Roy dutifully opened and closed the club every night since the first night Thea had learned of Oliver's condition.
Thursday through to Saturday nights were their busiest. Thursday people got paid, Friday was the beginning of the weekend and Saturday was the last opportunity to party hard before the work week. And for students, last minute cramming for tests or starting papers that needed to be written before Monday.
The 24hrs after finding Oliver had been rough on everyone. There was the surgery and the waiting. Then they'd discovered the virus and there had been a scramble for adequate quarantine measures and back and forth covert communications with their friends in Central City. He and Diggle had done their best to run interference for Felicity. All the while trying to keep Oliver's recovery a secret and pretending to keep up regular appearances.
Team Arrow was down two members, it was a hectic pace they were keeping. Having Thea on board was a relief to him but he'd be glad to have Felicity back running things. That Palmer guy sure was persistent. Persistently annoying. If he wasn't so rich; the guy had a swarm of devoted women following him, he was on the cover of every magazine in new stands but he seemed like a genuine nice guy and he was an active humanitarian, Roy would swear he had a thing for their Felicity.
Really he sort of felt a little sorry for the guy. He had no idea that he had no chance. Even if Oliver stayed stubbornly against a relationship with their cute blonde techie, Felicity would never not be as much Team Arrow's leader as the Arrow himself. Oliver might be their spearhead, directing their efforts and deciding their plans but Felicity was their heart. She kept the morale up, she was their brains and their glue. Without Felicity everything would fall apart. He was fairly new to the team and even he knew that.
He knew how badly Oliver had taken her splitting her time between Central and Starling when Barry was in a coma. Diggle had tried but no one could work the computers or look at all the angles better than Felicity. He hadn't finished college, he was still trying to work out how to use email on the smartphone, Thea had given him. And Felicity knew better than to give him more than one or two instructions for working the computers. He'd forget the next step before he even found the mouse-arrow, blinky line thing.
"Hey Thea," he said answering his phone.
"Roy, I'm going to drag Felicity out for a late lunch. She hasn't stopped since Doc gave her the all clear and I think if she answers her phone to the sound of typing one more time, I just might try to hide her Palmer Tech ID."
He stopped checking bottle stocks while he thought of how he could dissuade her from her plans. Thea running into Palmer, or even trying to drag Felicity away from her work, it just didn't end well in his mind. "Maybe you should give her a call first. Check she's not busy or maybe she's got plans."
"We both know she won't be on monitor duty, since all the men currently have their normal jobs to attend to. Well that's if a stubborn someone stays in bed like he's been ordered."
It was the first time she'd outright alluded to the fact that she knew Oliver was Arrow. "Well huh, I guess you have a point. But you should still call her first."
Thea sighed. "Okay Mr. Sensible, when did you get so logical?"
::: ::: :::
Felicity was ready for her evening visitor when she arrived. She had gathered her things while Thea slipped into her office and leaned against the glass door.
The younger woman was dressed impeccably as always and had a small smirk on her face. Felicity eyed her cautiously.
"Why do I get the impression that I'm going to an interrogation rather than a nice dinner at Pappa's Perfect Pizzas?"
Thea smiled widely. "Because you're extremely smart, but I promise it won't hurt much." She looped her arm through Felicity's and tugged her out of her office and to the elevators. She didn't want to give her captive any chance to beg off this date.
Felicity and Thea made it to the underground parking garage. Thea had caught a cab so that they wouldn't have to find two parkings at the restaurant. Felicity had unlocked the car when she saw a shadow behind the support pillar. Thea must have spotted something too because she immediately looked on guard.
"Felicity, wait," Ray called out, jogging in their direction from the elevators.
Thea saw swift movement of darkly dressed figures in the mirrored surface of the Mini's windows. Discreetly, she unbuttoned the two buttons she had done up on her coat. She reached into her pockets and slid her fingers into her knuckle dusters.
They came at her fast. She sidestepped one and smashed them face first into the roof of Felicity's car using their own momentum and added force to knock them unconscious. She spun around and swiped the next attacker across the face with her reinforced metal-fist. Blood spurted from the ninja's face, their jaw dislocated, along with a few teeth. He didn't go down, so she followed up with a knee to the groin and a head kick when he'd crumpled forward. That sent him reeling to the side and he staggered into the railing.
An arrow grapple line caught her wrist but she was able to yank her unseen attacker forward, spinning the cable around her body, while keeping her other arm free. She ripped the crossbow from her assailant's grasp and head butted her in the face, breaking the archer's nose with her forehead.
"Stop," came a barked command and Thea only heeded it because she heard a pained gasp. Her fight response grew twitchy because the danger wasn't over and she'd been trained not to stop until all her attackers had been disabled, but she was still in control, her mind was clear enough to remember that she wasn't alone. Felicity, her eyes widened when she realized she had someone to protect. It wasn't just self defence she was employing.
One assailant had Felicity by the hair and held a katana to her throat. Ray was unconscious on the ground with a thin cut across his cheekbone and a rapidly growing bruise on his left temple.
Thea unwound the wire from her wrist and let the loosened cable fall away from her body. The crossbow clattering to the ground.
"She goes free and unharmed. You want me, right?"
Nyssa nodded in silent command to her assassins, and the one holding Felicity lowered the blade. "She comes along as our insurance policy. Seems your father taught you after all."
The first time they had taken Thea as bait, she had been mouthy but manageable as a captive. In reflection, Nyssa realized it was because they had taken her in front of Oliver's sidekick. She wanted to keep her skill a secret from Oliver perhaps? Now that no longer mattered. In any case, she had revealed her hand and they would take extra precautions.
Thea glanced at Felicity with an apologetic look but found the other woman didn't even look frightened, merely resigned. Thea wondered just how many times she had been confronted with assassins. It wasn't a heartwarming thought.
::: ::: :::
"Our goal is simple. We want Malcolm Merlyn. You try to be difficult or he tries to delay us and we start sending pieces of you as motivation."
Thea narrowed her eyes at the woman giving orders. "What makes you think he'll come alone?"
Nyssa smiled cruelly. "He doesn't have the Arrow to cower behind any longer."
Felicity'd eyes widened. "You knew he was responsible for Sara's death and you let Oliver take the fall because you needed him out of the way. He wouldn't let you kill Merlyn."
"Oliver was weak. He called himself the protector of Starling but he wasn't prepared to take the measures one must in order to eliminate a threat. Evil can not be reasoned with," Nyssa said coldly.
"You're a Class A Bitch," Felicity screamed at her, "How Sara could have ever loved you..." She was cut off in her dressing down by a backhand across the face. Her teeth cut the inside of her cheek and her whole head rattled from the force of the blow. Her glasses flew from her face and she blinked away tears that smarted in her eyes.
"I will allow you, your callous words spoken in grief but you will not be warned to mind your tongue again," Nyssa said sharply. "You were all told what would happen if you took action against The Demon. My father does not let a challenge go unmet. Surrender Malcolm Merlyn or you will only be the first of many to suffer for his crimes."
Felicity spat the blood from her mouth. Her teeth were stained red as she glared at Nyssa al Ghul. "You talk of evil and judgment but what gives you the right to deliver his sentence? How are you any better than him?" Felicity asked as she struggled against the bonds they'd tied her with. The wire cut into her wrists and she hissed at the pain and stopped pulling.
She was anchored between two concrete columns, they wouldn't given an inch. She had some idea of how long they'd been unconscious and she recognised the night sky. Astronomy was a hobby that she had plenty opportunity to indulge in considering the long night hours she had started keeping the past couple of years. They were still in Starling. Somewhere along the harbour.
It looked like were being held in what appeared to be a shipping warehouse but it was nondescript. It was damp, drafty and lit by primitive iron oil torches. In short it was creepy.
Nyssa turned from her dismissively, ignoring her comments and looked at Thea who was restrained similarly to Felicity. She held out Thea's phone out for her to read, that a call was being made to Malcolm. "You know what to do," she said in warning.
"Thea?" he greeted warmly, his tone expectant. He seemed to accept that she would only call if she needed him.
"Dad, I'm in trouble..."
"You have thirty minutes to come to this location. Or we start mailing pieces of your daughter to you," Nyssa interjected, when she finished speaking she ended the call.
Thea seethed while Felicity watched Nyssa with anger burning in her eyes. Thea was sure the woman would be dead several times over if looks could kill. There was a crunch and Felicity stiffened.
Nyssa lifted her foot. "Sorry, I didn't see them there." The thermopastic frames were broken beneath her boot, one lense had popped out while the other was remained in the splinted frames.
She waved all the assassins back, and Felicity and Thea were left seemingly alone.
Thea looked Felicity over. "Are you okay?"
Felicity shook her head. "I should be asking you that question. How long have you been able to fight like that?"
Thea sighed softly. "A couple of months. After the city went crazy with those masked men, I was so sick of feeling weak I asked Merlyn to train me. He'd approached me earlier to tell me that he would always watch out for me and to call him if I ever needed him. I trained in Corto Maltese. Everything he learned from them, he taught me. He made me stronger and gave me a away to stop the pain. Losing Dad, Oliver, and then Mum. Everyone lying to me, it was too much. Too painful. I just wanted it to stop. He made it stop."
"Oliver came back, Thea." She knew how much it must have hurt Thea for Oliver to run after Tommy's death and leave everyone behind. And then for him to close himself off after Moira's death but he had come around. "He wanted to be there for you."
Thea shook her head. "Oliver lied to me too. He still does. I know why, but it didn't stop the hurt. He didn't trust me. I just wanted my big brother back. He never really came back."
Felicity shook her head vigorously. "That's not true. He loves you so much."
"I know that now, but I was selfish before. I wanted him to confide in me. But he wouldn't."
Felicity fell silent. There was nothing she could say to that.
::: ::: :::
Ray came to with a throbbing headache. He sat up suddenly in a panic and almost regretted it when the parking garage roof swam.
He'd failed. Felicity and Thea Queen had been taken. Even with his extra strength training, he hadn't lasted more than a few seconds. He hadn't even managed to take anyone down. He had seen Thea fight. She was skilled, precise and relentless. He'd seen the punches and kicks before he had blacked out. Even Felicity had managed to evade the first attack before she was overwhelmed.
More than ever he was determined to finish the A.T.O.M project and make it a functioning reality. It wouldn't hurt to get some formal training either. He couldn't rely on the defensive and weapons systems he'd incorporated alone. He wouldn't always have the suit readily available, it just wasn't practical. Tonight had proved that.
He touched a hand to his cheek and saw the smear of blood on his palm when he pulled it away. He had to find them. Without the suit he couldn't be helpless. He was a man with means. He would make it impossible for these people to move anywhere in the city.
His first call was to the police. He took out his phone.
"This is Ray Palmer, I'd like to report an abduction and I need to speak to your Captain please."
While he waited, he grew determined that he would learn how to fight. He would learn how to use other's strength and their attacks against them, like he'd seen Thea do. He wouldn't be useless. He wouldn't fail again.
::: ::: :::
Laurel stood on the rooftop. The police scanner she had programmed to replay messages to her pager said that someone had just reported a kidnapping from the parking garage of Palmer Technologies.
She scouted the streets below and noticed two vans trying to be inconspicuous in the peak hour evening traffic. They weaved in tandem and tried to use side streets where possible. She kept them in sight and used the roof tops and fire escapes to stay in pursuit. She had a hunch these were the perps. Her gut was usually right. Gut feelings were pretty on the money in their family.
::: ::: :::
Merlyn came. Nyssa was a little surprised. She had pegged him for a coward, pretending to be dead all this time. Hiding from his crimes and accusers.
"Malcolm Merlyn, you are guilty of using our ways for your own gain. You committed crimes against the people of Starling and you broke your oaths when you formed the group to plan The Undertaking. For your betrayal of The Demon, the sentence is death. Are you prepared to face your judgement?"
Malcolm regarded her calmly, even though he'd been forced to his knees before her and was flanked by too sword welding assassins. "I notice that your father isn't here. Are you sure he is safe?"
Nyssa paused, watching Malcolm carefully. "Our home is unbreechable. Your movements have been closely monitored and your connections cannot help you now."
Malcolm meet her gaze, unflinching and quirked his lips into a cavalier smile. "Don't be so sure."
Thea's phone started beeping. Nyssa looked at the screen and swiped to answer the message. At first a look of confusion briefly shadowed her face as she recognized an angled shot of the foot of mountain beneath Nanda Parbat. Then there was a steady rumble that grew louder, the mountain began to trembled and crack. It shook violently and the earth caved in on itself taking her home, their sacred temple, with it.
Malcolm watched Nyssa's face, he saw the shock give way to fury and as she reached for her sword, he spoke, "It is a simulation of the devastation my device is capable of achieving. You know it works. You've seen the Glades. I've planted one beneath the mountain. You know of how many caverns that are there. Even you have never navigated them all. I was The Demon's Left Hand before you. I know his secrets. I will keep them and I will not activate the device if you leave me and my daughter alone. Tell him that from me. He leaves me and my home untouched and I will let him keep his."
Nyssa narrowed her eyes at him. "Our organisation does not negotiate. The Demon answers to no one. You have nothing but idle threats. Your device was destroyed in the quake."
"There was a second that Arrow's cohorts managed to disable. If you do a little research you'll find out it was stolen from the government facility that was studying it. You can kill me. Take the risk but you don't have that authority yet," he said a hint of smugness in his voice.
"No, I don't. But I can force you to give up it's location."
She nodded to a nearby assassin. Before the man could injure Thea with his sai, two metal clangs hit the floor followed immediately an explosion of blinding white light and a noise so loud that all other sound was cancelled out.
Already vision impaired, Felicity had given up trying to follow any of what was happening by sight and had focused on listening. She had, had her eyes closed already, so while all she could hear was ringing in her ears, she could see someone fighting. Make that two someones. And was one of them a giant panther? The concussive blast had made her dizzy and she was seeing blurry and triples of everything. Maybe she was seeing pointy ears when there weren't any. Wasn't Ted Grant's nickname Wildcat back in the day?
Felicity squinted through the dissipating smoke, she saw a flash of long blonde hair and blinked again. It couldn't be Sara but the woman moved fluidly, like she could handle herself in a fight and her form reminded Felicity of her lost friend. But Sara was dead, so who was the blonde?
Something stung her neck and she realized they must have tranqed her again. She saw them cutting Thea free. She was slumped over, so they must have drugged her too. The last thing that Felicity saw before losing consciousness was Merlyn trying to fight them off to rescue Thea, while sirens sounded in the distance.