Call for backup

Felicity toyed with the clasp of the first aid kit as she paced the room, waiting for the team to return from their latest fight. For days now, she'd watched her friends march out of the foundry with barely concealed terror. League assassins killed as easily as breathing and without any mercy, especially when they felt wronged — and these ones, blaming Sara for all the tensions fracturing their guild, felt particularly motivated.

The door clicked open, and Oliver and Roy hobbled down the stairs, their arms slung around one another for support. Thick red blood gushed from a long gash that ran the length of Roy's thigh, and he winced and grunted every time he put weight on that leg. But they were in one piece. A painful piece, from the look of it, but still a piece.

Felicity breathed out a sigh of relief as the others trailed in behind them. Thea, her gaze fixed on her boyfriend. Sara, her hands stained red-brown as she stared off into the distance sightlessly. Diggle, bringing up the rear, his mouth a thin line and expression heavy. Felicity wasn't sure if his misery was from unseen injuries or the weight of their situation.

'They got away,' Sara said flatly. 'We had them cornered, but they got away.'

I know, Felicity thought, because she'd been in their ears the whole time, but she bit her tongue. She suspected Sara just needed to say the words, to put the thought out into the world to make it easier to process.

Oliver led the group across the grey foundry floor and eased Roy onto the couch. Felicity handed him the first aid kit, and he immediately started cutting the fabric of the suit to get better access to the wound. It looked even worse up close, a jagged crimson dagger against his skin. Vivid, painful and ugly.

Thea gripped Roy's hand so tightly her knuckles whitened. 'We can't keep doing this, Ollie. This is bigger than the six of us can handle.'

'What alternative do we have?' Oliver demanded, voice tense with stress. 'We can't just step back and watch as they go after Sara.'

Felicity agreed wholeheartedly with Oliver, but Thea was right. Their current plan wasn't working, and the definition of insanity was to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. They needed something else. They needed someon—

'We ask for help,' Thea said.

Felicity nodded. 'I can call Barry.'

Diggle hummed under his breath. 'He's no match for them hand to hand, but they won't be able to combat his speed. He would give us an edge.'

'I'm not bringing anyone else into this,' Oliver said, disinfecting the wound and pulling out a needle and thread. 'That'll just put him in the assassins' sights as well.'

Thea raised her eyebrows. 'I was actually thinking bigger than Barry.'

Felicity snorted despite herself. 'Don't let him hear you say that.' At their blank stares, she sheepishly added, 'Sorry.'

'Even Barry would agree that he doesn't hold a candle to Iron Man,' Thea added.

It was like the central piece of a puzzle had slotted into place, forming enough of the image to see where the rest of the pieces should fall. Iron Man was so high profile that they'd never mentioned the idea of looping him in, even though Oliver had his direct line. But desperate times called for innovative measures, and with his firepower, taking out the assassins would be easy.

'That could work,' Diggle said. 'The assassins won't stand a chance if he's involved.'

'No,' Oliver replied adamantly. 'He's a good man, but he's impulsive and can't keep a secret to save his life. When we caught up a few months ago, he told me he never planned to announce that he was Iron Man; it was a spur of the moment decision. We can't trust him not to do the same again.'

'I don't think he'd blurt out our identities,' Felicity disagreed. During the conference, he hadn't revealed one trade secret. He'd explained enough to convince his audience that natural language computer systems were possibleand give them a starting point to research the topic further, but he hadn't revealed anything that would leave Jarvis vulnerable. He'd been calculated and far more restrained than someone who couldn't keep his mouth shut about whatever crossed his mind.

No; she suspected he, despite all appearances, was very calculated about how and when he shared information to the public. 'If he was that bad,' she continued, 'the general public would know Stark Industries' upcoming projects long before their PR department starts their media campaigns.'

Sara's gaze broke from the wall for the first time since they returned. 'Maybe, but we can't guarantee it. Besides, we can't draw his attention to the League. If he tries to take them down, Nyssa will be in the line of fire too.'

'It isn't worth all the risks,' Oliver concluded. 'We're going to have to find another way.'

'You'd feel differently if it were Sara on that couch,' Thea snapped. 'Or me or Felicity. Just because it's not someone you lo—'

Oliver flinched, and Roy jolted and hissed in a quick breath that killed the word on Thea's lips. As Oliver apologised and checked for any extra damage, Roy forced out through gritted teeth, 'Don't aggravate the person with the needle.'

'That's not true, Thea,' Felicity said. As much as she used to wish otherwise, Oliver didn't care about her as more than a friend and teammate. Once, when they were fighting Slade, she thought she saw a slither of genuine interest, but she'd been wrong. His relationship with Sara had only grown stronger over time. 'Oliver cares about Roy.'

Oliver finished stitching up Roy's wound before he replied. 'It has nothing to do with who was injured. How many laws do you think we've broken since I put on the hood? Enough for all of us to go to prison for a long time. When Tony came out as Iron Man, he didn't have that threat hanging over his head. We do. The more people who know, the more danger all of us are in.'

Felicity met Diggle's exasperated gaze. She still wasn't convinced; if anything, she thought aligning themselves with Iron Man would improve public perception around the Arrow and might even legitimise them in the eyes of the government. But Oliver had made up his mind, and arguing wouldn't do them any good while their emotions were running this high. Besides, after that hacker tried to break into Verdant's server, keeping low-profile wasn't the worst plan in the world.

'Alright,' she reassured him, 'then we won't involve anyone else. We'll find another way to resolve this ourselves.'

Oliver shot her a grateful smile, and Felicity was relieved that, for the first time in a year, it didn't give her butterflies.