So, don't know whether any of you may have noticed or not, but I changed the synopsis a few days ago because I just realized it wasn't really representing the story properly. I'm not too good with summaries I reckon lol. Anywho, as always a big thank you to everyone who is still following this story, and lots of love to those who have taken the time to review! Hope you enjoy reading!
Thea Queen pulled up a chair for herself in between the pods containing Roy and Felicity, if she leaned back far enough she could even glimpse the one containing her brother. She'd positioned herself here to keep an eye on Roy's vitals. His heart rate had sped up considerably a moment ago, though it seemed to be leveling out again now...she couldn't help but wonder for the umpteenth time about what was going on in there.
Suddenly, his heart rate shot up once again, making Thea come to attention. After a few moments, there was a pop followed by a hissing noise. That sound had come from...yep! With a grin, Thea jumped to her feet and stood over Roy's pod with a call to the others,
"Roy's waking up!" Thea's yell had brought the other two occupants of the room over, that being Lyla and John, the latter being in the lead. Together, Thea and John assisted the glass top to open a little faster. Once it was sufficiently open, Thea reached a hand in to lay it upon one of Roy's, as if to assure herself that he was in fact here. Digg took the time to carefully disconnect all the tubes and IVs from the teen while Thea just stared at his face, willing him to open his eyes.
It had been around seven hours since John had woken up, and a lot could happen in seven hours. Ray had left sometime not long after Digg had awoken; it was his aim to try and electronically trace whoever had set this all up, but he was hitting a lot of brick - equivalent walls. The best person for this particular job, was in one of those pods. Still, Ray had gone to try his hand again, this time he'd be using some much better equipped devices. The rest of the team were eagerly awaiting hearing of any leads the man may come up with.
Laurel had needed to get back to work, but with the promise that they'd call in the event of any further developments, no matter the time of day. When Waller had refused assistance in locating the individuals behind this, Lyla had taken a temporary leave of absence, citing family emergency. She would need to get back to it soon, but she was not overly worried...
After a few minutes, the boy in the pod let out a groan. This was followed by the fluttering of his eye lids, and then, to the tune of Thea's coaxing words, Roy's eyes finally opened.
The first person his eyes fixed upon was Thea, and the first thing he did was try to speak but coughed instead.
"Here, have a sip from my water bottle." Thea urged, grabbing the bottle and holding it to his lips, her free hand bracing the back of his head down by his neck to help him lift up a bit. After a few small swigs, she took it away and leaned back.
"You all right?" Thea asked, watching Roy's eyes flicker from her to Diggle, staying on him a moment before coming back to her.
"Fine," he spoke, wincing because his throat felt kinda raw after such a time of disuse.
"The team found us before even I woke up," John started, giving Roy a half smile. "There doesn't seem to be a way to get them out from this side, so...any developments since I woke?"
"One," Roy said, after hesitating a moment. He moved a little uncomfortably, looking from Thea to Lyla, then resting his gaze back on John.
"The evil Ray called Felicity princess Kuttler. Which, because she said that's her father's last name, we're guessing he's the one behind all this." Roy waved at the big machine looming behind him, then did a double take followed by a, "Whoa. I was connected to that thing?" He asked, pointing, clearly distracted.
"Yes, you all were. John kindly unconnected you when the pod opened. We'd disconnect everyone else too, but we can't until the game releases them.." Thea trailed off and made a displeased face.
"Wait, Noah Kuttler? Yes, he may well have the capability to do all this." Lyla said thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side as she considered it.
"You know who he is?" John asked, surprised. "Felicity's father?"
"Yes, ARGUS has had their eye on Noah Kuttler for some time, code name The Calculator. He's too slippery to actually convict, but there have been numerous and mostly electronic crimes that, while never proven, we're sure he's to blame."
"So, Felicity's dad is really good with computers and stuff too, and could've likely done something like this - but why?" Thea asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Roy, how did you wake up?" John asked, trying to gather some clues.
"Uh...I think she said something about me being a knight and protecting the princess? Something like that. I got her off a runaway horse before she fell off." Roy commented, ending in a shrug as if it were no big deal.
"You and I, sir, are having a long conversation about what all exactly happened there and, hey, if you have some crazy hero horse riding skills too, I want to see them." Thea broke in, waving a hand at Roy.
"We may have a wait before the next one wakes up. You two may as well that conversation now, here, while Lyla and I look up all we can on Noah. If this guy can be found, we need to find him." John said, looking to Lyla, who nodded in agreement. But Thea and Roy would have to stay put; it was an unspoken agreement that as long as even one of the pods was occupied, there would be someone here to watch over them.
As it turns out, it would be a bit of a wait indeed before the next pod opened...
"I just...if my dad is behind this, I just don't understand why." Felicity said, scrunching up her nose adorably. Not that Oliver thought her confused face was adorable. ... He paused and looked over at the blond, saw that line that formed between her eyes when...ok, so her confused face was totally adorable. And he was not going to think about the fact that he knew all her facial expressions and what each little nuance meant.
Oliver mentally shook himself but could not help his smile as he stood and dried his hands off on his pants, heading the few steps upstream to where Felicity was seated. In addition to having a drink themselves as well as watering the horse - Strings, Oliver was reluctantly going with - Felicity had decided she needed to at least wash her face and was not going to do that downstream from him or the horse. She had her eyes closed and was paying special attention to splashing some of the cool water around her temple area on the right side.
"And, I mean, the other two were allowed to wake up because of being willing to give up their life and just general risk-myself-to-protect-you, so is that what we'll need to do? Think up some crazy plan to save each other to get out of here?" Felicity asked, opening her eyes to stare up at Oliver as she tilted her head down and attempted to milk out some of the water that had gotten to a good number of her golden strands.
"We'll save the crazy plan thinking for a last effort," Oliver declared, crossing his legs as he sat next to her. "Everything so far has happened by chance; we didn't plot to get cornered by Ray's men nor for the horse to run off with you. I say let's just continue as we were and see how this plays out, see what happens next." Oliver reasoned, and while yes it was logical, he was inwardly balking at the thought of Felicity willingly putting herself in any kind of danger - with him there to rescue her or vice versa, he still did not like it and it would only be used as a last ditch effort, if even then.
If he was gonna be stuck in a video game, though, he couldn't think of anyone better to be stuck with.
"We should probably try to find Quiver, I'd hate to think of her getting lost or hurt. Even if she is just a computer horse." Felicity added, though she was not looking forward to the prospects of riding a horse on her own. Only because she didn't really know how to ride one, and not because she'd miss having an excuse to be so close to Oliver...yeah, she couldn't even sound convincing in her own head.
"Then that's what we'll do." Oliver said, extending a hand to help her up as he stood. She took it and tried not to read too much into the fact that he did not let go of her hand until they reached the horse. Oliver swung into the saddle first, and then helped her up to sit behind him. If he were honest, Oliver kind of hoped that they did not find the other horse. It wouldn't be fair unless he actually tried though, so...they searched through the forest for several hours, keeping an eye out for any sign of the other horse. Turns out, there was absolutely no sign of the other horse. It was as if Quiver had just disappeared.
Since neither of their hearts appeared to be in it, Felicity was about to suggest a snack break - because she was feeling a little hungry now and surely there were berries somewhere they could eat - when Oliver suddenly pulled the horse to a rough halt. Strings did not like this and bucked a little, making Felicity let out a 'eep!' as well as probably squeezing the life out of the man in her arms. He somehow still had the breath to look over his shoulder and hush her, pointing to something in the distance. Felicity stretched herself up to look over his shoulder, and saw a cottage.
A house. In the middle of the woods.
"Are we talking Brier Rose, or Hansell and Grettle here?" Felicity muttered, tightening her hands around Oliver's shoulders as she scanned the area for any activity. It seemed quiet for now, but...
"What?" Oliver asked, his voice hushed but incredulous. Thing was, he'd turned his head over his shoulder again to ask her this question, and for a very long moment the proximity of their faces made her completely forget the thread of conversation. She inhaled and picked it up again when he faced forward. Then she slapped him lightly on his left shoulder.
"Oh come on, those were fairytale references. They had those long before you were even born, mister!" Felicity heatedly whispered, giving his right shoulder an extra hard squeeze for good measure. Oliver just shook his head and chuckled, directing the horse away from the cottage.
"Thea has made me watch Sleeping Beauty, only once, and I doubt that cottage is made of sweets. But we'll keep an eye on it, and if it is abandoned we could potentially use it for shelter if we need." Oliver explained, and was met with a moment of silence. Then jumped out of his skin when a warm hand landed on his forehead.
"Are you ill?" Felicity quipped, playing at checking his temperature. "Because you just correctly answered my references."
"Ha, ha." Oliver deadpanned, prying her fingers off his forehead, but kept hold of her hand as he lay it against his stomach. They continued for a good half an hour, surprisingly coming across no patroling guards, either. This is around the time Oliver looked up and noticed the darkening skies. A storm was coming. If the way the wind was picking up was any indication, it was coming in fast. They needed to get back to that cabin.
"Storm's coming, looks like we'll get to see if that cabin's abandoned after all." Oliver spoke aloud as he wheeled the horse around and started it back along the path they'd just come down. He felt the pressure of Felicity's head sink into his upper back as she muttered something about rain being the last thing they needed. He squeezed the hand he still held and kept the horse on the path to the cottage, to best of his recollections anyhow.
Which proved spot on, because just as the rain started to fall, the small cottage came into view. Oliver urged the horse forward all the way close to the door, then reached back to help Felicity down.
"Computer horse or not, she needs out of the rain, too." Felicity spoke, patting Strings on the nose even as she shivered because with the rain and the wind it was kind of, well, cold.
"I'll take care of it, don't worry. Why don't you head on in and see if you can find some blankets or something." Oliver encouraged her, shooing her towards the door. She reluctantly nodded and headed inside, glancing at him again before she passed the threshold. Oliver didn't really want to leave her alone too long, either, so he made quick work of getting the horse into the barn and stripping it of the tack. He placed the saddle and blanket over a stall wall to dry, then made sure the horse had some hay and water, then quickly ran back to the cabin.
When he entered and did not see Felicity right away, a cold icy fear slithered through his bones.
What if he'd just unknowingly had her walk into a trap? What if she was kidnapped and taken back to the tower, how would he get her back then, with only himself here? The prospect of them being in this game together but not in the same area did not at all sit well with him. He had to know where she was at all times, for his own sanity if nothing else. He was just about to call out for her when he heard a thump from above and saw her feet appear on the step ladder off to the side, leading to what Oliver assumed was the attic.
"There you are." Oliver said, grinning as he came to stand just under the ladder, one hand blindly reaching out for it. Felicity squeaked and her foot missed its step and down she went. Thankfully Oliver was right there to catch her, however the items in her hands were now fated to meet the wooden floor with a loud crash. She sighed and placed a hand on Oliver's chest as she looked up at him apologetically.
"I was feeling kinda hungry, and I saw this jar up there with like dried berries in it...and then an old, dusty blanket too, but it sure wasn't a good cushion." Felicity said, wrinkling her nose. Oliver bit back a smile at the sight.
But then...
'Donna' appeared.
"Oh, dear dear, oh dear me, no." 'Donna' tsked and shook her head, frowning at the two. "That was really not very nice, baby girl. And I did warn you." The woman sighed, then continued, "That jar never stood a chance. Destruction of property. Second offense. That means two hours in the dungeon, baby." 'Donna' frowned at Felicity. Oliver looked bewildered, his gaze rapidly moving from the woman in his arms to the one standing before them.
"Second? What's she mean?" Oliver asked, having heard nothing about this incident from Felicity and not liking how this was sounding, not one bit.
"I may have...made a leaning tower of chairs to reach that window to escape from in the tower, and it may have fallen and broken some chairs..." Felicity trailed off, wincing at the look on Oliver's face.
"You should've told me, then I-" whatever he was planning on saying, was cut off by 'Donna.'
"After the two hours are over, she will be released. The dungeons are not the easiest place to get out of, though." She continued, shaking her head and then shrugging. Oliver tightened his hold around Felicity; there was no way she was going anywhere without him.
"Take me, too. If she goes, I go." Oliver spoke in an almost growl, and he noted how Felicity's hand tightened its grip on his shirt, too. She was scared, he could tell.
"Oh, but dear, you've not done anything wrong." 'Donna' said with false cheer, smiling. "Why would you want to go to such a dark, damp, smelly place? You don't need to go, only the princess. Say goodbye, now, for the time being at least." She smiled again, then snapped her fingers.
"Oliv-!" Felicity's voice was cut off, and in the next moment, she disappeared from his arms.