This is my second attempt at writing Arrow realties stories so I'm still getting the hang of all of the formatting and stuff like that for this site. Please review and tell me what you think!
Oliver sat perfectly still on his bike in the alleyway, observing the very quiet street with apprehension. For the past several days he had only had to deal with a few attempted robberies, muggings, and the occasional car jacking, which were nothing compared to dealing with the likes of Merlyn, Slade, Tockman, and a whole host of other criminals he had encountered and defeated. This decrease in criminal activity, especially in the still recovering Glades, should've made Oliver glad and a little hopeful that his actions were spurring the city, his city he reminded himself, back to its former glory, but it did not. Instead it filled him with a sense of unease, as if something large and threatening were looming on the horizon, drawing closer with every passing day. He had gained this "sense" as Diggle called it, during his five years on the island where every day was a fight for survival, and ever since then he had learned to trust his instincts even if everything else was telling him otherwise. Now is one of those times thought Oliver, still staring out of the empty street.
A rumble of thunder turned his attention from the street to the sky where he saw a bright flash illuminate large storm clouds heading in his direction. As he was looking up at the sky, still lost in his thoughts, he heard Felicity's voice in his earpiece calling him back to reality.
"Oliver?" she asked questioningly.
"What is it?" he replied, instantly alert, the incoming storm all but forgotten.
"Sorry to ruin your quiet evening plans, but it looks like a building's alarm system just went off. About four blocks west of your position." said Felicity.
"On my way." said Oliver over the roar of his bike as it came alive.
"It looks like it's Statham Chemical Supplies" said Felicity. "Oliver, please be careful."
"Always am." he replied, opening the throttle to his bike as he leapt down the street.
As he sped through the streets at speeds far greater than the limit, Oliver wondered about who would break into a chemical supply store and what their intentions were. He figured that some chemicals and compounds could possibly be sold, but for how risky of a prize they were he didn't think they were after money. That only left one option; they, whoever they were, were intending to use them. As soon as he came to this conclusion the knot that had been forming in his gut for days tightened slightly. Chemical weapons were never a good thing.
When he rounded the street corner where Statham Chemicals was he saw that a white van was parked right next to the store, facing away from him. In order to keep his element of surprise he killed the power to his bike and leaned it carefully up against the side of a building, making as little noise as possible. He would have to cross the rest of the distance to the store on foot and hope that none of the thieves looked back down the street towards him, as the sidewalks were bathed in light from the streetlamps. According to Felicity, one of the first steps taken in the re-building of the Glades was to put working streetlamps everywhere along most streets, a decision that Oliver was now mentally cursing.
He moved as silently as he could down the sidewalk, hugging tight to the buildings as to expose as little of himself as he could. As he stalked up next to store, he quickly darted into the alleyway beside it as two men came walking out of the store, each of them carrying closed containers of something Oliver could only assume were the chemicals. They each deposited what they were carrying into the opened back end of the van and then turned around quickly to head back and get more of whatever they were after. When they had walked back towards the store, they were momentarily covered with light and Oliver immediately sized them up. One of the men was easily larger than Diggle in both height and size, his massive arms barely contained by a black jacket, his face obscured by a balaclava. The other man was also large, but nowhere near the size and bulk of his companion, and he was also wearing all black and a balaclava. As soon as they had stepped out of the light of the streetlamp and into the darkness again, Oliver used the time it would take their eyes to re-adjust to leap out at them and attack.
The first man crumpled to the pavement as Oliver's bow slammed into base of his neck, knocking him out instantly. The second, and larger of the two men jerked his head towards his fallen companion at the sound of Oliver's bow making contact, and clumsily reached to draw a weapon.
Oliver was ready for this, and from his crouched pose grabbed two flechettes on his left wrist between his fingers and flung them at the man's hand. Oliver knew that his flechettes had met their mark as he heard the man cry out in pain, and also the telltale sound of a gun clattering on pavement.
Now disarmed, the large man charged at Oliver, his large frame blocking out most of the light coming from the streetlamp. As large as the man was, he was equally slow and Oliver easy dodged, rolling to his left. Getting to his feet quickly Oliver delivered a flurry of blows to his back; hits that would have sent any other man flying to the pavement, but his opponent barely stumbled. Jumping out of the way of his right fist that he had swung backwards towards him, Oliver got in a crouched stance and launched himself forward, driving his knee into the man's solar plexus. The man grunted in pain, as he fell to his knees, clearly down but not out. Not wasting any time Oliver landed several ferocious blows to the man's head, trying to knock him out as quickly as possible.
Oliver pulled his right fist back to deliver the knockout punch when he heard the sound of car doors slamming. Looking to his left he saw the flash of what looked like an arm as the passengers side door slammed shut. Forgetting about his current opponent, Oliver turned, facing the van as it sputtered to life.
He went to draw an arrow from his quiver, but as he was bringing it down to fit into bow, his right arm was stopped. Looking away from the now moving van he saw that the large man had reached up with both of his hands and grabbed ahold of his right arm, effectively stopping him from drawing back his bowstring. Enraged, Oliver spun and smashed his left fist squarely into his jaw. Oliver felt the man's jawbones fracture and break beneath his fist and he was certain that he would not be getting up any time soon.
Turning back towards the street, Oliver drew back his arrow and took aim at the van. As he was about to release the arrow and send it through the back left tire, Oliver saw the car start to wobble and bend unnaturally and felt himself sway on his feet. He let the arrow fly, but instead of hitting its intended target, it buried itself several inches into the back door.
"Dammit!" Oliver yelled as he went to draw another arrow, but as he did so the van rounded the corner and sped off.
Bringing his arms down, he turned to go find his bike when he noticed a flash of color and light on his left arm. Looking down at his arm he saw that a fuzzy pink tipped dart was stuck in his arm. Pulling it out quickly, he held it between his fingers and started to study it, but as he began to focus on it, he again felt himself start to sway and he saw his hand and the dart moving before him. Closing his eyes to block out the feelings of dizziness he started to make his way quickly back to his bike.
"Felicity." he said into his earpiece.
"What?" responded Felicity quickly.
"I think I've been drugged. Maybe some type of toned down Vertigo." he ground out as he swung his legs over his motorcycle. He put the dart in one of his pockets to be analyzed later.
"What!" she exclaimed, the fear and confusion evident in her voice. "How? I thought that it couldn't be made anymore, now that The Count is dead!"
"Apparently it can." said Oliver, revving the bike's powerful engine and speeding off, back towards the Foundry.
"Are you alright? Do you need me or Digg to come get you?" she asked.
"No. It's not too bad if I don't focus." Oliver said.
Lightning flashed through the dark sky again followed closely by a great rumble of thunder. The storm wasn't that far away.
"Oliver!" yelled Felicity, clearly upset. "You're driving a motorcycle! Not focusing is exactly the opposite of what you need to be doing! Where are you right now?"
"I can make it back." said Oliver, exasperation in his voice as he had to shut his eyes again to block out the latest wave of hallucinations. "Have Digg make a Vertigo antidote and be ready to analyze the dart so we can figure out what the hell is in me."
"Ok." said Felicity quietly.
Opening his eyes again, Oliver had the quickly veer out of the oncoming lane, as he had drifted across while his eyes were shut. Trying to make his eyes go unfocused he stared at the straight road ahead of him, looking at nothing. That seemed to help keep the dizziness at bay as Oliver drove, pulling the throttle harder, willing himself to get back before everything got worse.
Turning to his right, he saw the outlines of Verdant flash in his vision about one hundred yards ahead of him. As he breathed a sigh of relief, he realized that the road seemed to be waving, almost like water, and that the buildings on either side of the road seemed to be closing in. Shutting his eyes tight again he held his bike on course to head back the Foundry, but with the wave a dizziness and nausea that overtook him he couldn't be sure. Wrenching his eyes open as late as he dared, he saw that the back entry was only twenty yards away. Slamming on his brakes he came to a lurching stop, just feet from the door. He stood up and swung his legs off of his bike, but immediately fell over as the dizziness became too much.
Groaning in pain, he tried to push himself up off the ground but found that he couldn't, as the ground was bowing up and down, like choppy waves in the ocean. Immediately Oliver felt like he was back on the life raft after the Queen's Gambit had sunk, constantly moving up and down, bending to the will of the unforgiving waves.
With a grunt he started to drag himself across the pavement, forcing himself to place one hand after the other on the moving ground and pull. He told himself over and over again the ground wasn't moving, that he wasn't moving, and that he just needed to get to the door.
Unknown to Oliver, rain had begun to fall from the sky, the fat drops splashing on the pavement. Even as he moved, the rain seemed to fall harder and harder with each passing second.
Looking up to put his right hand up he saw a familiar figure lying still on the ground ahead of him, wearing a blue jacket and khaki pants.
"Dad?" whispered Oliver, his eyes transfixed on the body.
As Oliver began to pull himself across the pavement and towards the figure, he saw another shape grow in his periphery. Glancing to his right, he saw the shape and outline of a woman, lying on her back on the pavement, the rain now falling in sheets.
"Mom?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper as he started at the bodies of his parents, sprawled out several feet before him.
The sight of his mother and father made Oliver pull himself as hard as he could across the wave-like pavement, his fingertips digging into the wet asphalt as he tried to reach them. Everything else was forgotten, even the voice of Felicity in his ear yelling his name, and the sounds of the ever-worsening storm.
"Please, don't go." he said, his voice hoarse as he tried to get closer to them, but no matter how close he came to them, they still seemed out of reach.
Suddenly a third figure appeared in his vision, standing between the bodies of his parents. Lightning flashed again as he looked up and he saw the slender outline of a young woman.
"Ollie," she croaked out, holding one hand to her stomach and the other out, as if trying to reach out to him. "You promised Ollie, you promised."
"Thea." he said in horror, watching wide-eyed, unable to move.
"You promised Ollie." Thea said again, this time weaker. Suddenly a dark crimson stain began to spread over her stomach, directly over where she was holding her hand and tears began to spill from her eyes. "You promised you'd keep us safe."
"Thea!" he screamed at the top of his voice. Wanting nothing more than to get closer he clawed his way across the pavement, which now seemed more like massive ocean swells rather than the waves they had once been. As he crawled towards the shapes of his dead and dying family, his vision began to tunnel, the world closing in around him. The last thing he saw before he passed out was the shape of Thea falling to her knees between her parents, and then everything went black.