Nikita of OLD

  Oliver Queen and Quentin Lance meet Malcolm Merlyn of Earth 2 and call on Sasha for help

The first few lines are literally missing. I need to recreate them. Basically Malcolm Merlyn shows up out of nowhere with an increasingly freaked out look on his face and Quentin suggests they at least try to call Sasha. 12 seconds later Sasha appears; takes one look at Malcolm and says a couple of league of assassins phrases THIS man doesn't recognize. And the Malcolm Merlyn we know, would.

“Tahir al Safir. It means 'the canary'. Whatever the translation of 'The Magician', he would not recognize it. And I'm inferring Malcolm that you have not heard of Captain Quentin Lance?”

“Not by that salutation no.” Malcolm very awkwardly admitted.

“So I take it he is from the same Earth as..” Quentin began. I did not let him finish.

“He could catch a ride home with ol' Harry Wells if he wanted. Speaking of which, I should be getting you home pretty soon. And our Star labs is the best way to do that.”

“Excuse me, 'our' star labs?” Malcolm mused.

“Parallel Planet development. Alternate versions of Earth that occupy the same place in space but they each vibrate at a different frequency so they can't see one another. Each earth separated from the other by essentially a veil of perception. Lots of people have doubles as I would call them, the word most people use is dopplegangers: Individuals who ARE the same people but lived different personal lives. And sometimes don't even have the same surname.”

“Simultaneous realities in parallel places.” Oliver repeated. “Barry Allen is the Flash here and a good friend of mine. His team deal with parallel Earths all the damn time. STAR Labs is their home base. Sasha do I assume correctly you can, essentially breach him over there?”

“That's the thing, I can only travel to places I've seen with my own two eyes. If I took him with me, I could only go to Central City...and he'd be pretty much lost. But what I can do is take him to our star labs and Cisco could breach him there.” I winced. “Vibe, not Reverb, TRUST me.”

“Good to know.” Malcolm said with a light touch of sardonic humor.

“I take it on Earth 2...” Oliver prompted.

“Caitlin was a meta-human baddie who proudly called herself Killer-Frost. 'Reverb' as he called himself was her...was a dark-side of the Meta-Force version of the man we know.”

“Earth 2 must pretty much suck.” Quentin said wholeheartedly.

“It did for a long time.” Malcolm agreed. “Things are better now. And I'm getting the impression that is somewhat due to the heroes of your Earth.”

“Harry Wells came here to help US fight Zoom. Flash and Friends, including Wells, took the fight to him. But seriously I'm using a compensator here that does NOT last long. We really need to get you home.”

“Meaning what exactly?” Oliver stated with a kind of forceful kindness.

“It means I have more in common with the Legends than I did the last time you saw me.” I said shortly. “Oliver, I never got to say congratulations. I am both elated and ecstatic for you. I'm pretty sure, as far as what's happening right now I'd just say 'second that' to literally everything Quentin is trying to tell you, so I won't bother trying to give you my perspective, okay?”

“Listen I...What's THAT look on your face.” Oliver queried.

“Next chance you get ask a true science nerd that might be considered to have an iron skeleton what is needed to 'ret-con' someone. Malcolm will need such a device.”

“Who's a bigger science nerd than flash and friends?” Quentin joked.

“I take it you don't mean that speedster Barry was chasing around last year?”

“Savitar, no. By the way did you hear the story on that one? Okay getting back on track, I meant Ray Palmer. But Cisco's enough of a Whovian he might get the reference. It's just Rip had a very useful little...Barry Allen is a speedster. He and his friends are all scientists in various fields. Cisco is the most nerdy, unconventional of the group. He's as familiar with popular and antiquated science-fiction serials as he is anything to do with meta-humans and techno-mechanical things.”

“Okay then yeah...not Reverb.”

“He's dead, by the way Malcolm. Doctor Wells from your Earth is on ours now. We call him 'Harry' to keep...to distance him emotionally from the serial killer who has his face.” She looked around herself for a moment. “You know Malcolm is looking at two ghosts to your one right now?”

Oliver walked up to Malcolm. “The Malcolm Merlyn we knew is gone. For most of my life I hated-slash-didn't trust him. I've something I need to say, for my own sake. Can I say it to you?”

“I suppose so Oliver.”

“I wish we'd had more time to get to know each-other. You always did what you thought was right. You died, saving your daughter...and my sister. If it had come to it, I'm sure you have done the same on your Earth. Here, you were a member of the League of Assassins. That's what Sasha was referring to earlier. But most of it was a matter of perspective. And in the end, you were a good man.”

“We must have had as complicated a relationship on your earth as I would to my Oliver Queen.” Malcolm said in an awed voice. “Though presumably for a very different reason.”

“Can't argue with that...with any of it.” Quentin intoned. It was a weird feeling. If he hadn't joined the league of assassins, the Malcolm Merlyn they knew would have never been considered an enemy. And it would have been easier to see that Malcolm was always a father first, before any other consideration. A stranger, indelible reality, a duality of purpose and identity he know felt for the Earth-2 version of his own daughter. And he he was talking to a very real, very equal version of Malcolm Merlyn that had never taken that dark path. “Thea was always as dear to you as my daughter is to...”

“Stop it alright? Just STOP!” Merlyn cried out. “I don't want to hear all these personal details of my alternate life okay!”

“That sounds like a pretty good piece of advice Malcolm.” Sasha said kindly, but firmly. “And I know Oliver agrees with you. But regardless of how this happened or what would happen if you stayed, I cannot let you hang around here, I have to get you home.” She looked around the room, her eyes taking special note of the look on Oliver's face and the weight of time on Quentin's. “For reference and to confirm something I should know by now...is Harry the resident Wells for team Flash this year?”

Oliver Queen smiled faintly. “Genius with the glasses, lack of social skills but true-hearted and brave? Won't shut up without help, at least on science-y stuff and thinks aloud in circles? Yeah he's around...Why?”

“It means the universes timing kind of sucks, but is perfect at the same time. I can get Malcolm home from the breach room, without explaining this all over again to Flash and friends.”

“Wouldn't they be just as pleased to see you as we are?”

“They never got to know me...I've only been inside STAR labs once in my life before now.”

Five seconds later Quentin Lance and Oliver Queen were alone in the bunker.

“Uh not to tempt fate or anything but what was she referring to?”

“A year ago there was a team-up with Barry's team and mine, even the legends...that's what Ray and Sarah and company call themselves. I saw her, from a distance, talking with...someone who might well have been another version of Harrison Wells. We barely spoke...And it didn't look like they knew who she was. I guess that's because she hadn't been around before. And she was there for everyone else.”

“You mean everyone else on the team-up?”

“I mean everyone except Barry and me. Helping them, by just being there. It's...kind of her thing.” Oliver smiled faintly and forcibly cheered himself up. “Not that you need me to tell you that. Sasha told me once she was here to help not by fighting but just by being there for a friend. She said you were better at figuring that out than me.”

“I was better at listening. And if I'm not mistaken..”

“..It's time I talked with someone else, yeah I know.”

Oliver stood up to leave, ready to face the City Council. Quentin Lance looked sadly, almost longingly at the place enigmatic his friend had stood, and turned to follow his surrogate son to face the music.