Five months after the death of Damien Darhk, Oliver is distracted from his new duties as mayor due to continuing as Green Arrow alone, his old team members having gone their separate ways. He is encouraged by Felicity to build a new team by recruiting the amateur vigilantes now working in Star City, like Rene Ramirez.[101] A new criminal crew appears, headed by Tobias Church, and kidnaps Mayor Queen in a bid to draw out and kill the Green Arrow, thereby taking over the city. He is rescued by Speedy, but she permanently quits the team after seeing that Oliver is again willing to kill. Church escapes from the Green Arrow and a team of several police officers, then later unites all the organized crime cartels and street gangs under his leadership. Oliver finally agrees to form a new team and includes Curtis at the latter's request. Elsewhere, a mysterious hooded figure in black attacks a policeman. In a flashback, Oliver encounters his old friend Anatoli Knyazev in Russia. Anatoli agrees to help him kill Konstantin Kovar, the tyrant running Taiana's village, by initiating him to the Bratva, the only group that can possibly defeat Kovar.