Saving the Glades

May 15th, 1997

General POV

"You ready?" Creed asked Oliver as he finished suiting up.

"I'm good to go. Felicity, you should…." Oliver replied before she stopped him.

"Don't dare ask me to leave. I'm staying to finish this." Felicity said, determined to see this mission through. Oliver looked at Diggle, who stared back at him. He agreed with her.

"All right, but be safe. Let's go." Oliver said, walking out of the cave with Diggle. Creed then threw a black cube to Felicity, following them out.

'Scream help into that box if you're in danger. You'll be saved & don't mess with the box. I'll know if you do,' Creed said as he walked out. Felicity nodded, sitting down in her chair, ready to coordinate with the team.

As Oliver & Diggle raced over to confront Merlin. Creed flew at top speed to the underground substation in the glades. Using his eagle vision, he quickly found the device.

"Team, I found the device. I'll start disarming it." Creed said, coming up to the earthquake machine. It was hooked up to a control panel.

"Wait, let me walk you through it. Tech is my area of expertise." Felicity said, wanting to help.

"Thanks, but I go this. I have just as much expertise when it comes to this stuff. If you want to help, call Lance & have him keep the cops off me. I can't be disturbed while doing this." Creed said.

"Okay, I'm on it," She replied, happy to be of use.

"Friday, if I use my Technopathy, will it trigger the fail-safe?" Creed asked, looking at the timer that had 10 minutes left.

"Yes, he set it so tampering with the control panel will set it off. You'll have to disarm the device manually. I also detected an extra explosive attached. It will go off should the device not activate at the set time.

'Shit, that's an extra variable that wasn't in the show. I can't hack my way through this one. Good thing I prepared for scenarios like this.' Desmond thought

Desmond used his Intersect for the first time in the field. He flashed on how to disarm devices & got to work. As soon as he cut the first couple of wires, the timer started going down faster. He began a race against the clock to ensure it wouldn't go off. When it was down to five minutes, detective Lance rushed up behind him.

"We cleared a one-block permitter at this spot. How's it going on stopping this damn device." Lance said, out of breath, running down here.

"Working on it. Felicity, there's a bomb also attached to the device. As soon as I turn it off, it'll blow. Hack every intercom in the area. Make an announcement to evacuate anyone else still in the area. This thing can blow up multiple city blocks. I'll do my best to fly the device out of here when it's disarmed." Creed explained.

"That's suicide," Lance grunted, not liking this plan.

"We don't have time to argue & I'm tougher than I look," Creed said, knocking him out with his telepathy. He summoned his Microbots to carry him to safety. With one minute left on the clock, Felicity called back to him.

"It's done. Everyone got the message. Don't go dying on me. We just me and you promised me some answers." She said, praying for his safety. Creed finished disarming the bomb & in the split seconds before the bomb activated, used his powers. Activating Transparent World with Rage Mode to slow down his perception of time & increase his speed. In this slowed-down time, he enveloped himself & the device in Aura. He blasted through the substation, shooting up into the sky. Hitting Mach-one, he broke through the stratosphere into space, throwing up an Aura barrier in front of him at the last second before it detonated.

KABOOM!

"Creed? Creed, do you copy? Are you okay?" Felicity kept calling out for him.

Around the same time, Oliver was finishing up his battle with Merlin not too far from the subway. The Dark Archer had the Arrow in a headlock on the verge of victory.

"Don't struggle. It's over," Merlin said, bringing him to his knees.

"There was never any doubt in the outcome. Don't worry. Your mother & sister will be joining you in death." Merlin whispered sinisterly to him. Oliver struggled before he felt Merlin's hold over him was gone.

BANG!

Creed came flying in, kicking Merlin in the face-off of him. Oliver, wounded, nodded in thanks at the save. Oliver stood over Merlin, looking down at him.

"It's over." He told him with a hoarse voice.

"If I learned anything as a successful businessman, it's redundancy," Merlin said, laughing with blood coming out of his nose. Oliver stunned, called out to Felicity to confirm if there was a second earthquake device.

"Yo man, relax. I took care of both devices," Creed said, healing Diggle.

"WHAT YOU KNEW!" Oliver, Diggle, Felicity, and Merlin screamed together.

"Of course. Why do you think I came? I had to ensure the second one didn't go off. Sorry for not telling you earlier, but you guys already had a lot on your plate." Creed explained. Desmond had his five shadow clones search the city for the second device earlier. Once they found it, they worked to defuse it & protect the city from the other earthquake machine. The clones couldn't use Transparent World or Rage mode without evaporating, as the skills took too much stamina for them to handle. He didn't have Naruto-level clones yet from his chakra training. So instead, he used his clones to destroy the device with his biotic powers. It caused little to no damage to the surrounding area.

"I failed you, my wife." Merlin cried out, punching the ground before passing out. Creed passed Diggle over to Oliver before he grabbed Merlin.

"What are you gonna do with him?" Diggle asked, suspicious about why he was taking him.

"He'll be used in a trade to save Dinah. I'll be back next week when she arrives. I'll give you the answers you're looking for then." Desmond said, flying away with Merlin.

"Thank God it's finally over." Oliver said to himself, walking with Diggle on his shoulder, out of the building. They saved the city today from catastrophe.