" Man, what happened to you? Looks like you got a shovel across your head!" John asked as he helped Oliver into the car.

" I slipped off a tank and fell." Ollie replied, reclining in the back seat, pushing his hood back. He didn't want to get into Poison Ivy right then.

Diggle's gut kicked in and he pulled a penlight from his coat pocket. Shining it in Oliver's eyes, he watched his pupils contract normally but he noticed a small red irritation around Oliver's cheek. " Did you shave funny this morning?" Dig asked.

" No. Just take me home and you can fuss at me all you like." Queen said irritably and John obeyed. As the car moved, Oliver dozed involuntarily and dreamed of the Queen's Gambit.

Storm tossed, he was scrambling for something to hold on to. Furniture and objects pummeled him and he lost his grip as a giant black hole formed below him and sea and ship were falling into oblivion.

"SARAH!" he screamed, sitting up suddenly, hitting his head on the roof of the car. With a flinch, he recoiled. John looked at him strangely. Oliver felt spent. His body was covered with sweat, maybe from the dream; maybe from whatever Ivy had injected him with when she kissed him. Either way, he felt like hell.

"C'mon. Let me get you cleaned up." Dig said and hoisted the young man from the car, putting his arm around his shoulders. Carefully they descended the stairs to the lair below. Staggering like a drunk, Oliver began to take off his clothes as if he were on fire. His head throbbed like a million hammers were echoing in his skull. Lying down on the cold steel table felt delicious to his aching, burning body.

John looked down at his young charge with worry. These symptoms were not from a concussion only. Oliver writhed in pain and fever as Diggle approached. " Oliver. Look at me."

Oliver gazed vacantly in his direction, his eyes dark pools of pain and fever. "Dig… Ivy… she poisoned me. Something… not sure."

" Let me get those herbs!" Dig said urgently and dove into the old wood box that Oliver had brought home with him from the island. With his huge hands he grabbed a handful, crushed them in a glass bowl and mixed it rapidly with a bottle of water. Brining them back to Oliver, he cradled his head to let him drink.

Expecting the horrible, bitter taste, Queen took the draught but it still required effort to swallow. Laying his head back on the table with a gasp, he waited for the soothing, cooling relief that the strange tea brought. It never came. Suddenly, he sat up, turned and wretched, vomiting up the tea like a monster was tearing out his guts. Between heaves, he tried to breathe. Dig was terrified. Those herbs always worked! " Oliver, we need you to get to a hospital now!"

"No.. .can't. Alibi.", Oliver lay belly down on the table, staring at the floor, arm dangling off. His breathing was labored and his skin glistened with sweat.

"Yes, we can make something up. Bird flu or…. Something. Your hocus pocus didn't work!" John declared and went to get him some street clothes and a bucket of water to help him clean up. Oliver didn't protest again.

Dig cleaned him up as best he could with a pail of water and a towel. Oliver was quasi delirious as he dressed him and pulled him upstairs. John could feel the heat pouring off his body and wondered if he was going to suffer brain damage.

Just as John opened the secret door, Tommy was on the other side. His eyes went wide in surprise as he saw his best friend hanging by Johns' grip like a rag doll. " Holy shit! What's wrong?" he exclaimed grabbing Oliver's other side to help John.

"Poison. But we can't say that. Need to come up with a better story.", Diggle huffed and puffed a bit under the deadening weight of his boss.

"Food poisoning. Flu…. We'll work on it." Tommy said now forgetting why he ventured down to the cave in the first place. He had so many questions to ask Oliver, and now was not the time.

They drove quickly as Diggle could push it, verging on a speeding ticket. The hospital was across town from their current location and Oliver was lying across Tommy's lap, muttering incoherently. Tommy noticed the ashen look of Oliver's face, the waxy texture of his skin and how hollow his cheeks were as if the toxins were eating him alive from the inside. "Hurry Diggle." Tommy implored.

"Dammit, I am!" John barked back almost as scared for Queen's life as he felt for his friends when he was in battle under fire.

The ER bay was brightly lit and almost cheerful as the sedan pulled up. Dig jumped from the interior of the car and shouted loudly, "HEY! We need some help here!"

Several orderlies came out in response to the booming call with a group of nurses. The gurney was wheeled up and Ollie's lifeless looking body was pulled from the car. Tommy and Diggle were pushed away by scrub wearing nurses who began their medical chatter while wheeling Oliver away into the hospital. The two men looked on and then at each other, suddenly realizing that they needed a cover story.

" Gentlemen? Can you come with me please?" a nurse wearing pink scrubs appeared with a tablet in her hand. They followed her into the building and sat down opposite her at the admitting desk. "That is Oliver Queen, correct?" she asked and both men nodded, " Can you tell me what happened?"

Dig opened his mouth first then closed it and looked at Tommy. Tommy gave him a reassuring look and replied, " Oliver and I ate some pretty nasty sushi for lunch. But I do remember him complaining of aches and pains last night, like the flu. He's such a workaholic with his new club, I think he didn't let himself rest."

The middle-aged nurse gave Tommy a dubious look at the 'workaholic' description, but typed it all down on the tablet. " Ok. If you will have a seat over there- ", she gestured to the waiting area of Starling City's sickest- " we will let you know when something changes." Tommy gave her a small thank you and nod while standing. Dig stood too but looked towards the heavy double doors that separated the sick from the healthy. He hoped it wasn't the living from the dead.