They made a brief pit stop at the first gas station they came to after leaving one of the scattered small towns that dotted the road out of Star City, to refuel and get some snacks. Standing at the register counter, Thea started to fidget, waiting for Roy to finish what he was doing. Her attention wandered over to the TV mounted on the wall in the corner behind the cashier and the air left her lungs in a rush, leaving her dizzy and light-headed. Her brother was on the news. Something bad must have happened- Oliver's face was cut up, and Felicity, just barely visible in the background, clutching William's arm, looked like she'd been crying recently, as in "in the last few minutes" recently. Oliver was apologizing for lying to the people of the city, for letting others claim the identity of the Green Arrow and take the fall for him. Thea couldn't resist a sideways glance at one of the people in question, still in the midst of a friendly conversation with the cashier.
He's going to prison, she realized, returning her attention the news broadcast and noticing the stern-faced men wearing dark colored jackets that said "FBI" on them arranged around Oliver. When she saw the what was written on the side of the prison van that lurked almost out of frame like a predator stalking its prey, a cry of distress slipped free of her before she could stop it.
"Thea?" Roy asked, turning at the sound. "What's going on? What's wrong?" Thea's only response was to point at the TV. Roy watched the broadcast in silence for a moment while Thea tried her best to ignore the weird look she was getting from the cashier.
"Your brother's going to prison," Roy surmised, at right about the point where the silence was becoming unbearable. "For being the Green Arrow." Thea nodded.
"That's terrible," Roy said sincerely. "But...Oliver can take care of himself." He didn't say it out loud, but his tone of voice implied that the rest of that sentence was "So I don't quite understand why you're so upset."
"Not this time, he can't," Thea insisted, shaking her head. "Not against this." Roy merely looked puzzled.
"Roy, they're sending Oliver to Slabside," Thea said, pointing at the prison van. "Half the guys the Green Arrow put away are in there. Brick, Ben Turner, Derek Sampson, the really dangerous ones. And now that they all know that Oliver is the Green Arrow...oh God, they're going to kill him. I mean, look what happened to you when the inmates in Iron Heights thought you were the Arrow."
"That wasn't real," Roy pointed out, apparently not realizing that that only helped Thea's point. "Or at least most of it wasn't."
"Which is what I'm saying," Thea said. She was clutching Roy's arms now, whether in emphasis or out of desperation, she wasn't sure, and she hadn't even noticed herself moving. "This is real. What's happening to Oliver is real. They're going to kill him in there. He can't possibly defend himself against an entire prison of criminals out for his blood." She was desperate to make Roy understand. When Oliver had come home from the island, when she'd gotten her big brother back after five years of thinking he was dead, she'd started to believe that there was nothing he couldn't survive, nothing he couldn't come back from. This was the first time in the six years since then that she could remember being truly scared that she was going to lose him.
"Thea, you need to calm down," Roy said, halting her racing, out of control train of thought. "There's nothing we can do for Oliver-"
"That's not helping, Roy," Thea snapped, cutting him off.
"You didn't let me finish," Roy replied evenly. "I was going to say that there's nothing we can do for Oliver, and stressing out over what might or might not happen to him while he's in prison doesn't help anyone."
"I have to do something," Thea protested desperately.
"Then believe that Oliver is going to be okay," Roy advised. "And trust that Felicity and the team are working on finding a way to get him out." Thea nodded, feeling her fear and panic abate somewhat. Roy smiled, patted her on the shoulder, and they grabbed their snacks and left.
"What took you two so long?" Nyssa asked- almost demanded, in fact- when they returned to the car. She was leaning against the rear passenger door in a deceptively casual pose, but as usual her gaze was alert, her eyes roving the area, watching for potential threats.
"I had to help Thea calm down," Roy explained. "Oliver's going to prison for being the Green Arrow." Nyssa's only reaction to this news was a single raised eyebrow. It was possible, however, that she cared more than she was letting on. She was notoriously hard to read.
"I can see this distress you," she said, addressing Thea, her voice betraying no emotion. "Though I'm not sure I understand why."
"Because the most dangerous people Oliver put away are in the prison he's being sent to," Thea said tiredly, already sick of having to explain it. She wrung her hands, barely conscious of Roy's comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm scared that he might get killed in there."
"It is indeed...unfortunate that such a fate has befallen Oliver," Nyssa said, which Thea assumed was about as close as she would ever get to expressing sympathy for his plight. It seemed the animosity she felt toward Oliver had still not entirely abated. "However, we have more pressing concerns. I don't have to remind you what will happen if the Thanatos Guild reaches the Lazarus pit before us."
"They'll use it to resurrect my father," Thea muttered. "My biological father," she elaborated unnecessarily. "Who would probably would only be made even more twisted and insane by dying and being resurrected." In the car's side mirror, she caught a glimpse of Roy glowering at Nyssa, clearly intending to call her out for moving on the next thing so quickly and showing so little concern for what Thea was going through. She caught his eye and shook her head, deterring him from that course of action. In truth, she was grateful for the change of subject. It gave her something else to think about, something to focus on other than Oliver's present situation and her worry over it.
"Let's get going," she said to Roy and Nyssa, hoping to keep distracting herself for a while longer. "Nyssa's right- we don't want to waste time." With those rallying words- and much grumbling from Roy about not getting to speak his mind- they were off, ready to resume their mission.