Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2024-03-03
Words:
2,397
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
24
Kudos:
22
Bookmarks:
6
Hits:
519

The Diaz Job

Summary:

One-shot story. Oliver reaches out to the Leverage team to help him take down Ricardo Diaz.

Notes:

So, I wanted to do a proper Leverage con and for Diaz to get his, since he's my least favorite villain in Arrowverse behind Chase, everything worked out for them both due to plot convenience and Team Arrow being idiots, in Diaz's case, it's Rene, Dinah, Curtis and Diggle, though in Rene's case I can cut him some slack since he was in a desperate situation and put in difficult position.

For the story's sake, Eliot is a former A.R.G.U.S. asset and an old acquaintance of Oliver. Takes place after 6x18.

Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or Leverage.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Oliver's apartment, Star City

Nate Ford and Eliot Spencer sat across Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak. After most of Oliver's team had turned its back on him, Oliver used his old A.R.G.U.S. contacts to help him out and Lyla eventually was able to get him in touch with an old friend Eliot Spencer, who had freelanced for A.R.G.U.S. before and his and Oliver's paths had crossed before on few occasions.

"His name is Ricardo Diaz." Oliver said, showing Nate and Eliot the photo of Diaz. "First he started off as a lowlife drug dealer, but then he joined in the cabal of Cayden James, trying to destroy my city. He's been ahead of us this whole time, pitting James against us, leaking the photo of me as the Green Arrow to get the FBI on me, trying to discredit me and impeaching me as the mayor and he has more than half of the city on his payroll and almost all of my team has turned its back on me because of their ego."

"So you're dealing with someone who likes himself to Wilson Fisk." Nate said.

"We can't take him down alone. And we can't trust our former teammates right now." Felicity said.

"They need to know this is bigger than any petty issues between you guys." Eliot said.

"Easier said than done." Oliver said.

"Well, lucky for you, we've got some intel on where Diaz might be." Nate said, showing Oliver and Felicity a photo of a woman in black hair that they both recognized as a wig and Diaz.

"Is that…" Felicity's eyes widened.

"Laurel." Oliver said.

"We knew she was a fake and we were just waiting for an opportunity to get to her, figured she might be our next mark. This was taken few days ago in Blüdhaven." Eliot said.

"Hardison pulled out arrest records on Diaz, we figured he was just some drug dealing punk, but if he's as dangerous as you say he is, who knows what he'll do. I know guys like him, they want power and they'll stop at nothing to get their way, no matter who gets hurt." Nate said.

"Problem is that he has the law enforcement in this city on his payroll and I can't come to FBI with this, Watson will come after me." Oliver said and Nate and Eliot exchanged a glance.

John McRory's Place, Boston

Nate, Hardison, Eliot, Parker and Sophie gathered in the apartment above McRory's bar as Nate showed on the screen from the projector linked to the laptop Diaz's photo.

"Ricardo Diaz. Formerly a member of the Scorpions, operating from the Glades. Then moved himself up to a drug dealer until he amassed enough money and power to get majority of Star City on his payroll." Nate said.

"And why isn't the Green Arrow doing anything?" Parker asked.

"Because Diaz also has law enforcement and judges on his side and there's some… tension in his group." Nate said.

"Which means it's up to us to take him down. Do we have a plan?" Sophie realized.

"I helped Green Arrow's Russian friend with some things in Moscow, Anatoly agreed to feed us intel on Diaz in exchange." Eliot said.

"Last known sighting of one of Diaz's associate was in Bludhaven, if my guess is correct, he's on his way to meet the Quadrant." Nate explained.

"The criminal organization?" Parker inquired and Nate nodded and that was when they realized what was Nate's plan.

"So, we pose as criminals, find a way to expose Diaz, then he's done." Hardison said.

Later, Hub City

Diaz and Black Siren wearing a wig were in a club in Hub City, talking to 'middle men' with the Quadrant.

"You people are not easy to find." Diaz said, talking with Nate and Sophie who were posing as the middle men, with Nate in a tuxedo, with Diaz having heard of them due to Parker and Hardison spreading rumors.

"Our associates do not like doing business in the daylight, Mr. Diaz. And we don't appreciate unannounced visits." Sophie said with a convincing Italian accent.

"You must understand we're only mediators. We can reach out to Mr. Cartier, but whether he will actually agree to meet you or not is outta our hands, you know how this works." Nate said, talking with a thug-like thick street accent.

"Of course. I just want a chance to prove myself to them." Diaz said.

"Just another punk with delusions of grandeur." Eliot said, rolling his eyes, listening from a nearby booth in the corner without Diaz or Black Siren noticing them.

"Well, would you look at that?" Hardison said, seeing the flash drive hanging around Diaz's neck.

"What's that?" Eliot asked.

"GRV-567. Solid state drive, military grade dynamic encryption. You only keep very important things on that." Hardison said.

"Sounds like something we should get our hands on, Diaz wouldn't keep a bling close to his chest without a reason. What do you think, can we snatch it?" Eliot said.

"Without Diaz noticing?" Hardison asked before he and Eliot smirked, while he pulled out a flash drive that looked similar to the one Diaz had. "Parker, you're on."

Diaz and Black Siren walked off, while Parker, posing as a waitress, walked out from the kitchen area with a tray with drinks, when she almost 'bumped' into Diaz and Black Siren, dropping some glasses and bottles on the floor, shattering them.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Parker said, acting clumsy.

"Careful where you're going." Black Siren warned.

Stealing and switching the drive with a sleight of hand, Parker smirked, while Diaz was none the wiser.

"Diaz doesn't know we switched the flash drives?" Nate asked.

"Well, as long as it's within wi-fi range, I can copy the data onto the drive Parker planted on him, so it's unlikely he'll notice. Though as for the one we've got, it's heavily encrypted, but, it's not a problem for me. Give me an hour." Hardison said.

"We still need to get close to Diaz." Oliver said as he dialed a number on his phone and after a moment he got a response.

"Yeah?" Eliot asked.

"Are you done?" Oliver asked.

"Already on the flight back to Star City, though I have to admit Moscow was fun. Will your friend Anatoly play ball?" Eliot asked.

"Only one way to find out." Oliver said.

Later, Star City

Oliver visited Anatoly in his apartment, while handing him Pakhan's knife, while Anatoly looked at him in surprise.

"I owed a debt to you and I owed a debt to Bratva. I honor my debts. You can go home now. There was a time, when honor mattered to you, Anatoly. Diaz doesn't care about honor, he cares only about power. Tell me, what does that tell you about him? Do you trust him or me more?" Oliver asked and Anatoly sighed, conflicted.

"Even if I wanted to help you, what makes you think you can beat Diaz?" Anatoly asked.

"There was a time, when we trusted each other with our lives, Anatoly. I'm trusting you right now. All I'm asking you is to trust me." Oliver said and Anatoly considered.

"If you have a plan, tell me it's not as suicidal as having me fire a torpedo on Amazo." Anatoly said and despite the circumstances, Oliver and Anatoly smiled at the nostalgia.

In his hideout, Diaz and Black Siren were in his office with some bodyguards, when they heard gunshots and screams and banging and slamming, when Oliver in his hood and with his bow and quiver and Anatoly with a gun and Eliot burst in.

"Surprise." Oliver smirked.

"You've got some guts coming in here, Queen." Diaz smirked, while glaring at Anatoly. "Switching sides now? I'm disappointed, Anatoly."

"I've been reminded that there are things more important than money. Which is honor. And when honor is involved, I'll stand by my friend." Anatoly said.

"Kill them." Diaz said to his bodyguards, but as soon as they drew guns, Oliver shot down two with arrows, while Anatoly shot down two more. Eliot snatched a gun from one bodyguard and slid down the floor, shooting down the remaining bodyguards in quick succession.

Black Siren was about to dispatch them with her Siren Cry, but Oliver fired an arrow with a power dampening collar that wrapped itself around her neck, while pinning her to the wall.

"Sonic dampener." Oliver said.

Diaz fumed and glared as he got up, while pulling out his gun, but Eliot stalked towards him and grabbed the gun and twisted, breaking Diaz's hand as he cried out in pain before throwing Diaz down on the floor. Diaz got up as he dropped his jacket and flexed his arms, about to engage Eliot, who smirked. Diaz threw few punches that Eliot lazily blocked before Eliot kneed Diaz in the gut as he doubled over and Eliot delivered an uppercut to his face, while Diaz stumbled back. Diaz roared in rage and rushed at Eliot as they rapidly exchanged blows before Eliot grabbed Diaz's arm and twisted, getting behind Diaz. Diaz pulled out a knife in his second hand, trying to cheat, but Eliot's quick reflexes helped him catch the knife before he could stab Eliot, the tip of the blade inches from Eliot's hip, while Eliot broke Diaz's hand, while Diaz cried out in pain and Eliot dropped the knife. Eliot then delivered several punches to Diaz's back before slamming Diaz to the floor hard, breaking his spine, while Diaz moaned in pain, unable to move.

"Who's on the top now?" Eliot taunted.

"On the ground! Down on the ground, now!" One of the FBI SWAT members shouted.

"Get on your knees and put your hands behind your heads where we can see them!" Another FBI SWAT member yelled.

Members of the Quadrant and Diaz's men were surrounded by the officers as they raised their hands in surrender.

In their hideout, Diggle, Rene, Curtis and Dinah were watching in shock as they saw on TV the news report of Diaz's arrest, alongside with several police officers and city officials, such as Captain Hill or District Attorney Armand or Judge McGarvey.

"Wow. Oliver did it." Rene said, impressed. "Maybe we were wrong about him."

Diggle, Curtis and Dinah looked at Rene incredulously.

"Rene, are you serious? He turned his back on us." Dinah snapped.

"He wouldn't have in the first place if I hadn't testified against him first. I could've come clean to him and we could've figured this out and we could've avoided all this." Rene said, realizing how selfish and stupid he had been.

"Glad to hear someone's acknowledging his mistake."

They turned to see Oliver and Eliot walk in.

"Look, I'm not happy with how things had turned out and I know I could've handled this situation better, but I appreciate that you have the fortitude of character to admit your mistake, Rene. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry I let this all get this far. We could've talked this out after I found out. But I'm willing to get past this if you are. Watson won't be a problem anymore, a friend of mine made some calls, she's been suspended from active duty and the Internal Affairs are onto her for misconduct during investigation." Oliver said.

"So, we're letting bygones be bygones?" Curtis asked, wondering if they could move past this.

"No." Oliver said bluntly as Curtis, Diggle and Dinah frowned. "With Rene, I can understand he was put in difficult situation, but you three couldn't get past your ego and focus on the bigger picture and because of it the city was almost blown to hell and you handed it to Diaz on a silver platter." He then glared at Diggle and Dinah. "You bought drugs from Diaz and provided him the money he needed to buy off the city officials until he took complete control over the city and the police force and then you whined to me about you being a better Green Arrow than I could ever be."

Fuming, Dinah was about to unleash her Cry, but faster than she could blink, Eliot was coming at her and grabbed her by her throat as she choked, unable to as much as let out a scream as she let out choking gasps before he slammed her face hard on the table, knocking her out. Diggle threw a punch at Eliot who easily dodged before he pinned Diggle to the wall, slamming his arm against Diggle's neck.

"You would be dead ten times over, as would everyone in this city, without Oliver." Eliot sneered. Diggle tried to struggle out of Eliot's grip but Eliot only slammed him harder against the wall in response. "You would've saved a psychopath, who had no regards towards getting innocent caught into crossfire, over millions of innocents and you turned your back on your best friend, when he needed you the most, just because you thought your ego was more important than the entire city."

Diggle opened his mouth to defend himself, but before he could say something, Eliot swung his fist hard at Diggle's face as he slumped to the ground, knocked out. Curtis rushed at Eliot, but he sidestepped and backhanded Curtis lazily and he fell on the ground, knocked out.

Rene looked at his friends, both ashamed and now with clarity, realizing his mistake as he looked at Oliver. "I'm sorry. I know it's probably too late, but I'm sorry I let it go this far. I was so focused on getting my kid back that I didn't realize I would rob a father of his kid as well."

Oliver nodded, appreciating Rene's apology. "You have a long way to go, Rene, but admitting your mistake is a good first step."

Eliot looked down at the rest of Oliver's incapacitated teammates. "What do you wanna do with them?"

"Maybe a few nights in a cell will get them to see reason. If not, make it years, if it has to be." Oliver said and Eliot nodded before they shook hands.

"People like Diaz think they're untouchable because they have all the power, and all the money, and they use it to make people like you suffer. My team and I provide…leverage." Eliot said with a slight smirk.

Notes:

In this fic, Eliot had helped Bratva instead of Oliver and Anatoly was reminded of honor earlier, unlike in the show, so instead of Anatoly betraying Oliver and sending him to Diaz, Oliver, Anatoly and Eliot agreed to take down Diaz together. There's an argument that Oliver lost the fight with Diaz on purpose to make Anatoly see that Diaz was dishonorable, which might make sense, but what was annoying was how nerfed Oliver apparently was here.

Wasn't sure if I could make it close to actual Leverage episode but I thought it'd be fun for Diaz to get conned, since he was just cheap Wilson Fisk of MCU Daredevil and everything only worked out for him due to plot convenience and Team Arrow being selfish egoistic idiots, which was even worse than with Chase, where everything worked out for him due to plot convenience and Team Arrow instead being braindead around him. Rene at least has the excuse of being put in a difficult situation due to Watson blackmailing him into testifying against Oliver, so he gets a reality check, but Diggle, Curtis and Dinah, pffft. Plus, Earth-2 Laurel/Black Siren kept switching sides when it felt convenient to her, so her 'redemption' fell flat.

I know Eliot's line is more Nate's but I wanted an excuse for Eliot to show NTA and Diggle a lesson. And Nate would have the pull to get Watson off Rene's back.

So, what do you guys think?

Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.

With regards

Bl4ckHunter