Ch - 59 Conflict?

After hearing Felicity's frustration, Swayam sighed, removed his mask, and approached Oliver, extending his hand for a handshake. He introduced himself, "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Swayam, but you can call me Sam."

Unlike before, Oliver was much more at ease this time. He had gathered enough information about Swayam to understand that he was the type of person who wouldn't cause trouble unless provoked. Oliver shook Swayam's hand without hesitation and introduced himself, "It's nice to meet you, Sam. I'm Oliver Queen, billionaire playboy on the surface, vigilante known as Arrow in secret."

Swayam still had some doubts in his heart despite Oliver's honesty, but he didn't show it. Instead, he replied politely, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Oliver."

Oliver, noticing Swayam's formality, added, "You can just call me Oliver, like everyone else." Without waiting for Swayam's response, Oliver retracted his hand and grabbed his bow, nocking an arrow. He then looked at Barry and said, "Besides finding out who Shadow is, I also read your friend Iris's blog post on the Flash and visited all the crime scenes where you fought."

Barry, whose metahuman physique was somewhat suppressing the influence of Pathokinesis, was confused and didn't fully grasp what Oliver was getting at. The only thing that came to mind was how Oliver hadn't had any sleep, which Barry verbalized, "Don't you sleep?"

Oliver ignored Barry's question and continued, "Last month, you took on Leonard Snart."

At the mention of Snart, Barry proudly mentioned, "We call him Captain Cold."

Swayam, observing the conversation while Oliver still had an arrow pointed in Barry's direction, facepalmed. He could tell Barry wasn't registering the seriousness of the situation and was only irritating Oliver by interrupting him.

As Swayam had anticipated, Oliver was indeed growing irritated with Barry's constant interruptions. In his frustration, Oliver retorted, "We can talk about your silly nicknames for your enemies later."

Barry, annoyed by Oliver's condescending tone, replied sarcastically, "You mean like over coffee with Deathstroke and the Huntress?"

Ignoring Barry's snide remark, Oliver continued, "The point is, you engaged Snart on a commuter train, which he derailed."

Barry, feeling defensive, responded, "Okay, there may have been some damage, but Sam and I got the job done."

Oliver corrected Barry bluntly, "Not you, Barry. Sam was the one who got the job done. And if it weren't for you and the others, Sam could have easily captured Snart. In fact, you could have easily captured him if you had just used your speed to take the Cold Gun from him and handcuffed him, but you didn't. You ran in blind. There's a difference, Barry, between having powers and having precision. And since you're probably as stubborn as I am, you need to be taught a lesson."

Barry, who was now feeling uneasy, noticed the arrow still aimed at him. Overconfidently, he believed he could dodge or catch the arrow, just as Swayam had caught the boomerang earlier. With that confidence, Barry said, "Bring it on."

Seeing Barry's overconfidence, Oliver warned, "Here's what's going to happen: you're going to run over there, come back at me, and you're going to get hit with an arrow."

If Barry weren't influenced by Pathokinesis, he might have noticed Oliver's wordplay with "an arrow" rather than "this arrow." However, Barry, caught up in his arrogance, replied smugly, "I'll humor you." After moving a distance away, Barry shouted, "Ready!"

Barry ran back, catching the arrow Oliver fired at him with ease, and smugly commented, "Nice try." But as soon as he said that, two hidden crossbows fired arrows into his back, catching him completely off guard. In disbelief, Barry shouted, "What? You shot me?"

Oliver, unfazed, replied indifferently, "I heard you heal fast."

After Oliver pulled the arrows from Barry's back, Oliver turned to Swayam and said, "As for you, Sam, I'm not entirely sure why you hold yourself back, but it's as if you're constantly in conflict with yourself. If you really want to help people and stop the bad guys, you need to come to terms with whatever's holding you back."

Swayam paused, realizing the truth in Oliver's words. He had indeed been holding himself back, believing that if he didn't interfere too much, the timeline would stay intact and his knowledge of the future events from the show would guide him. But now that he thought about it, the timeline had already changed drastically just because of his presence. Holding back was no longer an option.