Hello again. Another Arrow fic. The plot has probably been done a few times before, but it's been stuck in my head for a few weeks, So I thought 'why not?' and thus here it is. Be warned, there is a small amount of naughty language in here.
DISCLAIMER - the people that own Arrow are the people that own Arrow. I am not one of those people.
The meeting was mind numbingly boring, Oliver thought as he listened to the highly intelligent man speak about some sort of highly technical breakthrough his dept had made in some highly technical was meetings like this that he relied on Felicity's brain, but today he was on his own, left to smile dimly and nod slowly.
Movement off to one side had his instincts reacting as Diggle lifted a finger to his ear. Glancing over, Oliver's stomach dropped into his expensive shoes at the terror in the usually stoic man's eyes.
'Oliver,' The rare public use of his first name had him on his feet, 'we need to go. Now!'
Oliver's mind froze as Diggle ran out the room, his own body reacting instinctively sending him after the former soldier and leaving the boardroom, and an irate Isabel, in his wake.
Skidding into the elevator, Oliver stared in confusion at Diggle, 'What is it?'
'An armed group have taken control of the Starling Central Bank's main building,' Diggle vibrated with anxious energy, shifting his weight between his legs as he jiggled, his eyes locked on the floor display
Oliver froze, his heart attempting to burst out his chest, 'Felicity was going down there.'
'It gets worse, She was accosted by Thea as she left, the two of them were going to have lunch after going to the bank,' Diggle punched the elevator controls, 'Go faster you bastard.' The elevator doors eventually opened, revealing a smartly dressed man on the other side.
'Oliver!' The man grinned, 'I was...'
'Not now,' Oliver sprinted past him, Diggle hot on his heals, 'Make the calls Dig, get them there yesterday!'
'Shit,' Felicity hissed quietly at Thea as the cable ties cut into her wrists, 'Another 30 seconds and we'd have been out...'
'Shut up!' One of the masked gunmen barked at Felicity. She waited until he had walked far enough away to reach out and grasp Thea's hands.
'Stay calm Thea, help is coming.'
'Oh thank God!' Diggle sighed in relief as he sat at the computer set up in the lair, 'They aren't blocking signals. Both trackers in Thea's shoes and Felicity's are active and if I can remember the process, I can get the audio from Felicity's tracker.'
'Thank god she has a paranoid side,' Oliver pulled his bow out of the cabinet stand, a full quiver of arrows already slung over his shoulder, 'What about the others?'
'Sara and Roy are already making their way to the rendevouz and should be there when you arrive,' Diggle answered, 'I'm almost into the building's CCTV network and i'm already monitoring the SCPD feeds.'
Diggle turned as Oliver Queen morphed into the Arrow, 'Go. Be careful out there Oliver and bring them back safe.'
There was no reply as Oliver darted up the metal staircase, the echo of the slammed door ringing in Diggle's ear for a few minutes.
'Hold up one minute!' The lead gunmen cried out as he fished through the various items taken off the hostages, 'We have ourselves a honoured guest.'
'Who?' Another gunmen asked, his long blonde hair whipping around as he turned to look at the hostages.
'We have a Queen among us,' The man smirked, his gaze locking on Thea. Bowing he stared at her, 'Your majesty.'
Thea whimpered quietly as all bar Felicity, turned to look at the young woman. 'What do you want?'
'Well,' The leader of the group scoffed, 'We did just want to take everyone's money. But now I'm thinking we should make an example of you. Seeing how your family has destroyed this city.'
'She's only a kid!' Felicity found herself shouting, 'She can't be blamed for her parent's actions!'
'I saw you two come in together,' the leader pointed his gun at Felicity.
'Jake,' Blondie handed the leader, Jake, a driving license, 'She works at Queen Consolidated. Looks to be Oliver Queen's secretary.'
'i'm not a secretary,' Felicity bravado'd, 'I'm an overly qualified Personal Assistant.'
'oh I bet you are,' Jake leered, his eyes raking up and down her body, 'How often do you bend over for him? Oliver Queen, the city's biggest man whore. A fine little thing like you must be putting out for a man like him.'
'Screw you,' Felicity snapped angrily. Jake's face morphed into a sneer as he swung his foot out, striking her hip, causing her to cry out in pain.
'Fucker is dead,' Diggle heard Oliver mutter over the scream of his motorbike engine. Both men were listening into the audio feed.
'You need to stay calm Oliver,' Diggle ground out, 'Get the girls, then you can rip that bastard to pieces.'
Officer Quentin Lance stood by the barricade, his eyes trained on the building before him and the heavily armed line of SCPD officers.
'Lance!' Lt Pike called out, his hand motioning for the former detective to come to him.
'Sir?'
'We need you to go to the Queen mansion,' pike sighed, 'turns out Thea Queen is inside with Oliver Queen's secretary.'
'Felicity Smoak?' Lance glanced at the building, 'She's inside? God help those poor bastards.'
'We never had enough evidence to prove it,' Lance sighed as Pike looked confused, 'But I had a suspicion that she had tie's to the Arrow. If she's in there, then he'll be here ASAP.'
'Then it's a good thing I'm sending you to brief the ice queen herself,' Pike smirked, 'Make sure you can't help him again. Now go.'
Lance grumbled a handful of choice swear words as he stalked off to his cruiser.
Landing on the rooftop, Oliver looked at the two people waiting for him.
'we need to get in there now!' Roy Harper almost vibrated with concern for his girlfriend.
'Not yet,' Sarah Lance sighed, obviously repeating the two words, 'We need a plan of attack.'
'I have a plan,' Roy snapped, 'Attack!'
'Listen to me and listen good!' Oliver snarled, 'You going in there half cocked is only going to get people killed, and I swear to you, if you get Thea or Felicity hurt in any way then I will kill you myself. Diggle is finding us a secure entrance and when we go in, I need you to follow my EXACT instructions. Do you understand me!'
Roy glowered, 'Tell Mr Diggle to hurry up.'
'Oliver,' Diggle's voice cut over their ear pieces, 'You need to hear this...'
'...for too long the Queens have sat up in their emerald towers looking down on this city,' A voice spoke, obviously in the middle of a monologue, 'and have played games with it's population. Last year Moira Queen took part in a plot to destroy half the glades and kill thousands of people. This year she was acquitted. Where is the justice for the five hundred or so that she killed? The children that lost their parents, the parents that lost their children?'
'he's live on all channels right now Oliver, appears he's using a Skype enabled mobile to send out his message.' Diggle's voice was strained, 'Bastard has Thea and Felicity kneeling in the middle of the bank.
'Name?' Oliver barked.
'Jake Blade,' Diggle answered, 'Married with two kids, one of which was killed in the glades.
'Get me into that broadcast,' Oliver snapped, 'NOW!'
'Already hacked the build's PA system,' Diggle stated, 'Go.'
'Jake Blade!' The Arrow's voice echoed from all directions, causing Jake to stop his speech.
Felicity audibly sighed in relief, to which Thea frowned, 'Told ya he was coming.'
'The Arrow!' Jake smirked, 'Wondered if you'd bother coming today. You were taking out the corrupt 1% until the glades attack. Want to help me strike at the worst?'
'You have five minutes to put down your weapons and let all your hostages go,' Oliver demanded, the modulator on his voice giving him extra intimidation, 'If you have not complied by then, you will die.'
'He sounds pissed!' Felicity heard a voice gasp.
'If any harm comes to any of your hostages,' Oliver readied an arrow as Diggle gave them an entrance, 'I will make your death slow. If any harm comes to either Thea Queen or Felicity Smoak, then I will ensure that your death will last weeks and will be absolute agony. This is your one and only warning.'
'Dude,' Blondie looked scared, 'what have you gotten us into?'
'What the hell Oliver!' Diggle bellowed.
'No one hurts my family Dig,' Oliver icily replied, booking an arrow as Sarah and Roy readied themselves.
'If Thea's hurt,' Roy snarled, 'Leave some of the creep alive for me would ya?'
'No promises,' Oliver fired off his arrow, the wire shooting across the open space behind it.
'He's here,' Pike sighed, 'And he's pissed. Just what we need. Do we have any info on this Blade?'
'yes Sir!' a tech nodded, '32, lived in the Glades with his wife and two children. They lost the youngest during the attack by Merlyn and Queen. We have reports he has been involved in four bank robberies in the past month.'
'Shit,' Pike huffed.
'you think he'd do it?' The tech frowned, 'kill them all? I thought he wasn't killing anymore
'I don't know,' Pike shrugged, 'He killed the count, who knows if he will play out that threat.'
'Roy,' Oliver pointed, 'Take the north stairwell, wait at the ground floor until you get the go ahead from me. I need you to keep eyes on them and be there incase Blade acts before we are ready.'
'Gotcha,' Roy darted off, his extra strength seeing him run faster than a normal person, though not as fast as the rumoured vigilante in Central City.
'What now?' Sarah spoke.
'We shake the Wasps nest,' Oliver pulled a small device out his pocket and threw it into a nearby room, 'run.'
Sarah followed Oliver down around the corner, just reaching cover as the device exploded with a larger than usual sound.
'Nest rattled.'
'Take some men and see what that was Kendricks,' Jake motioned to a bald man, who nodded and proceeded to leave the main area with a number of the group.
'Divide and conquer,' Felicity muttered, falling silent as Jake pointed his gun in her face.
'The next sound from you will be your last, 'Jake motioned to the hostages, 'Let the others go, we only need these two.'
'Oliver?' Diggle frowned as his hands flew over the keyboard, 'I'm picking up another hack on the Bank's systems.'
'Any idea who?' Oliver whispered as Sarah glanced across the hallway as they waited in with their ambush.
'No idea,' Diggle sighed, 'But they're using some damn good encryption. Blade has just let all bar our girls go.'
'I expected he would do that sooner or later. Keep us alerted on the hack Dig,' Oliver nooked an arrow as movement was spotted, 'Call ya back.'
Pulling back the string, Oliver slowed his breathing as the men approached.
'Now!' Oliver breathed as he let go, the arrow hitting the lead attacker in the head, dropping him instantly. The moment he dropped, Sarah activated her sonic device, giving Oliver time to drop two more of the men.
Moving to a better strike point, Oliver took in the flash of blonde hair as Sarah took on another assailant alone. Three more arrows took down the remaining men, the final attacker dropping bonelessly to the floor, his neck shattered by Sarah's hands.
'More than we thought,' Sarah rolled her shoulders as Oliver plucked his arrows out the bodies.
'We can handle them,' Oliver shrugged.
'Kendricks?' Roy peered through the cracked door at Blade as the latter paced across the open space on the opposite side of the room to where Roy hid. Growling softly he realised there was no chance he could reach the group before someone, most likely Thea or Felicity, were shot. Reluctantly, Roy held his ground as his body screamed at him to attack.
'Sir!' the tech shouted at Pike, 'We've got something incoming!'
'What do you mean?' Pike hurried over from where the released hostages were being tended to only to be answered by a loud noise from above. Looking up he barked a curse, 'What the hell is he doing here?'
'Oliver,' Diggle slowly spoke as Oliver and Sarah crept towards the balcony railing over where his sister knelt next to Felicity, 'We have a newcomer to the party, 'Look across the room.'
Oliver peered over the railings, his eyes darting wide as he traded looks with the man crouched across the way, 'when we get out of here someone should tell him to mind his own business.'
'No need Arrow,' An older, gruffer voice cut over the link, 'But I'm here now anyway, so what's the plan?'
'Stay there,' Oliver sighed as Sarah watched the floor silently, 'They can't know you are here, so we can use that.'
'I await your call.'
'Where are they?' Jake called across to Blondie as he rattled the radio.
'Shaking it won't make them answer,' Oliver spoke down from the balcony, as Sarah landed on the marble floor, instantly moving to attack the nearest assailant, Roy emerging into the room to do the same from the far end. 'Seeing as the men you sent upstairs are all dead and all. Do not give me the satisfaction of adding you to that list Blade!'
Jake grabbed Blondie, the two men standing behind the kneeling women, guns drawn, 'Sorry Luke,' Jake said to Blondie, 'Looks like we aren't getting out of here alive.'
'Put your weapons down and you will,' Oliver vaulted onto the ground floor, almost instantly nooking an arrow, 'I give you my word, if you do I will let you live.'
Jake pushed the muzzle of his gun into the back of Thea's head, the younger woman crying out in fear as Felicity whimpered slightly, a shaking muzzle lightly resting on her head.
'We aren't getting out of here, 'Jake sneered, 'So how about this, you choose Arrow. There are two of us and only one of you capable of stopping us. Your choice now buddy. Queen's sister or his whore. You pick.'
'Do you trust me?' Oliver calmly spoke, frowns crossing the two men's faces at the change in his voice.
'completely,' Felicity smirked, fire in her eyes as she realised there was a plan.
'Enough,' Jake growled, 'Shoot her Luke.'
'Sorry lady,' Luke muttered as he pushed his muzzle into Felicity's head.
Swinging his bow to Jake, Oliver heard Thea scream as a large black shape fell from one of the balconies, engulfing Luke, while Oliver's arrow zipped across the gap between them, burying itself in Jake's head.
'CUT THE FEED!' Oliver bellowed at Diggle as he dropped his bow on the floor. Skidding to his knees, he glanced at a relieved felicity as the newcomer unclipped her ties.
'Feed blocked,' Diggle announced in all the bugged ears.
'Thea!' Oliver pulled his hood down and whipped off his mask, 'Thea!'
'Ollie?' Thea gasped, her wild eyes staring at her brother.
'It's me,' Oliver brushed her hair from her face.
'You're... Him!' Thea screeched, anger slipping into her voice, 'Seriously?'
'it gets better Speedy,' Oliver motioned at Roy and Sarah who quietly removed their disguises.
'HARPER!' Thea bellowed as she clambered to shaky feet, 'You have some goddamn explaining to do mister!'
'You okay?' Oliver reached out and cupped Felicity's cheek, Thea's voice shouting in the background as she dealt with some of the emotions she'd just gone through at him.
'I'm as okay as I could be for being held captive by a bunch of bank robbing lunatics and then saved by not one but four different heroes... And the kicker? One of them is the goddamn Batman!'
Felicity spun to where Batman stood quietly watching the scenes unfold, 'What on earth are you doing here in Starling City? Not at I'm not happy that you are here, but that's not the point. I thought you were only watching over Gotham? Why are you here?'
'When I hear that Jim's niece is hostage in a bank robbery,' Batman gruffly spoke, 'I was more than inclined to ensure that she doesn't come to any harm.'
'You know uncle Jim?' Felicity furrowed her brow as Oliver gawped, 'Of course you know him. Gotham's dark Knight and the city's police commissioner must know each other well.'
'You don't know how surprised I was to hear that you weren't only involved with the Arrow,' the chuckle from the brooding man was an alien noise, 'But had taken the job as Ollie Queen's secretary?'
'FOR THE LAST TIME I AM NOT A...'Felicity felt a hand clamp over her mouth.
'Later,' Oliver smirked, 'This is something more suited to somewhere the police aren't about to storm.'
'good point Queen,' Batman pulled a gun from his belt. Firing into the roof, the Batman shot up into the darkness and vanished.
'Did he just...' Felicity stared up into the dark rafters.
'he did,' Oliver frowned as his mind whirled at the familiarity in the way The Batman had said his name.
'... Why didn't you tell me?' Thea glared at her boyfriend mid rant.
'Thea!' Oliver turned to his ranting sister, 'You can't...'
'Who'd believe me Ollie?' Thea interrupted as she glowered at her brother, 'My brother is the arrow, my boyfriend is 'the Kid' and a woman who's been dead for seven years is the Canary, it's wonderful to see you alive by the way Sara.'
'Thank you,' Sara's mouth quirked, 'it's good to be alive.'
'When you put it like that,' Oliver slipped on his mask, 'if you want to talk later, then just call Diggle.'
'Oh if he's got his big hands on my girls and messed them up there will be hell to pay!' Felicity began to rant, only to freeze and blush, 'I mean my computers, not my,' a hand waved over her torso, 'My god, even a near death experience in a bank can't stop this from happening.'
Oliver laughed as he popped his hood, 'Thats why we all love you Felicity. See you shortly.'
Felicity sighed as Oliver fired an arrow over the balcony he'd come from, grabbed Sarah's waist and disappeared.
'Oh just because I have more strength than both of you combined doesn't mean I like running up and down stairwells Oliver!' Roy grumbled, giving Thea a cautious, but warm smile before sprinting into the stairwell he'd burst out of.
'This is a good day,' Felicity giggled at the look of astonishment on Thea's face. The moment of levity was shattered when the SCPD burst into the room, guns drawn and voices shouting.
