A/N: This is my first Arrow fic. I actually have had this one rolling around in my thoughts for a while now so I'm excited to finally publish it. I would appreciate reviews please. I am taking suggestions for the name of my OC because that is the only thing I haven't figured out yet.

This isn't set at any specific time. It's after Felicity joins the team and Oliver meets the Dark Archer, but definitely before the end of season one.

"Speaking through comms or phone"

'Thinking'

"Oliver, your target is getting away, he just commandeered a chopper. Did you know he could do that? I didn't even know he owned a helicopter. I don't think he even has a pilot's license, it wasn't in his files. Well that must mean that either he was taught to fly unofficially and is now flying illegally or he has no idea what he is doing. That's pretty unlikely though because he hasn't crashed yet and it certainly looks like he knows what he's doing, but I guess he could have had a pilot waiting for him that we didn't notice-"

"I know, Felicity! I know," I bark through the comms irritably. I have been chasing this guy for three hours and he always seems to find some way to gain a massive lead. If I don't catch up I could lose him for good. By this time tomorrow he will probably be sitting on some remote island swimming in his money.

"Sorry! I was rambling again wasn't I. I try not to but once I start talking it's hard to stop because my brain just keeps hopping from one idea to the other and it just never seems to stop so-"

"Felicity!" I shout. I feel bad for shouting at her, but I have things to get done and I can't do that with her talking aimlessly in my ear, "We have a job to do," I remind her.

"Right! Sorry! I'll stop now. Can you still see the helicopter?" Felicity asks.

"Yes, but I'm losing ground. I can only move so fast across the rooftops. I have no possible way of gaining on him," I yell into my earpiece. 'How exactly am I supposed to catch up to a helicopter going 75 mph on foot? By flying? It gets tiring running across rooftops and avoiding obstacles at just a regular pace, but I have been running full speed for hours.'

"Well…that's not exactly true 'Mr. Queen'. If you take a slight detour to your left -which you will find is the nearest road having a late night rush hour- you will be able to hitch a ride on the cargo truck that is currently, and conveniently heading the direction you want to go, you can stop at the 17th alley down to your right and pick up something me and John whipped together for you," Felicity says in the comm, sounding rather proud of herself.

'Huh…I wonder what they pulled together, hopefully something to take down that helicopter because that detour will slow me down.'

"Alright, I'm heading that direction now, give me a heads up when to stop," I say.

"No problem boss, will do," She replies.

I sigh and push myself to run faster. 'This is going to be a loooooong night.'

I manage to hitch a ride on the cargo truck Felicity was talking about without breaking anything, but I never have before. I kept on hand on the top of the truck and one hand on my ear so that I will be able to hear when Felicity contacted me. It's pretty loud out here and I do not want to have to double back and lose even more precious time.

I hear a faint ringing sound and look down at my pocket. Sure enough, my phone is lit up and I fish it out of my pocket to answer. 'Who would call me so late? I mean I know I'm up, but not very many people would be. Maybe it's Thea asking where I am, she hasn't seen me at all today.'

I brought the phone up to my ear and answer it, "Oliver Queen, shoot," I say curtly. I certainly wasn't expecting a gruff male voice coming from the other end of the phone.

"Yeah it's John, Oliver. I saw the news, you didn't catch your latest victim 'Savior of Starling City'?" the voice says.

'Really, Dig? Really? I know that you don't agree with everything that I do, and I respect that, but that gives you no reason to judge me like this.'

"No I didn't, I'm in pursuit right now. He got ahold of a chopper, turns out he knows how to fly." I reply, feeling rather frustrated.

"Well do you need any help? I can try to contact A.R.G.U.S. and send some agents to help you. Hell, even I will come down there to help." Dig says.

"I'm fine right now, I hitched a ride on a truck and I'm on my way to pick up a package from you and Felicity. Besides, weren't you supposed to be spending the next few days with Carly and the kids? Why are you calling me?" I ask him, suddenly confused.

'I hope he really is spending time with his family, I told him that he needed to take a vacation. G-d knows he needs it… I also told him that if he chose to stay he would just be body-guarding me for no pay since it was still technically his vacation. So I hope that convinced him.'

"I saw you on the news, Oliver! Everyone did, the Arrow is a hard person to miss when he is chasing a helicopter that is being tracked by search lights. And I just told Carly that I had to step out to make a call. I have been here since yesterday, you didn't exactly give me a choice." Dig replies.

I was about to reply when I heard a telltale crackling in my left ear. I curtly put Diggle on hold and press two fingers to my ear.

"I'm tracking your position, Oliver. You should see an alley in about 300 feet next to a bakery with that wanted poster of you next to it." Felicity says through the comm and I can hear the smile in her voice.

I shake my head and refuse to react to the fact that they wanted me to walk right past my own wanted poster. I ready myself for the jump when I realize I left Diggle on hold. I hastily pull my phone back out of my pocket and bring it back up to my right ear.

"Sorry, Dig, I had Felicity on the comms," I say. I jumped off of the roof of the truck onto the parallel roof of the bakery Felicity told me about.

"No problem, man. Now I know you said you could handle this on your own, but I called in A.R.G.U.S. They're sending some very skilled covert ops your way, they are from a secret division that has been doing missions in secret for 6 years. Even I didn't know about it-"

"I told you I can take care of it myself Diggle!" I cut him off angrily. I stalk my way down the side of the building to the pavement while silently steaming.

'Why would he call in A.R.G.U.S.? I specifically told him that I don't need any help. I have my own personal reasons for not wanting to work with A.R.G.U.S. and he should respect that. Not that he knows why I don't want to work with them but still…'

"Easy, Oliver. I just figured that we couldn't take any chances of you getting injured or found out. I only let them send two agents, the best in the division. They have orders not to intervene unless you are in immediate danger of serious injury or at the risk of your identity being revealed –which they don't know by the way. You won't even know they're there," Dig says defiantly.

"Well it's too late for you to cancel the recruits now. In fact, they're probably already here," I say while spinning in a circle around myself to survey my surroundings.

'I have to admit, I'm a little bit upset that Dig doesn't trust me to finish this job. He even went so far as to call in the one group I dislike the most.'

"Yeah they probably are, and they were assigned to watch your reckless ass 5 minutes ago, so try to be civil," Diggle scolds.

I grumble to myself and hang up without another word. I know it was really rude and childish, but that is the last thing on my mind right now.

'I'll apologize to him later… actually I probably won't'

I crouch down low and stalk into the alley to find out what Felicity and John left for me. When I get to the end of the alleyway I pull out a flashlight and shine it at the corner.

And there, sitting in all of its glory, is a fully operational motorcycle, customized for all of the needs of the Arrow. I quickly climb into the seat, only relishing the smell of new leather for a second before revving the engine and taking off down the road. At this point, I don't even care if the 'covert agents' are able to follow me. I have a job to do, and I don't need help from a couple of brainwashed A.R.G.U.S. agents.

I finally catch up to the helicopter, thanks to my new motorcycle, and quickly scale the nearest building. I take my stance, relieved that the chopper is finally in range again, and fire two arrows at the flying helicopter. First came a flare to distract the pilot, and next came an explosive to destroy the machine's blades. Luckily the Helicopter wasn't flying too high, and it landed on top of an old warehouse across the street. I shoot a line to the roof of the warehouse and slide across on my bow.

The first thing that I do when I land on the building is turn on my voice disguiser. I can't risk anyone hearing my voice, not even the man I'm about to kill.

I quickly walk towards the cockpit of the helicopter and pull that scum of the Earth out of the destroyed machine.

I drag him away from the wreckage and lift him by his collar to eye level. I stare him straight in the eyes and say in a low and dangerous voice, "Anthony Coale, you have failed this city!" I throw him to the ground and level my bow at his chest, ready to put an arrow straight through his heart...

My ears prick up when I hear the slight sound of a bow string being stretched and released, and suddenly there is already an arrow sticking out of his chest. The arrow is black.

I whirl around and my eyes catch the glint that only a quiver of arrows could produce. I keep my eyes fixed on that spot and ready myself for combat. I feel the hairs prick up on the back of my neck in a way that could only be caused by the unknown presence of another person behind you. I whirl around yet again to find myself looking down the arrow of none other than the dark archer. Standing no more than 10 feet from me. I stand stock still and wait for the inevitable, wait for the sound of metal piercing flesh and the white-hot pain of an arrow wound.

I hear a noise to my right, but I can't look. I just have to hope that those damn agents Dig insisted on knew what they were doing. I notice someone attempting to sneak up on the Dark Archer. I mentally shake my head at his stupidity and try to signal him to stand down before he gets himself killed. I see him shake his head at me once. I must have a surprised expression on my face because something tipped the archer off to the fact that someone was behind him. He spins around and fires blindly, just barely missing the young man. He knocks another arrow in his bow and I knew that he wouldn't miss a second time. I ready my bow as well but before I can do anything to help the agent, a woman is in front of me and delivers a punishing kick to the back of the Dark Archer's head. The archer stumbles and turns to face her, she looks ready to fight but this time she doesn't have the advantage of surprise on her side.

He delivers a swift punch to the agent's shoulder, which she easily blocks, and follows up by attempting to knock her off her feet with his leg. She jumps over him and throws what looks like a very painful punch at his exposed back, but he dodges it and turns around, this time successfully knocking her to the ground by swiping his bow into the back of her legs. The fight was over quickly. He delivers a few more punishing kicks and punches to the face, ribs, and stomach, leaving her lying vulnerable on the ground. I had already gotten her partner off of the roof and told him to wait on the ground until we got back, so I go over to the injured agent and try to help. I look at her face and notice that she is very young, early twenties possibly younger.

'I thought the same thing about the other agent, but he at least looked to be about 25. What is A.R.G.U.S. thinking allowing such young men and women to risk their like this, it wasn't a life anyone should have to live.'

I push those thoughts to the back of my mind and tend to the young woman's injuries. I hear a bow being pulled a taught again and throw myself over the girl. I close my eyes and feel the object underneath me shift. I open my eyes again and see the female agent using her body as a shield in front of me just as the archer releases his arrow.

The girl turns to me and says, "I have never failed a mission, and I won't start now, even in the face of death."

My eyes go wide and I catch her as the arrow pierces her stomach. I look up to find the Dark Archer gone, seemingly satisfied with how the situation turned out.

I hear Felicity's voice faintly in my ear, but I can't be bothered to listen to it. Who would have thought that a single action coupled with a single sentence, would turn Oliver Queen's entire world upside down? The same Oliver Queen that spent 5 years of his life on a hell of an island. The same Oliver Queen that spends his nights running around Starling City as the local vigilante the Arrow. Who would have thought that a single action coupled with a single sentence would turn my entire world upside down? Certainly not me.