aggression. Every time they managed to counter one of his moves, he had another lined up in waiting, ready to counter their counter. It was an uphill battle, to say the least. At one point, Laurel had attempted to outright obliterate him with one of her screams, but it instead hit the machine behind him; he wasn't upset about it, though, for some reason.

"Your fighting is futile," Dark Arrow said, harshly elbowing Diggle in the jaw. Diggle stumbled back. "It's almost disappointing." He spun Laurel around to deflect another of her screams, then hit her with a German suplex. She was slow to move after that.

He was about to move in on Diggle when he was hit by a concussive sonic blast that sent him flying into the machine at the end of the room.

"You guys alright?" Dinah asked as she ran over to them.

"Not really," said Diggle, sitting up, rubbing his already swollen lower jaw. He noticed Vigilante behind Dinah, but figured it wasn't worth questioning right now. "We gotta go."

Dinah nodded, and looked to Laurel. "What do you say?"

Laurel furrowed her brow, an angered yet devious grin forming on her face. "Fuck yes."

Dark Arrow got up, having been blown behind the machine. He shook his head to rid himself of the dizziness, then saw what was about to happen.

Laurel and Dinah were positioned for a joint attack—a joint sonic scream! He was out of options here, cornered. The two meta-humans let loose, delivering a sonic blast that swirled and swiveled together like a horizontal tornado. The torrent drilled through the air at a blazing speed, knocking right into the machine. The violent flow caused a large electrical surge, and the wall behind the machine crumbled, producing a cloud of dust.

"Let's move!" Diggle ordered.

The group ended up outside of the building next door to CNRI. The black van pulled up to them, Lance in the driver seat. They all piled inside, hoping it was the end of this madness.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the end. Rubble was cast aside, and Dark Arrow crawled out, pulling himself to the machine. It was sparking, but his reaction wasn't one of disappointment. He found the control panel, entering a command to bring up a small gauge. It now read 100%, flashing intermittently.

A/N: Whew. My apologies for the wait. I had a bit of writer's block, but I'm trying to get this moving at a steady pace again. Enjoy. Who knows what's coming next in this sinister plan of Dark Arrow.