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- Anchored To The Tide, Pt 11 -
"Felicity?" Oliver asked through his comm device.
"Yes?"
"Can you check check the name Werner Zytle for any association with Kord Industries?"
"Sure boss, where did that come from? Another mysterious Glades informant? Or is it coming from the Bratva again?" Felicity teased, well aware by now that Oliver had all sorts of sources, both from the criminal world and the police force, to keep him appraised of what was going on in Starling City's underground scene.
"The latter," he answered, sighing at the massive headache he could feel coming on if they couldn't stop the dangerous drug.
Another victim had been blown up the night before, a nameless junkie nobody cared about besides the hooded archer. Felicity knew it weighed heavily on her partner's shoulders, to be the only one able to make a difference, the only one who cared, despite the lack of attention for the strange death of another addict. It had been barely mentioned on the news, and when it did make the cut this morning, it was almost pragmatic- as if the poor man had gotten exactly what he deserved.
No one deserved that, Felicity thought as a shudder passed through her body. No one deserved the delirious drug which bend one's will until nothing was left, delighting addicts all over Starling City with its mind boggling effects, leaving those poor people mysteriously weaponized against their will, to be detonated at a later date.
Detective Lance had called the Arrow first, worried at the recrudescence of seemingly suicide bombers in their city, only to find out later that they'd been injecting themselves with a drug that bore a very strong resemblance to Vertigo with the explosives as a horrid addition or side effect. Star Labs kept coming up empty as to why or how the drug could possibly turn junkies into human bombs, but Cisco had assured Felicity earlier that he and Caitlin were doing everything they could to work it out. Still, it needed to be stopped, and Team Arrow was doing everything in its power to do so.
"Felicity, you're still with me?"
"Yes, sorry, I got lost in my thoughts for a minute. I'm searching through all the possible databases for a Werner Zytle, though it could be an alias...But I'm sure you already knew that," she trailed off.
"Obviously," Oliver retorted in a lighter tone, no doubt smiling at the other end of the line, "they're pretty sure it is, but you never know, it might pop up somewhere, right?" He asked, practically grasping at straws to find their latest villain.
"Of course. Shit, my supervisor's coming. Don't hang up, I just need a minute to get her off my back," Felicity whispered, watching the red head powerfully crossing the room to her cubicle.
After a five minutes chat to update the older woman on her various tasks, she returned to her own devices and left the blonde free to return to her anxious vigilante.
"Hey, I'm back," she alerted the man.
"Good. Everything OK?"
"Yeah, sure, she just wanted a status update, don't worry-"
"I always worry, Felicity," he answered his tech genius, partner extraordinaire.
"I know," she whispered thickly, "but it isn't necessary right now, there's nothing to report, no one to arrow out."
"Har, har," he snapped, "don't joke about this, Felicity, please-"
"Why not? Afraid I'm going to jinx it?" She teased, trying to alleviate the heavy turn their conversation started to take.
It worked, and got Oliver to laugh, but they sobered up pretty quickly when the results of her search popped up. There was no man going by that name in either the police or the FBI's databases, but there was one Werner Zytle working in Kord Industries' applied sciences department.
"Shit, are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure...Am I the Oracle of this team or what-"
"Fe-li-ci-ty," he drawled, warning her that the time to joke wasn't now. "Can you locate him? I'm ten blocks away. We need to end this, I'm coming to you," Oliver decided, his firm tone telling his partner everything she needed to know, the man was not going to be deterred from coming to her, especially not now that he knew there was a possibility for the insane criminal to be in the same building as his beloved blonde.
"Yes, I can use the key cards to track him down if he's here. And if he's using his own, of course. But, Oliver? Maybe that can wait? There's still plenty of people here, it's not even seven yet-"
"Don't argue with me, Felicity. I'm coming, like it or not. Find me the man, I'll grab him discreetly and question him back at the foundry with Dig."
"Alright...But don't say I didn't warn you-"
"Felicity, back on task, please," he added as an afterthought. No need to get a pissed off blonde on his hands. Been there, done that. Not a pleasant memory he wanted to recall.
"OK, OK...Geez, don't go all Arrow on me, not under those circumstances...Not that I've ever imagined other circumstances- and if I did, it would have been purely platonic circumstances of course-"
"Of course," Oliver teased, barely repressing the laughter in his voice as he cut her little rant off. "Now can you tell me if he's here?"
"Yes, his key card has been used fifteen minutes ago. He's on level 3."
"Don't move, I'm almost there," he answered over the noise of his bike, probably speeding like a hooded demon through the streets. Oliver never stopped at the red light, quickly glancing to the intersection to check if he had the time to pass, evaluating that his speed would save his neck, hurrying his beast along the asphalt to get to Felicity. She was in no immediate danger, but he would not tolerate the proximity between his partner and the crazy sociopath now that he knew, he couldn't afford to put her into jeopardy. Not again, not after the Slade Wilson fiasco.
"Oh my God, Oliver, I think he's coming down to my level...What do I do?" Oliver heard Felicity's rising anxiety, right before the line went dead. Pushing his bike harder than before, he felt the dread's infectious spread through his veins, his heart beating faster as only one thing resonated in his mind; Felicity.