"What was-" William was cut off as Oliver started sprinting towards the cry.
"Dinah!" Oliver yelled as he neared the place billowing with smoke where he heard her canary cry.
Suddenly out came Rene, covered in soot, supporting an Injured Dinah with one shoulder. Both of them had cuts, bruises and dust covering their body but they were walking and that's what mattered. All three friends looked at each other a moment before Oliver finally spoke. "You guys survived. Where is everyone else?" He immediately asked.
"Felicity, Curtis and Dig are coming. We went ahead to check for bombs." She motioned towards the small crater beside them. "We found one. Good news, I can block the blast with my cry. Well… sorta." She finished, still leaning heavily on Rene.
"Has anyone seen my mom?" William popped up from Oliver's back, worry edged his voice.
"Wait is this William? You found him?" Dinah exclaimed.
"Yes I did, but where is everyone else." Oliver said with steely calmness.
"Samantha ran off to find her kid and Thea went after her." Rene explained.
"Yeah I think I saw Quintin follow them." Dinah added.
"We need to work on getting everyone back." Oliver quickly glanced at William who was even more worried than before. "Including your mom." He added quickly.
"Dinah! Rene!" Oliver heard a familiar and reassuring voice of John Diggle call out.
Rene and Dinah, still supporting each other, crossed through the billowing smoke. "Cover your face." Oliver instructed William as he quickly followed the two.
Crossing through the end of the bombs blast Oliver was greeted with a glorious site. Diggle and curtis, both covered in soot, bruises, and cuts but very much alive. For a second he grew worried but that passed when Curtis stepped out of the way and Felicity, the one he truly loved, stood there staring at him with unbelieving eyes.
"You're alive…" Oliver breathed out, almost falling over from the feelings he was going through.
Felicity said nothing just rushed to him, threw his arms around him and kissed him. It would have been an intimate moment if not for the unsubtle cough of a scared and worried twelve year old strapped to Oliver's back.
"Oh! God, Probably not the best time for that…" Stammered Felicity
"Good to have you back brother." John added.
Suddenly everyone was looking at Oliver, for answers and for orders.
"Alright we need to figure out where everyone is, there's a boat at the western shore where William and I came from. We get everyone there were good. Support each other and we'll live through this." Oliver took command, everyone trusting him enough to follow orders.
"Samantha, Thea, and Quentin ran the same way as us but we got separated when the bombs went off." Felicity explained.
"We were all headed for the Argus bunker before we got separated, they're mostly likely there." Diggle reasoned.
They all look together in agreement. "Then let's get to it." With that they set off.
Soon, as Oliver expected, Felicity and Diggle took positions on either side of him. "So this is William. John Diggle." John extended his hand with a smile. William muttered a hi and continued looking straight at the path ahead, looking for signs of his mother, Oliver guessed.
"So what the hell happened? Why'd the bombs go-" Felicity stopped mid sentence stopping herself as she saw William shudder when she brought up the topic.
Oliver tightened his grip on William in response, in an attempt to comfort the boy. "Adrian… shot himself, in an attempt to kill everyone here but I know Talia she wouldn't let her men be cannon fodder for his crusade and Black Siren wouldn't let something like this kill her. They're most likely all still alive. Including Evelyn." Oliver explained quietly, hoping not to scare William anymore than he already was. Diggle and Felicity just gave him reassuring glances as they continued trekking across the ravaged ground.
Oliver saw Felicity bite her bottom lip, like she did when she had something to say. "What is it Felicity." Oliver asked her.
"It's about Malcolm, we think he's dead." Felicity started. "When we were going to the campsite after you freed us from those cages, Thea… stepped on a landmine, before she could argue Malcolm somehow took her place. We kept on running and a few seconds later…" She made a boom noise with her mouth.
"In the end I guess he really did show his love for his daughter." Diggle commented. Oliver nodded his head in agreement. Curtis came up to the small group with a worried look on his face. "How far are we from this bunker, Dinah and Rene don't look so good." Curtis explained to Oliver. The two men quickly glanced back towards the pair, heavily leaning on each other, too stoic to complain. Oliver thought to himself then motioned for Diggle and Felicity to stop. "Dinah, Rene, there's a small motor boat directly back the way we came, back track to the shore and-"
"Hoss we're fine, we can pull our own weight." Rene Interrupted
"We can handle this. It's fine." Dinah added on but Oliver could see the pain and exhaustion in both their eyes. Plus he knew they wouldn't escape if they had to carry two more people.
"We're all fully aware of what you're both capable of but I don't want anyone going off on their own and I want you two to go with Curtis back to the boat and scan through everything there. I wouldn't be surprised if it's booby trapped."
After a few ongoing seconds of protest from Rene the three set off towards the boat, Dinah and Rene with grateful looks in their eyes.
Oliver looked to Felicity and Diggle, the original Team Arrow. "Let's do this."
After about another half hour of walking William piped up "Oliver." If not for the constant ninety extra pounds of weight as a reminder, Oliver would have forgotten he was on his back. "I think my ankle's ok now. You can let me down." Oliver knew he was bluffing but understood why, less weight means faster walking speed.
"Ok but only if you let John check you out first." Oliver reasoned. Oliver knelt down and let William slide off his back onto the ground. For the first time Oliver noticed the blood stained fabric around pant leg "Should've been paying more attention." Oliver thought to himself.
John Diggle knelt down next to the boy, who had sat down to be checked out, and gently lifted the pant leg up. Revealing a still swollen and bloody ankle. "Here." Oliver handed John a rag out of one of the many pockets in his suit, he had forgotten he had on him.
"Thank's man." John muttered while cleaning the wound. John ripped a large portion off of his already ripped t-shirt and held it up to let William see. "I'm gonna wrap this around your ankle. It'll help stop the bleeding and keep it in place a bit better. It'll hurt a but at first but in the long run it'll feel a lot better. After William nodded in understanding John folded the handkerchief up and placed it over the place where blood was mostly coming from then tied it in place with his shirt. William grimaced in pain but only for a second. "Good?" John smiled and stood up, offering the boy a hand.
"Yea thanks a lot." William said to John then looked to Oliver. "Are we close to the bunker?"
"Yea its just a bit farther over this ridge." Oliver indicated with his hand.
"Well let's get going then, we need to find our friends." Diggle responded.
"Felicity see if you can reach Curtis on comms, see if they made it to the boat ok." Oliver told her.
"Felicity fiddled with the comm in her ear for a few seconds before answering. "I got nothing, the bombs must have damaged them. I'm surprised they even survived the blasts."
"They know what they're doing, i'm sure they're at it already Oliver." Diggle assured.
After a second Oliver sighed. "You're right John and besides we waste time worrying over it anyway. We've got to find everyone else."
Oliver looked to William. "Are you going to be alright?" Oliver asked, indicating to more than just his ankle.
"I'll be okay." William replied somewhat irritated, he was tired of being asked that question. "I just want to find my mom!" He screamed, a mix of overwhelming emotions came forth, from fear to anger to sadness. Oliver saw tears welling in his eyes, he knelt down in front of him.
We will find her and I promise you we will bring her home. Alive." He laid a hand on the young boy's shoulder, not knowing if a hug would be accepted. "You ready?" He asked William.
Rubbing his eyes, he nodded his head and the four set off over the ridge.
"Help! Someone help us!" The group her a voice yell.
"That sounded like Thea." John said.
"Thea! Thea!" Oliver and Felicity both yelled. Both taking off running with John and William not far behind.
Following her screams for help they found her. "Thea! Thea!" Oliver screamed running towards her.
A rush of relief appeared across her face. She leaned on one knee and pointed behind her. "It' Samantha!" Thea said in between breaths. "She needs help!"
"Show us."