Arrow S3.5E01: Starling City Breaker

Issue 1: Starling City Breaker  is the first comic book-styled episode of the Arrow: Season 3.5  series. It started production on May 30. It centers around a new enemy in Starling City holding the club Verdant captive, demanding Oliver Queen to appear. As Oliver is not around, it is up to Thea Queen, John Diggle and Laurel Lance to save the day.

Summary
Starling City - There was a huge party in Club Verdant, where Thea Queen was talking with the new DJ of the club, DJ Sparks, when a group of people led by Max Fuller entered the club through the entrance. Thea and Max spoke with one another, Max threatening he wants to take over the club due to financial trouble it is in. Diggle acting as the head of security of Verdant, joins them telling Fuller to get out. Diggle tells Thea he had camera systems installed after the League of Assassins incidents last year. Thea admits she doesn't like the odds of losing the club. At that point in time, a group of people break into the club, shooting the bartender and bouncers. Diggle holds them off as Thea leaves for the cave, to suit up.

Diggle and the rest of the club is captured and outside the police has arrived by now. Max Fuller who had just exited the club speaks with Captain Grover, the new head of the SCPD that there is a hostage situation in the club. Captain Grover orders SWAT down to Verdant and calls the DA's office, where Laurel Lance is still the assistant DA. Inside Verdant Thea has suited up as Speedy and subdued one of the attackers with a flachette. Using Felicity's former systems she discovers the attackers are Russians. After dropping it in the cave, she manages to free Diggle. As Diggle disarms another attacker, again a Russian, and grabbing his weapon and informs Thea he may have recognized one of the attackers. He says its one of the mobster in the employ of the Russian Bratva, under Anatoly Knyazev.

Deducing the Russians are not just here to party, Speedy and Diggle split up, each taking out another group of Russians that had come in through the service entrance. One of them mentions HIVE, which Diggle remembers to be the organization that ordered the hit on his brother. Diggle is unable to extract more information, but follows the team leader into another basement of Verdant. There he is able to just duck as the teamleader reveals he knew Diggle was following them. The teamleader says they are here for something hidden by Robert Queen in the old factory, where now Verdant is situated. Before Diggle is outgunned and outmatched, Black Canary arrives and knocks down a few of the thugs. Laurel tells Diggle the new Captain has ordered SWAT to break and enter. Diggle says that might be a last resort from the Captain.

As the people inside Verdant are guarded, the front door breaks and SWAT enters, swiftly shooting and killing most guarding mobsters. The teamleader assassinates one of the people and one of the SWAT members and tells the SWAT Commander he is Leonin Brechnev and he holds the people here responsible for what will happen next. The SWAT Commander orders his team to open fire at Brechnev, but Black Canary and Speedy quickly manage to take out Brechnev, disarming them. Black Canary tells the SWAT Commander they have the situation under control and to send the rest of the police inside. As the police comes in, Brechnev uses a smokebomb to disappear and Black Canary quickly becomes Laurel Lance again, handling the situation, while Thea and Diggle find out what Brechnev was after. A case with files, of which half was taken by Brechnev, speaking about something called SEED. Diggle tells Thea they need to talk to Oliver.

To be continued...

Trivia

 * This is the first episode of Season 3.5.

Issues
1 - 2