Destiny Rewritten

Chapter 18

"So wait, Malcolm Merlyn, Tommy's dad and the CEO of Merlyn Global, is the other archer who killed Adam Hunt and took several hostages?" Laurel asked.

"And that's not all. I broke into Unidac Industries a few weeks ago and found this." Oliver said as he pulled up the specs of the earthquake machine.

"Why did you break into Unidac Industries?" John asked.

"Because my family's company owns it and I wanted to make sure there wasn't anything that could damage it inside Unidac, which is why I was very concerned when I found these plans." Oliver said, bringing their attention to the device.

"What is this?" Laurel asked.

"If my guess is correct, it's a device designed to create a manmade earthquake. Something that should never be developed." Oliver said, much to John and Laurel's horror.

"What makes you think this is connected to Merlyn?" John asked.

"Call it a hunch. I'll ask him when he wakes up." Oliver said.

"Why didn't you just kill him?" Laurel asked.

"He still has his uses. Including getting him to confess to everything, since killing him would just further brand me a criminal. We need to destroy his reputation first." Oliver said.

"And how are you going to get him to confess?" John asked.

"With this." Oliver said, holding out a vial of something.

"What is that? Truth serum?" Laurel asked.

"Not exactly. It's a KGB interrogation drug called the Red death. It'll make all the pain Malcolm's endured over the years, and by that I mean physical pain, feel like it was fresh. Believe me, I've experienced it's effects first hand and while it may not be pleasant, it can be effective." Oliver said.

"You sure you want to cross that line and torture someone?" John asked.

"You act like I've never crossed it before. This isn't the first time I've interrogated someone." Oliver said.

"Still, torture?" Laurel asked.

"I don't want to do this, but something tells me it's the only way Malcolm will come clean." Oliver said as he flipped his hood up, put on his mask and turned on his voice modulator before moving over to the cell he had Malcolm locked up in.

"What do you want?" Malcolm asked as he came to when water was splashed on him.

"I'm only going to ask you this once. Confess to your sins. Now." Green Arrow said.

"I have nothing to confess to." Malcolm snarled and Green Arrow sighed.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." Green Arrow said as he approached Malcolm.

"You think that torture will work?" Malcolm asked.

"Physical torture, no. Psychological torture, yes." Green Arrow said.

"What do you mean?" Malcolm asked as he noticed the syringe.

"This is a little concoction known as the Red Death. It'll make every bit of pain you've endured over the years feel like it's fresh. Do you honestly think you can handle that pain?" Green Arrow asked.

"Do your worst. I will never crack." Malcolm said.

"If you insist." Green Arrow said as he injected Malcolm with the drug.

After a few hours, Oliver returned, still disguised as Green Arrow and he took some satisfaction in the way Malcolm looked now, since in his opinion, after everything Malcolm did and was going to do, he deserved this pain.

"Ready to start talking?" Green Arrow asked as he prepared his recorder.

"I did it." Malcolm said as Green Arrow turned on the recorder as he heard Malcolm confess to everything. The kidnappings, Adam Hunt's murder and then he even went as far as confessing to his plan about the Undertaking, though Oliver was relieved that he never mentioned his mother, and then, to his joy, Malcolm also confessed to sabotaging the Queen's Gambit. He then shut off the recorder before walking up to him.

"Thank you Malcolm." Green Arrow said as he then injected him with another liquid.

"What's that?" Malcolm asked.

"Antidote. I'm not heartless like you. And your plan will never work." Green Arrow said.

"The people in the Glades deserve to die for not helping Rebecca." Malcolm said.

"And so do you. Your wife called you when she was shot, but you ignored it. Her death is on your head to and she would be ashamed of what you're doing in her name." Green Arrow said angrily as he then tranq'd Malcolm again, since he still had one more use to him.

"Malcolm killed your dad and my sister and you still let him live?" Laurel asked Oliver when he returned.

"Only because he has one more use to me. The people who trained him will be very upset when they find out what he did. So I'm going to offer him up to them on a silver platter, since they are the kind of people it comes in handy to have owing you favor." Oliver said.

"Smart." John said.

"Yeah, so I'll be out of town for a few days while I take him there, in the meantime, Laurel, I need you to leak this confession and the information from Unidac to the police. Hopefully everyone will then assume that the Green Arrow killed him." Oliver said and Laurel nodded as he handed her the recording.

"What do we tell your family?" John asked.

"Tell them I'm visiting a friend in Central City." Oliver said and they both nodded as they went their separate ways, since none of them had any idea that Oliver did not intend on returning to Star City alone.