assassination attempt

The news of Olivers arrest is spreading around like a wildfire. That he is accused of being the local Vigilante only adds to the flames and the police station is crawling with Reporters.

"This is a mistake." Oliver tells Quentin as he is filling out his arrest report.

"It's OK, I'm just filling out some stuff for the arrest report. Have you been arrested before? I know that one, plenty of times." Quentin says crossing off something on the formular.

"Like I said, this is a mistake." Olvier tells him.

"As far as I can tell the only mistake I made was not shooting you down at the docks when I had the chance." Quentin replies hostile.

"I'm not who you think I am." Oliver says playing innocent.

"You're a dangerous man who doesn't care who he hurts except now you're using bows and arrows instead of trust funds and yachts." Quentin tells him.

"You hate me, I get it. But that doesn't make me a vigilante." Oliver says.

"No, the security camera having caught you with a green hood does that pretty well." Quentin says.

"And as I said, I fled to the stairwell and found a douffle that I thought belonged to the shooter and when I looked inside I saw a hood." Oliver tells him.

"Well we can't find it and what about the party across from Adam Hunt, right when he was attacked?" Quentin questions.

"That was a coincidence." Oliver says.

"No, when they pile up like that it becomes evidence." Quentin shoots back.

Olivers parents then come busting into the room and tell Quentin that until an attorney is present the interrogation is over and Oliver demands from his parents to get him Laurel as his attorney.

Moira goes to CNRI and finds Laurel.

"Can I ask who's representing him?" Laurel asks Moira after she told her that Olvier is in trouble, as Laurel already knew from the news report on the TV.

"That's why I'm here. He wants you." Moira tells her.

"Me?" Laurel questions stupefied.

"Yes, I told him it was a bad idea but to be frank I'm desperate." Moira tells her.

"He says if you don't represent him, he doesn't want any attorney." Moira informs Laurel.

"Mrs. Queen my father is the arresting officer and I don't think it's a good idea to represent someone I've been involved with." Laurel replies.

"It's alright, it was a bad idea on his part and I'm sorry I made you feel so uncomfortable." Moira tells her.

"Mrs. Queen, wait up." Ryan says stopping the woman from leaving, having overheard the conversation.

"I know it's unconventional, but I could represent Oliver, I mean I'm not a licensed attorney, but I snatched up a few things and would be willing to help out." Ryan offers going over to her.

"Thank you. I will suggest it to Oliver but I think he has his mind set on your sister." Moira replies with a smile.

"But in either case, it's good to see you again if you'd like you could come over sometime." Moira tells him and leaves to inform Oliver.

"Ryan what are you thinking? Do you want your career as a lawyer to end before it's even started?" Laurel asks him disapproving.

"What? You didn't want to and I've got to start somewhere and if I can't defend one of the few people I know, then why become a lawyer in the first place?" Ryan replies.

|court a few hours later|

"Where is your attorney Mr. Queen?" The Judge asks seeing him walk in without one present.

"I'm representing myself Judge." Oliver replies.

"Are you sure that is the wisest course Mr. Queen?" The Judge asks.

"I think it is. I'm innocent." Olvier says standing up.

"Then we'll consider that your plea." The Judge says.

"Thank you, your honor." Oliver replies.

"Now as to bail." The Judge says looking at the lawyers trying to proof Oliver's guilt.

"Mr. Queen's family owns a pair of private Jets. And while on the subject of their wealth there is virtually no real amount that could guarantee his presence at trial." The lawyer says.

"So then it's a good thing that the case is so circumstantial. Diana Laurel Lance your honor, I'd like to file my appearance on the behalf of the defendant. Mr. Queen's wealth should not deprive him of the possibility of bail under the presumption of innocence." Laurel says walking into the courtroom and standing next to Oliver while Ryan takes a seat behind the Queen family.

"He is a flight risk." The prosecution says.

"Then minimize the risk. The defendant is willing to submit to home confinement and electronic monitoring through the administrated ankle device." Laurel says.

"No he wouldn't." Oliver says but the Judge agrees to Laurel's solution and sets bail at 15 Million dollars.

"I knew you couldn't resist saving my ass." Oliver tells her happy that she's here.

"Actually, I'm doing this to safe Ryan's ass from taking on to much responsibility by trying to pull yours out of the fire." Laurel tells him.

"Thank you again for your previous offer, I have to ask though did you convince Laurel to take Olivers defense?" Moira says, turning back to Ryan when the Judge tells them that they're done for today.

"Involuntarily, I guess. She asked me why I wanted to defend him and my answer might have struck a nerve." He tells her grinning at the family while Thea looks at him surprised, not having known he offered to defend Oliver.

Oliver then gets brought home under police supervision and gets the ankle bracelet attached to him.

"OK. This device has a direct line to the precinct. Stay on the property and you're golden. Any questions?" The officer tells him finishing attaching the device.

"Yes, I'm having a sizeable get together here tomorrow evening and there is a better than likely chance that it spills into the outdoor pool." Oliver says.

"The pool's fine. Step on the gras and they're sending a swat team to forcibly subdue you." The officer tells him and Walter shows him outside.

"A sizeable get together?" Moira asks.

"I'm confined to this house for the foreseeable future, I might as well make the most of it and this party is gonna be themed. I'm thinking prison. The burning man meets shaw shakes redemption and the invite says: Come before Oliver Queen gets off." He tells her.

"Maybe a party is not the best taste, considering the circumstances." Tommy says.

"The circumstances are why we're having the party in the firstplace. I want people to know that I'm not worried about any of this." Oliver tells the three people in the room.

"Well that makes one of us." Moira says.

Soon after Diggle arrives and meets Oliver in his room where he tells him that getting arrested is all part of his plan, since he wants to throw the suspicion of him rather sooner than later and tells him about their next target, a german arms dealer trying to sell military grade weapons to streetgangs in the glades and asks Diggle to observe the man's movements with a device he has in his hideout.

Sometime later that day he meets with Laurel and Quentin and the prosecution's lawyer, who offer them a deal but Oliver tells them that he wants to take a polygraph to convince Quentin of his innocence. Laurel tells him that a polygraph is not valid for the jury but he wants to do it anyways, because her father is the one targeting him.

While this is going on Walter asks his head of security to move the remains of the Queen's Gambit to a secure location but soon after tasking the man with this the head of security dies in a car accident, raising Walter's suspicions.

|The next day|

"Hey Speedy one of the workers put the kegs too far from the bar. Can you ask him to move it please? I got the ankle thingy and don't want to set of a swat invasion." Oliver asks his sister who is sitting on a lounger in their backyard, lost in thought and she just stares back at him wordlessly, making him come out of the greenhouse and onto the terrace, sitting down next to her.

"Hey, all this stuff is gonna be fine I promise." Oliver tells her.

"Yeah well, when you and dad left on the yacht you promised you'd see me again in a few days. Which didn't happen." Thea replies solemnly.

"This is different. I didn't do any of this stuff, you know that. Right?" Oliver asks.

"You're out all the time. You have those scars and since you've been back you've been really weird." Thea tells him.

"None of this makes me some Robin Hood wannabe." Oliver tells her.

"And you gave me this. It's an arrowhead." Thea says holding up the stone arrowhead he gave her.

"Oh man. Thea I bought that at the giftshop in the Beijing airport." Oliver confesses to his sister.

"Now I'm kinda happy I didn't buy you the shotglass with the panda on it or you'd have thought I was pandaman." He tells her trying to make her laugh.

"You know, I know that you couldn't be this person, I just I can't lose you again." She tells him honestly.

"Deal." Oliver promises.

"On a happier note, why don't you invite your lawyer friend to the party?" Oliver suggests.

"I don't know, we barely know each other. Yesterday was only the fourth time I met him." Thea replies.

"And one of those times he saved your life, so he can't be that bad. And I thought you liked him. At least mom told me so." Oliver says.

"I don't know if I like him, he comes from like the opposite background and I don't think it could work out." Thea says saddened.

"You'll never know unless you give it a try. I mean Laurel isn't exactly from a wealthy background either and I still think that she's the one for me." Oliver tells her.

"OK, OK. I'll invite him. Happy now?" Thea says regaining some hope of maybe having a normal relationship.

"Now that you're smiling again, yes." Oliver tells her, giving her a hug.

"Now, about that keg…" Oliver says shaking his ankle and Thea goes to talk to the guy, making Oliver smile to himself while he debates if inviting Ryan is a good idea after what he did to the guy in prison.

Later that day Oliver takes the polygraph and passes the test, lying on any answer implicating him as the hood and on the question if he killed people before he tells Quentin that he killed his daughter when he asked Sarah aboard the ship.

That night Oliver's party is taking place in his giant backyard for the most part and people are dancing and drinking, dressed in prison themed costumes while a DJ. Is playing some music.

Oliver comes out of the house dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a name tag and motions for the DJ to cut off the music and greets his party guests saying "Hi everybody. I'm very touched that you came to celebrate with me before I'm send up the river and you know the next neighbors are six miles away so don't worry about the noise, you know on second thought, LET'S WAKE THOSE LOSERS UP!" and the music starts to play loudly again with everyone cheering.

After his little speech Diggle takes Oliver to his room where he shows him where the arms dealer is and Oliver sees that he's parked in a secluded spot for over 45 minutes and guesses that the arms deal is taking place right now.

"OK, since this is going down tonight, what do we do? Drop a daim on him for the cops?" Diggle asks.

"No, the man in the hood. He's gonna stop them." Oliver tells him.

"Oliver you can't leave the house." Diggle tells him.

"It doesn't have to be me in the hood." Oliver tells him.

"That's why you threw this ridiculous party? So you have a hundred people here as your witnesses while I'm across town dressed as a vigilante?" Diggle asks disappointed.

"I thought it was going to be good enough for you to be seen wearing the hood. I didn't count on Müller showing up and I didn't count on the possibility that the glades will be flooded with machine guns." Oliver tells him.

"Look, I promise it was never my intention to put you in harms way." Oliver says.

"Oliver I didn't think joining your crusade was ever going to be risk-free. I just don't like being played. Now you might have gotten used to lying to everybody else in your life but I'm the one guy you don't lie to!" Diggle says.

"You're right, I'm sorry. So am I going to jail?" Oliver says when Diggle walks past him to the door.

"Nah man, I gotta stop an arms deal." Diggle tells him and leaves.

|A few minutes later|

Oliver is getting himself a glass of campaigner when Laurel arrives at the party with Ryan.

"Hey." She greets him.

"Hey, do we have a legal meeting or something, because I have friends over." Oliver greets her.

"Thanks for inviting me. I rarely get to go to fancier parties like this." Ryan tells him, shaking Oliver's hand as greeting.

"Thank you for saving my sister the other day." Oliver replies.

"Do you think you could rip yourself away from this inappropriately themed rave for a couple of minutes?" Laurel asks and Oliver leads them to his bedroom, where she tells him that it wasn't just Sarah who was lost to her family. Her mother left them too, explaining why her father is taking things so hard. She then tells him that she didn't even consider what happened to him, instead of only worrying about her family and apologizes since she didn't know about the torture or the scars he has, which he revealed during the polygraph. Oliver then shows her his scars at her request and tells her that the only way he survived was because she kept him going and they share an emotion filled kiss after which Laurel leaves abruptly.

Meanwhile with Walter and Moira, he is confronting his wife about the Queens Gambit and the sudden death of their head of security and she pleads him to stop looking into Robert's death and that he'll upset powerful people.

Diggle is also busy across town, where he takes out a few gangbangers who wanted to buy the guns while the german seller gets away.

While all this is going on Ryan is downstairs at the party, looking for someone in particular, Thea.

Maybe 5 minutes of searching for her, he finds her sitting by the pool with a glass of Champaign in her hand.

"Hey." Ryan says loudly to be heard over the music as he goes over to her.

"Hey." She greets him rather quietly, only looking up to him for a second.

"You OK? You seem kinda sad." Ryan asks her, sitting down next to her.

"I'm worried about Ollie…" Thea says and Ryan asks "What?" shifting his ear in her direction, not having understood her over the loud music.

Thea gets up and pulls him along with her, to her bedroom. Once there she shuts the door and window and sits down on her bed.

"I said I'm worried about Ollie." Thea repeats, now hearable since the music is silenced to a great degree.

"Why? He seems pretty confident that he'll get away scot free and Laurel is a good attorney." Ryan asks her.

"I know, but still. I don't want to lose him again, even if he's not fully here right now it's still better than not at all." Thea tells him while he sits down leaning against her bed, next to her.

"Did you tell your brother that you're scared to lose him?" Ryan asks her, looking up at the sad brunette holding her legs to her chest.

"Yes, but he only made jokes and tried to play it off like there is nothing going on." Thea informs him.

"Hmm, I guess he wants you not to have to worry about him but given him missing for five years I'm guessing that is rather impossible?" Ryan asks her.

"No shit." She agrees.

"Let's try this from a different approach, why don't we try to disprove Quentin's theory in some way. I mean you must know stuff about your brother and I met the hood twice, maybe we can find discrepancies?"

"Like what?" Thea asks interested in the idea, since it meant she could help instead of just sitting around helplessly.

"Let's start easy, well their height is around the same and build is similar, if anything I'd say your brother is buffer than the hood." Ryan tells her thoughtfully.

"How about his speaking patterns?" I haven't talked to him much so here you can shed some light." Ryan tells her and Thea begins to think about anything special her brother does regarding speech when they hear a loud crash and yelling coming from the room to their left.

"That's Ollie's room." Thea says scared.

"Hide. I'll go check it out, could just be some drunken guests." Ryan tells her and leaves the room while Thea hides herself behind a dresser.

|Moments before in Olivers room|

"Mr. Queen if you're entertaining guests upstairs should I have some drinks send up?" A hitman asks knocking on his door and pretending to be a waiter while he puts a silencer on his gun.

"No, I'm on my way back down." Oliver says going over to the door while he turns off his phone, on which Diggle just informed him, that he took care of the deal successfully.

Oliver opens the door and is met with the barrel of the gun and immediately pushes the hitman's arm to the side and punches him in the face, before he twists his wrist, so he drops the gun.

Oliver then knees him in the stomach during which a lamp falls down.

The Hitman tries to reach for his gun but Oliver flings them both over the couch in the room with such force it collapses underneath them.

The hitman tries to hit him but Oliver grabs the arm and jumps up, locking out the arm with both legs but the Hitman frees himself and Oliver hits him across the face, knocking him back enough for him to grab the gun, which he does and aims at Oliver. In that moment Ryan appears in the doorway and sees the gun aimed at Oliver and tackles the unsuspecting hitman from behind, making him lose the gun.

Ryan tries to lock him down with an mma maneuver but the hitman frees himself quickly and jumps to his feet and wants to run over to the gun but Ryan sweeps his leg and pulls on it once he's face down on the floor. He then attempts to pin him to the floor but the hitman elbows him in the face and pushes him on his injured shoulder, making Ryan lose his control over him.

Oliver in the meantime rushed over to them and lifts up the hitman, punching him multiple times, before the hitman jumps for the gun again, only for Ryan who got back up, to step on the gun and take him in a chokehold but Oliver, who can't risk having witnesses kicks the hitman in the face with enough force to snap his neck.

"You didn't have to do that. I had him." Ryan tells Oliver disapproving but relieved they are alive non the less.

"Sorry, I just didn't want to risk him breaking free again, you're not at 100% right now afterall." Oliver tells him, pointing at the small bloodstain on his shirt at shoulder height.

"Yeah, might not have been too much afterall." Ryan agrees, feeling his shoulder pulse with pain.

"Come on, I know my dad is somewhere here, let's get him. But first we have to fetch your sister." Ryan tells him." Leading Oliver outside and closing the door behind them, tucking away the gun in his jacket.

"Thea?" Oliver asks concerned.

"Yeah, I told her to hide when we heard your fight." Ryan informs him going over to Thea's room.

"What were you doing here in the first place? Not that I'm not glad in retrospect." Oliver asks the teen.

"We were thinking of ways to help clear your name and since you're throwing a party talking outside didn't seem to be an option." Ryan replies.

"OK." Oliver says still suspicious of him.

"Speedy?" Oliver asks once they enter the room.

"Thea, it's safe now." Ryan says.

"What happened?" Thea asks them, rushing over to the two and hugging them around their necks.

"Uhm, let's just say I had an unwelcome visitor." Oliver says, making Ryan look at him questioningly but Oliver motions a shushing sign behind his sisters back.

"Yeah uh and I helped him take care of the situation. You can relax now." Ryan tells her, brushing her arm gently.

"Right, we should go fetch detective Lance right?" Oliver says pulling Ryan along with a little force, not liking the teen get so chummy with his baby sister.

"Yeah." Ryan says following him with Thea going after them.

The three quickly spot the detective as he looks around the party disapprovingly and Ryan goes over to him.

"Ryan, what are you doing here?" He asks his surrogate son.

"Can you come with me quietly, please?" Ryan asks him, whispering in his ear and giving him a serious look. Quentin nods and the four of them go to Olivers room.

"Thea, I think you should wait outside, you don't need to see this." Oliver tells her.

"But…" Thea tries to protest but Ryan pulls her to the side.

"Thea, trust me there is no reason for you to see this. It'll only scare you, even though it's dealt with." Ryan tells her squeezing her hand and tells her "You should wait in your living room. I'm guessing the party will be cut short in a moment anyways."

"OK." Thea agrees reluctantly.

"What happened here?" Quentin asks Oliver angrily once he sees the dead man on the floor and the destruction in the room.

"He tried to kill Oliver, but we managed to take him down before he killed either of us." Ryan says walking into the room.

"Who is he?" Quentin asks, believing his surrogate son since he never lied to him before.

"I don't know, I'm guessing someone who's not a fan of the hood." Oliver tells him.

"Alright, gather in the living room, I need to secure the crime-scene and get your party guests to leave." Quentin orders.

"On it." Oliver agrees and starts to inform everyone to leave.

Ryan is going around looking into rooms and across the yard for left behind party guests with Thea and they kick out the few who didn't get the memo.

Once they are back in the living room Thea sees Oliver with an icepack on his hand and his leg elevated because of the device and sits down checking him over immediately but he assures her that he's OK and she should instead look over Ryan, who takes a seat on the couch across from theirs.

"Oliver are you alright?" Moira asks arriving with Walter, having been informed about what happened by Quentin.

"This is on you, by accusing my son publicly you've made him a target." Moira tells Quentin, pissed off.

"Do you have any idea who attacked Oliver?" Walter asks.

"We haven't identified him yet. Must be someone with a grudge against the hood obviously." Quentin replies and takes off Oliver's ankle device.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asks.

"Just got a call from my lieutenant, an arms deal was attacked across town tonight, by the vigilante. Multiple witnesses put him there, so all charges against your son are being dropped." Quentin tells them.

"I'm truly sorry for what happened to your family Quentin but would you kindly get the hell out of my house?" Moira tells him and Quentin asks Ryan "You coming with?"

"I'm OK. I just need to rest for a bit, I'll call you later." He tells him and Quentin leaves.

"Not to be impolite but what are you doing here?" Walter asks Ryan, only having seen him once when he got shot.

"I was invited to the party and happened to stumble upon the attack." Ryan tells him.

"He saved me." Oliver tells them.

"Thank you, once again you've saved one of my children, I don't know how to thank you." Moira says gratefully.

"Don't worry about it, what are friends for right?" Ryan replies.

"One question though, do you have a first aid kit or some bandages somewhere?" Ryan asks.

"Sure, I'll fetch them." Walter says but Thea stops him and says "I'll show him where they are." Getting up and Ryan follows her to another room.

"Wait a second they should be right … Ah here they are. Why do you need bandages though?" Thea asks collecting them from a cupboard.

"My wound opened up in the attack and I'm hoping to safe this shirt, it's one of my favorites." Ryan tells her humorously.

"Oh, let me help." She offers and Ryan takes off his Jacket and shirt, leaving him topless in front of the brunette. He quickly undoes the bandage across his shoulder with his other hand while Thea sneaks a few glances at his muscular frame. Once the old bandage is off, he checks the wound quickly and says "Looks OK, I don't think I need to get stitches a third time." He says.

"Third?" Thea asks surprised.

"There was this prison outbreak, long story." Ryan tells her and instructs her how to wrap the bandage around his shoulder. Once she's done he puts his jacket back on, zipping it up and folds his shirt into a small packet which he puts in a pocket.

"Thanks." He says with a smile.

"Don't thank me. If you hadn't put yourself in front of the bullet in the first place to safe me you wouldn't be having this problem." She tells him feeling guilty.

"Listen, me getting shot is not your fault. It happens when a madman shoots into a crowd with a sniper." Ryan says jokingly.

The two of them rejoin the three adults in the living room and Ryan bids his farewell. Oliver wants to lead him outside. Once they are alone he asks Ryan "So are you going to tell anyone about my abilities?"

"Not as long as you don't use them to hurt anyone close to me." Ryan replies and gets a nod of his head and a "Thanks." as reply.

The next day Moira confronts Malcom Merlin about him attempting to kill Oliver and threatens him, that if he moves against her family again he'll regret it.

Laurel also pays Oliver a visit with his results from the polygraph and she suspects that he was tricking the machine and tells him that she doesn't know who he is and that their attraction to one another can't happen again.

That evening Walter also decides to leave for a while and goes on a business trip, being unable to fully trust his wife.