Chapter Eleven

Oliver tried to be quiet as he entered the apartment, not wanting to wake Felicity, but he had a really bad feeling the moment he stepped inside. Silently he made his way along the hallway, past the kitchen which looked fine, and the bathroom, ditto, and into the lounge. The window to the fire escape was wide open and judging from the splintered wood, had been forced open with a crowbar, or something similar.

Fighting the fear, he made his way back into hallway and into the first bedroom, where the drapes were drawn, the bed rumpled and a note was lying on her pillow.

TELL THE HOOD TO CALL 555-412-815

He took out his phone and called Felicity's number, although he already suspected that she hadn't taken it with her. The ringing he heard from the next room conformed his suspicion, and he hung up.

He could easily track her phone since Felicity's system tracked all of them automatically. Figuring out her system to track this new number would be a lot harder however. His first instinct was just to make the call as the hood, but he knew that he had to play this smart.

He called anyway, without the voice disguiser, and when someone answered, he called "Felicity? Are you there?"

"She's unavailable at the moment."

It was Roy, and it took all his willpower not to let the other man knew that he knew.

"Look, I will pay whatever you want, I'm Oliver Queen, I have money, just don't hurt her."

"This isn't about you, this is about the vigilante. Give the note to Detective Lance, he'll know what to do with it."

"Let me talk to her first."

"No."

"How do I know she isn't already dead?"

"She isn't."

"Let me talk to her."

After a silence, he heard Roy say, "It's your boyfriend," then he finally heard her voice.

"Oliver?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, honestly, and as long as I'm as good as gold, I'll stay fine. Don't do anything stupid, okay? I'm not worth it."

"Felicity, you-"

"That's enough." Roy's voice came back on the line. "Give the note to Detective Lance. If I don't hear from the Arrow by tomorrow morning, I'll kill your little secretary."

Oliver counted back from three before answering but still, he couldn't stop some of the anger he felt from seeping into his voice. "If you harm one hair on her head, I'll kill you, I swear."

"Do what I say and she'll be fine."

Oliver hung up and picked up the note, calling Diggle as he left.

"Dig, someone's taken Felicity. He wants me to ask Lance to have the Arrow call him and I need you to trace the number for me."

"Give it to me."

Oliver did. "I'll be back once I've given this to Lance."

"Anything?" Oliver called from the door.

"Nothing yet," Diggle answered. "I have no idea how she does this hacking stuff but I called Lyla and she's looking into the number for me. I can tell you that it's an unregistered burner phone but that doesn't help us much."

"I know who has her, Roy."

"Roy? As in Starling City's newest super-soldier and your sisters main squeeze?"

"Yeah. I called the number as Oliver Queen and I recognised his voice." Oliver tried to ignore how wrong it was to see Diggle sitting in Felicity's chair. "She tried to tell me something when I spoke to her," Oliver said. "She told me that as long as she was 'as good as gold' she'd be fine."

"You think she's being kept at a location Cyrus Gold was at?"

"I do."

"Then that's the motel on Delgado Street, or the place on Crescent Circle."

"Roy would have no way to know about the hotel so he probably took her to Crescent Circle, where he was given the serum."

"So are you going to call him as the arrow, or take him by surprise."

"I don't know," Oliver admitted. He wasn't used to indecision. "I don't know which has the best chance of keeping her safe."

"How long do we have?"

"Until morning."

"Then we have plenty of time to strategize."

"What do you want with him?" Felicity wanted to know. Her head was pounding but knowledge was power, and she needed as much knowledge as she could get. She had a little knowledge already but not the full picture.

"Revenge," Roy answered.

"Why?" She was tied to a chair in the middle of a strange room, with a broken centrifuge in one corner. She had tested her bonds but they were unbreakable and even if she could get free, she was no match for Roy, not even with everything that Diggle had taught her.

"Because he shot me!"

"But I thought you used to help him?"

"So did I," Roy sounded bitter. "How do you know about that?"

"Because I helped him track down where Cyrus had taken you, here, if I'm not mistaken. The vigilante saved your life."

"It wouldn't have been in danger if he had just let me help him!"

"Roy, the arrow saves people."

"Not everyone."

"No, but he does good in this city. Why do you want to take him out?"

"Because he's a loose cannon and someone has to do it. Wait, if you helped him find me, you must know who he is?"

"He contacts me by email."

"How do you know it's him?"

"Because I've seen him, I've just never seen is face. Besides, I can see the aftermath of my research on the news."

"Did you know he shot me?"

"No, but if it was when I think it was, I can see why."

Roy turned and glared at her. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that you brought me to Circle Crescent, which means that this place means something to you, which probably means that you were involved in the Cyrus case. He'd been injected with something that made him as tough as concrete and you wanted to go after him. I know how well that worked, Roy; you nearly died and would have if the arrow hadn't revived you."

Roy had balled his hands into fists at his side.

"Judging from when you hit me, you seem to have the same super-freaky strength and toughness. Do you honestly think you could have defeated someone who had the strength you now have?"

Roy looked torn but Felicity realised that having your argument torn to shreds by logic could do that to a person.

"You're mad because he wouldn't let you fight beside him, and I'm your means of exacting revenge, right? What will you do if he comes for me? Kill him?" She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Oliver would come for her, but she had to maintain the deception that she didn't know who he was. It was better that Roy kill her than the arrow; Oliver could find another computer geek to help him, but the city couldn't just go out and find a new hero.

"Yes, I'll kill him for what he did to me!"

"But doesn't that make you one of the bad guys? If you do this, Roy you prove the Arrow right, that you weren't cut out to be a hero."

"Shut up!" His fist slammed into the wall, cracking the brickwork.

Felicity almost fell sorry for him, he was so mixed up and confused, but the throbbing in her head reminded her that he had hurt her, and that made her rather less sympathetic.

Roy pressed his head against the wall, almost looking defeated.

"Do you know what I was injected with?" he finally asked.

"No. I know that the subject needs a sedative before being injected, and I know that most people who take it don't survive, and that whoever made Cyrus is trying to make more super-humans, but I don't know how it works or who's behind it."

Roy began pacing.

"You used to worship this guy, right? Didn't he rescue you from that killer in the Glades last year?" Felicity kept trying to reason with him.

Roy didn't answer.

"He rescued me, just a few weeks ago. The Count held me hostage so that he could inject Oliver with the vertigo, he wanted to get all of starlings city's elite hooked on the drug, but the vigilante got there first. He saved my life."

"He. Shot. Me!" Roy's jaws were clenched to tight that his mouth didn't open as he spoke and he bared his teeth, like a rabid animal.

"To keep you safe." She licked her lips. "If you let me go, now that you're virtually indestructible, the arrow might let you help him. You wouldn't be risking your life now, or at least, you'd have a much lower chance of being killed."

"You just want me to let you go."

"Well duh. Is it working?"

"No." His reply was a little too forced and emphatic to be real.

"What do you think Thea will say when she realises that you killed her brother's girlfriend?"

Roy looked up, sharply. "You're his secretary."

"And girlfriend. You know how loyal Thea is, do you honestly think she could be with a murderer?"

"I'm not a murderer." Roy's conviction was slipping and he couldn't hold her gaze.

"Is getting revenge on him really worth losing Thea? I think she really loves you."

"I know."

"Do you love her?"

Roy glared at her again.

"Roy, it's not saying much, but I probably know the vigilante better than anyone else. He's a hero, not only for the people he saves, but for the example that he provides. People look up to him and since he started doing what he does, people in Starling City are ten times more likely to get involved when they see a crime being committed, and crime over all is down ten percent. Do you want to take that away from the city, just because he hurt your feelings."

"It wasn't just my feelings, Felicity!"

"And you don't look very hurt, Roy!"

Roy began to pace back and forth.

"It's not too late, you can end this."

Roy shook his head. "No, I can't,"

"You want so much to matter, don't you, Roy?" she asked. "You want to make a real difference to this world, to leave it a better place than you found it but the irony is, being a hero isn't about you, and your desire to be somebody is taking you down the wrong path. If you kill me or the vigilante, this world will be worse off. Not many people will miss me but I'm all the family my brother has, he'll be devastated and Oliver, he's so damaged by what happened to him on the island, another loss might be more than he can take. Best case scenario, he'll leave again and this time, he won't come back. Do you think Thea could handle losing him again? Killing has a ripple effect, Roy, you don't just hurt the person you kill, you hurt everyone who cares for them."

"Stop talking."

"If you do manage to kill the vigilante, you'll kill a man, a flawed man, true but he's more than just a man; you'll be taking a beacon of hope away from a city- hell, from a country that desperately needs a hero; someone people can to look up to, someone they can emulate."

"SHUT UP!"

"No, I won't, because if you do this, there's no going back, you'll never be the hero that you want to be. It'll destroy you, Roy, because you aren't a bad man, and you won't be able to live with what you've done."

"Shut up!" me might have meant to shout again but the words came out as a sob. "Shut up." He began to cry in earnest then, hugs sobs wracking his body.

"It's okay, Roy, it's not too late."

Although he had come prepared for all eventualities, Oliver intended only to recon the scene. Ideally he could wait until morning before making the phone call, giving himself more time to plan but if things were getting out of hand, he was prepared to take Roy out now. He had a special arrow ready to fly, one that he hoped would stop Roy, and despite Roy's ties to Oliver's family and his desire not to kill any more, he would kill Roy if he had to and right now, he couldn't see any other way.

As he approached the room, the same room where he had faced Cyrus Gold and resuscitated Roy, he could hear Felicity babbling, but he couldn't make out what's he was saying until he got closer.

"You want so much to matter, don't you, Roy?" he heard Felicity say and while he could hear the fear in her voice, he could hear something else too, compassion.

"You want to make a real difference to this world, to leave it a better place than you found it but the irony is, being a hero isn't about you, and your desire to be somebody is taking you down the wrong path."

She was babbling, but she was also right. Given his new powers, Roy only had two courses of action, to act on his aggression, or channel it and use it for good. Without help, he was unlikely to choose the second option.

He continued to listen as Felicity tried to reason with Roy and realised that perhaps, there was another option.

Leaving his personal feelings aside, Roy hadn't crossed the line yet and he could still be redeemed. He would be hard to teach, his anger would make him stubborn and belligerent and despite his new powers, there was more to being a hero than strength. It had taken Oliver years to learn not just the skills, but the discipline that he needed to do his job. He had once told Felicity that he didn't like other vigilantes because they didn't show his restraint, and that was the absolute truth.

Strength without thought was reckless and dangerous. Without help, Roy could end up doing some real damage, intentional or not.

He heard Roy start to cry.

"It's okay, Roy, it's not too late," he heard Felicity tell Roy and as he stepped into the doorway, he tried to believe that.

Roy was sitting with his back to the wall, his head on his knees, and Oliver aimed the arrow at him; he was willing to give the kid a chance but he wasn't stupid.

"She's right, Roy. It isn't too late."

Roy's head shot up and he looked from Oliver to Felicity.

"Don't even think about it." Oliver warned. "This arrow is filled with acid and as soon as it hits you, it'll be injected into your heart. Not even you can survive that."

"Don't hurt him," Felicity pleaded.

"I won't, unless he gives me a reason to." Oliver slowly edged closer to Felicity, poised to react to any movement from Roy.

Roy's jaw was clenched but after a moment, he seemed to sag. "Take her," he said, his voice filled with defeat as his head fell back onto his knees.

Oliver knew that appearances could be deceptive however and keeping the bow loaded, he pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the plastic cable tie that held her left wrist to the chair, then he handed her the knife, his right hand pulling the bow string taught again.

Felicity quickly cut her other bonds and got up, holding the knife defensively.

"Go." Oliver told her.

"Not without you."

"You're bleeding, you need to get it seen to."

"I'm fine." She put her hand to her head, where Roy had struck her, and felt something tacky in her hair, her finger tips came away red. Still, it didn't seem like a lot of blood and it was clotting, but no wonder she had a headache.

"Go!"

"If I leave now, Roy might kill you. I'm innocent, and he doesn't want to hurt me."

She was right and the same thought had occurred to Oliver, but that didn't mean that he was happy about her staying.

"Felicity, get out of here, now!"

"No!" She put the knife down on the chair she had been tied to and walked over to Roy, kneeling before him. "Roy?" She put her hands on either side of his face and tried to pull his head off his knees. He resisted for a few moments but finally looked up and into her eyes.

Oliver moved around so that he still had line of sight on Roy.

"He's right, you should get out of here." Roy told her.

"No. You're perched on a precipice and I'm not willing to let you fall off. Thea would never forgive me," she tried to joke, which didn't exactly raise a smile but did make the edges of Roy's lips twitch.

"I want to help," he confessed. "I want to be a part of the solution, not the problem."

"It won't be easy," she cautioned. "You'll see and do a lot of stuff that will make it hard to sleep at night. You'll question yourself constantly, and you'll feel guilty because sometimes you'll fail and innocent people will get hurt, sometimes people that you love. You'll have to learn to be patient and cautious and maybe hardest of all, is that no one can ever know that it was you who saved them, because if the authorities know who you are, they will stop you. Its long, hard, thankless and payless work."

"How do you know so much about it?"

She smiled enigmatically. "Can you handle that? Because if you can't, you need to walk away now; go home and marry Thea and raise a brood of rugrats, or something."

Roy finally smiled. "If all that's true, why do you do it?"

"Because I can, and if I don't help, who will?"

Roy looked from Felicity to Oliver as he considered her points, and Oliver was impressed with the understanding she had showed. With her blonde hair and effervescent personality, it would be easy to underestimate her and even knowing how good she was, Oliver wasn't above being pleasantly surprised.

"Okay, well if I haven't screw things up too badly," he looked to Oliver. "I'd like you to train me."

Felicity looked to Oliver, her eyes asking him to give the kid a chance, and he lowered his bow.

"The only reason you're not dead is because you're important to someone I care about, and the only reason I'm agreeing to this, is because it's much harder for you to get yourself killed now."

Roy nodded, not even trying to defend himself and as Oliver deactivated his voice synthesiser, Felicity came to stand beside him. Somewhat reluctantly, Oliver lowered his hood but Roy didn't show any signs of recognition until he removed the mask.

"Whoa! Oliver? Wait- What- Who-"

Oliver would be lying if he said that the shock on his face didn't please him a little.

"Wait, you and Felicity- holy shit, what did I do? How am I still alive?"

"That's a good question," Oliver wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget yet. "And if you even think of telling Thea, remember, this arrow has your name on it."

"What? No, of course not. I am so sorry, man. I had no idea she was your girl, if I had-"

"You'd what? Have kidnapped someone else? Not have given her that cut on her head?" Oliver was close to losing his temper and Felicity put a warning hand on his arm.

"You shot me, don't forget!" Roy got to his feet.

"Because you were being reckless! You didn't know what you were up against-"

"Because you wouldn't tell me!"

"-And you nearly died! You did die, in fact, in this very room, and I will not apologise for trying to keep you safe!"

"Oh no, of course not, people like you don't apologise to people like me, do they?!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Okay, that's enough!" Felicity stepped between them, her arms outstretched, a palm against each of their chests to stop them inching any closet to one another. "Time out, both of you!" She turned to Roy. "You, meet us in the alley behind verdant in two hours."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"You left a nice little ransom note for Detective Lance, remember? I have to let him know that I'm safe and convince him that you had nothing to do with this, then I'd kind of like to stop by the ER, just to make sure you didn't do any serious damage; my head isn't as thick as yours."

Roy looked contrite. "Okay, fine, two hours." He looked from Felicity to Oliver, then turned to leave.

"Are you really okay?" Oliver asked once they were alone.

Felicity smiled at him. "Yeah. I'm kinda worried that I just landed you with a huge mistake though."

Oliver pulled her into a hug. "That was the best solution and if it doesn't work out, we'll deal with it together."

They stayed like that for longer than they should, but they had work to do, and only two hours to do it in.

Roy was feeling rather contrite by the time he was due to meet up with Oliver and Felicity, especially since Officer Lance had been making public appeals on the television all evening, asking for anyone who had information related to the kidnapping of Felicity Smoak to contact the police.

He now realised that Felicity had been Lance's link to the arrow and since he'd kidnapped her, Lance had no way to contact the vigilante.

This whole thing was a giant clusterfuck, yet another giant screw up in the life of Roy Harper.

He wasn't cut out to be a hero, but he also wasn't cut out to sit back when someone else was in trouble. Besides, ever since he'd been injected with that freaky potion, he'd been even angrier than usual,

He could just about hear the base beat of the music from inside the club and found himself tapping his foot in time with it, trying to distract himself, before he lost his nerve and fled.

Anger had been all that had sustained him in the last few weeks but now that he had kidnapped someone, the arrow's girl no less, he felt rather foolish and not a little contrite. How had he allowed himself to go from wanting to be a hero, to kidnapping and assault?

He wanted to blame the potion but the truth was, he was angry, and had been angry for as long as he could remember. He'd be lying if he said this his new abilities didn't give him a sense of superiority but he knew that feeling was dangerous.

With great power comes great responsibility. Yes, it was just a comic book quote but rarely had a truer thing been said. Roy had power now, but he didn't want to hurt people, he didn't want to become one of the bad guys, causing the same suffering that he had witnessed growing up.

He was almost calm when he saw Oliver standing at the end of the alley, mask on, hood raised. He gestured for Roy to follow him.

"Where's Felicity?" Roy dared to ask as he followed Oliver.

"It would have taken too long to come back here and change, so I left her in Officer Lance's care. She'll join us when the hospital release her, and you better pray they do release her."

"Or what, you'll kill me or something?"

Oliver turned around and gave him a chilling smile. "No, but she'll be pissed if she has to stay in overnight and trust me when I say, she can make your life a living hell."

"What, her? Really?"

"She might be small and blonde, but don't underestimate her, she's the best at what she does."

"Which is what, exactly?" Roy was starting to feel uneasy as they entered the south alley behind the club, the most isolated side of the building.

"Computers. She could wipe out every digital record of your existence, which would make life rather difficult, especially if you were arrested or something. Or she could put you on the FBI's most wanted list, with a very creative criminal resume to boot, I'm sure, or the terrorist watch list. If she's feeling playful, she'll just put an embarrassing viral video of you onto you tube, and trust me when I say that if it doesn't already exist, she can fake it."

Roy kept looking behind them as they walked, wondering how far he was from help if he was being lured into a trap. Finally Oliver stopped at a door and entered a code into a keypad, although it was so dark that Roy wasn't sure what he was doing, until the opened the door.

"After you."

Roy stepped inside, looking about in awe at the space, which was clearly the arrow's base of operations.

He walked slowly over to the desks, which seemed to be the hub of the room, and noticed Oliver's driver standing there, the one who had cleaned up his leg wound.

"You're in on it too?" Roy asked.

Diggle nodded.

"Like I said before, Diggle is ex-special forces," Oliver explained.

"Is Felicity okay?" Diggle asked.

"I think so. She should be here soon, so you can see for yourself."

"Shouldn't she go home and to bed, the two of you only just got back from taking down the retreat?"

"She has a head injury, hopefully minor but she shouldn't sleep for a few hours."

Diggle nodded. "And Lance?"

"Thought that the arrow had seen his appeals on television," Oliver explained.

"So this is where it all happens?" Roy said with wonder.

"No, this is where the training and the planning happens," Oliver corrected. "Have you made up with my sister yet?"

"No."

"That's good."

"Why?"

"Because you are going to break up with her." Oliver said.

"What? Why?"

"Partly because you've been a jerk to her but mostly, because as you so brilliantly proved tonight, people close to you will become a target, and I won't let you do that to my sister."

"Oh, but it's okay for you to risk Felicity's life?"

"First of all, I brought Felicity into the operation before I knew how much danger she'd be in and secondly, she's vital to what we do here and as much as I hate putting her in danger, I can't do this without her."

"Surely being your sister, Thea's already in danger."

"I can't do anything about being related to her," Oliver said with genuine regret, "but I can do something about you. I work very hard to keep my identity a secret so that she's safe, but you're sloppy."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Roy wanted to know, his anger returning and making him belligerent.

"I'm the man who's already killed two people with your powers, that's who!"

"Cool it guys," Diggle said. "Getting worked up doesn't help anyone."

"Wait, two guys? There was someone other than that Cyrus person Felicity was telling me about?"

"I've encountered the serum you were injected with before," Oliver admitted. "You might think you're bad, but I've met and killed guys a thousand times more dangerous than you before, so if you want in, you will listen to me and do as I say."

"I can't leave you guys alone for two minutes," Felicity said as she descended the stairs. "Honestly, can we dial down the testosterone? It's starting to feel like a locker room in here."

Oliver made his way over to her, his anger forgotten for the moment.

"Are you all right?"

She smiled up at him and their gazes locked. They seemed to communicate more than just a smile with that look, it was almost like they were telepathic, speaking without words. Roy had never experienced anything like that before, not even with Thea, who was his longest term relationship to date.

"I'm fine," Felicity assured Oliver. "Two stitches, and instructions to go back if I get dizzy or have double vision or something. Although seeing two of you might not be such a bad thing."

Her attempt to lighten the mood didn't appease him.

"Let me see?" he asked, leading her into better light. He began to search through her hair. "They did a neat job."

Felicity pointed at Roy. "You owe me a haircut! They had to shave part of my head." She clearly wasn't happy.

"Only a little bit," Oliver tried to reassure her. "No one will notice, I promise."

Felicity huffed. "How's your shoulder?"

"It's fine," he assured her.

"Have you changed the dressing today?" His silence spoke volumes. "Take your jacket and shirt off, I want to see."

She gathered the supplies while he removed his quiver, jacket and shirt.

"Oh, man…" Roy exclaim as he saw the scars. "What happened to you?"

Oliver glared but didn't answer, and sat down to allow Felicity to clean and redress his wound. There was a little seepage from his activities earlier tonight but it wasn't a bad injury to begin with, so he knew he hadn't done himself any serious harm.

"Did you get those on the island?" Roy apparently couldn't take a hint. "What happened to you there?"

It was Felicity who finally answered.

"What do you think happened?" she asked. "Tea parties with hugs and kittens and puppies?"

"No, I- They said it was a desert island, I thought he was alone."

"Clearly, that assumption was wrong."

"That's something we'll have to work on," Oliver interrupted. "Assumptions lead to mistakes, and mistakes get people killed."

"You're not going to tell me how you became the vigilante?"

"Sure." He pulled his shirt back on once Felicity was finished. "Before he died, my father told me that he had failed the city, that our family's money was gained on the suffering of others, and he asked me to right his wrongs. That's what I'm doing."

"That's it, that's all I get? Where did you learn to fight like that? To shoot arrows?"

"That's all you get for now," Oliver said. "And that's more than you deserve."

"Right, well it's nearly 2am, so I think that's a good time to call it a night," Diggle said. "Roy, I'll see you here at 10am tomorrow."

"You? Why?"

"Because I'm going to train you."

"But I thought-"

"Who do you think I train with?" Oliver cut him off.

"But I don't need training, I already know how to fight and I'm ten times stronger than either of you, and twenty times stronger than her."

Roy was too busy glaring at Oliver to notice the look Diggle gave Felicity, and the gesture he made to the steel drawers behind her.

Realising what he meant, Felicity reached into one of the drawers and withdrew a device that she made, based on Sara Lance's sonic device. She had built it to help Oliver and Diggle overcome its effects but not having seen Sara's own device then, she'd had to make educated guesses about a lot of things, and had made it using directional speakers, so it could be aimed at one person, rather than affecting a whole crowd.

The effect was immediate and Roy was brought to his knees, his hands plastered over his ears. She turned the device off before it could do his ears any permanent damage.

"Strength doesn't count for a hell of a lot in a fight, which is why the woman twenty times weaker than you, just brought you to your knees," Diggle said with some sympathy, patting Roy's shoulder. "I'll see you here tomorrow, 10am."

All three of them left before Roy had properly recovered and as he watched them go, he realised that he might have bitten off more than he could chew.

Rather than getting to his feet, he sat down on the floor, seriously wondering if he had what it took to be a hero.

AN: Sorry for worrying all you Roy fans out there. I basically see Roy as a mixed up, angry kid who has good intentions, but makes pretty stupid decisions a lot of the time. I can't really say any more about his story resolution, but I hope you'll like where I'm heading with his character.

Also, sorry if you were hoping for Oliver to swoop in and save the day. I get really tired of the damsels in distress trope (both in fic and on shows) and I wanted Felicity to be able to rescue herself for a change.

Finally, Happy New Year! Think about me as you countdown three, two, one to midnight! If I could have Oliver waiting to kiss you, I would... once I was finished with him. ;-)