Chapter 12- Fallout and Buried Alive
Diggle waited outside in the living room as his wife came in from their kids' room. It was probably time for that talk with Lyla that neither of them wanted to have. But Diggle owed it to Anna to find out why Lyla did this to her father. As soon as she turned to face him, Diggle just couldn't talk to her though. "Johnnie. We need to talk about this," Lyla said, standing in front of him, Diggle still as a stone.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Lyla. I could say something I might regret," Diggle said, starting to walk away.
"John," Lyla said with a hint of urgency in her voice. Diggle turned to face her.
"When you said that you were taking over for Waller, you said you wouldn't become her," Diggle said, his anger coming into his voice.
"I told you. It's more complicated when you're sitting on the other side of the-" Lyla started to say.
"What is more complicated? You're holding someone with no lawyer, no trial, no justice. And his fourteen-year-old daughter broke the law because you scared her half to death worrying for him. You broke your own laws and scared a little girl by doing that," Diggle said.
"And the world is safer for it," Lyla said stubbornly.
"It could be safer. But it's not better. Anna will never forget and has become a criminal for your actions, along with Felicity Smoak. The woman I love could never do this. Lyla, this job has changed you," Diggle said, feeling tears come to his eyes.
"Maybe. But maybe the world's changed. It's gotten even worse, Johnnie. It's gotten worse and uglier, and we do what we can to protect the people we love. I am not ashamed of what I did. Of what I'm still going to do," Lyla said as she sat down next to him on the couch.
"We've been down this road before, haven't we? We know where this fight takes us," Diggle said.
"So let's stop it. Move forward," Lyla said, her voice full of tears.
"I don't know if I can," Diggle said as he got up to go into his kids' room.
Felicity and Anna entered the bunker, Anna holding her father's biometric tracker in her hand. Anna plugged it into the computer and booted up the monitor. "Okay, Dad, I hope this works," Anna muttered under her breath as she waited for the machine to start.
"You don't have any faith in your dad's invention?" Felicity asked.
"I honestly don't know. I never used it until now. I just hope Alena was right when she said that Dad was the best when he made this," Anna said, pushing a lock of dark hair behind her ear as a grid map came up on the monitor.
"Is that it?" Oliver asked from behind them, nearly startling Anna.
"Yep," Felicity said cryptically as Anna typed furiously.
"James' magic tracker to find Chase?" Oliver asked.
"Biometric tracker, yes," Felicity said.
"Nobody from A.R.G.U.S. was seriously injured, in case either of you were wondering," Oliver said.
"Not that I really care about A.R.G.U.S. at this point. But Helix froze me and Felicity out. Other than Dad coming to get me eventually when the danger to him is over, it's over with that," Anna said, standing and facing Oliver.
"I'm sorry," Oliver said.
"I thought you weren't ever gonna lie to me again," Felicity said.
"I'm not lying. I'm sorry," Oliver said as he put down a shot glass and walked to Felicity.
"Well, glad to hear it," Anna said as she turned to face the monitor.
"I know that they gave you both a sense of belonging that maybe I haven't-" Oliver started to say.
"No. You didn't back our play," Felicity said.
"I was worried," Oliver said.
"You don't trust me. After all these years, all of the times I supported you, even when I didn't agree, you couldn't do the same for me," Felicity said. Oliver would have answered, but then his attention turned to the monitor.
"What's that?" Oliver asked.
Anna turned to look. "Tracker is honing in on Chase's location," Anna said as the grid moved.
"Where is he, Ann?" Oliver asked. The screen stopped on what looked like the bunker they were in.
"Chase. He's here," Anna said. The sound of sizzling started and Oliver grabbed their arms as the computers exploded and threw them back.
Anna felt her ears ring and pop as she came to in absolute darkness. "Felicity? Anna?" Oliver's voice came to her through the darkness.
"Oliver, over here," Anna said in a soft whimper of pain. The back of her head hurt where she had impacted the floor along with her back and legs.
"Chase. He's here," Felicity said from some distance away from Anna.
"Don't move," Oliver said.
"That's not gonna be a problem," Felicity said with a whimper.
"Anna, can you help me?" Oliver asked.
"I think so. Owww!" Anna said as she got to her feet dizzily and made her way to where Oliver was trying to get a overhead light off of Felicity. Oliver took up a machine-gun and pointed it around the darkened room.
"All right. If Chase is here, he's not on this level. It felt like an explosion, but there was minimal damage," Oliver said, coming back over to them after a few minutes.
"It was an EMP. A burst of electromagnetic radiation. Everything in the bunker with an electric circuit has been fried," Felicity said.
"How do you know?" Oliver asked.
"Because the spinal implant that helps me walk isn't working. I can't feel my legs," Felicity said. Anna looked at Oliver, the fear she felt now being amped up.