April 5, 2014, morning:
Mornings are restless these days, skewed limbs and twisted blankets wrapped around his legs as even Roy's unconscious thoughts seem to be incapable of calming. Roy sleeps but not well, waking with the dawn more often than not. It's been a while since he's slept in, and it frustrates him. What's worse is being frustrated that he's frustrated, because he doesn't know how much of his emotions he owes to genuine frustration, and how much he owes to the Mirakuru. It pisses him off that he can't trust his own brain, and then he gets upset that he's upset, and it's a vicious cycle that he knows perfectly well will circulate forever if he doesn't jerk himself out of it.
With an irritated grunt, he forces himself from the bed, heading straight for the bathroom where he takes a ten-minute cold shower. He's got the money to pay the bills more often than not these days, so hot water isn't an issue, and he's already awake, so he doesn't need the jolt, but it helps to clear his mind. He'll take anything that does that, including shivering under a spray that's as far into the blue as the knob can go. Today he'd slept in a bit – it's almost eight, and the sun rises just before seven, now that spring's settled in – so it's not the worst morning he's had yet.
It helps that Thea comes over fairly early these days too. She and Sin have been doing early morning workouts with Laurel, which take place several days a week in the form of self-defense lessons at some boxing gym Laurel's found. They usually drop by when they're done (sans Laurel) and Roy lets Sin use his shower. She still doesn't really have a place, and between his thoughts the way they are and the fact that their friendship is still recovering from the absence that had grown between them he's not ready to offer her his on a more permanent basis. It'd shaken him to hear of her brief abduction, and it'd shaken him worse to realize he probably wouldn't have realized she was missing until days had passed.
Oliver'd needed to take him to an empty warehouse and work him into a proper sweat before he'd managed to calm down and even now Roy's still ashamed of how thoroughly he'd destroyed everything Oliver had filled the room with.
To pass the time before they arrive, Roy drops into a meditative state for about ten minutes, gives up, spends five minutes angrily cleaning, tries again for another five minutes, forces himself to eat breakfast, and then finally manages to calm enough to clear his mind – more or less – for over a half hour. It's not progress. He feels like he's backsliding, getting worse with every week that passes. Oliver doesn't seem surprised by that, but it frustrates Roy, which is itself frustrating, because he's supposed to be calm –
It's a cycle, and he can't let himself hate it because that only makes things worse.
Eventually, finally, Thea and Sin show up, wearing workout gear. Any sweat on them has dried on the trip over, but it's still easy enough for him to tell they've been exercising and he offers Sin up his shower shortly after they get inside.
"Thanks, Abercrombie," she returns, gives him an awkward head nod, and shows herself to his bathroom.
Roy watches her go for a moment, feeling frustrated about the distance that's grown between them (no, she doesn't hate you – don't blow this out of proportion), before turning back to Thea.
"Good morning?" he asks.
She leans forward to kiss him on the cheek, then pulls back, grinning softly. "Yeah. I wasn't planning on staying long though – I want to head home and freshen up myself."
More irritation floods him, but it shouldn't, because Roy knows the difference between Sin using his shower and Thea using it. Sin has few other options, and Thea has a mansion with who knows how many bathrooms available. (Roy's thought about it, but he's never actually asked. That's the kind of knowledge you can't unlearn, and while he knows his girlfriend is unbelievably rich, he really doesn't need to know the details.)
It's not that Roy's shower isn't good enough for Thea (though, honestly, she'd probably hate it; he can only imagine what she's used to). It's that water costs money, and Roy doesn't have much of it. So yeah, Sin uses his bathroom a lot more than Thea does, which gives Thea the liberty to go home, soak up steaming hot water for as long as she wants, and do whatever skin care routine the uber-rich socialites like her are fond of.
In the moment, though, she doesn't look the way she normally does. She's as beautiful as ever, but she's been wearing her hair different lately, less makeup, and even only a month later her muscles have become more defined.
"Need anything?"
"Fill up my water bottle?" Thea asks, raising it.
Roy holds back a laugh. "I've told you, my water –"
"There's a difference!" Thea protests. "It's gotta be the pipes or something. The fountains there are just…" she grimaces, "metallic or something."
Roy follows her into the kitchen. His water tastes alright to him, but he's been drinking it all his life. It's Glades water. It can't be that good. Still, he supposes that some places in the Glades are better than others, and the gym Lance (Laurel, not the detective) had found is in the Glades too. As Thea heads for the sink, Roy leans against the doorframe, watching her.
He doesn't know what to feel sometimes, when he looks at her. He loves her, but he doesn't understand sometimes why she's still here. He's falling apart, and he knows it, and there's never been anyone else in his life before who would have bothered to stick around.
Not to mention, he's working with Star City's hero, who is her brother, who won't let her help, so she's been training on the side. He doesn't know how to feel about that tangled web either.
"You know Oliver only wants –"
"To protect me, yeah," Thea cuts him off, turning off the tap and moving to face him again. She doesn't look impressed. "You on his side now?"
The question cuts, because it's one Roy doesn't know how to answer. He loves Thea, with all his heart, but Oliver… He owes Oliver everything, and more than that, he's come to respect the man immensely too, since he's really gotten to know him. He dodges it instead.
"How was the workout?"
Thea grimaces, but accepts the change in topic. "Exhausting. But good. Laurel says I'm a quick learner."
Roy, like Oliver, doesn't know whether to be pleased by that or not. Of course he wants Thea to be able to defend herself, but he knows his girlfriend. That won't be enough for her.
"Still just self-defense, though, right?"
"Roy," Thea says, flat and unhappy.
Right. Roy cuts himself off. They've had this argument enough times, and neither of them wants to have it again. He can't afford to be angry anymore.
Thea moves forward to kiss him gently on the cheek. "I'll see you in an hour or so, right?" she asks softly. "It's my turn to grab lunch."
Roy very carefully reaches out to squeeze her fingers softly before she heads out. "See you," he promises.
She smiles, squeezes back, and then pulls herself away. Roy watches her go, fighting back frustration, then drops into a seat at the kitchen table and forces himself to calm his breathing. He doesn't get up again right away, figuring he can wait in the kitchen and give Sin time to gather herself, or towel off her hair or whatever.
"Thea gonna meet us?" Sin asks, when she finally joins him a few moments after the water shuts off.
Roy grunts an affirmative, eyes closed. "Said she'd get lunch today." He opens his eyes in time to catch Sin's reaction. Her expression sours a little, but she doesn't protest. Free food is free food, and this is probably more of an apology for the way they held her at arm's length the last couple of months than it is any form of pity. (Roy can't say for certain, but he likes to think he knows his girlfriend by now.)
"In other news, your friend's back in town."
Sin starts. "My…?" she stares disbelievingly at Roy, as if not quite sure who he's talking about – or not quite willing to believe him just yet.
"Yeah, that one," Roy says. "She and… and my friend –" because even though he knows no one's listening in, Oliver's taught him a thing or two about keeping secrets "– are working together, apparently. She knows something about the Mirakuru."
Roy doesn't really know anything about this other vigilante – she doesn't come to Verdant, and he's yet to meet her – but Oliver trusts her so that's enough for him.
"Have you…?"
"Haven't seen her," Roy answers easily enough. "But she asked for the message to be passed on – apparently you aren't keeping to your usual haunts."
"Gotta change things up every now and again," Sin jokes, but it's easy to tell her heart's not in it.
She could use a distraction.
"C'mon," Roy offers. "Truck's down, so we're walking to lunch."
It's California, so the weather's fine for the walk, but that doesn't mean it's entirely pleasant. His and Thea's relationship with Sin is still rocky and it doesn't help that Roy really isn't in the mood for small talk these days. It also doesn't help that the only thing he and Sin really have in common is growing up in the Glades, and while that used to be enough to help them understand each other even in the most awkward of situations, Roy also really doesn't need to be thinking about his childhood. Life in the Glades is rough and Roy's Mirakuru fueled brain doesn't need to dwell on it.
Silence hovers awkwardly between them as a result. Roy asks about the gym and gets a few half-hearted replies; Sin asks about working for the Arrow and Roy has to stop himself from gushing about how amazing Oliver Queen is, because Sin doesn't know the man under the hood.
He's so out of it, teeth gritted so he doesn't unleash his irritation on his friend, that he doesn't spot the men waiting for them half a mile down the street. It's over before it even really begins. It's six on two, and one of the men moves instantly for Sin. (This was planned, Roy distantly realizes, horrified.)
"You twitch and she's gone."
The threat isn't idle; there's a pistol held to Sin's temple, and only the terrified expression on her face keeps Roy's vision from going blindingly red.
He can… he can get out of this. He's been training. Working with Oliver. He knows how to fight and knows how to hit and he can hit harder than anyone else around. He just… he needs to be able to move to do that, and he can't. His limbs shake with the effort and his jaw is clenched tight enough to grind his teeth uncomfortably against each other. Because if he moves, if he twitches…
A whimper escapes him, at the effort of keeping still. This is what he's worked for with Oliver. This control, this ability to not go ballistic at the first thing he doesn't like. And he very much does not like this. Roy's thoughts are telling him to kill, to pound the men in front of him into the ground over and over and over and he can already picture the blood staining his fists and their bones crunching beneath his blows and a breath of air escapes him and he shouldn't, but he closes his eyes.
If he has to choose between giving in to these men, and giving in to the Mirakuru, he chooses the former. But he doesn't want to, he just, he needs a moment. A moment to focus, to regain control.
His limbs are trembling. His jaw hurts.
He forces a breath through his nose, deep and long.
"Roy!"
He jerks at the cry from Sin, eyes wrenching open. There's a gas canister on the ground between them now, spewing gas at his feet, but Sin's cry has yanked him from any control he might have had.
He sees red.
There's more sound, loud and full of fear. He can feel something beneath his fists. It's getting harder to breathe. His heart pounds frantically in his chest. Another sound, sharp and loud. Flesh on flesh, his fist pounding into a body. The already fuzzy world grows less distinct. His breath stutters. Sounds, already indistinguishable, seem to fade. He sucks in another deep breath, and, and… There are hands on him. He shrugs them off, but they return, and they hold him tight. He's on the ground?
It's hard to tell. It's hard to tell much of anything at the moment and the world just… fades away.
April 5, 2014, afternoon:
"You going to the Wayne fundraiser again this year?"
Oliver jerks his head up at the unexpected question; when he meets Digg's gaze, the other man looks a little sheepish, half-shrugging in an apologetic gesture. Oliver can't really blame him for being distracted. They've been scouring through evidence for hours now, and there's only so much time one can spend behind a screen before needing to think about something else. When his eyes flit over to Felicity, she's already perked up in interest, eager for the break.
Oliver lets them have it. It can't hurt anything. "Probably not," he admits. "As much as my mother is trying to pretend life is normal, I doubt she's willing to take any trips just yet." It'd be evidence that she hasn't changed, that her image is still the same wealthy generous socialite persona she's always managed to cultivate before, but… But Oliver's seen the way his mother acts sometimes, when she lets her mask slip. There's uncertainty that hasn't always been there.
Going out of the city to give to a foundation that has little to do with the people she'd almost betrayed… No, Moira will be focusing any and all philanthropic efforts on Star City these days, whether the people want it or not.
"And?" Digg asks, as if that's not enough of a deterrent.
A valid point, Oliver supposes. But Mirakuru's still a problem, even if it's less of one now with Slade gone, and he has no interest in leaving Star City at the moment. "You'd have to ask Tommy," he says instead.
"You don't think Thea…?" Felicity starts.
Oliver shakes his head. "Not without Roy." And it's definitely not a good idea for Roy to go right now. Oliver doesn't have to say that.
Felicity sighs. "You know, I've never been to Gotham."
Oliver recognizes the non-sequitur for what it is: an attempt to keep this conversation going, and an excuse not to go back to work.
"And you don't wanna," Digg responds.
Oliver lets his attention drift back to the documents in front of him without chiding them for their inattention. He has no interest in idle talk right now, but he isn't going to stop them either. In fact, though he'd never admit this either, their chatter in the background is almost calming. It's familiar enough of a sound that he's able to tune it out, which is, well… That's significant, one way or another. He's comfortable here, surrounded by people he trusts.
It doesn't last long. The door at the top of the stairs slams open, jolting not only Oliver from his concentration but Digg and Felicity from their conversation as well. Thea thunders down the stairs to their worried expressions, phone clenched in her hand.
"Roy's not answering his phone," she says hurriedly. "Well, Roy and Sin both – neither of them are picking up. We were supposed to go to lunch, like, an hour ago."
Oliver stands and takes a few smooth steps to Thea's side, even as alarm rises in his mind. He places a hand on each of his sister's shoulders. "Take a deep breath," he says, eyeing her ragged breathing. "Start from the beginning."
Thea's eyes flutter around the room rapidly for a moment before they latch onto his and she finally nods. She breathes in once, closes her eyes, and then opens them, steadier than before.
"I was going to meet Roy and Sin for lunch, but neither of them showed. They're not answering their phones, and nobody was at Roy's place."
"Felicity," Oliver says, as Digg stands and moves toward them. He looks over at Digg above his sister's head; the bodyguard nods once, then moves toward the stairs. He already has an earpiece in his pocket and he pulls it out as he moves, slipping it into place. Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver notes Felicity absentmindedly turning the comms on as she works.
"Where is he going?" Thea asks uncertainly, still a little off kilter.
"It might be nothing," Oliver says plainly, not really answering the question. Unease sits heavy in his gut, but truthfully, he's not entirely certain that it's Roy they needed to be worried for. If the other man has lost control of himself… "How long has it been since you last spoke to either of them?"
"Like, three hours now? Two? Sin and I uh, we were training with Laurel this morning, and we went to Roy's afterward, but I went home. I was, I was supposed to meet them for lunch, but then…"
"And did they have plans in the meantime? Somewhere they intended to go? Someone they intended to meet with?"
Thea shakes her head. "No, no. I mean, not that I, they didn't tell me…"
"Phone's destroyed," Felicity says from behind them.
It doesn't mean anything. Or, rather, it could mean any number of things. The two most likely options are, one, Roy's lost himself to the Mirakuru, and destroyed it in his rampage, or two, someone else attacked them. There are a hundred different scenarios contained within those two options, but it's enough to know that something's gone wrong.
Oliver glances toward Felicity and inclines his head pointedly. Confusion crosses her face for a moment before she lights up.
"Right. On it." She pulls the mic toward her, ready to fill Digg in.
Oliver pulls out his own phone, and dials without thought.
"What are you –?" Thea starts to ask.
Raising a finger, Oliver cuts her off before she can finish. "I'm not alone," he says into his phone as a greeting.
Sara's tone in response is sharp and focused. "But you're calling me anyway."
It's not a question, but it might as well be.
"Thea was supposed to meet Roy and Sin an hour ago. They never showed. Roy's phone has been destroyed."
"You think he's the one who did it?"
"Digg's on his way to his house now. Has Sin contacted you?"
"No. I'll check her usual haunts." Sara hangs up without any fanfare: she's got an assignment to do, and there's no point in chatting until it's done. Besides, Sin's as near of a friend as Sara's got these days, other than him. The concern in the other vigilante's voice hadn't been obvious, but Oliver had picked up on it nevertheless.
"Who was that?" Thea butts in, as soon as Oliver lowers the phone from his ear. "Who do you know that Sin –" She cuts herself off, eyes narrowing. "Was that the other vigilante?" she says, almost accusatory.
Oliver ignores her. He's not answering any questions about Sara, and anyway Roy's status is far more important here. "Felicity," he snaps over his shoulder, "check the police."
"Right," she murmurs absentmindedly, probably already doing that. He can hear her mumbling to Digg in the background.
"Where would Roy go?" he asks Thea.
She blinks at him. "What?"
"If Roy's still in control here, where would he go?"
Thea's eyes are wide. "You… you don't think he was taken? Like we were?"
Oliver understands why Thea's mind has jumped to that conclusion. She might not be wrong. But she also might not be right. He needs to cover all the bases. And since he's not about to send Thea out after a possibly homicidal Roy… "It's too early to say," he dismisses. "But if this is the Mirakuru clouding his judgement, where would he go? Where does he feel safe?"
Clouding his judgement. He scoffs mentally. It's a euphemism he'd only utter for Thea, to protect her from what might be happening. If Roy's given into the Mirakuru, the outcome will be so much worse than clouded judgement.
"I… I don't…" Thea shakes her head. "He doesn't really have anywhere, in the Glades. His house, I guess? Here? Or… I mean, he's not really comfortable in the manor."
"But he might be looking for you anyway," Oliver realizes. Thea's words only confirm his suspicions. And if Roy's not at home, and there is a piece of him still left, he'll probably come to Verdant, unless there's someone specific he's seeking revenge against.
"Should I… should I go home? In case he shows up?"
Oliver's half-tempted to agree. He doesn't think Roy will go to the manor, which means it might just be the safest place for Thea to be. But he might, and Oliver would much rather keep Thea at Verdant, where he can protect her, than miles away at the manor, without any clue as to how she's doing.
He shakes his head. "No, it's more likely he'll come here," he says, as if that's the only reason he wants Thea to stay.
"Digg's on," Felicity says from behind him, raising her voice.
Oliver turns toward her, nods, and she gives Digg the go ahead.
"No sign of anyone here," Digg relays. "And no sign of foul play either. No phones or wallets, so either they headed to lunch and just didn't get there, or they went somewhere else."
"Does Roy have a car?" Oliver asks Thea, because he knows the other man has his license, but also that there's no title in his name.
She shakes her head. "He usually borrows his neighbor's, but it's in the shop for repairs. He and Sin were gonna walk."
"Digg?" Oliver prompts.
"Heard you loud and clear," Digg confirms. "Give me the address."
Oliver glances toward Thea, who doesn't seem to be tracking the flow of their conversation. "Where were you going to eat?" he prompts.
She fills Digg in, and Oliver spares a moment to glance at the screen to the side, where Felicity has police alerts running. Nothing yet.
"I'll track down cameras along the route," Felicity states, as Digg heads out, mic muted on his end.
Thea spins away from the computers, looking like she wants to start pacing even as she holds herself back. Oliver eyes her for a moment. Her patience… Well, it isn't her best virtue, that's for sure. He won't deny that he's worried about the situation, but he can stand still and wait for Felicity and Digg to finish their own investigations, no matter how much he wants to act. Thea doesn't have his restraint, but he can't think of a thing to say to calm her down.
True, Roy can handle himself, but it might be Roy that's the problem.
Instead, he lets himself wait as his sister silently frets, Felicity's frantic typing the only sound in the basement. A minute ticks by. Two. Three.
Digg's voice comes over the connection, low and worried and poignant. "Oliver," he says, and Oliver's very being tenses.
He knows what Digg's asking without asking anything at all. Without thinking, with barely a glance at his sister, he snags an earpiece off the desk and mutes the open mic.
"Go," he says, ignoring Felicity's unhappy expression and Thea's outraged shock.
"I've got a gas canister here, and some blood on the sidewalk. Not much, but they didn't bother to clean up after themselves."
A stone sinks in Oliver's gut. As much as he's been dreading Roy's eventual reaction to Mirakuru, this option is worse. He doesn't want to have to fight Roy, but he will, no matter what Thea would think of him afterward. But this… Roy's been more or less managing to keep control. If someone else has gotten hold of him, the chances of that remaining the case plummet significantly. Oliver won't just have to fight Roy. He might have to fight a Roy who's been specifically pointed at him, or worse, Thea.
He turns to the side, as if that'll prevent Thea or Felicity from hearing his words. "They managed to take Roy," he says, low and urgent.
"I know, that's what I was –"
"No," Oliver cuts in. "They took Roy."
"They know about the Mirakuru," Digg says, horror in his voice as the realization dawns.
Oliver nods in agreement. "Yes."
"So this is Slade, then," Felicity says.
Oliver nods at her, pulling out the earpiece. She reconnects the comm link to the speaker system. Oliver knows what she meant, but he corrects her anyway. "The man in the skull mask, more likely."
Thea grabs his arm and Oliver very carefully doesn't react, holding himself still as Thea's fingers dig in. "What is it? What did Digg find?"
"Come back to the basement," Oliver tells Digg. "Felicity, keep looking for footage of the incident." He turns to Thea, impatiently waiting. "Digg found evidence that they gassed Roy. He was probably taken because of his Mirakuru."
"But…" Thea glances over at Felicity, then back at him. She's released his arm, but she's no less urgent. "But you stopped that, didn't you? I mean, you said that they – that Slade – needed a few specific things, and they don't, they don't have those any more, right?"
Oliver knows what answer she's looking for. He can't give it to her.
"We did take Vasak out of the equation," Felicity points out. It's a half-hearted hope, and Oliver can tell Felicity knows it.
"Just because he doesn't have Vasak doesn't mean he doesn't have someone else."
"But, I mean…" Thea shakes her head. Oliver's barely involved her in the Mirakuru – it's not surprise she doesn't know specifics.
He understands what Thea's trying to say. It's just that he doesn't care about her optimism. Idealism. Naiveté. Whatever it is. He doesn't care.
Roy is missing. Oliver…
Roy is…
He hadn't realized he'd grown so close to the younger man. He's always known how heavily Roy looks up to him, and he hadn't wanted to get to close to someone infused with Mirakuru. For months, he's drawn comparisons in his mind between Roy and Slade, however few actually existed. What would have been the point of growing close to someone who would just betray him?
But Oliver does like Roy. And someone's grabbed him.
Oliver can't help but feel the same anger and guilt he did when Tommy was grabbed. Someone took Roy on his watch. Oliver doesn't even care if he's more confident in Roy's ability to handle himself than he had been for Tommy. He feels the same drive to get him back regardless.
"They can't mass produce the serum," Oliver says shortly, because Thea's waiting for an answer. "Not without us tracking them. But that doesn't mean they can't make more, in small doses."
"So… how do we, I mean, you'll find him right? Why did you tell Digg to come back?"
Oliver doesn't have time to explain his every action to his sister, and its only because it's his sister that he's tolerated her questions this long. "We need more before we search the streets. Digg's useless out there." He turns away from the computers and faces his sister again. "You should go home." He's changed his mind. Roy's been kidnapped, not lost his mind, so he's not out trying to track down Thea. Home is the safest place for her, and Oliver doesn't want her here.
"What?! No, no, I'm not – I'm not leaving! Roy's missing, you can't just –"
"I can," Oliver cuts in. It's not up for debate.
Instead of getting angrier – raging and swearing at him, the way he expects – Thea doubles down. "I can help!" she insists. She's still furious, but she's not targeting him. It's…
Roy isn't the only one who's changed.
"Thea," Oliver tries to start.
"No." Thea shakes her head. "No, I've been helping for months. There's no reason this has to be any different. You don't want me on the street, fine. Fine! But I can help and I will help, and you can't stop me." Her gaze goes to Felicity, not as if she's daring her to disagree, but as if she's asking Felicity to back her up.
Oliver finds his own gaze drawn that way.
"She's right," Felicity says, reluctantly.
The reluctance is probably for his sake. Felicity doesn't begrudge the help.
"I haven't seen you come home before dawn for days," Thea continues. "You guys are working late. I can help."
"You're too emotionally involved," Oliver says, though he has a feeling he's already lost – he doesn't have the patience for this argument either.
"Like you weren't, when Tommy got kidnapped? Laurel? Face it Oliver, this isn't any different."
Oliver grits his teeth. It is, because he's been trained. Because he's stared down a sniper's scope at his best friend and managed to keep his cool even then. He doesn't want Thea to have to bottle up her emotions like that.
"You will do exactly what I say, when I say it, no arguments," he commands.
Thea lips thin as she nods, resolute.
They've gotten absolutely nowhere by the time Digg steps back through the door. Oliver steps aside, giving up his spot in front of the computers to pull out his phone. There are a few calls he has to make.
First, the police. Lance won't be able to do much, but there's an illegal and clearly used gas canister still on the sidewalk, coupled with traces of blood, which might be enough to at least trigger an investigation. The conversation is short. Lance is irritated, not necessarily at Oliver, but in dealing with the aftermath of the Tockman plot – Oliver's been keeping an eye on that too. The SCPD has been trying to distance themselves from Oliver, so Lance and Hwang are under a bit of pressure as to how they tracked down the murderous thief – and why they were investigating a non-Arrow related crime. Oliver hangs up the phone feeling no better than he did before, but he knows the others are right.
He's not in this alone anymore. There's no point in him not using all the resources he has available.
Next, Sara. That, too, is a short conversation. She's found no evidence of Sin at her usual haunts, but she's going to keep looking. Felicity's already going through recent hospital records (they grabbed Roy; gas or not, it's highly unlikely they managed to do so without injuries), so Sara offers to track down some more black-market medical facilities, places willing to treat those with arrow wounds these days. It won't likely help her find Sin, but it might help them track down some of the men who took her.
And with Sara, out of earshot of the others, Oliver can be honest. Sara, teeth clearly gritted, anger evident from her tone, agrees that it would be best to check the kind of places usually utilized to dump a body. These people were after Roy. They might not bother keeping Sin.
The final call, Oliver knows he has to make, is to let Laurel and Tommy know what's going on. Thea'll be going to the police tomorrow morning to fill out a missing persons' report, but there's no reason they can't let know the others who know about the Arrow the truth now. (Not that the police'll do much: Roy's from the Glades, the SCPD won't be particularly motivated to find him, or even really believe anything's wrong. And Oliver doesn't actually want them to find him. Not with Mirakuru running through Roy's veins.)
It's just… he doesn't particularly want to make that call. Doesn't want to bring his other friends in. What can Tommy or Laurel do to help, besides put themselves in danger? It's a cruel thought – Tommy's been plenty of help in the basement before, manning the comm lines, searching through data, taking shifts from Felicity and Digg when one or both of them needs a night off. Oliver just… even with Slade gone, he knows that the Mirakuru is his fault. He doesn't want to drag them into the consequences of his mistakes.
They deserve to know, though, and he can't make Thea call them. Felicity or Digg… don't know Laurel and Tommy as well as he does. He really is the best person to let them know. He just really doesn't want to.
He already knows what argument Digg and Felicity will make, if he comes back to them without having made that call though. Felicity's already made it, in regards to letting Thea help. And he knows they'll win that argument too.
In the end, he calls Tommy. It's cowardice, he knows, but he also knows he's got a better chance of convincing Tommy not to come in just yet, and Tommy has a better chance of convincing Laurel to wait. If this goes on – if it takes days, or worse – they'll both want to get involved, not just Laurel. But for now, Oliver fills Tommy in on the situation, makes it clear things are still very much developing, and asks him to let Laurel know. As he'd hoped for, Tommy agrees to stay away while Oliver gets things figured out – but he asks three times if Oliver needs any help, and only reluctantly agrees with Oliver's request.
Part of Oliver is grateful. Most of him just wants to keep his family safe.
April 9, 2014, night:
Very carefully, Oliver keeps his heart from racing as he approaches the warehouse. Roy isn't here. It's been four days and Roy won't be here. But his motorcycle still speeds through Star City's streets faster than usual, driven by the hope that one of the men who grabbed Roy will be here.
His gloves tighten on the handles. The engine revs beneath him, sounding as eager as he is. Star City is quiet tonight, but Oliver barely notices it. The sky is clear, a few stars actually visible, and the April weather, this late at night, is actually quite nice. These are inconsequential observations, barely of note in Oliver's mind.
The relevant facts are these: Roy has been missing almost four days; the people who took him know about the Mirakuru; the warehouse that had issued a silent alert mainly holds scientific equipment; he'll arrive three minutes before the SCPD respond to the alert; the thief might have Mirakuru in their system; Sara's across town, Digg's taken a rare break, Tommy filling in for his shift, and so Oliver doesn't have backup tonight.
Nothing else matters. Nothing except the full quiver of arrows on his back and the rage in his heart.
Tires screeching on the asphalt beneath them, Oliver wrenches the motorcycle to a halt next to one of the side doors, almost dismounting before the vehicle stops moving. It's five seconds too many to drop the kickstand, but he knows he might need a quick exit, so he doesn't just drop the bike.
"Overwatch, door," he commands. They'd planned his approach on the ride over, and Felicity already has access to the warehouse's security system. The light clicks green as Oliver requests it and he wrenches the door open with one hand while pulling an arrow from his quiver with the other.
His footsteps as he moves inside are quicker than usual, but he still takes care to quiet his footsteps and watch his doors and corners. Surprising, the first individuals he comes across don't seem to be the thief – or thieves. It's a man and a woman, huddled together. The woman has a phone clenched in her fist, and they're clearly attempting to be as quiet as possible. They flinch the both of them when they notice him, and the man's eyes widen.
Oliver takes a second to look them over and makes sure he's not misinterpreting the situation. It'd be a hell of an act if these two actually were the thieves, trying to deceive him. But neither of them has any weapons, the woman's wearing impractical heels, and their expressions would be difficult to fake without advance notice. He doubts whoever's left after Slade's imprisonment would hire such talented thieves – Slade was the mastermind, of that Oliver knows for certain. (Too hell bent on revenge, Slade would never have let anyone else lead.) As such, he dismisses them both as threats.
However, contrary to his expectations (as keeps happening, these days), they chose to help him instead. The man raises a hand, pointing silently. Oliver doesn't expect him to have the greatest situational awareness, but in a warehouse this large, even a vague direction is something. He'll take what he can get.
"How many?" he growls out, low as he can while still remaining audible.
The man keeps his wits. He raises a single finger.
Oliver nods, and moves on. They're safest where they are for now. Oliver knows to keep any fights away, and judging from the phone and what Felicity'd told him on the ride over, they've already called the police. Besides, they seem to have their heads screwed on right. Hopefully they'll continue to be silent.
Returning to the quick footsteps of before, Oliver makes his way in the vaguely pointed direction. It doesn't take long before he begins to hear noise. The thief isn't bothering to be quiet. That's not, entirely, surprising. Felicity had also managed to dig up the fact that the warehouse was shutting down – it's owned by STAR Labs, which isn't doing well in the wake of the accelerator explosion – so the thief probably wasn't expecting anyone except the guard by the front gate, easily circumvented.
What is surprising is that the thief looks young, and inexperienced. They're picking things off the shelves haphazardly, examining the labels, and then shoving the boxes back into place. They're not bothering to be careful about it, don't seem to be worried about fingerprints or DNA, and clearly don't seem to know the layout of the place super well. Still, looks can be deceiving. Oliver approaches from the shadows, then steps out menacingly with an arrow pointed at their heart.
"Drop the box," he growls out.
The thief does so quickly, jumping, then moves to run.
Fight or flight or freeze. It's always a risk – Oliver's almost certain this wasn't a calculated move. He fires his arrow, skimming just past the thief and burrowing itself into the shelving units just beyond them. Their madcap rush is quickly aborted and they skid to a halt, spinning to face him as their hands raise above their head.
Oliver finally gets a good look at the man who might know something about where Roy is.
"Please don't kill me!" the thief pleads.
"Who are you working for?!" Oliver demands. Going into this, he'd thought… Well, it's still a possibility this is related to Roy, but this is no sophisticated thief, no Mirakuru solider. He really hopes he isn't wasting his time with an idiot teenager looking to make a quick buck.
"Look, man, he offered me a grand! Just to sneak in and grab some beakers or some shit! I don't know anything!"
Oliver takes another step closer, putting his weight into the movement, leaning forward a bit and drawing back a bit more on his bowstring.
"Who?!" he demands again.
The thief is shaking. "I don't know!" he repeats. "It was just, just some guy. I didn't get a name!" He thrusts a hand forward, a small piece of paper clenched in his fist that he reveals. "Here, he gave me a list. Take it! I didn't, I swear I didn't know. I'm not one of those one-percenter dirtbags or gangbangers." The paper flutters to the floor, the thief unwilling to come any closer, Oliver keeping up the threat of the nocked arrow. He'll grab the paper shortly.
"Describe him," he commands. This thief doesn't have a name, fine. He'll squeeze him dry of every drop of information he does have. "Where were you going to deliver the supplies?"
Stuttering and swearing and shaking all the while, the young man tells him everything he knows. It isn't much. A PO box to drop off the supplies. A non-descript, middle-aged white man as his contact. A list of common lab equipment, if high-quality. Nothing that suggests it's anything to do with Roy, except for the secrecy and subterfuge involved.
Oliver doesn't know if this means they've produced a small amount of Mirakuru already and need supplies to make more, or if it's taken them this long to really get going. Somehow, if this is related, he doubts it's the latter.
Once he's gotten everything he can out of the young man, Oliver zip ties him to the shelving behind him. This isn't someone involved with Roy's capture, unless he's a really, really good actor, and Felicity's voice in his ear, spilling everything she's found on their thief (once Oliver had gotten his name) makes that unlikely. There's no point in squirreling him away to question more thoroughly. He doesn't mind the thought of the SCPD dismissing him as a common thief; that's all he is really.
Even with the knowledge that the police must be nearly here by now, Oliver takes the time to make his way back to the civilians once he's done. He's irritated and in a poor mood, and he knows it, but they'd helped him out. (So many people have been helping him, lately.)
Alert as they are, they notice immediately when he comes into view again. Oddly enough, they seem to relax at the sight of him, or at least the man does. The woman still eyes him distrustfully. Smart.
"The thief is restrained," he says clearly.
"Oliver, wait," Felicity's voice comes over the comm link. "I checked the door logs – that's Caitlin Snow, Barry's doctor."
Oliver doesn't want to respond, not in front of the civilians – civilians from Central City – but he doesn't understand what Felicity's getting at.
He puts a hand to his ear unnecessarily, to make it clear he's not talking to the two in front of him. "And?" he asks, frustrated.
"You've been looking for someone trustworthy to make the cure, haven't you?" Felicity asks.
Oliver eyes the two in front of him with more consideration than before. Felicity has a point, and he doesn't have long to make a choice. He considers the merits. He doesn't know these people, but Felicity had met them during her trip to Central to visit Barry. (Plus, he'd done his own research, as soon as Barry had gotten moved from the hospital. Not enough for this, but enough to know he trusts Caitlin Snow's medical expertise.)
He's been letting people help. And there are some merits to outsourcing the cure, to ensuring that whoever's making it isn't someone in Star City, easily targetable the way Roy had been. They have the lab space. STAR Labs is downsizing too, which'll make it easier to keep things quiet.
"You have a good reputation for helping people in need," Oliver says, because he needs an excuse as to why he's approaching these two, something that doesn't put Barry under the microscope.
Frowns cross the scientists faces, confusion and uncertainty.
"If I ask you to synthesize a compound for me, would you do it?" There's no point in avoiding the question. Either they'll help or they won't, and Oliver doesn't have the time for a lengthy discussion.
They exchange glances.
The man looks back to him first. "Of course," he blurts out, a little over eager, then glances at Snow again. "I mean…"
"What kind of compound?" she asks. "I'm not making drugs for you."
Inwardly, Oliver approves of the caution, even as it irritates him. But then, everything irritates him these past few days, because nothing has led him any closer to finding Roy. He calms himself; this might not help him (them) find Roy, but it should help Roy after they find him.
"Not a drug, a cure," Oliver states. "There's a criminal in the city who's been dosing people with…" How to describe Mirakuru? "With a permanent strength enhancer. It makes them go insane." A simplification; it's all he has time for.
"Why not go to the police?"
"In order to make the cure, they'll need a sample of the strength enhancer." He doesn't explain it any further. If they can't fill in the blanks, he's not sure he wants them helping anyway.
The scientists exchange glances. Oliver needs to go.
"I'll be in touch," Oliver says plainly. He fires a zip cable arrow at the warehouse roof, taking him off the floor just in time. Using the rafters, he manages to avoid the police who have already arrived, though he sticks around long enough to ensure the thief is taken into custody.
He takes the long way back to the foundry, speeding on his bike as a method of venting his frustration. Tonight wasn't a total loss, but he's no closer to finding Roy.
That's unacceptable.
(By the time he gets back, Felicity already has a new phone neatly wrapped in a box, STAR Labs' address front and center. They don't have Roy, but they have hope for him, when they do find him.)
AN: Surprise guests this chapter!
So, this update is way later than I indented it to be, but it's here! The good news is the remaining chapters are, more or less, written. The bad news is I still don't have time for anything resembling an update schedule, so not sure when the next one will be posted. Thanks to everyone who's following along!
