Oliver enjoys some quality time with an old enemy and takes a joy ride on drugs. It's not exactly a fun ride, though, and the impeachment hearing involves a surprise.

Enjoy part two!

***

"No," Oliver shook his head in disbelief, lowering the gun and staring at the phantom in front of him. "You . . . Cayden James had you killed!"

"Funny thing," Adrian scoffed. "You never did go check for yourself. Guess you were somewhat preoccupied, right? Still . . . seems a little careless." He raised the silver handgun he held and fired, and Oliver yelped as the bullet went through his shoulder, throwing him back. "Come on, man!" Adrian snarled as Oliver grabbed at his shoulder, wincing in pain as he tried to find the gun he had dropped, repeatedly firing all the while. "You've seen people come back from what seemed like certain death! As I recall, you once were stabbed and fell off of a mountain . . . yet here you are!"

Oliver finally managed to grab a silver tray to deflect the bullets fired at him, then swung it into Adrian's face, knocking him back. His gun fell to the ground, and Adrian snarled, grabbing Oliver and tossing him over one of the tables. As he scrambled to get up, Adrian drew his sword and came around the table, swinging it menacingly. Oliver made a grab for his bow as Adrian's first swing hit the rails, and bow and sword clacked against each other before one of Adrian's swings was enough to break it. Their fight moved up to the tech platform, Oliver finally managing to kick one of Adrian's legs out from under him and wrap his arm around his neck, holding him in a chokehold.

The same chokehold from Lian Yu. "Do it!" Adrian growled, trying to wrench free.

"I didn't last time," Oliver gritted his teeth.

"And then I almost killed everyone you loved," Adrian sneered. "I'm not playing games this time. This time, I'm coming for you and Kara and William, and even those bitches Evelyn and Black Siren. Anyone and everyone who's ever been close to you. And there's only one way that you can stop me."

Oliver gritted his teeth, having enough of people threatening his loved ones, and he grabbed Adrian around the middle, wrenching hard and hearing the crunch of bones crack. He dropped Adrian's corpse on the floor, coughing as he struggled to stand up and make his way down off the platform. He leaned against one of the tables, taking a few deep breaths.

There were two quiet metal taps, and he braced himself, preparing to see Adrian get to his feet, but when he turned around, he wasn't there.

"Oh, now wasn't that better?" Slowly, Oliver turned around to see Adrian on his opposite side, a satisfied look on his face. "You know, you might just have to start considering the possibility that I'm just not killable, Oliver."

Oliver stared at his suddenly alive former enemy, then shook his head. "No, Adrian," he turned around. "You're dead, still on Lian Yu or in A.R.G.U.S. custody." He took a deep breath, looking down at his suddenly healed shoulder and completely blood-free shirt. "I'm hallucinating."

***

Oliver winced as he took a syringe and stuck it in his arm, slowly drawing a blood stick. At least he wasn't completely focused on the pain.

Then again, a chattering hallucination of Adrian Chase probably wasn't the best option of what to listen to. "I knew you'd kill me," he said conversationally. "Or try to. I always was the one person who saw you for the murderer you are." Oliver just sighed, sticking the blood stick into the machine next to him. "What are you doing?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, then looked over his shoulder at where Oliver was looking: one of the computer monitors running a scan. "Oh. Oh, you're running a blood test! You think you've been dosed with something." He clicked his tongue as Oliver slid his sleeves back down, walking around to see the results. "You know, there is another explanation, a more likely one in my considered opinion. You're finally going crazy. It's completely understandable, Ollie. You're losing everything. Even the people I couldn't manage to take from you."

Oliver let Adrian say his piece, pinching the bridge of his nose. I haven't lost everything, he thought repeatedly. I'm not losing everything. I haven't lost Kara or William. I haven't lost John or Felicity or Quentin. I haven't lost Slade or Malcolm or Laurel. I gained Evelyn.

You nearly did, a traitorous voice whispered. You almost lost John. How many times could one tiny misstep have made you lose everything?

"I really like this Ricardo Diaz," Adrian continued. "If he didn't exist, I'd have to think him up myself. He's going about all of this exactly right! Don't hurt the people that you love, just get them all to abandon you. It's actually the easiest thing in the world." He pointed at Oliver as he put his suit jacket back on. "I told you this, Ollie. I told you this, man. Everything you touch dies."

Rene, the same traitorous voice whispered, making Oliver close his eyes. Laurel's almost died twice – once by Dinah, once by Diaz. Evelyn is still being hunted. Pestilence almost killing Winn, Alex, Malcolm, and himself.

"What you're going through right now?" Adrian stepped forward. "Losing your team, the impeachment – all of it is happening just like I told you it would, and nothing in that blood test is gonna change that." Oliver looked up when the test beeped, and he walked over to take a look. "Well?" Adrian raised an eyebrow.

"Vertigo?" Oliver narrowed his eyes at what he found onscreen. "Absorbed it through my . . . " He looked down at his hands, then sighed and closed his eyes. "Kullens."

"Friend of yours?" Adrian asked.

Oliver sighed, turning around. "Apparently not."

"Don't," Adrian shook his head as Oliver headed towards his phone. "Don't go talk to Quentin! You are not in the state of mind to be talking to him right now. He might have you committed, which would be a shame since by my count, he's probably the only person still left in your corner at City Hall."

"What are you doing, Adrian?" he turned around, finally fed up with what he was saying. "I have more people than you think that are in my corner."

"And what does who you have in your corner say about you?" Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson . . . mass murderers, right? Interesting people to rely on when other good friends leave you high and dry."

"I was never left high and dry," Oliver shook his head.

"Really?" Adrian paced. "You've certainly changed. Maybe you are a better Oliver Queen, a happier Oliver Queen . . . but it has sure made you a worse hero. You have a fiancée, a son, you're the mayor, the latter of which, yes, may be going away, but still, it's a fair assumption. You're stretched too thin, buddy. Two Earths? Really? Maybe you've gotten so good at being Oliver Queen that the Green Arrow's mission is suffering. And you've got two supervillains in your ear to tell you what to get back to." He smirked suddenly. "Hey, what's Vertigo do? Does it show you your worst fear?"

"You're not my worst fear, Adrian," Oliver chuckled darkly, turning around. "You're nowhere close."

"Oh, I know," Adrian laughed as Oliver headed into the elevator. "Your worst fear is yourself. Guys like me, Ricardo Diaz, Damien Darhk, Ra's al Ghul, when it comes to destroying you, Oliver, we all come in second place." The smirk was back on the villain's face when Oliver turned to close the doors. "You're the one enemy you can't defeat."

The doors closed, and Oliver sighed, reaching for his phone when it rang. "Yes, Quentin?" he asked.

"Hearing's about to start," Quentin said. "Where the hell are you?"

"Well," Oliver leaned against the wall, "Kullens dosed me with Vertigo, and I have been dealing with it."

"Didn't you say that Diaz was dealing Vertigo these days?"

"Well, Kullens is working for Diaz, apparently. Listen, where are we with Agent Watson?"

Quentin scoffed. "She's mulling it over."

"She's got to mull faster," Oliver grumbled. "And John?"

"Working with Lyla, as of a few minutes ago. I'll give Watson another call. Just get down here as fast as you can, all right?"

"I'm on my way," Oliver promised, hanging up and stepping out as the elevator doors opened.

And right into the Queen mansion, he realized in shock, looking around at his warm family home. He shook his head in disbelief, walking around and looking at the restored paintings, the fire going in the fireplace . . .

"Ollie." He closed his eyes, then turned around to see Laurel, the Earth-1 Laurel, standing behind him, looking at him with a fond smile before it faded away. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, taking a few steps closer. "Ollie? Are you OK?"

"I don't know," he shook his head.

"You know, if you tell her the truth, she'll just think you're crazy, Oliver," Adrian appeared behind Laurel. "You'll break her heart all over again. Nobody wants that."

"Hey," Laurel stepped closer, almost chest to chest with Oliver. "Hey, you can tell me anything."

"I know that," Oliver nodded, a fond smile on his face even as he closed his eyes. "I need to leave."

"I though the boat left at six," Laurel frowned.

"What?" Oliver did a double take.

"The Gambit," Laurel answered like it was obvious. "The trip that you're going on with your father. I ran into Sara. She said that you hadn't packed yet. Do you want me to help you?"

Adrian sighed wistfully. "Man, look at how innocent she was, how much she loved you. You destroyed that."

"Ollie?"

"Oh, tell her about her future, man," Adrian grinned. "Tell her about what happens when she becomes the Black Canary!"

"Ollie!" The echoing voice didn't come from the Laurel in front of him, making Oliver's head shoot up as he looked around. "Please, help me!" When he turned around, he was back in the hospital, and there was Laurel, lying in her bed, looking at him with tears in her eyes. "Please, I'm scared! I don't want to die! This is gonna destroy my father! He can't handle this!"

"She's got a point," Adrian nodded from where he sat back by the table. "My question is, why did you let her become the Black Canary in the first place? She's a lawyer! What, after a couple self-defense classes and a few sparring sessions with you, you think she's ready to go handle thugs and killers?"

"It was a mistake," Oliver whispered.

"Yeah," Adrian snorted. "Your mistake."

"Which I had to pay for," Laurel ground out.

"It was a mistake," Oliver nodded, swallowing hard. "But I knew you, and I knew that you would do it with or without me. I thought this way, I could protect you."

"And how did that work out for you, Ollie, huh?" Laurel asked.

Oliver sighed, turning around and preparing his answer when a different voice came from behind this time. "Yeah, Ollie. How'd that work out for her?" He spun back around to see Rene in full Wild Dog attire, gesturing to himself. "For me, not too good."

"Uh uh," Oliver shook his head. "Slade gave you an out. He told you to stand down."

"So, a villain's word on it," Adrian hummed. "Oh, that's too good, Ollie."

"You know," Rene leaned back, "John came to see me in here. Felicity, too . . . but you were nowhere, Hoss."

"He's got a point, Oliver," Curtis's voice said.

Oliver turned to see Curtis and Dinah both there, too, in their vigilante attire as well. "If your conscience is so sparkly clean, why didn't you check on Rene?" Dinah tilted her head.

"You were here," Oliver shook his head. "Rene made it clear. Matter of fact, all of you have made it clear that you don't want anything to do with me."

"Always a comeback for everything," Curtis shook his head, Dinah clicking her tongue admonishingly.

"That's enough," Oliver growled, storming past them. "It's not real!"

When he went through the door, he was out of his vigilante attire and back at the loft . . . and when he heard a whimper, he raced around the couch to find Evelyn sprawled on the ground, a knife on the ground and drenched in blood . . . her blood, Oliver realized, seeing the hand she held against her stomach. "You," she choked as Oliver crouched over her, face pale. "You shouldn't be here."

"Evelyn," he croaked, trying to stop the bleeding with shaking hands. "What happened?"

"He was here," Evelyn rasped. "Diaz was here. He wanted me . . . but next . . . "

"Little girl wouldn't go down without a fight," Diaz's voice said, and Oliver looked up to see him approach as Evelyn went limp. "Your fiancée and kid aren't here. They're at some science fair." He chuckled as Oliver shook his head rapidly. "You still think this isn't real?" He reached out, and Oliver grunted when he felt metal slide between his ribs. "Does that feel real enough for you?" Diaz quizzed, letting the knife go and letting Oliver collapse. "I always wondered why nobody just does that – kill you straight. Turns out, it'd be a waste of time." He crouched down, looking Oliver in the eye. "You're more dangerous as a martyr than you are as Green Arrow, but before that happens, there's a lot left of you that I want to break."

***

With a groan of pain, Oliver woke up collapsed on the tech platform in the Arrowcave, and with a wince, he checked to make sure he hadn't actually been stabbed. It was relief that he found no stab wound, and he rolled over, grimacing as he got to his feet. I really hate Vertigo, he thought in annoyance as he balanced himself.

He looked at the suits on the wall – his, Slade's, Malcolm's, Dig's, Laurel's, even Evelyn's now – then took a deep breath, taking out his phone and dialing Quentin's number as he headed for the elevator. "Yeah, Quentin, hi," he cleared his throat. "I'm gonna need that hearing delayed. I'll explain everything."

"You have failed this city." Oliver froze, hearing that very, extremely familiar voice, and turned around to face his latest hallucination . . . himself in his Hood uniform. "And you know why."

Oliver took a deep breath. He just had to make it through this. "Because I got away from you," he said exactly what the hallucination wanted him to.

"You were never supposed to have partners," the Hood snarled. "There was never supposed to be a John Diggle, a Felicity Smoak, a Team Arrow. There was never supposed to be a Green Arrow. There was never supposed to be a Kara Danvers! There was only the mission!"

Oliver's fists turned white as he clenched them. "I lost sight of that," he ground out, just wishing the damn drug was out of his system.

"You lost your city!" the Hood spat. "And now you know what you have to do to get it back."

***

"It's been over an hour," Kullens huffed, glaring at the trio standing at the head of the table. "Where is the mayor?"

Dinah and Armand exchanged wary looks, wondering that themselves, but Quentin just scoffed. "Well, why don't you ask Ricardo Diaz?"

Kullens sneered, then footsteps on the floors made them turn in time to see Oliver enter. "Apologies for being late."

"Over an hour late," Kullens bit out. "And we certainly hope you've come with something worthy of our time!"

"One minute," Oliver shook his head, taking a few steps back and turning around. Quentin immediately joined him, followed by Armand and Dinah. "The video footage and evidence?" he looked at Dinah.

"Ready," she nodded, an angry look on her face. "This is a low blow, Oliver."

"Well, Kullens is in Diaz's pocket," Oliver huffed. "I didn't expect anything less."

"I can always bring that up, too, if you need," Armand looked at him.

"Thank you, Sam, but I don't think we'll win any battles accusing council members without ironclad proof," Oliver shook his head. "Speaking of which, anything from John and Lyla?"

"You'll never believe this," Quentin scoffed. "They can't get a solid signal to the safehouse where she's at."

Oliver closed his eyes. "How the hell is that possible?"

"Honestly, with Diaz having eyes and ears everywhere?" Armand pursed his lips. "I don't think I want to know the answer to that question."

"Sara couldn't believe it, either, and I tried asking her if there was anything she could do short of getting Hill here," Quentin snorted.

"And Watson?" Oliver asked.

Quentin shook his head. "We're on our own."

Oliver sighed. "All right."

"We've got your six, Oliver," Dinah told him.

Oliver took a deep breath, turning back around to face the council. "All right," he said, making the table hush. "Yes, I promise you, Councilman Kullens, we have something worth your time. Captain Drake?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is all the evidence you need," Dinah held up the flash drive Quentin had given her. "This flash drive contains financial data and correspondence linking former Captain Hill and former D.A. Armand with a known felon named Ricardo Diaz."

"Known by whom?" one of the women asked. "I've never heard of a Ricardo Diaz."

"You probably wouldn't have," Dinah shook her head. "The state supreme court overturned his convictions because of technicalities."

"But I assure you, Councilwoman, Diaz is a threat," Armand looked at her. "He's kept a very low profile just to make sure he is."

"How did you obtain this purported evidence?" Kullens sneered.

"I came forward to the mayor," Armand answered, lying so smoothly that the three in the know had to school their features to not look surprised. "I also told him about former Captain Hill. Captain Drake then investigated the matter herself, coming up with the evidence here, offered by myself and by former Captain Hill."

A few councilmembers around the table were muttering, some of them sounding less certain of themselves. "How much you wanna bet they were hoping you'd play the 'found by the Green Arrow' card?" Quentin muttered.

"All the money Diaz gave me," Armand deadpanned.

"I find it rather convenient that while D.A. Armand is here to share his side of the story, we don't have Captain Hill here to do the same," Kullens said loudly over the ruckus, drawing all attention back to him. "Not to mention you knew nothing of Captain Hill before you promoted her. You consider both D.A. Armand and Captain Drake your friends, Mr. Mayor. How do we know they are not simply obstructing justice themselves?"

Quentin's jaw tightened as Dinah's dropped. "Councilman Kullens," Armand began.

"Not only could we impeach Mayor Queen for obstruction of justice and perjury, but also overturn Captain Drake's promotion for the same reasons," Kullens shot her a glare. "And based on the very fact you are being investigated for being the vigilante, we could impeach you for vigilantism as well, Mr. Mayor!"

"Wow," a dry female voice came from behind, making Dinah reach for her gun. "I heard grasping at straws was possible." Oliver turned around to see a blonde-haired woman in a navy-blue pantsuit step into the room, an amused look in her eyes as she was followed by a black-haired man in spectacles wearing a similar suit, though he looked much more nervous than her. "I didn't realize the straws were practically non-existent."

"And who are you?" Kullens demanded.

"I'm here on behalf of FBI Special Agent Samandra Watson," she smirked, holding up an FBI badge and ignoring Quentin's startled cough as she nodded at Oliver. "Special Agent Ava Sharpe. Apologies for being late, Mayor Queen."

***

And so continues my addition of characters that you never think would appear in this. XD Hi, Ava!

We'll see how entertaining the final chapter will be tomorrow!