Arrow ~ The Devil's Greatest Trick ~ Part Three

***

"Quite a brave young fellow you have here, Mr. Queen," Cayden remarked. "Brave . . . and foolish. Much like his father."

"William?!" Alex's surprised voice came from behind Cayden.

"What're you doing here?" Laurel protested.

"None of your concern, Ms. Danvers, or yours, Ms. Lance," Cayden turned. "Ah, and the rest of our guests have arrived."

Oliver nodded in acknowledgment to the other two groups, their prisoners between them. "These three freaks say that you think one of us killed your boy?" Diaz pointed between Alex, James, and J'onn.

"In point of fact, Mr. Diaz, I that one of you killed my boy," Cayden confirmed. "I intend to find out who."

"You believe people in masks over people you do business with?" Anatoli scoffed.

"I'm with the Russian," Diaz nodded.

"Oliver has proven time and time again he would do anything to save those he cares about," Talia threw him a dirty look. "Just look at who he got for Lian Yu."

"And you know how that ended up," Malcolm gave her a dirty look right back. "Or you could ask Adrian Chase." He blinked in mock surprise. "Oh . . . but you can't. Because he's

Talia glared at him but didn't respond. "I don't trust anyone's word," Cayden interrupted, drawing attention back to him. "I put my faith in data, information. Ones and zeroes never lie." He held out his tablet, showing it to everyone. "Here's digital proof that one of you has betrayed me." He took a deep breath. "Only two of you in this room know what it feels like to lose a son." Malcolm immediately tensed, and Evelyn winced as his grip on her arm tightened. The archer quickly released her, clenching his bow tighter instead. Similarly, Slade was just on edge, though he didn't release his grip on Anatoli's arm at all. Kara gave them concerned looks, shifting from foot to foot, ready to get over there as quickly as she could if she needed to. "A piece of yourself, gone. It's like a phantom limb. No, it's than that . . . it's like a piece of your soul lost as if it had never been there. Lost – no, stop," he shook his head, turning away to gather himself for a second. "I keep reminding myself that I have not my son. He's been from me."

"Hey," Diaz leaned forward. "You're losing it! Your grief is making you crazy."

James reached out and put a firm hand on Diaz's shoulder, pushing him back. The others all braced themselves to reach for weapons as Cayden held up his hand, revealing the trigger for the thermobaric bomb behind him. "What if it has?" Cayden didn't deny it.

"Just look at him," Dig hissed. "He wants to kill everyone in this room."

"Just be ready to move," Oliver whispered back.

"Someone distract him," Querl's quiet voice came over the comms. "I need to get to the bomb."

"Who killed your boy?" Diaz snorted. "Why don't you ask your pretty little songbird over there." Evelyn's gaze whipped to Diaz as he smirked at her. "She's the one who took out your little traitor problem."

"I agree," a cold voice said, and everyone turned around to see Dinah stalk into the room, her eyes locked on Evelyn, who shrank back at the sight of her, Rene and Curtis sheepishly following. "You want your killer? There she is."

"So says the one who's not thinking clearly since you want her killed anyway!" Laurel snapped, standing so she was protecting Evelyn from view.

"I do not believe you were invited, Ms. Drake," Cayden frowned as Kara tugged William back. "Or you, Mr. Ramirez, Mr. Holt."

"They weren't," Oliver glared at them.

"Oh, Sprock."

"I don't like the sound of that," Mon-El muttered, side-eyeing where Querl was examining the bomb.

"What's wrong?" J'onn asked.

"Nothing with the bomb," Querl swallowed. "But it is interfering with another frequency in this vicinity."

"I'm afraid I must tell you, Mr. Diaz, that you are wrong," Cayden said, and Querl ducked down to hide from view. "It was not Ms. Sharp who killed my boy. You, after all, did not see her very clearly hesitate to execute Mr. Sobel. She didn't want to do it. That is why I forced her to."

"And we're supposed to take your word for it?" Curtis asked.

"That's it?" Evelyn pushed past Laurel to glare at Curtis, even though she did stop when Malcolm put out an arm to stop her from getting too far away. "You're automatically going to assume that just because I killed someone, it means I to do it?"

"This coming from the one who betrayed our team," Rene scoffed.

Evelyn burst out laughing. "Oh, this coming from the one who outed Oliver's identity to the FBI? Talk about calling the kettle black!" Rene jerked back, and Laurel bit her lip to hide a smirk. "I never even knew who Cayden James was because yes, I was working with Prometheus," Evelyn continued, narrowing her eyes with laser focus on the intruding trio. "I had no idea who he was, so how the hell was I supposed to know who his son was? If anything, look at her!" she gestured at Talia, who looked at her sharply. "She's the one with the skills to do it!"

"I do not waste my time on those who do not deserve it," Talia said coldly.

Cayden's gaze hardened, and Anatoli stiffened. "You doom us," he glared at Talia.

"Sprock!" Querl hissed. "Her collar!"

"Whose?" Alex looked down at her neck, confused. "No, mine's fine."

Kara's gaze fell on Evelyn's neck . . . which was alternating between turning on and off. "No, Alex . . . not yours."

Evelyn's collar finally whirred to life, and she looked down at it in surprise before looking back up. Cayden's eyes went to her, and he narrowed his eyes further before tapping something on his tablet. Evelyn braced herself, as if expecting something to happen, Malcolm reaching for an arrow as Laurel took a deep breath. But nothing happened, and Cayden looked down at his tablet in shock as Evelyn let out a sigh of relief. "But that's," Cayden began.

"Well, well, well," Evelyn grinned. "Isn't this interesting?"

Cayden fumbled for the detonator, but Evelyn wrenched her way out of Laurel's grasp and screamed at him. The cry catapulted him away, and Dinah made to rush forward. Evelyn screamed at her in response, knocking Dinah into Rene and Curtis. Diaz wrenched out of James's grasp, using his cuffed hands to wrap around his head and bring him hard to the ground. Evelyn used her cry on everyone, trying to aim as best as she could for Diaz, Talia, and Anatoli; however, her cry was nowhere near as accurate as Laurel's or Dinah's screams, taking others out as well.

Laurel stood from where she had crouched when Evelyn began screaming, then zeroed in on where Dinah was stirring. Looking around at everyone else, she gritted her teeth, then took the key to Evelyn's cuffs out. "Come on," she said, inserting her key into the lock.